by Layla Hagen
“What happened?” Thomas asked. “Sasha didn’t say anything about an emergency.”
I glared at Lars. “You told them this is an emergency?”
He shrugged. “Thought it was the fastest way to bring them here. And I’m not exactly wrong.”
Harvey sat on one of the couches. Thomas stood near the minibar, looking between Lars and me.
“So what happened?” he asked.
Before I even opened my mouth, Lars started talking. He went on for a couple minutes. Hearing everything from him was excruciating.
“And I can’t tell who fucked up or what to do about it,” he finished. “You guys have any input?”
Harvey sat up straighter, focusing on me. “I have a question. Since when do you like exposing your dirty laundry?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” I asked.
“Nothing, was just curious.”
Thomas was silent. I didn’t like it.
“You and Cami went through a rough patch,” I began, hoping he could give me some insights.
“Yes, and it lasted about six months. We didn’t even speak during that time.”
Fuck no. I didn’t like where this was going. I didn’t even want this rough patch to last for six days.
“We had a huge fallout about those pics the press took of me with those fans that looked compromising. They weren’t, as you know, but convincing Cami was a different thing.”
“Come on, man! You were supposed to help. Look at him! He went from being confused to looking desperate,” Lars exclaimed.
“This is an entirely different situation.” I spoke calmly, even though I was definitely not feeling fucking calm.
Harvey stood up from the couch. “Dude, Lars is right. You’re putting gasoline on fire.”
Thomas held up his hands in defense. “I want him to be prepared for every scenario.”
“This is not a scenario!” My voice was definitely not calm anymore.
Walking up to me, Harvey patted my shoulder. “You do you. That’s what I always do.”
“But you’re single. I don’t think that’s Brayden’s goal,” Thomas said.
Harvey smirked. “Dude. If I’d been in your shoes, it sure as fuck wouldn’t take me six months to get my girl back.”
Lars leaned against a wall, clapping once. “Okay. Focus. This conversation is not productive, and Brayden here only has about two hours to get his shit together before we have to leave. Ticktock.”
“I’m going to my suite. I’ll see you all later,” I said, heading out.
No fucking way. This was a vastly different situation. Forget six months or six days—I didn’t even want this situation to last six hours.
Once I was alone in the corridor, I actually calmed down a notch. I went straight to our suite, but Isabelle wasn’t inside. Had she left the hotel? That was impossible. Security would have alerted me. I noticed one of the dresser doors open and looked inside. One of the robes was missing, as well as a bag, so she’d probably gone into the wellness area. I reached for my phone and swore. I’d left it in Lars’s suite.
Forget calling her. I’d just go straight to the wellness area.
Walking back to the corridor, I looked for any arrows pointing me in the right direction. I didn’t find any until I went to the goddamned elevator area. Finally. Turned out I had to go right back from where I’d come. On the way, I did see a few arrows; in my haste, I’d overseen them.
I heard the elevator ping in the distance but ignored it. The guys could deal with whoever was coming up to us. I had a one-track mind right then: finding Isabelle.
“Brayden,” Sasha said loudly not even a minute later.
I slowed down as she jogged up to me. She was frowning.
“We need to leave right now. Fans are regrouping in front of the hotel. It’s going to be much harder to leave in two hours as planned.”
“Go get the guys ready. I need to talk to Isabelle first.”
“You don’t have time.”
“Ten minutes.” I didn’t want to leave like this.
“Five.”
“Ten, Sasha. We got into a fight, and I want to talk to her. I’m not negotiating.” My tone brooked no argument.
She pressed her lips together but didn’t challenge me any more.
I hurried to the wellness area, hoping Isabelle really was there. Left, right, left again. I followed the arrows, right until I reached a glass door. Stepping inside, I looked around but didn’t see anybody. Fuck. Where is she?
I backtracked to the entrance and was just about to leave the area when I heard music playing faintly. Someone was listening to “Last Night.” Clearly I’d missed a section. It has to be her. It has to be her. I kept repeating that in my mind as I followed the sound.
I smiled when I entered the room. It had ten loungers, but there was only one person inside: Isabelle.
She was holding a hot drink while standing and swaying slowly to the music. The phone was on one of the loungers.
“Look who turns out to be a fan after all,” I said with a smile.
She startled and immediately put the cup down, pausing the music.
“Brayden!”
I walked right up to her, cupping her face.
“Listen, I only have a few minutes. Sasha said fans are regrouping in front of the hotel, so we have to leave right now.”
“Oh...”
“But I didn’t want to go without talking to you.”
Her eyes widened. I felt her pulse quicken under my fingers.
“I love you, Isabelle. You’re everything to me. I don’t doubt your feelings, okay? I realize it sounded like that.” I paused, searching for the right words. “I have this deep fear that I’ll make you unhappy, and that will drive you away, but that’s all on me, okay?”
“No, it’s on us. I know you pulled away from your family after the fans vandalized their house. It’s what you do to protect those you care about, but I’m not going to let you do it, okay? I love our life. It’s crazy, but I love it. And I’ve always accepted the good with the bad. The bad: strangers being abnormally interested in our lives. The good: everything else. And the list is super long, and includes these...” Her grip on my arms turned into playful stroking.
“Careful there, or I’ll think you’re saying all this so you can feel up your favorite part of me.”
“Don’t say that. They’ll feel left out.” She reached between us, patting my stomach.
“Just saying, but other parts are starting to feel left out too.”
She narrowed her eyes in response, putting both hands firmly on my shoulders.
“I promise we’ll work through everything together, Isabelle. You’re mine, and I have no intention of letting you go.”
“Wow,” she whispered. “You have ten minutes, and you don’t need all of them to make me swoon.”
I kissed her forehead, holding her close. “I probably only have a few left. But tonight we’ll be together, okay?”
She pulled back, pouting. “That’s gonna be in a million hours.”
“Yeah, but—”
The door opened suddenly. Harvey stepped inside. “Man, are you serious? We need to go. What are you doing here?”
“Talking to Isabelle. I told Sasha I need ten minutes. Still have five left. Get out.”
“Yeah, she knew you’d react this way. That’s why she sent me,” Harvey said. “Crowd outside is growing bigger by the minute. Isabelle, some help here?”
Isabelle took her hands off my shoulders, taking a step back and sighing. “He’s all yours.”
***
Isabelle
After the guys left, I just couldn’t stand still. Waiting was not my strong suit. The concert didn’t start for six hours! They performed for another two, and then who knew how long it would take until they were back.
I tried to kill the time by watching Netflix on my phone and ordering half a dozen snacks from the menu. The pastrami beef sandwich was a highlight.
I called the front desk right away.
“How can we help you, ma’am?”
“Hi! I was wondering if there are still crowds outside the hotel.”
“No. They scattered about half an hour ago.” That made sense, since the concert was starting right about now. All the fans would be at the venue, not staking out the hotel.
“Thank you.” I was grinning ear to ear. Oh yeah. I had a plan. I knew they’d left a security detail behind with me, but I needed some intel from Sasha.
Isabelle: I want to surprise Brayden by being there at the intermission. How do we make it happen?
Sasha: You two are KILLING me.
Isabelle: Pretty please!
Sasha: I’m messaging your security detail instructions and alerting the security here. This is actually a good time to come. All fans are inside the venue already. Be ready in ten.
***
On the drive to the Hammerstein Ballroom, I kept twiddling my thumbs in my lap and couldn’t tone down my smile. Imagining his reaction made me giggle. I wanted to show him that I really was okay with all this, that I just had to learn to properly navigate it. And I thought I was getting better at it. Look at me, managing to surprise my sexy guy right in the middle of a concert!
Since this wasn’t a stadium but an actual concert hall, there weren’t as many entrances. Flynn, my current security detail, led me right to the back of the building. But the second he opened a narrow door, music filtered out from inside. It was distant at first, growing louder and louder as we went deeper inside the building. The backstage here was smaller than the one at the stadium but still large enough that the whole crew ran around without bumping into each other.
The music was booming, electrifying me. Twenty or so chairs were lined up along a wall next to a table of snacks. There were cords and boxes everywhere. I went straight to Sasha, who was sitting right next to the snack table with her iPad. She rolled her eyes at me but was smiling too.
“Okay, so you two are crazy. But he’ll be happy to see you.”
“I hope so too.” This wasn’t a big thing, but I wanted to show him that I meant it when I said I loved this life.
“How much time left until the break?” I asked.
Sasha tapped the tablet. “Twelve minutes.”
My heart was thundering in my chest. The floor was vibrating even more than it had in the stadium. The bass thrummed in my ears, along with my heartbeat, but I couldn’t really dance with my ankle. It was far less painful, but I still walked with a slight limp. Dancing would have to wait.
“How can you sit?” I asked her.
Sasha laughed, for once looking up from her iPad for longer than a few seconds. “I’ve been to so many of these that they’re all the same for me.”
I was counting down the minutes, and it was easier to do that if I just lost myself to music.
I heard Lars say to the fans, “All right, New York, time for the intermission. See you in a bit.”
The crowd went wild with screams, and their euphoria was so catchy that I was even more on edge than before.
Out of the corner of my eye, I counted how many people were in the room. Right... far too many to get away with a hot-as-hell kiss.
My smile was huge and my palms a little sweaty as I stood right in the center of the room so he’d see me immediately.
Lars came in first and actually did a double take.
He stepped to one side. Brayden was talking to Thomas, at least until Lars tapped his shoulder.
His expression changed from surprised to a full-on grin in a fraction of a second. He came to me and, taking my hand, led me to a corner of the room. They’d left the music and the bass on during the break, so it was incredibly loud. But in the corners, the acoustics were slightly better.
“What... how did you get here?” he asked.
“Coordinated everything with Flynn and Sasha. All the fans were already here, so there was no one at the hotel. It was easy. And I wanted to see you sooner than the gazillion hours it took until you came back.”
His grin widened. “You do realize there are three hours between now and the time I’ll be at the hotel.”
I nodded, bracing both hands on his chest. “Yes. That’s a gazillion. I wanted to see you sooner.”
“And why is that?”
“So you have no doubts about how much I love our crazy life.” I frowned. “Why are you not sweaty at all? I kind of found it sexy.”
He threw his head back, laughing. “We’re not outside. The AC is on, and I do mostly sit at the piano. But I’ll keep that in mind.”
I kissed his jaw, and my heart was so happy just being here with him. He wrapped his strong arms around me, keeping me flat against him.
“We only have three minutes left. You know, in case you want to get to the kissing,” Lars said loudly.
“There are too many people for a hot kiss.” My voice was barely above a whisper, but Brayden understood me perfectly.
“You counted?”
“Hell yes.”
Brayden laughed, looking around the room, coming to the same conclusion as me.
“Everyone, turn around and pretend you’re not here. I’m serious.” His voice dripped with authority. But surely no one would pay him attention?
To my astonishment, the team turned around. Everyone from the sound technicians, to the band, to Sasha!
“See? Problem solved,” he said in a low, seductive voice before capturing my mouth in a kiss so deep and dirty that my whole body hummed.
Oh yeah! Definitely hot as hell.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Five weeks later
Isabelle
“I can’t believe we’re back in New York. Nothing against the guys, but I don’t want to see their faces for the next two weeks,” Brayden said as the car slowed in front of Josie’s brownstone. I’d decided to join him on the second stretch of the tour as well. I loved every crazy minute of it. After three weeks away, I scheduled a meeting with the sibs first thing. We were coming directly from La Guardia.
I giggled. “You mean the next three days, after which you’ll semi-threaten them to rehearse again?”
He pinched my left buttock, making me giggle even louder. “Smartass.”
“What? I catch on fast. You’re a bit hard on them.”
He glanced at Paul in the front, then back at me. If we were alone, I was sure that remark would have earned me a lot more than an ass pinch.
“Are you sure you don’t want to join us?” I asked him.
“Go have fun with your family. I’ll just relax at the penthouse and wait for you.”
“Okay.” I gave him a quick kiss before getting out of the car.
Hmm... he’d been suspiciously happy when I told him I wanted to see my siblings today. Perhaps he needed some time alone after either being surrounded by the band or being with me for so long.
I made a mental note to remember that about him once I moved in. I wasn’t sure when that was happening, because he hadn’t brought up the topic again, and I didn’t want to pester him about it on the second leg of the tour. During the two-week break he had before this, I’d been too caught up with my clients to give it much thought. A lot of them were happy to finally see me in person again, but they didn’t object when I told them I’d be leaving for three weeks again—mostly because I lowered their fee for the duration when we were meeting exclusively online.
I couldn’t believe we’d been away for three weeks. It felt more like three days what with every moment of the day being carefully planned. We hadn’t had any more incidents with leaked information about the hotels where we stayed. Lilian got her due. Sasha explained to me that while they couldn’t sue her, she made sure to mention Lilian’s indiscretion to everyone she knew in the industry. As a result, not only hadn’t she gotten a job yet, but she was unlike
ly to work in any music-related job in the future.
I knocked at the entrance door excitedly. I couldn’t wait to see the sibs again. It was a good thing it was Sunday and we all had time.
Josie opened the door, holding Sophie in her arms.
“Oh my God, she’s so big,” I exclaimed. “And looks totally different.”
“Babies change a lot in the first few months.”
“Yeah, but I’ve only been away for a few weeks.”
Sophie immediately stretched her tiny hands toward me, and I took her in my arms. Josie had put her on camera once while we were talking. At first she seemed happy, but then she tried to reach for me, and when she touched the phone, she started crying. We decided not to do it again since it was obviously confusing her.
She snuggled with her tiny head against my chest. She was so adorable!
“How are our brothers?” I asked Josie before we entered the living room. I’d spoken to them a lot while I was away, but certain things I could assess better in person, especially body language.
“Good. Sort of. They don’t give each other as much shit as before, which is a sign that they’re tiptoeing around each other.”
Dylan and Ian were in Josie’s gorgeous living room. The fireplace was truly my favorite place. In winter, they lit it up regularly, and it looked magical.
I kissed each of them on the cheek, assessing their stance. They weren’t showing any confrontational signs, which was good. They weren’t just brothers but best friends, and I didn’t like seeing them at odds.
“How’s the jet-setter life treating you, Sis?” Ian asked.
I sat on the floor, putting Sophie on her belly on her colorful rug.
“I have to say, living in hotels, where room service is available twenty-four seven and the room gets cleaned every day is totally my thing.”
Ian glanced at Dylan. “Did she say she missed us and I didn’t hear it?”
Dylan shook his head. “Not one word about us.”
“My daily phone calls didn’t clue you in?” I batted my eyelashes. “Or sometimes twice a day, Ian?”
“Wait a second. You spoke to him more than me?” Dylan asked, clutching at his heart theatrically.
