The Sound of Us

Chapter Fifteen. “Come with Me Now” by Kongos

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“Come with Me Now” by Kongos

DANTE

When I first told Noah I wanted to become a lawyer, he pulled some strings and convinced one of the intellectual property law professors to take me on as a research assistant, a position usually reserved for law students. I didn’t love the work. Law wasn’t my passion, and it was a struggle to summarize the stacks of cases the professor asked me to read each week. But the money was good, and it gave me a chance to make connections in the law school and boost my resume with legal experience.

Although he wouldn’t admit to it, I had a feeling Noah also had a hand in my admission to Havencrest, too. I’d dropped out of high school after Sasha died and lost myself to drugs and alcohol, spiraling out of control until he’d found me busking me on the street. Not only had he helped me clean up and given me a place to stay in the suite above his garage, he had also helped me get my high school diploma, and he’d encouraged me to apply to college. I think he’d hoped I would go into the music program, and maybe if vengeance hadn’t become the driving force in my life, I would have.

I hated to disappoint Noah. I owed him everything. I had been brutally honest with him about my past and he had never judged me. In all the years I’d known him, I had only ever kept two secrets. The first was the essay writing service I started when I realized I needed an extra source of funding to pay my tuition. Noah already let me live rent free in exchange for help around his house, and he had been more than generous when he’d helped me get my life on track. I couldn’t ask for more. The second secret I ever kept from him was Skye.

That kiss in the basement was a huge mistake. I had put her at risk. I’d put Noah and the station at risk. Hell, I’d put my whole law career at risk, although to be fair I’d already done that with the essay writing service. But I couldn’t help myself. I’d never met anyone like her. Our chemistry was off the charts. Still, the guilt weighed on me. I hadn’t contacted her since we’d parted ways the previous afternoon. I needed to back off. Keep my distance. Maybe Siobhan or Nick could take over the interns and I could take over the volunteers…

“Hey, bro.” Nick punched me in the arm, pulling me out of thoughts. “Where have you been all class? You were staring into space. Are you on something? You got some for me?”

“I had an early meeting with the prof at the law school so I only got a few hours’ sleep.”

“I got an A on that paper your essay writers did for me,” he held up his phone to show me the mark on his screen. “I’ve been telling everybody I know about it. You should consider doing more advertising…”

“It has to be word of mouth,” I said. “It falls into a gray area when it comes to academic conduct.”

“Why are you doing it then?” He grabbed his backpack and followed me out of the classroom. “Don’t you need to be squeaky-clean to get into law school? Aren’t you worried you’ll get caught?”

I was worried, but I couldn’t stop. Just like I hadn’t been able to stop myself from kissing Skye in the basement. It didn’t make sense. Money wasn’t an issue anymore. I’d managed to get scholarships that, together with the research assistant money and the gig fees from the band, were more than enough to keep me afloat. I had always wondered if I had some kind of self-sabotage gene—the same thing that had made me defy my father over and over again even though I knew I would suffer the consequences.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I started out doing it for the money, and then I told myself I was helping people… now…”

“I’d tell you to shut it down, but it’s the only reason I’m getting through school.” Nick grimaced. “Does that make me a bad person?”

“I don’t think you could be a bad person if you tried.”

“Tell that to the girls,” Nick said. “It’s just one strikeout after another for me. I’m hoping Chad comes through for me tomorrow at the basketball game in the park. He’s going to introduce me to the girl who does the Bollywood Mix show. Are you coming?”

Fuck. I’d forgotten that Chad had set up a team-building basketball game for Saturday afternoon and Noah had thought it was such a great idea, he’d made it mandatory for all the volunteers. I didn’t usually show up for team-building events, but I was feeling guilty about breaking my promise to Noah about Skye and… Skye would be there.

The sensible thing—the only response—was to say no. But when I opened my mouth the word that came out was “yes.”

I wasn’t sure if it was because the station volunteers had a secret love of basketball or because Noah had made the team-building exercise mandatory, but almost everyone showed up for the basketball game on Saturday afternoon—including Skye, who had brought Isla along for moral support.

Chad split the group over three courts. I joined Skye, Nick, Haley, Siobhan, and Chad on one court playing against the hip-hop, rap, and metal show hosts, who wore matching shirts and had already come up with a team song.

“Why don’t we have a team song?” Chad complained, glaring at our team. “You’re all music people. Couldn’t you come up with something on the fly so we don’t have to just sit here when they try to intimidate us with their metal screams?”

Isla looked over at Nick with interest. “You’re a music person, too? DJ, musician, singer, or just obsessed?”

Nick brightened. He’d been down since striking out with the Bollywood Mix DJ on their way to the park. “I play guitar and sing, although not as well as Haley. I could write a team song.”

A smile spread across Isla’s face. “Will it have a scream at the end?”

“If you want a scream, I’ll give you a scream.” He moved to sit beside her and they spent the next ten minutes with their heads bent over his phone.

Skye went to practice hoops at the other end of the court. She wore leggings and a crop top that showed off her toned body, and my mind went somewhere it shouldn’t go when I was about to get involved in a contact sport. I grabbed a free ball to show off my signature move while everyone warmed up. It was a dribble drive with my right hand, followed by going behind my back and to my left. I finished with a reverse dunk and looked for Skye as I hung on the rim for an extra second, trying to appear as if I wasn’t showing off, even though I was.

Skye had stopped shooting hoops to watch me, so I called Chad for a pass and shot a basket from fifteen feet out on the baseline coming off the screen. I wasn’t a pro player like Skye, but I could hold my own on the court.

Her lips quivered with a smile, and she gave me the briefest of nods. Maybe she didn’t hate me for the way I’d left things after all.

We organized our team and the game started on a high after we sang our new team song, ending with a scream. We were having fun, draining jumpers like there was no tomorrow, and scoring big points. But soon, the vibe shifted. The metal/rap crew decided they didn’t like losing and started in with the trash talk and some excessive physical contact. We refused to call fouls, even when Chad took a slug to the face as he shot a jumper. Nick tripped the bastard as he ran back down the court. I stared the metal dude down when he opened his mouth to complain.

The metalheads had realized Skye was our ringer and focused their attention on her. Ben, the host of the metal show, started gratuitously touching her chest when she shot in front of him and applying hard pressure to throw her off-balance. My pulse kicked up a notch and I felt something dark stir inside me, something I’d buried when Sasha died. I moved to block him and got in his face. “Touch her like that again and I’ll break your fucking nose.”

Skye glared at me as she ran past. “I’ve dealt with worse,” she said. “I can handle it.”

Nick called the foul. We resumed the game, but the dude misinterpreted my threat as a challenge and became even more aggressive, holding, pushing, and throwing elbows. The trash talk became a mix of physical intimidation and personal comments, and then Ben deliberately body slammed Skye on her way down from shooting a jumper. She flew backward, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Her left foot twisted, and she grimaced in pain.

Red sheeted my vision and my pulse surged in my ears. When I saw Haley and Isla run over to help her, I crossed the court toward Ben.

“What the fuck?” I grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him up against the chain-link fence so hard it rattled. My body vibrated with tension, and the darkness I’d held back for so long came out with a roar.

For some reason, Ben didn’t seem to sense the danger. “Hey, it’s not my fault she can’t keep up.”

I shoved my forearm into Ben’s throat. “Let’s see how you keep up when I toss you around the court.”

Ben struggled in my grip, his eyes widening with fear. “Chill, bro. It’s just a game.”

“Dante.” Nick stepped in front of me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Let him go. Skye’s okay. He took it too far, but it won’t happen again. He’s not worth it.”

Nick tugged on my arm again and the darkness receded. With an irritated growl, I released Ben and made my way to Skye, who was on one foot, supported by Haley and Isla.

I was still so riled up, I could barely string two words together. “Sit.”

Skye lifted an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

I dropped to one knee in front of her. “Let me see.”

She drew in a shuddering breath and lowered herself to the bench. Haley and Isla offered to get some ice, giving us a few moments alone.

“Are you okay?” I lifted her foot to my knee.

“Yes.” She put a gentle hand on my jaw, tilting my head until our eyes met. “Are you okay?”

No, I wasn’t okay. Now that my mind was clear, I kept having flashbacks to the night I’d found Sasha in the tub. I’d spent my life trying to protect her from our father, but I hadn’t been able to protect her from herself.

“Dante?” Skye’s voice was a light in the maelstrom of emotions that were swirling inside me. “What happened?”

I tried to shake it off, focus on the warmth of her touch. “He hurt you. I want to tear him apart.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, I don’t need you to tear anyone apart on my behalf.” She cupped my face with both hands and dropped her forehead to mine. “What I need is for you to channel that protective anger into kicking some metalhead ass.”

Her gentle voice was doing strange things to my stomach and something in the air was making my damn eyes water. Maybe getting back on the court was a good idea.

Haley and Isla returned with ice and attended to Skye’s ankle while I joined the rest of the team. Ben wisely sat out. The remaining players didn’t know what hit them. Twenty minutes later it was high fives and victory hugs as the losers turned tail and walked away to the dulcet tones of Nick and Isla’s new team song, to which they’d added extra screams.

“Yeah. Run to mama,” Isla called out. “Go listen to your black death doom music on a cheap dollar-store speaker.”

“This was supposed to be a team-building exercise,” Chad muttered. “We were here to make friends with the other people at the station, not alienate them.”

I returned to the bench where Skye was testing her foot. “I’ll call an Uber,” I offered when she winced.

“It’s not that far. I can hop if I have a shoulder to lean on.”

I crouched down in front of her, giving her my back. “I’ll carry you.”

It took a moment before she understood, and then she laughed. “Piggyback? I haven’t done that since I was a kid. I’d be too heavy for you.”

“Go on,” Isla said with a grin. “It will take forever if you call an Uber and then you’ll miss out on the food trucks.”

With a sigh, Skye wrapped her arms over my shoulders. I lifted her and reached back to settle her against my hips. She fit perfectly against me, her body soft against my back. Safe. She was safe with me. Something inside me loosened and sighed.

“Why did you ghost me?” she asked quietly as we trailed behind the group.

I looked back, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“I mean we had a moment in the basement and then you ghosted me. You didn’t respond to any of my messages. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about what happened since we have to work together.”

“You said in the basement that you didn’t want me to say anything.” I’d been relieved I hadn’t had to tell her it was mistake, but now it seemed I needed to be clear, even though I regretted every word. “What happened shouldn’t have happened.”

She let out a ragged breath and her grip loosened around my shoulders. “Okay. That’s fine. I just don’t want things to be awkward between us.”

“It’s not… what I want,” I continued, hating myself for having to lie. “It’s complicated.”

“I get it. You don’t need to explain. I’m sure you’ve got girlfriends lined up and—”

I stopped so suddenly, she almost lost her grip. “I haven’t been with anyone since I met you.” And it wasn’t because the opportunities weren’t there. Molly was still trying to get me to go out with her. Even Rose had dropped some hints. But there was only one woman I wanted—the woman I couldn’t have.

Skye didn’t respond, so I carried her the rest of the way in silence.