Was I even lovable? There was a reason Pastor Williams and Mrs. Williams didn’t love me. There was a reason no one ever got close to me or showed me love. Had I tried to love when I was younger and had it been wrong?
I glanced up from the spot on the floor I had been staring at while I was lost I my thoughts to see Krit walking toward me. Had they finished the set? He had said they did three tonight with twenty minute breaks in between.
Glancing behind Krit, I saw Green scowling as he followed Krit offstage. Was something wrong? I hadn’t been watching them. Did I miss a fight?
Krit was in front of me, immediately taking my hands and pulling me up. “What’s wrong?” he asked, a concerned frown etching his beautiful face.
“What’s . . . I don’t know? I—” I stopped talking when Green grabbed Krit’s shoulder and jerked him around.
“What the hell was that? We had five more minutes. We could have done another song. We were scheduled to do another song. Did you not look over the f**king lineup?”
Krit took a step and got in Green’s face. “Don’t. Fucking. Interrupt. Her.” He snarled then shoved him back, causing Green to stumble.
The instant fury that lit up Green’s eyes sent me into motion. He was going to hit Krit. I wasn’t going to let him hurt Krit. I jumped up as Green got in Krit’s face.
“We are working! She was fine. You could see her. What the f**k is wrong with you? This is our job, ass**le. You can’t go doing shit like that when we have a packed house!”
Krit shoved him again. “Don’t tell me what the f**k to do.”
I had to stop them. This was about me. I wasn’t sure why Krit had come offstage, but I knew it was about me. I had to fix this. I didn’t want Krit fighting with his best friend.
“Stop f**king shoving me, you pansy-ass motherfucker!” Green roared, and lunged for Krit.
I moved fast, putting up two hands and jumping in front of Krit to stop him. The force of impact when Green didn’t stop hit me directly in the chest. It was as if someone had put a vacuum in my lungs and sucked all the oxygen from the room. Nothing was getting in, and panic gripped me when I realized I couldn’t breathe.
“Fuck!” Krit yelled, and his arms were around me. He was doing something to my chest as he begged me to breathe. I was trying to breathe. It wouldn’t work.
“Baby, please breathe,” he was pleading, and I wanted nothing more than to do that, but I couldn’t. It hurt, and the terror that I was about to die settled over me.
“She got the air knocked out of her. She’s gonna be okay,” Matty said in an calmer voice.
And then the vacuum left, and the air I had been fighting for filled my chest as I gasped loudly and bent over. Krit was holding me against him as me muttered sweet things over and over while he rocked me back and forth.
“Take him out of here,” Matty said.
I couldn’t look up to see who he was talking to, but I grabbed Krit’s arms to hold onto him in case they were talking about him.
“Not me, baby. I’m not leaving you,” he said as his hand began running down my hair as if he were petting me. “Not going anywhere.”
“I was going for him. I didn’t mean to hit her,” Green said, sounding panicked.
“When Krit is sure she’s okay, he is going to beat the motherfucking hell out of you. Go with Legend and let him calm down first.” Matty’s words were more of an order this time.
“I’m so sorry. God, baby. What were you doing? You . . . God.” He took a shaky breath. “You couldn’t breathe. He hit you so hard and you went down and f**k, sweetheart. I’ve never been that scared in my life.”
I was able to breathe again without pain, and I had to fix this. This wasn’t Green’s fault. I didn’t know he wasn’t going to be able to stop. I thought he would stop from hitting Krit if I was in front of him. “He was gonna hit you,” I said, wincing from the pain in my throat.
Krit went still a minute, then his hold on me tightened.
KRIT
“Fuck,” Matty whispered.
He’d heard her.
It was me who couldn’t breathe now. I had thought it was an accident. But she’d f**king done it on purpose. To protect me. Holy hell.
“I’m gonna go . . . ,” Matty trailed off. I listened to his footsteps until he was gone before pulling back and looking down at Blythe.