It wasn’t a question but an accusation. She was right to be paranoid. “Your chances are fifty-fifty.”
If my plan worked in her favor, she had a better chance of getting through the tour. If it didn’t, Houston, Loren, and I would have someone else to direct our anger toward other than each other. As much as I wanted my friends back, I found myself hoping for the former.
Maybe Loren was right. Perhaps I couldn’t commit to being an asshole.
“So, are you toying with them or me, Jericho?”
Braxton’s gaze was piercing as she waited for me to respond. I had a hell of a time swallowing past the lump in my throat. Either she was a mind reader, or someone had tipped her off.
Someone else knew that Houston, Loren, and I had become strangers forced to work together rather than best friends who used to build forts to keep everyone else out. The last time we let an outsider in, he almost destroyed us before destroying himself, and whether Braxton knew it or not, she was here to finish what Calvin started.
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is making it to the end of the tour…with you.”
I swear her red hair looked like a river of flame, matching the fire in her eyes as she stood up straight. I’d insulted her.
“I’m not going to run.”
“I’m sure you believe that, but you don’t know them. Or me.”
“And none of you know me. If you don’t believe me, consider this. Would anyone else have made it this far?”
Daring to invade her space even more than Houston had at the festival or Loren half an hour ago, I placed my hands on each side of the door frame. I was so close I could feel every one of her quick breaths on my neck. If I placed my hand over her heart right now, I knew I’d feel it racing.
Warmth spread over my lower stomach before shooting to my groin. I dug my fingers into the wood to keep from touching her. Neither Houston nor Loren would have practiced such restraint, but I wasn’t them.
“I wouldn’t celebrate just yet, Braxton. A year is a long time. Once you get on our tour bus, there’ll be nowhere to hide. There will only be the four of us and long, lonely nights with nothing to do but learn what makes you tick.”
The twinkle of panic in her eyes was gone as quickly as it appeared, but I knew I hadn’t imagined it. Something that raw was too real to fantasize or fabricate.
“Then I suppose it works both ways,” she whispered more to herself than to me. I felt her small hand on my stomach, making the muscles spasm and dip before she pushed me out of her way. “Excuse me.”
I didn’t follow.
Instead, I watched her go, waiting to see if she’d turn toward the noise Houston and Loren were making as they hauled equipment into the living room or keep straight where the front door waited.
I didn’t realize how anxious I was anticipating her next move until she pivoted on her bare feet toward our rehearsal space.
My relieved exhale was harsh and swift.
“You told Loren and every anus at Savant responsible for you standing here that you knew our material better than he did,” Houston began the moment I was plugged into the amplifier.
I sighed, silently cursing my big mouth. It was not only a bold claim but an arrogant one, and now Houston wanted to shut me up.
“If I recall, I said I probably knew it better.”
“Well then, you probably shouldn’t have opened your mouth,” he shot back. “You’ll be responsible for both lead and rhythm, which means I need to trust not only your skills but your instincts. Show me ‘Flayed Alive.’”
You mean like you intend to do to me before the day is over? Sweet.
Wisely, I kept those thoughts to myself. Not every battle was worth fighting, and since I was technically there to learn, there was nothing I could argue. It was time to put up or shut up, and I was done letting Houston have his way. Lucky for me, I knew exactly what he was up to.
“Flayed Alive” wasn’t a mainstream song. The underground work appeared on their first EP, meaning only a true fan knew of its existence. And the icing on Houston’s cherry-topped evil cake is that Calvin wasn’t their guitarist at the time.
Nope. That honor belonged to Houston.
Calvin wasn’t a founding member of Bound. He didn’t join the