Page 104 of Closer

EPILOGUE

TWO MONTHS ON

LEVI

Iglance at my babyboy in his little bassinet and stroke his head.

“Levi, what are you doing?” Brie comes in from having her make-up done. She looks amazing. “You need to be out on stage already.”

“I don’t wanna leave him,” I say, biting my bottom lip. “What if the headphones don’t actually cancel out the noise?”

“They will. Now go! Cooper and Zed will not wait forever, and Ash will still be here when you get back. He’s not going anywhere. His legs are far too short.” She stares down at the baby in question and wrinkles her nose.

I pull her into my arms. “I didn’t know I was marrying a comedian.”

“You haven’t married me yet. There’s still time for me to fall in love with Cooper or Zed,” she shrugs. “Though Kit, he seems pretty cute too.”

“Funny.” I bury my face in her neck and breathe her in.

“Jesus, you two need a room,” Deb says, glancing up from her phone.

“Deb, you have got this, right? I mean, Ash is not some little lap dog you can shove in a corner and ignore while you scroll your Instagram feed,” I say slowly, as if I’m talking to a kid. “He’s an actual human child, who might cry, and need affection. You do remember what that is, don’t you?”

“Oh, fuck off, Quinn. I know how to take care of an infant. I’m dating Zed, remember? But if that kid shits, he’s on his own.”

Brie shakes her head. “Go. I will be here virtually the whole time.”

“Yeah, but not the whole time. We’re still gonna have to leave him with Mrs. Hellfire over there for half a set. We should have hired a nanny.”

“Levi, there are twenty thousand Frenchmen out there who will not wait for you to hire a nanny at the last minute.” She wipes her lipstick off my cheek and presses her forehead to mine. “I love you, my annoying rock star, but get out of here.”

“Why don’t you just call me daddy? ’Cause you know I’ll be owning that arse on the tour bus later.”

Deb makes a gagging sound from the corner. She’s like an angry cat that someone forgot to feed.

Brie’s mouth twists up in a grin. “Now who is the comedian?”

“See you out there.” I spank her arse, and she shakes her head. I grab Ash’s tiny hand, and even in sleep, he clutches my finger tightly. Then I gently ease free and turn away from the loves of my life and head toward my other great love—music.

I exit the green room and walk the hall, meeting Coop, Zed, and Kit—who looks a little green at the idea of playing a venue filled with thousands—backstage. Ali stands beside him. You’d think she’d be here supporting her husband, but you’d be wrong. She’s here for Kit. She’s still banging on about being his manager, something that Coop isn’t so happy about since she won’t manage us as a band. Her exact words were, “Why the fuck would I want to manage a bunch of overgrown teenagers?”

You gotta hand it to Red, she sure knows how to keep a man on his toes.

“Ready?” Zed asks, jumping up and down and twirling his sticks like he’s got OCD. Which of course, he does. He’s just never been diagnosed because his mum was a hippie.

“Yeah, totally fucking ready,” I say, and my gaze slides to Ryan. We share a long look that I wasn’t sure we’d ever be sharing again. Not after he married the woman I loved. Not after Ash died, but here we are. “Speaking of ready, you look like you’re gonna hurl chunks, Kit. You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m good,” he answers as if on autopilot.

“There’s a bucket we keep backstage—you know, if you need it.”

“He’s fine,” Ali growls. “Stop psyching him out.”

I hold my hands up in surrender and grin at Ali. She punches me in the chest, and I throw her a wink before heading out on stage into the darkness that’s filled with twenty thousand people all screaming our name. The rest of the band follow and take up their positions. And then the lights go up, and a sea of human heads bob and eb before us.

“How you doing, Paris?” Coop growls into the mic. A cheer goes up from the crowd. “I can’t hear you.”

They shout again, louder this time, and I grin and look at my brothers. And we are brothers—we’re a band, a family. And while some of us have had some slightly incestual relationships in the past—I wouldn’t change any of it. The pain, the heartbreak, my attempted suicide ... nothing.

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