Moving closer to her, I plant a hand on the back of the chair across from her. “Want to talk about it?”
She motions for me to have a seat and then flips over Mae’s phone. Scrolling down on the lock screen, I can see that there have been several missed calls and many texts from Trenton in the last few minutes.
He knows.
Not wanting to invade Mae’s privacy, I reach across and gently lower the phone to the table. “Is that, uh”—I clear my throat—“gonna be a problem?”
Green eyes flick up to meet my gaze through thick eyelashes. She gives me one curt nod. “The show tonight is still on as planned for Trenton and his team. I’m afraid he still thinks there’s a chance he can talk her into staying on.”
“Didn’t Theresa and the rest of them go to pack things up?” I ask, clasping my hands in front of me.
“He doesn’t care about the rest of them. He just wants her, and unfortunately, despite Mae’s reassurance to me that she’s done with him…”
“You think he could still persuade her?”
Raleigh smiles sadly. “It’s just the pattern.” A pattern she’s seen time and time again.
Wheels spin in my head as I run through the potential run-ins with Trenton and his team today. An impending annoyance. “Isn’t Trenton staying in this hotel?”
Raleigh lifts a hand and begins inspecting her perfectly manicured nails. “Mitch informed me that he didn’t return last night.” Shifting her attention, she then turns to her watch. “I expect he’ll be here shortly.”
“What can I do?” I ask with a sigh.
“If I’m here when he shows up, I might actually kill him.” She shifts again, clearly ready to remove herself from the situation. “I think it’d be better for everyone if you were the one here to handle it.”
Of course it would be. It’s my job. “You want me to stay here and keep an eye on everything?”
Raleigh nods and quickly grabs her bag. “I have a conference call to take, and frankly, I just need a breather.”
She stands to leave, and I absentmindedly rise to greet her. She huffs and raises her shoulders in a gesture to the universe that suggests she’s come to terms with today’s challenges.
Without thinking much of it, I pull her into a hug and she just as easily melts into me. “You have my permission to rough him up a bit if tries anything.”
Any other day, I’d think she was joking, but not right now. Not with the bite in her tone and the way she’s latched onto my shoulders.
Her watch starts to beep in alarm before I sneak a kiss on her forehead. She’s slipped away from me and out the door before I can reassure her.
***
Not long after Raleigh retreated to God knows where for her call, Mae and Theresa reappear from across the hall and dive head first into an impromptu writing session. The two are throwing around lyrics about the good ole’ boys club and corporate ladders. I notice that lyrics and melodies that would allude to a breakup are absent, but I don’t comment on it.
Mae hasn’t touched her phone since she arrived, but every time it vibrates, I see her flinch. I think all three of us know the moment of confrontation is coming, it’s just a matter of when. Mitch and two others are downstairs, but there’s no guarantee we’ll get much of a warning.
“What if we did this with the melody?” Theresa asks, taking her second favorite instrument into her arms. The edginess ofthe banjo dominates the room as Theresa plays through the forming chorus. It’s enough to get my head bobbing and my attention off of the dread pooling in my stomach.
The bliss is short lived because, just as Raleigh anticipated, Trenton’s voice can be heard down the hall. Only a few seconds later, he’s banging on the door and demanding for Mae to face him.
My earpiece buzzes to life with Mitch’s voice, though I can hear him outside trying to calm Trenton down.
Looking at the girls on the couch, I pray that either of them will give me an order. Mae already has tears in her eyes, but she manages to give me a command through a wobbling lip. “Please tell him to leave. I don’t want to see him.”
Realizing that the moment is here, I roll my shoulders and glide to the door. Every ounce of my training, as well as every experience I’ve had with Trenton in the past, is about to come into play.
Immediately, Trenton attempts to push one of his boots past me. Thankfully, I take up most of the doorway already so it doesn’t take much of an adjustment to effectively block his view of Mae on the other side.
“Sorry, Dalton,” Mitch starts. He has a hand on Trenton’s collar, and the country star is fuming. There’s no point in getting Mitch involved, so I wave him away. As soon as Mitch steps back, Trenton thinks he’s about to take me on.
“She made me a promise about this tour!” he demands, as if that fact would ever get me to step aside. “Come on, Dalton. You’re out of this job, now, too.”
