Shattered Dreams (Boys of Bellerose, #3)(29)

A full forty minutes later, the kitchen was sparkling clean and Billie was late for her appointment.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” she gushed, flying down the stairs at a million miles an hour while still buttoning her shirt up. “I’m here! Let’s go!”

I spared a moment to aim both middle fingers up the stairs at a supremely smug and satisfied Grayson, then followed Billie to the garage where I already had Gray’s SUV ready to go. Two members of our security team were in another car nearby, waiting to follow us.

“I called ahead for you,” I told her as we exited Grayson’s newly secured gates. “They know you’ll be a little late and said it’s fine.”

Her sigh of relief sagged her whole body. “Thank you, Rhett, you’re a lifesaver. Honestly, I don’t know where time went; I was on track and then…” She blushed.

I rolled my eyes. “Then Grayson derailed your train. I get it. I almost kicked the door down to strangle him, but I also can’t be that mad when I’ve done the same thing with you… how many times? I suppose it’s understandable.” Not that I liked it, but it also wasn’t fair for me to sulk.

She bit her lip, her whole vibe radiating uncertainty. “Is this weird?” she asked in a small voice. “It is, isn’t it? I shouldn’t be—”

“You shouldn’t be second-guessing your feelings, Thorn. We’re all big boys; we can deal with our jealousy. The one thing we all agree on is that you’re worth sharing. None of us would be happy to walk away at this point.” I reached over and interlinked my fingers with hers, giving a little squeeze of reassurance. “Trust me, babe, this is gonna work. Eventually. When Gray stops being selfish.”

Her smile was mischievous. “Did we keep you up last night?”

I gave a pained laugh. “You know full well that you did. In more than one sense of the word. At one point I even heard you say, 'Stop making me come; we’ll wake Rhett up,’ and Gray responded with, ‘Good, serves him right’.”

Her face flamed red. “Wow. Thin walls, huh?”

“Like tissue paper.”

She held onto my hand as we drove, though, and I made a mental plan to remind her how Rhett Silver could make her come before we returned home to Gray. Just as we turned into the parking lot for Dr. Candace’s office, Billie sucked in a confused breath and turned to me with a little frown on her face.

“What did you mean when you said we all agree? You meant you and Grayson, right?”

She was so fucking cute. “Yeah, babe. That’s what I meant.” If that’s what made her comfortable. “Come on, let’s head in.”

We hopped out of the car in the secured parking lot, security a few steps ahead of us. I pulled a cap over my bright hair before escorting Billie inside. When we got her checked in with reception, the woman told us that Dr. Candace was waiting, so I took Billie back to her office straight away.

I’d told Billie already that I would hang out in the waiting room for her since neither of us wanted her returning to the car alone. Not now, given what Vee had revealed about the Altissimos working with the Wilsons. Although Billie was no longer “pregnant,” she would still be a threat to them. Or a loose end.

The security remained vigilant near the front door, and I did my best to ignore their presence completely.

The receptionist returned a moment later and offered me a coffee, which I gratefully accepted. Billie was turning me into a sober, daylight-dwelling human, and it was weird.

Settling into one of the comfy sofas in Dr. Candace’s foyer, I pulled out my phone. Billie’s sessions ran for an hour, so I could work on the songs we’d uploaded into our shared cloud folder while I waited. It wasn’t as easy as having a guitar in hand, but I could hear the music in my head well enough.

About half an hour later, my phone dinged with a message from Jace. Quickly followed by Grayson, then Brenda and Brenda again.

“What fresh hell is going on now?” I muttered, opening Jace’s message.

Jace: Bro, check Dirty Truths. Wtf?!

A pained groan rolled out of me, and I ignored the other messages while I pulled up the shit-stirring blog site. I expected to see a blast about Billie being in therapy or maybe a paparazzi shot of me walking into the building and a wild story about how I’m in treatment after my drug bender a month ago.

That would have been better.

“Bellerose Back on Tour,” the headline of the most recent article read.

“Fucking what?” I spat, then scanned the contents of the post.

Despite recent speculations surrounding the infamous rock band Bellerose, their label Big Noise Records has announced the band is restarting their broken tour with all new dates and cities to be listed on TicketWizard later today. Our source tells us that the band is excited to complete their tour in honor of recently deceased Florence Foster, with all remaining royalties of the reinstated tour being donated to Ms. Foster’s estate.

Bile rose in my throat, and I quickly flicked back to Jace’s message and hit the call symbol.

“What the fuck?” I hissed when he answered. “Tell me this is bullshit.”

“I wish I could,” my best friend replied with fury shaking his voice. “Brenda is in panic mode, but she’s not denying shit. So—”

“Fuck!” I shouted, then instantly winced and mouthed an apology to the receptionist. Luckily, no one other than my security—who were well used to my language—was in the waiting room to witness my meltdown. “Jace we’re not going back on tour right now.”