I bet they thought me spreading my legs meant all would be forgiven. I’d given them time to plead their case and be heard, and they hadn’t used it wisely, so…no. All was not forgiven.

“Thanks for the orgasms.” Turning, I gingerly climbed the sweeping stairs. Loren and his friends had done a number on me in more ways than one.

What…the hell?

How is it that we kept making the same mistakes? Or maybe we were making all new ones. I didn’t know anymore. I couldn’t tell which way was up.

Houston hadn’t said a word after Braxton left us with our dicks in our hands…so to speak. He’d disappeared inside his room, and not long after, I heard the shower running.

Me, I was sitting at the kitchen island, rubbing my temples and contemplating our next move.

Not all of us had taken her rejection so calmly, though.

“Braxton Francesca Fawn, you open this goddamn door, right now!” Loren shouted as he pummeled her bedroom door.

“Damn it, Lo!” I snapped when my head began to throb out of control. “You know that’s not going to work, so sit the hell down.”

Loren looked at me, back to the door, and then me again before giving her door one last look and kicking it hard as hell.

Returning to the lower level, he dashed into the spare we shared and returned with his stash before rolling up. If nothing else, weed definitely mellowed him whenever he was off his fucking rocker.

“How the fuck is it that she still won’t talk to us?” he said after passing me the joint.

I shrugged as I brought it to my lips and inhaled. “Maybe it’s because she gave us the chance, and you chose to have sex with her instead?”

“Easy for you to judge when you already had her. Sue me. I was feeling left out.”

I shook my head as I regarded my best friend. He was the smartest idiot I knew. “You were better off not knowing how good she feels—at least until she’s done icing us out.”

“I really thought we were coming back for round two,” he admitted before chuckling bitterly. Me too. “I would have even been happy just getting to hold her.”

Laughing at Loren’s expense as he slumped in his stool, I eyed him. “I never took you for a sap.”

He shrugged while staring somberly at the granite countertop. “And I never thought you’d grow some balls, yet here we are.”

Since I was still holding his joint and knew it was the last of his stash, I tossed his shit in the sink and flipped the garbage disposal switch near my leg.

“What did you do that for?” he yelled. His mouth was open as he stared inside the sink in horror.

“Cuz you’re a bitch,” I said while standing up. I flipped the switch when I was sure there was nothing left. “And we agreed a long time ago to quit this shit. Nothing’s changed.”

“Everything’s changed,” he bit back.

I was already walking away from him, so I didn’t respond. I needed a shower, and even though cleaning up was the last thing on my mind, I was hoping it would distract me for a while. As soon as I was done, Loren hopped in, and I knew he’d be occupied for a while.

Motherfucker stayed in there for hours, it seemed.

As soon as I had finished dressing, I called Danielle, our assistant. After telling her what I wanted, I hung up.

It only took her an hour to get the things I needed, and after checking to make sure it was all there, I climbed the short stairs to Braxton’s room. It was quiet as hell on the other side, making me paranoid that she’d snuck out again. Knocking, I waited, and still, there was no sound. Had she fallen asleep?

I knocked again, and finally, thankfully, I heard her footsteps.

“Go away, Loren,” she whispered when she came and stood by the door.

“It’s Rich.” I didn’t like that she still hesitated instead of immediately opening her door. Two months ago, she would have welcomed me in with a smile I took for granted. When the door cracked, and I was staring into her big, brown eyes, I exhaled.

My relief was short-winded by her cold tone. “What do you want?”

“I want to apologize. I’ve been a jerk.”

“It’s fine,” she said in a tone that assured me it wasn’t.

“If that were true, you wouldn’t feel the need to keep this door between us. That’s my fault, and I want to make it up to you.”

When her brows dipped, I knew I had her curiosity, if not her forgiveness. Not yet anyway. “How?”

Unable to help my smile, I wordlessly held up the bag from the wig and costume store.

“You weren’t kidding!” Braxton exclaimed as she stood in front of the wax replicas.

I chuckled as she gaped at Houston’s likeness. He was the only one in our exhibit who wasn’t smiling. That was pretty goddamn accurate if you asked me.

When she was finally satisfied that it really wasn’t him, she moved to the one of me. I was standing next to Houston, wearing one of my hoodies, and holding a set of drumsticks—lip piercing, silver eyes with gold flecks, and all.

“It looks just like you,” she whispered so no one would overhear.

I was wearing a disguise too.

Braxton had laughed for ten minutes straight when I donned the brown Annie wig, sideburns, mustache, and black-rimmed glasses. I looked like the nerdy version of Jacques Grande from The Love Guru.

I have no idea what made Dani choose the short, purple wig for Braxton—or why it worked.

I just knew with those expressive brown eyes and adorable freckles that she looked like a goddamn manga character.

And now, all I could think about when I looked at her was the anime porn I used to watch as a kid. She’d changed into a black, sleeveless ribbed dress so form-fitting I wondered if she was wearing panties. And she’d paired it with black thigh-high socks and her combat boots.

“Loren’s going to be pissed when he finds out they made his nose too big,” she remarked with a snort.

She was now standing in front of Loren’s that was placed on the other side of mine, leaving me sandwiched between Houston and Loren. The museum had captured his abs since his shirt was depicted open, the medallion he never took off, and even his signature smirk.

With an evil gleam in her eye, she posed next to the statue and quickly snapped a selfie. I was pretty sure she was planning to show it to him later.

I know it seemed shady not to have invited Houston and Loren, but I’d barely talked her into letting me come. I was hoping to at least soften her up enough for them to win her over on their own.

“I can’t believe this is your first time seeing it,” she said absently after she’d moved on. Calvin’s wax replica was right next to Loren’s.

“It’s only been six months since they added it, and this is our first time back in the city since our last tour.”

“Do you miss him?” she blurted.

I was a little startled at her rapid change of subject.

“Who?” I don’t know why I asked when I already knew.

“Calvin,” she said while still admiring his statue. “You guys don’t seem like you mourn him.”

Because we don’t. I forced myself not to shrug or sound too defensive when I spoke. “It’s been months.”

Her head turned, and then she stared at me.

I knew she was disappointed by my cold answer. She left me under the scrutiny of her gaze for what seemed like forever before nodding as if she accepted my answer. I could already see her shutting down and cursed Calvin from the grave. I was not going to let him take anything else of mine away.

“We weren’t friends,” I heard myself say. My tone was hesitant as I chose my words carefully. I didn’t want to give her another reason to run. “Far from it.”

Spinning around, she faced me. When her arms crossed, I tried not to focus too much on the extra sliver of thigh exposed by her dress lifting slightly. She better have on panties. “Why?”

“The label chose him for Bound when they decided they wanted Houston to focus on vocals. It was a rocky start that we never recovered from.” I’d given her the beginning and the end, but I purposely left out the middle. Now was not the time to tell Braxton about Emily.

“Like me.”

“Nothing like you,” I denied vehemently. “We want you, Braxton, and we’ve been trying to make you see that.”

“Have you?”

“Yes.”

“I see,” she snapped. I knew at that moment that I wasn’t getting to her. Not even close. “So if Calvin had convenient pussy for you to fuck whenever you liked, things would have been different with him?”

“We were dicks to him, Braxton. Just like we were dicks to you, but Calvin was no angel.”

“Neither am I.”

“Yeah, but he never had me convinced that I was falling for him, Braxton. You do.”

I didn’t realize my voice had risen until I noticed the attention we’d garnered.

I didn’t want to risk anyone looking too closely and recognizing us, so I grabbed Braxton’s elbow and led her through the rest of the exhibit so we could get the hell out of there. It seemed to take forever, and not once had she commented on what I’d said to her.

It was like it never happened.

“Let me go,” she quietly requested once we were on the street.