Page 36 of Mending Hearts

A sly grin slid across his face when he pulled back to look at me. “Of course. No interruptions.” He tried to kiss me, and I turned my head. His slobbery lips gobbled my cheek.

“Pasha!” I screamed his name in Cade’s ear, and he released me when the door burst open. Pasha had his forearm across Cade’s throat, and he was pressed against the wall before I could get another word out.

“I said no,” I whispered, and Pasha unleashed a string of Russian in Cade’s face. Was it cold in here? I looked around, dazed. There had to be a window open. But there weren’t any. My arms shook as I hugged myself, and I stared at them, stunned.

Tyler’s hand slipped into my hair, and he drew me to him. I clutched his biceps and closed my eyes.

“I said no.” Where had he appeared from? He’d been angry or frustrated or something. My nails dug into his arm.

“You said no,” he murmured in my ear. “He should have listened when you said no.”

When Cade had come on to me, I’d felt vindicated at first. But the truth was, I didn’t want other men.

Tyler’s lips grazed my forehead, and his palm smoothed down my loose strands. His fingers toyed with the collar of my dress. “I can mend this for you.”

I met his fingers on my shoulder, and I was surprised by the tremble when I touched the jagged edge of my dress.

“Mia,” Laura popped her head in the door. “I just spoke to Taryn and Rebecca.” She looked around the room, surveying the overturned chair and table before landing on me and Tyler with narrowed eyes. “What happened in here?”

I shrugged, letting Tyler fall away, let the incident drop from my mind, and I hurried to the makeup table to grab my clutch. “Nothing. Cade Brewer thought he’d try his luck. Pasha put him in his place. He must have escorted him out of the building.”

I hadn’t seen them leave, but the minute Tyler’s fingers slid into my hair, I hadn’t cared about anything or anyone else. My heart beat erratically in my chest, not quite back to normal, not quite believing what had almost happened. How many times would I be pinned into a corner before I learned to fight back instead of freezing?

“Cade Brewer,” Laura murmured and frowned. “Shame. He’s good PR, normally. Heard he’s become a crackhead, though.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tyler tense. I wanted to run my palm down his arm, tell him to let it go, shrug it off. That’s what I would do. What I always did. In my hand, my purse shook, subtle, but there.

“Anyway,” Laura said. “Appearance tonight at Club Zeal, then we’ll chat about scaling back. You weren’t great tonight. I don’t want people complaining on social media. It’s bad for future ticket sales.”

Ticket sales, right. Of course. Briefly, I closed my eyes, trying to find my way out of the lingering panic.

“Mia.” Tyler tried to catch my gaze as I breezed past him, my heels clicking on the concrete.

“I’m fine.” Under my lashes, I gave him a small smile. “It’s not the first time. I’ll be fine.”

His shoulders slumped, and the hand he had raised toward me fell to his side. My mother’s eyebrows raised, but she didn’t say anything.

I found the rip at my shoulder, and I glanced at Laura. “I need to change before we go.”

“What’s wrong with that dress?” Laura frowned.

“It’s dirty.” But the dress wasn’t dirty, and I wasn’t sure changing would wipe the sensation away.

Pasha fell into step beside me as we headed to my bus, and I whispered “thank you” in Russian. It was the only phrase I’d learned the last few weeks. I didn’t understand what he said in response, but his tone was kind and gentle. Tears pooled in my eyes, and I kept my head down while they slid down my cheeks.

Chapter Twelve

Tyler

Islid the metal clip into another stack of weights and pulled down on the lateral bar. Another set to be counted out. I’d likely increase the weights again. Ten miles on the treadmill hadn’t been enough, and now I was working my muscles to exhaustion. My mind might be in a million different pieces, but at least my body would benefit from the internal chaos. Besides, as far as I could tell, I was one of the few people who used the exercise equipment stored at the back of one of the buses. It was expensive stuff. Someone might as well use it. I yanked the bar down again, muscles burning.

As soon as Mia left for the club last night, I called Grady in L.A. to find out how I could stick a figurative knife in Cade Brewer’s back. Instead, my sister, Maggie, had been visiting him and talked me off the ledge. Or at least talked me down far enough that I stopped trying to search Google Earth for Cade’s movie location so I could exact some revenge.

For the first time in my life, I understood why people snapped, committed murder. If Pasha hadn’t already had the guy by the throat when I got there, I wasn’t sure what I would have done. Seeing Mia standing there shaking, tears pooled in her unfocused eyes, had ripped right through my gut and pierced my heart. What kind of life was this? What kind of man did that to a woman? No wonder she didn’t want to raise akid in this environment. Her life was a viper pit. Every day, another one punctured her.

She was so young. How many more wounds could she take?

Across the gym, my phone vibrated on the table. There were very few people who’d call me at two a.m.Maggie? Had to be. Trying to make sure I hadn’t stolen a car and driven around Kansas City on a mission. With a sigh, I let the weights rest and wandered over to grab my phone before it went to voicemail. My sister would probably send out a search party if I didn’t answer.

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