Emerald green eyes sparkled up at him. “A chance at what? Making a mistake? One I promise you’ll regret?”
His chest pressed in, squeezing the air from his lungs. “Krystal—”
She covered his mouth, her gaze falling to her hand. “Leave it, Jace. You’ve got a show to worry about. Fans to dazzle. A career to build. That’s what you should be thinking about right now. That’s what matters. A lot of people are counting on you. Heather. My dad. Don’t screw this up.” She stepped around him and walked quickly away.
Fine. She was right—a lot of people were counting on him. He’d put on one hell of a show. But he wasn’t letting this go. He stared after her, waiting for her to disappear at the end of the hall before heading back to his dressing room.
“I like it.” Calvin nodded. “The sleeves. The tats. Good call.” He paused. “We need a hat.”
He had a hat. He didn’t need a new one.
Luke glanced up from his phone long enough to nod.
“Where’s Krystal?” Emmy looked around him.
He shrugged, shaking his head. “Looking for your dad or Travis or the nearest exit.”
“Can I be honest with you?” Emmy Lou studied him.
He nodded.
“I think you scare her.”
“Me?” He frowned. “But—”
“It’s nothing you’ve done. Being alone is…safer. She’s waiting for you to prove her right—that it’s better to be alone than risk getting hurt.”
Which sort of made sense. He knew she’d been hurt, knew she’d been used. It made sense she’d keep the rest of the world at arm’s length. And if he wasn’t falling for her, he’d walk away. It would be easier, that’s for sure. But… “I guess I’ll have to prove her wrong.”
Chapter 9
Krystal woke to a loud thump against the wall. She rolled over, pushing pillows out of the way, to peer at the green LED clock. Three forty-five in the morning.
A man laughing. Another thump and a door slamming into the wall. Not next door but close.
She rolled over, pulling a pillow over her face. “Are you frigging kidding me?”
Her head had started throbbing about midway through the last set. She was seeing stars and feeling nauseous by the meet and greet but managed to keep it together. When Travis wrangled Emmy Lou and Jace into going to an after-party, she waved them off and headed to her hotel room. A long soak in a hot tub. Turning down the temperature to subarctic. Sticking her feet in ice. Then, when all else failed, the eventual migraine prescription. Normally it knocked her out for a good six hours.
Normally there wasn’t some asshole falling into the wall of her hotel room.
Another round of laughter and a crash had her sitting up and kicking back the blankets.
“Oh, baby, don’t leave me,” a high-pitched, definitely drunk voice rang out in the hallway.
“Seriously?” She was up, unlatching the door and pulling it wide. She winced from the overhead fluorescent lights, the throb behind her eyes spreading around her head and down her neck. Whoever woke her had no idea the sort of shit storm she was about to unleash on them.
Jace.
Coldness leached
into the soles of her feet and crept up, numbing everything—except her heart. Jace? She blinked, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand before risking another look.
It was Jace. In his undershirt. He held his button-down shirt in one hand and propped himself on the hotel doorframe with the other. “I gotta go to bed. I’m exhausted.”
A pillow came sailing, hitting Jace in the face before falling to the floor.
Jace laughed, stooping—and wobbling—to pick up the pillow and tossing it back inside. “Night.” He pulled the door shut. With a groan, he leaned forward, resting his head against the door. “Damn. It.”