Beneath the Stars (Falling Stars 4)

Not when my one job had been setting her free.

Maggie infiltrated the blur of thoughts racing through my mind.

Her grace. Her intelligence. Those eyes that saw through everything.

My chest squeezed like a bitch, and I couldn’t fuckin’ breathe.

That was the danger of hoping. Of letting the girl invade.

I knew better.

Knew I’d only wreck her in the end. But I craved it.

Craved her.

This girl who somehow managed to calm a storm that had been raging for years. Like she could dip her fingers into the toiling waters and coax the agitation into tranquility.

But if I let her, I’d only bring my destruction on her.

All kinds of frantic, I pushed to my feet and set my bass aside. “Gonna call it.”

“Need to work on that song before Baz is back on Friday?” Leif cracked. “Better get on it.”

“Good as done,” I told him through clenched teeth.

Trying to keep my cool.

To keep from losing it.

From cracking from the weight and the pressure I could feel gathering. Because no matter how fast or how hard I ran, I’d never outrun this.

I was stuck.

Frozen.

A prisoner to this past that would forever haunt my future.

I ducked out the door and started up the steps to the main floor.

Shouldn’t have been surprised in the least when I felt the presence emerge from behind.

“Thought I told you to stay away from my sister.” Venom oozed out in his voice.

I scoffed out a manic sound. Barely hanging onto sanity when I whirled back around. “Gave her a fuckin’ ride, man.”

Yeah, I left out the one she’d taken on my hand. And as much as I’d love to throw it in his face that I’d never fuckin’ touched her, that’d be a lie.

His throat bobbed. “Don’t want her face splashed in the tabloids.”

Disbelief shook my head. “Are you serious right now? You’re every bit as famous as the rest of us. Probably more. This is our world. You brought her here. And if she wants to be a part of it, let her, or let her go. You know she’d be better off.”

I didn’t know if I was talking to him or to myself.

I roughed an agitated hand through my hair. “I get it, Royce. You want to protect her. And so do I.”

From me.

From whatever I could feel coming at us full force.

His head shook, and he spat the words at the floor, “I just…fuck. She’s not telling me something, and I feel like I’m going to lose my goddamn mind.”

That dread filled my throat to bursting.

I struggled to swallow it down.

“She’s a grown woman, Royce. She’s not gonna tell you everything.”

Pushing out a sigh, he shoved his hands in his pockets. “She used to. I was the one she came to when she was scared. I was the one who watched over her. The one who fought for her.”

My hand curled around the railing that ran the narrow staircase. “And maybe because of that, she’s now able to live her life. Way she wants to.”

His nod was tight, and he scrubbed a palm over his face. “Sorry I was being a dick. I saw those pictures and…” He blew out a strained sigh, looking up to meet my eye. “Know you and Richard were only watching out for her. I appreciate that. I just…”

“I know, man.” Guilt constricted, and I felt like a complete bastard. Standing there actin’ innocent when I could feel the blame streaking through my veins. “Gossip sites are gonna talk. It’s just what they do.”

He nodded again.

“All right then.” I curled my hand into a fist and gave a soft pound to the railing with the heel of it, turning to leave.

“Rhys,” he called behind me.

I paused, worry clenching every cell.

“If you knew something was goin’ on with her, if she told you, would you tell me?”

Warily, I shifted to look at him, my voice somber. “In confidence? No, man, I wouldn’t.”

Eighteen

Maggie

It radiated through the walls.

Torment.

It felt like tendrils of it were seeping through the cracks and crawling across the floor, finding their way to me where they curled around my ankles and clawed up my legs.

Vapors that wrapped me in his spirit and dragged me into his sphere.

Willingly or as a prisoner, I wasn’t sure.

All I knew was my ear was pressed to the bathroom door that separated us before I even knew what I was doing.

It was obvious Rhys had been trying to keep his distance, and I was pretty sure it stemmed from the article that had been published earlier today.

I’d seen it.

Had seen his hand holding so firm to my waist. But what had stricken me was the expression that had been on his face.

Something unmistakable even though the tabloid had tried to make it out as something lewd and obscene.

I’d also seen his expression tonight during dinner when he’d looked like a different man. When he looked like something new had been wrecked inside him.