Page 178 of Silver Sweet

“You good?” I finally ask him.

Charlie smiles dryly. He says something in a language I don’t know before he says, “Go find Tom.” He spins around to face Alicia, and the move gives her permission to stand on her toes and start kissing the base of his neck.

Yeah, okay.

I slip away and enter the throngs of people. My destination is the other side of the room. Someone already stops me. “Hey, you’re…” I don’t hear the rest as the song switches to the heavy beat of “Your Epidemic.”

I eye the floor-length windows at the perimeter of the party.

Yeah, it’s going to take me a hot second to get over there.

42

TOM COBALT

“You heading out?” I ask Luna as she trashes a Solo cup. It’s only been two hours since the party started, but a good thirty minutes since the epic body shot that nearly sent me into cardiac arrest. I grab a water out of our very treasured casket cooler: an insulated coffin filled with ice and drinks.

“Uh-huh,” Luna nods, which billows neon green ribbons tied to her space buns. “Donnelly is in the hall with Xander waiting for me.” Donnelly, as in her boyfriend. He’s also her brother’s bodyguard, so it makes sense that he’s escaping to the hallway with him.

“No one gave any of you shit, right?” I ask. “I need names if they did because Eliot and I won’t be inviting them again.”

“Nope, no shits given. Xander just had his fill of being in a crowd.” She shrugs likeyou know how it is?Yeah, he acted like I was bringing napalm to my birthday when he saw the lengthy guest list.

My smile feels gentle. “Our little brothers.”

Luna’s brother has social anxiety, and then there’s mine, who begged me to throw the ragiest rager to prove my life has not changed because of his OCD.

I will ensure everyone’s brother doesn’t run themselves into the ground. Maybe that’s my second major purpose in life.

All brothers will remain standing.

At least the ones I care about. I cannot be responsible for the brotherhood of mankind.

I sigh in lament. “What are we going to do with them?”

“Love them,” Luna sing-songs.

“A whole lot,” I nod strongly. “Too much, maybe.”

“Is there such thing as loving too much?”

My eyes burn. All I think about is Phoenix.

After I hug Luna goodbye, I try to pry my mind away from my drummer. I checkBackbeat Ledger, a smaller press, for reviews.

None.

It’s midnight.

I dodge several party friends asking to do shots with me. Acting like I can’t hear, I enter the suffocating heat of the living room. I use my T-shirt like a rag, wipe off my chest, then stuff it into my jeans’ back pocket.

I search for Phoenix.

Did he go to the bathroom? I haven’t seen him in a while. Concern starts to build in my chest. Popping out of the congested area, I reach the floor-length window where I can finally breathe, but I’m not alone.

“I see you’ve perfected the wall-fly stance, Harry.”

“I see you’re ditching your friends,” Harriet says.