Assured (Soul Serenade #2)(60)

“The f*ck there is!” I roar. “Do you see this? Do you see what he did to her? I can’t f*cking breathe knowing he’s getting off scot-free. I will never let anyone hurt her again. I f*cking let him. I took her there. She was there for me and then he put his damn hands all over her. She kept this inside to protect me. I f*cking failed her, but I won’t do it again.”

I head toward the door, but Stacy runs to jump in front of me. Tristan and Gavin move back in the already tight space of the tour bus.

“Please,” she begs.

“Stace, I need you to move.” I refuse to put my hands on her to move her. I won’t be like him.

She backs up and, just when I think I’ve won, she leaps into my arms. I have no choice but to catch her, placing my hands on her ass, holding her up. She wraps her arms and legs around me.

“Please, hear them out. There has to be another way. You go to him and he presses charges, I lose you. They lose you. Everything you’ve worked for is washed down the drain. Please,” she reasons.

With the grip she has on me, I no longer fear that she will fall. I remove my hands from her ass and bind them around her, crushing her against me. “He hurt you,” I say against her neck. “I’m so f*cking sorry.” My voice breaks.

“Just hear them out. For me?”

I will never deny this girl anything. “I don’t like it.”

“He’s gone, man.” Gavin holds up his phone. “I just texted Cassidy. He’s on a fight back to Nashville as we speak.”

At his words, I deflate. I can’t hop on a plane and leave her, not with her begging me to stay.

“Hear me out. If you still want to go after him, then that’s what we’ll do. I’ll be your wing man, or should I say shovel man,” Tristan jokes.

Even though the moment is far from funny, I can’t help but chuckle at him.

“Okay,” I finally concede. That doesn’t mean I’m letting him get away with this, though. It only means he gets to live a day or two until I can get to him.

He f*cked with the wrong girl.





I want to cry with relief. Hell, who am I kidding—I want to cry regardless. The last twenty-four hours have been hell. But I’m worried about Cole. I’ve never seen him this angry before.

“Let’s sit.” His lips are against my ear.

I don’t let go of him for fear that he will change his mind and race off the bus to the nearest airport.

He settles on the couch, me sitting sideways in his lap. Our arms are locked around each other, neither willing to let go.

“Give it to me,” he says gruffly.

“First, Stacy, babe, are you willing to press charges against this *?” Gavin asks.

I stiffen. I chance a look at Cole and his eyes are locked on me. He gives me a hard nod. No argument there.

“Yes,” I confirm.

“We need to call the police and file a report. They need to take pictures.” He points to my arms.

I watch as he puts his phone to his ear and alerts the bands security team to call the cops.

“Okay, what else?” I ask.

“He’s going to want to cut a deal. He’s going to try and get us to drop the charges.”

“Fuck that!” Cole barks.

“Calm down. I didn’t say we would. Our contract with the label is up in, what, four months? I say we get him to release us. We hate the way he runs things. This is finally our chance to open our own label. We bring Bobby and Cassidy with us.”

“How does this make him suffer?” Tristan asks.

“I’ve been spending a lot of time at the label. I hear things. The staff is all too willing to spill what they know. The label is going under. He can’t manage it for shit. He blows through money, drinking and rumored drugs, although I have no proof.”

“Again, how does that hurt him?”

“We make him think she’s willing to drop the charges, if he releases us. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. He inherited the label from his grandfather. He’ll fall for it. He releases us from our contract and Stacy continues with pressing charges. We’re in the press constantly. You and Stacy need to be open about this, give interviews even and get the public, our fans, on our side. Hell, after the show tonight, they already love you two.”

“So, we trick him?” I ask.

“Yes. He’ll go away for a few years at least, from the looks of those bruises, and the . . . inappropriate touching.”

Cole growls.

“Then what?” I’m trying to see how this protects them. “You’re losing your label. How is that good for the band?”

“Well, we’ll no longer be clients of Stone Records. I’m in tight with the board members, and I know they’ll have to sell,” Gavin says, like I should understand where this is going. My brain is too jumbled to make sense of it.

“We swoop in and buy the label.” Kacen is grinning.

“Fucking brilliant!” Tristan bellows.

“Babe?” I address Cole.

His head snaps toward mine. I watch as his lips lift in a slow, sexy smile. “I like it,” he says, leaning in and kissing me. “Say it again?”

Say what again? I must be wearing a confused look because he places his lips next to my ear.