Page 28 of Our Deceptive Heat

“I’m surprised my father is being so calm about this.”

“Who said anything about calm? He lit the roof on fire. He shouted until he went hoarse and threatened to bury Fate’s Choice if they didn’t do everything you told them to do.” Tony pauses. “He also has a message for you.”

I glower and take his tablet again. An email is on the screen. I read through it as he tells me I am to essentially keep this band on the straight and narrow. We cannot afford to have anymore scandals like the Derision one. If I fail to keep them out of the headlines, then I can kiss my freedom goodbye.

I lean back, frustrated, and thump my head against the headrest. I forward the email to myself and delete it from Tony’s email.

“You did not read that,” I hiss.

“Of course, not.” Tony takes the tablet and puts it away.

“So, the problem is the poor reputations they are getting for being party animals, which, ironically, isn’t at all true. I mean, in some cases, I would be lying through my teeth, but the band spends time alone. They never bring betas or omegas home. They don’t drink, smoke, or do drugs. Fate’s Choice are boring but squeaky clean.” I summarize the notes quickly.

“Where there is an absence of trouble, someone will create it.”

I hum in agreement.

“Look, I’ve known these kids since they were born. They’re good boys.”

I glance at them out of the corner of my eye. Digs is smiling even with that ridiculous eye cover over his eyes, but Mako winks, and Envy meets my gaze in silent judgment.

“Are they?”

“You know they are!” Tony bites out crossly.

I flinch. He’s right to have a go at me. I’m not being fair.

“I know, sorry. My father’s email was annoying.”

“They need their image cleaned up, not squeaky like Derisions was, but a more mature pack that is settled.”

I sigh, wondering how on Earth to do that. “Let me think about it.”

“Thanks, Ryn.” He pauses and then glances at me. “How’s your mother?”

I cut him a quelling glare. Tony was present during one of my parents’ rages. Luckily, I was able to sneak him out and swear him to secrecy before my father noticed. If he’d have seen, I don’t think anyone would have hired him for the next fifty years.

“My mother is the same,” I say curtly, frustrated with his nosiness.

“Did you talk-”

I whip around, smiling with teeth. “Tony, drop it. My mother is perfectly aware and accepting of the consequences of her decisions.”

He huffs, turns back, and reaches for the glass of amber liquid the hostess holds out to him. I take my water and sit back.

Escaping my parent’s suffocating pressure is becoming a full-time job.

The flight isn’t a long one, but any time I get to leave Blackburn, the city my parents and I are residing in, it feels like I can breathe better.

But not this time.

With those four alphas sitting so close to me, there is no breathing. In fact, what I do feel is a great deal of regret and shame. My chest is tight. I have the urge to get up and walk to the door, open it, and throw myself out.

Sadly, not an option.

I inhale and catch their combined scents. It momentarily sends my mind blank before memories slam into me with the force of a changing tide.

Tyr sitting beside me, singing the words I wrote, bringing them to life. Envy smiling as he creates the music, his pale eyes sparkling as his fingers dance over keyboards. Digs lifting me up and whirling me around when they get their first number one. Mako standing beside me, an arm over my shoulder as we watch the sunset over the city horizon, and I look up at him, my stomach full of butterflies. He leans down, and I lean up.

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