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Isaiah:Eff off.
twenty-five
Despite my best efforts, I do not drown.
Apparently, Skye spots me sinking and he goes all surfer on me. He dives in, grabs me, and pulls me to the surface. He holds me and yells at me while I cough out water and shake with fear and jealousy.
“Are you out of your mind?” Skye sounds panicked. “Do you want to die?”
“Shut up,” I gasp as we swim up to the yacht. “Just shut up.”
I don’t thank him. The ‘shut up’ is our thank you—he knows it. Just as he knows that I didn’t want to die. But I just don’t want to live like this. I can’t climb the ladder of that yacht and face Jude holding Eden again. I gag just thinking about them together and Skye grabs me again, thinking I’m going to be sick.
“What’s going on, Isaiah?” he asks me, barely controlled panic in his voice. “What’s wrong?”
“I need a pill,” I gasp. “I don’t… I keep having anxiety attacks.”
“Dammit,” Skye swears. “How long have you been like this? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’re not my babysitter?”
I brace my hands on my knees and try not to keel over.
“I’m your everything,” Skye says fiercely, his long curls dripping water all around us. He doesn’t even bother to gather it up in a bun—Skye not taking care of his hair is like the sun rising in the west. But right now, his attention is all on me. “I’m here for you. I’m your friend, your manager, your brother. I’m your mom and your dad.” I suck in a breath at this, and his hand tightens on my arm.
“I know,” I hiss at him, because if I talk any louder, I’m going to be sick.
“I’m yours is what I’m saying,” Skye goes on. “I belong to no one and nothing else. I’m not here for the tour or for the label. I’m not here for the musicians. I’m yours. What do you need?”
“What do you mean what do I need? Since when am I allowed to need anything?”
He pulls me in by the throat, and I swear, I have never heard his voice so intense as it is when he leans in and whispers in my ear:
“You’re by boy, Isaiah. If you want me to cancel this whole damn tour right now, I swear I’ll do it. No questions asked. I’d do it.”
He means it.
“Do I look so messed up?” I smirk.
“You do,” Skye replies. And he doesn’t smirk back.
“I need Spencer,” I say.
“Done.”
“And hold the pill. I can make it without it. I think.”
“Good boy.”
“But the timeline…” I rub my forehead. “I can’t miss another scheduled day.”
“Leave that to me, ok?” Skye sounds somewhat relieved. “You take care of yourself. Do you want back on Spencer’s boat? You were good on there, calm.”
“Me? Good? Calm?”
“Well, not good, but better than this… Ok.” He takes a deep breath, and I can literally see the cogs in his head turning. For me. He’s trying to figure out how we’ll do everything in time for the first concert. He’s trying to make the impossible happen. This man is a treasure and I’m so lucky to have him in my corner, and I’m nothing but an ungrateful pain in his ass. “Can you do the party tonight? I can cancel it.”
“I can do it,” I say immediately, and his face relaxes a bit.
