“All of you are about to be on the other side.” Royce was leaned casually back in the leather seat, the man obviously no stranger to luxury, one elbow propped on the armrest, the other sure and firm around my waist. “Are you ready for that? Last chance.”
I sucked in a deep breath.
Karl Fitzgerald would be waiting inside. We’d gotten word that we’d be having a formal meeting at 9:30 in one of the house offices. Apparently, Reuben didn’t mind opening his house to Mr. Fitzgerald in the middle of a party, considering Mylton Records had plucked him up when he was young and shot him to the top.
He’d been hanging out there ever since.
“After tonight, where we belong couldn’t be clearer,” Rhys raved.
Leif scrubbed a hand over his face, still trying to break up the shock that we’d actually performed at the ACB Awards. That this was now his life. “That was some kind of spiritual shit,” he agreed, looking around. “Not sure we’ve ever played like that before. There was just . . . something in the air. Something that hasn’t ever been there before.”
“It was all those lights shining on your face.” Melanie grinned, unable to stop herself from getting in the tease.
Rhys chuckled. “Blinded by the light. Rest assured, if that’s the case, then I don’t want to see.”
“No turning back now,” Richard said, looking at me.
Royce tightened his hold around my waist, as if he were telling me that he would stand beside me, either way. That even if I walked now, he would still defend me, even when I knew he had so much to gain by us signing, that this was the mission that he’d been sent to do.
I sucked in a breath. “Let’s do this.”
“Let’s do it,” they all agreed.
Rhys tossed open the door, not waiting for the driver to come around to let us out. He slipped out and stood, accepting the flute of champagne a server waiting on the curb offered, waltzing up the stoned walkway that led to the front door as if he’d walked it a million times.
Richard, Leif, and Mia followed. Melanie slid out behind them. I waited for a second, until we were alone, so I could turn around and grab Royce by the face. “Thank you for this, Royce. For believin’ in me when I didn’t. I’m not sure we would be here today if you hadn’t come when you did. You unlocked something inside of me that was holding me back, and I will forever be grateful for that.”
Onyx eyes flashed. He reached out, took me by the chin. “You are a star.”
My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip to stop the blush. “We should go.”
“I’m right here with you, Emily. Right here.”
I scooted out, trying to keep my dress smoothed down as I stood, and Royce slipped out after me, the man covering me in a towering shadow from behind.
An ominous protector.
I’d never felt so safe.
He moved up to my side and threaded his fingers through mine, brought my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back. The man seemed to tremble. His aura agitated.
Distressed.
His jaw clenched tight.
“Are you okay?” I asked, glancing up at him.
I could have sworn his smile was a grimace. “Give me an hour, and I will be.”
A frown pulled between my brows, and I started to ask him what that meant, why he was worried, but he tugged at my hand and started up the walk. “We should get inside.”
Clinging to his arm, I rushed to keep up with his strong stride, my heels clacking on the stones.
We took the three curved steps that fronted the entrance to the massive house. At the landing, the door was opened, another server there with his offering of hors d'oeuvres. Everything about this party was swanky, upscale, sent my nerves shivering through my body as we stepped inside the lavish mansion.
“Oh, my goodness,” I muttered under my breath. I mean, we’d splurged a bit over the last year or two, feeling as if we’d finally made it, but I didn’t think we had the first clue what making it really meant in the music world.
Because this was over-the-top.
Extravagant on a level that I wasn’t sure I’d ever aspire to.
A simple life with a comfortable house and a horse and maybe a baby or two sounded about right.
Royce leaned in. “You’re nervous.”
A shiver curled down my spine. “I think I might be in over my head.”
“You deserve all of this and more.”
“And what if I don’t want that, Royce? What if I want something humbler than this for my life? Would you be okay with that?”
I shifted my gaze to him, searching the lines of his mesmerizing face, wondering how it was that I felt as if I knew this man better than anyone and somehow knew so few of the details about his life.