“I doubt it,” I returned dryly.

The only thing I felt was confusion as Jericho carried me to the empty sofa across from the one Loren occupied. How had I gone from being ignored to locked inside our hotel suite?

My angry gaze traveled from Rich, who’d taken a couple of steps away, to Loren and finally Houston.

“What is this really about?” I was certain my new status in life hadn’t reached me being unable to walk the streets in an overcrowded city without being recognized. Most people only knew who I was if one of Bound was standing next to me. I wasn’t buying Houston’s reason for keeping me here. Besides, he had no say in what I did off stage.

“What makes you think that we have an agenda?” Loren asked.

When I responded, I kept my gaze on Houston, knowing it would piss Loren off. “Tell me a time when you didn’t have one.”

“Touché.”

Unable to resist him any longer, I looked into Loren’s eyes. I missed staring within those endless depths. “Screw you.”

They all reacted one after another to my aggression.

“Someone’s cranky.”

“Could it be that she’s hard up?”

“Whatever shall we do about that?”

I so wasn’t interested in this game.

Rich didn’t move to sit me back down when I stood, but I was ready for him if he tried. “Nothing,” I said, answering Houston’s question. “It’s being covered.”

“What the hell do you mean by that?” Loren snapped.

“Figure it out.”

I didn’t consider that I’d have to walk by him to get to my room and through Rich to get to the front door. The moment I tried to pass him, Loren pulled me down onto his lap, and he wasted no time locking his arms at my waist to keep me there. I could feel my limbs wanting to relax. My body missed being close to his. Knowing better, I kept my spine ramrod straight.

“Tell us who he is so you can watch us beat the shit out him.”

“Why would you do that?”

As Loren spoke, his hand caressed my lower belly, drawing heat there and filling my mouth with sweet syrup. I was beginning to despise the taste of cherries. “Because we’re spoiled, possessive, jealous…and we only like to share with each other.”

Loren caught me off guard. The only part of me that moved was my heart pounding inside my chest. “What are you saying?”

“We’d like to propose an experiment.”

“An experiment?” I echoed when I couldn’t think of what else to say.

“We’ve been kind of losing our shit without you,” Rich admitted.

“I’ve been right here.” And from my viewpoint, it looked like they’d been just fine.

“It felt like you were on another planet.”

I didn’t expect the admission to come from Houston. When my gaze shot to him, he wore an uncomfortable look as if the lead singer of a fucking rock band wasn’t used to baring his soul. I guess it was easier in front of a stadium of faceless strangers.

I was floored.

But I wouldn’t fall for it.

No one else had ever made me feel so alone. Not even my parents after they’d thrown me to the wolves.

There was a chance they’d gotten bored ignoring me and were just toying with me for their amusement. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Chuckling, I pried Loren’s arms from around me, and he reluctantly let me go. “I’m not doing this,” I said after I was standing on my feet. “I’m not playing this game.”

“You haven’t even heard what we have to say,” Rich accused me. He sounded disappointed and angry, but I didn’t care. I’d given into them too many times.

I recalled how I’d found them when I finally left my room. I realized now that they had been waiting for me. For this. Whatever this was.

Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I nodded even as my stomach twisted, and the air began to fill with the scent of roses. It’s been a long time since I felt sorrow this deep.

“I’m okay with that.”

“Braxton,” Loren called after me when I started for the stairs.

I’d stay put for now, but I had no interest in hearing what they had to say. They don’t get to ignore me and discard me until they’re ready to play again.

Yes, I asked for it, but they had no problem giving in.

It was all too easy for them to shut me out. They hadn’t even tried. They just taunted me as usual until even that grew boring.

The thick tension in the suite weighed my feet down, but eventually, I made it to my room.

The last thing I saw before I shut myself inside was Rich’s bowed head, Loren’s tense shoulders, and Houston staring out the windows once more.

“That went well,” Loren drawled sarcastically the moment Braxton shut her door. I already knew she was smart, but when I heard the snick of her bedroom lock turning, I realized she had great instincts too. “Great idea, Rich. I’m so glad you talked us into this.”

“I didn’t talk you into anything. You were already thinking it. We all were.”

Loren sighed rather than argue. “Back to the drawing board, I guess. Fuck this three-musketeer shit. I’d rather be all for me and none for you anyway.”

“She never said no.”

“She never gave us the middle finger either, but the fuck you was implied.”

“We iced her out for two months, Lo. Just give her a couple of days. We can try again.”

Loren’s sneer that he directed at Rich told me we’d already lost him. It seemed there was no hope for a plan that didn’t fail when it came to Braxton Fawn. She was too complex to strategize, and we still weren’t worthy opponents.

Rich’s suggestion of not making her choose had so many holes in it, I couldn’t blame Loren for jumping a sinking ship. There was only one option left, but I couldn’t help wondering if the cost was too great. Not one of us would stick around and watch her be happy with whoever she chose. It would mean the end of our friendship that was barely hanging on. It would mean the end of Bound.

“Why the hell are you pushing this so hard anyway?” Lo grilled Rich. “It was a crap idea, to begin with. Share her? Do you know how much that makes my balls itch? Fuck you.”

“I don’t see you coming up with ideas.”

“Sure, I have.” Loren grinned, kicking his legs up on the suite’s coffee table and lacing his fingers behind his head. “My plan is to make her fall in love with me. Whichever one of you cries the least about it can be my best man at our wedding.”

Rich, who had more patience than was wise, looked ready to swing on Lo. “What makes you so sure she’ll choose you over one of us?”

“Have you seen my rock-hard abs and gorgeous hair? What am I saying? Of course, you have.” The look Loren gave him was mocking and knowing, which Rich avoided by turning his head. Naturally, Loren wasn’t ready to let it go. He’d push every button necessary to get the reaction he needed. “Oh, no, don’t be ashamed, Jericho. I’m honored, you being so straight and all, took it up the ass so that I’d stick around.”

Rich shot to his feet, his angry gaze like liquid silver as he fixed it on Lo. “I’m not ashamed,” he snapped. “I’m just wondering why I bothered.”

Something in Rich’s gaze made Loren hesitate before he said, “Me too.”

Rich stormed off and closed himself up in the room they were supposed to share before Loren got himself thrown into the doghouse. Again. Now he’d be sleeping on the couch instead of the spare bed, and I doubted the opulent piece of furniture had been designed for comfort.

Feeling Loren’s gaze, I found him silently attempting to pry open my mind so he could piss me off and push me away too. He probably thought it would make it easier when he tried to take Braxton for himself. It hadn’t worked out for him the first time but being pigheaded was at the top of his vices. I had yet to figure out how he’d gotten so smart learning shit the hard way. Maybe it was because he insisted on having to be told everything twice.

I sighed. “Unless you want the room’s security deposit taken out of our cut for this tour, I suggest you swallow whatever you’re about to say to me, Lo.”

“I’m just wondering how you sleep at night.” Unlacing his fingers from behind his head and lowering his arms, he spread them once again along the back of the couch. “First, you convince us Savant’s shitty deal was a dream, and then you let Rich believe that sharing a woman was actually possible.”

“Why are you so sure it’s not?”

“Because that’s not how love works.”

“How do you know when you’ve never been in love, Lo? Our only knowledge of it is what we’ve been told. It’s second-hand information.”