I have no idea what made Dani choose the short, purple wig for Braxton—or why it worked.
I just knew with those expressive brown eyes and adorable freckles that she looked like a goddamn manga character.
And now, all I could think about when I looked at her was the anime porn I used to watch as a kid. She’d changed into a black, sleeveless ribbed dress so form-fitting I wondered if she was wearing panties. And she’d paired it with black thigh-high socks and her combat boots.
“Loren’s going to be pissed when he finds out they made his nose too big,” she remarked with a snort.
She was now standing in front of Loren’s that was placed on the other side of mine, leaving me sandwiched between Houston and Loren. The museum had captured his abs since his shirt was depicted open, the medallion he never took off, and even his signature smirk.
With an evil gleam in her eye, she posed next to the statue and quickly snapped a selfie. I was pretty sure she was planning to show it to him later.
I know it seemed shady not to have invited Houston and Loren, but I’d barely talked her into letting me come. I was hoping to at least soften her up enough for them to win her over on their own.
“I can’t believe this is your first time seeing it,” she said absently after she’d moved on. Calvin’s wax replica was right next to Loren’s.
“It’s only been six months since they added it, and this is our first time back in the city since our last tour.”
“Do you miss him?” she blurted.
I was a little startled at her rapid change of subject.
“Who?” I don’t know why I asked when I already knew.
“Calvin,” she said while still admiring his statue. “You guys don’t seem like you mourn him.”
Because we don’t. I forced myself not to shrug or sound too defensive when I spoke. “It’s been months.”
Her head turned, and then she stared at me.
I knew she was disappointed by my cold answer. She left me under the scrutiny of her gaze for what seemed like forever before nodding as if she accepted my answer. I could already see her shutting down and cursed Calvin from the grave. I was not going to let him take anything else of mine away.
“We weren’t friends,” I heard myself say. My tone was hesitant as I chose my words carefully. I didn’t want to give her another reason to run. “Far from it.”
Spinning around, she faced me. When her arms crossed, I tried not to focus too much on the extra sliver of thigh exposed by her dress lifting slightly. She better have on panties. “Why?”
“The label chose him for Bound when they decided they wanted Houston to focus on vocals. It was a rocky start that we never recovered from.” I’d given her the beginning and the end, but I purposely left out the middle. Now was not the time to tell Braxton about Emily.
“Like me.”
“Nothing like you,” I denied vehemently. “We want you, Braxton, and we’ve been trying to make you see that.”
“Have you?”
“Yes.”
“I see,” she snapped. I knew at that moment that I wasn’t getting to her. Not even close. “So if Calvin had convenient pussy for you to fuck whenever you liked, things would have been different with him?”
“We were dicks to him, Braxton. Just like we were dicks to you, but Calvin was no angel.”
“Neither am I.”
“Yeah, but he never had me convinced that I was falling for him, Braxton. You do.”
I didn’t realize my voice had risen until I noticed the attention we’d garnered.
I didn’t want to risk anyone looking too closely and recognizing us, so I grabbed Braxton’s elbow and led her through the rest of the exhibit so we could get the hell out of there. It seemed to take forever, and not once had she commented on what I’d said to her.
It was like it never happened.
“Let me go,” she quietly requested once we were on the street.
In an instant, I was in her face and trapping her against the wall of the museum.
I didn’t care about the fact that we were standing in the middle of a potential mob. My heart was racing for other reasons. “I tell you I’m falling in love with you, and your answer is to let you go?”
“My arm, Jericho. Let my arm go.”
“Oh.”
I released her elbow only to take her hand, earning an irritated look from her when she tried not to blush. As I threaded our fingers together, the black Suburban we had drive us here pulled up to the curb, so we climbed inside.
“Where to next?” I asked her once the back door closed behind me. At that exact moment, her stomach growled loud enough to scare a bear. I laughed to myself at her sheepish look as she attempted to avoid my eyes. “Dinner it is.”