Page 45 of Goode to Be Bad

Lexie seemed to come awake; shaking off the stupor being in the zone like that can put you into. “What? What do you mean?”

Aerie leaned close to Lexie, wrapped a slender arm around Lexie’s shoulders. “You don’t realize, do you?”

“Realize…what?”

Aerie kissed Lex on the cheek. “That you just found your purpose in life.”

“My…purpose?”

I held her gaze. “How do you feel right now, Lex? Honest. No filter, no bullshit. Right now. How are you feeling? What are your emotions?”

She swallowed hard. “My hands are shaking. My whole body is shaking, like an adrenaline rush times a thousand. I…mysoulis shaking. I feel…” She closed her eyes and then opened them and stared up at the endless wash of Alaskan summer stars. “I feel like I’m more alive than I’ve ever been. Like I’m finally awake.”

“You understand what that is, right?” I didn’t wait for her to answer. “It’s your soul finding its home.”

She shook her head—disbelief, not disagreement. “It was a couple songs. No big deal.”

Corin, who had a more caustic sense of humor than his twin, just snorted. “Bzzzzt!” he buzzed. “Wrong answer, try again––big deal. Way big deal. Biggest deal ever. It wasn’t just a couple songs, it was you finding the realyouthat you been hiding from your whole fuckin’ life.”

Lex scoffed. “You’re on drugs.”

“The video evidence, if you please, Señora Claire.” Corin gestured with a dramatic roll of his hand at Claire, who’d been recording it.

Claire stepped forward and squatted near Lex, cueing up the video and handing it to Lex. Who watched the entire three song video silently, eyes wide.

“I…” She seemed to have to gasp for breath. “I sound…likethat?” Her eyes went to mine, still disbelieving. “That’s me?”

I nodded. “That’s you, Lex. The real you,allyou.”

Liv had been hanging on the outside of the circle, watching and listening. She now came through, parting the sea of Badd and Goode with her slender form. She was crying, tears sliding down. Aerie saw her coming and moved aside to make room for Liv, who sat down and wrapping Lexie up in a Mama Bear hug.

“Your father was wrong, Alexandra,” Liv whispered. “He was so, so wrong.”

Lex pulled away, glanced at Charlie. “You told her?”

“Of course, silly,” Charlie answered. “Did you think I wouldn’t? Was I not supposed to? Would you have?”

“It hurt so bad, Mom,” Lex whispered, choking back a sob. “I thought I knew pain, but when Dad told me I was never going to be good enough to be a professional musician, I…I think part of me died. Because at that point in my life, my music was all I was living for, all Ihadto live for.”

Liv reared back as if slapped. “All you had to live for? What do you mean?”

Lex shook her head. “No, no. Nope. Not going there.”

“Lex.”

She shot to her feet. “No. Not another word. Not talking about that. Not with you, not now, not with anyone, not fucking ever. Yeah, I’m a fucked-up mess. Yeah, there’s a reason. Dad breaking my spirit and crushing my purpose in life is a big, huge, massive part of it. Yeah, there’s more. No, I’m not going to talk about it, so fucking forget it.” She grabbed her ukulele case—hard-sided, black, and hand-painted all over with pastel daises and roses and pieces of lyrics—latched her ukulele in it, and moved for the exit. “I appreciate what you’re all trying to do, I appreciate your…your support. But this was a mistake.”

“You can run, but you can’t hide!” Corin called out. “The Badd Clan has officially adopted you, Alexandra Rochelle Goode! You’ll be back, and we’ll all be here for you when you do.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, sweetheart,” Tate said, rubbing his shoulder, “But I’m not sure that was the best way to express it, in that moment.”

“Sure it was. We’re like an infectious disease. Once we’re in you, you can’t ever get us out.” He pointed at each person in turn, everyone who wasn’t Badd by blood. “You all showed up and fell in love, not just with one of us, but with all of us.” He pointed at the stairwell, down which Lex had vanished. “I can tell when someone’s gotten bit by the Badd bug, and she has. She just has to run away from it for a while. Sometimes it just takes a minute to really feel it.”

“An infectious disease, Corin, really?” Canaan whacked him on the back of the head. “I’m not a fucking disease, you idiot. You are, maybe.”

“We’re identical twins, you moron. Whatever I am, you are.”

I glanced at Claire. “Can you send me that video?”