“Hey!” Rhett barked. Thankfully, he had pulled away from my ear. “Why don’t you two idiots get us the fuck out of here before Beau murders both of you!”
I felt the car rumble beneath me, and I sighed in relief when we began to move away from the mob. I stayed there on the ground with Rhett wrapped around me the entire drive home.
As we began to slow down, I heard Gabe mutter, “Campbell said to pull into the garage. Too much chaos in the front.”
We were all about to witness the full force of Beau’s wrath. I had no desire to stick around for the lashing these two would undoubtedly receive.
Artificial light replaced the sunlight as my Range Rover pulled into the tiny one-car garage. It might have been minuscule, but having a garage space in New York City was a luxury—one I hadn’t cared about when we were initially looking for a building. But Beau had insisted, and he was absolutely right. This tiny space had been a lifesaver on more than one occasion.
My car door tore open before we came to a full stop, and I about jumped out of my skin.
“Easy!” I didn’t know if Rhett was talking to Beau or me.
I must have been a sight, crouched on the floorboard of the car, because Beau took one look at me and his nostrils flared.
My hair was a tangled mess. I felt my jacket still falling off my shoulders. When I began to climb out of the car, I discovered I really was missing a shoe. I kicked off the remaining one, not caring about it anymore. My feet hurt as I walked and my arms were screaming in pain.
“Sweets…” Beau whispered softly, even though I could hear his controlled rage.
“I’m going upstairs,” I mumbled as I passed.
“We should have you checked out by a doctor.”
“I don’t need a doctor, Beau. I need a shower. I need quiet. I need alcohol.” I limped past him, and he tried to hold in his groan but I heard it.
“I’ll take her up.” Rhett moved toward me. “You take care of this.” I had no doubt this was Mark and Gabe. I didn’t look back because I knew I would never see them again. For all I knew, there was a shallow grave somewhere with their names on it if Beau was left to take care of them.
“Your mother heard,” Beau called out. “I’m afraid she’s on her way.”
The only thing he should be afraid of was what I might say or do if I saw my mother right then. “My mother is not allowed in. Everyone clear?” I made sure to raise my voice so all parties could hear.
“Understood,” Beau quickly responded.
I entered my code to open the elevator when my feet left the ground and familiar arms held me tight.
I couldn’t look at Rhett when I muttered, “I can walk.”
“Your foot is bleeding. We’d all feel better if you’d just let us take care of you.” I looked down and, sure enough, my foot was bleeding. I had no idea what had caused it.
Rhett’s lips pressed against my temple and I closed my eyes, trying to guard myself against his tenderness. I was still mad.
“By all means, I’m here to make all of you feel better.”
He sighed with frustration as we rode the elevator to the top. When we arrived, I let him carry me to my door because the carpet in the hall was white and I didn’t want to stain it red. But as soon as we reached my apartment, I pushed out of his arms and entered my door code.
Quickly, without him realizing my intentions, I slipped into my apartment and closed the door, locking it behind me. The deadbolt slid into place. My apartment was usually an open door because I liked the company. But now I needed my space.
While Rose and the rest of the band all had my door code, only Lola and Beau had my code and my deadbolt key. I would at least get a little bit of time to myself before Lola arrived.
“Pipes!” Rhett shouted through the door while banging his fists. I heard him try my security code and then curse when he realized the additional deadbolt—something he and I both utilized when we wanted to be entirely alone—blocked him. “Ever, don’t do this please,” Rhett called through the door. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. Please just let me help you clean up your foot. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”
I slid down the door until my butt hit the floor and waited for him to leave. I sat there because I wanted to be near him, but I also wanted him to know how much he had hurt me. Times like these, I should have been able to lay curled up in his arms with him reassuring me I was safe and sound. Instead, he had blamed me for the morning show fiasco, and now we were on opposite sides of the door.
I examined my foot while I waited. The blood made it look worse than it was. A few little cuts and scrapes, but they were mostly superficial. Only a little cleaning was needed, though it would hurt like hell to wear heels for the next few days.
“Pipes…” I startled because I thought Rhett had left. His voice was low to the ground, and I pictured him sitting with his back against the door as well. “I was an idiot. I am an idiot. The guys and I… we were upset when we saw you perform without us. And it hurt when I found out that dude was your ex—on live television, no less. It really hurt that I didn’t hear it from you. I know…” He sighed. “I know you were probably trying to avoid that conversation with me because I would have turned into a jealous ass.”
He chuckled, but I could hear no humor in it. “Guess I did that anyway. And as much as those things sucked, when I saw him grab you and…” He paused, and I squeezed my eyes shut. “When he kissed you, I saw red, Ever. I ran the entire way to the station. It was the quickest half-mile I’ve ever sprinted in my life.”
He had gotten there pretty damn fast, now that I thought about it.
“I’m still mad,” I responded quietly, half hoping Rhett hadn’t heard me because then he would know I was still here.
“Babe, please…” His voice was closer, as if he had turned to face the door. “Please let me in.”
“Just give me some time.”
“You know I’ll go crazy.” He groaned. “Neither of us will sleep well.”
Shit. I hadn’t thought about not having him next to me tonight. He was always two steps ahead of me.
“Are you talking to a door?” Lola had arrived. I just hoped she would realize that if Rhett was outside of my apartment, I really wanted to be alone.
“She needed a moment.” His voice was sad—so sad that I almost broke down and opened the door to pull him inside and climb into his arms.
“I’m sure she did… I heard what happened.” Lola sounded suspicious. “I guess I’m just curious why she needed a moment away from you…”
Silence.
“Did you do something?” I knew by the tone of her voice she would rip him to shreds if he had hurt me.
“You mean besides slamming her ex against a wall and putting him in his place?” I could hear the cocky smirk in his voice.
"I was there for that. Ever wouldn't be mad about that."
“I might have fucked up a little bit.”
“Hmm…” I could hear the clicking of her heels closing in on my door. “Seems like you and Gage are drinking the same idiot water today.”
“Gage? What did he do?”
“What did you do?” she countered.
“I was actually in the middle of apologizing, if you don’t mind,” he grumbled. “And she can hear us, by the way.”
“I do mind, actually. I’d like to check and see if my best friend is okay.” Damn it! I scrambled up off the ground and grabbed a nearby chair—one I was certain had never been used before. I quickly shoved it under the handle, hoping this worked like it did in the movies.
I heard Lola enter my door code, followed by the sound of the deadbolt. When she pushed against the door, it only budged an inch. She continued shoving until she could get her arm through the opening. “Everly Scarlett James! You let me in this instant.” Her hand landed on my last hope of solitude. “Is that a chair? Did you shove a freaking chair under the handle to keep us out?”
/> “Sometimes a girl just wants to be left alone. You see what I’ve had to resort to?” I lightly slapped her hand away from my chair.
“Would you help me?” I assumed she was bitching to Rhett and not me, because I sure as hell wasn’t going to give her my assistance.
Lola was finally able to swipe the chair out of the way with her hand and shove the door open. I had moved just in time before she hulked out. From my point of view, I could see Rhett’s legs from where he sat against the wall next to my door.
“Are you coming in, or do you plan on moping in the hallway some more?” Lola looked down at him as if he had sprouted another head.
“Not until she invites me in.”
My heart lurched at the sound of his voice and knowing he was so close.
I grabbed my chair off the floor. “That was a twelve-hundred dollar chair, you know.”
“Yeah, and I told you how ridiculous that was when the designer bought it.”
I looked at the wooden chair in my hands that I just had to have. My designer’s words, not mine. “It is ridiculous, isn’t it?” As I headed toward the kitchen, I looked around at all of the other outlandish items that had been added during the remodel. That money could have gone to something so much better.
Lola marched across my European oak hardwood floors and slung her giant purse onto the marble island in my kitchen.
“I really did want some time alone.” I pulled two wine glasses from my cupboard and a bottle of chardonnay from the fridge.
“If you wanted to be alone, you wouldn’t have been sitting on the other side of your door listening to his sappy apology.”
I pulled the cork from the bottle. “It wasn’t sappy… you didn’t even hear it.”
She smirked at me and then grabbed the bottle from my hands when I apparently didn’t fill her glass high enough.
“So… Panda’s giving you some trouble, too?” I smiled brightly that I was able to remember Gage’s ridiculous nickname she had given him.
“Shhh…” She smacked me lightly on the mouth while glancing over at my open front door. Rhett’s legs were still stretched out in their same spot. “You little brat! We agreed that went to your grave!”
She chugged the wine in her glass and slammed it on the counter without breaking it. Impressive. “I came here to see if you were okay after that shitstorm outside the studio. Now, I see you’re still alive. Clean up that foot, and I will see you later.” She definitely wanted to flip me off. I could feel it.
“Don’t be mad,” I said, laughing. When she continued to stomp out the door, I called out, “Love you! Thank you for checking on me!”
Rhett was now standing and leaning against the doorframe of my front door. He still hadn’t passed the threshold. His hands were in his pockets. Between his lips was a toothpick.
A few weeks ago, he’d decided to get serious about quitting smoking. Rose made him toothpicks that she called "Quit Sticks." She soaked them in essential oils—cinnamon was my favorite—and he chewed on them to ward off his cravings. His willpower had been incredible. And when it wasn’t, I distracted him with other things—like spontaneously losing my clothes.
I knew he was stressed and probably fighting off a craving, but he still gave Lola a small smile.
“You’ll make sure she’s okay?” She dug her finger into his chest.
“Every day that she allows me to.” His eyes quickly found mine.
“When you clean up that foot of hers, I wouldn’t be upset if you scrubbed a little too hard,” Lola said.
“Now jellybean, don’t be too hard on our girl.” He had a shit-eating grin on his face, and I knew Lola’s head was about to explode.
She whipped around and pointed at me. “You swore!”
“I didn’t tell anybody anything!” I laughed, my hands raised in defense.
“Didn’t hear it from her,” he mumbled.
She marched back into the apartment and yanked the overpriced chair—which was completely worthless when it came to keeping people out, by the way—until it fell onto the floor. Then she stomped out of the apartment. Loudly. She always did know how to throw a decent temper tantrum.
The apartment was quiet again as Rhett watched Lola walk away. Meanwhile, I watched him. His eyes slowly moved back to me, but his body remained in the doorway.
“You might as well come in.”
He pulled the toothpick from his mouth and put his hands in his pockets. “Do you want me to come in?”
“I don’t want to want it.” We continued staring at one another.
“But you do…” He smirked but quickly straightened out his features. “Want it?”
I had a decision to make. I could continue being angry with him and make both of us miserable. Or I could try to forgive him and move past this. At the end of the day, I had to ask myself, “Was this a deal breaker? Did I want this to end us?” Because if I didn’t, then what was the point in asking him to leave when I could allow him to give me the comfort I needed?
My shoulders deflated and I nodded my head. That was all he needed before he was over the threshold, kicking the door closed with his boot. He scooped me up off the ground, and I laid my head against his chest. His heart beat wildly in my ear. I could tell he was nervous. He had been expecting me to turn him away.
Hell, I’d been expecting that, too.
“I hate when you’re mad at me,” he said with his lips touching my forehead.
“This is the first time I’ve truly been mad at you.” It was true. I had been annoyed with him. I had also been upset with him in the past, but it was usually for things that were out of his control.
“Yeah, and I hate it.” He carried me out of the marble-tiled foyer and down the hardwood floors of my hallway.
“Well, I hate that you actually thought those things about me…”
When he carried me through my bedroom and straight to the bathroom, I realized he was still concerned about my foot. I tried to tell him it was all superficial, but he wouldn't hear it until he could see for himself. He placed me gently on the bathroom counter and then sat on a stool so he could prop my foot up in front of him.
“I hate that my jealousy made me think that. I’m just as angry with myself as you are, Pipes.”
While he grabbed an emergency aid kit from a nearby drawer, I collected my thoughts. Because, when it came down to it, I was angry with myself too.
"Rhett, I need you to know that even though you and I didn't begin in the most… virtuous way"—I started, thinking back to the times Rhett and I were together before Noah and I had officially broken it off—"I don't plan on doing anything like that ever again. Not to you. Not to me. You are the one I want. You are the one that brings out more in me than I ever thought possible.”
His hands were rubbing a cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide across my scrapes, but his eyes were burning into me. There were a million words in that expression, and he appeared to wrestle with the ones he would allow to come out.
“You’re it for me, you know that?” he whispered.
I nodded. Somehow I did know that, but I couldn’t help feeling a little nervous that what was happening between us had come on too fast, too soon.
“I just freaked you out a bit, didn’t I?” He laughed. I closed my lips tightly but released a small nod. “What are you going to do when I really do get down on one knee?”
A laugh burst from my lips as I swatted his chest. He was always joking about proposing to me. He had since the night I met him at the bar, right after we sang together for the first time.
“All I know is,” I started, “that I really like us. I don’t want to ruin us, and I don’t want your jealousy to ruin us either.”
“Ditto. My jealousy and I will have a serious talk. Let’s try to keep the ex-boyfriends away for a little while though, please?” The corner of his lip lifted in a sly grin, which I absolutely loved.
I leaned forward and press
ed my lips against his ever so softly. I couldn’t ever imagine myself being mad at Rhett for very long. He was kind, patient and just too good of a person to deserve any animosity toward him.
“I’ll do my best.”
— TWENTY-THREE —
I took a shower to wash the awful morning away. I wanted the memory of everyone’s hands on me to go down the drain with all of the other grime. Rhett let me shower alone, although I knew he didn’t want to.
I stood under the hot water for a good thirty minutes and spent another fifteen combing out my curls. I found a sleep shirt and pulled it over my head before going to locate him.
A few weeks ago, I more than likely would have found him out on my balcony—freezing temperatures, be damned—chain smoking cigarettes. But today he was on my couch, no cigarettes in sight… just lots of toothpicks. He was hunched over my coffee table, sheet music scattered from end to end, his ancient tape recorder held firmly in his grasp.
These were the moments I loved the most with Rhett. When no matter where he was, be it in a crowded room or in bed with me, he had to stop, pull out that recorder and just let the words flow unrestrained from his mouth. It was always beautiful. It was always magic.
When he saw me standing there, he opened his arms and beckoned me to join him. “I want to show you something.” My bare feet ambled across my heated wood floors and carried me to my favorite place. Comfortably between him and music, there was nowhere I’d rather be.
“I think I found the solution for ‘Blind Image’ that we haven’t been able to get.” He settled me onto his lap. We had written this song a few weeks ago, but we couldn’t decide how to end it. It had cost a fortune to break up our studio time while recording, but we just couldn’t live with what we had. We knew it could be better.
Rhett’s chin moved my wet hair to the side, giving his lips an opening to place a sweet kiss on my shoulder. I scooted around on his thighs to get more comfortable, ready to hear what he had come up with. His hands slid up my legs to readjust my weight. When he realized I wasn’t wearing any shorts, he skimmed his fingers up further. I heard the sharp inhale when he discovered the sleep shirt was the only thing I had bothered to put on.
Ever Lonely (Ever James Band Book 1) Page 31