Page 73 of Silver Sweet

“She fell,” Ben says. “I think someone shoved her.”

“Who?” I ask.

Eliot searches the street with his eyes. “The bastard must be flayed.”

“I’m fine, dude,” Harriet says in a flat tone. “Just some scraped knees. You don’t need to break out the homicidal tendencies for me.”

“Where’s the fun in that,” Eliot and I say in unison. We share a grin, the night better with some unpredictable chaos. Sorry that Harriet’s knees had to be sacrificed.

Strangely…wouldn’t be the first time.

That…that memory is a weird one. She knelt on broken glass after she offered toblowCharlie in exchange for him to stop antagonizing Ben. Blow job did not happen, let it be known. Charlie rejected her. Ben consoled her. We all realized she’s a little messed up—and I don’t mean that in arudeway, even if it sounds rude.

While everyone piles into the SUV, I glance backward at the street. The Manhattan Symphony Hall isn’t too far away. I could go watch Phoenix play in the orchestra. The desire balls up in my lungs, and my breath becomes shorter and hotter.

“Tom,” Beckett calls out. “You coming?”

They’re waiting for me.

I look back and forth, my loyalty stretching painfully. How does watching Phoenix tonight help the band?It doesn’t. I am a good brother. Then I nod. “Yeah.” I climb inside.

16

TOM COBALT

“What the fuck are you doing?” Phoenix asks me with narrowed, judgmental eyes.

We met in Washington Square Park this morning, and I already downed three shots of espresso and fixed problems with the second verse in one of our more complicated songs. It’s been a productive morning, so I’m expecting the other shoe to drop at any minute.

Never did I think it’d be overthis.

“I’m uniting the nations with my charm,” I tell him. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

“It looks like I’m about to take you to the emergency room for rabies.”

He’d take me to the emergency room.

Would he carry me there or call a cab? And why is that question destroying my brain right now? I don’t move my hand away from the squirrel as it nibbles the nuts out of my palm.

“Dude, I’ve been feeding these squirrels since I was like four. They’d never betray me.”

“You do know you can’t earn loyalty from a fucking rodent—” He glances to the empty spot on the bench where I hear thebuzzof my cellphone. “You’re getting a call.”

“Be free!” I call out and toss the remainder of the nuts in the grass. The squirrel jumps off the fence and dashes for them. My fingers bite from the cold, and I slip my glove back on.

Still sitting on the bench, Phoenix holds out my cell toward me. The longer strands of his hair stick out from his baseball cap. A black scarf is loosely tied around his neck, and his exposed skin flushes pink from the cold.

His brows rise when I reach for my cell. “You really don’t have your mom in your phone asMom?”

The words ROSE CALLOWAY engulf the screen.

“Correct. Because I’m not boring.” When I snatch my phone from him, I silently remind myself to stop leaving my cell sitting around. It’s a bad habit whensomeoneelsecould have swiped it from the bench if Phoenix hadn’t been sitting right next to it.

I pull off my beanie, pressing the phone to my ear. “Hi, Mom,” I greet.

“Is this a bad time?” she asks, the frost in her voice perpetual. That’s also been her standard question ever since Phoenix joined the band. She knows I’m under an astronomical amount of pressure to finish the album—and more than anyone, she sympathizes with deadlines. With her fashion line, it’s not like she can put out winter wear in the middle of July.

I eye Phoenix. His brows furrow as he types on his phone, engrossed with something.