AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One thing Porter was certain of was that West had absolutely nothing under control.
“No way!” A woman grabbed his arm. “Nash Slade?” She squealed. “It’s you! It’s really you!”
He shook his head. Not again.
The shrill screams of his mistaken identity had happened more than a dozen times already that evening. It was worse than meeting up with Nash’s exes. He was swarmed on all sides by Nash’s latest fans.
“It’s really him. It’s him! Nash!!”
“You really need to go up there!” The woman who’d first accosted him pointed up at the stage, and for a brief moment, he considered it, just to enlist some help from the audience to find Cadence, but he didn’t know what he was facing. If Lacy had her already, he could snap under the pressure and really hurt her.
Porter’s stomach revolted at the idea.
Had Lacy already hurt her?
He was going to be sick. The crowd clapped around him, drowning out the fans’ shrieks for Nash to go find his woman on stage and reenact their most romantic fantasies. Emily went backstage, and River took over the mic with one of his more rambunctious songs.
With a grunt of disbelief, Porter spotted his twin ahead of him. He stopped short. Just when he thought nothing could get worse, it did.
West said that he wasn’t here!
Another lie.
Nash stood near the vendor tents. Nobody was swarming him. He wore sunglasses and had pulled a ball cap low over his face. Was that all it took to go incognito? He pointed Nash out to the lady clinging to him. “You sure that’s not the guy you’re looking for?”
The woman gasped. Her grasp loosened enough over Porter so that he was able to slip away. “Thanks.” He tipped his straw hat. “Lots of lookalikes in this audience, ma’am.”
Her hand brushed past her collarbone, and she looked intrigued. “So there are.”
Shaking his head, Porter rushed over to his twin, noticing that he wore jeans and a white tee, a slightly cleaner version than Porter was now. They couldn’t have planned it better had it been on purpose. For an instant, he wondered if West had. “Nash!” Porter shouted out.
Nash whipped around. Instead of looking pleased, his eyes widened. Seeing his twin had rattled him.
That made two of them.
That was a fine welcome, considering that the two hadn’t seen each other for two months. West’s warnings ran through his mind. Porter wasn’t supposed to give anything away, and yet… why should he trust West anymore? Still not sure what he was going to do, Porter hurried over to him. “What are you doing here?” he asked Nash.
His twin snatched Porter’s arm and tugged him back with him behind a tent. The sweet aromas of cakes and crepes swirled over them. Oh yeah, Nash knew something was going on. “Hey,” Nash said in an undertone. “You got some sunglasses?”
“What?” Porter turned to search the masses for any sign of Crawley and Stein. The crowd had become a black hole swallowing everyone up in its depths. What he’d do to find Cadence in it.
“How’s Angel?” Nash asked.
“Angel?” Porter became aware that he was only repeating his brother while Nash stared at him like he’d turned into a crazy man. Maybe he had. He should confide everything that was happening to Nash, just like old times. West had done nothing to earn his trust, and yet, something kept his tongue still. His brother had asked him about “Angel.” He swallowed to ease the dryness of his throat. “Oh, yeah. I’m looking for her now.”
Nash turned to stare over the crowd with him. “She’s here, huh?”
“Yeah.” And she’d managed to disappear. His worry consumed him.
“What does she look like?” Nash asked.
“Beautiful.” Perhaps the answer was a little too trite, but Porter was losing every last bit of his wit and fast. His brother only looked confused. Porter hurried to make himself sound less insane. “As soon as I find her, I’ll introduce you.”
Maybe that soundedmoreinsane?
Porter’s phone vibrated in his pocket. Could that be her? He was dying here. He dug through his jeans and breathed out a sigh when he saw that she’d finally written back. “I’m fine,” he read her text. “Let’s meet near the bathrooms.”
The bathrooms! They were at the entrance. She was clear over there? But she was safe. She was safe! That was all that mattered. He sagged in relief. “That’s her,” he told Nash. In his rush to go after her, he decided to keep his brother in the dark a little longer. He’d tell West to keep an eye on him. “I’ve got to go.”
