Page 32 of The Sound Between Us

“Really?”

His expression actually cracks open. It makes him look younger; softer, more ruinable. I hate that I notice.

“You see, the thing is, Harrison...” I pause on his name, saying it slowly, testing how it feels.

His gaze scans my face. I think he’s listening now. Properly.

“The moment people find out who I am, they want to use me. Even if they don’t know it at first. It starts as harmless. Then it morphs. A casual ‘Could you’ slips out. Then another; and another. Until eventually, they forget why they started.”

He says nothing. Just watches me.

And I know this road. I’ve walked it before; I know exactly how it ends. “I hate to tell you, but there’s nothing I need.”

“That’s what you think now. At first, I’ll just be Seren. But give it time. I’ll turn into Seren with connections; Seren with access. Seren and an opportunity.”

I should shut the door. Should walk back to the kitchen; should pretend this never happened. But then his hand lifts and drifts along my arm. Just fingertips. Just air. Still, it leaves sparks skittering across my skin. My body betrays me with a shiver I pretend isn’t real.

“I don’t know why I’m here.” His voice rough and strange. “But I got to the airport, and I knew the one thing I couldn’t do was get on that plane.”

There’s a tremble to the words. They’ve been scraped up from somewhere deep; they shake through me in a way that feels... not safe.

And somehow, I see it. Just for a second. Beneath the polish and PR; beneath the swagger and sex appeal. That small, exhausted boy he’s hiding in the folds of his fame.

I’ll regret this. I know it deep in the bone.

“You’d better come in, superstar.”

His smile flashes. All relief and white teeth. “You had me worried there. Thought my charm meter was broken.”

I lift a warning finger. “Careful. I’ve got pepper spray somewhere in here.”

“Relax. I told you, I’m on a New Year’s resolution. No flings; no scandals. No women.”

I recoil slightly. “You must have been a right piece of work to need that kind of detox.”

He only grins. Bastard. Good thing my bullshit radar is sharp enough to take down a plane.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. You’ve made me burn the pasta.”

I run back to the kitchen, hoping it might be salvageable. Spoiler alert—it’s not. Behind me, I hear his bag drop with a soft thud as he follows.

I clatter pans and hiss curses. I can feel him moving around my flat, a presence that pricks at my skin even when I’m not looking. His shadow slides against the wall.

“Are you nosing through my stuff?”

He pokes his head through the door, all innocence. “It’s very white in here. Don’t you get a headache?”

“It was this way when I moved in.” I dump the entire saucepan of crispy penne into the sink.

“When was that?”

“Two years ago.”

“Oh yeah. When your mum passed.”

My stomach clenches. Hard. My heart throws itself against my ribs with a thud that feels both hollow and brutal. The buzzing in my ears starts again.

“So you’re the daughter of not one music legend, but two.”