Page 95 of Echoes of Him

“And you can’t go breaking his heart. Okay? Don’t get me wrong, a moody artist is the best kind of artist. But you haven’t seen him hit rock bottom. He’s a fucking train wreck, and if it happens again, it affects all of us. I won’t sit back and let my entire career go down the toilet because you don’t know what you’re doing with him.”

My mouth hangs open.

Brinley looks horrified, and a dark shadow passes quickly over Kael’s face. “Someone shut him the hell up and put us all out of our misery. Shoot him. Whatever. I don’t care.” He punches Reed hard, a fast jab to the chest, making him stumble back slightly.

“Will you fuckers stop hitting me?”

Thankfully, Jaxon walks into the kitchen and grabs another beer out of the fridge. “Just so you know, Clay’s murdering those T-bones.”

Reed makes a gruff noise that could possibly be construed asgoddammit, and Kael follows him and Jaxon back out onto the balcony to mingle with the rest of the guys, leaving Brinley and I alone in the kitchen together.

Thank God for that.

“Wine?” Brinley asks, holding up an empty glass.

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Kael

Sienna and I have spent the better part of the past two weeks, well… fucking. And that’s putting it politely.Of course, the fucking is done among other things.Day to day things.I go to rehearsals and signings, attend meetings, and the band and I spend a shitload of time at the studio working on and recording the new songs.

Sienna goes to work, and Bailey goes to school.

We’ve eaten dinner together every night. Some nights I cook, other nights Sienna cooks. Bailey knows how to make beef chili and so over the past couple of weeks I’ve eaten more of the damn stuff than one man really ought to eat in one lifetime.

But it’s Bailey, and if Bailey’s happy then so is Sienna, and if Sienna’s happy… you see where I’m going with this.

If I had my way, I’d pack them both up and take them home with me, maybe keep them there forever. We could sell Sienna’s house and have her move in with me. Her and Bailey. I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but maybe I could be part of the package deal, too.

The three of us.

Bailey is opening up to me more and more, confiding in me—in his own special way—and the more time we spend together, I find myself eating it up, warming to the idea that maybe there’s a place for me here in their peculiar little family.

I’ve been to five AA meetings, and Sienna has sat in the back of the room every time, sipping shitty coffee, patiently waiting for me.

Oh, yeah, and I’ve started jogging.

Running seems to help clear my mind, and push the cravings away, and it turns out the deserted streets of New York at five in the morning have never been so appealing.

I’ve also spent countless hours lifting weights at the gym over the last couple of weeks, expelling a ton of excess energy. I’m glad Sienna didn’t come with me to the gym. A couple of paparazzi were hanging out on the street in front of the gym late one night, waiting for me when I was done. They snapped a photograph and asked me a couple of questions.

I rattled off“no comment”like I’d been told to do. I phoned Nick straight away to tell him what had just happened. He said he’d deal with it.

Thanks, Nick.

Sunday morning Sienna’s making breakfast while I sit at the kitchen counter opposite her, scrolling through my phone.

A text message suddenly appears on the screen.

Reed: What are you doing tonight?

Sienna has her back to me, beating eggs together in a bowl, and when I glance across at her I’m momentarily distracted by the sweet jiggle of her sexy ass as she beats the eggs.

I smile widely, and tap out a quick reply.

Me: Not sure. Why?

A few seconds pass, and then another message appears.

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