Rhett slid closer to me, dragging the blankets up over us, even though it wasn’t cold. Somehow, he knew I needed more comfort. I needed to feel surrounded, and as his arms closed around me and pulled me back against him, I wondered why this guy had put up with my shit for even the couple of days that he had.
His trauma had him trying to save others. I saw it now. My reference to him being a knight in shining leather had been a somewhat joke, but I was fairly sure he truly had a savior complex. I was just his next project, and that was okay because I didn’t have the means to fight for myself today.
Today I would let him “save me” because tomorrow that meant I could save myself.
* * *
I must have drifted off,sleeping through the stress, so when I woke sometime later, the bus was stationary and I was alone in the bedroom. Blinking and yawning, I pushed myself up and saw that the clock read almost 8:00 PM.
Holy crap, I’d slept much longer than I thought. The guys would be going on stage soon, and I wondered if Rhett had left me alone. Not that he shouldn’t have, of course. I was a big girl and could look after myself. But it just seemed uncharacteristic of him, and I hoped that he was okay.
Could the Ricci family have gotten to them somehow? But if they had, I certainly wouldn’t have been left to sleep peacefully in this room, so there had to be another explanation.
The room was quite dark, outside of the small light from the clock, so I stumbled a bit to get out and find the door. Once I opened it, light flooded in, and I heard multiple voices that I must have missed in my initial waking and panic. Pausing to listen—since I was trying to avoid being murdered, it felt prudent to figure out who was in the bus—I strained to hear any familiar tones.
It sounded like multiple men and one woman, at least. They were chatting and laughing about nothing in particular, and I blinked as I crept farther out of the door and rounded the corner. Two more steps and I was along the hall and in the dining space.
At least ten faces turned and stared at me, and I almost burst into laughter.
They were all huge, men and women, squished into seats, on the floor—even a couple sitting on the stairs of the bus. When I appeared, they grew quiet, and I ran a hand through my hair, knowing it was, for sure, a hot mess. “Uh, hello,” I said softly. “What’s happening?”
A woman with her blonde hair back in a tight bun jumped down from the kitchen bench and hurried toward me. Like the rest, she was dressed fully in black, and I saw a gun holstered at her side. She wasn’t using it or pointing any weapon in my direction, so I went on my instinct that these were not Ricci goons.
“Sorry,” she said in a rush. “We were too loud and woke you. The band will have our heads.”
Before I could ask again who the hell they were, she handed me a cell phone. It was one of those expensive, sleek numbers that I’d see other members of the band use. “Rhett wants you to call him ASAP. You should have a few minutes before he goes on stage,” she said. “He wants to explain everything.”
I swallowed roughly. “Okay, thanks. I’ll just…” I gestured behind me toward the room. “Yep. Thanks.”
Backing away, still unsure what was happening and feeling a tad uneasy with twenty eyes locked on me, I made it to the room and closed and locked the door behind me. Not that it would stop bullets if they started to rain in on me.
Opening the phone, I stared down at the many icons with no idea what I was supposed to use. My old phone literally had numbers and call and hang-up buttons. No fancy screens or access to the internet. Finally, I found a green icon that looked like a phone, and when I hit it, I realized I didn’t know Rhett’s number.
A few minutes later, I found the address book, and the only number entered wasSexy Lead Guitarist of Your Dreams. He might be a fucking saint, but he definitely had the confidence of a rock star. Both were equally sexy in my opinion. After I hit the number, the phone started to ring in my ear, and he answered before the second ring finished. “Thorn!” Noise blasted me at the same time, and it was clear he was right in the midst of concert chaos.
“Hey,” I said awkwardly. We hadn’t done the talking-on-the-phone thing yet. I was much better face-to-face.
“Sorry I wasn’t there when you woke,” he pushed on in a rush, and it was getting harder to hear him as the background ruckus increased. “But you needed the rest. I was just going to skip out tonight, but I don’t like to let the fans down.”
“Definitely not,” I said quickly. “I’m totally fine, but there’re… there’re a lot of people on the bus. Is that right?”
His next words were drowned out for a touch, before he seemed to move away from the main stage where I could hear him clearer. “We pulled security from different trusted sources, and none of them are permitted to take you anywhere alone. We’re hoping that by using multiple security companies, the Ricci family won’t have had time yet to get to all of them. They have strict orders to bring you across as soon as you wake up. If you hurry, you’ll make the first set.”
I was about to argue and say that I’d just stay here locked in the room with more security than the damn president to watch over me, when he added. “I won’t be much use on stage tonight if you’re not close by, you know, where I can see you and know you’re safe.”
Dammit. I couldn’t do that to him when he’d been so good to me.
“I’ll get ready and be right there,” I told him, forcing a smile to my face so it would be reflected in my words. “See you soon.”
“See you soon, Thorn,” he replied.
“Thank you,” I whispered just as he hung up, so I wasn’t sure if he heard or not. But it needed to be said. This guy was too damn good to me, and I would never be able to thank him enough.
For now, it seemed step one was to get my ass over there and support him.
Time to figure out what clothing he’d provided so I could add a little rock star to my waif look. I needed the armor to go into battle once more.
While Jace told the world about the bitch who broke his heart.
