Free Losing You (Stars On Fire Book 4) by Ryleigh Andrews Page A

he didn’t think he deserved Lizzie. That shit could only be traced to his pathetic father figures—the one who killed himself in front of his teenage son and the other who never really wanted anything to do with him.
    “I’ve been drowning,” Marc continued, “and Lizzie is my lifeboat. She’s my breath of air. I need her air.”
    Hating that he was going to ask this next question, but having to know, Tom took the plunge. “Have you been using since you’ve been with her?”
    “Dude . . . I’ve been good. Been controlling the urges.”
    “Really?” Tom asked, a little shocked . . . and skeptical about that.
    “Really,” Marc answered with a big ol’ dopey smile covering his face. His friend was in L. O. V. E. “She gives me something so much more than drugs ever did. She loves me ,” Marc said, his fingers poking at his own chest. “I still can’t fathom that.”
    “I’m happy for you, bro. You know I am. I’ve said it many times before. You’re worth it.”
    Marc looked away, his eyes falling to the floor. “Yeah . . .” His friend’s self-esteem had taken such a beating throughout his life that even right now with Tom saying what he had, Marc still seemed to have difficulty accepting his worth.
    “Pooh bear . . . is that you?”
    The hair on the back of Tom’s neck raised at Lizzie’s use of that goddamn name, but he saw how it brought Marc back from the sadness that’d been lurking.
    Marc guffawed. “Dude . . . oh, I mean, Pooh bear, my girl’s here. Chat time is over.”
    And just for that . . .
    Tom intercepted Lizzie and gave her a long and lingering hug, capped off with a kiss to her cheek and a whispered message. “I will make you pay for that one of these days.”
    “Pfft,” she said, her fingers skimming his cheek fondly. A beautiful smile brightened her face as her eyes landed on Marc.
    Two happy best friends.
    Tom liked that. Time, though, to work on himself, he thought as he watched Lizzie go to Marc and kiss him. “Look at you two,” Tom said, lifting his beer in the air. “Here’s to you happy fuckers.”
    Lizzie turned in Marc’s arms and they all laughed. “Oh, Pooh bear, you’ll find someone someday.”
    He knew she was just kidding but that still stung a little. “If I had a pool, you’d so be heading for a cold dunk right now.”
    “All talk,” Lizzie said while stealing his beer from him.
    The eyes rolled hard in his head as he watched her finish off his drink. “Want a beer, Liz?” he asked, the sarcasm heavy on his tongue.
    “Yeah, thanks.”
    Tom nodded at Marc then turned to leave the two lovebirds alone.
    “Tom?” Lizzie called out.
    Without speaking, he turned around and she strode over to him and wrapped him her embrace. “I love you.” And with that she let him know just where he still ranked in her life . . . as her best friend.
    “Love you too, Lizzie.”
    She could have this career and this new boyfriend who just happened to be his other best friend, but there would always be this special connection between them.
    He and Lizzie . . . friends to the end.

Marc
    September 2006
    The last time he’d been this excited was maybe when he was nine and about to go to Great America for the first time. That was the only thing Marc could think of that could even compare with going on tour with four of his best friends. He’d even dug his old video camera out and had been documenting everything . The first time the tour bus rolled into view or when they climbed aboard the monster home on wheels. He made sure to record each member’s reaction.
    All the years these four had worked their asses off to get to this point. They were all over the music charts . . . the media. It didn’t hurt when you had four hot as fuck people either. It wasn’t just Mia in the spotlight as the singer. She shared it with her bandmates, though she did get a little more because of who she was dating. The visuals the four of them made together helped sell them. This little