“She doesn’t want to be here. You can’t make her stay.” Roddy put himself between us.
“I wasn’t speaking to you,” Devlin growled.
Roddy crossed his arms.
“Move or I’ll move you.”
“Roddy, it’s okay—” I started.
“It’s not okay,” Roddy said. “You are scared. Look at you, you’re shaking and pale. And he’s done this. All of this. He’s pushed you to this point.”
“I didn’t do anything. You are the one scaring her. Now move, let me talk to her.”
“Why don’t you back off?” Roddy puffed up his chest and stepped up to Devlin.
I tried to pull Roddy back. “It’s okay. I can explain.”
“No.” Roddy brushed me off, causing him to bump into Devlin.
Roddy wasn’t small by any means. He was almost six foot easily, but Devlin had mass and height over him.
“She’s had enough of you and your scare tactics. She wants to leave.”
“I’m not scared. Let me speak, both of you!” Nerves made my voice shrill.
Both men looked at me.
“I just need to think,” I said more calmly. I pressed my fingertips to my temple. I couldn’t bring myself to see Devlin’s face. Would there be hurt or disappointment?
“Can’t you see what you’re doing to her, man?” Roddy asked.
Devlin’s fists clenched and unclenched. His anger was barely restrained.
“Why don’t you take your temper and go? Stop making her pay for your piss-poor attitude.” Roddy got right up in Devlin’s face. “Not so tough now? Now that you know I’m right.”
A shadow passed over Devlin’s face. He looked to me. “What’s going on?” He spoke low and directly to me.
Before I could answer, Roddy shoved Devlin’s shoulder and said, “You know what? No. I’m tired of him playing you, Yo-Yo. I’ve had enough.”
“Please, stop,” I said.
“No. He’s hurting you.” He shoved again.
Devlin crossed his arms. His jaw flexed as he ground his teeth to stay quiet. He didn’t look at the other man at all. His gaze burned into mine.
Roddy gave up and turned to me. “I knew he would do this. Since the moment I came back. I knew he would find a way to hurt you. He takes too much. Pushes you too hard.”
Roddy lowered his voice and grabbed my hands. “All I have ever wanted was to help you. In camp. Even now. I want to help you. He wants to take from you.”
With every word that Roddy spoke, Devlin grew more tense, though he tried to pretend he wasn’t listening. He kept his focus locked on me as though trying to convey something.
“What’s this about?” Richard came out from his office with Andy at his side.
A few others from the symphony had leaked into the hall to watch the commotion. With every added witness my anxiety grew. I needed to calm everybody down. I needed to make things better. More people spilled out into the hall. I knew what they’d think. Roddy and Devlin fighting over me. This could break Devlin’s career. This could ruin his reputation if I didn’t calm things down.
“I wrote those notes for you. I took care of you,” Roddy dropped his head and spoke low. “Agree to leave with me and start your new life.”
I looked into his ice blue eyes, searching for the man who could make all this better. He lowered his head as though he was about to kiss me. I reared back to explain that it wasn’t like that for me, but I didn’t have a chance.
Devlin gripped Roddy’s shoulder, spun him around, and punched him right in the face.
Chaos erupted.
Chapter 34
Your commitment to work sets you apart from the rest.
DEVLIN
People moved all around. Some to Chagny. Some pulling me away. My fist throbbed. But the pain had been worth it to see blood streaming down his face.
I didn’t give a shit that I’d lost control. I was only human. My control had been thinly tethered since rehearsal had started and Kim was visibly distant from me. It had frayed further still by his arrival and the flowers. Further again with his attempt at taking her victories and making them his. Then he’d lied to her face and my last thread snapped. And I couldn’t care less.
When he lied to the world, he took what was mine. Was he insane or did he really think she would never know? How could she not see through his bullshit? Kim was frightened by something, maybe the depth of our connection or her own future, but she wasn’t an idiot. She was brilliant and it boggled my mind that he could even garner any of her attention, let alone affection.
My thoughts were incoherent. Kim crouched at his side. I stood there shaking out my throbbing fist until I was forcibly dragged into Andy-Dick’s office. I wasn’t sure by whom. I just knew that one second I was watching her try to staunch that asshole’s bleeding, the next we were all in the office together.
“We will deal with you later.” Dick dabbed sweat off his face as he spoke to me. “First I have to go calm everyone down.”
“It’s unfortunate,” the other half said to me. He touched his nose when he looked at Chagny sprawled out in a chair with his head held back. “You had been warned.”
The two left. Apparently, no one thought that leaving Kim, Roddy, and me alone in the room was a bad idea. Kim was whispering apologies to him.
“I knew he liked you, but I never thought he’d be so immature,” Chagny said as though he didn’t know I stood only a few feet away.
“I should hit you again,” I spat.
“Maestro, please,” Kim said from his side.
Maestro? Was she kidding me? “Are you serious?”
“Please, let me handle him. One thing at a time,” she pleaded with me.
Her face was so pale, more so than when the chair positions were posted. I knew she’d been holding herself back, avoiding the limelight. I understood her fears now, but she would never change if she held on to them. I had tried to warn her. Ethically, I couldn’t say too much.
“So that’s it? You were just going to leave? With a show coming up?” I snapped. I should have waited until I was calmed down, but I needed answers. I couldn’t stomach the sight of her babying him. How could she so easily push me aside? This wasn’t the Kim I knew.
“You’re out of control,” Chagny lifted his head to spit the words at me with a congested sniff. To Kim he said, “I knew he was dangerous. To think all that time you were alone with him. God, the worst could have happened.”
Kim glanced at me and back to him. “Roddy. Listen. We need to talk. You really shouldn’t have pushed so hard either. This has nothing to do with either of you.”
“It has everything to do with me and you know that.” I heard the crack in my voice. I was giving my hurt away. She saw too much. I steeled my voice. “How long have you two been together?”
At this her head started to shake. “No. It wasn’t like that—”
“But it is now?” I asked.
“Of course.” Roddy sniffed checking for blood with his hand. “Since I’ve been back in town.”