He was quiet again and then… “You forgive me?” he whispered. There was relief in his tone and surprise too.

“You have a child that you haven’t been allowed to know—a child made in a union that you obviously still cared enough to keep after all this time. I know why you hesitated, and I understand. It’s why I can’t ask you to turn your back on that. I can’t be responsible for anyone else not being who they truly are. Including myself.”

“Braxton—”

“You freed me.” Closing my eyes, I felt like I could fly right now. “Houston? Loren? I know you’re listening.” I heard movement in the background and imagined them leaning in closer. “You freed me too,” I whispered to them. “But trusting you means asking me to bear that weight again, and…I can’t.”

I felt the apology on my lips, and I swallowed it.

I wouldn’t be sorry.

For a few blissful weeks, they could have asked me to lasso the moon, and I would have told them to hand me the rope.

But they didn’t fight for me with the truth.

They chose to lose me with a lie.

There was shuffling in the background as the phone switched hands and then heavy breathing coming through the phone.

Loren.

I knew it was him before he even spoke. I didn’t know how. I just knew.

“We hear what you’re saying, and I’m telling you it won’t be enough,” he warned. I could feel him seething even through the phone and clawed the sheets until they were gripped in my fist. “You want to finish the tour? Fine. But know this. It’s not over until it’s over. You staked your claim with an arrow through our hearts, and now you’re going to let us bleed.”

He hung up.

So that was how she wanted to play it.

She was huddled around her friends so that we couldn’t get too close. They never left her side. Not once since the moment the three of them showed up at the airport. We assumed her friends had come to see her off until we noticed the luggage. Enough to last them a couple of weeks.

The roaring in my head didn’t dull until I started to rationalize.

They’d have to leave Braxton eventually.

It was going to take us over three months to get through Europe alone, and we’d still have four more continents. Each time Braxton’s gaze found ours during the twelve-hour flight, I wondered if she’d considered that too.

She couldn’t avoid us forever.

And if she wanted us to believe that we didn’t stand a chance, she was sending some crazy mixed messages. She was here for no other reason than because she still cared.

Someone should have warned her that if she gave us an inch, we’d take the whole goddamn mile. Maybe her friends had, and that was why they were here.

The only flaw in their plan was that they couldn’t stay. We all knew it, but no one dared say a word.

By the time we landed in Berlin around noon, we were all tired and jet-lagged, so we headed straight for the hotel. I knew no one would be sleeping, though.

Houston, Loren, and I were plotting, but so were they.

Tomorrow night we took the stage in front of seventy thousand people at the Olympiastadion, so there would be plenty of time for mischief.

“Wow,” Griffin remarked as she looked around the hotel lobby and all its splendor.

“I’ve never stayed in a place this fancy before,” Maeko gushed.

I looked around too as our security escorted the six of us to the elevators, and I tried to see it through the girls’ eyes. You’d think an orphan who grew up with nothing, missed a few meals, and wore holes in his clothes until he was twenty-two would never get used to sitting in the lap of luxury.

It had only been six years.

For the first time, I might have identified with Loren, who never seemed impressed by anything with a high price tag. I thought he was just spoiled, which he was, but there was more to it…and to him.

The truth was life got boring fast.

And without what truly mattered, it was easy to stop caring about it at all.

I glanced at Braxton and tried not to stare too hard at her smile. She was telling her friends about the hotels we’d stayed in, a conversation I was sure they’d already had, but I understood. She needed to keep herself distracted from the inevitable.

Dani, who’d met us at the elevator after checking us in, handed over our keys and told us Xavier would be up to talk to us soon. He’d flown in a couple of days ahead, along with the tour manager and the rest of the crew, to make sure everything ran smoothly. The delay had only lasted two weeks, but our drama had still been a huge inconvenience for too many people.

In the wake of the rumors, everyone had decided to blame Braxton, of course.

I wondered if she was privy to it or if she’d been drowning too much in heartache to notice the scrutiny.

My gut told me neither had escaped her attention. I kept myself from going to her just as Griffin sent me a look to back off. Maybe she’d seen the temptation in my eyes.

As much as I was annoyed by the pitbull, I was just as relieved that Braxton had someone to look out for her after what she’d escaped in Faithful. It was obvious her friends would defend her to their last breath, but so would we.

We just needed Braxton to believe that again.

I just needed her to trust that I would always choose her.

The elevator ride up was awkward as hell. No one spoke until we reached the eleventh floor. The girls got off and immediately turned when we didn’t follow.

“Where are you going?” Braxton questioned with a frown. She’d forgotten that she wasn’t supposed to care.

The doors were already sliding close when Loren answered. “Penthouse, baby!”

Her friends rolled their eyes while Braxton hid her smile when Loren winked at the last second. I immediately turned to him as soon as the doors were closed. We were only one floor above them, so it would be a short ride.

“Are you ready to talk to me yet?” I asked him.

Loren scoffed while his gaze remained forward. “Nope, and I never will be. You’re dead to me, bitch.” When the elevator stopped, and the doors slowly slid open, he was the first one off.

Hearing those words and knowing he meant them…

I felt like I’d been backed into a corner.

So I attacked.

It was a good thing we had the floor to ourselves. We never made it inside the suite before Loren and I hit the ground from the force of me tackling him from behind. I didn’t care about fair when I sucker-punched him or when he managed to flip onto his back, and I immediately wrapped my hands around his neck. He shoved me off, and I hit the wall next to us, knocking a picture frame from the wall before he punched me and split my lip.

I tasted blood, but it only fueled me.

One way or another, Loren was going to heel.

It was the only way he’d hear me out.

Houston knew it too, which was why he disappeared inside the suite instead of breaking up the fight that was getting more violent and bloody with each blow. There wasn’t a spot on me that didn’t hurt when I managed to get Loren’s head locked inside my elbow. Loren was trying to get me over his shoulder, but I held on like my life depended on it.

Without them, I had nothing.

Again.

So I guess it kind of did.

“Are you ready to listen now?” I taunted in his ear.

He answered me by taking a step back and then another before driving me into the wall behind me hard enough to loosen my hold. Loren whirled on me, but I recovered and grabbed him by the collar of his blue polo shirt.

I yanked him into me.

“You’re done ignoring me, Lo. I’m not allowing you another day.”

Loren stared down at me blankly since he was taller than me, and I felt my grip loosening under the intensity of his gaze. He didn’t take advantage of his chance to break free and walk away, though. His hips were still pressed against mine. I was still breathing in every breath he exhaled.

“Not that it will matter,” he eventually said with a curl of his lip, “but fine. Say what you have to say. I need to shower.” When I didn’t speak for several seconds, his brow rose. “I’m listening.”

“I was never going to choose Emily over Braxton. I was never going to choose her over you or Houston. I just needed time to realize that myself, Lo.”

“Why should I believe that? You did it the first time.”

“Marrying Emily was not choosing her over you, Loren. She was my girlfriend. You were my friend.”

“Funny,” he retorted while staring at the wall behind me, “since I recall begging you not to.”

“I thought you were jealous,” I whispered honestly, and he groaned while throwing his head back.