Page 29 of Backstage with a Billionaire Rockstar

The look in his eyes after I told him how old Liam is was like a punch to the gut while I waited for him to do the math. With each second that passed, I could see the concentration morph into confusion which turned into sadness, then anger. I can’t blame him for being mad, either, which is why I let him walk away even if I was desperate to chase after him.

“Mia?”

Kenzie is staring into the camera, concern etched into her features, and I give her a small smile. The last thing I am is happy, but I don’t want her to worry about me while she’s trying to take care of Liam for me while I’m away.

“I’m good,” I say finally.

She shakes her head and narrows her eyes at me. “You realize I can see right through that smile, right?”

I shrug my shoulders, then hear the tiny feet of my favorite guy. Liam comes into view, not a tear in sight, and he cocks his head to the side. “Mommy, I thought you were working?”

He leans closer, inspecting me, then he scrunches his eyebrows. “You’re crying, are you okay?”

“Mommy just misses you, baby.”

Liam smiles brightly and says, “I miss you more.”

I’d love nothing more than to be able to walk into my house in a few hours and cuddle with him on the bed as he tries to fall asleep. His comfort would work wonders on me right now.

I clear my throat and give Kenzie another smile, this one a little brighter than the last, and say, “I’m much better now, thanks for talking to me.”

Kenzie nods, then tells Liam to get his shoes on so they can go get ice cream. Once he’s out of earshot, she leans forward and says, “You need to let him talk to Liam. I know that scares you, but it’s the right thing to do.”

“You’re right.” As much as I don’t want her to be, she is. “We’ll figure something out, I’m going to let him take in the news first. Give me a few days.”

“Love you,” she says before blowing me a kiss and ending the call.

Once Evan has had a few days to process, I’ll ask him when he wants to talk to Liam and we’ll go from there.

My only hope is that he doesn’t want to take our son away from me.

***

Just like I had expected after he found out, Evan’s done nothing but give me the cold shoulder and act like I’m not in the room. As much as I tried telling him we needed to act professional, every time I hear the name Mia roll off his lips instead of baby or darlin’, I’m reminded of how much I screwed up.

I want him to flirt with me again, even if it results in me having to remind him of our work relationship. If Carmen were to find out anything about our past, I’m sure she’d sit down with me and fire my ass — it would only be made worse if we were to take things further than afew flirtatious moments.

Right now, though? I’d give anything for him to flirt with me.

He’s silent as we make our way through the winding hallways toward his dressing room, his hair shining under the dim lights from the sweat that gathered in it after being on stage for hours. I run my tongue over my bottom lip, imagining what the rest of his body looks like beneath the sweat-soaked clothes, but immediately send the thoughts away.

When we reach the hall where his room is located, he pauses to allow me to get in front of him, and I do my normal routine of checking his dressing room before allowing him inside. I stare at him as he walks past, silently pleading for him to look at me, but he doesn’t so much as divert his stare from the floor.

I sigh heavily and lean against the wall, letting my head fall against the concrete with a thud. The walls are thin out here, so I can hear every move Evan makes in the dressing room, and I act as though we're nothing more than old friends.

If that were the case, I’d storm into the room and make my move. He would likely be in the middle of changing, his bare chest glistening in front of me, and I’d have no choice but to drag my tongue over the tight muscles of his stomach.

He’d groan at the contact, fist his hand in my hair, and guide me up the length of his torso until my lips eventually found his. We would kiss like our lives depended on it, breathing each other’s air until there was none left before he would lift me up into the air and carry me over to the vanity.

Stop, my head screams at me and that’s enough to send me spiraling out of the brief fantasy I conjured up.

This is not the time to have thoughts like this.

I’ve given Evan a couple of days and allowed him to act like I’m invisible except when it really matters, but tonight is different. I intend on asking him if he wants to talk to Liam when I make my nightly call, just like I told Kenzie I would.

Jace and Brent come out of their rooms, dressed in clothes that are no longer clinging to their skin, and they give me a curt nod as they walk past me.

Do they know what’s going on?

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