Free WILDER: A Rockstar Romance by Vivian Lux Page A

second, I latched on to that thought so tightly that Kevin's letter crumpled in my closed, desperate fist. But I didn't know her well enough for that, and she was too peripheral of a friend to drag into my drama. Jason, Zoe... Kevin knows them, he knows knew where they live. And he'd have no issues with bringing them down.
    I couldn't drag them into my shit either.
    A brief flashing thought whirled through my brain. I could go home. If I only had a normal family, a supportive family, I could go home and be safe.
    But I didn't have a normal family. The look on my mother's face if I came back, the triumph mixed with disgust... I could see it now. She would do everything in her power to make sure I could never leave again.
    I had no place to go.
    You do , a small voice in the back of my head reminded me. I was shaking my head even as the reasons started piling in.
    I would be safe. Keir wanted to save me. Tours had security, people would need clearances and background checks just to get near us. All I would need to do was say that Kevin was not allowed near me, and that would be that.
    Rolling from town to town, city to city, there would be no way he could find me.
    It was the only way.
    I had to go on tour with Ruthless.
    I had to spend the next month on a bus.
    With Keir.

Chapter 13
    Keir
     
    The storm boiling up on the western horizon had nothing on the black thundercloud that was my brother's face.
    Rane glowered, Pepper brooded, Balzac muttered… And even Twitch was uncharacteristically quiet as we waited inside the tour bus for the go-ahead to leave.
    There's being protective, and then there's being annoying. I got that they didn't want Scarlett coming because they worried about me, but fuck that noise, I was a grown-ass man. This was getting irritating.
    I needed more sleep, more coffee and to be left alone, and I wasn't getting any of the above on this tour bus. 
    The car I had sent to pick her up rolled up next to us. I wouldn't have blamed her for wanting to wait until the very last minute, but Scarlett was right on time.
    Rane mumbled something when he saw the driver open her door.
    I'd had enough.
    Angrily, I smacked my hand down onto my armrest. Twitch nearly fell out his chair. "Hey," I said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I did this, okay? This is my fuck up. Me. Don't take it out on her, okay?"
    No one answered me.
    But no one objected either. At least, not yet. It was too early in the morning for brawling.
    It would come soon enough.
    Satisfied that I had made my point, I turned my attention back to Scarlett.
    A part of me that I was ashamed still held so much sway wanted to shout out loud in triumph over seeing her again.
    Even though she clearly wanted to kill something. Possibly me.
    No, definitely me.
    Her face was bare, clean of makeup, and the wind lifted her hair as she crossed the bus lot. Her pretty lips were twisted in an odd grimace, the kind of expression she wore when she didn't like something but was too afraid to speak up and defend herself. I had seen that expression before, had it etched into my brain, to be honest, but I never thought I would be the cause of it.
    This is such a mistake.
    From the window, I watched her pause, collect herself, then lift her head up high. Something old and unresolved squeezed at my heart.
    When she boarded the bus, I smiled at her. She smiled back, just the barest little twitch of her lips, an involuntary jerk meant to be nice.
    Then she settled into the frontmost seat up behind the driver and opened her notebook and began writing.
    And that was that. Rocco, our driver, put the bus in drive, and we were on our way.
    The fans would be disappointed, I'm sure, if they saw how mundane the beginning of Ruthless' Desolation City tour really was. They were probably imagining something wild, something more rock 'n' roll. Maybe me and Rane christening the start of the tour by licking champagne off some chick's tits.
    That wasn’t going to happen.
    Scarlett's