Page 24 of Last Chorus (A Perfect Song Duet #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

wilder

I tear open the front door and make it across the porch before realizing I’m barefoot and wearing a T-shirt. The wind off the water doesn’t care that it’s technically spring, immediately diving beneath my clothes and inducing a shiver.

Not that a blizzard would stop me.

Her retreat halted when I opened the door, but she doesn’t turn around as I jog down the brick path. Stopping a few feet from her back, I tuck my hands into my armpits.

“Evangeline?”

I’m aiming for calm, maybe even amusement, but I miss the mark by a mile. My chest heaves like my ten-second sprint was a triathlon. I sound angry.

I am angry .

It’s been two months since the Grammys. Two months since she disappeared from the public eye.

Eight long as fuck weeks in which I’ve wondered and worried about her, my only comfort the texts she sent Lily, Rye, and her parents before vanishing.

She told them she’d left Clay, was somewhere safe with Martin Page, and needed time to think.

Evangeline slowly turns around. Her head stays lowered, eyes on the ground between us and hands tucked in her coat pockets.

“I guess you’re wondering where I’ve been and what I’m doing here.”

I choke on a thousand replies, all of them too emotional.

She glances at the house, then at the two other cars parked in my driveway. “You have company. I’m sor—I mean, oops . I’ll just… go.”

I jerk forward, grabbing her arm before I even finish the thought of stopping her. “Don’t.”

She startles, chin and eyes lifting, her face finally visible in the ambient glow of the house lights. My brain absorbs new information so fast the steam from my breath might as well be leaving my ears.

I can hardly believe it, but she’s not wearing a wig like I thought.

She actually chopped off and dyed her signature white-blond locks.

The color, a shade darker than her lashes and brows, looks ridiculously sexy.

She’s put on some much-needed weight, too, her cheekbones not as stark and her jawline a touch softer.

And she’s tan—or as tan as she can get, her face and neck the light bronze, freckle-sprinkled hue I saw each summer as a kid.

The final difference is the only one that bothers me: she’s covered her pale gray iris with a contact lens color-matched to her hazel eye.

A gust of wind slaps me out of my stunned silence. “Are you okay? Where have you been?”

Her gaze slides off my face toward the water, visible only as winks of moonlight through the trees.

“I’m fine. I was in Baja.” She sighs. “I’d still be there if a local hadn’t recognized me at the market. Lazy mistake on my part—I was wearing a hat but forgot my contact lens. Honestly, I don’t blame her for following me and taking photos. Hopefully she holds out for a lot of zeroes.”

Given the ongoing media buzz around her disappearance, I have no doubt a few clear shots will earn the fan a life-changing payday.

I’m glad she understood the implications and left, but I still have to swallow the urge to lecture her.

The mere thought of her wandering around for weeks without protection makes me feel sick.

There’s a reason women in her position have bodyguards.

Between stalkers and obsessive fans, it’s fucking dangerous.

“I’ve been at my parents’ since I got back.” She grimaces, then grumbles, “Three nights was all I could handle.”

I smother a huff of laughter. Matt wouldn’t have held back on telling her exactly how irresponsible it was to play tourist, and it’s not hard to envision Evangeline’s reaction.

“And now?”

“I’m not sure.” She glances at the cars again. “I shouldn’t have bothered you.”

“You’re not bothering me.” Only when she trembles at my low tone do I realize I’m still holding her arm. My fingers loosen, but I can’t bring myself to let go entirely. “Why are you here, Evangeline?”

Her tongue peeks out to curl over an incisor.

Despite my balls currently impersonating ice cubes, arousal stirs in my gut.

It joins lingering anger and general overwhelm, creating a mess inside me.

Half of me wants to rip her pants off and fuck her against the closest tree, while the other half wishes I hadn’t answered the damn door.

Wind tries to steal her next words, but I catch them.

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

Shock forces air from my lungs in a burst of vapor .

I have no idea why she feels like she can’t go to Lily and Rye, or her grandparents, or one of her aunts or uncles…

But I don’t fucking care.

She came to me .

Mistaking my silence for confusion, she explains hurriedly, “You gave me your address that day at lunch, remember? I should have texted or called, I know, but I…” She trails off with a shake of her head. “Anyway, I’m sorry for dropping in like this.”

“Try again.”

She frowns for a moment, then gets it. Her lips curve. “ Oops .”

I grin. “Much better.”

Her gaze flickers between my dimples, then strokes across my mouth. When she swallows thickly, my mind cartwheels into the gutter. That elegant neck under my hand. Feeding my cock past those lips. Feeling her swallow from the inside.

“It’s okay if you’ve changed your mind. I completely understand.”

I blink away the fantasy. “I haven’t changed my mind. You’re always welcome here.”

She sucks in a breath. “Oh.”

The sight of her pursed lips sends another zap of desire down my spine. For my own sanity, I release her arm and take a half-step backward. My teeth immediately start to chatter.

“Do you have a bag? I can grab it for you.”

Relief softens her features. “Yes, but I’ll get it. You’re obviously freezing.” She turns, then pauses to grin at me over her shoulder. “Thank you, Wilder. So, so much. I won’t stay longer than a few weeks.”

She walks quickly toward her car, parked near the end of the drive ahead of Jax’s and Eddie’s. I gape after her, certain I must have misheard her final words. Because if I didn’t, and she’s staying a few weeks ?

I’m seriously fucked.

Evangeline in my house, in my kitchen, on my furniture…

I won’t survive it. More accurately, my dominant hand won’t survive it.

A shiver so violent I almost bite through my tongue sends me hustling toward the house. Halfway up the porch steps, a bolt of fear halts me. I spin around and search the darkness.

Light flares at the end of the driveway, highlighting Evangeline as she leans into the back seat of her car.

I start breathing again.

A creak of wood behind me precedes Jax’s soft, surprised voice. “Is that who I think it is? ”

I nod and join him on the porch, sighing as the heat escaping the open front door laps against my body.

“She’s on a list at the gate.”

What I don’t say is that the list she’s on is different from the main one with approved guests. Only one person has no restrictions, can show up whenever, without notice, even if I’m not here.

Jax’s sigh makes me think he can deduce as much. “Okay. I’ll round everyone up and we’ll get out of here. Kitchen’s mostly sorted, and we already demolished the cannoli. Eddie’s fault, naturally.”

I chuckle. “Naturally. Thanks, man.” I hesitate, then blurt, “About Aubrey, I?—”

He quickly lifts a hand. “Dude, no. That was my bad. I warned Shannon it probably wouldn’t go the way she wanted. I’m guessing I was right?”

Grimacing, I rub the heels of my hands into my eyes. “Pretty much. Aubrey asked me out, but the doorbell rang before I could answer. She’s super cool, I’m just… I guess it was bad timing.”

Lowering my hands, I see Jax’s too-wide smile a second before a throat clears softly behind me.

“Hey, Jax,” says Evangeline. “How’s it going?”