“Yeah, we’ll take the service elevator down.” Gep is a massive man wearing a long-sleeved, black T-shirt, black jeans, and boots. “Sorry about your dad, Rhys.”

“Thanks, man.” Rhyson presses his hand to the small of my back. “We’ve got an extra passenger. Kai, this is John Gephardt. Gep, my friend, Kai. She’s going with us.”

Surprise flits across the security guard’s face before he pulls the professional mask in place. Rhyson really must be telling the truth when he says he never brings girls around. Everyone responds like I’m from Mars or something.

“Go, dude.” Bristol steps forward and hugs Rhyson around the neck. He wraps his arms around her back and kisses her temple.

“Grady, you coming?” Rhyson asks, turning to his uncle.

“I’m gonna stay for a little bit.” Grady’s smile carries more than its share of sadness. “I grew up here. I think I can find my way to the house on my own, and no reporters will bother me.”

Rhyson looks like he’s not sure he should leave. Grady crosses the small space separating them and hooks an elbow around his neck. He bends to whisper something in Rhyson’s ear. Rhyson stiffens briefly, but then nods, pounding Grady’s back a few times before stepping back. He finally turns back to me.

“You ready?”

Every time he asks me if I’m ready, I think I am. Somehow I know for sure that when we leave this hospital, when we walk out those doors, when we go to his home, when we are alone, I won’t be ready for Rhyson. So I don’t say that I am. I just let him lead the way.

ANXIETY ABOUT MY FATHER SQUEEZES AROUND my chest like a belt pulled to the last notch. We’ve gone twelve years without any real relationship, but the possibility of losing him for good has leveled me. This scare bulldozed my emotions, overturning my perspective completely. If he had died with our last words, angry and bitter, hanging between us . . . but it didn’t happen that way. I hold on to that reassuring thought, even though I know he’s not out of the woods yet.

Just getting out of that hospital helped. Those sterile walls and the antiseptic smell were driving me crazy. And my mother. She kept . . . touching me. Like we have a relationship. Like she’s ever been an actual parent. It was freaking me the hell out. And I hated the way she looked at Kai, like she was a bug in her salad.

I finally have just a few minutes alone with Kai. Well, minus Gep, of course, who’s driving us to my parents’ house. But no one will be there except us. I need to take advantage of what little time we have, since apparently, she has to leave tonight.

I consider her in the backseat beside me. The dark hair spills around her shoulders, and if she had makeup on at any point, it’s long gone. She’s been wearing the same jeans and T-shirt for more than twenty-four hours. She dropped everything to be here for me, but I know she has commitments back in Los Angeles I’m so selfish because despite everything she has already done, I want more. I want her to stay.

“So when does your flight leave?”

“Oh, uh, Grady said he’d talk with Bristol about getting me back tonight.” Kai looks at me, eyes cautious. “I have that music video tomorrow and need to get back.”

“Dub’s video?”

“Well, the one he booked me for. It’s actually that guy Luke Foster who won Total Package last season.”

“Oh, yeah. He’s a friend of mine.”

I hate that show and advised Luke against going on. Guess that shows how much I know. But the producers involved are all douches, and I wouldn’t let them within spitting range of my career.

“He actually invited me on set. I think this is the video for his first single since he won, right?” I keep my voice neutral. “How long is the shoot?”

“It’s three days. My part tomorrow is pretty small. I’m mostly on day three.”

“So . . . Dub.” Our eyes catch and hold, and she knows what I’m about to ask before it leaves my mouth. “He asked you out yet?”

The fact that she doesn’t answer right away is an answer in itself. The one I don’t want to hear. She flips her phone over in her lap a few times before looking back to me.

“Yeah. A couple times.”

“And?”

“And I told him no.”

Relief pushes a breath past my lips. At least one thing is going right, though the fact that he’s asking her at all kindles my temper.

“Why’d you tell him no?”

I’m pushing it, but I need something from her. Something that says she knows she’s mine. That what we shared on that pool table wasn’t a quick fuck we’ll always ignore and pretend never happened. I didn’t want our first time to be in my rec room on a pool table, but it still meant something to me. It meant . . . everything to me, and the possibility that it didn’t turn her inside out is killing me.

“Rhyson, let’s just focus on your dad for now and deal with all our stuff later.”

I nod, though I hate that. I know that motherfucker Dub has ulterior motives, but if I press the issue, Kai will get defensive or push me away. I can’t afford that.

The SUV comes to a halt in the circular driveway of the house that never felt like home. I get out and hold the door, helping her down. I don’t move back when she steps out. Her petite frame presses into me, the brief contact giving me a whiff of that cinnamon pear soap her mother made. Before I know it, my palm is at the back of her neck, and I’m dipping my head to lay a kiss on her lips. She tips up on her toes, opening her mouth under mine. God, I need to taste her. Her tongue meets me halfway, and her hand presses into my side, drawing me closer. We can talk later, but we have this right now. Our bodies have missed each other. The communion of this kiss loosens everything wound tight inside of me. This kiss is fresh air in a tight, padded cell.

The sound of Gep stepping out of the SUV disrupts the quiet, and Kai pulls back, glancing in his direction self-consciously. She steps away and starts toward the house.

“Sorry,” Gep whispers, shrugging.

I roll my eyes at him and follow Kai, pulling ahead to ring the doorbell. I don’t even have a key to this house anymore. How could this ever be home?

Bertie opens the door, concern and curiosity wrestling on her face. She eyes Kai for a second before turning her attention back to me.

“Rhys, you’re home.”

Bertie reaches up and hugs me. She’s always been really good at pretending we’re a normal family.

“I heard your father is out of surgery.”

“Yeah.” I nod and step back. “He won’t be awake for a while so they sent me home to sleep for a little bit. Bert, this is my friend, Kai.”

“Hello,” Kai says with a tentative smile.

“So pretty. Nice to meet you.” Bertie’s eyes drift between Kai and me. “You hungry?”

“Starved, but sleepier than anything else.”

“I swept out the tree house for you.” Bertie covers her mouth and glances at Gep and Kai, like she’s made a faux pas. In a way, I guess she has since she’s the only one who ever knew what that tree house meant to me.

“It’s fine, Bert.” I lean down to kiss her cheek and realize I’ve actually missed at least one person from this house. “I’ll take a look.”

“I’m gonna check the perimeter. Hit me up if you need me.” Gep leaves the way we just came.

“I’ll go get lunch started.” Bertie gestures up the steps. “I’m sure you remember the way, Rhys, and the guest room is ready if you want to lie down, Kai.”

She bustles off toward the kitchen, leaving Kai and me standing in the foyer and looking at each other carefully, like if we do or say the wrong thing, the fragile peace between us will shatter.

“Tree house?” Kai offers a small smile. “Somehow I didn’t envision the young Beethoven climbing trees.”