“Stop,” I beg him, desperate to look anywhere but at him.

“You don’t want this,” he says, moving into my sight. When I look away, he moves again. And again, and again, and again.

“Stop!” I cry, forcing his hands away from my face. I grasp my towel just before it falls and step back. “Please, Aidan. Just stop. Now.”

“Never,” he replies, his voice hoarse. “I won’t stop until you listen to me. I won’t stop until you do. ’Cause you were right. You always have a choice. I made the wrong choice when I agreed with my manager on this, but I didn’t make the wrong choice when it came to you, all right? You’re one of the best fucking choices I’ve ever made. You have your choice, and if it’s still to leave right now, then you can do that, but I have the choice to fight for you. And, Jessie? I will. I’ll fight until the only choice you have left is me. I will fight for the rest of my fucking life, until you see that the choice you’re making by leaving right now is the wrong one.”

I take a shuddery breath.

“You promised twenty-four hours, baby. Twenty-four hours for me to prove to you that this whole thing was worth it, and I think I just did it in two seconds.” One step closer. And another. And another. “Just . . . fuck. Don’t leave me, Jessie. Not like this, not right now.”

“I promised, but I’m a liar,” I whisper.

“So am I. But here’s the thing—of all the lies I’ve told, you’re my favorite one.” He takes my face in his hands again. “I’m a selfish fucking liar, but I care about you. Even though you think I don’t, I do. I care about you so fucking much that I’d rather keep you by my side and put you in the way of being hurt than let you walk away and be safe.”

Aidan

The tears are falling from her eyes thick and fast, pouring past my thumbs and curving down her jaw to her neck. She doesn’t reply to me; I don’t even think she can. I think all the energy she has is going into the tears she’s crying.

Fuck though.

No way.

No fucking way am I letting her walk away from me right now.

Not now that I know this is as real to her as it is to me.

I tilt her face back and gently press my mouth to hers. The salty tears that have fallen there create a barrier between us, but I kiss that away until there’s nothing left except the sweet taste of her—of my Jessie.

I can almost hear her warring with herself, torn between staying or leaving. As much as it hurts, it is her choice. But one of them will be wrong. One of them will fucking kill me, of that I’m sure. If she chooses to walk away from me right now, I know I’ll never be the same again.

If anyone has ever had the power to break my heart, it’s her. And that heart is hanging in the balance right now.

She opens her eyes. The tears have made them shinier than I’ve ever seen them, but her hesitation has dulled their usual sparkle. Her wariness and fear has made them a shadow of their usual color. “How do I know this isn’t another lie?”

“Because hearts don’t lie.”

She drops her gaze to the ground. Hearts don’t lie, but mine sure as hell just fucking sunk to the pit of my stomach. Every part of me wants her to stay, even if it means I have to fight to convince her everything I just said is true. I can’t fight if she isn’t here.

“You’re my favorite lie, too, and my worst choice,” she whispers, followed by a deep exhale. “But I don’t know if I can do it, Aidan. I don’t know if I can keep taking the crap I have been. Are you really willing to let me do it? Because next time, it might not be my car. I think some of those girls really, really want to kill me.”

“If you try and go, I’ll save them the job,” I murmur, smiling.

The edges of her lips curve up just a little. “Try it and I’ll put your drumstick up your butt,” she replies.

“Kinky.” I wipe the last tear from beneath her eye and wrap my arms around her shoulders. She drops her bag and towel and willingly steps into me, holding my waist. I bury my face in her wet hair and kiss the side of her head. “They’ll stop when they realize this is for real. We have security for a reason. But that doesn’t really matter—what matters is us. If I promise to piss you off every day and always leave a drumstick within your reach, will you agree to be with me for real?”

“You’re serious about the drumstick?”

“I never joke when it comes to my tools.”

She tut-tuts, but I feel her smile against my skin. “Is the drumstick for you or your fan club?”

“For whatever purpose it’s needed. My brothers are bastards. I’m not gonna restrict you to just shoving it up my ass, you know.”

She laughs and tilts her head back. “How do you do it? Ten minutes ago I was sure I wanted to be as far away from you as possible, and now I’m laughing while silently thinking of all the ways I can hurt you with your drumsticks.”

“Hurt me? Whoa now. I thought they’d be our new sex toy. Hurting brothers, not me!”

“Sex toys?” Tate asks, walking around the far corner with his arm around Ella. “Who’s usin’ sex toys?”

Ella slaps his bare stomach, and Jessie pushes me off her. “We found your vibrating vagina,” she tells him, lifting her towel and wiping her face.

“Aw, shit. Ella didn’t know about that!”

Ella laughs. “So you think.”

He stops, looking at her. “I don’t have a vibrating vagina.”

She quirks an eyebrow. “You’ve had several. They just all came with legs and the ability to sell their story to the media. You probably should have gone for the plastic one.”

He looks at me, defeated. “I really fuckin’ hate it when she kicks my ass like that, you know?”

“You’re tellin’ me,” I reply, picking up Jessie’s bag. She smirks at me.

“Goin’ somewhere?” Tate asks her, looking between the bag and her as we walk back to the lounge area.

“She tried to,” Kye answers helpfully, unscrewing the cap on a water bottle. “She ran, Aidan chased her like he had a jumbo jet up his ass, she cried, he begged, groveled, pleaded, whined, begged some more, and she finally gave in after one of those movie-type kisses.”

“Thanks, man. That doesn’t make me sound like a loser at all,” I drawl, dumping the bag back on her lounge chair.

“You’re welcome, bro. Thanks for the front-row seat.” He tips his water bottle at me, but his grin and wink are directed at Jessie.

“You tried to leave and you chased her? Again?” Tate snorts. “Y’all need your own fuckin’ reality show. Duggars and Kardashians got nothin’ on you.”

I wish I could fucking argue that, but I can’t.

“And Jessie has a better ass than Kim,” Kye adds.

Can’t argue that either.

“Go find your own ass to look at, because you’re outnumbered,” Ella pipes up, prodding Kye in the shoulder.

Kye snorts, screwing the cap back on the water bottle and dropping it on his lounge chair. “My own ass? Fuck no. It’s bad enough dealing with all y’all, never mind another.”

Jessie rolls her eyes, unbraiding her hair and reaching into her bag at the same time. “We have to deal with four of y’all,” she argues, rightly, too. “It’s only fair.”

“We, huh?” Conner asks, grinning. “So you’re his real girlfriend now? Aw, look at you two. All grown up!”

“You know, I’d have a great shot at your balls from here.” She brandishes her hairbrush, and he steps back out of her reach. “Besides, he’ll just keep chasin’ me.”

“Like a dog with a ball,” Kye continues. He taps his thighs and whistles at me. “Here, boy.”

Jessie claps her hand over her mouth, and I grab the nearest object, which happens to be the brush from Jessie’s hand. I throw it at Kye, and he only just ducks in time for it to fly past his head.

“Bastard,” he laughs, shoving his finger up at me.