Page 113 of Snared

I held up my hand. “I can promise that this won’t be messy and I would never hurt Charlie. Never.” I put as much sincerity as I could behind my words. I never wanted to hurt Charlie. Fuck, how could I?

I was in love with her. It’d taken me long enough to come to terms with it, I wasn’t about to say it to the guys before I told her.

And I still wasn’t even sure she wanted to hear it either.

“Is that like a Scout’s honor or something?” Jax nodded at my hand that I still held raised. “We need a Bible or something?”

“Stop being an idiot, Jax,” Tristan grumbled.

“We’ll leave it for now, but know that we aren’t clueless about you two. And if you hurt her, I will personally kick your ass,” Bash said.

“You’ll have to get in line behind me,” Jax added.

“Reading you guys loud and clear.” I hoped that it wouldn’t come to that, but I had a feeling that whatever Charlie and I were, there was no way it would be perfect all the time, and if I fucked up, she would be the first in line to kick my ass.

“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have two lovely ladies to dance with,” Jax said, sliding off of his seat and heading toward Charlie and Jules.

Charlie smiled up at Jax, laughing at some insane thing he probably said. She was at ease with Jax. With all of her bandmates.

I wanted her to be like that with me all the time. And for a brief moment, I thought she was, but she froze up the first time I did something that pissed her off.

“You’re falling for her, aren’t you?” Tristan asked after Bash stood up to take a call—from Cassie, no doubt.

“What?”

“We all know, Josh. And we should string you up by your balls, but Charlie seems as happy as you are, and who are we to get in the way of love.”

“Whoa. No one said anything about love,” I protested, trying to keep my voice down.

“If you’re fucking her and plan to walk away, then you’re more of a dick than I realized,” Tristan said, disgusted.

“No. It’s not that either, okay? I just… don’t know what it is.”

“Well, you better figure it the fuck out because this tour is going to end soon, and if she has feelings for you that are stronger than yours for her, she’s going to be hurt. And believe me, I’ll get right in line with Jax and Bash to kick your ass,” Tristan said.

“I’d kick my own first,” I replied.

Tristan smiled. “That’s what I thought.”

I leaned back against the cushioned bench seat and sipped my beer, my gaze drawn to Charlie.

Like it always was.

I would do everything in my power to not hurt her, but I was starting to realize that she could hurt me more than I’d ever imagined.

Falling in love was stupid.

Chapter 22

CHARLIE

“Youcan’tavoidhimfor the rest of the tour,” Jules said the following morning.

We were having a lazy breakfast, the two of us before she had to get on a plane to her life, and I had to get back on the bus and head to Atlanta.

“I’m not avoiding him. We slept in the same bed.”

Jules eyed me over her coffee cup as I bit into another beignet. It was like a sugary cloud of perfection that I wanted to dive into.

---