This One Moment (Pushing Limits, #1)(75)

I glanced around. The house had long since ceased being part of my existence. The happy memories associated with it were tainted. “Positive.” I squeezed her hand to let her know that she was my life.

Always had been.

Always would be.

Still holding on to Hailey, I walked into the kitchen. The blood from my mother’s murder had long since been scrubbed from the wall and the floor by the cleaning service. I closed my eyes against the image of the last time I’d seen her, lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Hailey wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and kissed her temple. “Thank you,” I whispered.

She peered up at me. “You’re welcome.”

We climbed the stairs leading to the second floor. Hailey’s movements were slow and slightly unsteady. I kept my arm around her hips and let her set the pace.

In my room, I removed from my back jeans pocket the laminated photo that I had held on to for all these years and handed it to Hailey. “Do you remember this?”

She laughed at the picture Mom had taken while I attempted to help Hailey master the guitar. We had been sitting on my bed at the time. “I can’t believe you still have this.”

“It was the only thing I held on to from my previous life. I loved you, Hailey. Even though I walked away from Northbridge all those years ago, I couldn’t walk away from you completely. Every time I missed you, every time I was about to go onstage, I’d look at the picture. It was like you were with me.” I gently kissed her. “It was what kept me going.”

“I wish I had known that. I thought you had moved on and forgotten me.”

“Never. I couldn’t have forgotten you even if I tried.”

Entering Sarah’s room was harder than entering the kitchen. If she had still been alive, my sister would’ve been sixteen years old, with her entire life ahead of her. My gut twisted at seeing her bed and remembering the last time I’d been in the room. I pulled Hailey closer to me.

Sarah had loved Hailey. She would’ve been thrilled to see us together. The way we were meant to be.

It didn’t matter that Sarah had been my half sister. I loved her no matter what.

I picked up the familiar framed photo from my sister’s desk. Like everything else, dust blanketed it. With a T-shirt I’d found in her closet, I cleared away the dust, revealing a picture of Sarah, me, and Hailey.

When I had left home for L.A. five years ago, all I took with me was my guitar, clothes, and the one photo of Hailey. I’d fled the town without anything to remember my sister by—other than the tiger tattoo I got soon after arriving in L.A., the one that represented Sarah’s favorite stuffed animal. I thought that if I had something of hers with me, I would never move on.

I had been wrong.

I hugged the picture, and after one last quick glance around the room, Hailey and I left to begin our new life together.

—

“You two ready?” Alyssa asked Hailey and me four days later. In the other room, the media were set up to listen to our press conference. It had been Alyssa’s idea, and the record label grudgingly agreed to it after they learned about the threats to Hailey’s life.

Not that they had much choice. Alyssa had planned to go public with the news one way or another, and there were plenty of other labels interested in signing her.

Hailey and I nodded, and Monica, Alyssa’s assistant, opened the door to the room. The media knew only that Alyssa and I wanted to make a statement. They had no idea that Hailey was also part of the news conference.

The latest rumor was Alyssa and I were announcing our engagement. Or baby news.

I entered the room first, followed by Hailey, then Alyssa. Alyssa and I had planned it that way, to show her support for Hailey and our relationship.

I reached for Hailey’s hand and squeezed it to let her know it’d be all right. We had already prepared her for this moment, as had the publicist from the record label. But despite that, her hand trembled in mine as camera flashes momentarily blinded us.

The small conference room was filled with reporters and camerapeople from numerous TV stations. The only individuals excluded were the paparazzi. Whether they were invited or not didn’t matter; they would have twisted the story for their own benefit either way.

We walked to the podium, where three microphones were set up. Even though Hailey wasn’t excited about the idea of talking to reporters, she understood how important it was that she did.

“Thank you for coming,” Alyssa said, smiling. “I understand you all came here today expecting us to announce our engagement. But trust me, once I find a guy I want to settle down with, I won’t be calling a press conference. My publicist will issue a statement. What we wanted to talk about is something more important.” She turned to me.

“For months now, there have been speculations that Alyssa and I are involved. But none of it is true. There’s only been one woman I’ve ever been in love with.” I smiled at Hailey, and she smiled back, the nervousness from a few minutes ago gone.

Unable to help myself, I leaned down and kissed her. Nothing R-rated. It was a simple kiss. One that clearly stated my heart belonged to her as much as hers belonged to me.

The cacophony of clicking cameras grew in intensity, intruding on the moment. And for a second I wished we were alone so I could explore her sweet mouth again, this time more thoroughly.