do. Then it hits, and my arms fall.
I glance at Spike. “I take it he knows?”
Spike returns a curt nod.
“The fuck I know!” Forest shouts. “The two of you aren’t exactly pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes, and it stops now.” Forest points toward the hall leading deep into Insanity and eventually to my rooms. “Get your ass in bed while I have a conversation with lover boy here.”
“I’m not going anywhere, especially since that conversation involves me.” My voice shakes at first, but it gathers steam and firms up with determination.
“Keep your voice down.” Forest’s growl thunders between us.
“Or what? Who’s going to hear?” My flippant remark is met with a pinching of Forest’s brows.
“Everyone.” Forest’s ice gaze splinters as he realizes I won’t be standing down.
“Bullshit. Noodles and Mitzy are busy fucking each other’s brains out. I suppose Ash and Skye are doing the same. Either way, I know all the suites are soundproofed from the rest of the house. You’re the only one meandering around at night, and this isn’t even your house anymore. Don’t you have people to fuck in your own little love nest? Leave Spike and me alone.” My fingers curl, and I take in a deep breath.
Spike snorts, and I swear he’s laughing. By the end of my little speech, a massive smirk fills his face. I can’t help but love how I surprised him. I bet he never thought I’d face down Forest.
As for Forest, he doesn’t know what to make of me, but before he can bluster on and tell me what I can and can’t do, I continue.
“You have no right ordering me to bed as if I’m a child. I’m a grown woman who can make up my own damn mind.”
“You’re an insolent brat more concerned about what you want rather than how it affects those around you.” Forest points between me and Spike. “I get you’re attracted to each other, but think really long and hard before you go too far with this.”
“Or what?” I prop my hands on my hips. “I don’t care what Bash thinks. He’s not the boss of me, and for that matter, you aren’t either.”
“You’re correct, little one, but I am the manager of the band, and you’re stepping in band business, stirring shit up that shouldn’t be stirred. Do you really want to be Angel Fire’s Yoko Ono?”
“That’s a low blow. Take it back.” A warning growl sounds low in the back of Spike’s throat. He exchanges his smirk for a deadly expression.
“I’m not wrong.”
“You’re dead wrong, and I don’t need to say anything. I’m having fun watching Angel dress you down, but you insult her like that again, and I will throw down with you. That’s my girl you’re talking about, and we’re figuring things out. Neither one of us wants that to happen.”
“Don’t fuck shit up.” Forest pokes Spike in the chest.
“You’re out of line.” Spike closes the distance and gets in Forest’s face. “Are we going to have a problem?”
I can’t help it. Spike’s fierce when enraged, but he’s still going up against a giant of a man. I’ve got to diffuse this situation, and soon.
Forest’s eyes pinch. He’s about to say something when I jump in, too afraid whatever he has to say will lead to fists flying, or worse.
“Forest, please don’t tell anyone. I get what you’re saying. Lord knows I’ve thought about all the reasons Spike and I shouldn’t be together. At first, I thought it was nothing more than a crush, but over this past year, it turned into something more. I get you want to protect the band. I really do, but we’re not doing anything wrong.”
“He’s literally old enough to be your father.”
“My father was a young teen when my mom got pregnant. Spike’s not that much older than me.”
“He’s a lot older than you.”
“In a few years, that won’t matter. Look, you of all people should understand.”
“I understand you’re only thinking only about yourselves. You don’t give a shit about how the two of you hooking up affects anyone else.”
“If someone told you that you had to choose between Sara and Paul, would you be able to choose?”
He snorts. “No fucking way.”
“Exactly.”
“Exactly, what?”
“The heart wants who it wants. You can no more ask Spike and me to stop seeing each other than I can ask you to choose between the loves of your life. You, of all people, have to understand. Love doesn’t give us a choice. It slaps us in the