Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(81)

Ari and Sydney woke up and joined us sometime later. My aunt and uncle busied themselves in the kitchen, making us a big breakfast before we got on the road. Somehow, in the midst of it all, Sydney had weaseled her way into coming back to Princeton with us. I didn’t even try to fight her on it. It’d be nice to have her crazy ass around even if she always caused more trouble than she was worth.

When breakfast was over, we got back on the road. My brain wouldn’t shut down as I thought about the last f*cked-up twenty-four hours of my life. Ari seemed particularly quiet. I was glad to have Sydney around to fill the silence with her constant chatter.

When we finally made it back to my place, I took a deep breath as I put the car in park. I hadn’t realized how f*cking messed up I’d been in the car, wondering if my dad would still be here. I hadn’t known what I would f*cking do if that were the case. But my dad wasn’t here. There was no sign of him, except for the bullet hole in my living room. I was sure I was going to have to explain that to the guys, and I was not looking forward to that conversation.

Sydney hopped out of the truck, and instead of heading for my house, she marched straight over to the neighboring building. I shook my head when Miller answered the door with shock written all over his face. The man had his work cut out for him with that one.

I walked to my house when I realized Ari wasn’t with me. “You coming?” I asked.

She chewed on her bottom lip and shook her head. Fear prickled through my nerve endings.

What the f*ck? I thought we were okay. I thought everything was okay.

I knew she had been quiet on the drive over here, but I hadn’t thought it was anything serious.

“What’s going on, Ari? Is this about my dad? Is it about the gun?”

“Oh, Grant, no.” She walked over to me and placed her hands on my chest. “I just…need to take care of some things.”

“What things?”

“Things I’ve been neglecting. I think seeing everything that happened with your dad and being surrounded by your family who loves you so much…I don’t know. It made me realize that maybe I’m missing something in that department, too. Need to make my own amends. You know?”

I smiled. “I think that’s a good idea.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, Princess. Not everyone has my f*cking baggage. Your family might have treated me like shit, but they’re still your family.”

She sighed heavily. “That’s a relief. But…there’s something else.”

“What?”

“I can’t go on tour with you this summer with The Drift,” she said in a hurry. “I’m going to accept a job working in a lab with one of my professors.”

My mouth opened, and then I closed it. I knew I’d told her I wanted her to come on tour with me before, and I did want her there. But…a rock tour was no place for someone like Ari. Working in a lab was exactly the place for her.

“That’s great, Ari. I didn’t expect you to drop everything to come on tour with me.”

“Oh.”

“I want you there! I do, but you have school. You’re so brilliant, babe. Someone like you needs to make something of yourself. You’re going to cure cancer and f*cking save the world.”

“Oh, Grant,” she said in that adorable way she always said my name.

“I don’t want you giving up any of your dreams for me. I’m still going to be here. I was gone for two months, and we were fine. We’ll make it,” I told her. Then, I punctuated it with a kiss.

“You’re right.” She leaned in for another kiss. “Are you going to be okay if I leave right now?”

“I’m fine. I’m not a delicate little flower,” I joked. “I need to fill the guys in anyway.”

She nodded, we kissed, and then she was gone. I watched her drive away in her BMW. My chest f*cking ached as I watched her leave. I wanted her here. She was as much my life raft now as the day when I had written that song about her all those months ago.

Then, it hit me—what I’d been missing in my new song all along.

I dashed into the house, grabbed my notepad, and scribbled down the lyrics and melody that had been evading me all during the tour. Everything crystallized, and by the time rehearsal came around, I had our new song polished and ready to go.

A couple of hours later, I walked into the garage to find Miller, McAvoy, Vin, and Sydney waiting for me with giant f*cking smiles on their faces. “What did I miss?”

“Just got off the phone with Hollis,” Miller said. “We start recording in L.A. in a month.”

My eyes bulged. “What? A month! Shit! That’s…f*ck!”

“Yeah, it’s the shit!” Vin cried.

“He wants all our new material, none of the stuff that’s on our EP, except for ‘Life Raft.’”

“All new?” McAvoy asked warily. “Do we have enough new shit for an album?”

“We have to make it work,” Miller said.

I slapped the papers down on the table in front of them, looked around the room at my brothers, and said, “Well then, let’s get to work.”

The coward in me went to talk to my professor before calling my parents. I wanted to have good news for them once I finally got them on the phone. I’d been putting off speaking with them since they had met Grant almost three weeks ago.