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Skylar sighed, gritting her teeth. She didn’t say anything as she sat up on the end of the bed with her back to Elena. Picking up a pair of sneakers from the floor, Skylar began to lace them up.

“Sky, talk to me.”

“I honestly don’t know what to say right now, so I’m choosing to say nothing.”

“Come on.” Elena sat up, adjusting the sheet to cover her bare chest. “Don’t shut me out like this.”

“Shut you out?” Skylar snorted a laugh. “I can’t shut you out if you won’t even let me in.”

Standing, Skylar crossed her arms as she looked down at Elena.

“What did last night mean to you?”

“What?”

“Was it just scratching an itch?”

“Skylar, no.” Elena got out of bed, picked up her discarded dress, and quickly put it back on. “You know it was more than that.”

“But you don’t want to admit that to anyone. Not even yourself.”

“I just don’t think it’s anyone’s business who I’m sleeping with. As long as it’s consensual, what’s the matter?”

“It mattered because you keep forcing me back into the closet with you, and I can’t do that. I can’t live my life there. Not with everything that’s going on in this world to shut a love like ours out.”

Elena was keenly aware of the love like ours comment but didn’t point it out to Skylar.

“I care about you, and I know you care about me.” Skylar huffed a laugh. “Hell, I might even still love you. And while I don’t regret last night, it can’t happen again until you accept that you might still love me, too.”

To say Elena was too stunned to speak would have been an understatement. Elena knew that, eventually, she and Skylar would have to talk about the elephant in the room. She just didn’t think it would come so quickly after their first time back together.

Maybe it was because they jumped into bed without talking first. Maybe Elena should have just gone back to her own tour bus and not confronted Skylar. She’d be lying to herself if she said that at least a tiny part of her didn’t think that maybe sex would happen if she showed up at Skylar’s door. There was so much chemistry between them it was almost inevitable.

But the hurt look on Skylar’s face made Elena wish she’d thought through her actions first and how they might affect Skylar.

Elena didn’t have time to form a response before there was a knock at the tour bus door. She watched Skylar leave the bedroom, closing the door behind her. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she listened to see who it was.

“Hey.”

“Hey, have you seen Elena?” Erica. “The buses are getting ready to leave, and she’s not on hers, and I can’t find her.”

“I haven’t seen her, but I’ll grab my phone and see if I can find her.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Elena heard the door shut, followed by Skylar’s encroaching footsteps as she opened the bedroom door.

“Erica’s looking for you.”

“I heard.”

She snorted another laugh. “This is just like old times. Us sneaking around, trying not to get caught.”

“Right?” Elena laughed. Her eyes softened as she stood and placed her hands on Skylar’s upper arms. “I’m not ready to come out publicly yet, but that doesn’t mean I won’t get there. I feel if anything is said right now, it’ll overshadow the tour, and that’s not fair to any of us. Not after how hard we’ve worked to get this tour together. Just, please, Skylar, don’t give up on me. Let’s get through the tour, and then we can figure this out, okay?”

Skylar seemed to think about the proposition for a moment. She averted her eyes from Elena’s as she bit her lip. Her mind’s wheels were turning; Elena could see it in her eyes. Finally, Skylar nodded.

“I get the point about it overshadowing the tour.”