Feather?

“I’m sorry my friend is a little out of hand,” she said.

“A little? Did you see what he did? He just yanked the phone—”

“I’m sure he’s sorry.” Jessica looked up at Sed pointedly.

It was obvious that he’d get nowhere with his current tactics, besides tossed out of the hotel on his ass.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Sed said. “A guest in this hotel has a friend who’s in the hospital. He might die. Do you understand? I need to speak to Brian Sinclair. Trust me, he wants to know about this.”

“You are the one who doesn’t understand. Mister Sinclair is a celebrity, and—”

“I know he’s a celebrity. He’s in my fucking band. Jesus—”

Jessica covered Sed’s mouth with her hand.

Security had arrived. “Is this guy causing a problem, Jean Carlo?”

Jessica stared deeply into Jean Carlo’s eyes and shook her head pointedly. He mimicked her motion. “Just a misunderstanding,” Jean Carlo said to the security guards.

The four large men stepped to the side of the desk, keeping a close eye on Sed, who happened to be wearing leather pants, a duster, and no shirt. He supposed he did look even more suspicious than usual.

Jessica crooked a finger at Jean Carlo and leaned close to him. Sed’s body tensed. As if he hadn’t wanted to punch this dumb fuck in the face enough already.

The way-too-handsome clerk smiled while Jessica whispered into his ear. He scrawled something on a piece of paper and handed it to her.

She kissed his cheek and leaned away.

“I’ll see you at the club tomorrow night, Feather,” Jean Carlo said. “It’s payday.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Sed’s knuckles cracked under the strain of his clenching fists.

“Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie,” Jessica said. “I got fired. I thought you knew.”

Jean Carlo scowled, his slim dark brows drawing together. “Fired? Well, where are you working now?”

“Nowhere at the moment, but I’ll let you know if I start dancing again.”

Jessica grabbed Sed’s sleeve and led him away from the desk.

“Wait, he still didn’t call Brian.”

“Shh,” Jessica demanded. She pulled him behind a pillar and handed him the slip of paper the clerk had given her. “This is Brian’s room number. Jean Carlo can’t call their room, but we can go up and knock on the door. And if we get into trouble, he did not help us. Got it?”

“Don’t you need a guest key to get on the elevator?”

She handed him a plastic card. “Any more questions?”

“Did he really call you Feather?”

Her nose wrinkled, making him want to kiss its adorable tip. “My stripper stage name. Any other questions?”

“Did you fuck that guy?” He jerked a thumb in the direction of the front desk.

“None of your business.”

Maybe. But he still wanted to kill him. “Let’s go get Brian now.”

Within minutes, they were standing outside Brian’s hotel suite. Sed knocked loudly. No answer.

“You don’t think they’ve gone out, do you?” Jessica asked.

“Highly unlikely,” Sed said. “He’s with Myrna on his honeymoon. If anything, he’s passed out from exhaustion.” He knocked again, more loudly this time. “Brian,” he shouted. “Open the door.”

There was a loud thunk on the other side of the door. A moment later, Brian yanked it open. He had a sheet bunched around his naked hips. His entire body was drenched in sweat and his shoulder-length black hair stuck to his damp face and neck.

“This better be important.”

“Is that Sed?” Myrna appeared behind Brian, cinching a bathrobe around her waist.

“And Jessica,” Brian grumbled.

While Brian scowled at this discovery, Myrna grinned. “You two should consider getting your own room. We’re using every square inch of ours.”

Sed didn’t know how to break the news other than just blurting it. “It’s Trey. He had a seizure and he’s in the ICU at the hospital. He keeps asking for you, Brian, so Eric sent me to find you.”

“Trey?” Brian said, dumbstruck.

Myrna’s knowing grin faded. “It’s his head injury, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, he has a subdur- hema…um…”

“A subdural hematoma?” Myrna winced. “Are they draining it?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Sed said. “I don’t really know.”

“I’ll find Brian some clothes and we’ll be right out,” Myrna promised.

Myrna tugged Brian inside and closed the door.

Sed leaned against the wall heavily. “Thanks, Jessica. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

She smiled and nodded. “I feel kind of responsible for the entire thing.”

“Why? It’s my fault.”

She shook her head. “You should call Eric and let them know we found Brian.”

He dialed Eric, who answered on the first ring.

“Did you find him?”

“Yeah, we’ll be on our way in a few minutes. Which hospital?”

Eric relayed the hospital’s location. The hotel suite door opened and Brian emerged, still pulling his shirt over his head. Myrna closed the door behind them, stumbling against the wall as she tried to walk and put on her shoes at the same time.

“Lead the way,” Myrna said.

When they were all on the elevator, Myrna leaned against Brian and brushed the hair from his face. “He’ll be fine, sweetheart.”

“What’s a subdural whatever-you-call-it?” Sed asked Myrna, who seemed to understand what was going on.

“It’s when a person bleeds under the membrane that covers their brain. The blood has nowhere to go, so it just keeps building up and pressing on the brain. That’s what causes injury, so they’ve got to drain the blood before…” She averted her gaze. “His brain is probably fine.”

“Probably?” Brian asked, his voice cracking.

Myrna kissed Brian’s jaw. “We’ll know more when we get to the hospital, but he’s been walking around with this injury for over a day. The blood took a long while to accumulate, so he can’t be hemorrhaging much.”

“Goddamned Eric starting fights,” Brian said. “And you,” he said, his intense brown eyes swiveling to focus on Sed. “If you’d think with your head instead of your cock on occasion, this would have never happened.” His gaze moved to Jessica. “And why are you here anyway?”

“She helped me find you,” Sed said. “Why didn’t you tell anyone where you were going and then shut off your fucking cell phone?”

Brian leaned heavily against the back of the elevator car and pressed on his temples with both hands. “I don’t know. I’m stupid. I was only thinking about myself.”

“Brian—” Jessica started.

“Don’t speak to me. You have no idea what kind of damage you left behind when you walked out on Sed.”

Jessica’s eyes widened and she glanced at Sed in disbelief.

Great. Just what he needed: Jessica to know she was his greatest weakness.

“Brian, I know you’re upset, sweetheart, but—” Myrna began.

“Don’t you dare side with them.”

“I’m not siding with anyone. I know you’re upset and I don’t want you to say something you’ll regret.”

“Why would I regret telling the truth? You fucked him up big time when you left him, Jessica. He hurts everyone around him without regard for anything but his fucking libido.”

Sed couldn’t argue. He’d hurt Brian more than anyone, because, as a romantic, Brian was the easiest to hurt. Sed had seduced every one of Brian’s girlfriends with the exception of Myrna. He’d have slept with Myrna too, if she’d allowed it.

“I suppose you’re fucking her now.” Brian pointed at Jessica, who flinched.

Sed and Jessica avoided each other’s gazes.

“God! You’re such an idiot!” Brian reached over and slapped Sed alongside the head. “She’s just going to destroy you again, man. You have the shortest memory of anyone I know.”

Sed knew Jessica would destroy him. He knew it, but he loved her anyway. He’d always loved her. He’d never stopped loving her, and he’d still love her after she knifed him in the heart again. Even now she was setting him up to knock him down and he honestly didn’t care. Whatever she had in mind couldn’t be worse than living without her.