Page 87 of Reckless

Miles realized he’d gotten some much appreciated love from his family, but also that he hadn’t needed that touchstone as much as in the past. Because his heart was on the tour at his side.

“Going to catch Above Me’s soundcheck. Wanna come with?” he asked.

“Yeah. Hang on a second. I want to grab a hoodie. It’s freezing down here.”

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

At the end of Above Me’s set, Harlow was suddenly so tired all she wanted was to go back to the hotel and rest. It had been a lot since that damned interview had come out. A lot of stuff that had been revealed when she had no choice in it. And she knew that was just the way of things.

Emotional stuff rarely cropped up when you were ready for it, or prepared. It nearly always came out of the blue and hit hardest and deepest because you’d been trying to pretend it away.

Nora took one look and shook her head. “You don’t need to be here. Earthquakes performs perfectly every night and that’s not because Miles’s girlfriend is watching.”

“No. But it means something to him that I am.” Which was the truth and why she chose to guzzle a bunch of water, eat some fruit, and changed out of her stage clothing and into something more comfortable.

“You and Brian should go back though. He’s getting better but you both have been running ragged. Eat something healthy and sleep,” Harlow told Nora when she’d finished.

“I don’t want you to deal with this alone.” Nora watched her closely.

“It’s not him,” Harlow said. “It’s Gloria and all this other stuff. He fucked up, yes and we’ll deal with that. But his response was a misstep. You can’t protect me from either. Not from Gloria and not from Miles being a pushy control freak. Go take care of yourself. Thank you for being such a good friend. It means more than I can ever say.”

Even after she and Miles cleared the air the situation would still exist. Her triggers and sensitive parts would be part of her, and it wasn’t up to Miles or Nora to heal her or support her through it. That wasn’t how it worked. If only it was.

Brian approached and gave Harlow a hug. “I love you, Har. We’re here at your side. Not to fix you or protect you. But because you’re our family and that’s what family does.”

“You’re going to make me cry and I can’t. I need to hold it together until it’s safe for me to let it go,” she told him quietly.

He nodded as he stepped back. “Okay. I understand. We’ll see you later. Text to let us know you return to the hotel, so we won’t worry.”

She agreed and as they made a right, heading to the back of the venue where they’d get a car to take them back, Harlow took a left, heading to the stage.

If she’d been hoping to get there without an escort or notice, that fell away when Miles, who’d obviously been waiting at the base of the steps leading toward the stage, caught sight of her and smiled.

“I was hoping you’d want to come watch us.” He held out a hand and she took it; glad she’d decided to stay.

Harlow ascended the steps at his side and settled herself in her usual place, out of the main line of sight from the crowd but a great view of the stage so she could watch him do his thing.

The rest of the band waited, and she waved. “See you in a bit,” he told her before a sweet kiss and then he joined the others and the familiar sound of their opening came up, along with the change in houselights.

The roar of the crowd when they all stepped out made her smile.

It was three hours later when they finally arrived back at the hotel. Earthquakes was still buzzing from the energy of being on stage, so Harlow contentedly sat back and let it wash over her until they finally got to their room.

Blessedly quiet and absent anyone but the two of them.

“I’m going to shower,” she told him and closed the door to the bathroom. Hoping he got the message because she didn’t want to be swayed by stellar sex right then.

And when she came out a few minutes later, wearing pj pants and an old t-shirt, he was waiting.

“I’ll shower too. Be right back.”

They were both being so careful. It made her happy and terribly sad at the same time.

Finally when he’d come back, she’d settled on a chair in the small sitting room attached to the bedroom. He’d have chosen the couch to be next to her if she’d been there. And it would have been harder to keep her concentration if all his delicious body heat mingled with hers.

He frowned but pulled the other chair up so it was directly across from her, close enough that their knees touched.

“I only found out about the video thing yesterday,” he said. “And I only learned exactly what she’d said last night at the dinner upstairs. I should have told you, but I wanted you to be able to rest. And this morning, first you did yoga with my mum, and I didn’t want to ruin that. Then we did other stuff that truly made me forget. Then lunch.” He winced. “I’m sorry you found out the way you did. Ben feels terrible that he brought it up. He knows it was the wrong place. I think he just wanted to help and got in his own way.”

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