“Maybe you should, um, hide?” Panic scatters my thoughts around the room and I can’t seem to grab hold of a single one that tells me what to do next.
“I don’t hide. Not even from Dallas.” Gavin stands and strides confidently toward the door. How he’s so calm is beyond me. I keep forgetting to breathe and my lungs are exceptionally pissed about it.
“What are we going to—”
“We’re just hanging out. Eating ice cream. I think he can handle it.”
Yeah, but I can’t seem to. Eating ice cream now has a whole new blush-inducing meaning.
“Okay.” I nod and try to arrange myself casually on my bed, folding my legs beneath me. My entire body pulsates as if my heart had quadrupled in size and is pounding so hard it’s reverberating through my core.
I nearly fall over snatching the television remote and clicking the on button before Dallas walks in. The preview channel shouts that for 19.95 we can subscribe to the adult movie channel for a full twenty-four hours. I’m changing it as quickly as I can, barely landing on a country music video channel, when my brother charges into the room.
“What’s going on in here?” The blue of the screen glows against his hardened features.
Gavin stands calmly behind him, as if all he was really doing was hanging out eating ice cream.
“Looked like you might have some company tonight,” Gavin says, propping on the wall beside the bathroom door. “Figured we’d give you some privacy.”
“Company?” He looks utterly perplexed at the suggestion.
“You seemed to be in a deep discussion with Mandy,” I clarify.
My brother sighs and drops down heavily on my bed, grabbing the remote to lower the sound. “Speaking of Mandy, we need to talk.”
Gavin folds his arms over his chest. “What’s the word on the showcase?”
Dallas is silent, which never happens unless something is up. His gaze swings from Gavin and back to me again before his chin drops forward. “About that . . .”
“What about it?”
Dallas’s forehead is creased as he tries to look at the both of us simultaneously. His expression reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of my dad when he was younger—both of them intense and rugged in the same handsome way. Not that I’d ever tell him that. He’s cocky enough as it is.
“The only way she can get us into Saturday’s showcase is if we sign with her. She pulled all the strings she can, but we’d have to sign something with her first.”
My surprise and subsequent irritation must show plainly on my face.
“She said we could do something short term, give her a trial run and see how things go. If after six months we’re unhappy or she just can’t make anything happen for us, we walk away unscathed. No hard feelings.”
Gavin snorts out an angry sound that surprises me and from the looks of his expression, Dallas, too.
“What is it with you two thinking you’re untouchable? Six months or one year or one night or however the hell long, making a commitment to someone like this has an impact. Maybe the effects will be short term or long term, but let’s go ahead and scratch escaping unscathed and unaffected off the fucking list here.”