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“Are you kidding? Since the second I left the room.”

Callie loves the early preview,but I knew she would. She always looks to the heart behind everything she sees, and there is nothing more beautiful and pure than the soul of this song.

The real viability test will be Eli and Sweeny. They haven’t lived our experience and will be coming at it from an outsideartistic perspective much closer to what the average listener will hear.

Part of me is nervous when we gather later that evening for the reveal. This isn’t the average first listen—this is freaking everything. Luke’s relaxed confidence as he lounges on the couch goes a long way in soothing my nerves. If he’s confident, I know we have something good.

Eli and Sweeny scale back their energy to a rare pensive state while I cue up the song. As soon as I press play, I watch for clues, but their uncharacteristic somber expressions make it hard to judge their thoughts. Even when the outro rings out, I don’t have a solid read on where they’re at.

“Play it again?” Sweeny says with a furrowed brow.

I run it again, my jaw tight with nerves.

Eli’s fingers are moving in imaginary basslines, giving me some encouragement. Sweeny is?—

“There! Right there! Stop it!” he bellows, making us jump.

I pause the song, my heart racing. I don’t know what I’ll do if they’re not on board with this after everything it took to get here.

Luke shoots me an encouraging smile, as if he knows what’s going through my head. Of course he does.

“You’re going to hit the kick hard on that build, right Case?”

My gaze darts back to Sweeny with a hint of confusion. “On the bridge into the chorus? Yeah. Definitely a fill too at the end. I was thinking Eli would come in hard with some killer run too.”

Sweeny leans back. “Okay. Yeah. That lead guitar riff is sick. Wanted to make sure we were supporting it.”

He’s in! I finally take a full breath.

“Absolutely. You can thank Luke for the riff.”

Luke smirks. “It’s nothing. Casey did everything else.”

“And Callie,” I add.

“And Callie,” Luke echoes.

Callie looks ready to shrink into the cushion, but I love that she’s part of this. I especially love that the guys have welcomed her into the band without hesitation.

“Love it, Case. Really,” Sweeny says. “You know, I like that for an album title, too.Greetings from the Inside.”

“Greetings from the Inside,” I muse out loud. Has a ring to it. “Yeah. I like that.”

“Luke, you slayed the vocal,” Eli says.

Luke returns a casual shrug, but I see the smile fighting to come out.

“You sound like a rockstar or something,” I tease, just to draw it to the surface. It feels like more than a victory when he aims it at me.

Eli pulls out his phone, and I shoot my gaze to him. “What are you doing?”

“Calling TJ.”

I wince. “TJ? Why?”

“To see if he can get our trailer here by tomorrow instead. I want my bass.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE