I cupped the steaming mug of coffee in both hands, my teeth chattering as I stared out at the waves crashing against the shore. Chase’s note stuck out from under my iPad, the edges fluttering in the morning breeze.

Sweet Taryn,

I’m heading back to Austin. Have a good time at your party. You deserve it. I hope you find everything you’re looking for in your new life.

Love,

Chase

If not for the hastily scrawled message and the pain in my foot, I could almost believe the whole thing was a dream. But the ache in my chest, expanding and contracting with every breath I took? Yeah, that was real.

The back door creaked open, and I twisted around, my lips frozen in a smile that slid right off my face when Beckett walked toward me, a blanket tucked under his arm and a look of discontent coating his features.

“It’s freezing, babe.” Draping the coverlet over my shoulders, he took a seat beside me on the chaise lounge. “What are you doing out here without a robe?”

His gaze shifted to Chase’s note. Prying the letter from its hiding place, his brow furrowed.

“Unfuckingbelievable.” He released a short, irritated breath. “He was here?”

Unable to meet his gaze, I stared at the shore and nodded.

Please don’t ask … please don’t ask …

“Did you sleep with him, T-Rex?”

Throwing in my pet name was a nice touch.

“Yes.”

I waited for the fallout, but there was none. Instead, he pulled me to him and whispered, “Why?”

There was too much hurt in his voice, so I took the easy way out, buying some time. “Why what?”

“Why him?”

“It’s not a competition, Becks.

Resting his chin on my shoulder, he gazed at the ocean, caressing my stomach over the fabric of my T-shirt. “I love you, Taryn. So help me, I do.” Pausing for a moment, he continued in a deep, sorrowful tone. “We were happy once, remember? Won’t you at least try?”

Morning sun danced off his thick, dark locks. And he looked seventeen. Or Eighteen. Twenty-four. Beckett would always look that age to me, I realized. Time stood still after the accident, when he started seeking the company of other women. I didn’t want to know that Beckett. But he was in there. The older version.

I tucked a strand of his long hair behind his ear. “You’ve got a couple of grays popping out.”

“Nobody stays young forever.” Gaze fixed on the water, his smile turned bitter. “Except …”

Rhenn and Paige. Forever twenty-four.

“Yeah, I know.”

Reflexes took over, and I pulled away. I didn’t want to go there. To the place where the wounds were so deep, so raw, if you grazed them they would bleed.

Beckett scooted to the head of the lounger. “So why did you let him …” Jaw clenched, he shook his head. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I didn’t ask you to wait.”

“You didn’t need to.”

I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders to ward off the chill that swirled between us. “Have you forgotten how long I waited?” I asked. “Years. I’ve been waiting for you since …”

We could run from it, but we always ended up in the same spot. That moment in time when everything changed. The tiny fissure I felt that day became a chasm we couldn’t breach.

“It wasn’t all me, T-Rex.” Anger flashed in his eyes as he took a step into our past. “You booked the first tour. I asked you to go.”

“You know I had to stay with Tori.”

“I know that. But I was hurting too.” He looked down at his clasped hands. “I needed you.”

“Yeah, I could tell.”

He shuddered, the verbal blow rocking him in his seat. “I made a mistake.”

“Once is a mistake, Beckett. I could forgive one mistake.” I sighed. “But after that—”

“It was easier after the first time,” he admitted. “Everybody knew. Hell, you knew. And you forgave me.” I didn’t fail to notice a tiny bit of blame in his eyes. And I accepted it willingly. He was right. I’d prolonged the agony. “I never made you a promise I didn’t try to keep,” he said.

Tears stung the back of my eyes, but I willed them away. “Don’t you see? You’re asking me to do it again. And nothing has changed, not really.”

He pulled me forward, his fingers digging into my arms. “But it has. After Maddy …” He closed his eyes as her name slipped over his tongue. “After she moved in, I realized it was you I wanted. It was always you.”

He was telling the truth. Finally. It didn’t change anything. But it was nice to know the depth of his feelings for me.

“I believe you.” I smiled softly. “And I love you. I really do. But I’m not in love with you.”

He pressed his forehead to mine, his cobalt eyes etched with pain. “Can’t I love you enough for the both of us?”

“I tried that. It doesn’t work.”

He gripped the back of my hair, and for a second I thought he would kiss me. Instead, he asked, “But you’re in love with Chase, aren’t you?”

Yes. “It’s not that simple.”

“He explained things, though, right? Y’all talked?”

I cocked my head. Beckett knew something. Maybe he knew everything. Maybe it was only me that lived in the dark, blind to everyone’s faults.

“Talk is overrated,” I said dully, recalling Chase’s face the day he said that very thing to me in his loft. “It doesn’t change things.”

Beckett ripped a hand through his hair. “Not everyone is fucked up like me, T-Rex.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“If I thought there was a chance in hell for us, I’d kick Noble’s ass and take what’s mine.” He blew out a resigned breath. “But you’re not mine anymore, are you?”

“I’ll always be yours.” My brow furrowed at the admission. “But not in that way.”

He pulled me to him, stroking my back as I laid my head on his chest. “I guess that’ll have to be enough.”

His heart beat steadily against my ear, providing the assurance no words could ever convey. What we had, it was real. So real, it evolved. Like our matching tattoos, there was no end for Beckett and me. We just completed the circle and wound up where we started. As friends.

Friends at least …

I took a deep breath as I looked out the black tinted windows. Two searchlights pierced the haze of smog, beckoning the army of limos snaking the winding driveway to Mac’s Beverly Hill’s mansion.

I glanced at Beckett, thrumming his fingers on his bobbing leg. “Nervous?”

He shook his head. “I just want to get this shit over with.”

A stab of guilt shot through me.

The launch party was meant to be the crowning jewel in the band’s history. A shining moment. But since I’d insisted on recutting most of the tracks on the album, and we came in six months behind schedule, a dark cloud hung over the event.

Mac, the head of the label, insisted on using his personal home for the venue, and I capitulated in the interest of diplomacy.

As the exhaust fumes penetrated the cabin, choking me in my seat, I questioned my decision.

“I’m sorry, Becks.” I sighed. “I know this is all kinds of messed up. But we need Metro’s support. If I snubbed Mac’s invitation, we’d—”

“Stop apologizing, babe.” He took my hand, entwining our fingers. “It’s not your fault. Metro’s not pissed because of the delay. They’re pissed because we’re leaving. That’s on Tori.” His lip curled inadvertently. “And Noble.”

I nodded, marveling at Beckett’s loyalty. He obviously had reservations about leaving Metro and signing with Phoenix Souls, the fledgling label Tori formed with Chase. But he did it. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. All of the Big Three were jumping ship, following their leader, though it was yet to be announced in the press.

“Chase is a brilliant musician,” I begrudgingly admitted, caressing my thumb over his to soften the blow. “You won’t regret it. I’ve heard some of the rough cuts he produced on the Caged project. They’re awesome.”

Beckett ran an agitated hand over his scalp. “I said I’d give it a try,” he grumbled. “For Tori. But if Noble starts—”

“He won’t.” I tried for a smile, but failed miserably. “What unites you is greater than what divides you.”

Me. I was the divisor. And since I wasn’t in a relationship with Chase or Beckett, they’d work things out for the greater good.

“Here we go,” Beckett said as the limo ground to a halt.

As his manager, I waited for Beckett to forge ahead, claim the spotlight he so richly deserved. But like a hundred other times, as he stepped onto the curb, he reached for me. I slid my hand into his without hesitation. For tonight at least, I’d play my role.

Beckett’s girl.

The flashbulbs popped as he pulled me onto the red carpet. “Smile pretty,” he whispered, brushing a kiss to my temple. “You look beautiful.”

Becks, Taryn over here …

Taryn turn this way.

Beckett … where’s Maddy?

A small tremor shook Beckett’s body, but the smile remained. “Fucking moron,” he grumbled, dropping his hand to the small of my back to guide me to the door.

My steps faltered when I spotted Tori waiting at the end of the red carpet, her face an inscrutable mask.

Beckett nudged me gently as we approached. “Play nice, T-Rex.”

I shifted my gaze to Dylan, rooted to his spot beside Tori. I’m sure he’d issued a similar order. Tori’s lips curved into a smile, and six months of stilted conversations and awkward silence evaporated. Reaching for each other, we collided, arms wrapped in a tight embrace.

“I missed you,” she breathed.

I blinked hard as tears threatened to reduce my smoky eye makeup to sludge. “Me too, Belle.”

I pulled away, and then Beckett slipped an arm around my shoulder, smiling softly at Tori.

“Let’s rock this fucker,” he said, pulling me to his side. “One more for the road.”