CHAPTER FIFTEEN
TRAVIS

“Did you see the post today?” Carly asks as she swings the door open to my room.

“No.” I stick my nose in the air as I’m trying to figure out how to work this stupid piece of neck ribbon. “How in the hell am I supposed to tie this thing?”

“Don’t you think you should look?” she asks, taking the black tie and working it into submission around my neck.

I shake my head. “No.”

“Hold still,” she says with a scowl. “Why aren’t you reading them? She’s obviously writing those posts with the hope that you’ll see them.”

“Because I don’t want to see them.” She convinced me to drop my guard without even trying. If I give her a second chance now that she is trying… I might lose myself all over again. I’m not sure I could recover from that blow.

“You should look.”

“I don’t want—” Carly shoves her phone’s screen in my face with Veronica’s blog pulled up. “I’m not interested, Carly. She lied and tried to—”

Her lips smoosh together as she shakes her head. “No, she fucking did not.”

“What are you talking about?” I throw my arms out to my sides. “Her boss is Alan Richards, the same guy who discredited your charges against your own brother.”

She lets out a heavy sigh. “Travis,” she says, tilting her head and giving me a look that says she feels sorry for me. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me. I’m doing just fine. “She might not have told you the name, but she told you her boss was trying to bury us.”

“That doesn’t mean—”

My well-intentioned but aggravating sister-in-law holds one hand up to stop me. “Roni also told you that her coworker was creeping her out and following her to scoop the story.”

“Well, she didn’t seem too creeped out when they were swapping spit,” I remind her.

“Not everything is how it seems.”

Adair’s chuckle echoes through the hotel suite. “She’s right, you know,” he calls out from the sofa in the living room.

“No one asked you.”

He appears in the mirror right behind me and flicks my earlobe.

“Damn it.” I grab my ear with one hand and slug him in the arm with the other.

“It’s true though,” he says, rubbing his arm. “I remember dropping Carly off at her apartment after our first wedding.”

“Ridge was waiting for me there,” Carly adds. “Adair, because he’s a genius, thought Ridge and I were together; so, he left.”

Adair nods and pinches his lips together in a tight line. “It’s true.”

“He left me on the sidewalk in front of my building, after a roadside wedding ceremony. Who the hell does that?”

“Okay,” Adair says, putting one arm around her. “Maybe we should just stick to Travis, so you don’t shoot the baby’s blood pressure up.”

She growls and smacks him in the ribs, making him cringe.

“Bro, all I’m saying is that sometimes we see things that aren’t there,” Adair adds, while keeping one eye on Carly. “Just talk to her.”

“Hey guys, we’re ready for you,” Devon says, popping his head in the room. “By the way, have any of you talked to Roni lately?”

“No.” This feels like a set up.

“Why, Devon?” Carly asks.

He gives me a deadpan glare as he answers Carly’s question. “Because the Salt Lake City police just picked up Jenkins.”

“What’s that have to do with Roni?” I ask through gritted teeth.

Carly rolls her eyes as Devon lets out an exasperated sigh. “They only knew he was an issue because she reported him to me for stalking the Amaryllis camp. They just reached out for her contact information, so she can identify him in the line-up and formally file assault charges.”

“Assault?”

“Yeah, didn’t you talk to her?” Devon asks with a confused grimace on his face. “The dude tried to force himself on her.”

Wait. Forced? “I saw them together that day. She was kissing him.”

“No, dude.” Devon shakes his head. “He was harassing her. She called my cell for backup. He kissed her. She told him to get off her. He didn’t, until he saw me, and my guys headed his way. That’s when he bolted. We chased him through the lot, but he hopped the fence and disappeared into one of the local businesses, so we had to turn it over the local cops.”

“You were there?”

He nods. “It was a whole ordeal. How did you not know this?”

Because I have my head shoved up my ass…?

“Do you want to see the blog post now,” Carly asks.

I don’t know how to answer. How does everything change in just a few short seconds? Less than a minute ago, I was convinced meeting Veronica was the worst thing to have happened to me in my adult life, and now I’m thinking… I fucked up. Carly shoves the phone back under my nose with Roni’s blog pulled up. The headline at the top of the page says, How Amaryllis Saved Me from Myself.

“I can’t read this right now,” I say, pushing the phone back while swallowing the lump in the back of my throat. It burns the whole way down. “We have an award to claim.”

“You don’t know that we’ve won,” Adair grumbles.

“I believe…”

“Believe this…” Griffin says, flinging the door open to my suite. “Look.” He grabs hold of the curtains covering the oversized picture window overlooking the hotel parking lot and flings them open.

“I know,” I groan. “I saw. The press is already swarming.”

“No, dude. Look, again.” He grabs me by the collar and tosses me toward the window. It takes a second to digest what I’m seeing, but the press is being pushed back, forced away from the building by a swarm of people wearing our band t-shirts. They’re holding up signs that all say the same thing, Respect our Family! #AmaryllisBlooms.

“What are they saying?” I ask, pressing my ear to the glass like that will help me hear them better.

Griffin shrugs. “I don’t know, but I say we go give them our appreciation and head over to the ceremony.” He ushers us all out of the room and into the elevator, where London is already waiting.

“Hey, Travis,” she says with a soft smile on her face.

“Hi.”

“He’s still upset about Roni,” Adair tells her like it’s his business. It’s not.

She nods and pats me on the back of my shoulder. “Remember, sometimes everything isn’t as it seems.”

“Is this just gang-up-on-Travis day or what?” This is bullshit.

“We’re not ganging up on you,” Griffin says through a chuckle. “But sometimes you need a gentle nudge.”

Adair leans in, so his nose is touching mine. “Or a swift kick in the nuts.”

“Too far, bro.” I use both hands to shove him backward.

Carly scoffs. “I’m not sure it’s too far.”

“It’s too far.”

The elevator dings overhead and the light indicates were on the main floor. Devon steps out first and leads us through the hotel lobby, where his team is waiting to escort us to the waiting vehicles. We paid to reserve the entire hotel for the weekend so we could have a relative measure of privacy. As the sliding doors open and we step outside, our fans’ chants become clear.

“Don’t chase. Give them space.” The voices all blend and meld together in a beautiful echo of support for… us. My brothers hop up onto the running boards of the vehicles, waving over the rooftops to our fans. Their chants turn to cheers as they realize we’ve seen them.

I cup my hands over my mouth to my voice heard, “We love you! We’re bringing home that award for all of you!” The fans are louder than I’ve ever heard them, even at one of our shows. It’s humbling and makes me feel like the possibilities are limitless for us. That’s equal parts thrilling and terrifying. I tuck my head down to keep from smacking it on the door frame and sink into one of the black leather passenger seats at the back of Adair and Carly’s stretch SUV limousine. “Thanks for the ride share,” I laugh, reaching forward to smack Adair on the leg.

“I asked Griffin to get you your own,” he grumbles, scooching further away on the side-facing bench.

Carly laughs and rolls her eyes as she rubs her stomach.

“Carly, I don’t think I’ve told you yet, but you’re going to be an amazing mother. I’m really happy for you.”

Her face lights up with the glow that everyone says they see in a new mom, but I doubt any have been quite as pure as the glow coming from Carly. “Thank you, Trav.”

As Vic pulls us out of the parking lot and onto the road, I let myself sink into the seat and pull out my phone. It’s been a while since we’ve been to one of these events. My nerves are raging on the inside, but I doubt it’s because of the awards ceremony. I’m suddenly second guessing every decision I’ve made over the last two weeks. Did I overreact? Maybe. Should I reach out? Probably. As I’m holding it in the palm of my hand, staring at the blank screen, my thoughts bounce back and forth between my options.

“Do it, Travis,” Carly says, nudging my elbow. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

If I pull up Roni’s site, it could make me question everything even more than I already am.

Am I ready to take another chance? “Psst. Adair.”

“I am not in the mood for any more of your shit, dude,” he grumbles, leaning his head against the partition separating the back of the limo from the cab. The window’s down so I know Vic can hear us. “Hey, Vic!”

“Yes, sir?” he asks, glancing up in the rearview mirror.

“Can you smack him through the window for me?”

Vic lets out a booming guffaw from behind the steering wheel. “I’m not sure that would be good for my bank account.”

“I’ll double whatever Amaryllis Studios is paying you.”

“That’s a tempting offer…”

“Vic!” Adair screeches. “How could—”

Vic presses a button, and the glass slowly fills in the gap separating the cab from the passenger area. “I’m out. See y’all when we get there.”

“Ha!” Adair snorts. “That plan backfired on you.”

“Whatever. How do I get Roni to talk to me after being such a dick?”

“Why are you asking me?” Adair flings his arms out to his side.

“Uh…” Isn’t that obvious?  “Because you’re always a dick to everyone, but somehow people still talk to you. I thought you might have some tips.”

“Now those are facts.” Carly laughs, making a checkmark in the air with her index finger.

Adair scowls from his seat at the other end of the limo.

“See?” I add. “You’re doing it right now.”

“I hate you.”