Yeah, not even a fucking comparison. One would be gone and it wasn’t the one this band was named after.
thirty-one
BILLIE
Disappointment shot through me like a bullet when I woke up alone. Had Rhett just hit it and quit it? It sure as fuck wouldn’t be the first time for me, but Rhett wasdifferent. Or so I’d thought…
I lay there for a long moment, feeling sorry for myself and shedding a quick tear. Part of me even wondered if Jace had put him up to it, then I just wallowed in guilt and self-pity for a while. Eventually, I pulled my shit together enough to get out of bed… then discovered the note Rhett had left.
“Oh shit,” I whispered aloud as my eyes scanned the handwritten letter on hotel notepaper. “Billie, you pathetic pessimistic bitch.” He hadn’t hit it and quit it, he’d gone to the gym to work out with Grayson.
“Fuck,” I groaned, remembering my mid-sex confession about kissing Grayson. Maybe I should go down there and… what? Make sure they weren’t killing each other? Even if they were, what the fuck did I think I could do to stop them?
Cringing, I checked the time, then spotted a message on my new phone from Flo, asking me if I wanted to meet her for coffee. So… I had two choices. Storm down to the gym and make an already awkward situation even more awkward or meet up with Flo while praying to the gods of coffee that Rhett had justforgotten.
Unlikely. But there was a glimmer of hope, wasn’t there?
“Fuck it,” I muttered, throwing my hands up and heading for the shower.
In the time it took me to wash, shave, shampoo, and condition, I’d changed my mind seventy-six times about whether to check on Rhett or not. Because I had a gut feeling that if he confronted Grayson, it wasn’t going to be Gray nursing a black eye.
My decision was made for me with a knock on the door while I was pulling on a pair of jeans. I checked the peephole—because I wasn’t atotalmoron—then opened it to greet Florence.
“Hey girl, you get my message?” she asked with an overly bright smile.
I nodded, my mind made up. “Yeah, sorry I didn’t reply. I’m up for coffee, absolutely. I just need to dry my hair.”
“All good, I need to sort out our security detail, anyway.” Flo rolled her eyes and huffed a laugh. “I’ll meet you downstairs in like twenty minutes?”
I agreed, and Flo hurried back along the hall toward the elevators. It took me a little more than twenty minutes to meet her in the end, thanks to the crappy, low-powered hotel hairdryer.
If anything, Flo seemed even more tense and cagey when I finally hurried over to where she waited with a handful of security guards. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her smile fake as fuck.
“Are you okay?” I asked with concern, reaching out to touch her arm. “Did something happen?”
“Huh? Yeah, of course, I’m fine,” she lied. “Let’s go before Rhett tries to drag you back into bed or something.” She gave a pointed look at my neck, and I flushed with embarrassment. Who even got hickies at this age?
“Maybe we can pick up some concealer or something,” I murmured with a wince as Flo looped her arm through mine. She chuckled, leading me out to the waiting SUV with security floating around us like a gas cloud.
We both slid into the backseat, and she sighed heavily as the door closed behind us.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I tried again. “You seem upset.”
This time her smile was even less convincing. “Yeah, girl. All good. Just one of those days, you know? I need a break from all the testosterone.”
“Understandable. You’re surrounded by dudes twenty-four seven. It must get lonely sometimes.” Maybe that’s why she put up with Tom?
Flo just shot me a tight smile back, flipping her sunglasses down from where they’d been perched on her hair. “So, there’s a cute coffee shop slash book shop place I want to take you to. They serve these amazing little mini-cupcakes with all their coffees. The boys hate it, but it’s so cute.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from pushing her when she was making such an obvious attempt to change the subject. Instead, I chatted with her about their plans for the rest of the tour. Over and over in my head, I could hear Rhett asking me tostayand me agreeing.
Now, in the light of day without the overwhelming sexual chemistry clouding my head, I was feeling like shit. Sex with Rhett was un-fucking-believable. Mind-blowingly good. But when he’d asked me to stay, it hadn’t beenonlyhim I’d agreed to stay for.
I wanted to stay with him. WithRhett, my shining knight. But I also wanted to stay because of Grayson… and if I was being totally honest with myself, a little bit for Jace. It might have been a decade, but whatever had drawn me to my oldest friend in the first place remained a strong part of my soul. A part I couldn’t purge no matter how much of an asshole he was.
“We’re here,” Florence said, jerking me out of my guilt party.
We waited for security to spread out and open the car door for us, and I breathed a small sigh of relief that only one of the burly men actually entered with us. Flo was right; it was adorable, with old Alice in Wonderland style furniture and bookshelves overflowing with well-worn novels.
