She shakes her head, “Yes.”

“That’s not very convincing.”

She sighs and her voice quivers. “I know, but what choice do I have?”

I tilt my head. “You have all the power here, Lanie. Noel screwed you over like he did to me. That’s who he is. But you have the power to do what’s best for you and get the hell away from him. I would if I could, but I’m kind of stuck here.”

She snorts. “I know the feeling.”

“Ah, yes, the job—I almost forgot about that. Well, I guess you and I are both screwed by him.”

She turns toward me, clearly trying to figure me out. “You mean you’d leave this band if you could?”

I nod. She has no clue how much I wish I could be free of Noel and his bullshit. “In a heartbeat. I can hardly look at the guy without wanting to kick his ass. But, this band is my life. It’s all I’ve ever known. I can’t walk away, no matter how much I want to.”

“I’ve noticed there’s some tension between you two.”

I laugh, but it has a bitter edge to it. “Yeah, well, when your best friend fucks your woman, you’ll have that.”

Her eyes widen. “Noel…”

“Yes,” I answer her unspoken question. “His girlfriend is my ex, Sophie.”

Lanie throws her hand over her mouth and darts out of the bedroom. The paper-thin walls in the bathroom don’t muffle sound at all. I hear every heave as she loses all the contents of her stomach.

When Noel gets back, I’ll have a fight on my hands—spilling this secret will not go over well.

Chapter 13

RIFF

Noel throws open the curtain to my bunk and lunges inside. “You fucking told her?”

“You can’t have them both,” I yell back the moment he grabs handfuls of my shirt. I knew this moment was coming as soon as I told her. “I won’t let you do that to Sophie.”

I hear Lanie’s voice in the background. “Noel, stop!”

In a split second, Noel loses it. He yanks me from the bunk and throws me down on the hallway floor. I try to stand, but before I get the chance, Noel’s on me, connecting a hard punch against my jaw.

I grunt and grab Noel into a tight headlock when he dips his head down. If it’s one thing I know how to do well, it’s fighting. Dad would come at me every time he got drunk, so it was learn to protect myself and fight back or get the shit kicked out of me.

Noel flings his arms wildly, his fists crack against my ribs and knocks the wind out of me for a second.

“Stop it!” Lanie yells again.

Trip and Tyke’s curtains fly back and they jump out of their bunks. The twins get in-between us and eventually yank us apart. My chest heaves as I taste metallic on the tip of my tongue. That fucker was going for blood.

We’re both still red-faced determined to get at each other as he fight against Trip and Tyke.

“I can’t believe you fucking told her!” Noel shouts while still in Trip’s firm hold. “You need to mind your own damn business.”

I laugh harshly. “Me? Mind my own business? You make it pretty hard to do when you’re fucking my girlfriend behind my back!”

Noel’s mouth drops open. “She came to me. I didn’t go after her.”

“And that makes it fucking okay? Jesus, Noel, you were my best friend—my brother and you still screwed me over. I’m not going to let you do that to Lanie.”

“I was going to tell her!” Noel shouts with his arms spread wide.

“When? When were you going to tell her? After Sophie has the baby?”

Out of the corner of my eye I notice Lanie falls back against the wall. A baby isn’t something I told her about. I figured if I told her about Sophie, Noel would fess up about knocking her up on his own. But in the heat of the moment, I said it to further piss him off.

Noel’s body stills and his eyes snap to Lanie. She shakes her head under his stare and slowly backs away from him.

“Lane?” Noel says her name as heads back to the bedroom. “Lane, wait!”

She slams the door behind her and Noel instantly jerks his gaze at me. “This isn’t over, motherfucker.”

“It is for you,” I snap back.

He glares at me for a second longer like he’s debating on trying a round two with me, but he knows better. I’ll fucking end him if he comes at me while I’m ready for him.

He shakes his head and heads after her.

“Come on, man. Let’s head over to the hotel and chill out for a while.” Trip pats my shoulder.

****

Trip walks me back to our floor in the hotel, keeping an extra eye that I don’t turn around and charge the bus to go after Noel again.

“I can’t believe he yanked you out of the bunk like that,” Trip says.

I shrug. “I would’ve probably done the same thing. I basically ruined things between him and Lanie.”

Trip shakes his head. “It was good you told her, though. I hate keeping secrets from people.”

I nod, but don’t answer because I’m keeping things from Aubrey, too—things she may leave me for when she finds out.

“I’m gonna go toss my shit in my room and use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

I plop down in the chair next to the elevator. “I’ll wait for you right here.”

Thinking about Kitten makes me want to hear her voice.

AUBREY