Worth It
He turned away and stormed off.
“Rocket,” I growled after him.
“I’m not Rocket anymore.” He glanced back at me with a cold glare. “And you’re not my brother.”
I sighed, but let him go, because I agreed. We were no longer kin.
“Ready?” Felicity said, making me jump.
I glanced at her and could tell from the innocent lift of her eyebrows that she hadn’t overheard anything. That old urge rose to unload everything that had just happened on her, but I pushed it down. With a slight nod, I set the glasses I’d yet to put away to the side and started around the bar.
Asher reached us, just as I reached Felicity.
“Hey, why’d Rock tear out of here so fast?”
“Who?” Felicity asked, digging her keys from her purse.
“Rock,” Asher repeated. “The drummer in my band.”
“Oh. Is that his name?” She tossed the keys and caught them in the same hand. “Guess I didn’t know; we’ve never actually talked.”
Realizing she had no answer, Asher glanced at me.
I didn’t know what to tell him—I wasn’t sure if I wanted to advertise that we were brothers after what had just gone down. So I merely shrugged.
“Hmm.” He scowled thoughtfully. “Oh well.” He started to turn away but Felicity called after him.
“Hey, by the way. I loved the song you wrote for Pick.”
Asher slowed to a stop and then turned back, squinting. “What song?”
“Ceilings, the one about the girl who...” He was frowning at her so hard she stopped talking. Then she delicately cleared her throat. “You wrote that song about the girl leaving her baby at the hospital, right?”
Asher’s confused scowl deepened. “Yeah,” he drew out the answer deliberately.
“Well...” Felicity fidgeted, jiggling her keys. “Wasn’t it about Pick?”
“Why would that be about Pick? It was about a girl.”
“You know...I mean, don’t you know?” She turned to me, looking lost. “Doesn’t everyone know?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I doubt he went to the same school as us. Maybe he doesn’t know.”
Asher waved his hands. “Will someone please explain to me what you’re talking about? What don’t I know?”
“I’m sorry.” Felicity cringed. “It’s just...well, Pick was abandoned at the hospital by his mother when he was born. He spent his entire life in foster care. We, uh, Knox and I were younger than him in school, but everyone knew about it.”
Mouth falling open, Asher gaped at her. The shock on his face told us this was news to him.
Felicity sent me a worried glance before turning back to him. “You seriously didn’t know about that?”
Asher continued to look dazed. Then he finally shook his head and gave a distracted, “No. I...I had no idea.”
“Then who was the song about?”
“What?” He glanced at her sharply. “No one. I just...I made it up.” Scrubbing at the back of his head, he glanced at his wrist, which did not contain a watch. “Shit. I’m late for a...thing. I gotta go. See you.”
As he spun away and hurried off, Felicity stared after him before turning to me. “He didn’t just make that song up, did he?”
“Doubt it.”
She huffed out a breath. “Well, now I’m really curious who it was about. Do you think that happened to him too? His mom left him at the hospital when he was born? That would be totally wicked.”
I opened my mouth to say maybe when I remembered the first night I’d met Asher. “His dad killed his mom,” I blurted.
She whirled to me. “What?”
“The first night I worked with him, he asked me if I knew a guy from prison. I knew who he was talking about and that the guy was in there for killing his wife. Asher told me it was his dad.”
She gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth. “Holy...oh my God. Poor Asher. I had no idea.”
“Yeah.” I glanced after the singer. “I guess we all have fucked-up families. Just fucked up in different ways.”
Compassion filled her gaze. She reached for my arm as if she wanted to squeeze it, but at the last second, she changed her mind and dropped her hand. After clearing her throat, she asked, “Ready to go?”
I nodded and followed her out. Rocket was nowhere to be seen, but I still felt uneasy. I waited until we reached the apartment and Felicity had unlocked the front door before I said, “That drummer in Asher’s band. Rock. That was my brother Rocket.”