Page 112 of Rock Bottom

“What’s it say?” Tommy asked quietly. He hadn’t said much about the situation with Carter, Harley, and River, and there was a lot about that in the letter. I figured it was time to share parts of it.

I didn’t know for sure that Carter would have wanted me to, but he wasn’t here to guide me, and my heart told me this was something we needed. Even if we decided not to keep the band together, we needed to repair our friendship. It had been important to Carter and after reading his letter, I realized just how important it was to me.

“He talked a lot about our early friendship, mine and his, high school and stuff,” I said after a moment. “But mostly he talked about the band. The five of us. What we’d accomplished not just as musicians, but as friends. The friendship was the most important thing to him. So important that he kept his son hidden from the world, even though he loved him more than anything.”

“Aw, fuck. Is this gonna make me cry again?” Kellan muttered.

“Maybe.” I paused, looking around the room and settling on Tommy. “He didn’t tell me what went on between the three of you—you, him, and Harley—but he did say he wanted to make it right. He’d been trying to work up the nerve to talk to you, to get you and Harley in the same room together. But he realized he wasn’t going to have the chance, so he left that to me.”

“Fuck.” Tommy was staring out at nothing, the look on his face inscrutable.

“As you already know, he left everything to River, with money in trust for Harley too. And I’m the administrator of that trust, to make sure she always has what she needs to take care of him.”

“Good.” Tommy still wasn’t looking at us.

“Beyond that, the thing he wanted most was for us to continue with music. He said that in his letter to the band and he went on and on about it in the letter to me. And that’s why we’re here tonight. To vote and make a decision. He knew we would take the easy way out and disband, but he was determined that we don’t.”

“He was a lot more astute than we gave him credit for,” Kingston said. “And I really fucking miss him.”

“Same.” I leaned against the island, watching Tommy. “Tom? You okay?”

“I don’t know what to say,” he said. “This is a lot to work through. Not just losing him but finding out that he’s the reason Harley left me. Finding out they had a kid together. Knowing they were keeping something so huge from me. It fucking hurts.”

“And that’s why they never told you.”

“But he’s gone now,” Kellan said quietly.

“This could be a fresh start for us,” Kingston added. “New band member, new management, new music.”

“New almost everything,” I added. “Except our brand. That stays the same.”

“Let’s vote,” Tommy said.

“It has to be unanimous.” I finally got him to look me in the eye. “This doesn’t work if all four of us aren’t on board.”

“It’s a yes from me,” Kingston said.

“Yes from me,” I said, looking at Kellan.

He looked from me to Kingston to Tommy before slowly nodding. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”

Tommy sighed.

A few seconds ticked by as he stared out at nothing again.

“I love this band,” he said finally. “The music, the fans, all of it. Including you guys.” He cleared his throat. “Including Carter.”

Kingston looked like he was going to say something, but I gave a quick shake of my head, indicating he needed to let Tommy talk this out.

“Something had started to break with the inner workings of the band,” he continued. “It started after my divorce. It got worse every time Carter went to rehab. In retrospect, I know Aurora fed that, keeping us at odds so she could control Carter with his secrets and Kellan to a degree through Didi.” He lifted his head and looked around. “That ends now. Onyx Knight was built on our sweat and tears. Our music. And more than that, our friendship. It’s time to go back to our roots.”

“So… yes?” Kingston asked quietly.

“Yes. Fuck yes.” Tommy nodded. “Let’s do this.”

We all grinned and lifted our beer bottles, moving close enough to clink them together. “To Onyx Knight!”

“To Carter,” I said softly.

“To Carter!”

We touched glasses again and then each took a drink.

“I just have one question,” Tommy said after a moment.

I arched a brow.

“Who the hell is Devyn Cates?”