Only for You (13 page)

“
They started following
Kelly around. She’s having nightmares about men taking her
away.”

“
Oh God,” I croak.
“I’m—I’m sure everything will settle down once the tour’s
over.”

“
Not so sure we can wait
that long. It’s not fair to Kelly.”

He has a point. It’s not
fair to Kelly or to him, or to Parker for that matter. “What would
you like for me to do?”

Cole lays his arm over his
face, shielding his eyes from me. “I don’t know.”

“
We could send her to a
private school, you know, like where the football players and
politicians in Charlotte send their kids,” I suggest. “Or hire some
bodyguards. The company I use is—”

“
Damn it, Rae. Does every
problem you run across have to be solved with money?”

He sits up in bed, the
sheet falling down his waist. I stare at his back, at the words
tattooed on the right side. They’re the lyrics to the song I wrote
him, right after we first met.

“
Do you have a better
suggestion?” His shoulders go all tight, and I sit up, scooting
close to him and wrapping my nude body around his. “I’m not your
enemy, Cole.”

“
I never said you were.”
He throws back the covers and pads across the room, taking a beer
from the mini-fridge.

Despite how hot he looks at
that moment, covered in nothing but the tattooed lines of his
favorite sayings, I feel cold inside. “You don’t have to. Your
actions speak louder than words ever could.”

Chapter
Twelve

Cole

I want to apologize to Rae
but I can’t.

In fact, I just lied to
her. No one’s following Kelly around, and all but the local papers
have lost interest in me.

I was a passing trend,
someone that they thought they could make money on, but then
another actress, with another bad habit, got in a fight with
another actress. Suddenly, I wasn’t so hot and I was really damn
grateful.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t
the only reason the press stopped writing about my family and
me.

Four days before the New
Year’s Eve Party, Everett came to town and we had a little
talk.

“
If you don’t break things
off with her, then I will end her career, and I’ll make sure that
little sister of yours goes to live with her very God-fearing
grandparents.” He had opened with this, while taking the lid off
his coffee.

“
She has lawyer that would
eat you alive if you tried that.” Rae loves Kelly almost as much as
me, or maybe it’s the same as me, because I know she would do
anything for her.

He blows on the top and
takes a sip, his actions so calm while I rage inside. “Her lawyers
are my lawyers, hired by me.”

“
You sure you want to do
that? “ I ask, one last desperate chance to stay with the girl I
love, and keep my sister safe. “There are lots of things people
don’t know about you. Things Crystal told me.”

Everett makes a sound of
disbelief and then another sip. “Crystal doesn’t know anything
other than what I’ve allowed her to know. And I really doubt the
word of an addict will mean jack shit anywhere.” Everett flashes me
a smile.

There’s bump on his nose,
one that I put there, and I want to break it again, just to see if
I can make it bigger this time.

“
I’m sure things have
been
difficult
with all the press that’s been hounding y’all. Would hate for
that to get worse.”

“
Sure would hate for
everyone to find out you bought a kid, like a puppy in a pet shop,”
I counter.

“
Unlike you, I’m not
stupid, Cole. I had all of that taken care of years ago.” He pats
me on the back, heading to the door of the coffee shop we met in,
and pauses. “You take care, and I look forward to all Violet’s
attention being centered on what is most beneficial for
everyone.”

The bell rings as he
leaves, and I let my head fall into my hands. “I’m so
screwed.”

“
I love this restaurant,
Cole!” Rae chirps, bringing me out of my nightmare. She smiles at
me, joy lighting up her face. She’s happy to be with me at dinner.
We haven’t fought in hours, mostly because I haven’t tried picking
a fight.

“
Lacey said it was your
favorite.”

“
Next time, maybe I’ll be
able to let you out of my sight long enough to actually visit with
her,” she says with a little flush to her cheeks.

“
You were rather…
greedy.”

The server brings the bill
and Rae looks away, pretending that she doesn’t see what’s between
us. I stare at the bill, knowing that if I cause a big enough
scene, that this will be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s
back.

But I don’t want to end our
night like this.

Only I know that if I tell
her what Everett said, she’d try to fix it, and things will get
worse for everyone. I know my sperm donor that well. He almost
destroyed my mother, a woman he claimed to love at one time. So, I
know he won’t hesitate destroying a little girl that has no
relation to him at all, or Rae’s career. Or worse, Rae
herself.

She’s finally healing from
the wreck, and I can’t take the chance on her going back to where
she was before. All broken and scarred, and unsure of herself. Now
she’s strong, flirty, and confident.

I can’t be the person to
destroy her. Besides, a part of me still believes that I’m not good
for her, that I’m still white trash and have no business touching
her, much less doing all the things I do to her sexy body all day
and night.

But I have no other choice.
“You paying or should I?”

Her gaze snaps to mine,
blue eyes rimmed in black eyeliner, making them sexy as hell. “I
thought you were going to pay, but if you want… if you need
me—”

“
I don’t need your money,
Rae, but don’t you think it’s selfish to expect me to pay for the
hotel and this bill, too, just because you got a wild hair to fly
down here?”

“
Well, when you put it
like that.” She reaches for the bill, and I snatch it off the
table.

“
I can pay.”

She looks at me in
confusion. “I thought you wanted me to pay?”

“
No, I asked if you
thought that it was selfish to expect me to pay for
everything.”

“
Which implies that I
should pay,” she says between gritted teeth, holding out her
hand.

“
Implies, my ass. I
explicitly stated that you’re selfish.”

Her eyes round. “Excuse
me?”

I don’t bother to lower my
voice. “You heard me, princess.”

“
Princess?” Those eyes of
hers narrow as if she can’t believe what I’m saying.

Hell, I can’t believe what
I’m saying. So I shut up and pay the bill. We leave out of there in
a hurry. Once back at the hotel, Rae and I head for our room. She
takes the bathroom first and comes out ten minutes later, face
devoid of makeup and hair pulled back in a short ponytail, wearing
nothing but one of my t-shirts.

She climbs on the bed,
flashing me in the process and I swallow.

“
Could you be any
slower?”

Instead of answering me,
she grabs the remote and clicks on the television. I take my turn
in the bathroom, and then walk back to the bed.

Rae’s eyes flick over me.
I’m in what I usually wear when I sleep with
her—nothing.

“
You can put
that
away tonight,” she
says primly.

“
Mouth or pussy?” I prop
one foot on the bed and thrust my hips out, my stance obscene in
every way. “Or are you finally feeling more
adventurous?”

Her jaw drops, then snaps
shut before she takes a deep breath and says, “I don’t know what I
said or done to make you act like this, but I’m sorry. I’m truly
sorry that your sister is—”

“
Now is not the time.” I
climb on the bed, grab Rae, and pull her beneath me.

“
We’re not having
sex.”

“
Not in the mood for sex.”
I’m not, really, I’m not. No matter how my body responds to hers.
I’m nude and she’s not wearing anything under my t-shirt, so what
else can my body do but get very happy?

“
Then why are you holding
me like this?”

Because this would be the
last time I ever held her. “So I can make sure you’ll listen to
what I’m about to say.”

Tears well up before I can
even begin to speak, and it’s all I can do to go through with this.
But my sister’s depending on me to do the right thing, and Rae,
whether she knows it or not, is depending on me to do the right
thing, too.

“
Don’t,” Rae whispers.
“Please.”

“
I’m breaking up with
you.” My voice cracks. “I can’t be with some stuck-up princess who
only wants me around when it’s convenient for her
schedule.”

Her eyes close tight and
tears prick at the back of mine. “I refuse to be paraded around
like some charity case you’ve taken pity on. We’re over. This is
over.”

“
Please,” she whispers
again, tears still falling. “Don’t.”

I hate Everett Morgan, with
everything inside of me. “Don’t call me. Don’t text me. Forget ,
because that’s exactly what I’ll be doing.”

Then I let her go, get
dressed, and walk out the door, grabbing my stuff along the
way.

I barely make it to my Jeep
and climb inside before I let all of my rage out. I scream, punch
everything near me, and shake the steering wheel so hard that the
Jeep actually moves.

A tap on my window and I
look up. Jaw clenching, I roll the window down.

“
I assume you finally grew
a pair and took care of things,” Everett says, sunglasses covering
his eyes.

“
Fuck you to hell and
back, you rotten son of a bitch.”

He takes a step back. “A
yes would have sufficed.”

“
Now you hold up your end
of the deal, asshole.” Without waiting for his answer, I start up
the Jeep and shove my foot on the gas, leaving Everett in the
dust.

Chapter
Thirteen

Violet

Tonight we performed in
Tulsa, on the very last day of January.

I let the makeup artist and
hair stylist talk me into extensions and removing the nose ring.
Then, I sang the duet with Jaxon, but Everett got mad with me,
because I didn’t put enough feeling into it.

I don’t have any feelings
left.

Chapter
Fourteen

Cole

Tonight, while I tucked
Kelly into bed, she asked me to pray for Rae to come home, safe and
soon. Then she asked me to pray for more teeth to fall out, since
February is dental health month and she wants the Tooth Fairy to
come see her. How all that is connected, I have no idea…

I prayed but my heart
wasn’t in it.

God has never answered my
prayers.

Chapter
Fifteen

Violet

Callie’s acting like an ass
to everyone and anyone since Everett brought in a new opening act,
some seventeen-year-old girl out of South Dakota. Her name is Joy
Anne.

At least Callie’s stop
picking on Bliss.

My baby brother cooed at me
over Skype today, and I actually smiled.

Guess he’s my Valentine
this year.

Chapter
Sixteen

Cole

Today I went to see a
therapist.

He’s the same one Wyatt
sees to talk about his time in Afghanistan. I tell him about Rae,
about my family, but not about what I did to her. Or what my sperm
donor threatened me with.

I’m not sure if I can trust
this guy.

Coincidentally, Crystal and
Ford showed up, wanting to move back in and raise Kelly. Together,
with Parker and me.

I told them no.

Crystal threw a fit,
cussing me up one side and down the other. Ford made her leave,
saying that if she couldn’t manage to work things out like a grown
up then she didn’t deserve to be in any of our lives.

This must be what a father
is supposed to be, or say, or act. But I think he’d reserve that
for his kids, and not his wife.

Then again, Crystal acts
like a teenager—not a mom or a wife.

Chapter
Seventeen

Violet

It’s almost the end of
February and I’m still here, still on tour… still going through the
motions.

Eat, pray, and play
music.

Wash, rinse,
repeat.