That I can respect. I can appreciate someone who cares about her that way.

“Drex Martin was at the studio tonight.”

San’s response says it all. Damn Kai and her secrets.

“Yeah, I see you already know what that means. He couldn’t wait to tell me about the two of them. I needed to handle him first, and I think she thought I . . . I didn’t make it clear. I’m an asshole.”

San nods, slowly releasing my arm.

“She was in a dark place that night.”

“Don’t tell me.” I shake my head. “I don’t wanna know. I don’t ever wanna know.”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving her.”

“That’s fine.” I shrug. “You might hear a lot of yelling and screaming and shit. Who knows what it will take to make up with her? For sure, you’re gonna hear us fucking like animals before the night’s out. If that’s how you get your rocks off, stick around.”

San nods slowly, lips twisting sideways. He slides his hands into his front pockets. Upon further consideration, he grabs his backpack from a nearby table. He turns at the door.

“I’ll lock up on my way out.”

“You do that.”

His prerogative, of course.

I’m surprised when the doorknob to Kai’s room turns under my hand, and the door swings open. The room is completely dark. Sobs come from the small, shaking lump on the bed, the sound paring away the protective layers of my heart until, even though I’m not crying, I’m as vulnerable as she is. I measure my steps over to the bed. She’s sobbing so hard she doesn’t realize I’m approaching, or maybe she does.

“San, go away,” she mumbles into her pillow. “Please, just leave me alone for a little while.”

I touch her back and caress her hair.

“Pep, it’s me.”

She goes stiff, but doesn’t sit up. If anything she burrows deeper into the pillow.

“Rhyson, go. Oh, God, why are you here?” Her voice breaks so badly I can barely understand her. “Just go. I don’t want to see you.”

I stretch to the table beside her bed, flick on the lamp, and reach back to gently turn her over. I don’t know who I want to kill more, Drex or myself, for doing this to her. Her beautiful face is mottled red. Those eyes that seduce me without even trying are swollen almost shut.

“I’m a mess,” she whispers, covering her face. “Don’t look at me.”

“Oh, I’m looking at you.” My throat is so sore with the emotions I’m holding back, I couldn’t sing now if my life depended on it. “I haven’t been able to stop looking at you since you walked into Grady’s music room that first night.”

She folds her body in half, pressing her face to her knees.

“I wanted to tell you, Rhyson, but I was so scared I’d lose you.” Tears mangle her words. She sniffs, but it doesn’t help. “It was my mom’s first birthday since the funeral, and after the shoot, Drex invited me out for drinks. I . . . I was so lonely and desperate to just feel.”

“I don’t want to know this, Pep.” I wish I was big enough to let her get this off her chest, but the more details I know about that piece of shit fucking my girl, the worse it will be.

“But . . . I don’t even remember it, Rhyson.” She closes her eyes tightly, bottom lip trapped between her teeth. “I remember him taking me to his place, and then—”

“Pep.” I place my index finger over her soft lips, shaking my head. “I can’t. I don’t ever want to know. Those images in my head would be too much. I can get past this because I don’t know anything. Hearing the details, seeing it in my head, I don’t know what that would do.”

Tears stream down her cheek, and she covers her face with both hands.

“The one person you hate more than anyone, and I . . . and I . . .”

“Baby, listen to me.” My arms literally ache from not holding her. I slide to the top of her bed, back against the headboard and pull her beside me, tucking her head into my shoulder. “It’s shit luck. That’s all. It’s like the universe played the worst trick on us it possibly could. I hate Drex, and the thought of him . . .”

The words die in my mouth, poisoned by a toxic mix of nausea, fury, and disgust. I’ll block even the thought of it.

“You’re the one thing I can’t give up. I’ve been hooked on Xanax. That was bad, but Grady sent me to rehab, and I kicked that habit.”

I pull back to look into her teary, bloodshot eyes.

“There’s no kicking you,” I say hoarsely. “You’re in my veins. In my blood. In my bones, and I just want you deeper. I want you so close that nothing and no one, certainly not that douchebag, could ever come between us.”

“I thought you would never want me again.” Her mouth wobbles. Tears course over her flushed cheeks. “I thought you couldn’t look at me. That you were disgusted by me now that you knew I had been with him.”

Not want her? Hell, I’m hard as ice right now with her this close.

I press her hand to my cock so she can feel for herself. So she can know that nothing has changed between our hearts or our bodies. Her eyes meet mine, wide and wet and dark. Without looking away, she rolls her hand up and down on me. I stiffen in my jeans under her fingers to the point of pain. My head falls against hers.

“Yeah, Pep, that’s it,” I husk into her hair.

Her pull goes faster, harder, and I’ll be damned if I’m coming in my pants after a night like this. I pull her hand away, my hands trembling to get my zipper down and my pants and boxers over my legs. She’s just as urgent, slipping her jeans and panties off, positioning her knees on either side of me on the bed, poised above me. I reach down to my jeans pocket for a condom, but she grabs my wrist, and shakes her head, eyes steady and hot on mine.

“I took care of it.”

She slides onto me, tight and creamy. I’ve never done this. Not one time in my life have I been inside a girl raw. The hot, liquid slide of flesh on flesh is addictive and intoxicating, like her pussy is lined with liquor. The ride starts slow, our eyes connected as she eases up and pushes down. But the pace builds from steady to frantic, so vigorous her small breasts bounce. I grip her hips and take one breast into my mouth, suckling the nipple until it swells hard. She moans and throws her head back, bracing one hand on my shoulder. I fall back onto the bed, and she keeps riding me, lording over me like a goddess. I reach up and palm her breasts. I pump up into her, and her mouth falls open with short, hot breaths.

“Harder, Rhys,” she pants. “I need . . .”

I know what she needs. I pull out and flip her onto her knees, positioned behind her on the bed, entering in one strong stroke. I’m in so deep she screams. I want to scream too. She milks me, grips me like a fist, clutches me.

Did he have her like this?

The thought intrudes on this intimate moment like a searchlight, harsh and bright. I won’t let him do this. I won’t let him spoil this for me. He won’t spoil her for me. I push deeper, ramming my hips against her ass. It’s mine. Reaching around to squeeze her breasts. They’re mine. I slide my fingers down the sleek plane of her belly and plunge my fingers between those thick, wet lips. They’re mine. I pinch her clit. It’s mine.

Every time I mark a piece of flesh, she cries out. She’s jerking beneath me, weeping. I don’t know if it’s the intensity of the pleasure, or relief that we still have this, still have each other despite how Drex tried to break us, but I understand her tears because emotion swells in my chest.

I will die if I don’t come soon, but I want to come looking into her eyes. I pull out again and lay her on her back, spreading her for me. I only take time to glance at the strong dancer’s legs dropped open and the subtle line of muscles in her stomach, the pink lips between her thighs, dripping for me, before I plunge back in. I capture her eyes and grip her thigh. I trace up her waist and over her breast and up her arm until I reach her hand, marrying our fingers.