I expected Magnus would leap at the chance to delete the damning photo, but the fact he literally leapt at the chance caused me to emit a less-than-feminine sound of surprise. The man almost jack-knifed himself over the table in his haste to grab the offered phone. He then slammed back into his seat to fretfully swipe through my unlocked phone to the photo app, leaving me to entertain myself with an awkward survey of the room.

When the phone didn’t return to me soon after, I brought my attention back to Magnus, a sceptical eyebrow raised. He was ridged, staring down at the screen though his eyes were completely unfocused. One finger hovered over the phone, but I couldn’t tell if he had deleted the photo or not.

“Sorted?” I prompted him, and he twitched in response. Clarity returned to his startled expression, though now, an undercurrent of anxiety wove its way across his chiselled features.

A heartbeat passed between us.

Silently, he handed the phone back to me. The screen was still illuminated and showing the grim photo of Magnus biting into a rat, blood spilling over his hands.

Whatever silent message the rock star was giving me, I wasn’t getting it. My brow pulled together, lips pursing, and I looked from the phone to Magnus.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, not knowing what he wanted me to do.

Magnus scowled at the phone in my hand, and he slowly retracted his tremulous hand. Other than that, he hardly moved when he spoke to me, his voice level and quiet as though he himself regretted every word.

“If I delete the photo, it solves my problem,” Magnus explained, finally yanking himself out of his rumination and blinking, facing me properly. “But it doesn’t solve your problem. You…saw a lot last night. A lot of things that won’t make sense. And you’ve been…kind of prickly about it, but otherwise, you’ve looked after me. You’ve been kind, and you deserve answers. So, you delete it after I give you an answer.”

I always hated it when the spotlight turned to me. I squirmed in my seat, uncomfortable even though it felt as though a door were opening to my desired explanation to the madness of the previous night. I wanted to know, but I didn’t want Magnus to feel awful in telling me. Despite everything, I still admired the man more than anyone else in my life. This was the stranger who had embellished my life with song, whose lyrics had reached me in the darkest places despite not knowing me.

I owed him so much before we had even crossed paths.

“It’s fine,” I managed to clip out. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel comfortable with it. As far as owing me anything…you were hurt. It was the right thing to do.”

My mind grumbled at my heart, the pursuit of wanting an explanation for everything I had seen now grinding to a painful halt. It all boiled down to one simple realisation: knowing something wasn’t worth hurting someone for. I suppose I had entertained the idea that I was special, that Magnus would want to tell me. Now, it was presented to me as a debt paid reluctantly, and I wanted no part of it.

One half of Magnus’ mouth drew up higher, a smirk softening his worry and returning a spark to his icy eyes.

“Maybe. Then maybe I’m not just paying that back.” Magnus shrugged, starting to fidget with the salt shaker he’d scooped up from the side of the table. “Maybe I’m listening to myself for once. There’s a loneliness in holding a secret, Stella. If I delete the photo, I protect my secret and burden you with one—the secret of what you saw, without even answers to comfort you.”

Oddly, the main thing I took from his explanation was my name. I blanched, blinked, and my lips parted in shock.

“Oh shit,” I mumbled to myself. “I…forgot to tell you my name. When did you—?”

Magnus flashed pearly white teeth in a broad grin, a low rumble of a laugh snaking up his throat.

“Heard your friend say it over speakerphone last night. Several times,” Magnus added thoughtfully. I flushed with embarrassment. “Just as well. Didn’t seem like you were even gonna actually to introduce yourself.”

“Sorry.” I grimaced, letting my head fall into my hand. “I was…kind of distracted.”

“It’s fine. But that’s kind of what I’m getting at,” Magnus said with a twirl of his wrist. “Not knowing what you saw, it’s eating you up. You seem like a nice person, Stella, and I don’t want to leave you to get all tangled up in questions. That would be cruel.”

The metal chair scraped back across the checkerboard floor as Magnus got to his feet. He rapped his knuckles lightly on the table, adding: “Almost as cruel as making you wait any longer for some damn breakfast, right? Sorry—I’ll be right back.”

With a sheepish smile of apology, he was gone, and I was left to smirk at the sight of a rock star ordering coffee and eggs from a rather startled looking middle-aged man on the other side of the counter.

***