My blood ran cold. UncleVincent was trying to turn Fox against me, and IknewI’d done the wrongthing, and I still hadn’t apologized.
“Fox, I—”
“I know,” Fox said, turningto look at me. “I know, love. I’m not angry.”
Relief washed over me.
“What the hell do you wantwith this skinny kid?” Uncle Vincent asked, volume rising with every word. “Ihad to rescue his ass by leaking that first album to make up for the fact thathe was behind on his sales targets. I had to buy fifty copies myself to make upthe difference! And he’s trying to ruinallof that with hisdumbass ideas of being anartist. He’s not a goddamn meal ticketyou stupid English asshole.”
I bit my lip. Did UncleVincent think that little of me? Did he really believe I’d blown thedeadline because I was writing my own songs and not because I wassick?
The schedule I was supposedto keep was nuts. Group voice lessons, recording for weeks at a time,fivealbumsin twelve months.
No one else ever did that.Most artists released one, maybe two albums a year.
I’d thought hard work was theanswer, but what had I been working for?
A half-million dollar payoutI knew nothing about. That I never would have seen a cent of.
“I made you,” Uncle Vincentsaid, turning his gaze on me. “I made youeverythingyou are now.”
“Miserable,” Fox said.
My stomach dropped as myuncle’sattention shifted again. The air was so fraught with tension it was hard to breathe,and I could feel my head getting light.
“You’ve made him miserable,”he continued. “And treated him so badly they’d arrest you for doing the same toa dog. And I have it on excellent authority that Quinnisgoing places, ifonly he could get out from under dear old Uncle Vincent’s thumb.”
I shuffled a little closerto Fox, wondering whoexcellent authoritywas. Lucy? Or someone else?
“I had a little talk withthe person you conned into helping you out,” Fox said.
Vincent paled.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Funny,” Fox said. “Becauseyou look afraid.”
“I’m notafraid. You were nevera threat,”he said. “You think I was ever worried aboutyou? Some discountthird-rate private detective who’d never managed to close a case more interestingthan a cheating husband? You’re nobody.”
“Don’t talk to him likethat!”
Vincent looked at me again,apparently as surprised as I was at my sudden outburst.
Fox had protected me enough.Defended me from the first moment we’d met, never once been cruel or even unkind.And he was here. Even after I abandoned him, he washere.
I owed him this. I owed himso much more than this, but it was a start.
“You trying to get into hispants, you little pervert?” Uncle Vincent asked.
The tips of my ears were onfire. I knew, in my heart, that I had nothing to be ashamed of. That there wasnothingwrongwith being attracted to Fox, or men in general.
“That ship’s sailed,” Foxsaid, which wasn’t making the situation any better but did take the heat offme.
He kept doing that. Throwinghimself in front of danger to save me. I would’ve bet anything he did itfor other people, too.
“This isn’t about me, orabout Fox,” I interrupted before my uncle could let loose with the rant I couldsee he was building up to. “This is about whatyoudid.”
“If you tell on me,” Vincentgrowled. “You’ll lose your contract. Same as you would have if you’d been doingthis yourself.”
