Page 3 of Never To Suffer

I bite my lip and look up at the ceiling, blinking rapidly so I don’t ruin my makeup, which looks fucking flawless today. I got excited when Megan invited me out to coffee this morning after we woke up. I even put my cute skirt on, the one she loves because it has this frilly edging she can play with. It’s why I pulled her into the bathroom to make out, one last shot atmaking this work. But on that last orgasm, it wasn’t my name she moaned.

Oh, Rory! Right there!

“Xander, should we be worried about this interview? About Megan and Rory?”

“Our triad isn’t functional, D. So, if you need to ask?—”

“I get it.” I try to shake it off. “Uhm, can we talk about it later? Sam has some stuff I need to work on this morning, and I’m just getting settled in at the coffee shop.”

“Hey, Beetle?”There’s a brief pause filled with the sound of his sigh. It’s not frustrated or annoyed like Megan’s are. Instead, it’s full of longing and hope for us to move on, to embrace the future.“I don’t care what she said or did, you’re fucking incredible. You set your boundaries and your trust, and she’s broken both more than you want to admit. Now, you’re entering this competition. You deserve it. Hell, you deserve the world, Dani. I wish I could give it to you.”

“You already do, Xan.”

“I wanna break up with Megan. Wanna help me dance her out of my system at a club tonight or maybe make out?” I’m sitting on my friend’s kitchen counter, avoiding going home while I pretend to work. I shovel more of their leftover Chinese food into my face as I stare at the website from the flyer.

“I told you she’s gotta go, and you know I’d normally be down, but I can’t tonight. It’sdatenight,” Alexis answers as she walks behind me to see if I’ve left any food for her.

“Girl, you’re married.”

“Yeah, for two blissful years. And we still have date nights where we make out like teenagers, giggling and trying not to get caught.” She grabs a bite of the half-eaten egg roll and puts the rest in the container I’m eating out of before nodding to my screen. “What’s that hideousness?”

Are You Ready to ROCK?!The words scroll across the screen in a garish font and neon colors.

“Band contest. I’m thinking about entering, but it’s huge and I don’t know if we’re exactlyready to rock.”

“Cheap bastards can’t even hire real designers, and you’re worried you’re not qualified to win?” Alexis hisses as she reads over my shoulder. “Smash that god awful apply button so we can get off this website. My eyes are bleeding!”

“Hold on, I’m reading the rules!” I scan the page, looking for the keywords to tell me this is all a hoax. “The first gig kicks off a week-long music festival outside Portland. When it’s over, they’ll take the top twenty-five bands on a crazy-ass national tour, eliminating a band at every stop. Harsh, but epic.”

“Sounds like something you and your people will crush.” She hands me her credit card and grabs the container of rice. “Put it on here. I need to hop on a call with a client.”

I hold up the credit card as I open the group chat, expecting them to bring me back to reality.

Connor

YES! I’M IN! Where? When? FUCK IT DON’T CARE!!! LET’S DOOOOO THIS!!

Rory

I’m not sure I can get that kind of time off, but I can negotiate something if I need to.

Connor

Fire! I’ll borrow my brother’s whip and we’ll go in styleeeee!! We gotta do this!!!!!! Pleaaaase? Band road trip?

Noah

His whip? You’re fucking delulu. He drives a minivan!

But yeah, I’m down. Wait, can we afford this?

Connor

We so can. I did the maths. We should get some sponsors. Fuck, this is gonna be so

They’re onboard. I can’t believe what I’m reading.

Who are you people and what have you done with my band?!

---