Someone cleared their throat and we both looked up to find Rafe watching us.
“What?” Levi hissed.
“Didn’t think you’d appreciate all of them seeing you like that.” He shrugged right as the door opened and the flashes started going off.
“Rafe, Rafe, over here.”
“Levi, we love you.”
“Ohmigod, ohmigod, I see them. I see them.”
“Fuck me, Hudson.”
The wail of fans hit me like a freight train. Levi had already released my hand. He waited for Eva and his brother to climb out before he followed, being swallowed by the frenzy.
“Showtime,” Letty said as she ushered Hudson and Damon out. “Ready?” Her attention was solely fixed on me now.
“Honestly, I’m not sure.” This felt different. Like I was stepping onto that small red carpet and living a lie.
Every night, I got to be with their rock star, their idol. There wasn’t an inch of skin on my body that Levi hadn’t touched with his fingers or tasted with his tongue. He’d fucked me more times than I could count in the last few days, made love to me almost as many times—not that he would ever admit it. But when it was just the two of us, and his walls came down, it was a wonderful thing.
The brooding damaged lead singer of Black Hearts Still Beat was whip smart and funny, not to mention a lyrical freakin’ genius. He was so much more than the guy they knew and worshipped. But I couldn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t stand and shout it from the rooftops because this... this was our reality.
A whirlwind of fangirls and a sea of paparazzi.
“Come on.” Letty nudged me forward and I spilled out onto the sidewalk. But no one was there waiting for me. There were no flashes or screams of my name.
Because I was no one.
I was the girl in the shadows, and right now, watching as Levi and the guys were swamped by security and a rabid horde of fans and press, I was the girl falling in love with a guy from afar. Except, he wasn’t just any guy. He didn’t only belong to me. Levi Hunter belonged to the entire world.
No matter how much I loved him—and I did, I was in love with him—no matter how much I wanted him, part of him would always be theirs.
It was the price of being with a rock star.
A price until this moment, I’d told myself I could pay.
Levi
I couldn’t focus. As I stood on the small stage, the lights beating down on me, the steady beat of Hudson’s drum vibrating inside me, and my brother’s riff running through my veins, all I could see was her.
Phoebe looked sensational. The black dress molded to her curves like a second skin. Her boots, her hair, those sinful red lips... I was rock hard the second my eyes had landed on her in the hall earlier.
And I was still hard now.
Thankfully, lack of focus didn’t affect my ability to regurgitate lyrics I knew better than I knew myself. Song after song we seduced the crowd until I had them eating out of the palm of my hand.
My eyes tracked Phoebe as she worked the room. I knew it was part of her job, to mingle and chat. But every time I saw some overweight Suit put his hand on her, my mood grew darker.
She was mine.
Etched onto my bones, woven into my soul. The more time we spent together—and it wasn’t nearly enough lately—the more I wanted. Her smiles and laughs, her kisses, and her pouty lips wrapped around my dick, sucking me the way no one else could. Fuck. I needed her.
But I was on a strict warning from Alistair and the label not to put a single foot out of line tonight. This was launch event for our endorsement with Masterpiece. It was everything we’d ever wanted.
Somehow, I didn’t think finding me balls deep in Phoebe in the bathroom or some darkened corner of the club was exactly the kind of press they had in mind.
It was going to be a long fucking night until we got back to the suite and I could finally find peace inside her.
She was fast becoming my favorite place to be. And it wasn’t just the sex either. I loved lying with her, listening to her talk about anything and nothing. I’d never wanted to open up to a girl before, except Eva. But I didn’t feel even an ounce for Eva what I did for Phoebe.
I wanted to tell her my truths, to slowly shed my armor and give her my black ruined heart.
But that terrified the shit out of me.
What if she decided she didn’t want it?
What if she decided I was too much to handle?
What if she decided I wasn’t worth it?
Every day, I tried to stave off the little voice inside my head whispering evil twisted things. And every day, the only thing that could quiet it was her. The second Phoebe looked at me, or touched me, or kissed me, it all went away. She was both my curse and my cure. And I didn’t know if she knew it, but she held the power to both save me…
And completely ruin me.
It was a scary fucking place to be.
“We’re going to take a quick break,” I drawled into the mic. “But we’ll be back soon with some more of our favorite songs, and we might even have a little surprise guest for you.” I winked at Eva and the whole room seemed to find her in the crowd, applauding.
Letty greeted us at the side of the stage, handing me a bottle of water. “That was perfect. Dowager loved it.”
“He’s here?”
She grinned. “Flew in specially to see you in action. He’s just meeting with Alistair and a couple of his PR guys. But he’ll want to see you later.”
I nodded, my eyes sweeping the room for Phoebe.
“You can’t,” Letty said quietly, touching my arm. “Not here, not tonight.”
“I’m not a fucking idiot,” I snapped. “I know the score.”
“You’re tense.” Concern glittered in her eyes as she pulled me to one side, letting the rest of the guys go find a drink. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine.” I scrubbed my jaw.
“Levi, talk to me. I can’t help if you don’t talk to me.”
“I don’t like her out there being groped by fat old men thinking they can touch what’s mine. There, better?”
Her lips twisted into a knowing smile. “You’re jealous.”
“No shit,” I muttered, feeling it snake through me, coiling around my heart like barbed wire.
“You know she’s crazy about you, right?”
“She’s talked to you about me?” My brow went up.
“Not really, but I’m a woman. We know these things. But you need to be careful, Levi, especially with so many eyes on you tonight. I don’t think either of you are ready to have this out in the open.”
I wasn’t.
The idea of sharing Phoebe with the public freaked me out. I didn’t want them to take her from me, to make her run.
But I hated being sidelined. I fucking hated not being able to storm over there and claim her as mine.
“I need a drink,” I said.
“Levi, I’m not sure—”
“Just something to take the edge off, unless you want me to drag Phoebe to the nearest bathroom and get her to help me unwind?”
Letty let out an exasperated breath. “I know you care about her, but don’t let her become your crutch, Levi. She deserves more than that.”
I didn’t appreciate the hard look she gave me. Letty was supposed to be on our side.