“Kitt, there’s barely even cut. You look like I’ve just sliced my head down to the skull.”
All I can see is a thin string of red trickling from the graze. The blood sitting in the open skin has already started to clot, and it’s not seeped out past a few millimetres, but I’m the reason it happened. She’s right. It’s a small cut that probably doesn’t even hurt, but she’s my girl, I love her, and it kills me that I’ve caused her to bleed. No one wants to see someone they love even have a headache.
I feel everyone’s eyes on me, waiting for a reaction, trying to work out why this is so hard for me. Even Mark is dealing fine, and she’s his daughter. But this isn’t his fault.
“You’re okay?” I ask.
“I’m fine. I’ve had worse.”
That’s not the point. This shouldn’t have happened at all. It wouldn’t have if there weren’t so many people.
That fucking lying whore and her rumours.
She’s going to ruin your relationship.
She’s not. I won’t let Tex go.
I’ve never felt anything so strong as what I feel for her. Texas changed the game for me, and I don’t ever want to go back to the person I was before her. She’s made me into the person I was always supposed to be. She was made to be mine. We’re two halves of a whole, and the thought of living my life without her by my side makes my skin burn in rage. I’m fucking terrified that she’ll decide she’s enough. She’s done this public property thing longer, since birth, but I’ve changed things for her, too.
Everything about Filthy Sound is hot news right now. We’ve exploded onto the scene. Last week, Cooper coughing on-screen for a morning show sparked a Twitter meltdown of fucking well-wishing and swooning. I’ve turned Texas from daughter of a rock star to girlfriend of one, and that is a lot juicer.
“Can we just get to the hotel, please?” I snap as I tug her closer.
Get ahold of yourself.
Texas sighs into my chest and holds out her hand, so Ted can tend to the cut that rips through my heart.
It’s a fucking graze, you moron. She. Is. Fine.
We ride the rest of the way in silence. It isn’t uncomfortable, but no one feels particularly chatty, not even Cooper.
Thankfully, the hotel is free of any gatherings outside, and we head straight inside and up to our rooms.
I had Texas’s rooms cancelled for the rest of the tour, as we’ll be sharing. Mark wasn’t happy, but Texas is very good at getting around him. Once the door is closed behind us, I finally feel the tension evaporate.
“Are we going to talk about what happened, Kitt? You completely overreacted back there. Accidents happen, especially when I’m not looking where I’m going!”
“We were pushed, Tex. That’s why you fell.”
“I’d already corrected myself by then. I tripped a second later.”
“And you wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t for me.”
She rolls her pretty hazel eyes that I love so much. “And it wouldn’t have happened if I’d taken Milo’s offer of a piggyback or been born to different people. Don’t be ridiculous, Kitt. I’m supposed to be the mindfuck one, remember?”
I smirk. “Oh, you still are. And you know what fucks me up even more?”
“Go on…”
“These goddamn shorts.” I trace the line where leather meets skin.
Laughing, she wraps her arms around my neck. “I don’t even like them. I like the effect they have on you.”
She smiles, and her eyes sparkle in a flirtatious way that makes my dick harden.
“All of you has that effect on me. It only takes a look. Fuck, waking up and smelling your scent before I even see you makes me rock solid.”
Her breathing is thick and heavy, and her eyes gloss over with lust.
Fuck. I pounce.
TEXAS
SATURDAY, JUNE 27
ONTARIO, CANADA
It’s been four days since the incident at the airport. Kitt shouted at a lot of people, and now, he has even more big, burly men with us. The photo of me tripping and making a twat out of myself is all over the web. If I become a meme, I’m going to lose it.
I try to stay positive because, really, there’s nothing we can do, and I won’t let anyone else dictate a thing in my life, but Kitt isn’t okay. I hate the stress lines around his eyes, the permanent clench of his jaw, and the dullness in his eyes. I also stay positive because the way things have exploded is my fault. There wouldn’t be half of the problems we’d been having if Kitt wasn’t in a relationship.
When Kitt is seen with me, it becomes about our relationship and then about how I’m handling the news. He went to the shows in Tennessee and Illinois alone, and the crowds were mostly about him and the band. I’d stayed at the hotel with Ted.
I’m the trigger, but I can also defuse the bomb.