Page 115 of Lyric & the Heartbeats

Emerson’s lips parted to get a word in, but Henry grabbed him by the shoulder, stealing his attention.

“Hold on a minute…” Henry said, voice dangerously low. “You are not going to manipulate Lyric’s situation, no matter how much you think it’ll make her happy.”

“Oh?” Nohen asked, propping himself up against the driver’s dividing wall and twisting an empty water bottle. “Was this decided before or after you talked the chef into joining the tour?”

Emerson’s mouth dropped open, and he turned toward Henry. “You did?”

His eyes dropped for a split second before he met their gazes again, reaching a hand up to scratch at his temple. “I’m the manager. I’m allowed to make judgment calls that could make life easier for my artists.”

“Oh really?” Adra asked quietly as he joined the huddle, crossing his arms. “By that, you mean making Lyric happy, who just happens to be an omega?”

Henry’s jaw worked as he grumbled, a tic shadowing his cheek. “So what? I’m the manager taking care of my artist. And that includes you too, so I don’t know why you’re complaining about home-cooked meals every night.”

“Oh, we’re not complaining. The opposite actually. Good job taking care of her.” The tension slid off Emerson’s shoulders… before Nohen spoke.

“Did you guys actually need me for something, or just to referee your attitudes?”

Emerson spun on him, backing him into the wall and caging him in with two hands on either side of his head.

A flash of desire lit up his eyes before Nohen carefully replaced it with an expression of indifference.

“How do you get Lyric to let you spoil her?”

Nohen smirked. “Why? Mad I have a privilege you don’t?”

“Maybe,” he admitted honestly.

At the last stop, Emerson had asked Lyric if she wanted anything from the store, and she’d offered him nothing but a distracted denial.

But Nohen had walked back onto the bus with a bag of gummy bears in hand and it was like he’d purchased a god damned diamond ring or something. Emerson wanted to earn that reaction from her.

Nohen searched his features, and Emerson let his true concern show through. He wanted the best for Lyric, even if she only put up with them until the end of tour, he wanted her to be as happy as possible. The only problem was, she didn’t even know what she wanted to be happy, and he suspected the root of it lied in the issues her mother had planted.

But even so, he’d do everything he could to try.

Maybe he was playing pack, like his old band used to. Maybe he was being foolish, giving into the little urges to spoil her.

But he couldn’t help it, and he didn’t want to.

If this all ended and he was playing pack? He’d play the part of the best damned alpha she’d ever met.

The weekend they’d spent in the hotel was the most radiant he’d ever seen her, the most open. He wanted that for her all the time. He wanted to fulfill her every desire… even if that desire was aimed at another alpha.

Or beta.

He glanced down at Nohen, who sighed.

“I don’t know. I don’t think she views me as a threat, so maybe she thinks it’s… platonic?” He winced as he admitted the last word.

The beta looked absolutely miserable, and Emerson couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped. He glanced to Odd, saw the matching expression on his friend’s face, and burst out laughing.

Nohen growled and pushed him away with both palms, and Emerson was laughing too hard to fight him.

“Platonic? Nohen… fuck,” Emerson breathed between chuckles.

The bathroom door opened, and he choked back the words before they could slip off his tongue.

Lyric glared at them, suspicion in her eyes. “What’s going on out here?”