Unable to leave without a kiss, I pressed one to her cheek, gently, so as not to wake her. But of course, my girl was a light sleeper at times. “Rhett,” she mumbled, opening one eye and squinting at me, before she blinked a few times. “When did I fall asleep?”
Lowering myself closer, I brushed some of her messy hair off her face. “I’m not sure, love. I was napping as well, so it seems we both needed a little sleep.”
Probably thanks to the four hours of sex we’d had in the early hours of this morning. Night sex and day naps were the stuff of my fantasies.
“Oh good, you slept,” she mumbled again, before yawning.
“I did,” I replied, brushing her cheek once more before I straightened. “I’ve got to duck out quickly for the rest of the day, but I’ll see you later tonight, okay?” I’d left a note for Gray to let him know where I was going… just in case.
The sleepiness faded from her face in a near instant, and she focused sharply on me. “Wait, what? Where are you going?” She studied me closely, pushing herself up to sit. “Your expression is odd. Is everything okay?”
I really didn’t want to drag her into my shitty past. “All good. Just got some shit to deal with, and I don’t want to add to your worries. It’s not important, just… maybe necessary for me to keep healing.”
My words did not deter her at all. “Perfect, I’ll get ready and come with. Give me five minutes.”
“Billie, love, there’s no need—” She was gone before I could finish, rushing from the living room into the closest bedroom. She had clothes and toiletries in all of our rooms. True to her word, she was back in just over five minutes, dressed in jeans, boots, and a sweater, with her larger coat draped over her arm.
“Ready!” she trilled. “Where are we going?”
“Townsend,” I said, my fucking heart swelling with pure love for this damn miracle who’d stumbled into my life. The fact that she didn’t even know where we were going or why, but she knew enough to be there for me, told me that Dr. Candace was right. I wasn’t going to face my family as the same scared kid. This time, I’d be able to deal better.
“Isn’t that where your family is from?” Billie asked, her expression falling.
I nodded. “Yep. I’ll explain in the car.”
It took a few more minutes to leave; after telling the guys so they didn’t panic and sneaking out past the press and security, we were finally on the road. “Grayson looked like he wasn’t going to let us leave without him,” Billie said with a chuckle as she adjusted the vents, snuggling into her seat. “Lucky he’s a little distracted with the Angelo mission.”
That and he knew I wasn’t dumb enough not to take security with us, albeit at a distance. I knew it was safer to have the back up, but I also didn’t need an entourage for this shit. No one would touch us in Townsend; it was owned by Jeremiah, after all, andheneeded my liver to survive.
“Yeah, this is going to be hard enough, and I don’t want one of them to go postal and tear up the hospital room.” My bandmates were my brothers, and they would take out my grandfather for me. I knew that without any doubt. But this was a mental battle, and the only one who could win that for me… was me.
“Maybe I’ll be the one going postal,” Billie said with a shrug. “It’s going to be hard not to punch your grandfather in the face, if I’m being honest.”
Capturing her hand, I held it tightly. “You are a miracle, Thorn. Please don’t ever change. But there isn’t a need to punch him in the face anymore. The old bastard is finally dying. We’re heading for the hospital.”
She spun to face me, eyes wide as she stared, unblinking. I looked away from the road for longer than was probably safe, enjoying that wide-eyed look of shock. “You’re just going there to see him die? What did Dr. Candace say about that?”
I also loved that she knew and was so supportive of my therapy crutch. A crutch that I was assured would fade once I found my path through the darkness.
“Not exactly. I got a call from a nurse…” I explained everything that I knew so far and what the doc had said about facing the past to move forward. When I was done, Billie was huffing and puffing in her cute little angry way.
“How dare she call you and ask for you to give a piece of yourself to that fucking monster,” she raged. “He’s old and evil. It’s time he was gone from this world.”
I completely agreed, which I reiterated by squeezing her hand tightly in support.
Billie raged for a few more minutes before she calmed and let out a huff.
“It’s all good, baby,” I promised her. “This is just another step forward in moving on from the past. It’s time to show them that I don’t need them, I don’t want them, and that there is nolittle boyleft who can be emotionally manipulated into saving his grandfather.”
“Okay, good.” She nodded a few times. “ButChrist,you’re a bigger person than me. The fact that you’re even considering showing him mercy when he gave you none? You’re a fucking saint, Rhett Silver. I aspire to be as mature as you one day. Now, let’s talk about anything else.”
We spent the rest of the few hours journey chatting about music, saving Angelo, and where Bellerose was headed once we dealt with everything else in our lives. “I really hope we go indie,” I said, having thought about it for a few months now. “Our true fans would follow us, and I think authentic music, not studio compromises, is exactly what drew people to Bellerose in the first place.”
“I totally agree. Even if most of those songs were about Jace’s hatred for me, the emotions were so strong that they dragged you in.”
“They were about his love for you, Billie,” I reminded her. “He just thought it was hate.”
She sniffled a few times before clearing her throat. “We have it figured out now, at least.”
