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She scurried out, leaving Reid to glare at me.

“What?”

“Your rizz is still in full force, I don’t get how she stays sane around you.”

“Excuse me?” I blinked. “Rizz? What the hell is that?”

“Your flirting skill or whatever,” she explained and I couldn’t help but snort in amusement. “Who taught you that?”

“The young ones in the concept art department.” She chuckled. “I learn something new every time I’m down there for a meeting.”

“Rizz,” I repeated, scoffing quietly. “Whatever it is, I don’t understand it either. She puts me on edge whenever she’s around me. I feel like she’s constantly peering into my soul.”

“Is that so?”

I tried to ignore the shit-eating grin spreading on Reid’s face.

“Yeah, I feel like I have to know why she’s so unaffected by me.”

“Oh, you’ve got it so bad.”

Chapter fifteen

A Rock and a Hard Place

Frankie

Ichuckledtomyself,watching the group of kids sitting around me whack away at the guitars they held. I no longer felt sorry for the guitars themselves, not since June told me they were all old stock and wouldn’t be used anyway.

“Okay,” I called, getting their attention again. They all turned their doe eyes on me. “Who can tell me where the frets are?”

At once, more than ten hands shot into the air, excited squeals echoing in the small space. I couldn’t help the smile tugging at my lips.

“Nina?”

“Here!” Nina said, her small palm tapping the neck of the guitar. The instrument was so big that only a part of the neck lay over her lap, the rest on the floor beside her.

“Very good!” I said. “And where are the strings?”

More hands shot up, and I pointed to a smaller boy sitting near the back.

“Yes, Tye?”

“They’re over here,” he said a little quietly, his fingers clumsily strumming over the strings.

“Excellent!”

One of the kids jumped to her feet, letting her guitar clatter to the floor.

Okay, I winced a little at that.

“Can we play the drums next?” Adina asked.

I set my guitar down and looked back at her. “We can,” I told her. “As long as everyone else wants to play as well.”

The kids let out a collective ‘whoop’ and jumped to their feet.

They were about to sprint to the drum sets before I called out, “Hold on! What do we do with our instruments when we’re done with them?”