my family. And you are a part of that, no matter what. With me or not, you and James are Steelwolf family. I know this is hard, and the media is being a bunch of dicks right now, but we are doing everything we can to shield James and it’s not an easy fix, but you aren’t alone in this. You will never be alone in any of this. That I can promise you.”
“But that reporter. He shoved his camera right in James’ face. I couldn’t stop him.”
Her eyes filled with tears and I tugged her into my arms, grateful that she didn’t stiffen against me. She might think we should end it, but I knew in her heart, she didn’t want that. And I would cling to that with everything I had.
“I know. And you can take a security guard with you when you go out if you want. Or we can find a private park for James. Hell, I’ll build one on my roof deck.”
Finally, she cracked a smile.
“You are too much,” she said, her hand pressed against my heart. “Maybe a swing set.”
I couldn’t stop my chuckle.
“Anything for you, Evie. Whatever you want, it’s yours. I love you. I trust you. And making you and James happy and safe is what matters the most to me.” It wasn’t a line. Everything I said I meant with all my heart. She was it for me.
“Thank you.”
“You could come on tour with us. Full security all the time and we could keep the reporters away from you and James.”
I wanted her to agree. I’d asked more than once. I wanted her on tour. I wanted James to see how much his father was loved by our fans. They still shouted his name every time we played the song he wrote.
“Tristan, we talked about this.”
“I know.”
“And I have clients that I can’t just leave. I mean, I know it’s not as many, but Josh actually sent me a few referrals.”
“Fuck right he did,” I bit out. That man was still on my shit list for his carelessness. The rest of the band wasn’t too happy with him either.
“Tristan, as much as I hate that it happened that way, I don’t think he did it on purpose.”
“It doesn’t matter. He never should’ve had that on his desk for anyone to see. He’s smarter than that.” Josh had apologized profusely, but he wasn’t off the hook yet. He’d offered Evie client referrals and security and anything she wanted to make up for his mistake.
It was refreshing to see the guy grovel. I hadn’t been sure he had it in him, but deep down Josh wasn’t a total monster.
I still wanted to punch him, though.
“That’s very true, but we can’t do anything about it now.”
“So please come on tour with us,” I said again, hoping to eventually wear her down. I mean, we were leaving in two days, but I wouldn’t stop trying until the bus pulled out of the city.
“No. I can’t have you trying to fix it when the media becomes an issue. While I don’t have any other secrets for them to release, I know that they aren’t just going to leave me alone forever after they move on from this story.”
“Evie,” I started, unsure of where she was going with this.
“I think the best thing is for you to go on tour and for me to stay here. I’m not breaking up with you. Yes, I did consider it, but you’re right, we love each other and we are better than this garbage. I’m not going to walk away from everything we have because of the media. I love you more than I ever thought possible.”
“I love you more,” I teased, pulling her into my lap and pressing kisses along her jaw. Her words lifted the weight on my chest.
She sealed her lips to mine in a quick kiss and then pulled away.
“I don’t want to leave you here to the vultures.”
“That’s exactly what you have to do. I need to figure out how to navigate them. How I can still do the things I love with James and try to avoid getting hounded. We—no, I—can’t crack under this pressure whenever something happens and we wind up in the news.”
“Are you sure about this?” I asked.
“Yes. You go on tour and I’m staying here. I’m going to get a handle on this and I’ll be waiting here when you get back.”
While it wasn’t exactly what I wanted, I understood