“We agreed to give up this shit, Lo! Look what it did to Calvin.”

“Fuck Calvin and fuck you. If I have to look at Braxton’s dumb fucking face for the next year, I plan to be shit-faced while doing it. You got a problem? Make her leave.”

“Do you hear yourself right now?”

“Yup.” I heard something crash as Loren stumbled around. “Shit, man. I must not be drunk enough.”

“Just go to bed, Lo. I can’t look at you right now.”

“Why does everyone think I give a shit?” Loren slurred. “Cuz I don’t.”

“You felt the need to drown yourself in whiskey. I’d say you’re sending mixed signals. I can’t believe Houston let you drink.”

“He doesn’t know,” Loren slurred some more. “He’s been with Xavier since we left the show. Dumbass really thinks he can reshape the world just for her. She’ll never fit because they know we’ll never accept her. She’s dooooomed.”

Loren started snickering, making Rich sigh. “Please shut the fuck up.”

I stilled when they passed through the bunk area and listened as the door to the bedroom opened. A moment later, I heard Rich grunt and then the sound of a body hitting the mattress. Loren was still slurring shit that I couldn’t make out. Rich was moving around, and once the snoring started, the door to the bedroom closed. I tracked Rich’s sneakered steps as he moved down the narrow passage and held my breath when he stopped in front of my bunk.

“I know you’re awake,” he whispered, causing my heart to feel like it was falling. “I know you were listening. Loren didn’t mean any of it, Braxton. You don’t want to believe me right now, but I know him better than you do. He doesn’t know how to handle what he feels because he’s never felt it before. Just…just give him some time.”

I couldn’t see him so my imagination conjured Jericho’s sad silver eyes and the gold flecks in them pronounced as he pleaded with me to understand his best friend.

I didn’t respond or make a peep. Nothing to indicate I’d heard a word of his bullshit. Thankfully, Rich didn’t take too long to give up and walk away. Closing my eyes, I began counting the moments I had left.

I would count every second until I never had to see them again.

Morning came, and I decided I needed another shower.

I could still feel Loren’s roaming hands and his hard body pressed against mine. Before last night, I’d wanted more, and now I just wanted to forget.

Climbing down from my bunk, it took me a moment to find my balance, telling me how deeply I’d slept. It’s not what I expected after a hard night, but perhaps I’d been more exhausted than troubled.

Houston and Rich were both sleeping soundly in their bottom bunks. I wouldn’t allow myself to wonder how late Houston had stayed out or what he’d been doing and with whom.

Opening the bedroom door, I tiptoed inside. As expected, Loren was sprawled face down across the bed in yesterday’s clothes and snoring. Loudly.

Flipping him off as if he could see me, I hurried for the bathroom. I wanted to be done before he woke—if he even could this early while hungover.

I hated him.

After my shower, I was staring at my reflection in the mirror I’d wiped clear of the fog when the door opened. Loren’s black eyes were barely open as he shuffled inside the bathroom. If he noticed me, he ignored me. I watched through the mirror as he stood over the toilet and quickly looked away when he fumbled open his belt and pants.

I lost my train of thought.

How could I have one when his dick was out right now?

From this angle, I’d be able to see it if I dared to look. If he aimed to tempt me, that ship sailed and sank to the bottom of this unforgiving ocean. If he wanted to piss me off by pretending that he missed me standing in a bathroom the size of a shoebox, he was succeeding. He didn’t have to know that, though. I didn’t have to react.

The sound of Loren’s piss hitting the bowl seemed to go on forever. I didn’t know how much he drank last night, but it must have been a lot.

Finally, mercifully, it ended.

When he turned, he didn’t even blink at finding me standing there. As if nothing was amiss, he stood behind me, trapping me between him and the sink. I could feel his morning wood brushing my ass since I’d stupidly chosen to wear only a T-shirt and panties to bed.

With his arms caging me, he squirted soap into his hand. I just stood there as he lathered for twenty seconds before rinsing the suds away.

“Good morning, baby fawn,” he mumbled when he was done.

Good morning? Was he serious?

When I caught him smelling my hair, I lost it. What he did last night was bad enough. Pretending nothing happened was where I drew the goddamn line. As smoke assaulted my olfactory, my first thought was to break his nose and maybe a couple of ribs if I could, but Houston would murder me.

Option two it is.

I spun on my heel and shoved Loren with every ounce of strength I had. Since he was hungover and not expecting it, he was forced back several steps before catching his footing.

The confused look in his eyes only riled me up more because I knew then that he had no recollection of last night. Wasn’t that just great?

He hurts me, and I’m the only one left with the memory.

“What the hell is your problem?” he spat when he found his tongue.

“I don’t see anyone else two seconds from losing their balls, do you?”

As if I hadn’t just threatened him, he closed the distance between us. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry. I’m stupid when I drink.”

I had no words as I gaped at him for that lame-ass excuse. Sadly, I’d given him more credit than he’d deserved. “So what’s your excuse when you’re sober?”

He flinched. “Let me make it up to you.”

“It means nothing when you can’t remember what you did.”

He shook his head, his stare searching the deepest depths of my soul for a chance, even if it was a slim one. “I don’t want to. I don’t want to think about me hurting you.”

“You should have considered that before it was too late.”

“Braxton…” He stepped closer to me, and I immediately backed up. All it did was trap me again between him and the sink. Only this time, I was facing him.

“No.” I shook my head, warning him off.

He didn’t listen, and now he had his arms wrapped tight around me. Loren reeked of whiskey and the girl he screwed while he knew I was listening.

Resting his chin on the top of my head, he sighed. “You’re too good for me, Brax. Consider last night me making sure you knew it too.”

Slowly, his hand moved over my back, caressing and massaging, until all the tastes and smells assaulting my senses were under control. “You succeeded,” I told him while I pushed him away. “You can go now.”

His smile was sad as he backed out of the bathroom. When I was finally alone, I tried to make sense of it all. How could it feel as if we’d broken up when we were never together?

Without answers, I had no choice but to face this new day as blind as I was the day before. When I stepped from the bathroom, Loren was sprawled across the bed, out cold again, making me wonder if I’d imagined the whole thing.

I wasn’t the only one left awake, though.

Houston, sitting on the side of his bunk, stared at the floor between his planted feet with an expression that gave nothing away. When his head lifted and turned, that changed. He stared at me like I was either a problem to fix or a puzzle to solve. When I lifted my chin in silent defiance, in his eyes, I found I was something more.

An obstacle.

A rock that would force a river to split if he didn’t find a way to obliterate it.

I wasn’t just losing control of Bound. I was losing it altogether. With Braxton around, I didn’t know which way was up.

This wasn’t going to work.

She was Bound now, and that wasn’t changing until the tour ended, but that didn’t mean we had to torture ourselves in the meantime. The moment we reached Arizona, I was having her ass sent to another bus. All the easy access made it impossible to think of anything else. Braxton would be safer sticking her head in a lion’s mouth.

My chest was still damp from my shower when I yanked my T-shirt over my head, but I didn’t care.

I was on a mission.

Leaving the bedroom, I followed Braxton and Rich’s voices to the front of our bus. Loren was still sleeping off another binge in his bunk. I wanted to be pissed at him for breaking our pact, but I understood him for the first time in years.

Braxton had that effect.

“The collection is huge,” I heard Rich recite. “They have over fifteen thousand from all these different places.”

“Sounds amazing,” Braxton gushed. “I can’t believe I’ve never heard of it.”

“I think you’d like it.”

Neither of them said anything more, and it wasn’t because they noticed me standing there. I couldn’t see Braxton’s face, but Rich practically had hearts in his eyes.