Last night I slept with Scrunchie in my bed. I like to think it fortified me for the day ahead.
I get up and shower, then I pull on my battle gear.
Jeff gives me a double take as I sweep in the front doors. “Morning, Miss Telfer.”
“Morning, Jeff.” I hitch the empty box on my hip, my Converse sneakers silent on the carpet.
Upstairs, I clean out the office, giving instructions to a man from a moving company on how to care for my father’s art.
“You can’t take that.”
A cold voice has me looking toward the door. “Excuse me?”
Todd sneers. “That’s company property.”
“It’s my father’s.”
“Shannon Cross would’ve driven this company into the ground if he’d been here longer. His death—and you selling out—were the best things to happen to Wicked in its history.”
I lift the picture and hold it against my chest like a shield. “I didn’t realize you knew him.”
“He had a chance to hire me. He didn’t.”
I lower the picture as understanding dawns. “Can I give you some advice, Todd?” I don’t wait for him to respond. “Getting revenge on a dead man is hard. Getting anything from a dead man is hard. Respect. Love. Attention. If that’s all you want out of life, you’ll be waiting a long time.”
His gaze narrows, and I lay the frame carefully on the desk.
I lift the file I brought then nestle it under my arm.
I feel Todd on my heels as I pass through the familiar halls down to Derek’s office, where I knock before opening the door.
He’s on a call and stares at me as I grab the handset from him. “Sorry. This will only take a second, Derek will call you right back.” I hang up.
“Haley. What the hell?”
He shifts back in his chair.
“I have something for you to sign. My lawyer drew these up.” I set the file in front of him. “The rights to the recordings and files from the after-school program.”
His brows rise. “I didn’t realize this was on your mind.” He flips through the pages. “We need to put this by the board.”
“I already did. I circulated the proposal by email yesterday and got sign-offs from the other major shareholders.”
His confusion grows. “So if they’ve signed off, this is a formality?”
“It’s done, Derek,” I say, relishing the words a bit too much. “But I thought I’d give you the respect of asking for your signature as CEO.”
Todd grunts. “You can’t take those. That’s years worth of recordings. Terabytes of data.”
I glance over my shoulder, acknowledging him for the first time. “What I’m paying for the rights to those recordings is more than fair. Especially considering you called them worthless.”
And it is. In fact, it’ll be the proceeds from the sale of my house.
Derek signs and I close the folder with a smile. “Gentlemen. I’ll see you in the next board meeting.”
I stride back down the hall to my office. At the computer I’m about to leave, I double-check that all the relevant files have been uploaded, as I requested from IT, and removed from Wicked’s file system.
A feeling of satisfaction works through me. Everything the kids created in that studio since the program’s inception is mine.
In legal terms only.
Really, it’s theirs.
“Haley!” Serena calls from a window as I take my boxes out to my car. I load my car and wait until she comes down, out of breath. “Damn, running isn’t as good for me as it’s supposed to be.”
“Am I late for lunch?”
“No. You’re right on time.”
“Good. Because after, I’m going on a little trip.”
“Where?”
“Dallas.” I grin. “I need to tell Jax something, and it’s better in person.”
A strange look crosses her face. “Fine. But after lunch.” She trots in front of me, and I follow her around the building.
“Where are we going?” I call after her.
Serena stops in front of a massive bus that has me freezing in my tracks.
“Why is Jax’s bus here.” The doors are open, and my friend’s acting like I didn’t just ask a question. “Serena…”
Before I can find words, a form appears in the doorway.
Jeans.
A tight T-shirt.
Messy hair.
Amber eyes that stop my heart when they find me. “Hi, Hales.”
Jax.
I try to say the word, but all I can manage is to keep breathing.
Being around him has that effect on me, whether I haven’t seen him in days or years.
Finally, enough synapses fire to create language.
“What are you doing here?”
“Apparently I bought this years ago. It’s how I kept other people off it.”
“Don’t tell me you blew through your money already and have to tour again.”
“Not quite. I did have some ideas for how to spend my retirement, though.”
He invites me onto the bus, and with only a moment’s hesitation, I follow him up the stairs. My jaw drops.
The living room has been redone. Instead of dark maroon, it’s white with bright colors. He leads me through where the curtain used to be. Now, it’s a clear door.
“What the…” His couch and other furniture is gone. In its place, equipment. Instruments. “It’s a studio?”
“Yup. On wheels.”
“But how did you—”
“Acoustics? Jerry helped spec it out. We redid the interior.” He pats the inside wall. “Put on a few layers of absorption materials. Keeps outside noise out and all the good stuff in. I finally got to put those home reno skills to good use.”
I can barely take it all in. “It’s amazing, don’t get me wrong, but why did you do this?”
He grabs my hand. I try to ignore the tingling as I wrap my fingers tighter in his. He pulls me back to the front of the bus, where Serena’s leaning against the wall with a dopey expression on her face.
“You didn’t notice the pictures?” he asks.
Now I do.
They’re the ones from the studio, of the kids. Intermingled with ones from Jax’s tours. On stage, and on the road. Images of Jerry, Lita, Mace, Kyle, Brick, Nina, me. Even one of Cross.
My gaze catches on a plaque at the front, and I run a hand over it. “‘Big Leap Studio,’” I read under my breath.
“Now we can take it to kids at any school.”
“Wait—what do you mean we?”
His eyes gleam. “Come on. You didn’t think I’d let you produce without me? Jerry wants a proper retirement, and you can’t supervise a dozen junior high students alone.”
“You’re staying?”
Jax nods, and my breath sticks in my throat. “Here, Dallas, it doesn’t matter anymore. I’m tired of doing what I decided I wanted years ago. Because I don’t need to lock myself away. Everything we’ve done here has made me realize I have choices. I always have, even if it didn’t feel that way.” Tingles run up my arm and I glance down to see him rubbing a circle in my palm. “Annie’s on board, and Grace has agreed to a schedule of sharing time. Because I need my kid, but I also need you, Hales. I love the shit out of you. I think it started the night you got my phone back. Or maybe when you told me I was second best to Leonard Cohen.” His dry comment has me grinning. “The point is… If you’re my cliff, I’ll take you every time without looking back.”
My chest is so tight I think I’m suffocating. But it can’t be, because I’m expanding from the inside out. It’s as if I’m going to burst from all of it, and rationally I know it’s impossible, but I can’t come up with another explanation for the fluttering of my heart, the shivers across my skin.
“But… I was going to come to you,” I say when I can manage it. Words are hard when he’s looking at me like I’m the answer to everything, but I try. “I needed to do something that mattered, and I thought that’s what I was doing by taking over Wicked. I wanted something bigger than me.” I think of the kids’ music. Music that’s now theirs. “But I realized that I don’t want to do something bigger than us, Jax. I don’t want to believe there’s anything bigger than us. And we can’t have an ending, because I’m not done loving you yet.” His amber gaze works over mine, his jaw tight with emotion. “I love you more than I thought I could love someone. It’s then and it’s now and I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. But I want to find out with you.”
Jax’s mouth comes down on mine, and I grip his arms to stay upright.
His kiss is hungry, but more than that, it’s home. Not the kind of home that promises safety or security, because nothing can promise that.
The kind that promises compassion, and love, and kindness, and support. I know he’s the man I want to have it all with, the ups and the downs.
When he finally pulls back, he nods to Serena. “I want you to hear something.”
She pulls out her phone and hits Play on a song that’s familiar and new at once.
“That’s Tyler’s song.” I keep listening. It’s different than the version he sent me, because Jax comes in on a verse. Amazement bubbles through me.
“Posted it this morning, with a little Riot Act bump. It’s had three million streams since we put it up.”
“You recorded this at Wicked?”
“Yup. Wicked’s going to have a hard time arguing with the program’s success now. It’s pulling in ad revenues already.”
My head starts to spin and I reach for the wall to steady me.
“You okay?”
“I just signed a deal. Anything recorded by my kids in that studio until eight a.m. today is mine. Exclusively.”
His face splits into a grin. “Even better.”
“Todd’s going to freak,” Serena comments. “I don’t want to miss this.”
With a wink, she disappears down the stairs.
“Who’s Todd?” Jax mutters.
My mouth twitches. “No idea. I’m kind of preoccupied.”
Jax’s eyes darken, and I know what’s going through his mind when he says, “me too.”