her back was to him. He approached on silent feet with his eyes on her and purpose in each step.
I didn’t realize his intent until it was too late.
Bending over her shoulder, Houston bit off half her sandwich in one bite.
“I was eating that!” she yelled after he rounded the couch to sit next to her. She stared at him angrily the entire time he chewed.
After gulping down the last of it, he smiled at her. “Didn’t look like it.”
I snorted at the look on his face when Braxton made him wear what was left of her sandwich. Houston said nothing as he gripped his T-shirt from behind before pulling it off and using it to clean his face. I knew he wasn’t upset, but he was good with mind games. He kept his expression neutral, making Braxton watch him warily until he leaned over to tongue her down. I rolled my eyes as I watched them go at it, but I knew to keep my jealousy to myself.
Three hours later, we were at the Mohegan Sun, a resort and casino with an arena we were playing tomorrow night.
Our security was back on duty, so we didn’t bother with disguises. It didn’t take long for the paparazzi and a few wild cards to get wind of our presence either. The only part that bugged me about having so many eyes around was remembering to keep my hands to myself. Houston and Rich struggled with the same whenever they ventured too close or lingered too long.
One of us involved with our new guitarist was bad enough. All three of us publicly claiming a piece would be inviting trouble that we weren’t prepared for. Not yet. Eventually, we’d break the news to Xavier and warn our publicist.
At the moment, there wasn’t much to tell.
Houston and Rich had gotten back on her good side, but they hadn’t been allowed more than a foot each. While they treaded carefully, I was still figuring out how to get her to talk to me and what I would say once I succeeded. I told her how I felt long before either of them dared.
Yet you still fucked up.
I knew it was the reason she was so cold with me, never sparing me more than a glance while allowing my best friends to kiss and touch their fill. Claiming one thing only to do another, I’d hurt her more, so she trusted me less.
Braxton had wandered off with two of our guards trailing her, and eventually, after fifteen minutes of searching, I found her standing at one of the slot machines.
The floor was mostly empty on a Monday afternoon, so there was no one around to see when I wrapped myself around her from behind. I didn’t count our guards because, as far as their jobs were concerned, they were Three Blind Mice.
“Are you running from me?” I whispered when my hands found her hips. Braxton was almost the perfect height. She wasn’t so short that my dick was in her shoulder blades, but I wouldn’t have minded her with a few more inches either. Right now, Loren Jr. was busy giving her a tramp stamp when it was her ass that had woken him up to party. She was also stiff in my arms, and I didn’t like that. I wanted the days back when she melted against me.
Right now, she refused to even look at me.
“You found me, didn’t you?”
I chuckled to myself.
Her smartass mouth was at the top of the list of things I’d missed. I’d rather she give me her anger than nothing at all. I found myself kissing her nape since her hair was hanging over her shoulder and inhaling the brown sugar body wash that I knew she used. When she still didn’t react, I sighed and closed my eyes.
“Tell me what to do, Braxton.”
“Now, why would I do that?”
“Because you want me to fix it as bad as I do.”
Hearing someone approach, I forced myself to let her go. Luckily, the group passed without us being recognized, and the moment the coast was clear, I was back in Braxton’s space. This was the closest I’d gotten to her since we fucked in Central Park. I wasn’t about to let the possibility of being seen stop me from taking whatever scraps she threw me. I hated having to keep my feelings a secret, and it was solely for Braxton’s sake that I did. Anyone else could swallow thumbtacks.