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I was being punished for not having perspective

Present day

Glasgow, Scotland

O’DEA STARED AT ME, HOLDING the fruit cup and Danish pastry he’d brought with hie

It was only pure physical exhaustion that caused ht before After O’Dea had left, my brain felt like a hive of bees had been let loose inside it I kept going over and overback to the surface It was his fault

I glared at the Scot He was pushing me to move on, no rasp because up until a couple of days ago, I’d coiven up on my old life I didn’t care at the time how that made me seem because it meant I didn’t have to

However, as much as I hated to admit it, O’Dea had held a mirror up to my behavior It was clear he did not approve of the fact that I hadn’t stayed in the US to face rief And for some reason I couldn’t understand, that bothered me I didn’t want to think of ht ofto survive Sometimes pain was just too much, you know

Weren’t we all just trying to survive?

"Well?" He stared at me impatiently

As much as I feared fame, as unhappy as it had made me in the past, it was my only option at this point After sixthe armed robbers who had broken into my mom’s house and shot her and Bryan, I decided I was done with that life

I hadn’t seen Micah, Austin, or Brandon since, and that was eighteenrespect for myself at this point

They were too ret

If I signed this contract with O’Dea, if I released an albuuys would too I wasn’t sure about Micah There was a possibility he would never forgiveOr the letter and voice

"I want creative control over the albu in that moment, so I continued before he could respond "I also want it in the contract that I don’t have to talk to the et to choose which er or band et in touch, I will need you to field that interaction, as in make sure that they aren’t allowed to interact withexasperated by the notion "The world is going to co back around as soon as we announce this solo return I can make sure the topic of your fauarantee they won’t try to broach the subject with you anyway Also, there is no way I’et to pick and chooseyou the choice not to pick any Further closemouthed about your family and your disappearance from Tellurian and the public eye will only incite the ue and he held up a hand to stop ement, your record label, and your band at bay" O’Dea scratched his chin in thought "Don’t you have an aunt?"

"Pen?" I shook my head, surprised he knew about my mom’s little sister since I had a nonexistent relationship with the last living member of my family "Pen won’t be a problem She didn’t even come home for the funeral I doubt she cares aboutreality"

"Farimaced "Well, I walked into that one"

He smirked "What about the nutritionist and therapist?"

"There’s no point in ed "I’ve got to want to First rule of therapy"

"No therapy, no deal"

"Well, that’s your prerogative" I stared hie on the subject

"Skylar"

"O’Dea"

He narrowed his eyes "Fine No therapy"