Devin noddedencouragingly. “Please.”
“Okay, um … I’ll justbe a minute, if you don’t mind waiting.”
Sebastian steppedforward and clapped a hand against my shoulder. His grip was firm and would’vebeen intimidating had it not been for his friendly smile. “Dude. We’re onlyhere because of you. Even if you said you had to run to the bathroom and take atwenty-minute shit, we’d fucking wait.Trustme.”
There was no way I’dheard that correctly. They were here because ofme? There was no way that’s what he said.
I shook my head.“W-what?”
With an encouragingsmile, Devin nudged his chin toward the phone in my hand. “Call the sitter.Then we’ll talk.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
JON
“You okay, Jon?”Jeff asked as I approachedthe bar with my two new companions flanking my sides.
I felt like a lesser manbetween the likes of them. This one guy, a superstar, and the other, his cockyaccomplice. They were friendly enough, and they seemed genuinely sincere, butthis meeting, their interest in me, all seemed too unlikely to be real.
I nodded back, swallowingat my aggressive anxiety. “Yeah. I’m good.” I turned to Devin and said, “Thisis my brother, Jeff.”
Devin wasted no timewith the niceties as he reached across the bar to shake my brother’s hand as Icontinued, “This is Devin O’Leary and Sebastian …” Embarrassment struck like amatch, heating my cheeks and burning my gut, as I tuned to Sebastian with anapologetic curve to my lips.
“Moore,” he remindedme, giving me a smile that should’ve made me feel better for the lapse inmemory, but it didn’t.
I felt like an idiot.
“Devin O’Leary,” Jeffrepeated, shaking Devin’s hand. “That’s familiar.”
I nodded, meeting hiseyes. “Beth’s favorite song.”
He tipped his head, theonset of memory lighting his eyes. “That one you used to play? Daisies andsomething?”
Another dose ofembarrassment, this time mixed with a dash of hurt, and I dropped my gaze.“Yeah.”
“Well, shit. What can Iget you, gentlemen?” Jeff asked, now handling this chance encounter a littlebetter than me.
Devin and Sebastianordered themselves cheap beers like they weren’t internationally known rockstars, then turned to me expectantly. I told Jeff to give me the usual, and ashe poured, Devin turned to take me in with a studious gaze.
“Relax, man,” hecommanded in a gentle tone. “It’s just a beer. We’re notgonnabite you.”
I wished I couldbelieve him, but Christ, my nerves.
We took our beers to atable, far enough from Jeff that it could be considered private, but closeenough that I felt like I had backup. The two of them sat across from me,side-by-side, at the rectangular table, and the setup gave me the feeling thiswas less a friendly thing and more like a job interview.
But what the heck wouldthey want withme? Who wasI?
“So, the other day,”Devin began, resting his elbows on the table’s surface, “I was browsingYouTube. I sort of fell down a rabbit hole, one thing led to another, and Ifound myself watching Billy Joel covers. I kept looking through the recommendedvideos, and after a couple dozen, I came across one uploaded by some random guywho came tothisclub on the Fourthof July.” He planted one finger down on the table to emphasize his point.
To say I was surprisedwas an understatement. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head. “Someone uploadeda video ofme?”
Devin nodded sagely.“Someone uploaded afewvideos ofyou, apparently. I searched your name and found a handful from that night. Andyour Billy Joel covers were …” He shook his head with something resemblingdisbelief. “Well, let’s be real—they’re fuckin’ awesome, man. You’re good.Like,reallygood.”
“Gotmefuckin’ hard, that’s for damn sure,”Sebastian chimed in eloquently, lifting his glass to me.
“Thank you?” I managedto say before lifting my glass and taking a long, guzzling gulp.
“Yeah, man,” Devinnodded again, “but that’s not what got me. You have this other song, ‘Always,’I think? That shit blew my mind. I showed the video to my wife and the guys inthe band, and we all came to an agreement that we needed to talk to you.”
