“It’s nice to meet you, Everly,” Gael told me before turning to Julian. “Although why you chose a dingy bar as the place to introduce everyone to your girlfriend, I have no idea. Shouldn’t you be trying to impress her with a fancy dinner out?” Gael grinned and nudged Julian to show he was kidding.

“I like the atmosphere,” I replied.

Jessie had roped me and Julian into getting Gael to Walt’s bar for his surprise party. If it had been anyone else, it might have been suspicious, but with me and Julian dating now, we had a good cover. Not to mention, Gael’s actual birthday wasn’t until next week.

“Julian’s kept pretty quiet about you,” Gael told me. “I keep bugging him to spill all the details but he won’t say a word.”

“Is this the part where you start bugging me?” I guessed wryly.

“You got it,” Gael winked. He pushed open the door to the bar. “In fact, why don’t you start with telling me why—”

“SURPRISE!”

Gael stopped in the doorway, mouth dropping in surprise. At least two dozen people were in the bar, all clapping and cheering. Jessie bounced over and threw her arms around her boyfriend.

“Happy birthday,” she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

He curled an arm around her waist.

“You got me!” he laughed. “You fucking got me.”

“Did you really have no idea?” Jessie asked, eyes sparkling.

“None.” Gael grinned. “I thought you were just planning steak and a blowj—”

Jessie smacked her hand across his mouth to stop him.

“You better not finish that sentence or I won’t give you your surprise gift,” she warned.

His eyes lit up. “There’s more surprises?”

“Let me show you.” Jessie took his arm to drag him away. “Thanks guys,” she told us. “I don’t know how else I would have gotten him here without suspecting anything.”

“No problem,” Julian said.

A crowd of people surged around Gael and Jessie as all the well-wishers wanted to tell him happy birthday.

With a hand on the small of my back, Julian guided me to a small table near the bar. Cerise and the man I knew to be Liam Knight, her guitarist and boyfriend, were already sitting there.

“Not going to greet the birthday boy?” Julian asked as we both took a seat. He put an arm around the back of my chair, not quite touching me, but still displaying a small sign of possessiveness. I shouldn’t have liked it as much as I did.

“We already took Gael out for dinner,” Cerise said.

“We thought it would help keep the surprise a secret,” Liam added.

“I really don’t think he guessed at all,” I said. “He seemed really shocked.”

“My brother is a pretty straightforward person,” Cerise said. “I don’t think he’s the type to expect deception.” Cerise tilted her head at me. “It’s nice to see you again, Everly. How are things going?”

A little spike of panic went through me. We were behind on the song, and I knew it.

“We’re doing pretty well,” I said. “Making a lot of progress.”

“I don’t just mean work.” She nodded to me and Julian with a warm smile.

I looked to Julian, hesitant. I wasn't sure how much he had told his friends about me and him. We’d only just gotten back together.

“We’re good,” Julian said simply, and that was the end of it.

“I’m glad,” Cerise said, not seeming perturbed by his short answer.

Liam put an arm around Cerise’s waist and tugged her close.

“You two certainly seemed to have gotten your shit together a lot faster than we did,” he said with a chuckle.

“I did take a lot of convincing, didn’t I?” Cerise gave Liam a soft smile and rested her head on his shoulder.

I tried not to do a double-take. Cerise Moreau always had this bad-ass, larger-than-life thing going on. It was odd watching her act almost sappy.

Julian had averted his eyes, looking out at the bar, avoiding their display of affection. I wondered if he found it as disconcerting as I did.

People really did act differently around their loved ones compared to their public personas.

It shouldn’t have surprised me. When Julian opened up to me, he was like a completely different person compared to how he acted around others.

Even with Cerise and Liam, his friends and bandmates, he was quieter, almost subdued.

“Aw, fuck yeah!” I heard Gael yell from across the room. “I’m gonna kick your ass to the moon!”

Everyone in the bar hooted and hollered.

“What was that about?” I asked.

“It’s Jessie’s present to Gael,” Cerise said.

Before she could explain further, Gael and another man got up on the small raised platform at the far end of the room. It wasn’t quite large enough to be a full stage, but there were two bass guitars set up with some amps, along with a table of what looked like shots.

The other man had bright, fire-engine red hair and a manic grin on his face. I instantly recognized him as the bassist for the rock band Darkest Days. He said something to Gael that I couldn’t hear. Gael gave him the middle finger in response, shooting him an equally demented grin.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Gael has this not-so-friendly rivalry with Cameron Thorne,” Liam explained. “Jessie set up some kind of face-off to determine once and for all who’s the better musician.”

“What if he loses?” I asked worriedly.

“That’s the fun part,” Cerise said. “Each of them needs to take one of Seth’s shots every five minutes.”

“And of course,” Liam added, “Seth did his best to make these shots as disgusting as possible.”

“Gael’s built up a tolerance after so many years of choking down those abominations of Seth’s,” Cerise continued. “So Cameron’s going to lose.”

A man with sandy blond hair wandered over to our table, his arm around a pretty brunette.

“They’re also both going to be on the floor and throwing up by the end of the night,” the guy said.

“That, too,” Cerise agreed. She turned to make introductions. “Everly, this is Nathan, my other guitarist, and his girlfriend Becca. Guys, this is Everly Davis, Julian’s girlfriend. She’s the one we hired to work with us.”

Nathan shook my hand firmly, followed by Becca’s softer squeeze.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Everly,” she said politely. She had a heart-shaped face and a sweet smile. “I haven’t heard a thing about you.” Her eyes twinkled with playfulness as she shot a teasing look at Julian.

I laughed and poked him in the chest.

“Why am I not surprised?” I said.

“You and Julian used to be in that band together, right?” Nathan said. “I remember from way back. You opened for one of my friend’s bands. You guys were awesome.”

“Thanks,” I said, pushing back a small stab a pain. It hurt to be reminded of the past. But things were better now. Those festered wounds inside me had begun to heal. “You’re pretty awesome up there on the stage, too. But I’m sure you know that.”

“Sure do,” Nathan said with a smirk.

Becca nudged him with her shoulder.

“What have we learned about modesty?” she teased.

“That I’m never going to have any?” he grinned.

The squeal of feedback assaulted our ears and we all winced.

“Sorry!” Jessie called out as she fiddled with the amps. “Okay, we’re good!”

Within seconds, the heavy thrum of bass guitar echoed throughout the room. The contest had begun.

Nathan and Becca took a seat at our table. Julian and I scooted over to make room.

“How’s your song going?” Nathan asked Julian.

“Not bad,” he replied. “You?”

“I’ve been having a bitch of a time. This one here,” he jabbed a thumb at Cerise, “is being a hard-ass, as I’m sure you know.”

Julian just gave him an enigmatic smile.

Nathan turned to Cerise, not bothered by Julian’s terse responses.

“We’ve still got some time, though, right?” he asked her.

“Not as much time as we think,” Liam warned.

The three of them started talking timelines and dates. Julian shifted to lean closer, joining in on their conversation without words.

I wondered if all they ever talked about was their music and their work. It wouldn’t have surprised me. It was well known that Cherry Lips were some of the hardest working musicians in the industry. It was what helped them get where they were today.

“Aw, fuck!” I heard someone curse out with a choked sputter. It was that Cameron guy on stage. “This is fucking terrible. Who made this?!”

“That would be me,” Seth shouted out. I could hear the pleased grin in his voice.

“So, Everly,” Becca said, turning to me. “Nathan said you used to be in a band with Julian. You’re a musician too?”

“Used to be,” I said. “Now I’m mostly behind the scenes.”

“I always wondered what it would be like to work with Nathan,” she said.

“Working with Julian has been…” I tried to think of a word to describe all the shit we’d been through. “Challenging,” I finished. “But it’s a good challenge.”

I heard a thump from the stage and turned to see a bright red head stumbling around and nearly falling over. Cameron grabbed the edge of the table full of shots with one hand and put the other to his mouth, his bass guitar swinging from the strap around his shoulders.

“The fuck…” he groaned. “I’m gonna die. How do you drink these things without hurling?” Cameron complained to Gael.

“Practice,” Gael smirked as he continued wailing on his instrument.

“You can do it, babe!” Jessie yelled from off stage with a handful of claps. “Beat his ass to the ground!”

“Nathan mostly keeps his work separate from our relationship,” Becca said, making me turn my attention back to her. “He doesn’t want to bring work home. Of course, that doesn't stop him from playing music all hours of the day,” she laughed. “But I like it. It’s like he’s playing just for me.”

“It’s different with me and Julian,” I said. “The music is so intertwined with our relationship. I think it helps make us stronger. There’s things we can’t express in words that we can through song.”

I hadn’t planned on saying that, but the moment the words came out, I realized it was true. Whenever we made music together, I could feel what he felt. I could feel the things he wasn’t able to say.

Was it enough that he could express himself through song?

Maybe it would have to be.