“Hear me out. If you still want to go after him, then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll be your wing man, or should I say shovel man,” Tristan jokes.
Even though the moment is far from funny, I can’t help but chuckle at him.
“Okay,” I finally concede. That doesn’t mean I’m letting him get away with this, though. It only means he gets to live a day or two until I can get to him.
He fucked with the wrong girl.
I want to cry with relief. Hell, who am I kidding—I want to cry regardless. The last twenty-four hours have been hell. But I’m worried about Cole. I’ve never seen him this angry before.
“Let’s sit.” His lips are against my ear.
I don’t let go of him for fear that he will change his mind and race off the bus to the nearest airport.
He settles on the couch, me sitting sideways in his lap. Our arms are locked around each other, neither willing to let go.
“Give it to me,” he says gruffly.
“First, Stacy, babe, are you willing to press charges against this asshole?” Gavin asks.
I stiffen. I chance a look at Cole and his eyes are locked on me. He gives me a hard nod. No argument there.
“Yes,” I confirm.
“We need to call the police and file a report. They need to take pictures.” He points to my arms.
I watch as he puts his phone to his ear and alerts the bands security team to call the cops.
“Okay, what else?” I ask.
“He’s going to want to cut a deal. He’s going to try and get us to drop the charges.”
“Fuck that!” Cole barks.
“Calm down. I didn’t say we would. Our contract with the label is up in, what, four months? I say we get him to release us. We hate the way he runs things. This is finally our chance to open our own label. We bring Bobby and Cassidy with us.”
“How does this make him suffer?” Tristan asks.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time at the label. I hear things. The staff is all too willing to spill what they know. The label is going under. He can’t manage it for shit. He blows through money, drinking and rumored drugs, although I have no proof.”
“Again, how does that hurt him?”
“We make him think she’s willing to drop the charges, if he releases us. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. He inherited the label from his grandfather. He’ll fall for it. He releases us from our contract and Stacy continues with pressing charges. We’re in the press constantly. You and Stacy need to be open about this, give interviews even and get the public, our fans, on our side. Hell, after the show tonight, they already love you two.”
“So, we trick him?” I ask.
“Yes. He’ll go away for a few years at least, from the looks of those bruises, and the . . . inappropriate touching.”
Cole growls.
“Then what?” I’m trying to see how this protects them. “You’re losing your label. How is that good for the band?”
“Well, we’ll no longer be clients of Stone Records. I’m in tight with the board members, and I know they’ll have to sell,” Gavin says, like I should understand where this is going. My brain is too jumbled to make sense of it.
“We swoop in and buy the label.” Kacen is grinning.
“Fucking brilliant!” Tristan bellows.
“Babe?” I address Cole.
His head snaps toward mine. I watch as his lips lift in a slow, sexy smile. “I like it,” he says, leaning in and kissing me. “Say it again?”
Say what again? I must be wearing a confused look because he places his lips next to my ear.
“You called me ‘babe.’” Pulling back, he cups my cheek. “I want to hear it again.” His eyes are pleading, as though maybe he didn’t hear me right.
“Babe.” I keep my voice low, just for him.
His lips cover mine, slow and easy.
Give and take.
Pulling back once again, he rests his forehead against mine. “I’m so fucking sorry, baby. He’ll never touch you again. I swear to you.”
“I’m okay. It’s just a few bruises. I was worried about you. I didn’t want you to lose what you’ve worked so hard for over me. In my mind, that led to me losing you, and that just isn’t an option for me,” I tell him.
“Not gonna happen.” He looks over at Gavin. “What do we need to do?”
Gavin looks at me. “You ready for this, Stacy?”
Cole squeezes my leg.
“As I’ll ever be. Are you all sure about this? I don’t want to ruin anything for you.”
Gavin nods as he pulls out his phone I’m assuming to alert our security team to bring the cops to the bus.
“What you need to understand is that you are one of us.” Kacen points at Cole. “He loves you, we love you—it’s that simple. We’re going to push through this, and it might actually work to our advantage. An established label is a hell of a lot easier to get off the ground. Not to mention it’s in Nashville, close to home.”
“We’ve talked about this as a group for a while now, more so since Kace got married. This has always been the plan as we all start to settle down,” Cole says.
“Let’s do it.”