You said you forgave me. Can you not see my side in this?”
“I see it,” she whispered. Her gaze sliding away, she stepped back.
My hand fell to my side. Inside, I panicked, fucking panicked that I might lose her again. I loved her, no doubt, but it made me angry the power that emotion gave her over me.
“But I don’t think you see mine.” She wrapped her arms around herself.
“The college thing?” I asked. “Is that what you mean?”
“It’s not a thing, War.” She lifted her gaze, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. She never cried. Not even the other night when I laid into her, but she was close now. “It’s my only ticket out of Southside. And even that isn’t a guarantee. I could slide right back in again without warning.” She jerked her head back toward the hospital. “Look what happened to Chad. Everything was going his way, and in a single moment, through no fault of his own, he lost it all, his hopes and dreams.”
“Okay, so college is an option for you. You can keep that in play, if you want to, but it’s not your only option.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want you back in the group. It’s all wrong. Everything is wrong without you.”
“Oh, War. Thank you.” She threw herself at me, draping her slender arms around my neck, and I caught her. Tits, pussy, long legs, she was plastered to me.
“You’re welcome,” I said thickly. My pulse raced and my cock went hard. Sliding my hands down her spine, I spread them on the swell of her delectable ass. “But, babe, you can’t countermand me when it comes to the band.”
She stiffened. “Your way or the highway, is that it?”
“Yeah, it is, if there are music reps standing right there offering to write us a ticket out of this shit-hole. Look at me,” I said, and her gaze met mine, her eyes flashing defiant amber fire. “Us, Lacey. I said it a year ago, and I’m saying it now. Again. Are you hearing me?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “And I know you expect me to swoon at your feet like all those other girls do. But I respect myself and my own ambition too much to.”
“I respect you.” My eyes narrowed.
“To a point. That point being whether my ambition interferes with yours.”
“Lacey, c’mon.”
“The band is your vision, your dream, and you don’t believe in me or mine. That’s my point. Are you hearing me?”
“There’s no us in your dream. Are you listening to yourself?”
She blew out a breath. “There’s no us in mine because you’ve never backed it. Never stopped to consider the possibility of combining your dream and mine.”
“Is that a requirement for you, for the two of us to be together?”
“We’re not together.”
“The hell we’re not.” I shot straight to mad. Grabbing her ass, I hauled her closer, and she gasped. I didn’t fucking care. This was bullshit. “You’re my woman, Lace. Mine. I protect and defend what’s mine. Southside is the only reality right now, and it’s our reality. This other shit is hypothetical.”
“War, I know, but it’s important.”
Her hands had moved down to my forearms where they flexed into my skin, whether with nervousness or desire, I wasn’t sure. But her breaths were labored, like they were when she was turned on, and her eyes had darkened to burnished gold.
“We had a misstep,” I said firmly. “A miscommunication. But we’re together, and we’re going forward together with me doing whatever is necessary for both of us. Though from now on, I’ll make allowances for your dream in the overall scheme of things.”
Lace
A misstep.
That’s how War saw tossing me aside just because I’d countermanded him. He made me mad a lot of the time. Now was one of them.
Yet, I reminded myself that he was here right now. He hadn’t completely abandoned me, and a lot of what he said I liked. It wasn’t usual for him to make allowances.
Plus, being back in his arms was familiar and exciting. He wanted me. Turned me on. He might not be the way forward, but he was a way. I couldn’t afford to toss him and his demands that irked me aside just because he wasn’t giving me exactly what I wanted, or because he wasn’t who I wanted.
“Bry said he gave you a birthday present already,” War said, breaking into and seeming to hijack my thoughts.
“He did.” I nodded.
“He’s a thoughtful guy. But I’m not him. I’m not going to try to compete