Page 44 of Every Shattered Note
“So why is your office currently the confessional for idiots?”I ask.
Barret stretches, casual.“We were hoping for bagels.”
“Sure, that’s exactly why I called all of you.”Eddie doesn’t smile.Instead, he grabs a remote, presses a button, and the office fills with a painfully familiar sound.Music.
My music.
Fuck.
Specifically, “At Last.”Me, solo.No Rosie.Just piano and voice.Raw and bare enough to crack open.Part of the demo I delivered earlier to Aly.Well, to Jules because Aly was in the middle of an emergency.
I groan.“Fuck.We’re doing this.”
He pauses the track and leans back, smug as hell.“Yes, Dexter.We’re doing this.”
Then he turns to the others.“One of you should’ve stopped him.”
Rod throws up both hands.“I didn’t know a fucking thing.I’ve got chickens staging a coup and a teething baby who thinks sleep is a scam—I’m just trying to make it through the day without crying into my coffee.”
“Rod’s not in it,” I admit.“It was me.And maybe B and Alec helped cover it.A little.”
Eddie narrows his gaze at Barret.“You know better, babe.”
Barret offers an unapologetic smirk.“We thought it’d be fun.The guy needs a hobby.”
“Well, this hobby is becoming a problem.”
“She’s got him playing the Whitmore gala,” Eddie says, pointing at me like I’ve personally insulted his bloodline.“You realize what that means, right?Public.High-profile.Flashbulbs.Media.Exposure.”
“Hey, I have glasses and a beanie,” I protest.“I could make it work.”
“Dex,” he snaps.“You’re no Superman.”
I sink into the couch.“It wasn’t supposed to go this far.”
“But it did.”He leans forward, dropping the remote on the desk with a thud.“And now Alyssa Stone gave me your demo.Told me you were ‘incredible’ and ‘maybe worth giving a shot.’You know what that means?She believes in you.”
I close my eyes.“She believes in me.Not the guy from the covers—half-naked, glassy-eyed, partying like it’s 1999 with a bottle in one hand and something worse in the other.Not the version of me I spent two years trying to drown in tequila, coke, and every bad decision I could snort, swallow, or fuck my way through.She doesn’t know that wreckage.And maybe that’s why she looks at me like I’m still worth something.”
“That’s why this is fucked,” Eddie replies, softer now.“Because you’ve let her believe in a version of you that isn’t the full truth.”
“I’m not lying,” I say.“I just didn’t tell her everything yet.I was going to.”
“When?”
I pause.
“Exactly,” he says, grabbing a folder and slapping it onto the desk.“Do you know how fast this explodes if someone recognizes you and links it back to her?The optics alone would be a PR nightmare.”
Rod exhales like he’s tired of this already.“Just tell her.”
Barret nods.“You’re already halfway in.Might as well finish it with some honesty.”
“I almost did,” I mutter.“Last night.I wanted to.We had dinner and when we were at her apartment, I—” I stop myself.My throat tightens.“It was good.I didn’t want to fuck it up with a confession.”
“Lying to her is fucking it up,” Eddie says.“You want her to fall for someone real?Be real.”
“I am fucking real.”
