He said nothing, but the intensity of his gaze and the slight dip of his head filled me with calm reassurance. I was safe here with Bellerose. At least from Angelo. Jace… well, he was a different kind of danger. One that all the bodyguards in the world couldn’t protect me from.
twenty-one
BILLIE
Despite my initial panic at seeing me kissing Rhett all over Instagram, the other shoe never dropped. At least not for the rest of that night. Everyone decided that the mood had soured enough to skip their usual after parties, and we all retired to the bus early. That meant the convoy could set out early and take us to the band’s next scheduled stop before New York.
It was a relief to be back on the road. Every mile we put between me and Siena, the better my chances of escape became.
Rhett seemed to sense that I was panicking on the inside, so he just snuggled me—clothes on—while the bus drove us to the next destination. When I woke in the early hours of the morning, it took a minute for the confusion about where I was to wear off. Then, when I remembered, I was confused why I was awake, considering we’d only fallen asleep after midnight.
I was alone. That must have been what woke me… Rhett had gotten up before me.
Worried, I slipped out of the bed and shivered. One of his hoodies had been dropped on the floor, so I grabbed it before slipping silently out of the bedroom. The bunks were all quiet, the privacy curtains closed. Soft snoring came from one as I passed, and I smiled, wondering who the snorer was.
Rhett was slouched on the little sofa in the bus living area, his guitar across his lap and headphones on. His fingers moved on the strings, but no sounds filled the bus. That explained the headphones, I guessed.
He paused to write something in the notebook open on the table, then glanced up to see me approach.
“Hey, beautiful Thorn,” he whispered with a grin, “come join me.”
Wishing like fuck that my desperate need to be at his side wasn’t there, I forced myself to move slower. But it was a small space, and within a few seconds, I was seated on his right. As our bodies made contact, some of the darker emotions settled in my gut, and I refused to analyze the why of that. Or what I might suffer once we reached New York and I had to leave.
No matter what Rhett said, there was no other option than for me to disappear. Not just for their safety, but because of Jace. I couldn’t long-term do this with him, and I refused to break up this band.
That was not a sin I would carry. Not when I already held too many.
Rhett, either sensing my bad mood or needing to finish what he’d started, didn’t say anything as he continued to strum his guitar. This close, I could pick up the faint vibrations, and as I sank into his warmth, calm infused into me slowly. Strum by strum, chord by chord. I couldn’t even hear what he was playing, but whatever it was, it seeped into my soul.
My eyes must have fluttered closed at some point, and I didn’t even realize it until I felt the soft brush of his lips across my cheek. As my lashes lifted, I was met with a blast of dark green. His gaze was locked on mine, the guitar resting on the small table now as I captured his full attention.
It burned differently, being caught in Rhett’s gaze. His fire was less obvious than Jace’s had been, but when it caught alight, the heat was just as dangerous. Just as tempting.
“Did you finish your song?” I rasped, before attempting to clear my throat.
Rhett’s smile was a slow tilt of full lips, and fuck if the song was gone from my mind only to be replaced with memories of our time in the bedroom. Despite Jace’s venom, there had been no sex yet, but I was so fucking ready to know what it would be like with Rhett.
“It’s a work in progress,” he said, voice pitched lower than normal, maybe to keep from disturbing the others on the bus or maybe because he was feeling all the same things I was. I had no idea why when lust… need… want filled your chest, it also stretched into your throat until it felt like you couldn’t speak or breathe.
“How long have we known each other, Billie Bellerose?” Rhett asked me, and there was a flicker of what almost looked like uncertainty or confusion on his face. “How can it only be days, when it feels like I’ve never existed until we met.”
It was rock star corny, but the sincerity in his gaze, the depth of emotion in his voice, took away any “corn” that might have existed in that statement. And he was right.
“Do you believe in soul mates?” I asked him before I could think about it.
His eyes widened, and I hurried on because that got way too deep for people who had—as previously stated—only known each other for days. “I don’t mean that there’sone true love and only one true love for you in the universe.” My words were a jumbled mess as they spilled from me. “I mean that souls have lived before, and that in other lives, there were people who meant everything to them. More than one person. If they find those people in their next life, then it can feel like they’ve known them forever. Have you ever wondered if that’s why it feels that way?”
Holy shit, I needed toshut the fuck up right now.
My breaths heaved in and out for a few seconds as I shook my head to try and clear the tangled web of my thoughts and emotions. Before I could freak out further, Rhett’s hands landed on my cheeks, covering my face in his warmth, and he kissed me. Hard enough that a small moan escaped me right before he gentled it, exploring my mouth with his own.
His hands slid across the back of my head and into my hair, tangling and tightening to pull me closer, even as the kiss deepened. I lost all concept of time and location. I didn’t care where we were or what was happening outside of this space, as long as Rhett never stopped kissing me.
His lips were warm and he tasted faintly like toffee. I knew he occasionally snacked on these small hard candies that he thought no one else noticed him hoarding, and I had to figure that was what he’d had before I came out of the room. The taste combined with Rhett had me wanting to start up my own fucking stash of the little suckers.
“My soul knows yours, Billie,” Rhett murmured against my lips as we finally came up for air. “We made music in our last life together, I know it.”
A flash of pure joy lit my insides. It had been a long time since peoplegotmy eccentricities, the odd ways I saw the world and thought about the love I had for music and life. The last time had been Jace and Angelo, and the pain of that still haunted me to this day.
