Page 72 of Loved Out Loud
I look up into his eyes and dig deep for my courage. Once I find it I open and unlock my computer.
“When I realized I’d be in Chicago for a week, I hired a private investigator to look into finding my father and half-siblings. I just finally dug up the nerve to open what he sent me.”
“May I?” Stone asks before looking.
“Yeah.”
He turns the laptop toward himself and scans the text. I watch his face as he reads through everything, a muscle in his jaw feathering at something he sees. He must have opened the file with photos of my dad because he keeps looking from me to the screen as if comparing what he sees.
“You must look like your mom because the only resemblance I see are your eyes,” he finally says. “Why did you get all this information? Are you planning on reaching out to him?”
“I don’t really know. I’d like to meet my siblings, but I’m not sure if I want to see him. The words he left me with kind of did a number on me. Does he deserve a second chance to hurt me?”
“He absolutely does not. But you deserve to know your siblings. I can’t imagine life without mine.”
I nod and look away. This topic of conversation is too heavy. He closes my laptop and spins it back to me.
“Whatever you decide, I’ll be right here for you.”
Maybe I’m delusional, but it really feels like he means that. I wish I could spend the rest of the day napping in his arms, but when I glance at the clock, I see that it’s time to start getting ready for my signing tonight.
“I’m going to go take a shower,” I say as I stand up.
His smile is quick and devious as he stands and pulls his shirt over his head. “I’ll join you.”
Adam and Dan meet us in the hall as we walk out of the hotel room. Stone is resting his voice but wanted to come along with Sierra, Jade, and me. He’s quickly become almost a security blanket for me, so I would never say no.
What does send me for a loop is when I see Xander and Tobias with their security wandering down the hall toward our group. I look over at Jade in surprise and see her eyes narrow at the pair of rock stars coming our way.
“I’ll be down in a minute,” she says over her shoulder as she walks down to meet them halfway.
“Do you know what that’s about?” I ask Stone as the elevator doors open and we step inside.
He answers with a shake of his head and shrugs his shoulders.
“I think they’re planning on coming along,” Adam says. “Hans mentioned it to me earlier.”
Hans is Xander’s huge bodyguard. I’ve only interacted with him a few times, but he’s always been kind. I don’t know where this bookstore is going to hide an entire rock band and their looming security.
Stone slips his hand around mine and squeezes. I look up at him and can tell he’s asking wordlessly if I’m okay with them coming. If I wanted him to stop them, he absolutely would. But I’m okay with it, even if it means heightened scrutiny. Along with the band comes more security.
Sure enough as we all pile into the SUV to wait for Jade, there’s another one parked right behind us. She emerges a few steps in front of Tobias and Xander with a stressed out look on her face. Dan opens the door for her, and she slides onto the empty seat we left her.
“They want to come along.” She turns to look at me. “If you want to tell them no, you can. I could even lie and say the store will already be at maximum capacity.”
“I didn’t even think about that.” I glance at Sierra. “Is it sold out?”
“All your signings are sold out, babe. You’re the hottest ticket in town.” She winks at Stone playfully. “No offense.”
He gives her a smile with a wave of his hand, completely unbothered. If anything, he almost looks proud.
“I’ll ask the manager, though, just in case.” Sierra pulls out her phone.
“Seriously, though,” Jade says, “I can tell them to fuck off.”
Stone presses his lips together and chuckles.
She reaches over and gives him a light push. “I can tell you the same thing. Maybe we don’t want to babysit your overgrown manchild asses.”
