Page 317 of Second Sets Omnibus
Rad slaps Kieran on the arm, gesturing for him to speak.
“We got another offer from EJ Records,” he says in a deep voice, nearly knocking me off my feet.
An offer? From another company? What in the ever living fuck is happening right now?
“And you accepted?” Anger boils in my gut as his eyes widen, and he takes a step back. His eyes fly to my fingers, curling in my pocket where my knife rests. I’m never leaving without it again. No matter what. Thank God, too. I’m about to put this through each of their eyeballs.
“Fuck. River Blue…” he trails off, swiping a hand down his face. “We didn’t accept the offer.”
“He told them to shove it up their asses with a smile on his face,” Rad snorts with glee, rising to his feet. “All one hundred million, too. That’d hurt.” He cringes, shuttering at the thought.
“Is that what you really thought?” Callum asks, cocking his head to the side. I swallow hard when his gray eyes inspect every inch of my body, and he nods in confirmation. “Understandable, Little Star.”
“Why else would you be vacating the band house without telling me? You…” I trail off, wondering what the fuck is going through their heads. If they aren’t staying here, then where are they going? They don’t have any prospects on the horizon. So, that means… “No,” I choke out, shaking my head. “There’s no way you’re just…”
“We quit,” Kieran says, coming to stand in front of me. His fingers brush against my cheeks, and he gives me a small smile. “We quit West Records. We didn’t accept that offer. We’re done, baby.”
“What the hell?” I murmur with a trembling lip. “You can’t just walk away from your dream. Guys, this is your fucking passion. You’re living something everyone else wants. You’re rock stars. You’re?—”
“Not anymore, Little Star,” Callum says with a head shake.
Not an ounce of sadness rests on their faces as they look up at me with soft smiles.
“It was,” Asher grunts, getting to his feet with the help of Callum as they situate his crutches.
“We have a lot more dreams, Pretty Girl,” Rad says with a shrug.
“But music is your life.”
“Was our life,” Kieran adds, bringing my gaze to his. “River Blue. This band was our dream for years. Getting here to this place, it was fucking wild. We’ve soared on stage and sold-out shows. But nothing compares to the little girl that wraps herarms around me and calls me Daddy. That’s the real dream with you and her.”
“And you, Little Star,” Callum murmurs, coming to my other side and moving a piece of hair from my shoulder. “You’re the ultimate dream.” His face softens when tears burn the back of my eyes.
“No. I can’t let you quit because of me,” I whisper, sucking in a breath. “You can’t?—”
“We can,” Rad says with a shrug. “Plus, we kind of already did. We’ve signed the papers giving up our contract.”
My eyes cut to the mirror, where I know my brothers are watching. Nosy bastards. They set it up so they could quit, and I’d have no say in the matter. Their death is still on the table. But my guys? Not so much.
“We knew you’d try to stop us if we talked to you about it. We were damn sure that this is what we wanted.” Kieran swallows hard, continually tracing the freckles lining my cheeks.
“You’ll regret it later,” I whisper. “You’ll…”
“Nope. No regrets, Pretty Girl. This,” he murmurs, pointing between the five of us. “This is our new dream. We’re going to build you a house on the beach with enough room for all of us.”
“We’re going to walk you down the aisle and say I do and make you ours forever,” Asher says with glossy eyes.
“I’m going to put so many babies in you—” Rad grunts when Asher punches him in the gut. “Asshole! Why do you keep doing that.” He sends Asher a scathing look.
“We’re going to take you out to dinner. Make you breakfast in bed. Give you the best orgasms you’ve ever had,” Rad says, wiggling his brows. “We have it all planned out, Pretty Girl. Every day. Just you, Lyric, and us.”
“Those, River Blue. Are our dreams. Music will always be here,” Kieran says, tapping his chest with his free hand.
“We don’t have to go on tour or play for millions of people…” Rad wheezes, trailing off.
“We’re right where we want to be. With you and Ly, building our future,” Asher says with determination.
“Besides, your brothers offered us jobs,” Rad beams, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, you can’t say no.”
