Richard strode out, rage in his stance, his face twisted with worry and frustration. One look at us and it contorted with surprise and suspicion.
In a flash, Royce had us on our feet. He took a step in front of me as if he were a shield.
Richard stumbled to a stop, lines denting across his brow as he looked at Royce glowering back.
“I’ve got her, you can go,” Richard told Royce offhandedly.
Dismissing him.
“I don’t think so,” Royce replied.
Richard frowned before he leaned around to get an eye on me. “You can come out, Em. That handsy fucker is out on his ass. We don’t need any of that shit. You okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said, wiping the tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand and trying to keep the quiverin’ from my voice.
Richard scowled. “You’re not fine. I mean, fuck, Emily . . .” He threw an exasperated hand back in the direction of the room Royce had just rescued me from. “You’ve dealt with a million guys like that, and never once have you had this kind of reaction.”
Fury huffed from Royce’s nose. “Back down, Ramsey. The last thing she needs right now is you coming out here tossing around accusations.”
“How the fuck is this any of your business, Reilly?”
Royce lifted his chin. “You can’t expect me to sign a band and not be concerned about the welfare of its members. It’s my job to see to both their mental and physical well-being.”
Richard looked as if he wanted to call bullshit.
Maybe I did, too.
Because I couldn’t put my finger on this man. Only thing I did know was I wanted to sink every single one of mine into his skin.
Hold on for dear life.
“Well there’s no fuckin’ band if she can’t stand on a stage,” Richard spat. “If she can’t stand in front of the fans. Even the assholes. You think chicks weren’t climbing all over Rhys? You didn’t see him losing his shit.”
A low, forbidding sound rumbled from the man in front of me. “I think it’d be best if you went back in with the rest of the band.”
“That’s my sister.”
“Who’s obviously upset. I won’t stand for you making it worse.”
Richard huffed in disbelief, propping his hands on his waist, pacing a circle. “Fuck,” he suddenly swore.
Anger and regret.
“Fuck, Emily.” Richard’s tone turned pleading. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t toss this shit in your face. Not when you’re upset like this. But you’ve got to admit it . . . you’re different. Fucking different and something has changed and it’s killing me that you won’t let the ones who care about you most in on it. You are scaring me.”
Didn’t he get that he was scaring me, too?
A fresh round of tears built in my eyes. I tried to hold the burn back, to stop from squeezing them closed.
No use.
Moisture spilled free.
Hot and fast.
“I’m here for you, Rich. Because of you. Don’t you get it? That I would do absolutely anything for you? What I would sacrifice for you?”
He thought I was pushing him away, and I was begging him to breach the space.
Pain blanched my brother’s face, and I wondered what was goin’ through his mind. What would he do if he knew what I’d done for him?
My brother was rough and kind and passionate. Talented and beautiful to the eye. He had always been my hero. The one I’d looked up to.
I couldn’t fathom how he could get involved in something so filthy. Something so wrong and depraved.
I guessed maybe I was the fool to think that I could derail it.
“I would never ask that of you,” Richard said, shaking his head in misunderstanding. “And this isn’t about me.”
But it was.
It’d always been.
I sniffled, the words stifled, frozen on my tongue.
I wanted to release them. So badly. But they were bottled. A festering mess that I was sure one day would blow.
Richard fisted a hand in a frustrated appeal. “Nothing is going to change if you don’t make that change, Emily. Nothing. It’s time for you to come clean about what you really want, about what is really going on, before we run out of time. Ask Reilly here . . .” Richard gestured to him with his chin. “Opportunities like this don’t come around more than once, and I want you to take it with us. Fuck . . . we need you to. Carolina George isn’t Carolina George without you.”
Sadness billowed, and I wanted to rush him. To hug him and hold him and beg him to open up to me, too. To confess.
“I’m almost there, Rich. I’ll make up my mind soon. I promise.”
In or out. Because I couldn’t keep going on like this.
He just nodded, sent a questioning, confused glare at Royce before spinning around and heading back for the door.