“Waiting for you to call me back,” he replies coolly, his gaze hardening when it drifts to Shawn. It’s a look I’ve seen before—from every single one of my brothers at some point or another. It growls, Stay away from my sister. And Kale’s holds a touch of, I know you brought groupies on the bus, you asshole.
“Oh, don’t even act like you’re mad anymore,” Leti teases Kale. He smiles at me and continues. “He loved the show. He just kept going on like, ‘That’s my sister! That’s my sister!’ ”
Kale nudges Leti with his elbow, Leti smiles fondly at him, and I’d feel giddy as hell about them being so close with each other if it wasn’t for the thick tension between Kale and Shawn. Kale’s black gaze is razor-sharp, but Shawn doesn’t shy away from its edge. The two of them are in a stare-down, both standing tall and still. I look up at Kale, at Shawn, at Kale.
“This is Shawn,” I say.
Kale tucks his hands in his back pockets instead of reaching out to shake Shawn’s hand. “I know who he is.”
Leti’s eyebrows fly up almost as high as mine, and I stammer, “Uh . . . ”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Shawn says, extending his hand with a smile on his face that isn’t at all like the smiles he gives me. It’s the smile he gives fans who overstep boundaries—nice, believable, but counterfeit.
Kale lets his eyes fall down to Shawn’s hand, looking like he’d rather latch on to it with his teeth instead of touching it with his skin. I’m wondering if I’m going to have to pry his hands from his back pockets and puppeteer him into playing nice with Shawn myself, but then he reluctantly peels five fingers out of his dark denim and reaches forward. “Kale.”
During the walk back to the greenroom, Leti graciously fills the awkward silence, and Shawn and I learn a few things. One, Kale called Leti to get him to call me, but Leti insisted they just come up here. Two, Leti set a condition for the impromptu road trip, and that condition was that they go to a hot new club before they leave. Three, the guys and I have to come along.
“THIS IS A gay bar!” Adam squeals between his giggles as we all step up to the flashing rainbow entrance of Out, the “hot new bar” Leti somehow got Kale to agree to go to—along with the rest of us. Mike, Shawn, and Joel are all standing shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalk, staring at the psychedelic door like they might get lost forever inside. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen—all plasma-like technology and Technicolor swirls that flash and dance while tossing their glow into the dark. Adam, always up for anything and everything, spins around, his eyes bright with excitement. “It’s a freaking gay bar!”
“Why are you so excited?” I ask, unable to stop myself from chuckling at him. Heavy bass is pulsing inside the club, making the summer-warmed hair on the back of my neck stand up. The lights, the music, the long line of people stretched around the block—they make midnight seem like a magic hour, a time for dancing and laughing, not for warm beds and sweet dreams.
“I’ve never been to one!” Adam answers.
“Are we even allowed to go in there?” Mike finishes scanning the long line and turns a skeptical eye on Leti.
“Of course you’re allowed,” Leti answers from beside me. He shoots Mike a grin and adds, “My people don’t discriminate.”
Joel, with his Mohawk dyed a kaleidoscope of rainbow colors in the reflection of Out’s flashing door, gives us an uneasy glance over his shoulder. “Won’t they think we’re gay?”
Leti chuckles and shakes his head, the bright lights illuminating his already-bright smile. “Trust me, they’ll be able to tell you’re straight in three-point-four seconds.”
“Doesn’t mean you’re not going to get hit on though,” I tease, and Leti winks at me before walking ahead of everyone toward the door. He bypasses the impossibly long line, full of mostly guys and a few pockets of girls, to flash his trademark grin at the bouncer, and after a minute of smooth talking, he waves us all over and we cut the line to get inside.
“They didn’t even check our IDs,” I note as we enter a pitch-black corridor that’s lit only by the rainfall of spots still peppering my vision.
“You’re rock stars,” I hear Leti’s voice explain as we make our way forward, toward a thin line of light on the floor. My arms spread as I attempt to feel my surroundings, but then a heavy arm curls around my shoulders, and a familiar scent envelops me in the dark. I cling to Shawn’s T-shirt and let him guide me toward the light, the music at the end of the dark tunnel growing louder and louder with every cautious step.