by Dawn Ryder
“I didn’t pull those stitches up.” She was talking to him and honestly didn’t give a single fuck for anyone else in the room.
What she cared about was the way he remained silent.
“Get her out of here,” Cid snapped.
She stood there, watching it happen in slow motion. She felt like something inside her was bleeding. Like a huge knife had been plunged deep into her heart. She couldn’t draw breath. She was pretty sure she knew what it was like to be sucker punched, because her entire body felt like it was shaking and on the verge of collapse.
She’d known it was headed for an epic crash and burn.
Known it.
But it still hurt a thousand times worse than any mental anticipation had prepared her for.
The only thing she managed to do was look away, so Syon wouldn’t see the pain in her eyes.
“Don’t you fucking touch her.”
Kate jerked her attention back up. Syon had slid between her and the crew members.
“I didn’t tell you to do shit, Cid. We’ll work this out.”
The road manager didn’t even blink. “My job is to manage this tour. She’s disruptive and now sabotaging the operation. I’m just taking out the garbage. I don’t wait for you to tell me my job. That’s why I’m the best. Got the original artist on his way to the airport to join up with us.”
Someone grabbed her bicep, and she jumped. Ramsey pulled her back and stepped in front of her.
“Kate isn’t garbage,” Ramsey stated.
She stood there with her mouth gaping. Syon turned to look at Ramsey. She witnessed the connection between them as he gave Ramsey a single nod.
“But someone has been sabotaging our show.”
They all turned to look at Taz. He was standing near the rolling rack of pants. Two pairs had been tossed over his shoulder, and he had another pair turned halfway inside out. “Someone’s been tampering with these. You can see where they nicked the leather with the ripping needle. All of these have been messed with too.”
“I knew it. My work doesn’t fail. And I am a professional.” Kate charged over to him and grabbed the pants. The nicks were there, every third or fourth stitch broken. Syon was leaning over her shoulder, Ramsey on the other side.
“We’ve got a security problem,” Ramsey muttered.
“Exactly, we’ve got a jilted-girlfriend issue,” Cid said from across the room. “She’s lashing out. Which is why she’s got to go.”
Cid was coming toward her. Syon stepped into his path, Ramsey right behind him. Taz gently tugged her back and joined his bandmates. Yoon was suddenly there, crowding her back.
Cid stopped. “I’ve seen it before.” He faced off with them. “You hired me because I’ve got the experience. Trust me, the bitch is making trouble, and it affected the show.” He stepped closer to Syon. “Let me do my job. You’ll thank me tomorrow.”
“Kate isn’t jilted,” Syon said softly. “We had a fight, that’s all.”
Cid laughed. “Is that why she was bawling her eyes out?” Cid shook his head. “Not a chance. She knows you spent the night somewhere else. With someone else. Not that I blame you. Those were some premium babes. Would have loved a taste myself.”
Syon, Ramsey, and Taz all turned to look at her. She groaned, her face feeling like it was catching fire.
“I spent the night with Taz,” Syon offered softly. “He was drunk and needed a wingman.”
“The girls were with me and Drake,” Ramsey told her. “Swear it.”
“Yeah,” Drake added. “Syon owed Taz, so we left him to it.”
Relief poured through her, as well as a moment of surprise.
Of course! The girl in the restaurant flashed through her mind. The encounter had set Taz on his ear. Bad.
“It doesn’t matter where you spent the night.” Cid grabbed Syon by the shoulders and turned him back to face him. “You don’t need a relationship to get laid. She’s in the way. You guys are hot, and the fans love you. Relationships don’t belong in rock. Why should you toe the line? You aren’t men; you’re gods! Live like it.”
“Sounds like she’s in your way.” Syon shook off Cid’s hold.
Cid wasn’t willing to back down. His complexion darkened. “I know this business. You’re the new kids, so better listen up.” He pointed a finger at them. “You can fall just as fast as you’ve risen. The fans want to see you living the life they can’t have. So you’re going to be wild and fuck a lot. Because that’s what the fans want. The whole package.”
Syon smacked Cid’s hand away. “You’re employed to manage the tour. Not my dick.”
Cid threw his head back and laughed. “It’s part of the deal. You’ve got the music skills, but that won’t cut it in today’s market. You’ve got to have the image. As it is, you’ve already got one deadbeat on this team.” Cid flung an open-handed gesture toward Taz. “You could both take some notes from Ramsey.”
There was a blur of motion from the side. A hard smack, and Cid went stumbling across the suite. Drake stood there, his fist still in the air. “No one trashes my teammates or Kate.”
The polo-shirted crew members had backed off. Cid made the mistake of looking toward them. His expression tightened when he realized they were sitting it out—waiting it out, actually. They were going with the winner. He jerked his suit jacket down and faced off with the members of Toxsin.
“I’ve worked with the best,” he snarled. “Mega-superstars! And I know how to make sure they stay that way.”
“Yeah, your résumé is impressive,” Syon drawled. “Unless I consider the fact that none of those heavy hitters kept you.”
“I’m getting a clue why that might be,” Ramsey added.
“Do you have any clue what a bitch like that one can take from you?” Cid pointed at her. “She’s going to want to play house. A divorce will cost you a bundle, even with a prenuptial.”
“You’re getting the cart in front of the horse,” Kate interjected. She started toward Cid, but he sniffed at her, dismissing her.
But Syon had gone deadly still. “Did you have that roofie slipped to her?”
Cid paled. “Don’t be ridiculous.” But a trickle of sweat made its way down the side of his face, his poise suddenly faltering. Just a smidgen, but enough to outrage her. Kate took one step toward him, only to have Yoon slip an arm around her and pull her back.
Syon pulled his arm back and punched Cid straight on the jaw. Cid went down, unable to recover, and ended up sprawled on his butt.
“Anything to protect your meal ticket,” Syon said in disgust. “She could have been killed.”
“You can’t accuse me of that.” Cid was back on his feet.
“I just did,” Syon said, cutting through Cid’s argument. “You’re the only one with an agenda that needs Kate out of my life. You had motive, opportunity, and as you’re so fond of telling me, you can get anything.”
Syon suddenly moved. He jerked one of bags out of the hand of one of Cid’s entourage members. He opened it and dumped the contents onto the dressing-room table. He grabbed a small plastic ziplock bag that had a white pill in it.
“You forget, Cid, I’m not an idiot. I know what this is.” He looked back at the table. “As well as a couple of those other mystery bags.”
Cid pointed at the girl who was carrying the bag. “That wasn’t in my pocket bag. I’ll toss her out too.”
The girl gasped, shocked to her core by the betrayal. Cid didn’t even blink. “But you told me—”
“Oh, please.” Cid cut her a hard look. “I’m a professional. I wouldn’t have told any team member to bring drugs into a performance area.”
“You did!” The girl insisted, looking toward Syon. “He wanted to scare her, make her think you were the one who liked to party hard. He’d heard about her rules. Thought she’d leave if there were drugs here.”
“Shut up!” Cid snapped. “You’re just trying to deflect. The dope was in your purse. I have managed mega—”
“Yo
u are full of shit,” Syon snarled. “No wonder you were looking for a new band. What did you do? Get a gag order to shut up your last client? Is that why the background check came back clean?”
“You fucking asshole,” Ramsey hissed. “We don’t drug our women.”
“You need your ass kicked,” Taz added.
“And how.” Drake had lost every last bit of his British composure.
Cid’s complexion turned gray. He looked around again, but no one was coming to his rescue. The girl was sobbing, babbling about how he’d told her to buy the drugs. The tension in the air was twisting tighter, Syon and his bandmates looking like they were getting ready to spring.
Kate didn’t have an ounce of pity for him. He suddenly stiffened, some of his confidence returning.
“Go on,” Cid said smugly. “In a court of law, I’ll win over the four of you any day. All I need is a hospital report.” He cast a glance at Kate. “A bitch who has pictures of her tits all over the Internet sure isn’t going to generate much sympathy as the reason for an assault. No one is going to believe she didn’t take the dope herself, or that one of you didn’t give it to her so she’d go for double time. It won’t be hard to get pictures of the three of you on that dance floor groping each other. Drunk or high, it looks the same to a jury.”
Syon pulled his arm back, but Ramsey stopped him. “He isn’t worth it.”
Syon was fighting. She could see him battling the urge to tear Cid apart. Part of her needed to see it, needed the balm for her wounded pride.
But the rational side of Kate’s brain couldn’t let Syon put himself at risk either. “He’s an opportunist prick. Don’t give him the evidence for a lawsuit and a gag order. Just can his ass and enjoy knowing you can tell the truth to the next people he tries to work for.”
Cid snorted at her. “Good luck. My contract is ironclad. It will cost you a bundle to get rid of me without hard evidence, which you don’t have.”
Cid went skidding across the performers’ room floor, a hard hit on the jaw from Syon sending him reeling.
“Don’t ever insult my fiancée.”
“My friend,” Ramsey added as he popped his knuckles.
“Mine too,” Taz said.
“Definitely,” Drake chimed in.
“Let me remind you what else is in your contract.” Syon stood over Cid. “A no-tolerance clause for drugs, which includes any personal assistant you have. She”—he pointed at the girl—“is your personal assistant. She has dope in her possession. I’ve got plenty of witnesses, and if you’re smart, you’ll get out of here before I call up Deputy Jenson.”
Syon looked at the girl. “Will you testify against him?”
She’d stopped crying, realizing it was a lost cause. Syon’s question made her eyes brighten. “You bet your ass I will.”
“Still, her word against mine,” Cid insisted.
“No it isn’t,” the girl said. She grabbed her cell phone off the table where the contents of her purse were still lying. She held it out toward Ramsey. “There were text messages. He erased them, but you hack phones all the time. Can you get them back?”
The phone went crashing to the floor. Cid had moved up while everyone’s attention was on the girl. He went to smash the phone with his foot, but Yoon spun around and sent him into the wall with a back kick that landed in Cid’s midsection.
Ramsey scooped up the phone. “You bet I can retrieve them.”
Cid was struggling to his feet, clutching his midsection. “I’ll countersue for assault.”
“You just don’t know when to quit, do you, mate?” Drake was suddenly across the room, sending his fist into Cid’s jaw. The road manager went stumbling, Drake following him. “Sue me. I dare you. Your career will be finished.”
Ramsey pulled Drake back, scuffling with his bandmate as Cid leaned against the wall, blood seeping down his chin from a split lip.
“You can have your severance,” Syon said, “and you’ll sign a gag order, or I’ll call Deputy Jenson and let him know we’ve got new developments in the case.”
“Full severance,” Cid snapped, “and a gag order on your side too.”
“Full severance only. Take it or leave it,” Syon said.
“Better than you deserve,” Ramsey added.
“Let me take it out of his hide,” Drake insisted.
“Deal!” Cid said, sending a cutting look at the girl. Taz stepped between them, the nunchakus back in his hand.
“Just so you know,” Taz said as he swung the weapon, “if she ever calls me, with say, even a small concern that you’re making grief for her…or her family…or…her dentist”—the nunchakus made a wicked sound as he twirled them in the air—“there’s going to be trouble.”
Syon looked at the team of polo-shirted crew. “Get him out of here, and keep him out of my sight if you all want your jobs.”
The team that had always hopped to Cid’s commands now jumped to haul him off the floor and out of the performers’ room. The members of his entourage stood frozen, like a pack of deer attempting to decide who was going to be the dominate buck. Syon pointed them toward the door. They went with a click of their spike heels, the one girl taking the time to scoop the contents of her purse off the table before she stood there, looking lost.
“The guy wanted us partying, because it covered his own love of the sport,” Ramsey said at last. “I swear one of those skirts is a dude.”
Kate’s emotions felt wrung out.
What just happened?
She needed to sort out her thoughts, but she was stuck on the admission Syon had made. He turned and looked at her, stirring up all the hurt that had been burning inside her for the last day.
Only a day? It had felt so much longer.
“When did we establish that I’m your fiancée?”
Ramsey groaned. He tossed his hands into the air and turned away. “Later.” But he cut her a wink before he disappeared into the hallway.
“On your six,” Drake said as he hurried to catch up.
“Don’t leave me behind,” Taz called after them. “You better come too, Yoon. They’re about to get lovey-dovey.”
Her bodyguard deserted her in a flash, taking only a moment to encourage Cid’s ex-entourage girl to join them.
Kate stood there for a moment, feeling like she’d been tossed up on the beach by a gigantic wave. She choked on a laugh. Syon. Only Syon affected her that way.
He raised an eyebrow. But she shook her head, suddenly completely unsure of him.
Okay, of herself.
Of them.
“Sorry about last night,” he said, trying his hand at explaining. “I should have told you where I was. It’s sort of hardwired in me to put the team first.”
She shrugged. “I was temperamental this morning.”
He flashed her a grin. “I loved it.”
“You did not,” she scoffed.
He nodded. “I did. Even if I owe you an apology for it. I just can’t help that I like knowing you cared enough to come after me, looking to tear a strip off my ass.”
“Well…I’d say you have it coming, but I saw the look on Taz’s face last night when we ran into that girl. I think she likes him.”
“She loves him.” Syon’s expression hardened. “And he’s got it bad for her.”
There was a hard certainty in his voice that made her ache for Taz.
“Looked like her family had big problems with that.”
“Major ones,” he confirmed.
Syon fell silent. But she could see his thoughts buzzing in his caramel eyes.
“It kills me to know I made you cry.”
She wanted to shrug it off. She started to, but he was suddenly there, clasping her in his embrace, and she lost her grip on everything except how she felt about him.
“I should have gotten rid of Cid sooner.”
She stiffened, trying to regain her composure. Syon pressed her back into his chest. “That was a dick move he pulled with the pictures.
I should have let him have it.”
“You should have.”
He tipped up her head so he could lock gazes with her. “Percy might have threatened to bikini wax me over it.”
“I’d be disappointed if he didn’t.”
She felt like she was drowning. There was so much security in his embrace. It had the power to seal the entire world outside the circle of his arms.
“Does this mean Percy is going to be your maid of honor at our wedding?”
“We haven’t known each other long enough to get married.” The words were out of her mouth before she thought about what she was saying. She backed up, escaping a few feet as she scrambled to think.
“We haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other since we met.” He took a step toward her. She retreated, knowing she was going to lose all grasp on logic if he touched her.
“You didn’t ask me to marry you.”
He slowly shook his head, stalking closer to her. “It just happened, Kate. I’m as surprised by it as you are. I don’t need to hear you say you love me. I see it in your eyes. Tell me you don’t see how much of a slave I am to you? You saw it onstage. I felt the connection.”
She wanted to smile like a simpleton.
But she shook her head instead. Syon edged closer, his eyes glittering with mischief. She looked at him suspiciously, trying to gauge what he was planning, when he snagged her wrist. He stopped her train of thought, and a moment later, he bent over and she tumbled over his shoulder. He straightened up and smacked her butt with a satisfied grunt.
“Since I just fired Cid, no one will be paying off the paparazzi tonight.”
He carried her through the doors and backstage.
“Syon!”
He chuckled at her plea, walking out of the building with her on his shoulder. She lifted her head and ended up blinded by the camera flashes going off.
“Nice catch!”
“Me next!”
“Great ass!”
He carried her down to a waiting SUV and let her slide off his shoulder onto the seat. Syon paused in the doorway of the vehicle, maintaining his hold on her. He had an arm around her waist, and she’d ended up on her knees on the seat. He cupped her head, holding her steady as his eyes glittered with victory.