Page 33 of The Burdens We Share
I watch as Ivory and Aria film and recreate the scene from their last tour where Brody abandoned them at the bar after they got into an argument. I know this night well. Harvey never shuts the fuck up about it. It was the night that Brody was attacked in the hotel and he almost was arrested for murder. Personally, I wouldn’t blame him if he actually did kill the scumbag that tried to attack his woman. I would do the same.
Watching them recreate their drunkenness shows me whather life was really like at this time. It seems like this version of Ivory is so out of reach. It almost feels like a stranger. She doesn’t do drugs anymore and she doesn’t drink in excess like this. It’s strange to watch, almost like I’m looking back in time.
I hear footsteps behind me and then a low voice, “Dallas?”
I turn around and look down to find Brody standing before me. She looks uncomfortable and slightly worried. I watch as she twists her engagement ring around her finger in anxiousness.
“Yes?” I raise a brow at her. Brody and I have spoken many times, but never about anything extremely personal. Being best friends with Harvey and also his business partner, I see Brody often and I know her pretty well. I like Brody. I think she’s a lot smarter than anyone gives her credit for which can also make her slightly dangerous. She sees more than she cares to admit and I’m almost positive she knows more about my infatuation with her friend than she appears to know.
She glances behind me, at her friends, before she asks, “Can we talk?”
I nod but take no steps to move.
She frowns, “This is sensitive. Can we step away for a minute?”
“No. I can’t let her out of my sight.”
Brody’s brows crease, “Why?”
It’s easy to forget that Aria and Brody still don’t know about Ivory’s stalker. I won’t be sharing that information. I’ll leave that to Selene and Ivory. I shrug, “I’m unable to answer that question.”
Brody pouts, “I’ll be grilling Selene on that after this conversation, don’t you worry.”
I smirk at her, “I’m not worried.”
She rolls her eyes, “Seriously though, we have to talk.”
I look behind me, over my shoulder to find Ivory completelyfocused on what she’s doing. I focus back on Brody, “I can’t let her out of my sight.”
Brody grins, “Oh, I know you can’t.”
I give her a warning look and she shifts her attitude, all seriousness, “Fine, we can talk here.” She looks around to see if anyone is watching or listening and when she seems satisfied with the results of her scan, she keeps her voice low, “I want to talk to you about Ivory. Have you noticed her acting weird lately? You know, since you guys have been spending a lot of time together.”
So I’m not the only one who’s noticed. “Haveyounoticed anything?” I answer her question with one of my own.
Brody huffs impatiently, “Of course. Aria and I have noticed that she seems very unlike herself. We’re worried.”
“In what ways?” I ask.
“She’s tired all the time, she looks pale, she’s been super moody, and she just seems really irritable,” Brody lists with sad eyes.
I take a deep breath. I’ve noticed the same things in my little devil and it’s been alarming me. “It’s probably stress.” I know it’s more than that, but I don’t want to scare Brody. Harvey would have my head.
She shakes her head, “No. I’ve seen her stressed. This is not from stress. There’s something else.”
“What do you want me to do?”
She pauses and chews her lip for a moment before she shakes her head, “You know what? It was probably a bad idea for me to even talk to you about this. Just forget about it, okay?”
She makes a move to walk away, but I grab her arm before she can step away and lean in, “I care about her too, you know.”
“Oh, we know,” a new voice appears beside us and we both turn to find Selene with a cocky grin and her hands on her hips.
I release Brody and step back. Just how much of that didSelene hear? “Selene,” I greet her.
Selene raises her chin at me, “Dallas. I take it you two were talking about our little pink-loving friend who’s been acting very strange and unlike herself?” Selene Stone, everyone. The mind reader.
Brody frets, “So you’ve noticed. What’s going on with her, Selene? Do you know?”
