My Soul To Keep (Soul Series Book 1) (41 page)

“This won’t look good.” Dub doesn’t look upset. He tosses a few bills down on the table and stands up abruptly.

I stand up too, conscious of my capri workout pants and the cropped top. My hair is scooped up in a high ponytail and I’m wearing no makeup. I’ve never thought so much about what I’m wearing than in the last week with my own photo booth trailing my every move.

Dub and I cross the street, headed for the lot where he’s parked.

The questions bounce off us like pellets.

“Are you still with Rhyson, Kai?”

“Does he know you’re seeing someone else?”

“So are you exclusive or not?”

Their line of questioning shows me just how dangerous lunch with Dub was. This could have ended really badly. Fortunately, Dub’s car is close by. He grabs my hand so that when he increases the pace, I can keep up. He has me in his car and we’re pulling off before they get many more pictures.

They really blindsided me that time. I don’t get their interest me. I mean, maybe I do. Rhyson’s never shown any interest in one particular girl, and they probably wonder what’s so special about me. As we zip through the streets toward my apartment so I can pack a few things and go to Rhyson’s house, I can’t help but wonder the same thing.

I’VE TRIED THE SONG IN A
different key. I’ve rearranged the notes. Adjusted the rhyme on the lyrics. I’ve done everything I can think of, but it’s still not working. My fingers fly over the piano keys, reverting to Chopin like I always do when I’m stuck. Something about the technical demand of his pieces forces my mind to work and maneuver around musical problems until I find the solution.

“Stuck, huh?” Marlon asks from the doorway.

“Nothing Chopin can’t handle.” I gesture toward the floor cushions scattered around my music room. “Pull up a chair.”

“So we working on my song today or what?” Marlon leans back, folding his hands behind his head.

“I’m kind of lodged in this song.” I pick out a medley using only the black keys. “Tomorrow?”

“Nah. I got shows. Leaving tomorrow.” Marlon grabs another cushion, sliding it behind his back against the wall. “Can you do next week at Wood?”

“Yeah, that works.”

“So what you working on?”

“My album actually.” I abandon the keys, turning on the piano bench to fully face him.

“Nice to see you writing again.”

“Yeah. Feels good.”

I can’t catch the grin that sneaks onto my face. I’m so fucking
happy
. Having Kai in my house, in my bed, in my life, makes me the happiest I’ve ever been. I’ve always been able to talk to Marlon about most things, but this not so much. He still doesn’t trust her, and if he starts talking shit about her again, it will shove a wedge between us. Nothing has ever separated Marlon and me. It feels weird to know a girl could come between us, but Kai isn’t just some girl. She is
the
girl. There was no “the” before her. And I don’t think there will be another.

“Please tell me that goofy grin is not because you’re writing songs about your girlfriend.”

“Matter of fact, I am.”

“I think my dick just shrank on your behalf.”

“Don’t blame me for your tiny dick. From what I hear, it’s always been underwhelming.”

He grips his junk through his jeans.

“Nobody’s ever been underwhelmed by this dick.”

We share a grin because that’s probably true.

“I’m gonna take your word on that,” I say.

“So am I.” Bristol strides into the room, eyes glued to her phone.

“Oh, you could find out for yourself, Bristol.” Marlon jumps to his feet, reaching for my sister, but she sidesteps, never raising her eyes from her phone. “And I promise you wouldn’t be underwhelmed.”

“Save it, Grip.” She finally looks up, zeroing in on me with a frown. “We got trouble.”

I’m never getting this song done.

“What kind of trouble?”

“Your new girlfriend kind of trouble.” She rolls her eyes. “That girl is a thorn in my side already.”

“I’m actually starting to like her.” Marlon gives me a wink and flops back onto a floor cushion.

About damn time.

“Maybe I’d like her too,” Bristol says, “If she weren’t cheating on my brother.”

“Cheating?” I try to hold my face together when my heart is screeching inside my chest. The word “cheat” anywhere near my girl makes my blood run cold. “What the fuck are you talking about, Bris? Talk fast.”

She doesn’t talk. Instead she hands me her phone. I take my time looking at the screen because what I see there could crush me.

It does.

It’s a series of pictures on
Spotted
, all featuring Kai and Dub. Eating lunch. Looking at something on a phone together at the table. And then walking down a sidewalk holding hands.

The sight of Dub touching her almost undoes me. Almost unravels all the carefully constructed fibers holding me together.

“That’s today.” Bristol jabs her finger at the screen. “Just hours ago.”

“There’s an explanation for this.”

I say it because there has to be. I can’t entertain the possibility that the most real thing I’ve ever had is counterfeit. That kind of betrayal by Kai would slice through me like glass.

“It’s exactly what it looks like, Rhys,” Bristol spits at me, hands on hips.

“Man, just when I was feeling her,” Marlon chimes in. “Don’t ignore what’s right in front of you. Maybe she wants you to put her on, but wants to see what Dub can do for her too.”

“You guys don’t know her.” I keep my voice strong, even though the longer I see the pictures, the louder the doubts scream in my head.

“Rhyson, that naïve bullshit was acceptable when you were seventeen and Petra fucked around on you.” Bristol grabs her phone, holding it up in the air like Exhibit A for a jury. “The stakes are higher now. You’re a global superstar. If you won’t protect what you’ve built, at least respect the team that’s helped you build it.”

“Rhyson!” Kai’s voice drifts down the hall. “Rhys, where are you?”

She walks in the room, and I want to be alone with her. She’s wearing the same outfit from the pictures. The thought of Dub with her sets off tiny explosives in my heart. I’d punch my hand through my piano if it wasn’t priceless.

“Oh, here you are.” She walks in farther, stopping beside me and tipping up on her toes until her lips touch my cheek. “Hey, Grip. Bristol.”

And she slams into their brick wall of silence. Marlon and Bristol are obviously waiting for me to lay into Kai. I don’t know if I can. I love her too much. I need her too much. If she denies it, can I believe her? If she admits it, everything else means nothing. I don’t want Bristol and Marlon to know how vulnerable I am to her. For that matter, I don’t want Kai to know.

Kai triangulates a confused glance between me, Marlon, and Bristol.

“Rhyson, is everything okay?” She presses into me, gripping my hand and tipping her head back to plumb my eyes with concern. “Is it your dad, baby?”

“Oh my God.” Bristol sucks her teeth and throws her hands up in the air. “I assumed it was her magic pussy that had you whipped. I didn’t know she used damn heartstrings. Insidious.”

“Bristol, shut up.” My words fight their way through tight lips.

“What’s she talking about?” Kai pulls back another few inches to look at me more closely.

“Did you actually think you could get away with it?” Bristol demands.

“Get away with what?” Kai frowns, looks at Bristol, and drops my hand completely. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“This, honey.” Bristol pushes the phone in Kai’s face. “You can’t go running all over town cheating on my brother. I know you’re used to living under a rock in Georgia, but here in LA, it doesn’t work like that.”

Kai scans the phone screen, her eyes going wide and flying to my face.

“Rhyson, you know I wouldn’t do this.”

“Well, looks like you’ve got some explaining to do.” Marlon’s laugh is harsh from his spot on the floor cushion. “You’re denying it when we’re looking right at the pictures. That takes balls. Gotta give you that.”

I hate this. I hate that we’re ambushing her with these pictures, almost as much as I hate the fact that the whole world assumes all the things Marlon and Bristol are saying. Kai’s eyes beg me to believe her when she hasn’t even offered an explanation yet. I have to look at the pictures again just to keep myself from giving in to those eyes.

“Do you know how this looks?” Bristol takes another step into Kai’s space, until only inches separate their faces. “Do you have any concept of who you’re dating? You’re some wannabe multi-hyphenate nobody. How dare you?”

Kai ignores Bristol’s insults and looks right at me.

“My only mistake was not listening to you, Rhyson.”

“Oh, you had to tell her not to fuck other people?” Bristol barbs the question with sarcasm.

“Bris, shut up,” I snap.

“You don’t know me, Bristol.” Angry fire lights Kai’s eyes. “You have no idea who I am or what I want. Rhyson and I were friends before we were—”

“Fucking?” Bristol cuts in.

“Shut the hell up,” I warn. “This is between Kai and me.”

“It would have been if she’d kept her secret lunch with Dub a secret and not broadcast it to the whole world,” Bristol says. “Now it’s between you, Kai, and everyone who has the Internet. And that’s everyone, by the way.”

“It wasn’t a secret lunch,” Kai says with a frown.

“I didn’t know about it.”

I can’t hold that back, even with Marlon and Bristol still here. Kai’s eyes meet mine, and the guilt I see there is like a cold fist upper-cutting through my heart. I know her too well to not know it’s guilt. What the hell does she have to feel guilty about if this isn’t what it seems?

“I know, Rhyson, and I’m sorry.” Kai shakes her head. “But you know I wouldn’t do what they’re implying.”

“These sites aren’t
implying
anything. They’re out and out saying you’re cheating on my brother. It’s damaging.” Bristol says. “He’s not Joe Blow. He’s a brand. He’s Rhyson fucking Gray.”

Kai snaps around to face Bristol, her face rigid with anger.

“You don’t get it, Bristol. I don’t care if Rhyson’s bagging groceries,” Kai says. “I fell in love with a man, not a brand, and I wouldn’t ever do anything to jeopardize that. Certainly not cheat on him in broad daylight. Or at all for that matter.”

Damn, I love this girl. I don’t know what the explanation is, but there is one. I don’t understand the guilt I saw in her eyes yet, but I will.

“Both of you get out.”

My words are quiet but fall heavy like a hammer in the room.

“Rhyson, we—”

“Shut up, Bristol.” I look at Marlon, still lounging on the floor cushion. “Out, dude. I need to talk to my girl.”

Marlon slides a glance between Kai and me, and raises his eyebrows, silently asking if I know what I’m doing. I just nod, needing them gone. Marlon stands and grabs Bristol’s hand. He’d use any excuse for that.

“Come on, Bris. You heard the man.”

“Rhyson, don’t fall for a line of bull and a good lay.” Bristol holds up her phone. “These pictures don’t lie.”

“
She
doesn’t lie.” I look at Kai, and I know I’m right. I know Kai like I know music. In my blood. In my heart. Woven into the fibers that connect us.

Bristol and Marlon leave a waiting quiet behind in the music room. I’m waiting for Kai to speak, waiting for her to explain. Waiting for her to touch me. To remind me of how perfect her skin is against mine.

I sit on the piano bench. She looks at me from under her lashes for a few seconds before sitting down beside me, leaving a space between us.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was having lunch with Dub.” Her quiet voice wavers. “I am so sorry I put you in this position. That people think I’m cheating on you.”

“I don’t care about that.” I pause, fighting the burning in my chest when I consider anyone thinking she belongs to someone else. “I mean, I do, but I’m more concerned about you keeping it from me than about what everyone else thinks.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I was completely blindsided, Pep. I couldn’t even defend you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying you’re sorry and tell me why you did it,” I say, my words staccato.