"I'm sure you all know why I called this meeting," August began.

"That's not an ominous start at all," Damon muttered.

Ian jammed his elbow in his brother's ribs. "He called us all together because you're a dumbass."

"I don't see why you wanted us here, too," one of their girlfriends said. The other girls and I nodded.

"We're here because an alteration happened that affects all of us," August continued.

Several days had passed since the confrontation with Damon and Ian's father. We'd thought everything was fine. Then Damon had gotten a call from August, the band's drummer and leader, calling a band meeting. The chagrin on Damon's face had been almost funny, like a kid being scolded by a parent for sneaking cookies from the cookie jar.

Damon told me I'd been invited to the meeting — the word invited being a polite version of, get your ass over here.

When Damon and I arrived at band's music studio, the room was already full. Ian was there with Hope, and August was there with his girlfriend Cassie, the one who had mistaken me for my sister at that party.

There were four others I'd only briefly met before. A man with bright, fire-engine red hair, clearly dyed, had his arm around a tall young woman with striking dark hair and eyes. With those features, she closely resembled the last man in the room, who was sitting next to a pretty brunette.

The red head was Cameron Thorne, the crazy party animal. I knew his girlfriend was Lily, sister to the lead singer Noah Hart. I believed Jen was the name of the girl next to him, but I could have been wrong.

Trying to keep track of names and faces was making me dizzy.

"Do you want to tell them the story, or should I?" August asked Damon.

"You make me sound like a naughty schoolboy," Damon protested.

August just stared at him patiently.

Damon's mouth twisted, disgruntled. "My dad's been blackmailing me for money for years," he said reluctantly. "I never told anyone cause he threatened Ian."

The room went silent.

"Your brother's right," Noah spoke up. "You are a dumbass."

Damon gave him the finger.

"What does this have to do with us?" Lily asked.

"Gareth Drake showed up at my house, falling down drunk," August replied.

"Wait, what?" Damon and Ian both said at the same time.

"What the hell?" Cameron blurted.

"Oh my god," Jen said.

Noah just looked taken aback.

"He told me he would press charges against Damon for assault if I didn't give him money." August pressed his lips together. "After what happened last time, he knew I'd do anything to protect the band."

"I hope you told him to fuck off," Noah said. Jen shushed him.

A bone-chilling smile crept across August's face. "I imparted upon him the consequences if he so much as contacted any one of us again." The scary look on his face faded into concern. "Still. He showed up while Cassie was there. I would hate to think what might happen if he showed up at one of your places while Lily or Jen were there."

"So what's the plan?" Lily asked.

"For now I've got people keeping an eye on him," August said. "But I just wanted you all to be aware that this guy is around and trying to cause trouble."

"Sounds like he's been around and trying to cause trouble for years," Cameron muttered. Lily laid a hand on his arm. The tension he held in his shoulders eased, but the frown on his face stayed. "Seriously man, what the hell were you thinking, keeping this from everyone for so long?"

"Like you're one to talk," Damon said bluntly. He eyed each of them. "None of you can say shit to me when it comes to secrets."

Every single person in the room turned various degrees of shame-faced, from Lily and August's visible winces, to the slight twitch of Noah's eyebrow. They all nodded and murmured their agreement.

My heart sank, guilt and remorse swirling in my gut.

I wasn't really lying to Hope, I reasoned to myself. I just wasn't telling her the whole story.

A lie of omission is still a lie, my inner voice snarked. I told it to quiet down.

"Now that we're all here, we need to discuss something else," Ian said.

Cameron groaned. "What else did your idiot brother do?"

"Not him. August." Ian gave the drummer a pointed stare. "We're supposed to be playing at Damon's charity event." He left the rest unspoken.

"I'm fine," August said immediately. Cassie poked him in the side. "I will be fine," he amended.

"What do the doctors say?" Cameron asked Cassie directly, bypassing August.

"They say he's not quite ready to go back to playing right now," Cassie said matter-of-factly. August scowled. "But they also said he'll probably be fine by the event, as long as he takes it easy and rests and does his physical therapy."

"Which I've been doing," August jumped in. "I'm not straining myself. I'll be fine to perform."

Cameron and Noah looked at each other skeptically.

"We don't want you working yourself too hard," Ian said.

"We don't need you to relapse," Damon continued.

"We just want you to be okay," they both said at the same time.

August's lips twitched into a smile. "You guys. I am okay. I promise." He wrapped his arm around his girlfriend. "I have Cassie to keep me in line, after all."

The group relaxed somewhat, although Noah and Cameron still looked concerned.

With nothing else to discuss about, the meeting was declared over. Damon threw his arm around me. We had planned another dinner date. He'd told me to put the vibe in my purse.

I shivered thinking about it.

My phone pinged with an alarm reminder. I checked it. My heart sank.

"Shit," I murmured. "I forgot it's Wednesday."

"What's so wrong about Wednesdays?" Damon asked.

"It's nothing," I said quickly. "I just have to skip dinner tonight."

"What? Why?" Damon looked concerned. "We don't have to do the vibe thing if you don't want. It can just be normal dinner."

I shook my head. "No, that's not it."

Damon looked at me curiously. "What is it, then?"

"I've just got to go now," I said vaguely, distinctly aware that Hope was only a few feet away.

"Go where?"

"It's just have something I need to do."

He snorted. "Because that's not evasive at all." He eyed me glancing at Hope. "No, really. What's up? You look upset."

"I just have a thing," I said lamely, trying to think up a lie on the spot and coming up empty.

"Right. A thing." He shook his head. "I thought we just finished having a conversation about secrets?"

"This isn't a secret," I said with an uncomfortable pang in my stomach. "I'm just busy tonight."

"Should I ask Hope what's got you so upset?" Damon asked.

"No!"

Damon paused, taken aback at my reaction. "I'm coming with you," he said.

"No you're not."

"Why are you're always so stubborn?"

"Look who's talking."

"I'm not stubborn, I'm an impulsive asshole, remember?"

"How could I ever forget?"

"And here I thought you looooved me?" Damon drawled, teasing. "Are you going to keep secrets from the man you love?"

I let out an exasperation sigh and ran my hands through my hair, smoothing it down. "You're not going to give up, are you?"

"Nope."

I cast my eyes down. "Fine. Let's go."