Page 13 of Fractured Trust

A flush swept over Summer, heat traveling in a prickling wave across her skin as her stomach knotted. She wanted desperately to defend herself. To tell Eden that she hadn’t broken Noah’s heart, it had been the other way around. But what good would it do, without going into all the painful details that Eden didn’t want to hear, and that she really didn’t want to talk about with his sister? If Eden was willing to let it go, did it really matter in the long run? Regardless of what Eden thought about why Noah had made her the job offer, neither of them was interested in starting something up again. So instead of jumping to her own defense, Summer swallowed and nodded.

Eden smiled, then clapped her hands together. “Right, let’s get to work!”

Chapter 7

The beep of Noah’s phone roused him. He was sprawled out on his hotel bed with the covers off, the coolness of the air against his skin letting him know he was naked.

He peeled one eye open, double-checking he was on his own. Yep, his bed was empty, thank fuck. There’d been a few times on previous tours where he’d drunk too much and woken up in the morning with a woman still lying next to him. Then there was that awkward moment where you had to usher them out the door in the cold light of day, feeling bad when they wanted to exchange numbers or arrange to meet up again. Much better to give them what they wanted the night before, then send them happily on their way without letting any expectations build up.

Similar to the first Crossfire tour, eight months ago, this one was a mini-tour—just four weeks—so there were only a few hotel stays along the way. Most nights they slept on the bus. But unlike previous tours, he’d yet to bring any women back to his room on the odd occasion when they’d stayed overnight in one city. He couldn’t even explain why, just that no one seemed to have caught his eye so far.

His message notification sounded again, and he groaned, reaching for his phone and checking the time. Nine a.m. Not as ridiculously early as his body was trying to convince him it was. But the after party last night had run late, and then Devon and Beau had wanted to check out the nightlife in Austin, so he and Zac had joined them. Noah vaguely remembered leaving the others at one of the clubs on Sixth Street and taking a car back to the hotel, then stumbling into his room, stripping, and flinging himself on the bed. He thought it must have been about three a.m.

He swiped the screen, then blinked a couple of times to bring the message into focus. It was from Eden, and Noah’s mind cleared as his eyes picked out Summer’s name from the jumble of words. He sat up and leaned back against the headboard, then re-read the message.

Eden: Hey Noah, I wanted to let you know you were right about Summer, she’s been great. Thanks for sending her to me. I hope your tour is going well!xox

A smile flickered on his lips. He was glad to hear things were working out with Summer. Not that he’d had much doubt that she’d do a good job—or that she and Eden would get along—but there was no denying the situation had the potential to be too awkward to work.

When he’d first suggested the idea to Eden, she’d been reluctant, and he knew why. For the two years he and Summer had been dating, she’d been a big part of his little sister’s life.

Until suddenly, she wasn’t.

He’d told Eden the basics of what had happened between him and Summer. But he hadn’t gone into detail about exactly how messed up he’d been in the weeks and months afterward—how close he’d come to losing Fractured on top of having his heart broken. How, if he hadn’t come to his senses after their manager at the time threatened to cut him from the band, he might be in a very different place right now. He figured it was better for everyone if she didn’t know.

He tapped out a response.

Noah: I’m glad it’s working out, short stuff. The tour is going well. In Austin at the moment. Took Beau and Devon out last night. I’m getting too old for this shit.

The reply came back straight away.

Eden: That’ll teach you to try to keep up with theyoung’unsat your age.

Noah grinned. Eden was eight years younger than him. But their age difference had never been an issue. The two of them had been close almost since the moment his mom and dad had brought her home from the hospital—a little later than normal, since she’d been born early and with a hole in her heart. The hole had eventually resolved on its own, but that had been why their parents had been just a little overprotective of her growing up. That, and how difficult it had been for them to get pregnant with her in the first place.

And yeah, Eden might have occasionally accused him of being too overprotective as well. But as far as he was concerned, he was only fulfilling his role as her big brother.

Which of course meant that she took seriously her role as his little sister and teased him relentlessly about anything and everything, including his age.

Noah placed his phone back down on the nightstand, his smile fading as his mind drifted to Eden’s first message—to Summer. To what she might be doing, where she was living, whether she was enjoying L.A. His eyes slid toward his phone, resting on it for a beat before cutting away. As much as part of him—a part he kept forcing back down—itched to find out more about how she was doing, he restrained himself. He’d done his bit. Best for both of them if he just left it alone now.

With a muffled groan, Noah dragged himself out of bed, made his way to the bathroom, and climbed into the shower. Standing under the warm water, he let it sluice away the smell of alcohol and perfume that always seemed to stick to his skin after a night out, courtesy of the women that pressed themselves against him for photos, or in the hopes he would take them back to his room for the night.

After drying himself off and dressing, Noah sent a message to the others. He got one back from Zac saying he was down in the hotel restaurant having breakfast. Neither Beau nor Devon replied, so he figured they were still sleeping it off. He grabbed a cap and pulled it low over his forehead, then left the suite.

Entering the restaurant, Noah scanned the area until he found Zac on his own at the back of the room. He made his way over there, nodding at their security detail sitting a few tables away.

Zac looked tired too. They were both almost thirty and had been doing this shit for over a decade now. Beau and Devon were still in their early twenties, hence Eden’s comment. Those two had a good few years left before they’d start to feel it the way he was these days.

After sliding into the booth opposite Zac, Noah grabbed a glass and poured himself an orange juice from the carafe sitting in the middle of the table. “Remind me not to try to keep up with those two anymore,” he said after he’d taken a few long swallows.

Zac snorted. “You held your own.” He quirked an eyebrow. “What happened with that little blonde who was all over you at that last place? When you disappeared, I thought you’d taken her with you until I saw her sitting on Devon’s lap.”

Noah shifted in his seat. “Just wasn’t feeling it last night.” His lips curved up. “And you know, I thought it was only fair I give the other two a shot. I mean, they’re not drummers, so they need all the help they can get.”

Zac laughed, then leaned back and crossed his arms, a smile still on his face as he eyed Noah. “So have you heard anything about how things are going with Summer?”

Fucking intuitive asshole.“Heard from Eden this morning, actually. Sounds like it’s working out.”

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