Page 139 of Rock Giant

“Would you stop it?”He shook his head, making his long hair swish against his shoulders.He reached out to her, and pulled her closer, one hand behind the back of her neck and reeled her in until their brows were braced against one another.“You need to ditch the martyr routine.”

“You say that, but if it wasn’t for me getting handfasted to Rock Giant, then none of this would ever have happened.The tour would have run smoothly.”

“If Nash hadn’t stood you up, you’d never have got handfasted to another man.”

“I shouldn’t have got high.”

Lee sandwiched her head between his hands.“You’re still not listening.He shouldn’t have stood you up.There’s no fucking reason why you should shoulder the blame for all of this.It’s time the annoying fucker took some responsibility for his own actions.”

“Maybe if I explain to Brian...to Samson, to Harry.”

“Explain what?”

“That I cheated on him, and that’s why he was angry.Why he attacked.”

Her heart was fluttering like a caged bird inside her chest.Her lungs felt tight, like someone had bound them with a dozen rubber bands.Her nose hurt where she’d been hit.Her eyes were stinging too, and it was getting harder and harder to see Lee through the filter of tears gathering in them.

“Breathe, Jo.Breathe.”He stroked a gentle hand through her hair.“Babe, no one gives a shit what the reason was.It only matters thathedid what he did.”

“Wait, are you not angry at me?I thought you’d be...How are you not angry with me?”

His jaw worked open and closed a couple of times without explaining.

“I don’t understand.He’s your friend.Your bandmate.”

“He’s also a colossal arse, and maybe...maybe I hoped—”

“Hoped what?”

“Murphy, you back there?Get your arse out here.”It seemed Samson had arrived along with the rest of the band if the jolts to the bus’s suspension were anything to go by.It was shit hitting the fan time.

Lee fished a clean T-shirt out of the cupboard by his bunk and pulled it on, leaving the blood splatted one behind on the floor.He took a step towards the door.Jodi caught hold of his arm.

“Hoped what, Lee?”

He offered her a tortured smile.“That you’d come to your senses, babe.”

“I...What?”

His hand stalled on the door handle.“He doesn’t deserve you.I’m not even sure he really likes you.I mean, he likes ordering you about, but that’s not really the same thing, is it?”

“You don’t think he likes me?”her voice rose into a squeak.

Lee wetted his lips and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.“I have to go, Jodi.”

“Don’t you dare.”She clamped her hand against the door.“Explain what you mean.And then explain why you’ve never said it before.”

His mouth twisted, causing his nostrils to thin.He looked almost longingly at the wood separating them from the front of the bus.With a sigh, he bowed his head.“Just that it’s become increasingly obvious since we hit the road that what he values about you most is the opportunities it affords him to crow about shit.‘Ooh, look at me.I have a girlfriend.Ooh, look we’re getting married.Take a gander at the rock I got her, guys.’And then there’s the fact that he wasn’t remotely interested in you until I was.Until Balin said you were cool, and Jez and Rune were ready to adopt you—”

“You were interested in me?”

“Murphy,” Samson yelled from the front of the bus.

Lee flashed her a sad grin.“Come on, you knew that.”

“No.”She hiccoughed.“I didn’t.”

Lee’s lips stretched open so that his teeth were showing.“Cute little cupcake like you, of course I was.”