“Careful, Adams,” I purred back, finding my sass had returned after a great night’s sleep, “your jealousy is showing.”
The flash of cold loathing across Jace’s face sent a sharp stab of panic through me. Panic and soul-deep regret. But the past was just that.The past. It was high time we all moved on… no matter how much it hurt.
eight
BILLIE
Jace’s fist curled at his side, and a quick burst of fear zapped through me. Surely, he hadn’t changedthatmuch, though? The Jace I knew would rather cut his hand off than hit a woman. But eight years was a lot of time. Fame would change anyone, I guessed.
“Jace!” Rhett snapped, climbing out of bed in his sweatpants—aw, damn—and placing a hand on Jace’s bare chest. He’d added ink since I last saw him. Not as much as Rhett, but the full sleeve was detailed and definitely suited his new image. “Get out of my room, bro. Seriously. Get the fuck out.”
Rhett was a few inches shorter than my ex, but I’d bet my panties that he could take Jace in a fight. It was just a gut feeling.
“I’m not goinganywhere,” Jace snarled. “Not untilshe is gone. I told you, Rhett, I fuckingtold you—”
“Enough!” Rhett shouted. “Get out.” He gave Jace a firm shove, and the taller guy stumbled backwards. Rhett didn’t fuck around, just yanked the bedroom door shut and flipped the lock. With a sigh, he turned back to face me. “You sure you don’t want to give me your side of the story, Thorn?”
I wet my lips, trying to slow my racing pulse. “I’m sure,” I whispered back.
Rhett nodded like he hadn’t expected anything else. “Take a few minutes to freshen up,” he suggested, nodding to the bathroom. “I’ll do what I can to smooth things over. Then we can discuss how to smuggle you out of Siena.”
He’d grabbed a t-shirt and slipped out of the bedroom again before I could protest. Groaning, I sagged back against the pillows, covering my face while I screamed silently. There was only one way out of this room, and it was through Jace. So I might as well take a shower and come up with a game plan.
I’d fallen asleep in Rhett’s t-shirt, and I didn’t want to overstep by helping myself to another one. So I scrubbed myself clean in the shower, making extra sure there was none of Liz’s blood left on my skin, then got dressed again in the same clothes.
Thankfully there was a spare hotel toothbrush, so I gave my teeth a solid scrub and raked my fingers through my hair. There wasn’t much I could do to make it look good, though. It was as it always was. Unremarkable, mousey, flat. At least it didn’t tangle easily, so that was something.
When I’d stalled as long as possible, I straightened my spine, whispered a quick pep talk to myself, and stepped into the lion’s den. I’d come up with a game plan while in the shower; I just had to follow through without losing my nerve.
The heated argument between Rhett and Jace halted the instant I exited Rhett’s bedroom, and all eyes turned to me. I meanalleyes. As well as Jace and Rhett, there was a pink-haired punk girl on the sofa, a skinny guy sitting near her with excitement all over his face, and one other guy.
Thatguy made me do a quick double take. At a glance, I’d have thought Aquaman was chilling on the couch in a pair of ripped jeans and a vintage band tee.HotAquaman, not the blond cartoon version. His expression was totally unreadable, his body language relaxed as he inspected me from head to toe.
Whatever he saw, he seemed unimpressed. Bored, even. It threw me off slightly.
“Do you have something to say, or are you just thinking about fucking the rest of my band too?”
Jace’s acidic words cut through my distraction, and I ripped my eyes away from Aquaman. However angry Jace had been last night, it was ten times worse now that he thought I’d slept with Rhett. Which, I had. But we hadn’t fucked, and that was all Jace really cared about.
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to show some spine. “Yeah, I do. I need to get out of Siena undetected, and Rhett offered to let me tag along with your tour until New York. Is that going to be a problem for you, Adams?”
Jace stared at me, dumbfounded for a minute. Then he barked a sharp laugh. “You’re joking, right? You must be joking because I would rather eat broken glass than help you out, Billie.”
I folded my arms across my chest, trying to hide the way my hands trembled. The anxiety was gnawing at me so hard I worried I might vomit. But I couldn’t show Jace any weakness right now. He’d tear me to shreds.
“Well, your dentist won’t be very happy with you,” I replied with a slight quiver in my voice, “because I already accepted Rhett’s offer. Or did I misunderstand this being a band? Maybe it’s just the Jace Adams show, and these guys are your employees.” I tilted my head to the side, narrowing my eyes.
He glared daggers back at me, knowing I was positioning him between a rock and a hard place. I might not follow any entertainment gossip about Bellerose, buteveryband had tension over their biggest star acting like he ran the show. Didn’t they? Okay sure, I was pinning my tactics on stereotypes and guesses. I had to hope it would work, though. It was the best I had.
“Jace, I’m not sending her away,” Rhett said firmly, his expression pained as his friend shifted attention to him. “You didn’t see her when I found her. She was covered in blood, and—”
“Blood?” Jace whipped his glare back to me, his eyes scanning me from head to toe. “Seems fine to me.”
I gritted my teeth. “It wasn’t my blood,” I growled. “But it will be, if you don’t get me out of Siena. Is that what you want, Adams? You want me dead? Because that’ll be what happens if you kick me out right now.” I gave a bitter laugh. “He probably has someone waiting for me outside the hotel by now. I’ll likely catch a bullet before I make it half a block.”
The big guy on the sofa sat forward, his thick forearms resting on his ripped denim jeans. “Who?” His voice was a deep, raspy sound that sent a shiver right through me.
My mouth went dry, my eyes returning to Jace like a magnet. I didn’t want to do this… It was only going to make things a hundred times worse.
