Free The Comeback (BWWM Interracial Romance Book 7) by Elena Brown Page B

you and Felicity. If you’re really not willing to let Amber meet her, you gotta ask yourself why.” With that, Chris stood in a quick movement, crushing his empty can and gesturing for Brenton to follow him out to the back yard where a huge brisket was smoking away. Brenton said hello to Vielka, Chris’ wife, and settled into the comforts of his friend’s house, thinking about everything that Chris had said to him. It was a lot of food for thought, for sure.
     
    Amber took a deep breath as the playback came on through her headphones. She had done three takes already, and David had told her each time that her delivery was too cold, too technical. Her mind was a million places at once. She knew for a fact that she wasn’t focusing entirely on the lyrics in front of her. She wasn’t paying attention to what she was doing; she was resting on the automatic technique that years of performing and singing had drilled into her. That might—occasionally—work for a live show, but in the studio, it always came through that she wasn’t actually feeling the music. She closed her eyes, listening to the melody that David had built up around the sparse line she had come up with in her bedroom.
    Amber began to sing, focusing on her lyrics, on the meaning behind the song. It was about Brenton; it made it harder—with all the strain and stress of their relationship in the past week since they had had their argument—to even want to focus on the song itself. She heard her voice catch, but recovered, determined to salvage the take. Maybe the catch would even be good. Amber took a deep breath between verses. Kobe had called her that morning; he had left her yet another message that she had deleted unheard, but the call had shaken her. Specters of her relationship with Kobe had filled her life ever since the fight with Brenton—reminders like their song coming on the radio as she drove to the studio, an article about Kobe’s most recent music video showing up on her social media feeds. It was impossible to avoid thinking about him, and to avoid thinking about the fact that her relationship with Brenton seemed to be going so wrong—just the way her life with Kobe had gone wrong.
    Before she knew it, Amber was crying outright, shaking from her middle, her voice dying out on the microphone. She heard her own sobs in the headphones, heard the playback cut off. “You okay in there, Amber?”
    Amber looked up to see David peering into the studio proper, where she had fallen to her knees. “Yeah—I’m…I think we need a break.” Amber swallowed, scrubbing at her tear-dampened face and shaking her head. “I need to go outside and get some air.”
    David responded that she could take as long as she needed. “We’re ahead of schedule anyway. Take your time, babe.”
    Amber pulled herself to her feet and stopped long enough to reach into her purse for her phone. She walked through the studio, heading to the secluded area outside, managing somehow to regain her composure as she flipped through her contacts list. For a moment, her gaze lingered on Brenton’s number in her phone; she wanted to talk to him—she needed to hear his voice—but at the same time she was terrified of actually contacting him. Of reaching out to him with the conflict that was raging in her mind. Instead she continued scrolling until she came to Cara’s number.
    Amber sank down onto the concrete patio as she waited for her best friend to pick up, hoping that Cara wasn’t out, or doing something that would preclude talking. On the third ring, Amber felt a flood of relief as she heard the familiar voice on the other end of the line. “Hey, Am-bear, what’s up? Thought you were in the studio.”
    Amber sighed. “I am. I just had a complete meltdown in the studio, in fact.” She wiped under her eyes carefully with her fingertips.
    “What’s up, sweetie?”
    Amber hesitated for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Should I be with Brenton?”
    Amber heard her