Page 110 of The Catch

Music of all sorts plays loud in the background. A new song comes on, and I pretend it's exactly what I need to quiet the mind. It's smooth and romantic, despite the faster beat someone added to it. Like a remix of a love song you might dance to at the club, and move to slowly at night, once the melody and you and someone special are stripped down to the basics.

I would make lov— I would seduce Ames to this song, in its original form.

Or so I think, until a word gets pronounced in an unexpected way. The voice sounds familiar and yet…

I frown.

Logan stares at me with a similar gesture. "Evie played this for me, I think. Do you recognize it?"

The lyrics are easy to follow.

Persistence through the years

Tenderness at these keys

Love, dry your tears

We're settled

It's settled

"Fuck," I mutter.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bear asks.

A dance remix of Aidan's ballad. The one he wrote for Ames.

Disgust washes over my torso, cold and sticky as if I'd spilled my drink.

"Change that!" I yell to Amir, an edge rusher currently leading the music selection.

"It's a good song!" He screams back.

"I don't want to hear it," I insist. "That singer is an asshole."

"Change it, Amir." Dom complains. "We're celebrating, but not with that song."

"Fine!" Amir complains, but skips the song to something I don't recognize.

"That was a downer," Damián says.

"Is he still acting like a vulture?" Logan sips from his drink.

Disdain pools in my stomach, condensing into a sickening feeling. I put my beer on a nearby table and cross my arms.

The corners of my lips turn down. "Not for a while. Not since Ames told him to get lost at the club."

"And how areyouacting around her, these days?" Logan asks.

I rub my left temple and mostly ignore his question, though I steal a glance.

He raises a challenging eyebrow. "I'm only returning the favor. Remember the interventions you put me through last year?"

"And what makes you think I need an intervention?" I ask.

I reach back for my beer, mostly to have something to do with my hands.

"You have all the signs." His tone is wise, like he's an expert at these things now. "Even if you haven't admitted to anything."