“I watched you tonight,” Daniel continued, moving closer. “Up on that stage, thanking him. Telling the whole world he’s your home.” His voice cracked. “I’myour home. Not him.Me. I’ve followed your music since the beginning. I know every lyric you’ve ever written. I know what they mean. The loneliness, the searching—you were writing to meforme. You were always writing for me.”
“That’s not true,” Cody said, pressing back against the couch. “Daniel, I don’t know you. Those songs aren’t about—”
“Don’t lie to me!” Daniel’s composure shattered. He lunged forward, grabbing Cody’s arm with his free hand, the knifecoming up between them. “I gave up everything for you. My job, my apartment, my whole life. I moved here to be near you. And you repay me by parading that animal around like he matters?”
Cody stared at the blade. It was a utility knife, the kind with a retractable blade. Small but sharp enough to do serious damage.
“Daniel,” Cody said, forcing his voice steady, pulling from the same calm he used before a concert, the performer in him taking over when the rest of him wanted to scream. “Please, put the knife down. We can talk about this calmly.”
“We’re past talking.” Daniel’s eyes were wet. “If I can’t have you, nobody can. Do you understand?Nobody.”
The door exploded inward.
Reid came through it like a force of nature, and Cody caught a flash of amber eyes before Reid’s body slammed into Daniel’s. The knife clattered across the floor. Daniel hit the wall hard enough to crack the drywall and Reid had him pinned, one hand on his throat, the other twisting his arm behind his back at an angle that made Daniel scream.
“Don’t move,” Reid growled, and the sound barely seemed human. “Don’t breathe. Don’t look at him.”
Two members of Garrett’s team poured through the door seconds later. They took Daniel from Reid, forced him to the ground, then zip-tied his wrists behind his back. Daniel was sobbing, screaming Cody’s name.
“Cody,please! Tell them you love me!Tell them!”
Reid turned to Cody. His eyes were still burning gold, his chest heaving, his suit torn at the shoulder. He looked like something wild barely wearing a civilized skin.
“Are you hurt?” Reid’s voice was rough, barely controlled.
“No. He didn’t—no.”
Reid crossed the room in two strides and pulled Cody against him so hard it hurt. Cody could feel Reid shaking, tremorsrunning through that massive frame, and he realized with a jolt that Reid was terrified. Not angry.Terrified.
“I shouldn’t have left,” Reid said into Cody’s hair. “Two minutes. I left you for two damn minutes.”
“You came back. You were fast enough.”
“If I’d been a second later—”
“But you weren’t.” Cody pulled back enough to take Reid’s face in his hands. “Look at me. I’m here. I’m okay. You saved me.”
Reid’s eyes slowly faded from gold back to hazel. He pressed his forehead against Cody’s, breathing hard. Behind them, Garrett’s team hauled Daniel out of the room. The sobbing faded down the corridor.
Diane appeared in the doorway, white-faced. “Is he—”
“He’s fine,” Reid said without looking away from Cody. “Get the car. We’re leaving.”
“The police will need a statement—”
“They can get it at the hotel. No more interviews. We’re leaving. Now.”
Diane didn’t even try to argue.
* * *
The ride back to the hotel was silent. Reid held Cody’s hand so tightly that Cody’s fingers went numb, but he didn’t pull away. He couldn’t. He needed the contact as badly as Reid did.
In the hotel suite, after the police had been by and taken Cody’s statement then left again, after Diane had confirmed that Daniel was in custody and being charged with attempted murder and stalking—after all of it—Cody stood in the bathroom staring at his reflection.
His suit was wrinkled. His hair was a mess. There was a red mark on his arm where Daniel had grabbed him.
He looked at the man in the mirror and saw someone who had stood on a stage and won the biggest award in country music, then nearly died in a green room forty minutes later.
