Page 33 of Lance

Lance makes a scathing noise in the back of his throat. “Lookathim.”

Every head in the room turns in the direction of the kid on the couch. Even from here, the similarities are striking. Simon’s eyes are precisely the same shade as Lance, his nose the same shape. There’s even something about the set of his shoulders that looks remarkablysimilar.

“I cannot believe this,” Lance mutters, burying his head in his hands. “What am I going todo?”

“I think the bigger question is what ishegoing to do,” I blurt out, and Lance looks up at me. I regret saying it immediately—his eyes are haunted, his face pale and sweaty. He’s clearly freaking out. “I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “But he’s really scared. His mom left him. With a stranger. And he has no ideawhy.”

“What we’re going to do,” James says calmly, “is give him a safe place to stay while we figure this out.” Layla opens her mouth to speak and James holds up his hand. “Here with us. Not in the system. Layla isright.”

Lance looks at James, desperation in every line of his face. “I’m not up to this, James. You know me. You know how shit I am at responsibility. This can’t be the best place for him.Ican’t be the best place forhim.”

“You’re not on your own,” my brother says and I feel a swell of affection for him, for the strength and resolve I can hear in his voice. “This band is your family. We’re all in this together. We’ll figure it out,together.”

Lance rubs his hands over his face again and then stands, walking to the wet bar and pouring himself a glass of water. “Okay,” Louis says. “First thing first, the rest of you guys need to get togoing.”

Dylan shoots him a confused look. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s like James said, we’re all in thistogether.”

“Which I’m sure Lance appreciates,” Louis says. “And you guys can start by covering for him at the showcase while he talks to thelawyer.”

“Shit,” James mutters, looking at his watch. “The showcase. I completelyforgot.”

“We have to cancel,” Haylee says, her voice heavy. “We can’t leave rightnow.”

“There’s not a whole lot you all can do here,” Louis says. “Not tonight, anyhow. I’ll stay with Lance and wait for the lawyer and you guys go do theshow.”

“Lance sings lead on two of the new songs,” Dylan interrupts. “How arewe—”

“You’ll have to skip them,” Lance says, running his hands through his hair. A healthy dose of frustration has joined the panic on his face. “What choice do we have? I can’t leave himalone.”

“It will be fine, Lance,” Haylee says, but she doesn’t sound very convincing. “We’ll get throughit.”

James and Dylan share a dark look and I know what they’re thinking. If this showcase tonight doesn’t go well, they can kiss their hopes of recording a new album goodbye. Angie picked a pretty shitty time to put him out ofcommission.

Lance clears his throat, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “Maybe we could find a sitter tonight?” he asks hesitantly. “I mean, there have to be services who handle that kind of thing,right?”

“You’re going to leave the kid with a strangertonight?” Laylaasks.

“I’ma stranger,” Lance snaps. “He doesn’t knowme!”

I look over at James, knowing what this showcase means to him. James is convinced that if they don’t get in the studio before their next tour the music will get stale and they’ll lose the precious momentum they’ve been able to build these last few months. His brow is furrowed and I get the impression he’s fighting to come up with a solution that will allow them to play the show as planned—while not making a traumatic situation that much more traumatic for an innocentkid.

“I…I could stay,” I suggest and Lance’s head snaps up to look at me. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind. We can order room service and watchTV.”

“You would do that?” Lance asks, sounding immensely relieved. Layla glares at him in disbelief but she keeps her mouthshut.

“Minnie, you don’t have to do this,” James says, but I can see the relief on his face,too.

“It’s fine,” I say. “I’m good with kids.”Better than with most adults, I think. “I hang out with Nia’s little sisters all thetime.”

Even as I’m saying it, there’s a part of me that’s waiting for Lance to disagree, to say of course he isn’t going to leave the kid right now, not when his entire life has been upheaved in the last two hours. But he doesn’t. Instead, he looks profoundly relieved, like a man who’s been spared from some hideousfate.

He’s just scared, I tell myself.You don’t need to judge him. This is a lot to takein.

“Well, that would really help us out,” Louis tells me, but there’s not a lot of relief in his expression. He looks a lot like Layla right now, actually.He thinks it’s messed up, too,I realize. “I can have the lawyer meet us at the venue instead,Lance.”

Layla is still staring at Lance in disbelief. “You want to go play a rock show right now?” she finally snaps. “Seriously?”

Lance doesn’t look at her. “I want to do my job,” he growls. “Since that’s about the only thing I have control over in this fucked upsituation.”