“Did you get any news?” Blake asks, running a hand through his hair. I think we’re all feeling the guilt of thinking the worst of him.
Raina separates herself from Nash, turning her attention onto Blake. Her gaze lands on him and she frowns. “You took your glasses off.” It almost sounds like she’s pouting, but Blake always wears contacts when performing. He needs it to combat his stage fright.
“You’re making it hard for me to not believe you.” He gives her a confident smirk, the kind that oozes rich academy boy upbringing.
A gasp draws my attention back to Raina, where she holds her hands against her chest, before she quickly puts her hands on her hips. “I’m not sure if you’ve heard, mister, but I’m a famous pop star diva. I don’t waste my time giving out false compliments.”
Blake blushes and stares at the floor. Damn, do I enjoy people watching. It’s why I’m absolutely gutted I didn’t realize what actually happened with Tristan instead of jumping toconclusions. But when you hear your woman yellstop, and find a naked man on top of her… there’s nothing but red.
Part of me wishes Raina found an opportunity to tell us the truth earlier, although I know she really didn’t have the chance. It just would’ve been nice to know before he went missing. Hindsight is always the worst.
Raina’s sass doesn’t last for long, her frown quickly returning. “I have runners and security searching for him everywhere and making calls to hospitals and police stations. We won’t give up, but we haven’t found him.”
“This isn’t like Tristan. Sure, he wanted to get his revenge, but this is his dream, too. He wouldn’tnotshow up,“ Blake says, tapping the call button on his phone to try and get Tristan to pick up. It goes right to voicemail like all the other times we’ve tried.
“He’s a hothead, but he wouldn’t jeopardize his own success,” Nash adds, clenching his fist as his gaze lingers on the closed dressing room door. “He must be out there, something happened for him to not be here.”
“But what?” I ask. None of this makes sense.
“Nick said he was at the after party last night. He implied he was embracing the rock star life,” Raina says, it’s clear in her tone that she doesn’t trust anything he says.
Blake sighs heavily from his seat on the couch, his thumb swiping across his phone screen aggressively. “We all made assumptions. Bad ones. But he wouldn’t do that. He was all about the music and had a hard stance on drugs and random hookups.”
“That wouldn’t make him quit on us,” I emphasize, determined to not give up on him after we already failed him.
Nash bows his head, lost in thought for a moment. “Maybe... we pushed him too far?” he muses aloud. There’s regret in his voice, deeper than I’ve ever heard before.
“So, what should we do? We need to find him, but the show is supposed to start soon. We don’t have time to really do anything before it.” Raina blinks her eyes quickly, like she’s trying not to cry.
“Can we cancel? Give us time to find him?” Nash suggests.
“The label won’t let us. You know the rule they go by… the show must go on,” she whispers, defeat falling heavy on her shoulders. “It would be too costly in fines with the contracts we have with them.”
Nash hisses and runs a hand through his hair until he’s holding the back of his neck, his tongue flicking at his lip ring. “What are we doing about the show, then? We don’t have a lead guitarist.”
The small amount of life that came back to my girl since she came out of the bathroom drains from her face again. Her pale pallor makes me want to reach for her, but something tells me that’s not the right move—she doesn’t seem to want to be touched right now.
She stares at her hands, where her fingers twist together. “Nick from Napalm Delights will fill in for him.” Her hand moves to her stomach, pressing her palm against it. “I thought having Tristan show up like he did was my worst nightmare, but it doesn’t compare to this. I-I don’t know how I’ll get through this.”
Blake steps forward until he hovers right in front of her. His hands move to his hips, much like the stance she took with him. “Raina,” he practically growls. His tone is so full of authority and confidence it almost makes me do a double take. It’s the damn contacts.
Seconds tick by as everyone waits to see what her response will be. When it seems like she won’t respond, Blake crooks his finger in a move to tell her to look at him. She finally raises her head and meekly blinks at him. The hold he has on her is sexy as fuck.
When he has her attention focused on him, he stares into her eyes. His eyebrows come together, and he pins her in place with a seriousness that precedes the hardest of edges that make up Blake. He shifts closer to her until there’s barely any space between them, not allowing her to look away from him.
“Repeat after me,” he starts. “I am Raina Lexington. A brilliant, badass bitch who lets no man diminish her.”
She says it after him under her breath.
The lack of confidence has a steely hardness come over my friend. “Now again, Raina. Tell me who you are.” She does, but there’s only a smidge more confidence in it. “Again,” he barks. He has her do it over and over until she sounds like she actually believes the words. It has me breathing comfortably once more, not even realizing exactly how much her mood was affecting me.
Blake reaches out to grasp her by the chin and leans into her space. With the change over her attitude, I’m not shocked that she’s so receptive to his attention now when before she screamed don’t touch me. Her eyes glisten as she licks her lips, anticipating the possibility of a kiss.
I’m not surprised to find Blake has jumped into seeking a relationship with her with both feet; he’s always been the type to throw his entire heart into whatever he chooses to do. But on the other hand, I’ve never seen him with another woman. Not even a one-night stand after any of our shows. And it’s not because of a lack of interest. Women flock to him—what is it about that smug, cocky rich boy persona that draws women in like bees to honey?
The air fills with sexual tension, a palpable weight that you can’t mistake. My cock twitches with the possibilities of where this could lead, even if I know we don’t have the time to explore it right now.
“There’s my good bunny.” A knock sounds at the door, drawing our attention to the crew member letting us know it’s two minutes till we’re needed on stage. I turn my head backaround in time to find Blake nudging her with his nose to gain her focus. “Now let’s go out there and show those bastards they can’t shake your confidence. Raina Lexington puts on a stellar performance no matter the situation.”
