Chapter 76
“ S he works too hard.” I stalk Peace with my gaze. First, she talked to George. Now she’s chasing after Stevie’s bass tech. “She didn’t eat enough,” I grumble. “Not at lunch or dinner.” Not today and not the day before in Little Rock.
“But you like having her around.” Carson brings his lit cigarette to his mouth and takes another drag. He’s smoking inside, even though the Sara Daniels Auditorium in Nashville is a non-smoking facility. My mouth waters. I want a smoke, need a hit of nicotine badly. But I’m not going to risk getting into any more trouble on this tour. I certainly don’t need a cleaning fee added to the already long list of what I owe the label. “Hey, earth to Jacks.” He bumps my shoulder.
“Yeah.” I love having Peace around, but I can’t allow myself to get accustomed to it. No matter what I convince her to agree to when I’m fucking her, she isn’t mine to keep. “I loved it last night and the night before that.” But not being able to touch her the way I want to in the daytime is straight up torture.
“Yeah, we all know how much you love it.” In the seat beside me, he props his legs up on the back of the first-row seat in the auditorium and gives me a long side-look. “Did you two sleep any at all?”
“Some.” I show him, making a tiny bit of space between my thumb and finger.
“Is not getting enough sleep why you practically bit off the head of that ad exec who was chatting Peace up at the radio station today?”
“He was staring at her tits,” I reply. “That shit is unacceptable.”
“So she is yours.” He takes another drag from his cigarette while continuing to study me like I’m a complicated chord progression he can’t figure out. “You two exclusive?”
“She better not fuck or look at anyone else,” I growl.
“Whoa there, caveman.” Carson’s eyes widen. “What’s going on with you two, besides a lot of fucking? And if you want her to yourself, why continue with all the secrecy?”
“She works for Black Cat,” I point out what is obvious. “I work for Black Cat. You were there when Melinda gave Peace grief about having sex with me.”
“Is that the only reason you’re hiding what you’re doing?”
“I can’t keep her.” My shoulders drop.
“But you want to keep her.” He drops his cigarette on the floor and stubs it out.
“What I want doesn’t matter.” We’re a comet hurtling for Earth. I know it, but I don’t know how to change the situation without somebody getting hurt.