by Caisey Quinn
Trace tilted his head as he looked at her. “Claire Ann, I told you I want to meet him.”
His sister bit her lip. Kylie felt her insides tighten.
“That’s the thing, Trace. You have met him.”
“I have? Well, who is it?”
The tension was so thick that Kylie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The lack of sleep and the heavy emotional climate had her bordering on hysteria.
Claire Ann swung her eyes over to Pauly once more.
“No,” Trace said, his voice and his sky-high eyebrows clearly reflecting his disbelief. “Pauly? You’ve been dating my manager? Seriously? For how long?”
“Since you went to rehab. He checked in on us several times and we just started talking.” Claire Ann shrugged. “He’s a good man, Trace. You know that. Better than most. Kind of like my brother.”
The room was completely silent minus the beeping of Rae’s heart monitor.
As if he could feel the attention on him, Pauly stretched and opened his eyes. “Mornin’, everyone. Any news on Rae?”
“You’re fired,” Trace said evenly.
“Trace.” Kylie dug an elbow into his ribs.
“You told him while I was asleep?” Pauly gaped at Claire Ann. “Were you thinking it was best to do it in a hospital or what?”
“Okay, you’re not fired,” Trace said, getting the man’s attention. “But really? My sister?”
“We didn’t mean for it to happen.” Pauly shrugged. “But it did. And after everything…” He paused to wave a hand around, reminding everyone where they were. “Seeing how much you and Kylie are willing to risk for one another, I’m done hiding it. Done being worried about how it will affect everyone else. So, yeah, Trace. Me and your sister.” He offered Trace a quick sorry-not-sorry shrug. “Fire me all you want. I’ve been dating your sister for the past year and the only regret I have is not shouting to the world what a lucky man I was on day one. I love her.”
Kylie grinned at the tears welling in Claire Ann’s eyes.
“Well, I hate to interrupt this lovely moment, but can someone please get me some water?”
ALL FOUR sets of eyes swung in the direction of the raspy voice.
“Rae!” Claire Ann and Kylie shrieked at once.
Everyone sprung into action. Kylie poured water from a blue pitcher into a Styrofoam cup as Trace and Claire Ann leapt towards Rae’s bed.
Trace held the hand of Rae’s without the IV as Claire Ann woke their mother. “Jesus Christ, Rae. You scared me to fucking death.” He lowered his head onto the side of her hospital bed.
“Sorry, potty mouth.” She squeezed his hand the best she could, which wasn’t very hard. “What happened?”
“You were in an accident, sweetheart,” his mom broke in.
Trace did his best not to give her a dirty look. Just because he no longer had anything to do with her didn’t mean she wasn’t still Rae’s mom. He knew that. He just wished it weren’t true. Kylie touched his shoulder gently as she handed Rae her cup of water.
“We can talk about that later,” Claire Ann interrupted. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m going to grab a nurse and let them know she’s awake,” Kylie said quietly as she edged out of the room.
Trace knew this was probably an awkward thing for her to be a part of, and his family dynamic was a pretty unusual one.
“Thanks, baby.” He nodded at her as Pauly stepped out behind her.
“Baby? So Trylie is back together?” Rae’s eyes were a few shades lighter and her normally tan skin was slightly yellow under the fluorescents, but she was still gleaming. Still his Rae.
“Never call us that again.”
“At least not to their faces,” Claire Ann added with a grin.
“Rae, how much do you remember about the accident?” His mom put a hand up before anyone could cut her off again. “I don’t want to upset you, but the police have been waiting for you to wake up so that they could get your statement.”
Rae’s eyes went wide as she looked up into their faces. Trace hated that his mom wouldn’t drop it, but he had a feeling she was right about the police.
“I went dancing. With my friend Jo. We were…” Rae’s eyes were unfocused for a moment. “Downtown. We went to that new place, that new bar on the strip. And then we got some food.”
Dread weighed heavily on Trace as she spoke. She’d been drinking and driving. And he couldn’t say much to her about it. He and his friends had done that and worse at her age.
Kylie and his sisters painted him as some big protector and savior, but once again, he was plagued by the knowledge that this was his fault. At least in a way it was.
“The last thing I remember is wandering around downtown looking for my car. We couldn’t remember where we’d parked.”
“Okay, that’s good for now,” Claire Ann said. “And when you talk to the police, no matter what they say, only tell them what you can remember. Don’t let them put words in your mouth.”
“I talked to Clancy Ludlow,” Pauly said as he re-entered the room. “He’s Trace’s lawyer and a damn good one. He’ll represent Rae if any criminal charges are pressed.”
Trace nodded his appreciation to his manager. He still hadn’t quite wrapped his head around the idea of the man dating his sister, but there was no denying that he trusted him.
“Criminal charges?” Rae squeaked out. “What’s he talking about? Oh my god. Is Jo okay?”
Claire Ann took a deep breath and plastered a mask of calm on her face. “She’s got some pretty serious injuries, Rae. Some head injuries and some swelling around her spine. She’s got a rough road ahead, and her family knows your Trace Corbin’s sister, so they’ve already got a lawyer and they aren’t exactly talking to us.”
Tears gathered in Rae’s eyes and Trace wiped them as they leaked onto her face. “We’ll take care of it, baby girl. It will all be okay.”
She sniffled loudly. “I never got to tell y’all I finally picked a major. Want to hear something ironic?” She nodded to her casted leg but didn’t wait for anyone to respond before continuing. “It’s physical therapy.”
More tears fell from her eyes. “Can I see Jo? I just want to tell her that I’m sorry. We should’ve taken a cab. I’m so sorry.” Rae broke down into loud sobs that reverberated in Trace’s chest as he held her to him.
“She’ll be all right, Rae. I’ll pay for her medical care and anything else. It will all be handled. Don’t you worry.”
“Your brother shouldn’t make promises he can’t keep.” His mother ignored his enraged glare. “Even if the family doesn’t press charges, the state still can. And since your blood alcohol level was over the legal limit for someone under the age of twenty-one, the cops are going to ask you what you had to drink. So be honest with them the best you can.”
Just as Trace was about to demand that his mom get the fuck out of that room before he helped her out, Pauly spoke up.
“Actually, since she has a lawyer now, the police can’t actually take her statement until Mr. Ludlow gets here.”
Before Trace’s mom could argue any further, a nurse entered the room and shooed them all out so she could get Rae’s vitals. A doctor came in as they were leaving.
Trace really wanted to stick around and hear what they had to say, but Claire Ann assure him they’d get briefed after the exam was completed.
He stepped out into the hall where Kylie was fighting to keep her head up on a bench in the hallway. Next to her sat several muffins and juice boxes.
“They hire you to work here yet, Kylie Lou?”
She smiled weakly up at him. “Something like that. Hey, I snagged some stuff for Rae and anyone else who wants it. Everything okay?”
Trace lowered himself down onto the bench next to her. “It will be.”
She let her head drop onto his shoulder. “Good. I knew it would be.”
For a moment they just sat there together, enjoying the comfort, both of them breathing easier
since Rae was out of the woods.
But then Trace’s phone buzzed.
“You been blowing up, too?” Kylie nodded towards the pocket his phone was lighting up.
“Yeah. You?”
She pulled hers out and sat it on the bench beside her. The battery was nearly dead. “Mmhm. I’m probably banned from the state of Oklahoma for life.”
Guilt crashed into him. They’d been halfway to the show in her home state when all hell had broken loose.
“Baby, go to the house and rest. Then contact your PR lady and tell her I had a family emergency and we canceled the show out of respect for my family situation. See what she what she can do about rescheduling. They can get someone to replace me on the last leg of the tour.”
She shook her head. “It can wait. It can all wait. I don’t want to leave you.”
“Kylie, I promise, everything will be fine. And honestly, the longer you’re gone, the more suspicion it will raise and the more people will start sniffing around. The last thing I want is for Rae to get caught in a media shitstorm because she’s my sister.” He didn’t add the part about the alcohol. Because he was still partially in denial and because he knew if it got out, even from a member of the hospital staff, then Rae would get dragged through the mud and she could forget her fresh start in college.
He watched as she folded into herself. Her body began to quiver against him as she fought off tears.
“But—”
“Listen to me. I want you here more than anything. But right now, you need to do everything you can to get back on the road so no one comes to see what’s such a big deal we both left the tour. It’s for the best for all of us.”
She nodded. “Okay. If that’s what you want. But will you please give Rae my new number and tell her to text me if she needs anything?”
“If you’re sure about that. You know she’ll probably be texting you with a nail polish-related emergency five seconds after I give it to her.”
Kylie smiled at him and he felt like he could breathe for the first time in three days. “I’m okay with that. Tell her I’m on standby.”
He looked into the eyes he loved and pressed his forehead to hers. “I have no idea how we got here, and I would do anything to make this better for Rae, but I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have you back in my life, to have you here. To have you…”
Those gorgeous blues widened, and she brushed his lips with hers right there in the hospital hallway.
“Remember what you said about the farm? About how I was always there, even when I wasn’t?”
“Mmhm,” he mumbled against her mouth.
“Well, I think it’s the same way for having me in your life. And having you in mine. You’re a part of me. What we have will always be a part of our lives.”
“Amen for that,” he said, just before he claimed her mouth as his. And tonight, he had every intention of claiming the rest of her.
“IF WE keep this up, we’ll have to find a supply closet soon.”
She was kidding, but Trace pulled back from their kiss. “Good point. And not altogether a bad idea.”
As thoroughly exhausted as she was, her pulse began to race. An overwhelming and all encompassing truth began forcing its way to the forefront of her mind.
What they had—it was so much bigger than each of them as individuals. Together they could try and survive it, stand together and welcome the pleasure and the pain of the ups and downs that would fill their lives for as long as they were together.
This thing between them—this love—was a force of nature beyond anyone’s control. An uncontainable living thing comparable only to the ocean as far as Kylie was concerned. Together they stood a chance. Separately it would crush them both. Fighting it alone had almost destroyed her. It was an exhilarating and terrifying realization.
“Hey, you look worried,” Trace said, brushing a hair from her face. “Rae’s going to be fine. She’s got to give her statement to the police and I’m going to try to not get arrested. But you should go on to the house. Shower, get some rest. I’m coming home tonight, too. I can smell myself.”
Kylie laughed. She wanted to tell him about her revelation, but she had a feeling he already knew. That she was the one who was late to the party.
“Well I love the way you smell. Showered or not, I still wouldn’t kick you out of bed.” She nipped at his bottom lip.
“Good to know, because I am going to wake you up when I get home tonight. Another reason you should get some rest while you can.”
A delicious shiver danced up her spine, and she almost felt guilty. They were in the hospital, Rae was injured and might be in serious trouble, and the label was probably drawing up the paperwork to drop them both like bad habits at that very moment. But somehow, because they had each other, it seemed like it would all turn out okay.
She didn’t now if being in love had sent her endorphin and serotonin levels on something like a drug-induced high, or if it was sleep depravation that had her feeling light and strangely optimistic. But as she kissed him goodbye and promised him for the millionth time that she was okay driving to the farm alone, her entire world shifted.
She was practically bouncing out of the hospital as she left. She knew the grin on her face probably made a few of the hospital staff members wonder if she needed a psych eval, but she didn’t care. Nothing could take away what she and Trace had.
That much she knew for certain.
“It won’t last, you know,” a low, raspy voice said a moment after she’d passed through the automatic doors.
Maybe I do need a psych evaluation.
Kylie turned in the direction of the voice, hoping like hell it hadn’t come from inside her head.
Trace’s mom sat on a bench where the shuttle picked up riders. She took a long drag of her cigarette while Kylie stared at her in confusion.
“Excuse me?”
The woman sighed and gave her a look that bordered on apologetic. “He’s just like his father. Sure, it seems like a dream come true right now.” She shrugged and exhaled smoke between them. “But wait until his next album doesn’t do well or his fancy label lets him go.”
Kylie throat constricted, either from the smell of the smoke or the severity of the woman’s words.
“Mrs. Corbin, I can assure you that no matter—”
“It’s McClain. My last name isn’t Corbin. And if you have any sense in that pretty head of yours, yours won’t ever be either.”
She flinched back like she’d been slapped. What kind of mother spoke that way about her son? Especially a son like Trace. Her heart pumped harder. She felt that version of herself, the hotheaded one rising quickly to the surface. She wondered if that was what it felt like to be the Incredible Hulk.
“I can only hope that one day I’m lucky enough for my last name to be Corbin,” Kylie said evenly. She took a step towards the woman so the patients and visitors meandering past wouldn’t hear.
Trace’s mom eyed her as if she were a lab specimen to be examined and then coughed loudly. “You know, I was like you once. Young. Naïve. And then I married an alcoholic who turned my life into a living hell.”
The reminder of the picture Trace had painted of his childhood took shape in her mind and brought tears to her eyes for the second time.
“Your life? What about the lives of those kids who had to live in fear? Who grew up still blaming themselves for things that never should’ve happened?”
“It’s easy to judge me from where you stand. But I did the best I could.”
Kylie glared at the other woman. “Well, pardon me, but from what I hear, your best fucking sucked.”
She didn’t appear the least bit fazed by Kylie’s bluntness. She just shook her head and stamped out her cigarette on the concrete.
“I tried to stop him from taking this road, from following in his father’s footsteps. But he didn’t listen. And I see you and him and it’s like looking back in time.” Her eyes left Kylie’s and focused s
omewhere in the distance. “This little fairytale you’re living only ends one way. In the bottom of a bottle. Corbin men can’t handle disappointment without it.”
Kylie fists clenched at her sides.
“You know, that’s funny, considering all Trace has ever had in his life, thanks to you, is disappointment.” She pulled in as much as air as she could in preparation of letting this woman have it. The love she felt for Trace surged in her chest, and she was overcome by an intense urge to hit something. The emotions rushing through her were almost too much too contain.
“I bet he was disappointed that his mother subjected him and his sisters to someone who was violent and vile and abusive. And I bet he was really disappointed when that same mother couldn’t support his dream and his decision to move to Nashville. Especially since he’d given up the whole first part of his life to protect everyone else. And you know, I happen to know firsthand from personal experience that he was pretty damn disappointed when the same woman who couldn’t support his dream didn’t waste a minute cashing in on his success by airing his personal nightmare in her very own tell-all book. So pardon me if I don’t give a single solitary damn about your opinion of how well Trace handles disappointment.”
Trace’s mom’s eyes were wide as Kylie bore down on her. She opened her mouth to speak, but Kylie didn’t much care what she had to say. So she continued on with her speech.
“And if you think my loving Trace is a mistake, feel free to keep it to yourself or save if for your next book. Feel free to mention my daddy issues. Because, yes, I do love Trace even more because he reminds me of the absolute best man I’ve ever known.” She pulled in a breath. “Trace is a lot like my father was, in that he’s loving and kind and selfless and strong. He’s the kind of man who would give up everything he had for the people he loved. And a man who gets help when he needs it. And he is nothing like his father.” She shook her head, unable to process how Trace’s mom could even think there was any comparison. “Trace would walk through fire before he hurt me or Claire Ann or Rae. Hell, probably even you. So for future reference, if your opinion of Trace is anything other than that you are damn fortunate to even exist on the same planet as him, I suggest you refrain from sharing it in my presence. And you can quote me on that.”