Page 79 of Between Never and Forever

“Just be discreet, Keelani. Ezekiel is a major shareholder. It’s not like it’s Ethan coming to your dressing room. I don’t have to tell you this.” His lecture had my stomach curdling. He went on and on, and I lost more and more of my excitement for the night.

Should I have told Mitchell I was sick of being bossed around by him? That I didn’t even intend to listen to Frankie about my show? Should I have told him I was done listening? That if that man came into my fitting room, I was most likely going to rebel in a way I never had?

I took deep breaths as Olive continued to work on my hair. Meanwhile, I hollowly agreed to everything my manager voiced to me on the phone.

When I hung up, she leaned in. “You got this, Kee?”

Pink answered for me. “Of course she’s got this. Remember, you do you out there. Oh, and we got in the chair you requested.”

“It’s lined in velvet?” I asked just to be sure it was the right one. I wanted that chair to be sexy but classy as I sang a few of the songs at the end of my concert. The tantric chair would help to represent that.

“Of course.” Pink winked at me and then turned to D. “Dimitri, where’s your insufferable brother?”

Dimitri sat in my dressing room on the couch, staring at the door. “I’m wondering the same damn thing.”

“He’s probably working,” I muttered. Even if this was a PR stunt, it still hurt that he hadn’t come to wish me good luck, that he hadn’t opened his door, that he didn’t want to.

He was protecting his heart from me while I swam out to him with mine in my hand, ready to throw it to him without a lifeline. And as if on cue, the door opened, but standing behind it wasn’t Dex.

It was Bane.

“What are you doing here?” Pink’s eyes narrowed first on me and then on the overpowering presence that the man had. Every time he was in a room, it shifted to a darker place, like his all-black suit radiated foreboding along with his stone-cold stare. And it cooled even further as he looked at Pink.

“Here to wish Keelani a good night, Bianca. That okay with you?”

“Bianca?” I blurted out. “Is that your name?”

Pink waved the blush brush at me. “Oh, likeKeelaniis really your name?”

“It is.”

“Makes sense if it’s true.” She squinted at me, ready to call my bluff.

“It is,” Olive confirmed and then pried into our new friend’s life. “Why Pink instead of Bianca?”

“The hair of course.” She said it so fast, we both looked at her.

My eyes drifted to Bane. I saw a small smile, one that didn’t even seem to belong on his serious face, playing on his lips as he watched Pink squirm. Then he said, “That’s not what I recall—”

“Quiet,” she hissed at him. “Bane thinks he can useBiancaeven though it’s from my past, but”—she looked at him then—“he can’t.”

He hummed but didn’t fight her on it. His piercing gaze was back on me instead. “Keelani, it’s been a pleasure for my crew within the resort to work with you so far. I’m sorry I haven’t been around more, but I wanted to stop by and let you know that if you need anything, make sure to alert Dex or me. Your time here is important to all of us. We’ve done lighting and sound checks. The theater is filled. And extra security measures have been implemented at Dex’s request.”

The man rattled off things that normally would have been managed by my security team and creative director. “Frankie and the security team—”

“We’re very thorough here, Ms. Hale. It’s the Black and HEAT names, after all. Your new security team is being briefed, but at this time, we will have our security crew handling your stay.”

Dimitri hadn’t said a thing from the couch he sat on, but he muttered, “About time.” And then his eyes met mine. “Our team’s the best, Keelani. You’re taken care of. I would have done it myself, but Dex had already put the wheels in motion.”

“Oh.” I frowned. Dex hadn’t told me anything about it, but telling the whole room that my fiancé and I weren’t really talking felt a little ridiculous. “Okay. Well, thank you.”

Dimitri sighed as he closed the laptop that rested on his legs and stood. He waved away Olive who was behind me, and Pink scoffed as he came to stand behind me in the mirror. “Don’t thank me when you’re the one getting on stage here, Kee. I know what it means. You sold out.”

Bane looked between us before he nodded. “We appreciate you.” He didn’t say anything else, yet most everyone in that room murmured words of encouragement and affirmation after him.

They told me I was the star. I was the show. I was giving them all a gift with my voice.

When I asked for a minute alone, I only shed one tear staring at myself in the lighted mirror. I had a full face of makeup, smoky eyes, my dark hair curled in soft waves down over my shoulders. My dress was short, shimmery, and swayed if I sashayed just a little.