He wouldn’t let me out of his sight.
Every morning.
And every night. We slept together.
That was it.
The first day, Dex pulled me close as I called my father. “I should yell at my dad for telling you everything,” I told him as I dialed the number.
“Or you should thank him for finally giving me closure.”
And then he lay there and listened to me talk to my dad, like it was completely normal to hold me close while I teared up asking about my mother.
“What do you mean, it wasn’t a good day, Dad?”
“Ah, you know how she is, Keelani. Good days and bad. She got confused with a nurse.”
“Right.” I took a deep breath, trying not to ask what I wanted to. Still, I blurted it out. “Should I come home?”
“Ach.” He made the same noise he always did when I asked. It was a mixture of disappointment and sadness with me. He knew I had to ask, but it hurt him every time when I did. “She doesn’t remember you like you are now. You know it will frustrate and confuse her.”
“Right. Right. I know.” I wanted to tell him this was feeding into her wrong perception of time. But I wanted to respect his wishes too. Even if doctors had explained we could help her memory by reintroducing me slowly over and over, my father didn’t feel good about it.
I didn’t either. Not after what happened at the hotel with her not remembering any of us. “It’s just so hard sometimes, Dad.”
“This is harder for her than anyone else. We need to work together to give her what’s best for her.”
But how could we know that this was best?
“I know, Dad. I know. Tell her I love her.”
“I always do.”
When I hung up, Dex kissed me softly and told me I was strong, that she’d be proud of me.
Maybe it was the fact that Dex knew her that made it so his words held enough weight that they crushed my soul and squeezed out my next words. “Would she honestly be proud of me though?”
“How could she not?” he said.
I didn’t answer him. I just let the question dance around in my head that day. And the next morning, Dex woke up with me again. He listened to me talk with my father again.
“Maybe if I acted like I was on tour but came home to see her—”
“We’ve tried that enough times.” Dad sighed. “She won’t recognize you, sweetie.”
“But you’ll tell me if things get worse?”
“Yes. Things are okay today. The private nurse you hired is great, I promise. She’s real good with your mom.”
“Okay,” I whispered.
And when I hung up, Dex said okay to me too. Over and over. He held me close like he would do it every day if he had to, like it was already a part of his routine.
I felt my heart and mind giving into the idea too. I wanted to be part of his routine every single day.
For the next week, he was there with me through everything, like my own personal shadow. The man followed me to rehearsals. To the restaurants. To my bed.
My tall, beautiful, mouth-watering shadow. And I couldn’t complain because I enjoyed being with him every minute. I enjoyed how his eyes were always on me, how his hands were always wandering, how his mouth found mine more than once a day.
He made me breakfast, went to lunch with me, and cooked me dinner before eating me for dessert. And he filled that top drawer with lessons to teach me. I was wrapped in a bubble he’d created for me, and I avoided all other responsibilities.
I sang. I enjoyed Dimitri coming by with Olive and Pink. I fell into a routine that I shouldn’t have because I didn’t know if it would last past our contract.
There was no way it could.
And I saw the cracks in it before it all crumbled. His job wasn’t just finding my stalker. It was attending meetings about other resorts, other investment properties. It was running systems much bigger than a small show in Vegas.
Yet, he still wanted me within sight and protected, to stay put even when he had to leave. He didn’t want paps bothering me. He didn’t want media covering us after the date we’d had that had gone wrong.
“My PR team and yours are working together. Just stay here until I get back, and we can go out to dinner if you want,” he said for the fifth time that week. His sisters, Izzy and Lilah, had come to town to see me perform. We hadn’t been super close in high school, but they wanted to catch up over drinks and bum around Vegas.
“Dex, the girls and I are going out. They’re coming over now.”
Instead of leaving and agreeing to me going out, he stayed and gave us all a lecture when they got there. “Izzy, Lilah. Clara, Evie.” He gave his sisters and sisters-in-laws a look. “You all know the concerns. Don’t leave the building.”
“You’re acting like Dom,” Izzy grumbled at her older brother as Lilah looked away from them innocently. Both Izzy and Lilah had dark hair and were smaller female versions of their brothers. As twins who were a few years younger than me, I hadn’t seen them much in school growing up, but I knew of them now. Both had married men who most people believed were in the mafia, but I could tell they were extremely happy.
Lilah acted like she was much better behaved toward Dex now. “We won’t go anywhere. We understand.”
Evie, Declan’s wife, smiled big and nodded, her wavy brown hair swaying. “We got this under control.”
As soon as the door closed behind him, though, Izzy said, “We’re going to the pool on the rooftop and having drinks. They can’t stop us.”
Pink whooped like it was a great idea, and Lilah smiled like we’d found a loophole.
I was all for it. “It’s in the Black Diamond. They won’t be mad.”
But Jimmy was outside our hotel suite door when we left. He let us go but I was sure he reported our whereabouts. It didn’t matter because we were going to enjoy ourselves and let loose.
When we got up there, I told them about how cooped up I’d been, how the fame felt stifling half the time, and I divulged that Dex made me feel safer, calmer, maybe like I could be a little more reckless and a little more myself.
“Yeah, and you should be yourself. Even if you’re under contract right now,” Clara, Dom’s wife, added as she pushed back her reddish hair. When I eyed her suspiciously, she admitted, “We all talk in the family. We know the engagement was fake, but he’s not faking now.”
I opened my mouth to try to evade the topic but Pink jumped right in to tell them, “So, here’s the story…”
And off she and Olive went. There wasn’t really a way to stop them either. Not when I was drinking and enjoying the sun that day. When Pink explained the extreme lengths Bane, Dex, and Dimitri were going to in order to track down my stalker, I sighed. “I really think it’s nothing. This happens sometimes.”
“Yeah,” Clara agreed. “Have you seen the news?”
“I try not to look.” I shrugged as we sat around a table in loungers while a few guys ogled us from the pool. “The news is normally bad for me.”
“Right. I sift through it for her,” Olive added.
“It’s all good right now. People are in love with you. It means more stalkers, I’m sure. But plus side is people love your new sound,” Clara explained and they all nodded.
Pink jumped in to add, “And they love your outfits.” She winked at me.
“Honestly, I had to come see you in concert.” Lilah smiled at me. “I know we didn’t hang out much in school, but I’m so proud to see you being a badass woman in the industry.”
“I’m proud of the fact that you’ve lived with Dex for so long and put up with Dimitri,” Izzy added in. “Both my brothers are annoying as hell when they want to be.”
I laughed and thought about everyone saying that to me. That they were so proud…but would my mother be? She’d always wanted my real sound to be out there, the real me. Had I given the world that? I’d held back for so long, let the label shift my career to and fro, and obeyed when I shouldn’t have.
It wasn’t pride I felt when I looked back. I took another sip of the Flirtini we’d had delivered. “Yeah, I was a much different person back then.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” Lilah recalled. “I heard the stories.”
We all chuckled.
Pink squinted at me in disbelief, wanting the full story. “Wait. You were the bad one?”
Izzy hummed. “You streaked the football field when you were a freshman, didn’t you?”
“Yep.” I winced at that memory. “My dad was so mad. My mom said to let me live.”
“When you were fifteen?” Olive squeaked out.
“I was trouble, but my mom didn’t really believe in disciplining me for acting out. She wanted me to be me.” I shrugged. “Then I got my record deal and shaped up quick.”
“But Dex was already in love with you back then. He couldn’t hide that shit from anyone,” Izzy blurted out, and I bit my cheek. It didn’t feel right disclosing our secret relationship.
“We all knew they were dating,” Lilah told Olive, Pink, Clara, and Evie. Izzy confirmed.
“Oh, whatever.” I stood up and stretched. “Who’s going in the pool?”
“Me.” Izzy stood too and then her smile turned devilish. “Who’s skinny dipping in the pool?”
“How much have you had to drink?” Lilah chuckled.
“More than you, obviously,” Izzy retorted.
“Oh no.” Lilah shook her head. “I’ve had just as much.”
“You guys.” Olive’s voice was just above a whisper as they started to peel off their tops. “We’re on a rooftop, and Dex is concerned about the stalker—”
The alcohol had been flowing, and suddenly, I wondered what the hell was I so afraid of. Why weren’t we able to just be ourselves like my mother had always wanted? Fitting into a box wasn’t supposed to be a calling. We were supposed to be different. Each and every one of us. If we all fit perfectly into tidy boxes, it would make us all the same in the end. I felt liberated by the idea suddenly and frustrated with her comment. “So what? A stalker is going to keep us from having fun? One guy?”
“He could have drones!” She pointed toward the sky.
I wanted to spiral out of control and do whatever the hell I wanted. Like I had before. Like I had when I was fifteen and not tied to this damn career.
For once.
For me.
For my friends.
We all jumped in, tops off, like ridiculous teenagers. Some guys in the pool whistled and threw a beach ball at us. Olive and Pink were probably the only ones to really engage with them, but they kept swimming around us like they were happy for the show.
It was a short show, though, because first Izzy’s phone rang and then Lilah’s. They were out and getting their tops back on fast.
“Let me guess.” I chuckled. “We’re in trouble.”
“Oh shit,” Evie said at the same time, and her eyes were wide enough for me to know that when I turned, I was going to see him.
I saw all of them.
Declan, Dom, Dex, Dimitri, Cade, Dante, and Bane walked from the revolving doors of the resort’s rooftop entrance, headed our way. They didn’t even bounce as they went down the steps. It was like they glided in those suits, their watches flashing, their leather loafers eating up the cement as they strode our way.
It was a moment that should have been frozen in time. They were beautiful up on that rooftop, looking like they ruled the world, all their faces much madder than they should have been.
Only one was smiling, and that was Dimitri.
“Oh, we’re fucking done.” Pink was already hopping out of the pool and beelining for a towel. She was normally the most daring out of all of us.
“Throw me a towel,” Evie yelled before she hopped out.
As she got to the edge though, Declan was there. “You get out and show what’s mine to anyone here, and I will personally have to rip all their eyes out.” He proceeded to grab her top, and then he knelt down to drape it softly around her neck.
Bane was by Pink’s side by then and murmured, “Have anything to say for yourself?”
She pursed her lips, not looking at him at all and shook her head.
Clara might have been the boldest of all when she said, “Dom, want to swim?”
He glared at her. “Cupcake, you don’t want me in that pool right now.”
She smirked and swam up to the side. “You sure?”
He hauled her up by her arm so close to him that no one caught sight of anything because he wrapped his suit jacket around her as he murmured, “You’re going to kill me, little fighter.”
Dimitri was holding out a towel for Olive, and they were whisper fighting about something I couldn’t hear.
I wasn’t ready to get out though. This was me, here in this pool, having fun with friends and doing something I absolutely wouldn’t have done for the last fifteen years.
“Ready to go, Kee?” Dex asked, but it wasn’t really a question. He wanted me to hop out like everyone else and tuck my tail between my legs.
“Hmm. Not yet. I’m having fun with everyone in here.”
Clara, Evie, and Pink all wide-eyed me.
Pink mumbled, “You’re on your own, girl.” And started to make her way back to the entrance. All my friends and their men followed.
Dex smiled at me and nodded slowly. “Well then,” he murmured. “Go ahead and have fun with your friends.”
He crossed one ankle over the other and sat back in the lounge chair as he scanned over the pool.
Every single guy in there immediately hopped out.
Irritated that he’d ruined my fun, I got out but didn’t take the towel he offered me. Instead, I made sure to squeeze my hair out on the pool deck before I took my time sliding my cover-up on. Then I proceeded to walk to the elevators with him following me in silence.
When we got back to the penthouse, the others were already there so that the girls could grab their clothes. It only took the door closing behind Dex for him to start in. “You all realize that you have a private body of water right there!” Dex waved his arm toward the back patio at the hot tub while he bellowed at all of us.
Okay, he was mad. Madder than I had expected. But I think he forgot that I didn’t care anymore. These men couldn’t keep us cooped up here all week.
“I told her it was a bad idea,” Pink said as she rearranged her top. Bane muttered for her to get her ass moving toward the door.
“Don’t get all territorial, Bane. I’m just your silly makeup artist anyway. And nothing happened.”
“There’s a literal threat on her life,” Bane pointed out.
“Okay, but I’ve had threats on my life before,” I explained.
“Yeah.” Pink was quick to jump to my defense. “All that happened was a few guys saw a little bit of skin.”
Bane growled, his muscles bunching.
“Oh stop.” She rolled her eyes. “Plus, I have way less of a rack than Keelani. Most everyone was looking at her.”
Evie had the audacity to agree with her. “It’s true.”
“Mine? Are you kidding?” I blurted out. “Evie yours are way bigger.”
“Only because I just quit breastfeeding, but my one-piece is covering them up.”
Dimitri chose that moment to add, “Why cover them up, Evie? You can feed me anytime.”
“I’m going to fucking kill you.” Declan lunged for him while Dimitri laughed hysterically just as Dom hooked his arm around Declan’s neck.
Most everyone was fighting with everyone, but Dex’s eyes were on me as I pushed my wet hair out of my face. There we both were, looking at each other, him trying to control everything and me spiraling so fast out of control he’d never be able to catch me.
His eyes hardened, like he knew I was pushing him the wrong direction, like he sensed I was testing how far I could go. Then he barked out, “Everyone. Time to go. I’ll talk to you all later.”
And although they all kept arguing and Evie gave me a hug before heading to the door, they all filed out of the penthouse to give us some space.
“I’m supposed to be having a meeting with my brothers in five minutes. How should I go about doing that when you can’t seem to keep your ass in line for an hour while I’m gone?”
“You deserved that after telling me I shouldn’t leave the hotel room…for days.”
“The paps came at you, Kee. You had Ezekiel… And you had a damn letter sent with pictures in it. I need to—”
“You don’t need to do anything. It’s part of the job.”
“It’s not normal! And it’s not going to be a part of my wife’s job!”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not your wife then.” I threw the words at him, and his eyes widened before he walked up to me and tossed me over his shoulder to walk me down the hallway. “Are you joking me? Manhandling me isn’t going to get you what you want. Where are we going?”
He set me on the bed without a word then opened the nightstand drawer. Before I knew what he was doing, he’d thrown a handcuff on my wrist and clamped the other to the headboard. My eyes widened. I’d thrown the handcuffs away along with his other toys. “Where did those come from? You have backup handcuffs?”
“Just this one. And good thing. It’s all I need for you.”
“Are you—” I glanced down at myself. “I’m in a bikini and cold and…”
He ripped the comforter down the bed and then wrapped it around me before he handed me the remote. “I’ll be back in an hour. Watch a show while I meet with my brothers to confirm there weren’t damn drones out filming you guys. Jesus Christ.”
“Okay, honestly, though, who cares?” I giggled and then hiccupped. “So, what? I’m just supposed to sit here like I’m in a time-out?”
He wiggled my ring on my finger as if to make sure it was clearly on there before he kissed me hard. “You will and you are because you’re acting like a child so I’m going to treat you like one.”
With that, he threw my phone next to me on the bed. “Call if you need me,” he murmured, and then he marched out of the room. I heard the door to the hotel room open and close.
“Dex?” I called out, sure he was about to walk back in.
A whole minute passed.
Dex left me unattended in that bedroom, and I jangled my wrist for another few minutes in fury. That’s when I realized I’d done something completely ridiculous and hadn’t been the least bit worried about the repercussions. And now, I wasn’t at all concerned for my safety or that I’d been locked up by him.
I was just mad. And I was going to do something about it.
