25. Elijah
Chapter twenty-five
Elijah
W hat the fuck was that?
“Who is that slut?” Kara asked.
“Excuse me?”
She pointed in the direction Brie went. “That sickly looking girl. Who is she, and why is she kissing you like that?”
I took a step back from her. “That beautiful girl can do whatever she wants to me, and it's none of your business who she is. You will never speak badly about or insult her again, got it?”
“But I thought—”
“You thought wrong. As I told you, I have friends in town, and I think we are going to have a low-key night. Even if that changes and we go out, I don’t think you should be around.”
“Eli, you told me—”
“It's Elijah.”
It was clear she was taken aback by my curtness. “Okay. Elijah. You told me we would get together the next time you were in town. Here you are.”
I looked over to the closed door of the VIP room, and my stage manager walked by, giving me a five-minute warning for the meet-and-greet. I looked back at Kara. “Things changed. I am sorry.” I gestured to the door. “I gotta go in there. I will catch you later, okay?”
“I have a ticket.” She gestured toward the door as well.
“Then I will see you there.” I gave her the nicest smile I could and walked away.
The guys were ready for pictures when I walked in. Link and Brielle were sitting off to the side. Brielle had her legs crossed and hands on her lap. She waved with her hand that held her phone.
I smiled and took out my phone quickly before walking over to the guys.
We will talk about what that was when I am done.
She looked down at it, smiling, and bit her lip before replying.
MP
We don’t need to. It was nothing.
That wasn’t nothing to me, and we are going to talk about it.
MP
Yes, sir.
She looked up and saluted me with two fingers and stuck her tongue out.
Little she-devil.
The VIP meet-and-greet took over two hours, so Link took the girls to his parents’ house to wait. I texted him when I was done, and he told me Aubrey and Amani wanted to go to a karaoke bar.
We apparently were going out after all.
We quickly got seated in a roped-off area, thanks to Link.
Out of sheer dumb luck, the waitress was someone I had slept with before. She started giving me sex eyes when she handed me my drink. I caught myself thinking of Brielle at that moment. I looked down at the drink and then back up to look for her.
“Where’s Brie?”
“Bathroom,” Amani and Aubrey said in unison.
I took a big sip of my drink, looking over to see her staring straight at me from across the room. I could tell she was trying hard to fake a smile, but her expression was obviously strained.
“Hey, beautiful.” She sat in the chair right across from me.
“Hey you,” she said sweetly.
“What can I get for you?” the waitress asked Brielle.
“Coke, please.”
“No problem. Are we getting any food yet?”
Brielle looked around and asked what everyone wanted. “Just grab us one of each appetizer for now. Someone will eat them.” She laughed. “Oh, and this guy is paying.” She signaled over to me.
My eyebrows went up as a grin graced my face. “Oh, is that right? I was invited here by you guys. Why would I pay?”
“You are the rockstar,” Amani chimed in from beside me on Beck’s lap.
Beck slapped my shoulder with the back of his hand. “I got you, bro, I'll split with you.”
“See, that’s a good friend.”
Brielle shrugged. “My only good friends are Amani and Callie, so I wouldn’t know.”
“I am offended,” I said.
She leaned in and scrunched her face, causing the cutest little wrinkles around her small nose. “You should be.”
“Oh, just fuck already,” Hunter said loudly.
Brielle’s eyes went wide, and she sat back in her chair. Amani stood immediately. “Brie, let's go dance.”
Brielle’s eyes found mine. Even in the dim light, her face was red from embarrassment. She didn’t say anything as she walked to the dance floor.
I stood and looked over at him. “Really fuckface?” I stood to go after her, but Aubrey motioned for me to sit back down, so I did. I didn’t really know how to handle the situation.
Hunter looked around. “What? You guys want each other, don’t you? Just fuck and get it over with. She is fucking hot, dude. If you won't, I will.”
“Don’t you fucking dare touch her.” My voice was louder than I intended. Hunter was one of my best friends, but I wanted to kill him for talking about touching her.
“My sister isn’t like that,” Aubrey chimed in, cutting off my thoughts.
Hunter looked over at her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it; it was more of a joke than anything.”
Aubrey stood. “I am sure you didn’t mean anything by it, just be careful when you joke about stuff like that around people you don’t know.
You don’t know her story. She has a lot of trauma around sex and things like that.
It's not a secret or anything; she just doesn’t really share it unless she needs to. ”
Hunter ran his fingers through his hair. “Fuck, I need to apologize.”
Aubrey stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “I will tell her you didn’t mean it. I am sure she knows anyway. Don’t worry about it.”
“No, I need to.”
“Not right now, okay?” Aubery said. “I'm going to go dance with them and make sure she’s all good. Then I'll bring her back over.”
Hunter nodded.
I looked around and found her dancing with Amani. I just wanted to hug her and apologize for him, but I knew it probably wasn’t my place to do so.
After a few songs, the three girls came back, and Hunter apologized. Brielle brushed it off, just as I thought she would. I was on my second whiskey when she stood and put her hand out to me.
I looked up at her. “Want me to hold your hand, Masterpiece?”
She grinned. “Dance with me.”
I stood, taking her hand in mine. “It would be my pleasure.”
As we walked up, a slow song started, and she put her arms up over my neck and put her head onto my chest. We moved to the music. All the stress of the tour and everything else taking up space in my mind simply drained away from me.
I kissed the top of her head and spoke against it, “I am sorry about what Hunter said.”
“I’m not. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay.” I didn’t want to make a big deal if she really wasn’t bothered by it so I changed the subject. “How did you like the show?”
She looked up at me with a smile. “It was the best one I’ve seen.”
“Oh, come on. Your sister got engaged at the first one you saw. Wasn’t that the best?”
She smiled even bigger. “Yeah, you are probably right. That one was pretty amazing.”
She put her head back to my chest as we danced a little more. “Do you like big grand gestures like that?” I asked.
She looked up. “For other people, yes. For myself, absolutely not. I hate being the center of attention. I would prefer it if no one ever noticed me.” She laughed again.
I spun her around and put her back to my front and continued to sway with her. I whispered into her ear, and goosebumps broke out on both her arms. “Well, not noticing a beautiful woman like you is absolutely impossible. The person would have to be blind.”
She gasped as my hand traveled to her hip. “Eli.”
“Yes, beautiful?”
“Am I cramping your style?”
“What?” I asked with a laugh.
“With that girl. Kara, I think. I didn’t mean to step in like that and kiss you if you didn’t want me to. She just…I don’t know why I did that.”
I turned her toward me to look into her eyes, smiles breaking out across both our faces. “You were jealous.”
She tried to look away, but I caught her chin in my finger and thumb and turned it back toward me. I rubbed my thumb lightly over her bottom lip, studying her. “Were you jealous, Masterpiece?”
“No. I just…she was being an asshole.”
I grinned again. “I thought we didn’t lie to each other.”
“I have no right to be jealous of another girl you like or sleep with.”
“Why not? You aren’t allowed to have feelings? How dare you be a human being,” I teased.
She laughed and shrugged. “I don’t know. It just isn’t my place to be jealous. I have no claim on you. You can have any girl you want.”
The song ended, and I led her toward the back door.
I walked her toward the wall, caging her in with my arms and looking down at her.
I waited a moment to make sure she wasn’t going to be uncomfortable.
“For the record, I don’t like her and have not slept with her.
She is just a groupie who is at all the home shows. ”
“Okay.”
“And you can have any claim on me that you want. All you have to do is ask.”
“I won't ever ask that of you. Like I said, you can have any girl you want.”
I swallowed the nervousness that was coursing through me. “What if I don’t want any other girl?”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “What?”
“You heard me, Brielle.”
“Eli,” she said quietly. “Don’t say stuff like that. You’re just feeling bad for me. You are just helping teach this little prude girl some stuff. I could never be enough for you. And if teaching me stuff is getting in the way, then we can stop.”
“I want you, Brielle. How much clearer do I need to be?”
She pushed my arm out of the way and walked toward the back door. “Stop. No, you don’t.”
“How are you going to tell me what I want?” I asked.
She turned back toward me. “You just want to fix me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I am not some princess who needs you to feel pity for me. The last thing I want is for you to feel obligated to worry about me constantly.” Tears began to fill her eyes. “Eli. I am broken beyond repair. I will never be able to be enough for you.”
I didn’t say anything right away. I walked up to her, cupping her face in my hands. “I know you are not some needy princess who needs saving. You are a fucking warrior who can breathe again and rest because you are finally safe. You will always be safe with me, I promise.”
The tears were falling down her cheeks now. “Eli. I can’t—”
I cut her off with a kiss. “You are safe, baby.” I kissed her again. “You are fucking everything I have ever wanted.” I paused and wiped some of her tears, then I whispered, “Masterpiece, you are the one who is saving me.”