Frowning, I felt my heart race as I sat up a little. I couldn’t take this suspense any longer. I had to know what they were plotting, and I wanted it in plain terms. They’d alluded, they’d made hints, but never in a setting or in a way that I could take with a grain of salt.
“What’s going on, Houston?”
His gaze was stern as he held my eyes. “You know exactly what’s going on, Braxton Francesca.”
I should have never told them my middle name.
The coldness in my voice wasn’t forged when I spoke. I could be stern too. “Actually, I don’t. Why don’t you spell it out for me?”
I yelped when I was suddenly thrown on my back. Houston was on top of me now, holding me down with his weight. He made sure I couldn’t walk away from this conversation until he was ready to let me.
“I want you,” he said as easily as if we hadn’t spent the last six months warring.
“You had me.” I may not have gotten enough, but I was sure he’d gotten his fill. That goes for Loren and Rich too. Even with my past, I couldn’t believe I’d fucked all three of them.
Suddenly, I heard angry voices urging me to repent.
Houston squinted as he stared down at me. “Why do I think you’re purposefully misunderstanding everything that I’m saying?” I heard the warning in his tone not to push him. Naturally, that meant none of his buttons were safe.
“Because you’re still beating around the bush, and before you, my patience was never this thin.”
Houston blinked at me before groaning and burying his face in my neck. “I deserved that,” he mumbled as if it’d been up for debate. We lay there, listening to one another breathe for a while before he spoke again. “I’ve never done this before.”
“Done what?”
“Ask a girl to be with me.”
I stared at the ceiling, pretending my heart didn’t skip a beat. Houston was too used to having his desires handed to him. I wouldn’t be just another thing on a platter. “Boo-hoo.”
His head lifted from my neck, and when our gazes met, I was immersed in the warm and inviting scent of vanilla. For a third time, I was hit with an emotion I couldn’t define. Loren was first, then Rich, and finally Houston. He’d never looked so vulnerable. At least not while I’d known him. Lowering his head again, I met him halfway. This time when we kissed, it was a meeting of broken souls, each hoping our pieces fit to make something whole.
Between kisses, he finally whispered, “Be my girlfriend, Braxton Fawn.”
My head knew what to say. My heart was in my throat. I knew it was coming, and somehow, I was still unprepared. I wanted to say yes. I felt it on my tongue, overwhelmed by green apples. All I had to do was shut my mind away, and I’d be his. There was only one problem.
He was asking too much.
I couldn’t pretend Loren and Rich weren’t chasing me too.
I wanted them all equally, but I craved them for different reasons. Houston challenged me, Loren worshiped me, and Rich made me feel like I was worthy of redemption.
I didn’t want to give that up.
This tour would end, but the wreckage they will have left of my heart would be permanent. There was only one way I could survive. One way no one got hurt, and…it was impossible. Almost as hopeless as choosing.
I sighed.
I had three birds and only one stone to conquer them.
And Houston, the mercurial rock god whose opinion of me swayed with the wind, was asking me to risk it all. Suddenly, the room became awash in the paralyzing scent of copper.
Breaking his kiss, I looked into his eyes and swallowed desire that wasn’t sexual but still tasted the same.
“Give me a reason.”Braxton was pouting.
We were back on our bus with New York in the rearview, and we’d all been more than reluctant to leave. It wasn’t the confined space I minded.
It was the fear in Braxton’s eyes that the fairytale was over.
All the good memories we’d made were left behind in the city, and back on the bus, we were only left with the bad. With the help of the disguises Danielle had obtained for us, we’d been able to show Braxton around as much as we could before leaving this morning.
“I don’t know if I can go back to my bunk after sleeping on a real bed again.”
She was sitting on our sectional with her feet in Rich’s lap, nibbling on the hero she’d been eating for the last hour. I don’t think she’d even made it halfway through yet, but I enjoyed watching her try. Braxton’s lips were insane. She always looked like she’d been sucking face for hours. I was jealous of the fact that Rich had gotten to feel them around his dick and didn’t know when I’d ever have that privilege. At the moment, I had more important matters regarding Braxton Fawn.