Free Everything Changes by Melanie Hansen Page A

element.
    Quinn launched into a drum riff, setting up the song, Jase holding on to the microphone and bobbing his head to the pounding beat. It revved the crowd up more until most were on their feet, and when the guitar notes from the opening bars of one of Eloquent Isolation’s best-known original songs rang out, the cacophony became almost deafening.
    Carey was thrilled for Jase and for the rest of their friends. The band’s stage presence was magnetic, and the crowd picked up on it. Jase scanned the faces in the crowd, making eye contact with several, winking at Carey as his gaze passed him. Carey felt a jolt go through him at that almost flirtatious look, realizing that it caused his insides to feel a little quivery. Carey shook his head. It was just a wink. Get a grip, stupid.
    Suddenly his focus sharpened as he caught another glimpse of Jase. He had frozen, his face white, as his gaze fixed on something or someone in the crowd. Carey whirled around to follow his line of sight, and his breath hitched as he caught sight of a petite, curvaceous woman with a mass of curly brown hair, her white halter top showing off her flawless tawny skin. Mariangel, Jase’s ex-wife. As far as Carey knew, Jase hadn’t spoken to her since their divorce was final. What would she be doing here? Just a coincidence? He searched her face, seeing no animosity in it, just a wistful smile as she looked back at Jase.
    Jase recovered almost instantly from his shock, and his gravelly voice filled the room as he sang, the throbbing beat accompanying him. Layla, oblivious to any undercurrents, had her arms raised over her head as she swayed and sang along.
    When Jase had called him out of the blue one day a few years ago to say he had gotten married, Carey had been absolutely stunned. He knew Jase had been seeing someone for a while, but had no idea it had been heading toward marriage.
    Jase had been apologetic for not saying anything to him before, said it had been a rather sudden decision, but he was happy and he hoped Carey would be happy for him too.
    “Of course I’m happy for you, man,” Carey had said cautiously. “Give Mari my best, okay?”
    After that Jase had seemed to drop off the face of the earth, not returning phone calls much, his texts short and distracted. Carey chalked it up to newlywed growing pains; friends had to take a backseat to the new spouse. He hadn’t worried about it much, figuring things would right themselves eventually.
    Then one day not even ten months after the phone call saying he was getting married, Jase had called him and said he and Mari were separating, and could Carey please come out to California and help him move out of the house they shared and into a new apartment? He said there really wasn’t much he wanted to take with him from the marriage. He was happy to let Mari have it all, and if Carey couldn’t get away, he could probably manage the few meager possessions he did want to take.
    But reading between the lines, Carey knew Jase needed some moral support desperately, so he dropped everything and flew out immediately, thrilled to be able to reciprocate for all of the times Jase had been there for him without fail, without question. Jase had rented a tiny apartment in Imperial Beach, a small town adjacent to Coronado. He’d picked Carey up at the airport, and Carey had taken one look at his friend’s face and told him, “Don’t worry about anything, bud. I got this.”
    Carey helped Jase get settled in his new apartment, stunned when his friend broke down and confessed he’d gotten Mari pregnant during a drunken encounter at an outdoor concert and felt honor bound to marry her. She’d had a miscarriage not too long after, and Carey held Jase close when his friend cried in his arms, expressing his grief over the loss of his child and for the hurt both he and Mari had endured.
    Carey remembered how a fierce rush of emotion had swamped him, a feeling so strong it had felt like it was crushing