Without looking my way, Rain waved her hand at me and started group-hugging her friends. And just like that, her interest in me was gone. I was forgotten, dismissed, disregarded. Because it was Rain, and I wasn’t interested in rekindling anything with her, I really didn’t care, but it drove home all my fears about Kiera. What if she moved on from me while I was gone? That reaction could be how she treated me when I got back from this…adventure. A dismissive wave as she went about her life without me.

No…not if I could help it. She wasn’t going to forget me; I wouldn’t let her.

When the door shut behind us after we left, we could still hear the girls squealing in excitement. Evan laughed at their exuberance. “They remind me of us, back when we got our first big break.”

A soft chuckle left me as I thought back to when we’d booked our first major show, back in L.A. Griffin had nearly peed himself he’d been so excited. God, that seemed so long ago. We’d all been so carefree back then, not a single fucking worry in the world. But the world hadn’t let us stay that way for long. Or at least, it hadn’t let me stay that way for long. No, fate had wiped out my parents, then sent me on a collision course with my best friend’s girlfriend. And now…now I didn’t know what the hell was going to happen.

“Yeah…” I muttered. “Different time…”

Evan sighed, then smacked me on the back. Hard. “Ow! What the hell?” I snipped, glaring at him.

Frowning, he pointed at the sky. “It’s a beautiful day. You got the girl of your dreams. You’re about to have the experience of a lifetime. Quit fucking moping.”

I blinked at hearing him drop an f-bomb. He didn’t swear all that often since he’d started dating Jenny. She was always getting after us for our language, and it had rubbed off on Evan. Guess my mood was rubbing off on him too. He was staring at me with such an exasperated look on his face that I couldn’t stop the laugh I felt bubbling inside me. When he noticed my mood shifting, he started laughing too.

“Okay…Jesus, I’ll lighten up,” I told him. Reaching around, I rubbed the sore spot on my back. “Why is everyone always smacking me?”

Evan grinned. “Because you’re really fucking frustrating.” He let out a long exhale. “Goddamn, it feels good to swear.” Closing his eyes, he let out a long stream of obscenities. I raised an eyebrow as I patiently waited for him to finish. When he was done, he cracked an eye open. “Got to get it all out now, while Jenny’s not around.”