Page 297 of Sweet Nightmare

“I’ve written more music in the last few weeks than I have in almost a year. I sleep thinking about her. I wake up thinking about her. And every time something happens that I know she’d find funny, my first thought is that I need to tell her.”

I shake my head.

“I see snow and wonder if she’d want to skate. I hear a piece of music and wonder what she’d think of it. I walk into a room and notice the chair she always sits in before I notice anything else.”

Andrea’s expression softens.

“I don’t know exactly when it happened,” I admit. “I just know it did.”

I look at Lucan.

“I know she’s brave. I know she’s kinder than she lets people see. I know she’s spent years building walls around herself, and I know better than to assume I have the right to tear them down.”

My voice lowers.

“And I know she was lonely.”

I swallow.

“So was I.”

Andrea looks away for a moment. Lucan doesn’t move.

Finally, he asks the question I’ve been expecting since I walked through the door.

“What exactly are you asking us?”

“I want your blessing.”

Andrea’s eyebrows lift.

Lucan simply watches me.

“I want permission to pursue her properly. I won’t do anything she doesn’t want. I won’t pressure her, interfere with her career, or make her choose between me and her dreams.”

I sit back slightly.

“But I want the chance to love her like she deserves.”

Lucan leans back.

“Why?”

I frown. “Why what?”

“Why her?”

That’s the easiest question anyone has ever asked me.

“Because she makes me want to become better.”

I pause.

“Not someone different. Better.”

A faint smile pulls at my mouth.

“I don’t have to perform around her. I don’t have to be Khaos. I don’t have to be the man everyone expects me to be. I can just be Stephen.”