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I shake my head, wishing she couldn’t see my face in the mirror.
“She does love you, Madden.” Bianca turns to face me. “I think she wants to fix things, she just doesn’t know how to start.”
“She can’t fix what won’t change,” I tell her. “As long as Stefan’s in the picture, this is as good as it will ever be.”
Bianca doesn’t argue, and she doesn’t push the subject, seemingly aware we’re treading into dangerous waters. Over the next few minutes, we brush our teeth in silence, and I watch as she combs her hair.
“You should get some more sleep,” I suggest. “I have to go to physical therapy.”
“I’m coming with you,” she says.
“No, you aren’t.”
She ignores me and walks back into the room, and when I follow, she’s grabbing her clothes.
“Don’t,” she warns me as I stand there, watching her button her shorts.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t say what you’re thinking.” She pulls on her shirt and smooths it out. “I’m coming.”
“I don’t want you there.”
“Madden, it’s me.” She walks over and takes my hands in hers. “You never have to hide anything from me.”
“Not from you,” I reply coldly. “No.”
She lets the insult roll off her shoulders with a deep sigh. “That tactic isn’t going to work, either. Is there anything else you want to try, or can we go already?”
Irritation settles in my gut as I dress myself and silently stew about this version of Bianca. The grown one who doesn’t fall for my shit anymore. She came in with her armor, ready to do battle, and I don’t know how to weaken her defenses this time.
She follows me from the house to the hospital cafeteria, and we eat breakfast together in silence. And by eat together, I mean she steals shit from my plate and then dumps half of her leftovers onto mine. I’m in a pissy mood as we walk across the courtyard to the therapy ward. But the tables turn in my favor once we’re inside, and I notice Bianca eyeing the PT nurse when she comments on my form and physique. I milk it for all it’s worth, giving extra attention to the nurse just to piss Bianca off. But when the session ends, my resentment dissolves when Bianca threads her fingers through mine, laying claim to me. I torture her all the way back to the elevator and down to the ground floor before I tell her the truth.
“She’s engaged to a guy named Samuel, who sells insurance.”
“How do you know?” Bianca asks crisply.
“Because there’s not much else to do while I’m busting out reps. She talks a lot.”
She seems relieved by my answer, but it doesn’t last long. We both know that nurse isn’t the real issue. She isn’t a threat between us because there can never be an us. We walk across the campus with those thoughts overshadowing the moment when I remember something.
“I told the guys I’d jam with them today.” I glance over at her.
“Really?” She perks up. “Can I watch?”
“Are you actually asking?”
“Of course not.” She offers me an amused smile. “I want to hear you sing again. I’ve missed your voice.”
With that settled, we head back to the house, and I grab my guitar. I catch Bianca discreetly checking her phone with a frown, but she quickly shoves it back into her pocket when she notices I’m watching. I don’t ask her what that’s about because I’m pretty sure I know, and in this case, ignorance is the best policy.
We meet the guys in the garage at noon, and they seem surprised Bianca’s still here but don’t make a big deal about it. She’s quick to charm them by telling them how excited she is to hear us play, joking that she’ll be our first groupie. Ryan seems to like that idea and asks her if she can record us on her phone and send it to us.
Bianca shoots me a nervous glance. “My phone kind of sucks. It’s just a cheap one, and the video quality isn’t very good. Can I use yours?”
I noticed she was using a cheap phone in the room, and it’s only now that I’m realizing how odd that is, especially since I know she had an iPhone before. But now isn’t the time to bring it up, so I unlock mine and hand it over to her, and she fiddles around with the video settings while we decide on a song.
“Let’s do that one you showed us the other day,” Kieran says.
I don’t look at Bianca, but I can feel her eyes on me as I shrug. “Okay.”
It feels weird to put my lyrics on display, but we discussed singing it today, and it would be a dick move to back out now. We get warmed up, running through a couple of test songs first before Ryan gives Bianca the go-ahead to start filming.
