The corner of his mouth lifted in an uncertain smirk, some of the cracks in our relationship smoothing out.
“Maybe we should wait for—”
Letty appeared, Alistair trailing behind. He looked a little worse for wear. At the sight of him, Phoebe snatched her hand free and tucked it into her side.
It fucking stung.
“Coffee, please tell me there’s coffee.” Alistair made a beeline for the coffee maker.
“Rough night, Ali boy? You and the brunette seemed pretty cozy on the ride back to the hotel.”
“Hudson.” Damon shook his head.
“Yes, well, I didn’t come here to discuss my private life...” Heat crept into his cheeks.
“Are you... blushing?” I couldn’t resist teasing him. Alistair generally had a stick the size of Tennessee up his ass. It wouldn’t hurt him to let loose occasionally. Especially after Riley’s betrayal.
“You’re okay?” Letty asked me.
“I feel fine.”
“Do you want to press charges?”
“No.” I leaned back.
“Levi,” Phoebe gasped. “She laced your drink with GHB. You could have—”
“Relax, Bee. It isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last. I’m fine.” Besides, I didn’t want the headache of talking to the police and all that bullshit.
Her eyes drilled holes into the side of my face, but I didn’t meet her lethal gaze. This wasn’t a big deal. If I didn’t care so fucking much about Phoebe, if I didn’t want to be better for the band and the label... then last night would have gone a whole lot different. I would have accepted that drink, tongue fucked the blonde until she was dry-humping my leg, and then dragged her to the bathroom and given her what she wanted.
But I hadn’t.
Because deep down, I didn’t want to be that guy anymore.
What I wanted and what I needed didn’t always marry up though.
“We got her details. She’ll be blacklisted from all future events.”
“Fine by me,” I said. “I’m more interested in the fucker who put his hands on Phoebe.”
Her breath caught, and Eva gasped.
Alistair frowned, rubbing his temples. “Yes, well, Dowager has assured me Mr. Milligan will be dealt with.”
“Fired. I want him fired.”
“Levi,” someone scolded, but I was too far gone to recognize who.
“I realize Phoebe is a part of this team and that she and Hudson—”
Without thinking I snatched her hand and threaded our fingers together. “Not her and Hudson, Ali.”
“Oh, shit...” That was Hudson. Rafe and Damon groaned, while Letty gave me a nod of approval.
She got it.
Maybe she always had.
“Wait a minute, what are you saying? Phoebe?” Alistair’s confused stare moved to the frozen girl beside me.
“It’s going to be okay, Bee,” I whispered. “Just take a leap of faith with me.”
Her eyes flickered to mine. She was pissed. Golden flecks burning deep in her honey eyes. But she didn’t pull her hand away.
“I’m not hooking up with Hudson, Alistair,” she said.
“You mean you and... Levi?” He leaped up. “Great. This is just great.”
“Whoa, Ali, boy,” Hudson stood too. “Relax.”
“Let me guess. You all knew?”
Silence.
Deafening heavy silence.
“Fuck,” he breathed. I don’t think I’d ever seen him so angry.
Alistair didn’t get angry, he got quiet and contemplative.
“It was gonna happen eventually.” Everyone glanced at Hudson. “Maybe not Eva or Pheebs, but one day he would have found someone to put up with his bullshit.”
“Cheers, man,” I grunted.
“You’re welcome.”
“The label has rules for a reason,” Alistair let out an exasperated breath. “Phoebe can’t do her job effectively if she’s—”
“I’ll ask to be taken off the tour.”
“What?” I tore my hand out of hers. “No way, no fucking way.”
“Levi, relax,” Rafe said. “No one is saying Phoebe has to leave. Are they, Ali?”
His jaw clenched and I could see his irritation at being backed into a corner. “We have less than a month until we leave for Europe. One month. I don’t want even a sniff of this,” he wagged his finger between the two of us, “going public. Understood?”
I nodded, risking a peek at Phoebe. Her face was pale, but she managed to choke out, “Understood.”
“For now, if people get wind of anything, it’ll be that you and a Hudson are... well, whatever it is that Hudson does to women to get them into his bed.”
“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know.” He smirked.
“That’s bullshit,” I said, feeling anger zip up my spine. “Phoebe’s mine. I’m not going to let people think—”
“Yes, you fucking are, Levi. Because this band, believe it or not, is bigger than just you. People are counting on you, fans are counting on you. If this hits the press, it will create another storm we don’t need.”
“I—”
“Levi.” Phoebe’s voice demanded my attention. She shook her head gently, squeezing my hand.
“This stays between us,” Alistair seethed. “I don’t care what you two do behind closed doors, but the second you step outside, it stops, okay?”
“We understand”, she whispered, cracking my heart clean in two.
I didn’t fucking understand.
I wasn’t a child. I was a grown man for fuck’s sake. If I wanted to kiss my girl in public, I would kiss her in fucking public.
But somewhere in the back of my mind, buried underneath all the anger and resentment was a shred of rationality. Everything with Phoebe was still so new and uncertain. Sharing her with the world too soon could ruin everything before it even had chance to get started.
“Levi, I need to hear you say it,” Alistair said.
“I understand,” I mumbled.
The tension in the room seemed to lift. He marched out of the suite, taking some of the heavy mood with him.
“That went well.” Hudson dropped down on the couch.
“He’ll come around,” Letty said. “It just caught him off guard.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“Plan?” Damon frowned at Hudson.
“Well yeah, you heard Ali. Everyone needs to believe she’s hooking up with m—”
“Hudson!” Everyone yelled. Except me and Phoebe. She was watching me, her lips pressed together, keeping in whatever secrets she didn’t want to tell me.
Maybe she was already regretting standing by my side.
Maybe she wanted to take it all back.
But it was too late now.
I wouldn’t let her.
Phoebe was mine...
And I was never letting her go.
“There’s an article,” Letty announced as the second bus began to roll out of Portland.
We’d all crammed on the Van Hool for the five-hour ride to Spokane.
“About me and Hudson?” Phoebe tensed beside me.