CHAPTER SEVEN
ADAIR

The slam of Carly’s office door echoes through my brain as I swipe the screen on my phone. She can’t leave.

Adair: @Griffin You didn’t tell her, yet? *Angry face emoji*

Nash: He’s on his honeymoon.

Griffin: Can we talk about this when I get back?

Adair: She’s going to be without a job in less than two weeks. She just resigned from the Amaryllis team.

Griffin: I’ll make her an offer as soon as we’re back.

Travis: @Griffin shouldn’t you be off doing honeymoon thangs?

Griffin: Don’t be disrespectful.

Travis: Disrespectful? It’s just a fact of life. Kind of like the *bird emoji* + *bee emoji*

Griffin:…

Travis: Fine. @Griffin you’re no fun. But don’t be surprised when you see a charge for Oreos—in bulk—on the business account.

Griffin: *Fist emoji* Done. I’ll talk to ALL of you in a few days.

“I—” I stammer, sprawling my arms across the desk where Travis is still licking his wounds over Nigel hanging up on him. “I just want to say something profound to make her change her mind.”

“That would require having at least an average IQ,” he snorts. “Sadly, you do not.”

“I’m going to let that go since I know you’re still sulking over Nigel ignoring your attempt for attention.”

He raises his hand and motions like he’s shooing me back down the hallway. “Go.”

“What am I supposed to say to her?” I ask, without a single clue of how to fix the mess I’ve made of us. “Something that will convince her I deserve a second chance when I’m not even sure I would give me one.”

He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. “You’ll figure it out.”

“No, it’s useless.”

“Go,” he demands with a little too much confidence.

Now I’m suspicious. “Or what?”

“Or I’ll tell Nash you used his toothbrush when you got back to the hotel after the wedding completely trashed and couldn’t find yours.”

“I will kill you.”

He just shrugs. “I guess you better go then, because if you don’t—”

I reach across the desk trying to grab him by the collar, but he jumps back missing my attack. “Ugh,” I groan.

“But you’re going, right?” He smirks as Nigel’s voicemail picks up on the other end. “Hmph,” he snorts as he slams the phone back down and heads back to the conference room. “Hey Nash, I forgot to tell you something,” he calls out as he disappears around the corner.

I find a book on the desk and launch it at the back of his head, missing by a fraction of an inch. It bounces off the door trim and lands on the floor. “I’m going.” I take a deep breath and focus on the reason I’m putting everything on the line right now—her. I can do this. I swing the door to her office open as soon as I reach it, if I didn’t then I would’ve lost my nerve in the time it took to knock. “We need to talk.”

She lets out a deep sigh, peeking up over the rims of her rose gold colored eyeglass frames from behind the computer monitor. “About what?”

“This resignation of yours,” I growl and immediately cringe at myself. This is not how I planned it going. “I mean…” One. Two. Three. “Can we please talk about what you said in the lobby?”

Her eyes narrow as she studies me from behind her desk. “What is there to talk about?” She asks, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair.

“What do you mean, what is there to talk about?” I stammer, completely taking off guard by the question. How about the fact she’s literally sucking the breath out of my lungs with just the thought of her leaving? “I don’t—I don’t know.”

Yes, I chickened out.

“Okay, then,” she says, popping her headphones on her ears. “Come back when you know, or don’t and we’ll just go our separate ways.”

“That.” I point at her and do a little victory jump in front of her desk while she looks at me like I’m a raving lunatic. “That’s what I want to talk about.” She doesn’t look amused by my theatrics at all. In fact, I think the scowl has actually gotten worse in the last ten seconds. “I… you’re the only one here who knows how all of this works.” I hold my arms wide open to take in everything surrounding us.

“How what works?”

“Amaryllis.” Everything we are. Everything that got us here. “The social media. The engagements with our fans. All of it.”

She shrugs and goes back to her work on the screen. “It can be taught. It’s not a big deal.”

“Me.”

That makes her pause long enough to draw in a deep breath, but she keeps her eyes on the screen even though her fingers have stopped moving against the keys.

“I can’t teach someone else to know me the way you do,” I admit feeling way more vulnerable than I’ve ever allowed myself to be before.

“That doesn’t stop you from trying though, does it?” She gives me a smile through gritted teeth. “Maybe Video Extra Number Three will be able to figure it out.”

The idea gives me a metallic taste in the back of my throat. “I don’t want to try with anyone else, Carly.”

“What?” I shake my head like I’m trying to clear a bad hangover. “No.” Where did she even come up with that?

“Actually,” she waves her hand in a circle over her head, “the answer is yes. Take the wedding. It’s just another example of how you string me along, giving me just enough to keep me hooked and then toss me back when things get a little too close for your own comfort. I can’t do this with you anymore, Adair. I deserve to be with someone who is as emotionally available for me as I am for them, which admittedly isn’t much right now but I’m making the changes necessary to heal that part of myself.  Maybe you should do the same.”

She’s right. I have counted on her being there and never considered what my life would be like if she ever got sick of waiting for me to stop pushing everyone—her—away. “Carly, don’t do this.” I thought I just wanted her in my life, but now I realize how much I actually need her; and she’s leaving.

“Close my door on your way out,” she says, pushing the play button and turning up the music to drown out the sound of the blubbering idiot standing in front of her desk.

I couldn’t have made a bigger mess of things if I’d tried.

---

It’s been a full week since I last talked to her. To anyone, really. Today, is the shoot for our next—and final—music video with The Machine. The guys need me to be there so we can put this part of our career in the past and move on to the next, so I’m here even though I am not in the mood for any of this. The airport The Machine booked for our shoot is a small hideaway in the middle of nowhere. I pause mid-step, surprised by the smell kerosene in the air. Something actually managed to takeoff here. That seems like a miracle with such a short runway.

“Adair!” Griffin throws his arm around me and nods toward where the crew is still setting up. “Feels pretty amazing to be checking off the last box of our contract with The Machine, doesn’t it?”

“Uh-huh,” I grunt.

His happy-go-lucky smile twists into a scowl. “What is it?”

“Nothing, man.” I shake my head and take a step toward the set, but he grabs me stopping me in my tracks.

“Is this about Carly, again?”

Maybe.

He lets out a low chuckle and shakes his head. “Man, I promise. I’m going to offer her the job. I just haven’t even had a second to breathe since we got back in town.”

“I get it.”

“I’ll do it as soon as we wrap up today.”

That’s better than nothing. “How was your honeymoon?” I ask.

“Great.” He wiggles his eyebrows with a grin.

Ew. “That’s gross. You’re my brother.”

“You asked!” He laughs through a snort.

“Forget I did.”

“You’re not dodging my question that easy.”

“Which question?” I’m not being a jerk; I honestly didn’t hear half of what he said.

“Are you okay?”

Can I catch a break? Just one? “I—”

“Griff!” Travis runs up from behind and throws his arms around the back of our brother’s neck, hanging off him like an idiot. “I can’t believe you didn’t call when you got back in town.” He sticks his lips out in a duck-face pout. “That hurts. It hurts right here.” He pounds his fist into the middle of his chest in his typical super-dramatic fashion.

Did I mention I am really not in the mood for this today?

Griffin laughs, squeezing Travis shoulders in a bro-hug. “Our plane didn’t land until late last night. I haven’t even slept yet.”

Travis cringes and grits his teeth. “It still hurts.”

“I’m sorry,” Griffin chuckles. “We’ll make it up to you, promise.”

Travis holds up his hand and turns his head away. “I don’t think you can make up for ignoring your baby brother.”

“Dinner? Tomorrow? Our house.”

Travis lets out a loud sigh. “Fine.”

“Do you always sell out for food?” I ask, wrinkling my nose at his complete lack of character.

He nods. “Mostly,” he says not even ashamed to be so easily swayed with a meal. “I could really use a home cooked meal instead of the fast-food binge I’ve been on since they left for their honeymoon.”

A loud crash from the set draws my attention. “Is that Ridge?” I ask squinting to see inside of the hangar. And Carly?

Griffin scowls. “Looks like they’re putting the finishing touches on the set,” he says as Carly drops her cup of coffee sending it into the center of Ridge’s chest. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t giggling like a schoolgirl on the inside at the sight of the brown liquid dripping down his bright white shirt. Soak it up. Soak it all up. I silently coax the traitor t-shirt.

“I’m going to check on her and make sure she’s all right.” I jog up the runway, ignoring every single cackle and whistle coming from my brothers behind me. Carly’s leaning against the back of the hangar. “Are you okay?” I call out to Carly who is wiping at the stain on Ridge’s chest with a damp napkin. I am not happy about her having her hands all over him like that, but I have zero right to stake my claim on her. “Carly?”

“We’re fine, Adair,” she says, shooing me away with one hand while still tending to him with the other.

My blood has never run this hot before. I try to force away the thoughts of landing my fist in his face with my hands shaking at my sides as they ball up into fists. It’s harder than I expected trying to keep them from doing that. I’m not a caveman. I keep repeating that to myself thinking I might actually start to believe it at some point. So far… not working. “I hate to break up the little lovefest happening here, but there’s a mess on the set and we need to get the shots set up.”

“Thank you for that update,” she quips without even so much as glancing back at me.

Ridge curls his nose up and scowls at me. “When did you become so interested in the setup? You’ve always been the last-minute kind of performer, haven’t you?” They giggle together like I’m some kind of inside joke. It’s not doing anything to help the fantasies I’m having of beating him into the ground.

“Like you’ve got room to talk. You’ve known her what? Ten years? Now, all of a sudden, you want to pretend you want more,” I growl, backing him up against the wall. “You never wanted her for anything other than a win against me.”

The mirrored gold tint of her sunglasses hides her eyes, but a single tear slips from underneath the rim and slides down her cheek.

That’s all it takes.

I don’t even wait for Ridge to turn around to face me, landing a punch square in the side of his face. A loud thud from the weight of his body hitting the aluminum wall echoes through the entire hangar as he rubs his now bleeding jaw. Crossbones from the skull ring I always wear on my middle finger are probably what broke through his skin. “Leave her alone, got it?”

He spits a mouthful of blood on the ground, making sure to hit my black leather boots with it when he does. “Why? So, you can keep breaking her heart? I won’t leave her alone until she tells me to.”

“Stop it, Adair.” Carly yells as she tries to pull me away.

Ridge snarls. “See? He’s never going to change Carly.” He throws his hands in the air gesturing toward me.

I grab him by the shirt collar and pin him in place. “Shut your mouth, Ridge.” I’m ready to knock every single tooth out of that cocky smirk of his, but a soft grip on my hand causes me to hesitate.

She tugs harder on my arm. “Don’t do this.”

“Do what?” I drop Ridge and let him fall to the floor like the piece of garbage he is. “Teach him not to make you cry?”

With my hand in hers, she pulls me away from Ridge and the rest of the crew. She waits until we’re safely outside of the hanger, and out of earshot. “He isn’t what makes me cry.”

I hold both hands up in confusion. “Could you enlighten me, then?”

“It wouldn’t matter anyway.”

“Try me.”

“You’re a stubborn pig-headed walking cliché.” She places both hands on my chest shoving me backwards. “Does that clear it up for you?”

“I could say the same to you, you know. You’re the one chasing him around the set like a lovesick schoolgirl. Talk about a cliché.” I immediately grit my teeth knowing that was absolutely the worst thing I could’ve said.

“Don’t give me advice about my love-life right now. At this rate, you’re going to end up alone and sharing a cell with Stone.” She throws her arms over her head and storms off the makeshift set. “Ugh!”

I jog to catch up, my hand wraps around her elbow spinning her to face me. “You have to understand, you are the only reason I would risk everything like that.”

“Don’t try to play the hero card now,” she snorts. “You didn’t put that show on for me. You did it for yourself.”

I brace myself against the building with one arm on either side of her, trapping her with my gaze. She has to hear me. “I am not who—or what—you think I am.”

“I’ve known you for almost my entire life. If you were going to surprise me, you would’ve done it a long time ago.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“It’s whatever you want it to be.” She shakes her head. “I just need to get out of here.”

“Don’t you mean, you need to get away from me?” I ask.

“It’s all the same, isn’t it?” She flicks her phone’s screen bringing it to life, scrolling through her notifications. “Let’s not make the next week and a half any more difficult than it already has to be, okay?” She turns the phone so I can see her calendar, pulled up to the same day our contract is up with The Machine.

“Finally, free?” I read the label she’s put on the day.

She nods. “Free from The Machine, and whatever this is.” She wiggles her finger back and forth in the open space between us.

I shake my head and press my lips together in a tight line. “Uh-uh,” I grunt.

A week and a half…

That’s how long I have left to convince her to give me a second chance. I may not deserve one, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes to earn it.