Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 646(@200wpm)___ 517(@250wpm)___ 431(@300wpm)
“Yeah,” Ezra says a little awkwardly, watching me far too closely. “It’s great news. We’re really pumped for it. They have some great ideas for how it’s going to go and have already started working out which cities and countries we’ll visit, but it’ll be a lot of work. They want us to start rehearsals straight away.”
“Well, yeah,” I say, dropping back into my seat. “Seems only natural, right?”
“Definitely,” Ax responds. “I don’t know what kind of places we’ll be performing in, but I can guarantee it’ll be a shitload bigger than the bars and clubs we’re used to. We’re going to have to spend every waking minute perfecting our set.”
I let out a heavy breath, needing just a moment for it to sink in. “You have no idea how happy I am for you guys,” I say as Ezra smiles and reaches across the table to squeeze my hand. His touch is electrifying, and if my brother weren’t here, I know I’d already be in his arms. Hell, with this level of excitement, I probably would have kissed him, tongue and all, and surely he would have kissed me back. “But what’s the catch?”
The boys cringe and share another glance as I start to become frustrated. “Just tell me,” I mutter. “You’re both sitting there looking like someone just shoved a sour lemon up your asses, and the longer you don’t tell me, the harder I want to smack you.”
Ezra lets out a heavy breath and adjusts himself in the booth as he holds my stare with nothing but pure devastation in his dark eyes. “Because this is our first tour, they want to overlook our rehearsals, and in order to do that,” he says slowly. “We have to relocate to LA.”
I’m taken by surprise, and I sit up a little straighter. “Oh, umm . . . okay. That’s not such a huge deal, is it?” I ask. “I mean, it’ll be a lot to organize on short notice, but switching schools shouldn’t be too bad. I’ll get a transfer and enroll at one of the schools over there.”
“Rae,” Axel says, his voice softening. “It’s not that easy.”
“Of course it is.”
“Rehearsals are only going to be a few months, and then we’ll be on tour, jetting from one place to another. You won’t be able to do school that way. You need stability if you plan to go to college, and following us from city to city isn’t it,” he says. “Plus, you’re still a minor, Rae. I’d have to get Dad to sign off on everything and somehow become your guardian, and you know how Dad is. That’s not going to happen.”
“Wait,” I say, pulling my hand back from Ezra’s. “What are you saying?”
Ezra catches my stare as I feel tears already welling in my eyes. “You have to stay here, Rae,” he says as I shake my head. “Your whole life is here. School, friends, home. I can’t take you away from that just to follow us around. I won’t do it. You have a whole life ahead of you.”
“No,” I breathe, pulling right back, my chest heaving with gasping breaths as the ugly realization of what a life here with Dad would mean for me when the boys are no longer here to deflect his anger. “No. You can’t leave me here. I’m coming with you.”
“And what about college, Rae?” Axel asks. “You’ll never even see the admissions office if you don’t graduate high school, and on the road with us, that’s not an option.”
I shoot to my feet, the tears already rolling down my cheeks as I look between the two people who mean the most to me in this cruel world, the two who are talking crazy and saying they’re about to abandon me here. “You can’t do this. Please. Please don’t leave me behind,” I cry, waiting for one of them to realize how sick this joke is and tell me they’re lying. “I swear, I’ll figure it out. I’ll find a way to graduate. I’m sure there’s online education or, or . . . I don’t know. People get their GEDs outside of school all the time. I can do that.”
Axel hangs his head in his hands as Ezra gets up from the table and makes his way around to me. He grips my arms, pulling me in close before winding them around me. “I’m sorry, Rae. You have no fucking idea how sorry I am, but we’re trying to think of what’s best for your future,” he tells me. “Believe me, I fucking hate this. The idea of being apart from you is killing me, but the life we’re about to walk into, you didn’t sign up for that.”
I look up at him, the tears rolling faster than ever. “Don’t,” I say, my voice breaking over the lump in my throat. “Don’t break us like this.”