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“An intervention?” I ask, setting my supplies on the floor beside my stool before I stand. “Are you sure you have time for it with a show tonight?”
“We’ll make time,” Bianca says, pushing on my shoulders until I lower back onto the stool.
There goes any ideas I had about sprinting for the elevator. Which, given their positioning, they might have anticipated. Not that I’d have anywhere but their apartment to go.
Cys, of course, took me in when my bawling ass showed up at her door, blubbering about everything that had happened in the past week with Benji and Archer.
And then how I couldn’t tell Archer.
I couldn’t handle the look he’d given me when I told him it was over. The hurt in his eyes caused by me. The idea of seeing the expression again when he found out about me and Benji, only this time it would also be filled with betrayal from the brother he so desperately wants to connect with—both of them want to be closer to each other. Knowing I was about to ruin the chance for them to have each other was too much to bear.
Jaelynn snaps in front of my face, and my eyes jerk up to focus on hers. She gives me a this is why we’re here look and then glances at her sisters, waiting for them to take it away.
“Sweetie, we’re worried about you.” Cys steps beside me, rubbing my back. “You’ve either been in bed or down here for the entire week.”
“It’s not healthy—physically or mentally,” Jae adds. “Seriously, this place gives me the creeps.” She gets a nod from Bianca while Cys rolls her eyes.
I half-smile, knowing our paradise is a little dank and questionable to them. But it’s been an escape for me. When I’m wrapped up in my work, I can pretend the rest of my life hasn’t fallen apart.
Or at least most of it. I took a chance and sent McCade a picture of one of my pieces. He loved it. Told me to get it into his collection without even asking the price. It’s not a gallery show, but it’s the first sale I’ve ever made, and it’s one of the greatest highs I can imagine.
“I’m fine,” I tell the sisters. “I just need a little time to get back on my feet. I know you guys have lives, and I’ll try to be out—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Bianca cuts me off. “We’re not saying shit about you being here. You’re like the sister I actually wanted.”
Jae’s mouth drops open, and she recrosses her arms, glare aimed at Bianca. “What the bitch is trying to say is, we’re worried about you, honey. We want you to be happy, and right now you’re so—”
“You look miserable, babe,” Bianca finishes. “You’re wearing your broken heart on the outside, and while I’ve written some bad ass lyrics because I’m an empath, we hate seeing you this way.”
Cys sighs at her sisters, clearly exasperated as she waves them off. They back away, going to wait by the elevator. Then she steps in front of me and puts her hands on my shoulders, face soft and voice gentle when she asks, “You love him?”
I look away from her, tears springing to my eyes as I nod. “I do. I think I have for a really long time.”
She takes a deep breath. “Well, then this is where you pull up your big girl panties and do right by you. Fuck everyone else. If he’s what you want, he’s what you deserve.”
“And Archer?” I look back at her, my smile tight lipped. Even after everything, he’s been checking up on me, making sure I have somewhere safe to stay.
“How do I look myself in the mirror knowing I’m the reason they lose their relationship?”
A shrug. “Who’s to say they do? Archer loves his brother?”
“So much.” I twist at my fingers in my lap, staring down at them. “He wants so badly to be a bigger part of his life.”
“So then he will be,” she says. “If my sister fell for one of my exes, I’d hate her for about a week. But I want to be in my sister’s life, so I’m here. For all the stupid shit, and no matter how many times they infuriate me, I’m here. If Archer’s half the guy you make him out to be, I can’t imagine he’d be the guy who wants two people he cares deeply for to lose out on a chance at happiness because of him.”
I chew on my lip, running over her words. But I’m not given very long before Bianca’s back. She grabs my arm, dragging me off the stool.
“Tell you what. You think it over, and when we get to the gig, we’ll hide you behind one of the big security guards if we need to.”
She giggles, latching onto her sisters as we reach the elevator, and I can’t help but let out a laugh.
“And if you guys are wrong?”
“Hate us forever,” Cys replies. “Just know you’re still stuck with us.”
The moment I step into the club, I know they were wrong. Not that I shouldn’t trust Archer, but that I should be here.
We’re backstage since the Nymphs have to perform, and without Benji by my side, I feel out of place in the tiny space. With the first band already on stage, the sisters have taken up residence in a corner, Cys drumming on her knee while the other two strum their unplugged guitars.
