“I’m definitely part of this!” Ryder shouted back. “I’ve been here longer than your ass has!”
“Cole, please,” Rosalie called out. “All of you. Sit. Let’s discuss this.”
We glared at one another for a moment before Cole finally sat. Satisfied, I sat too, Ryder following.
I breathed out.
“It’s more than the life you’re in,” I said. “It’s the fact that she has a stalker who tried to kill her. Who almost killed Ryder. I’m worried, OK? Rosalie and Ellis are everything to me. If something happened to them, I’d fucking die.” I stared at Rosalie as I said it. “I’m trying to protect my family, LeeLee.”
She reached across the table and held my hand. My anger dissolved. She wasn’t ignoring me for Cole. She was listening.
“Fabian broke his leg,” Evan said softly.
We all looked at him. That was definitely a change of subject.
“What?” I asked. Fabian and I were good friends. He hadn’t told me he broke his leg.
“You didn’t hear?” Evan frowned at me.
“No. What happened?”
“He was in a car accident last night. He was… fucked up. He crashed his car. It’s all over the news.”
“What the fuck?” I whispered.
“Did anyone get hurt?” Rosalie asked, her voice shaking. She and Fabian had been close. They’d made that music video and everything together.
“Aside from him? No. Not really. The car he hit was totaled, but the people inside were OK. He came out the worst,” Evan said.
“Who the fuck is Fabian?” Cole called out.
“A friend of ours,” Evan answered before clearing his throat. “He’s also the lead role in my book-to-film.”
“What does it mean for the movie?” Rosalie asked.
“It means we’re going to have to take time off from filming. The director said a few months, depending on whether Fabian ends up jailed long-term for it. He was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.”
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, reaching for Evan’s hand. I knew Fabian struggled with drugs and alcohol. He reminded me a lot of E from years ago. “It’s only a few months, brother. Everything will work out.”
“That’s my point,” Evan said, looking from Rosalie to me. “I have a few months off. I-I can go to Chicago with Rosalie and Ellis.”
I blinked at his words. “What?”
“I know you have new bands and some touring to do with them. I know Klaus is booked solid for the next few weeks withclients, meetings, and all that shit he does. I can go to Chicago with Rosalie and Ellis. I can protect them.”
“I can go too,” Ryder murmured. “I am her bodyguard, after all.”
This was my fucking nightmare. Rosalie and Evan reuniting with the horsemen. They’d end up just like they used to be.
“It won’t be that way,” Evan murmured to me. He knew exactly what I was thinking. “It’ll just be short visits for now. Nothing long-term, right, Ro?”
“Right,” she murmured.
“So… like long weekends and stuff?” I looked directly at Rosalie.
“I-I’d try to do it around Cole’s hospital schedule,” she said. “If I go.”
“If it helps, I only get a few days off here and there,” Cole grumbled.
