Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
She hugged him tight before letting Hayes pull her away. And then she cried the entire way back to their hotel in Denver.
Rohan said it wasn’t goodbye, but it certainly felt that way.
51
Nerves fluttered in her stomach, making her feel ill.
“What if no one likes my stuff?” she asked as they pulled up outside the gallery.
The exhibition was opening soon and she didn’t know if she could do it. She was going to be ill.
“They will love it,” Hayes said, undoing his seatbelt.
This morning, he’d helped her get ready. He’d put on her clothes, even doing her hair and makeup. Her arm was a lot better, but it wasn’t up to doing hair or makeup yet.
Besides, she’d been too nervous to focus.
And not just because of the exhibition. She hadn’t heard from Rohan. She had no idea how he was. Hayes had called Donovan and asked him to head to the trailer to watch over him. But by the time he’d gotten there, the place had been cleared.
Was Rohan okay? Had he met with Lucan? Had he gone back to the gang?
She’d cried so much over the last thirty-six hours that she’d nearly made herself sick and Hayes had taken over. She’d slipped into Little headspace and he’d done pretty much everything for her. She’d woken up this morning with a headache, feeling empty and concerned.
All she wanted was her brother to be safe and happy and she didn’t think he could feel that way with the gang.
Hayes came around and lifted her out. Then he cupped her face in his hands. “Listen to me, stop worrying about Rohan. This is your day. You’re going to go in there and you’re going to fucking shine.”
To her surprise she felt like smiling in the face of his bossiness. “I’m going to shine?”
“Yes, you fucking well will.”
“Because you said so?”
“Yeah, because I damn well said so.”
She grinned and leaned up on her tiptoes to kiss his jaw. He tilted his head down to kiss her on the lips.
“All right, but only because you said so.”
He let out a grunt of satisfaction.
“I love you, Hayes.”
“Love you too, baby girl.”
His baby was a huge success.
He knew she would be. But he hadn’t expected her to be this big. Nearly everything she’d made was sold and it wasn’t even the end of the exhibition yet. The gallery owner was ecstatic. He kept trying to hug Devi.
Hayes had to keep intercepting him. The other guy needed to keep his hands to himself.
Devi had been surprised when people started crowding into the gallery, quickly filling the space. Her friends were there, of course, as well as Gwen, Dominic, and Donovan but he knew she’d been shocked when Zeke, Eden, Kent, and Abby had turned up.
He hadn’t even known they were coming. The assholes hadn’t bothered to tell him.
“Devi, you’ve created such beautiful things,” Abby said. “It’s all so amazing.”
“I don’t know about that,” Devi said shyly.
“Well, I do,” Kent told her warmly, pulling her into his arms and kissing her cheeks.
“Hey!” Hayes said. “Hands off my woman. Kiss your own.”
“Sorry about him,” Devi told Kent. “We’re still working on manners.”
“Manners, huh?” he whispered, patting her ass.
She felt herself blush.
“We even bought something!” Abby said excitedly.
“What? You did?” Devi asked. “Oh, you don’t need to pay for anything, though. I’ll gift it to you both. I owe you so much.”
“Family doesn’t owe family, remember?” Kent said.
“Well, in that case, family doesn’t pay family for a gift,” Devi countered firmly.
“You’ve got your hands full with this one,” Kent told Hayes.
“Hey!” Devi protested with a grin. “I think I have my hands full with him.”
Abby giggled. “You guys can fight this out later. Devi has more people wanting to admire her.”
“Hopefully, she has some time to let her brother hug her,” a voice said from behind her.
Turning with a gasp, she spotted Rohan there and threw herself at him.
“Careful!” Hayes snapped. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
Rohan gathered her up. “Don’t worry. I have her. I’ll never let my sister fall.”
“You’re here!” she said. “You’re really here. I was so worried about you.”
“She’s cried pretty much non-stop since she saw you,” Hayes said in an accusing voice. “I don’t want her doing that again so you better not be here to tell her that you’re going back to the Scorpions.”
The last word was said quietly and she felt Rohan move them into a corner. When she glanced around, she saw that Hayes and Rohan were facing each other with Kent and Abby standing further back.
“Shit,” Rohan said. “Sorry, little sister.” He crouched down slightly so they were eye-to-eye. “I just needed some time to deal with Freddy and Lucan and to get my head on straight.”
“How . . . how did Lucan take his death?” she asked, terrified.
“He was glad,” Rohan spat out. “He wanted Freddy gone. Said he deserved to die due to his betrayal. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. However, he figured I would. Lucan knew Freddy was at the trailer, even had someone watching him to make sure he stayed there.”