Higher Octave (Heavy Influence #2.5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

her
brother Kyle once again, just like I did during our three-year
separation while Aly was still in high school. My big plans to
inject myself back into her life backfired when I found out she
would be away playing beach volleyball in some foreign country all
summer. Then my new aspirations at a solo career took me back to
Britain until right before Christmas.
    Six months flew by in a blink of an eye.
    During that time, Kyle went and got married
in Vegas. Nothing eventful. No one was there, and he’d settled in
Hermosa Beach, the next town over. He had a baby on the way. I
couldn’t image myself with a kid. I was only twenty-five, after
all. Who does that anymore? I guessed Kyle did. His wife was the
epitome of the sexy librarian. Lacey was her name, and he’d met her
at his tech job. She was of average size and had a decent figure,
though she hid beneath knee-length skirts and oversized blouses.
When I first met her, I’d recognized something bubbling beneath the
surface. Her pouty pink lips and almond-shaped green eyes caught my
attention. I was stoked for Kyle.
    I wondered if my generation was getting
married younger than my parents’ generation; first Marshall and
Bobby, and now Kyle and Lacey, not to mention Dump and Sienna right
out of high school. It just seemed so early to choose whom you’d
spend the rest of your life with. Yet there I was, ready to marry
Aly if she walked through the door and said yes. I had zero
interest in a relationship with anyone else. Sure, I wanted to get
laid and have a good time, but nothing else. I pondered the
difference between all of us being ready to settle down, versus Aly
being against it. My stomach curled with resentment that she was
now engaged, ready to marry Nathan. But what did I expect? I put so
much bad energy out there, I wouldn’t have wanted to marry me
either.
    There I was back at home, like a teenager,
depending on other people to give me rides. Notting was even back
into pseudo-managing me.
    Full circle.
    I kicked my feet up onto the padded leather
ottoman in front of me and watched Notting’s tattoos dance on his
arms as he wrestled with some of my mother’s painting canvases.
Seeing his tattoos made me touch my own unfinished tribute to Aly.
Looking at it, I wanted it finished. The strands of hair needed a
blue outline, the same blue that filled the music notes.
    “Not, you know this is the first time in my
life that I don’t feel any pressure. Like zero.” I strummed the
chords, plucking a tune I’d been mixing with some lyrics. “I think
I’m gonna finally finish this tattoo, too,” I announced, with one
last strum, and then slapped my left bicep.
    He swiveled his seat to face me and moved
the blank canvas he had between his legs, leaning it against the
sofa arm. He’d been screwing in metal wall mounts into the wood of
the canvas’ frame. My mother was on a new kick. She’d begun
painting.
    “Life is good, eh?” He smiled, and his
handsome face folded together like an accordion. His new reading
glasses balanced on the tip of his nose. I saw myself in him. I had
his teeth.
    I bobbed my head. “So-so,
but better than before. There’s no struggle.” Except for Aly.
    He stood and adjusted his black wide-legged
sweat pants. “I’ve been talking to your old booking agent.”
    I perked up. “And?”
    “They’re ready when you are.”
    I held my breath. “Okay.” I was nervous, and
I found it odd, almost like it would be my first time on stage. I’d
played to sold-out stadiums and for millions of people watching
award shows, but this was something new. I wasn’t sure when I’d be
ready. I’d never been on stage without my friends.
    Notting looked at me fondly over his rimless
glasses with a smile, as if he’d read my mind. “We’ll hire a
drummer and a bass player and go from there. Simple.”
     
    ***
     
    Gabe Sherman was serious about his job. He
was precise. He was stoic. He was articulate, and most of all,
accommodating. He had to