Page 25 of One More Song

When we are nearly finished, Synn clears his throat. “We know Ash stayed in your room last night.”

I frown. This was not what I was expecting.

“And we know things might start getting messy around here,” Saint adds. “So we were hoping the four of us could have a little heart to heart before that happens.”

“Nothing happened between Ash and me.” I break a piece of bacon in half, and I wince when I remember the two of us outside the Boneyard, my back against the wall. My body was so willing to be claimed by the man who is all wrong for me.

But we didn’t sleep together. Even if I wanted it, he stopped before it got out of hand, and for that, I’m grateful - drunk sex is rarely a good idea.

However, my body still knows what it wants. Ash is not out of my system yet.

“And even if we had, it’s none of your business,” I continue, shaking my head. “I’m honestly shocked you’d even mention it.”

“It is our business, though, Ember,” Synn says, his eyes even darker than normal. “We may be a rock band, but we’re also a family. And we need to look out for one another.”

“This is messed up on so many levels.” I roll my eyes at their audacity. “This ismyhome. I can have whoever I want in my bed. You aren’t in charge of me, or of Ash for that matter.”

“Not directly, no,” Dusky says. “But Ash needs to stick to the plan. And you, love, ye aren’t the plan.”

“And what is the plan exactly? Just so we’re crystal clear?” I ask.

“The plan is we write a dozen songs, Maryll approves them, and we go to the studio. The plan is for Ash to keep his dick in his pants long enough for us to make an album,” Synn says sharply.

“Duly noted, brother,” Ash says from the doorway. Our heads spin toward him and I see a weight in his eyes I haven’t seen before.

Who is this man?

“You know it’s true,” Saint says, dropping his head in his hands. “We’re worried about you.”

“So worried you thought you’d seduce Ember with your famous French toast and then kindly tell her to back off?”

Synn, Saint, and Dusky smirk knowing. “Yeah, pretty much,” Synn says. “What’s the alternative? Tell Maryll what you’re up to and have her here on the first flight from L.A., breathing fire down all our backs?”

“Fair enough,” Ash says. He takes it in stride, grabbing a piece of bacon from the plate and leaning against the kitchen island. “So did it work?” he asks me.

“Did what work?” I ask, my words tight, my throat dry. Somehow in the space of a morning, everything feels like it’s slipping away. A person I didn’t even have is already leaving me.

“Did they scare you off?” Ash asks, his voice is detached as if he’s already let me go. What does it say about me if I admit that I wanted him to hold on?

“I told you before, you know nothing about me.” I push away from the table, my heart hurting when it’s my head that should be throbbing. Moving down the hall, I push open the bathroom and turn the shower on as hot as it can go.

Dropping my clothes, I step under the blaze and close my eyes. Grateful that Cadence is with Mitch right now because she doesn’t need to see me like this. Crying over whatever the hell just happened in my grandma’s kitchen.

The shower helps, but my thoughts are still a jumbled mess. I take my time shaving my legs, exfoliating my body - in no rush to step back into the fray. I can hear them, shouting in the kitchen. It sounds like a fight has been brewing long before they came here.

This isn’t about me.

It’s about Ash.

I knew he was a bad idea. But just how bad?

I turn off the shower and let the bathtub fill. Before sinking into it, I fish my phone from the pocket of my bathrobe. The hot water covers me as I pull up a search engine.

I type in their names: Ash Saint Synn and Dusky.

What comes up makes me gasp and drop my phone in the water.

Shit.

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