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“No, you don’t.”
“Fine, I don’t. But you’re still an asshole.” She lowered her eyes. “I don’t want to fight anymore, Julian.”
“Fighting is the last thing I want to do, princess. Look at me.” I pulled her to me. “I love you, and I know you love me. You’ve got to let me work this out. Trust me?”
“I trust you. Do you trust me?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“I think it’s a very simple one, but you seem to have a hard time answering it.”
I blinked at her. “Of course I trust you.”
“Really? Actions speak louder than words in this case.” Her voice sounded tired, the Southern drawl inflated by obvious fatigue.
No way in hell I’d hit her with the truth of the situation. “What do you want from me, Phoebe? I have people demanding things on a daily basis. What is it I’m not giving you?”
She tilted her face up and squared her chin. “Honesty.” I stared blankly at her, and she let out a defeated sigh as the doorbell rang again. “Saved by the bell.”
I took the opportunity to escape her icy stare. The door didn’t fit the frame properly and stuck every time someone closed it. Pulling the knob with one foot on the wall, it opened with a loud scrape as I stumbled backward. A booted foot tapped impatiently in front of my hunched position. Sighing, I stood and collided with a familiar stare.
“Thanks for doing this, Ry.”
“No problem. I’m happy to have a break from that nasty fucking bus, and you’re my brother. At least that’s what Mom says.”
I cracked a smile as he cut the tension in the room. “Fair warning, you have a reluctant subject on your hands.”
“I can hear you,” Phoebe muttered with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Yeah, well, she won’t even be able to walk down the hallway without me knowing it,” Ryker retorted with a goofy smile. “I’m thinking of getting her one of those house arrest ankle bracelets, or maybe an electro-shock collar.”
I moved away from the door and gestured him inside. “I mean this with all the brotherly love in the world, but, Ry, if you try that, it was nice knowing you.”
“I should be scared of her, shouldn’t I?”
“I’d be.”
Our awkward laughter trailed off as Ryker shoved his hands into his pockets. “You headed to the studio?”
I winced as I glanced at Phoebe. The scowl on her face told me what she thought about my unannounced meeting with the new LA producers. “I’ve got to run a few logistics with them about tweaking the attack and release settings on the new track vocals. I shouldn’t be later than eleven or so.”
Ryker dipped his chin. “Understood.”
I debated on rocking the boat by kissing her goodbye. In the end, I couldn’t leave things the way they were. Moving toward her, I dusted my lips across her cheek. At first, she didn’t move, her body rigid with anger. Seconds passed and she sighed as her muscles relaxed.
“Drive safely.”
I stepped onto the front porch, my legs feeling like dead weight. Hough had to track down Daniel Dalton. Everything inside me knew he was biding his time. I pulled out of the driveway, my thoughts on her seven jagged scars as I exited onto the freeway.
