To remind myself of who I wanted to be.
“What if I don’t want to leave?”
He huffed out a rough chuckle. “It’s a conflict of interest.”
The way he said it made it sound like it was a whole lot more.
“Are you not . . . interested?” I wanted it to come off as sexy.
Progress, you know.
Asking for what I wanted . . . for what I needed.
Too bad I was shaking under the ferocity powering from his body.
“Am I not interested?” He angled closer, cedar filling my nose, the threat of sex hitting my tongue. “Have been dying to touch you. Taste you. Take you. But we can’t do this.”
I blinked up at him. “I’m starting to wonder if us doing this is how it’s supposed to be.”
His thumb traced my cheek, and he slowly shook his head. “Grace always precedes beauty.”
My eyes pinched. Confused.
“Belief always precedes strength. You are all those things. And I won’t taint that.”
“What if I want you to taint me?” It left me on a breathy plea.
Danger rumbled in his chest, and his mouth was at my ear. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
He stepped back, straightened out his jacket. “Come on, let’s get you back to the hotel. I’m going to walk you to your door, let you inside, and then leave you there and spend the rest of the night wishing that I didn’t have to.”TenRoyceThe next night, after yet another show, I was trailing twenty feet behind the rest of the band that walked the sidewalk.
Call me antisocial.
But I really couldn’t risk getting in Emily’s space. Not when she was calling to me like a goddamn drug, one so powerful it could never be kicked. And I’d barely even had a taste.
Laughter billowed through the humid night air, Rhys acting like the clown he was, telling some over-the-top story about Richard and him when they were teenagers. Dude never let the cloud hovering over his band rain on his parade.
The whole time, I watched Emily like a hawk.
Ready to swoop in if she so much as stumbled.
If Richard so much as looked at her wrong.
It wasn’t his fault. I got it. He was at a loss as to what was wrong with her. Trying to help her, not even knowing he was partly to blame.
My cell buzzed in my pocket.
I dug it out, gritting my teeth when I saw who was calling.
Shit.
This was the last thing I needed.
The group was far enough ahead that they wouldn’t have to be subjected to the conversation, but still, my voice lowered to a growl when I answered, “What?”
I doubted he expected some kind of pleasantry.
“I’d like a status update.” Contention clawed through my stepfather’s voice.
“Everything is progressing as planned.” Didn’t even try to keep the venom out of my voice. Animosity was our normal MO, anyway. Only difference was the bastard didn’t know how far I was willing to take the hatred.
He scoffed through the line. “As planned? If this were coming along as planned, they would have been signed three months ago. If they think by holding out they’re going to get more money out of me, they are seriously underestimating who I am.”
My teeth ground so hard I didn’t know how they weren’t dust. Just like the pieces he’d stolen of me. Pieces I was taking back.
“Not everyone’s choices are driven by greed,” I returned.
He chuckled. “Ignorant boy. Until you figure out money is what makes the world go round, you won’t be worthy to stand in my shoes. I never should have allowed your mother to talk me into bringing you on. Pathetic. Do I need to send someone else to finish this thing?”
I fought to keep my cool. To keep from exploding. To keep from telling him that I was nothing like him and I’d never be.
I’d rather die, and I completely meant that.
“As I said, it is under control. This band is about trust. Don’t mess up the progress I’ve made by adding someone else to the mix. Believe me, they will not appreciate that.”
A huff filtered through the line. “You have two days to get this finalized.”
“That’s not enough time.”
“Two days,” he repeated, and the line went dead before I had the chance to say anything else.
Bastard.
I bit down on a knuckle to keep from hurling a string of expletives into the air. I needed more time. More time to understand where Emily stood and what she needed. More time for her to trust me when I hadn’t given her a reason to do it.
Real reason? I needed more time to figure out how to do this without hurting her more in the end. Closer I got to her, the more I realized I was walking a thin fucking line. Maybe it was me putting on the brakes.
The group headed up the walk toward the hotel where we were staying in Mobile. Emily had performed at tonight’s show while I’d stood in the shadows offstage, watching the quivers rolling through her body and the tremors in her voice.