Page 7 of Silent Verity

“I’ve always got you,” I whispered, knowing he wouldn’t hear me but needing to say the words anyway. “I wish you would remember that.”

I grunted and rolled my head toward the door, where someone was obnoxiously banging. Jesse moaned in protest and rolled away from me, burying his head beneath my pillow. Pissed off that we’d been woken up and Jesse was no longer cuddling with me, I rolled out of bed and stormed toward the door, yanking it open.

“What?” I snapped at Kalin.

He huffed and planted his hands on his narrow hips. “Don’t fucking what me, Dalton. You two are late for your photoshoot, and since neither of you are answering your phones, Delia has resorted to calling all of us.”

I closed my eyes and sighed. Goddamn Delia and this bullshit photoshoot. “Fuck. I’m sorry. I’ll text her and let her know we’re on our way.”

Without a word, Kalin stormed away, clearly pissed off. I’d buy him his favorite ice cream later as an apology for having to deal with our manager because of me and Jesse.

When I turned to face Jesse, he was sitting up and rubbing at his bleary eyes. “Do we have to go?” he mumbled, his voice husky with sleep. My cock took interest, and I prayed he didn’t notice. He was all sleep mussed and gorgeous, and fuck, I wanted to own him. Claim him. Make him mine.

Instead of doing any of that, I just said, “Yeah. Come on. The quicker we head out, the quicker this will be over. Then, we can come back here and finish watching your show if you want.”

He glanced up at me, and the hopeful look in his eyes had my stomach swooping. “Really?”

“Yeah,” I promised, a small smile tilting my lips. “Whatever you want, Jesse.” And I meant that. Whatever he wanted… so long as whatever he wanted didn’t involve putting a fucking ocean between us again, that was. I wasn’t sure if I could go through the withdrawals again.

I needed Jesse like I needed to breathe.

6

Jesse

When I’d woken up, even if it had been rather abruptly by Kalin banging on the door like he’d lost all his common sense, I’d felt more rested than I had in months. More rested than I had since we’d all moved into this much bigger house. Having Dalton wrapped around me with my head resting on his chest, his steady heartbeat thrumming beneath my ear, had been so fucking soothing. It’d been everything I’d needed.

And now, reality was slapping me in the face again. Even with his promise of us being able to do this again—since he’d said we could do whatever I wanted after this photoshoot—I still couldn’t help but fear that I was going to lose this again.

I needed Dalton like I needed air to breathe. For the first time yesterday and last night, my lungs had worked properly again. And now, with the fear of him pulling away once more clouding my senses and my proper judgment, my lungs were threatening to collapse.

“You good?” Dalton asked softly as he drove, his hand resting on the steering wheel. His right arm was resting on the center console, his hand dangling, a temptation all in itself. How easy would it be to reach over and slip my fingers through his? To cling on so this sick feeling in my stomach would go away?

I didn’t want to fake a relationship for the cameras like Tor and Salem had. And while Delia hadn’t explicitly said that was what we’d be doing starting today, it was implied. I was terrified that fake dating Dalton for the cameras and for the fans would just push him further away from me and send the islands we were standing on even further away from each other.

“I’m okay,” I murmured.

He hummed. “I don’t believe you.”

Swallowing thickly, I turned my head to stare out the window, deciding not answering him would be better than supplying a response at all. We were quiet for a good minute, and then, his hand was grabbing mine, lacing our fingers together. My heart lurched into my throat, and I swung my head around to look at him so damn fast, I got a crick in my neck.

“This okay?” Dalton asked, his deep voice low and soothing. He glanced at me and gently squeezed my fingers before focusing back on the road. “You look like you need it.”

Suddenly, there was a lump in my throat so big, it prevented me from speaking. So instead, I just nodded. Sparing me another quick glance, he smiled, then focused back on the road. And for the rest of the trip, he just held my hand, occasionally giving it a little squeeze.

How did he always fucking know what I needed? If I didn’t know any better, I’d have thought Dalton was well-versed in witchcraft or something.

Or maybe he just hadn’t forgotten years of friendship after all.

When we got to the photoshoot site, Delia was waiting for us, and she was furious. Dalton stepped up so close to me, our shoulders brushed. “We know we’re late, and we’re sorry,” he told her before she could open her mouth and say something that would no doubt be hateful. She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “But yelling at us will just make us even later.”

She scowled at him. “Get in that fucking trailer for hair and makeup,” she snapped, pointing at one of the trailers. “Jesse, you’re in that one.” She pointed to the other one. “Both of you get out of my face.”

I grunted, shooting her a scowl before I reluctantly moved away from Dalton and headed for the trailer she’d directed me to. If Delia wasn’t so damn good at managing us, I was sure all of us would’ve demanded Richard hire someone different a long time ago. Delia was a grade-A bitch. I wasn’t sure there was a single person on this planet who actually liked the dreadful woman. But she was a fantastic manager, and because of her, we’d risen to the top super fast.

Makeup and hair were a pain in the ass, as always. My face was poked and prodded, and the hair stylist pulled at my scalp so much, I had a headache about two minutes in. And then so much hairspray was used, I was surprised me and the makeup artist didn’t pass the fuck out from the fumes.

When I finally emerged from the trailer, Dalton was already done, his half blonde-half black hair hanging loose and straightened to perfection. He grinned at me, and my gut swooped. “You look hot,” he teased. But fuck, my entire body responded to that compliment anyway.

---