And I wasn’t sure I was ready for Cole to be back in town.

No. I knew I wasn’t.

“We all got in a few hours ago. We caught a flight from O’Hare at six this morning.” Maysie was twisting her fingers over and over again. She was upset. Seriously upset.

“That’s a really early flight. Are you on the run or something?” I joked, even if the last thing I felt like doing was laughing.

Cole was here.

In Bakersville.

Suddenly the small town felt even smaller.

How would I ever be able to avoid him?

“Pretty much,” Maysie stated, pulling me out of my Cole centered fixation.

“Just spill it, babe. Tell ole Vivvie what happened,” I coaxed.

“Their show in Chicago last night was a freaking disaster. I told you that the band hadn’t been getting a long. That Jordan and Cole had been at each other’s throats. Well it had been getting worse. And Garrett and Mitch were becoming just as fed up with the Cole ego show. He’s been monopolizing every interview. He’s been given press that the rest haven’t. It had been slowly building to a breaking point. I’m not saying Cole was doing any of this on purpose, but the boys were feeling slighted. Macho pride and all that.”

I nodded. I had picked up on the tension in Raleigh. Cole had never mentioned anything. We hadn’t had a whole lot of time to talk about band problems in between sealing my eyes shut with honey and telling him to get out of my life.

“It all seemed to center around this damn song the guys had written on the road. It’s an awesome song. It really is. I just don’t understand why they were fighting so much about it,” Maysie agonized, foregoing her finger twisting and started chewing on a strand of her hair.

“Well, I’m sure it wasn’t about the song really. If they were having problems, it was most likely the catalyst. Just the thing to push them over the edge,” I supplied.

Maysie arched her eyebrow at me, her lips twisting into a wry smile.

“Since when did you get so astute?” she asked, though I knew she was teasing.

“Hey, I actually paid attention in psych class. Unlike someone else I know,” I countered, swatting her knee. Maysie had been a lot more concerned with learning about Jordan Levitt than learning about Freud and Jung.

“You’re probably right though. Because they started arguing about this stupid song last night before their show. Cole insisted they had to play it. Everyone else said it wasn’t ready. So they got on stage and they weren’t the same. Their shows have been different lately. I don’t know if you picked up on that in Raleigh,” Maysie said and I nodded in agreement.

“I did,” I told her.

“Well, Cole took it upon himself to play the song anyway. He grabbed a guitar and sang the whole damn thing.”

I gasped. “You’re kidding! What did the rest of them do?”

Cole could be a self-centered bastard. He loved the limelight. But this seemed so out of character, even with his narcissistic tendencies.

“They walked off the stage. They left Cole out there by himself.”

I was stunned. I couldn’t imagine that the four guys I had seen play a hundred times before had degenerated to the point where they would abandon one of their own on stage.

“Shit,” I breathed out.

“Yeah. Then Cole and Mitch got into it and then Jose had Jordan up against a wall. It was horrible.” Maysie covered her face with her hands and I rubbed her back.

“They were kicked off the Primal Terror tour. Apparently their drama was in danger of overshadowing the actual shows. And they were told to head home. They have to meet the label execs in New York in a week to talk about where they go from here. Jose says they may pull the album and sever the contract.”

Oh my god!

“Jordan is blaming himself. He’s blaming Cole. He’s ready to say forget the whole thing. Honestly I don’t care if he never goes on the road again, but I know him. And I know that he still wants this as much as he ever did. It’s his dream. And even though he’s angry now, he’ll hate himself for losing the possibilities.”

I couldn’t keep the question lying at the forefront of my brain quiet any longer. It needed to be answered.

“So is Cole back too?”

Maysie pursed her lips. But thank god she kept any negative comments to herself.

“He’s here. He took a cab from the airport by himself. I’m guessing he’s at his apartment. I don’t really know,” Maysie informed me.

Cole was here. He was most likely broken and upset. I wanted to call him. I wanted to rush over and take care of him. I wanted him to need me. I wanted to be that person he could lean on when things got crazy.

But then I remembered my firm resolve to be absolutely nothing to Cole Brandt.

I chewed on my bottom lip. “Is he okay?” I asked, knowing I couldn’t go to the source to find out.

Maysie brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

“I don’t know. He’s been different. They all have been. Even Jordan. They say fame can change you. And I think that’s what was going on. Their star is rising and they start falling apart. I never thought it would happen. But it did. And truthfully, I’m thankful that Jose made them all go home. I’m glad they were kicked off that tour. The best thing for each and every one of them is to come back to Bakersville and get a little perspective.”

Maysie was one smart cookie.