“Well, as we both know, I’m a klutz so I face-first into the mirror.” I tap my cheek. “It looks worse than it feels. I mean, it only hurts when I laugh and smile.”
“I’ll keep the jokes to a minimum, then,” Adam quips—which, of course, makes me laugh.
“What’s funny about this?” Davis barks.
I slump back against the cracked cushions. “Nothing.”
Adam raises his palm. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”
Davis’s jaw tightens and I sense he wants to tell Adam off, but won’t, because Davis loves being in this band too much. Yet my showing up here with my banged-up body and banged-up face is pushing him over the edge.
Suddenly I’m exhausted. The adrenaline rush from listening to the band has worn off. Davis has every right to treat me like a child. Instead of investigating exactly what—or who—was lurking around the house, I ran straight to my brother. I need to start dealing with my own problems.
Besides, I’ve already ruined one band experience for him. I don’t want to do that again. No, I correct. I won’t do that again.
I knuckle my eyes and get to my feet.
“Where the hell are you going?” Davis demands.
“I’m tired. I’m going home.”
“Not without me, you’re not.” He turns to Adam. “We done here?”
Adam straightens. “You need some help? Because I’m all in for whatever you need.”
“The police won’t do jack shit, if that’s what you’re asking,” Davis informs Adam. “They were useless before, and they’re going to be useless now.”
At the word before, Adam’s pierced eyebrow shoots upward. My cheeks grow hot again. In my head, I know that being the victim isn’t something I should be ashamed of, but my head doesn’t control my emotions very well.
“There was nothing to call about,” I say. “Gail and Penny swore I was imagining things, so it’s not like I had good eyewitnesses.”
“Those two brainless twits were probably too drunk to recognize their mothers,” Davis rants.
I bite my tongue to prevent a bark of laughter from spilling out. Davis’s charact
erization isn’t far off the mark. Penny and Gail are pretty, but the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top for them. Still, they were fun to barhop with, and I’d been stuck in the house for far too long. “Another reason not to call the police.”
“You should’ve called,” Davis insists. “You’ve got the restraining order. They would be bound to follow up on that.”
“Do we have to get into it right now?” I flick a gaze toward Adam, who rises to his feet. I hate that my dirty laundry is being aired in front of him.
I direct a frown in his direction. Doesn’t he have anything better to do? There were about a dozen girls trying to crawl onto the stage. In fact, he had to shrug a couple of them off as he was leading us back here.
“Why not?” my brother says.
Davis can be so damn obtuse sometimes.
“I think she means that she’d rather not talk about it in front of me,” Adam offers. He turns to me. “I want to help, Landry. Davis is part of the band and what affects him affects all of us.”
I’m sure that was meant to be reassuring, but it only serves as a reminder of how my stupidity can screw things up for Davis.
“I’m fine. Really. I just want to go home.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea? Going home alone? Davis, if you want to stick around here, I can run your sister home.”
My stomach flips in excitement, closely followed by dread. I don’t need to be in close quarters with this man. I’ll end up doing dumb things. I shoot a pleading glance at Davis. For once, he reads me clearly.
“Nah, I better get going. Let me know about the tour thing, will you?” Davis moves toward the door.