I wanted to kiss her back, to reassure her that we were okay. I wanted to leave Levi at the bedroom door where he belonged. But he was back here with us now, wedged into the space between us, and I hated it.
“Rafe...”
“Get some sleep, Eva.” I slipped an arm behind my head and closed my eyes.
Eva let out a soft sigh, rolling onto her side. I silently willed her to say something. To start a fight and call me out on my shitty behavior.
But she didn’t, and that’s how I fell asleep.
With Eva still and silent beside me and a million miles between us.
“You look like shit,” Hudson greeted me as I walked into the suite. “Coffee’s in the pot.”
“Thanks, have you seen Eva?”
“She left with Letty about twenty minutes ago.”
So that’s why I’d woken up alone.
“How did she seem?”
“Pissed.” He leveled me with a knowing look. “I take it you’re the reason she slammed the door so hard she woke Damon?”
“I screwed up.” I ran a hand down my face. “I really screwed up.”
“Welcome to my world.” Hud leaned back against the counter. He was shirtless, sweatpants hanging low on his hips, but it wasn’t anything I hadn’t already seen a hundred times before.
“I still can’t believe you went after her.”
“Come on, Hud, we’ve been over this. I love her.”
“Yeah, but you fucking jeopardized everything for her. You just walked away.”
“You know that’s not how it happened. I just needed to get away. For once in my life, I needed to put myself first.” He glared at me. “You don’t get what it’s like to be responsible for someone else.”
“You’re not respon—”
“It’s always me, Hud. I pick him up when he falls. I nurse him when he’s sick. I hold his fucking hair back when he’s on detox, puking his guts up. Our relationship isn’t healthy. I guess I just hadn’t wanted to see it before Eva came along.”
“Shit, I know, man.” Guilt edged into Hudson’s expression. “You’re his person.”
My head hung low as my best friend’s word sank into me.
I was Levi’s person.
Always had been.
“What are you going to do?”
“Fucked if I know. He won’t even talk to me right now.”
“But he talked to Eva.” It wasn’t a question. “She tell you what they talked about?”
I shook my head.
A faint smirk tugged the corner of his mouth. “Did you give her a chance to tell you?”
“We didn’t exactly talk much.”
“You’re more alike than you realize.”
“Who, me and Eva?”
“No, asshole, you and Levi. You’re jealous of their relationship.”
“I’m not... yeah, I am.”
“And that’s okay. You’re only human. But she isn’t in love with your brother, she’s in love with you. What you need to figure out is, if you can deal with her being in both your lives. Because if I learned anything about Eva, it’s that she has a huge fucking heart. She’s going to fight for him, maybe as much as she’ll fight for you.”
“I know.”
Fuck, I knew.
“So the way I see it is, you need to man the fuck up and do the right thing here. You love Eva and she loves you. Only you can decide if you let Levi come between that.”
My brows furrowed. “Who are you right now?”
“Hey, I’m not just a pretty face.”
“Maybe you should take some of your own advice sometime and call—”
“Do not finish that sentence.”
“What?” I grinned, some of the tension in the room ebbing away. “I’m just saying, you sound like a guy in tune with his feelings, a guy ready to take the next step maybe?”
“Fuck you, Hunter. We’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you. And you’re the one who has to play happy families with his girl and his brother. Good luck with that.” He waved me off and stalked out of the room.
As if he hadn’t just slapped me with a big dose of reality.
Eva
* * *
“I can’t believe you’re makin’ me do this,” I grumbled, watching people rush around the studio, making the final preparations for our interview with The Rock Report.
“I will always support decisions I think are in your best interest, even if you hate me for it.” Letty gave me a weak smile.
“I don’t hate you. I just... Are you sure this will work?” The idea of going on TV and talking about my relationship with Rafe terrified me. It was the last thing I’d expected when I agreed to come back to the tour.
But here we were, with less than ten minutes until we went on.
“It’s the best option we have right now. We need to control the story. You’ve seen some of the headlines.”
I grimaced, looking out across the studio. Riley was busy talking to the production assistant, finalizing the approved question list. Alistair had granted The Rock Report the exclusive, but insisted his team had overall say over the direction of the interview.
“Have you spoken to Rafe yet? I saw him earlier; he didn’t look good.”
“It’s been a busy mornin’. I haven’t—” Drawing in a shaky breath, I turned slowly to find Rafe standing there.
“I’d better go check in with Riley.” She squeezed my hand before disappearing.
“Hi,” Rafe said, rubbing the back of his neck. “You were gone when I woke up.”
“Letty needed me for something.” My eyes darted off to the right, watching Letty. But Rafe stepped closer, putting himself in my line of sight.
“Eva, about last night... I was a jerk.”
“You think?” My eyes cut to his. “You promised not to let him come between us and then right after we...” I stopped myself, lowering my voice. “We’re supposed to be a team.”
“We are.” He reached for my hand, his touch melting some of my anger. “It’s my issue to deal with. I can’t promise I’ll always handle things well, but it doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
“I just want you and Levi to—”
“Eva,” his voice softened. “Not now, please. I know we need to talk about him, and we will. But not before we go on television and publicly announce our relationship.”
“Are you scared?” I asked him.
“Scared?”
“It’s a big pretty thing to go on TV and...” My voice trailed off as I dropped my gaze to the floor.
What we were doing?
Rafe cupped my face, forcing me to look at him. “You think I’m scared about telling the world I love you?”
“It’s a big deal.”
“I don’t want to hide you, Eva. It was never about that. I just didn’t want to drag you into the limelight before you were ready.”
We’d moved closer. Without even realizing, my hands had ended up on Rafe’s chest, and one of his arms was looped around my waist. “All I care about is you. If this makes things easier, after... everything, then I’m all in. Alistair and Letty know what they’re doing. She prepped you, right?”