Page 24 of From Us, Forever

“I know, but I don’t have that kind of money.”

He inhaled sharply. “Fucking hell, Evelyn,” he steeled, pinning me with a hard glare. “Have you been listening to what I’ve been telling you? You have a lot of money now, and I refuse to see you suffer because of something so trivial.”

My heart skipped a beat. The expression on his face was so deadly that I couldn’t help but agree. “Okay.”

His face softened as he bent forward and placed a quick kiss on my cheek. “Let me work some of that pressure off you.”

He hauled my feet to his lap before kneading fingers along my calf as he worked his way up.

“Thank you,” I whispered, my eyes never leaving his face.

“Don’t ever thank me for taking care of you.”

Acts like this made me fall in love withhim more than I thought possible.

The strength of his fingers, the numbness from the ice, and the magic of the drug all seemed to work. And soon, the throbbing pain dissolved into a dull ache.

“I’m fine now. Let’s go to sleep,” I said, picking up the ice pack and placing it on the nightstand.

“You sure?” He ran his hand along the scars marring my knee.

“Hmm, come to bed.”

He nodded, switching off the light.

I sighed when he spooned tight from behind me. His hands roamed over the curve of my body before one settled between my breasts and the other on my tummy. My head fit perfectly under his chin, my own hand gripping over his.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked.

“No, I think I had too much coffee.”

“You always have too much coffee. I told you itisn’t really healthy. I might have to throw out that coffee machine that you are very partial to.”

“You wouldn’t dare. The only reason I spend a lot of time here is because of that machine. So if you take it away, I might have to go with it too.”

I felt his chest vibrate with a chuckle. “Fine, I won’t take it.”

I smiled, and just then, a thunder rolled out through the clouds chased by a patter of rain. “Are you alright? Are you still worried?”

“No, I’m fine now that I have my girl in my arms.”

“I love you, Jay.” My eyes drifted to the warmth of his hold despite the caffeine high.

“Love you, too.”

CHAPTER 6

“Mr. Jameson, what do you have to say to the accusations thrown at you?” A lady with a tight topknot and square glasses raised the question, and Jay leaned forward to the microphone, calmly folding his arms on the table in front of him.

“Like I said, they are all baseless. Dorian has been a mentor and my friend for the past seven years. The band and Imourn for his loss. But in light of the recent rumors, I would like to clarify that as much as we respected Dorian and owed him a lot, we as a band don’t condone or support the charges held against him. As for the other accusation, we made the decision to leave Pacific White long before any of this occurred. In fact, the decision was made two years ago. As many of you might know, we have started our own label with Matt as the lead producer, and we want tofocus all our energy and time on that. So we had no desire to continue with Pacific White. I hope that answers some of your questions,” Jay said in an even tone, his expression neutral as he regarded the press.

Mikey and Matt were by his side along with Micah, who was their PR manager. They all sat on a small stage propped in a plain white room lined with a bunch of photographers and a few rows of seats for the media personnel.

“But what about the lawsuit filed against the band?” Another thin man with a pinched face asked, his eyes never sliding away from his notepad.

“We can confirm that the lawsuit was dismissed by the judge early this morning. It has no grounds to stand in court,” Micah answered.

“Why do you think they filed it in the first place?”

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