ELIJAH WAS BACK, AND he had Rose with him. That guy owed me. He’d still be sitting around being a miserable sack of shit if I hadn’t pushed him into going after her. Even if I hadn’t been motivated to go for it with Crow before, seeing the two of them together proved that you never get what you want in this life by sitting back and waiting for someone to hand it to you on a big, shiny silver platter. Crow could tease me as much as he liked. It wouldn’t stop me going for him.

The two of them were on the bus, heading to the arena. I wanted to talk to him, but he gave me “stay the hell away” eyes. I laughed. He was terrified I’d make him look like a dick in front of his woman. Ha. I’d leave them alone for now.

Crow didn’t join us on the bus. He must’ve gone earlier with Damo to double-check things. Well, Damo would be double-checking. Crow was avoiding me. Polly wasn’t around, either. I was thankful for that.

I sat by myself, trying to figure things out in my head. I knew what Crow had been doing, but I had no idea how he could get that far, then stop. There was no way I’d have been able to stop. I didn’t have that much self-control. As it was, I’d spent a long time under a cold shower when I got back to my room. Anything to take the edge off my pounding need.

We headed off to the arena, then we had to wait around for the Freaks to do their thing. Hanging out in the backstage room with Polly was not my idea of fun. She sat on a sofa, reading a magazine, but she kept glaring up at me. Those looks of mistrust bugged me so much. What did she think I’d do? Rip my clothes off and throw myself at Crow while he sat at his drum kit? I wasn’t that desperate.

I sighed and turned away from her. I’d keep my eyes on my phone and ignore her.

Then Fiona came into our room. I grinned at her, pleased for the distraction.

“Did you want me to show you how to do the eyeliner now?” she said.

“Hell yeah.” Saved.

We set up at one of the mirrors, and Fiona carefully went through the steps. Whoa—no wonder her makeup looked so much better than mine. She actually used primers and all that. It was a very complicated process, but wow, the results were worth it.

“Enjoying the tour?” I asked her.

I wasn’t sure if she was that into it or if she was just tagging along because of Matty.

“It’s fun,” she said. “I’ve spent so many years traveling the world, but I never got to see anything. It was all just work and more work. Maybe a bit of partying, but I spend more time on the catwalk than sightseeing.”

I sighed. Her life seemed so glamorous. Even when she put it like that, she got to be on the catwalks and in the magazines. I’d never be able to do that. Not unless I magically grew a helluva lot. She was about a foot taller than me.

“Even with Matty playing most nights, we still get a chance to get out and do things,” she said. “It’s not like—”

She stopped herself there. Again, she didn’t want to talk about her past. I got that.

“The festival in Paris will be fun,” I said. “I can’t wait.”

Polly threw her magazine down on the sofa. “We’re not going to the festival. We’re not on the bill.” Her voice was so sharp, you could cut rocks with it.

“Yeah, but I assumed we’d go along anyway. It’ll be fun, being part of the crowd. We can chill, catch some bands, have a few beers.”

I watched her in the mirror.  She glared at me. I glared back. She was so unfair. It wasn’t like I’d get up to anything worse at the festival than I could do here. I wasn’t going to say that to her, though, because it’d put the idea in her head that I was up to something here.

Which I wasn’t.

Because of her.

I thanked Fiona for the makeup tips. She nodded, then quickly left the room. I didn’t blame her. The tension between Polly and me had become toxic. I’d leave just as quickly if I could.

“We’re not going. We need to rehearse, and since we have three days off, it’s the perfect opportunity.”

“But—”

“No buts. We have to be as good as, if not better than, the Freaks. We might be the opener on this tour, but I want to kick their ass.”

That was all lies. I wanted to call her on it, but I bit my tongue instead. Sure, we needed to rehearse, but not this weekend.

“I think Damo’s bad habits are wearing off on you,” Jax said, walking into the room. “I’d like to go to the festival.”

Polly turned her angry face on him. “We need to do this. We’re good, but we’re not good enough. And, frankly, it’s a lot cheaper to hire a rehearsal studio here than it is to get one in Paris. So we play the three shows here, ending up on Friday night. The guys leave on Saturday for Paris, and we head to the studio. They do the festival show on Sunday, and we meet up with them in Paris on Tuesday. Got it?”

“Okay, we rehearse,” Jax said.

Soft cock. He totally could’ve overruled her. He’d been in Wreckage just as long as she had. He had equal rights. I never felt like I did, since I’d only been part of the lineup for a short time. If he’d stood up to her, it’d be two against one, and we’d win.

This was all bullshit, or Polly would’ve told us earlier. She might say it was about rehearsing, but it had to be about keeping me away from Crow.

I’d made real progress with him, and now we’d be apart, even if it was only for a few nights. If you’re not moving forward in this world, you’re going backwards. Like when you ignore your Instagram for a few days and lose a thousand followers.

But screw that shit. Polly and Jax could rehearse their hearts out. I’d hop on a train and go to the festival on my own. I hated being controlled.  I’d play along with Polly for now, let her think that her bossy-boots attitude had me under control, but the minute we got offstage on Friday night, I’d hop a train to Paris and be far away from her grasp.

This plan was even more brilliant than the last one.