Page 17 of Between Never and Forever
My jaw dropped. “Wow.”
“I know.” She stared at me with those eyes, no shame in them at all. “I’m a lot. It’s fine. Love it or hate it.”
I glanced at Olive who whispered, “I kind of love it.”
I turned to look back in the mirror and sighed. “I have a good brand.”
“That you hate.” Olive nudged Pink, like they were a team.
“Right. You need to show him and everyone that you’re more than a brand. Plus, sounds like you loved little Dex at one point or—”
“I… Honestly, Ethan is—”
“Oh, for God’s sake, I’m not an idiot.” Her eyes lit up with fire then. “Don’t waste time treating me like one. I get that enough. You’re here for a while, so don’t lie to the crazy makeup artist who will be doing your face every night.”
Silence descended on the room, heavy with questions from me and judgment from her. Yet, I immediately envied how direct she was with nothing to hide, and part of me wanted it.
“Fine,” I whispered and glanced at Olive. “Redo my hair. Add more eyeshadow too.”
Pink laughed almost maniacally, and Olive whooped.
“Please make me look amazing. I want him to salivate even if he hates me.” I admitted it quietly, worrying my hands over the fact that I had to sing the love songs I’d written about him in front of him tonight. Some songs were ones I’d literally sung to him years ago in the lilacs, where I’d begged him to do more with me when we were just kids. And he'd always said then, “You want to keep me a secret, you can wait to do more with me until I’m not one, Kee.”
The problem was that I never wanted him to be a secret. I just needed him to be. My songs were apologies to him, love notes to him, heartbreak about him. He’d hear the words and know. He’dhaveto know, and all I would have tonight would be my looks for armor.
ChapterSix
KEELANI
I stoodbehind the curtain not much later, waiting for the moment that it lifted. We let the violins build before it happened. I took deep breaths, closed my eyes, and reminded myself what this was all for.
Then, as the curtain rose, I stepped onto the stage, letting the spotlight find its mark. The light blinded me and was weighted with expectation as the crowd seemed to quiet. Was he watching me? Did he care that I was there? I worried about him out there only for that second.
But the violin’s notes moved me, the music guided me to what I loved most, and I turned my focus to the bride and groom as I let out my first note. This was their night, their love, and their happily ever after.
Tonight wasn’t a concert of my own but my entrance into the Black Diamond Resort and Casino as a private show for a Hardy. Dom Hardy and Clara had married Clara Milton. I sang and felt the words for them. The love song I launched into was one of my biggest hits, routinely played around the world at weddings.
The cameras that were on me would capture a childhood neighbor supporting her lifelong friends. It was well-known that the Hardy brothers lived next door to my family, that Dex had saved me in that car wreck, and that he’d been painted as the bad boy in my hometown.
Everywhere else, though, that narrative had no legs. He’d buried that story over the years with how he’d become a ruthless arm of the HEAT empire. He controlled the security and technology, bought up real estate, and now owned this resort. When he’d implemented security software with Cade Armanelli, a genius hacker who’d worked closely with the US government, he’d catapulted his career to new heights. Since partnering with the Black Diamond Resort and Casino, their systems would now protect billions of dollars.
Social media and news outlets were about to have a field day with me being a part of it all. So, I gave them what they wanted. I sang about forever. I sang about a love that would never be lost. I sang about him.
About forever with Dex, even if I couldn’t have it.
I’d been a songwriter first, and I’d written it for him before we broke up. He knew this song as well as I did. Music moved the soul in a way that sometimes a mind couldn’t. The mind was too practical, too logical for the gravity of our emotions. And I knew in my head I should be singing for the bride and groom, but somehow the music and my emotions moved my gaze right to the man I was supposed to be avoiding.
Dex stood there in a three-piece suit, taller than most and more in control than anyone. He’d aged well too, so well my knees practically went weak as I got to the chorus.
His gaze was cold, though. His green eyes sliced through me like I was a weed in his path. And maybe I was. I was an obstacle, a disturbance for him, one he definitely didn’t want.
In that moment, the only anchor I had was the mic in front of me. I gripped it like a lifeline and let the words flow out of me. I bled my emotions out onto that stage because my music did that for me every time.
I hoped the newlyweds felt as much a part of it as I did. Dom and Clara deserved it after agreeing to let me sing on the night of their wedding, knowing it would make the news. My record label had been ecstatic. So, in turn, I made sure I delivered on each note with a soulful and emotional message, trying to invoke love into every word.
The next song, I sang swaying with my eyes closed so I didn’t have to look at his. I wanted to get lost in it, not him again.
Yet, as I held the last note, I knew I’d have to meet his gaze again. One last song before the band would take over was what I’d promised. When I opened my eyes, he glared at me with his arms crossed, and I hated how I wasn’t immune to those deep-green irises, his dark wavy hair, and how his strong jaw seemed just a bit sharper than his brothers’.
