If we had another moment to share
It would be magnificent because I would show you I need you
I would prove you’re not alone
And I would let you know just how much I love you.
But that moment just won’t come
And I’m still missing you
He sings the song like it bleeds from his soul. He hasn’t really expressed how much her death hurt him. Hell, except for Ryder, none ofus knew his birth mom. The woman we’ve met on occasion wasn’t the same person.
This is how Maddox tells us that he’s in pain. The only way he knows how. The rest of the time, he buries it in bottlesand powder. But even with the influence ofthe drugs I know are coursing through his veins, you can hear how absolutely shattered he is.
I look to Dane on the drums and then to Angel and Ryder. They see it too. They see that Maddox is hanging on by a thread. All we can do is be there when that thread finally snaps.
The song ends. The audience has been absolutely silent. By the chorus, they’d pulled out their phonesfor light. Now, ear-shattering applause fills the arena.Whistles and shouts of praise tell us that everything Maddox wanted the audience to feel was felt and then some.
I look to my right where Liam, Cami, and Josephine are standing.Liam’s eyes swim with emotion, making me wonder what his story is. Histough exterior of a leather-wearing, tattooed badassbelies the man standing there with tears in his eyes.
Josephine and Cami are bothopenly sobbing. Tears run down their faces like a river.
All three faces share the same worried expressions as my brothers and me.
We get off the stage after Maddox and Ryder close out the show. The girls waste no time climbing on Mads, sobbing into his neck.He chuckles,hugging them back, then quickly brushes off their praise.In typical Maddox fashion, he plasters on a huge smile.
I notice he seems antsy. Too many feelings bombarding the guy at once. And these are all reflections of his ownemotions. These feelings are for him, and he isn’t handling it.
I watch as he nods over the girls’ heads to us, Ryder specifically, that he is getting out of there. Fast.
I am right behind him, but I’m headed for thebaby bus.
The baby bus.Like I’m not on there too. Whatever.
I walk onto the busto find Henry sitting there looking at something on his phone.I’m still pretty irritated about last night. He should’ve done a better job of watching after Cara.
“Got a problem, man?” he asks when I walk past him without a word.
I reach into the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water before I give him my attention. “I’ve definitely got a problem,but I’m not having it out right now. Cara and Lyra are asleep, I assume?”
“Come outside,” he orders gruffly, which only serves to agitate me more.
I follow him out, though. I step outside the bus but not too far away from the door. “What?” I ask without a hint of politeness.
“You said you weren’t having it out in there. So have it out right here.” Hisgreen eyes pierce right through me. He's trying to intimidate me, but I'm not usually intimidated by other men, even if they do have a couple inches and about thirty pounds on me.“What’s your problem.”
“You can’t guess?” I scoff. “None of that shit would’ve happened last night if you’d been doing your job. I mean, that’s why you’re here,right? To protect her?”
He gives mea shitty grin. An arrogant one that I want to wipe offwith my fist. “Your problem with me started long before last night,you jealous prick. But for argument's sake, what would you have had me do differently last night?”
I grind my teeth. I want to argue that I’m not jealous of him. That I have no reason to be. While the latter might be true, I have been jealous of him since he started. I hate that he’s had all of this time with Cara that I haven’t. Hopefully, that’s changing, so I’m going to ignore his comments. “If you’d stayed with her,that asshole wouldn’t have been able tohurt her,” I accuse without hesitation. “Youshould never have allowed her to bring some stranger back to the bus. Much less left them alone.”
“I watched her. I wasclose to her all night. But the girl is an adult. I couldn’t stop her from bringing him back. As far as leaving them alone, what would you suggest? I stand there and watch as she fucks the guy?”
The thought of him seeing her like that boils my blood. It moves like lava through my veins as I grab him by his shirt, pushing him into the side of the bus. “Don’t talk about her like that,” I grind out.
“Stop letting your jealousy rule your head,” he counters without attempting to get me out of his face.“If you want her, then you should tell her instead of puffing your chest out at me. I did my job. When she went in the bus with the guy, I stayed close enough to get to her. Last night, Ididn’t have to go to her. You did. I went after the bastard that scared her.”
