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Benji raises a pierced brow.
“They already think I’m settling by being with a dentist. They lost it when I moved to Pittsburgh. I have no idea how they’ll react when they find out I quit my job to move for him again.” I shrug, guilt flooding me while I stare at a candle. “I’m not ready to be a disappointment yet, I guess.”
“You sound disappointed enough for everyone,” he tells me, and my gaze meets his. “I’m just wondering when you stop pleasing everyone else and do what you want.”
After a second, I look away. “Your turn. How did Benjamin Jones go from dreaming of playing to a stadium full of people to managing artists?”
He shrugs with one shoulder. “Dreams fade. Plans change. The boring truth is, I’m damn good at what I do, and I enjoy the hell out of it—most of the time. Plus, I realized this way, I can play my music however I want and not have to worry about someone telling me to change it. That’s what I truly want more than anything.”
His words sink inside me, and I feel a sting of tears that I quickly blink away. Jealousy maybe. But whatever the reason, he simply hits the screen on his phone a few times and a slow acoustic song starts playing, filling the space between us.
Without another word, he drops onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. I glance around at the safety of the room one more time, and then I slink down onto the blanket and pull the cover he gave me up, laying my head on the pillow.
I don’t know when I fall asleep, but when I wake up, he’s left the candles burning for me.
And the music playing on his phone.
CHAPTER 6
BENJI
After the storm, I give Charlie as much space as possible. I tell myself it’s for the best considering the more time I’m spending with her, the harder it is to separate the past from present. I need my brother back. I need to see them together and happy. It’ll hurt like hell, but it will ground me in the now. Remind me once and for all, Charlie Jo Davis was never meant to be mine.
Only as I’m coming around the corner from the stairs, ready to go to the Forest Nymph’s show, I nearly run her down. I reach out to steady her when she jumps back.
“Oh my God, Jones. You need a bell,” she teases. Then her eyes sweep over me. “I will never get used to seeing you dressed for a business meeting.”
“Says the chick who showed up here looking ready for a conference room.” I add on a smirk, so she knows I’m teasing, and she narrows a playful glare in my direction.
Fuck, she’s gorgeous in her leggings and oversized shirt, her hair tied high in a ponytail.
And that right there is why I’m avoiding her. My brother’s girlfriend.
“You talk to Archer lately?” I ask.
There we go, get back on track.
“A little this morning,” she says, a distant look to her. “He usually only has time while he’s in the Uber on the way to the clinic site, but I’m used to it when he’s working these types of projects.”
I nod, noticing the little lines between her eyebrows again. She might be used to it, but it doesn’t mean she likes it.
“Want to come to the show tonight?” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, but the way she perks up at the invitation disintegrates any regret.
Her lips twitch, and she shrugs before walking around me. “Maybe.”
“Maybe,” I repeat dryly.
She sassily glances over her shoulder at me, and I bite my bottom lip in a smile, practically groaning at how her dismissal makes me need her there. One minute. It takes her one minute to completely reverse my course. Of course, that redirect leads straight back to her.
“You’re coming,” I tell her as she heads up the stairs. The doorbell rings, and I glance at the door before I’m back to her ass. “We’re leaving in twenty.”
She waves me off, and I grin, shaking my head as I grab the knob. Then I freeze, seeing the brunette on the other side of the threshold. Jordan’s girlfriend gives me a mischievous smile.
“Leaving in twenty?” Callie says. “Then I guess I got here just in time.”
“You really thought you’d get out of date night by scheduling a show?” Callie shouts over the music backstage.
I chuckle at my best friend’s girl, one eye on her and the other on the blonde heading toward the restrooms across the bar.
