A chorus of disapproving moans rumbled back.
Rio tossed the packet of Fun-Dip he was licking and jumped up from his lounger. “Let’s go inside and have a little chat.” He bumped his barrel chest into Jay’s, bullying him into the house with the sheer size of his body, careful to keep his hands up and out.
Jay wasn’t about to throw down with his drummer. For the first time, he questioned the wisdom of all them living together. Too many egos under the same roof. But if they could endure sixteen weeks crammed in a tour bus, they could share a thirteen-thousand-square-foot mansion.
“Is this about your little red snatch?”
So much for not throwing down. Jay swung his arm, put his whole body into it, and hit the brick wall of Rio’s chest. The man looked down at Jay’s fist dropping uselessly away and grinned.
“Call her that again and I won’t be above breaking your fingers while you’re passed out.” Jay spun toward the front door and shook out the throb in his hand.
Rio beat him there. “My life is a haven of tight cunts and tighter drumbeats. You cannot and will not change the way we live just because your little Huntress can’t handle it. Look at me.” Rio rarely showed anger, but when he did, it boomed. “Nor can you change your past.” He lowered his voice. “Does she know what you gave up after you met her? No sex. No drugs or alcohol. You lived like a fucking monk.”
“I’m drug-free now.”
One brown brow climbed toward Rio’s bald head. “Good for you.” His tone was dry, disbelieving.
“Fuck you.”
“Straighten out your fucking head, Jay. Feel me?”
Rio’s voice rattled louder than the door slamming between them. Jay followed the path around the estate and through the manicured front lawn. Palm trees fringed the property, but they were aesthetically placed. The true barrier was the eight-foot privacy fence behind them.
Straighten out his head? Fuck if he could. Charlee had it spinning around so damned fast, he didn’t know which way was straight.
Yeah, he did. It was whichever way she was headed.
Shouts hurtled from the edge of the garden. Following the voices, he found her shoving Nathan in the chest. The man’s stiff posture didn’t ripple beneath her hands.
“I’m going.”
“No. You’re not.” Nathan propped his fists on his hips and stared down at her.
She circled him, hands balled at her sides, and shoved his back. “I am. You can’t stop me.”
Jay froze. She wanted to go? She’d only just arrived. Seeing her so fired up to leave roiled his stomach, keeping his feet rooted and his presence silent.
Nathan sighed. “Charlee, beating on me won’t change my mind.”
She punched him low in his back, and he chuckled. “Now you’re just behaving like a bratty teenager.”
“Arrgh.” She flopped down on one of the stone benches. “Maybe because I never got to be a teenager.”
Nathan rubbed his eyes. “I’m not falling for that one again.”
She pressed her forehead to her knees and held up her middle finger. Nathan stepped toward her toe-to-toe and twined his finger with the one she held up. Jay swallowed back his jealousy and forced himself to watch.
“Why do you have to go so badly?” Nathan squatted before her.
“Because, all the—” She stomped a foot, her head bobbing on her knee. “You wouldn’t understand. Just go away.” Despite her slumped posture, her tone was fierce.
Nathan released her hand and shoved her head up with the press of his fingertips on her brow. Much the way a guy might handle a bothersome little sister. Jay’s shoulders relaxed.
“What wouldn’t I understand?”
She looked up, blinked those huge blue eyes. “There will be women everywhere tonight. Women he’s fucked.” She glanced away, blinked again. “They’ll be pawing him, and he doesn’t do well in those situations. I want to be there to protect him, to support him…and I want to hear him sing.”
Oh, Christ. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to go to the concert. Jay’s heart raced, as did his feet. Around the hedges and along the path to the corner where they huddled. He skidded to a stop behind Nathan. “Let me talk to her.”
Nathan stood, dug in his pocket. “Be my guest.” He pulled out a phone and handed it to Jay. “This is hers. Tony had a spare. I’ve programmed the numbers of the protective team and the household staff. Will you look over them, make sure I’m not missing anything?”
Jay nodded and pocketed the phone.
With a tap on Charlee’s head, Nathan said, “When you’re done here, I need to talk to you. I’ll be up at the house.”
When Jay could no longer see Nathan beyond the privacy of the garden, he joined her on the bench. She cast a worried look at him then focused on her fingers twisting on her lap.