“Should one of us check on her?” I asked after too much time had passed. It had been twenty minutes since Braxton locked herself in our guest bathroom, and she still hadn’t come out.
“No, soft-ass,” Loren snapped with a scoff. “She’ll come out when she realizes she’s screwed like the rest of us.”
“Yeah, but why did you have to fuck with her? I thought we agreed to make her one of us.”
“We never agreed to like it. Or her.”
“I like her.”
Fuck me, what wasn’t to like? She was hot as hell, a rare gem of intelligence, kind… the icing on the cake was that she talked back when we weren’t. I got hard just being in the same room with her—my friends, too, though Houston liked to pretend while Loren had no problem making his attraction known.
Loren made another sound of disgust before waving me off. “You like everyone.”
“Yeah, lucky for you, asshole.” We’ve been best friends longer than I can remember, and I still haven’t figured out why. Loren slowly looked up from his phone and met my gaze. As much as I wanted to hold my ground, I looked away from the intensity of his stare and what burned inside.
Deciding, I stood from my seat behind my drums. “I’m going to go see if she’s okay.”
Neither of them bothered to stop me as I made my way out of the living room. I was at war with myself and needed those precious moments it took to reach the bathroom where Braxton was holed up to think about my next step.
She wasn’t my enemy, but I was hers. It was just the way the dice rolled, and neither of us was to blame.
I tapped on the bathroom door, using the drumsticks still in my hand before shoving them in the back pocket of my jeans. There wasn’t a peep on the other side, making me wonder if she’d slipped out without any of us seeing. I wouldn’t blame her if she had.
I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until the door slowly opened, and her big brown eyes appeared. How could someone who caused so much trouble look so goddamn innocent? She could fool the entire male population with those eyes. No one would ever see the huntress lurking beneath.
No one but me, apparently.
I shifted my feet. Why the hell was I nervous?
“I guess I overextended my welcome in your bathroom, huh?” she asked me after I just stood there like an imbecile.
“No, it’s not weird at all,” I lied.
Opening the door, she put her back against the wood, softly biting into that succulent lip. “I was debating.”
“If you should leave?”
“And burn this house down with all of you in it,” she added. Her steady gaze was unnerving, yet I couldn’t look away.
“I’m both terrified and aroused. Look,” I rushed to change the subject when I saw her gaze turn wary, “I can’t say that we wouldn’t deserve it, but can I offer some advice that might be useful?”
She hesitated for only a second before mumbling, “Sure.”
“You seem pretty solid.”
“For a girl?” She’d called me out on my bullshit with a raise of her brow.
I shrugged when nothing intelligent came to mind. I couldn’t deny my sexism, so I ignored it instead. “You’re not falling at our feet,” I continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “It says a lot, but it’s not enough. You need to make them respect you, or else they never will. It’s now or never.”
“And what about you? Do you take your own advice?”
Astute. “I don’t know what you mean.”
I could see the contemplation in her eyes before she gave an abrupt shake of her head. “Nothing. Why are you being nice to me?”
“That’s a risky assumption.”
Braxton seemed to see right through me when her eyes formed slits. “You think standing up to them is going to backfire.”
It wasn’t a question but an accusation. She was right to be paranoid. “Your chances are fifty-fifty.”
If my plan worked in her favor, she had a better chance of getting through the tour. If it didn’t, Houston, Loren, and I would have someone else to direct our anger toward other than each other. As much as I wanted my friends back, I found myself hoping for the former.
Maybe Loren was right. Perhaps I couldn’t commit to being an asshole.
“So, are you toying with them or me, Jericho?”
Braxton’s gaze was piercing as she waited for me to respond. I had a hell of a time swallowing past the lump in my throat. Either she was a mind reader, or someone had tipped her off.
Someone else knew that Houston, Loren, and I had become strangers forced to work together rather than best friends who used to build forts to keep everyone else out. The last time we let an outsider in, he almost destroyed us before destroying himself, and whether Braxton knew it or not, she was here to finish what Calvin started.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is making it to the end of the tour…with you.”
I swear her red hair looked like a river of flame, matching the fire in her eyes as she stood up straight. I’d insulted her.
“I’m not going to run.”
“I’m sure you believe that, but you don’t know them. Or me.”
“And none of you know me. If you don’t believe me, consider this. Would anyone else have made it this far?”
Daring to invade her space even more than Houston had at the festival or Loren half an hour ago, I placed my hands on each side of the door frame. I was so close I could feel every one of her quick breaths on my neck. If I placed my hand over her heart right now, I knew I’d feel it racing.
Warmth spread over my lower stomach before shooting to my groin. I dug my fingers into the wood to keep from touching her. Neither Houston nor Loren would have practiced such restraint, but I wasn’t them.
“I wouldn’t celebrate just yet, Braxton. A year is a long time. Once you get on our tour bus, there’ll be nowhere to hide. There will only be the four of us and long, lonely nights with nothing to do but learn what makes you tick.”
The twinkle of panic in her eyes was gone as quickly as it appeared, but I knew I hadn’t imagined it. Something that raw was too real to fantasize or fabricate.
“Then I suppose it works both ways,” she whispered more to herself than to me. I felt her small hand on my stomach, making the muscles spasm and dip before she pushed me out of her way. “Excuse me.”
I didn’t follow.
Instead, I watched her go, waiting to see if she’d turn toward the noise Houston and Loren were making as they hauled equipment into the living room or keep straight where the front door waited.
I didn’t realize how anxious I was anticipating her next move until she pivoted on her bare feet toward our rehearsal space.
My relieved exhale was harsh and swift.
