“Coast to fucking coast!” Griffin said, grinning wide. “D-Bags are about to take over the world, man!”

Matt laughed. “More like the continent, cuz.”

Bile rose up my throat as their joy bounced off my skin. Six months. We’d be gone six fucking months…if I agreed to go. But if I said no…fuck, they were all so excited. Saying no would crush them. But saying yes…shit. November? Six months? What would that much time do to Kiera and me? Unfortunately, I already knew the answer to that.

I looked over and saw Kiera curiously approaching the table. Leaning back, I ran a hand over my mouth as fear and indecision battled inside me. Kiera froze when our eyes met, and she suddenly looked terrified. I understood why she looked that way—I felt that way. Six months…away from her. A lot could happen in that amount of time. Just look at how much had happened with her and Denny, and that had been a fraction of the time. There was no way I could say yes to this. Fuck. How could I say no?

Matt patted one of my shoulders, while Evan touched the other one. “Come on, man, this is good news,” Matt said. “This is what we’ve been waiting for. Why do you look like you’re gonna be sick? This is our once-in-a-lifetime shot! Why aren’t you stoked?”

Shaking my head, my eyes still locked on Kiera, I quietly burst their bubble. “I can’t…I can’t go.” Kiera’s eyes shifted to the people around me, and whatever she saw from my bandmates made her back up a step. Knowing they’d figured out exactly why I couldn’t go on tour with them—and knowing they were silently blaming Kiera for it—I refocused on Matt and the guys. Voice low and intense, I tried to convince them that it was purely because we weren’t ready, that it had nothing to do with my girlfriend. “Call Justin back, Matt. Tell him we can’t go on tour right now, that it’s not the right time. We’re just not ready for that type of performance, not yet. I say we tell him no. I say we stay here.”

The guys were angry. Matt shook his head while Griffin tossed his hands in the air and Evan leaned back with a sigh. “We are ready, Kell,” Matt said, an edge to his voice. “And we’re never gonna get an offer like this again. This is legit. We can’t say no.”

“I can’t go, Matt. I just can’t. Please understand,” I pleaded.

“Is this because of Kiera?” he asked, narrowing his eyes. “Are you ditching us for a girl?”