“Don’t wait to hear. Wrap that shit up, and we don’t have until the end of the day. Now that we’ve found Drex, that’s at the top of your list.” I push off the counter and nod my head toward the door. “Come on, Marlon. Let’s go.”
“Gep’s meeting you there,” Bristol says. “Don’t go in without him. He was confirming one last thing with his techie friend at the CIA, but he knew you wouldn’t wait.”
“Damn right.”
Marlon’s out the door, and I’m right behind him, but I hesitate. Kai’s been quiet since Bristol and Marlon arrived. I know this is tough for her. Not just me knowing about the tape, but my whole team knowing. My sister and Gep. Now Marlon. Shame highlights her cheeks, but she takes another bite of her toast like this isn’t killing her. I cross over, tipping her chin until she has to look at me.
“Be careful,” she says before I have the chance to speak. “Please don’t do anything crazy because of me.”
I bend until my lips are suspended over hers.
“You’re the only thing worth doing something crazy for.” I press a quick kiss to her lips. “Don’t worry about it. About any of it, okay? Let me take care of this.”
“I don’t suppose I could come with you?” The question barely makes it past her lips, before I shoot it down.
“No way are you going anywhere near that douchebag.”
She drops her head a little, nodding.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” Her eyes flick to Bristol ostensibly consumed with making coffee a few feet away. “I know you’re still angry with me.”
“Furious,” I whisper over her mouth, drawn to the sweetness beyond her lips despite my lingering hurt and anger.
She closes the few inches to kiss me deeply, sinking her fingers into my hair, gripping me until I couldn’t move if I wanted to.
But I don’t want to.
I wish I could forget about the tape and about John fucking Malcolm and just stay here and repair all that’s broken between us. She hurt me, like I’ve hurt her in the past, but every kiss, every touch, carries a balm that soothes me back into wanting every moment I can have with her.
“When you can forgive me,” she says, her breath coming hard, eyes melded with mine. “I’m yours.”
The look I give her penetrates as surely as if I’m sliding up inside of her.
“Pep, you’re already mine.”
And then I walk away from her while I still can.
IF BRISTOL DISLIKED ME BEFORE, AND I’m pretty sure I can safely conclude that she did, she must hate me now. I clear the breakfast dishes so Sarita won’t have to, putting away the preserves I brought back from Glory Falls. The quiet begins to suffocate me, and I struggle to breathe evenly.
“I didn’t watch that tape, you know,” Bristol says matter-of-factly from her stool at the breakfast bar.
I pause, mid-load of the dishwasher, to glance at her before turning around to fully face her. I’m not sure what to say to the woman who has never wanted me with her brother. Even with her back turned, I felt her attention on us when I kissed Rhyson like my life depended on it before he left. That’s how it feels. Like my life depends on what happens next. I can make a name for myself. I’ll get another shot at being a star. I can find another manager since things are kind of falling apart with Malcolm. Rhyson is the only irreplaceable thing left in my life, and the thought of losing him . . . it levels me. Everything is flat until I have his forgiveness, and not even Bristol’s prickly self will get a rise out of me.
“I’m gonna go clean up downstairs.” I wipe my hands on a dishtowel, not addressing her comment. “There’s a mess in the music room.”
“You know he slept under his piano when you left?” she asks, eyes fixed on her coffee.
“What?” I pause at the kitchen door. “What do you mean?”
“I mean he was wrecked when you left him and wouldn’t take his calls.” Bristol sets her coffee down with a thud. “Thank God he had his tour to focus on those first few weeks, or he would have completely lost it. When he got back, though, we couldn’t get him out of that room.”
“I didn’t know that he—”
“Writing songs about you,” she presses on, eyes hard, voice brittle. “Missing sessions. Blowing off meetings. I’ve never seen him like that.”
She pauses, dropping her eyes back to the breakfast bar.
“I never want to see him like that again.”
“I don’t want him like that, Bristol.” I take a few steps until I’m standing in front of her. “He hurt me really badly, and I needed time to get over that.”
“And now you’ve hurt him really badly. Will you give him time to get over it?”
“As much as he needs.” I bite my lip, uncertain if it’s the right thing to say now, but sure of my feelings. “I know you’ve never trusted me, and I get it. He’s rich and famous, and I was a nobody from nowhere who out of the blue was all of a sudden your brother’s girlfriend. I understand why you’d assume I wanted something from him.”
“That about sums it up,” she mutters.