Paul smirked at me as he walked closer. Paul was the type who was trying too hard in my opinion. From the disheveled hair to the ripped-up clothes, the heavy eye makeup, and his wrists and fingers covered in jewelry, he just seemed…fake. “Fight with your girlfriend? She cheat on you yet?”

His comment, and his addition of the word “yet” climbed right under my skin, and I finally settled on an emotion. Clenching my fingers around my phone, I forced myself to keep my hands at my sides, and not slug him. “Leave me the fuck alone,” I told him.

He didn’t like that. “What the fuck’s your problem?” He’d said that louder than he needed to. He wanted attention. Wanted people to see me as the villain here. Problem was, he was making me want to act like the villain. His overdone face was getting more and more tempting by the second.

Goddamn it. Picking a fight with someone I had to share a bus with was not going to help the rest of this tour. Swallowing my pride, I walked around him, back toward the bus door. That finally made him happy. “That’s what I thought,” he muttered.

I almost stopped. I almost turned around and walked back over to him. And that was when Evan stepped out of the bus, his eyes concerned as he looked my way. He’d heard the asshole’s exclamation, and he’d known I was still out here. Evan also knew the murderous look on my face—he’d seen it a time or two. His eyes flashed between me and Paul, then he started minutely shaking his head. I could practically hear his thoughts. Don’t do it, man. Just let it go.

Closing my eyes, I kept on with my slow pace to the bus. I reopened them at the door, and looked up at Evan. “I’m going for a run now. If that fucker follows me, I will kill him.”

Evan nodded, then clapped my shoulder. “I’ll help you bury the body,” he said with a smirk.

A small laugh escaped me, and I felt the tension dissolving. Evan laughed too…then he stood guard outside the bus while I got changed. Damn. I owed that man so fucking much it was ridiculous.

The next couple of days lasted so long, but eventually Christmas Eve rolled around, and I was on a plane, heading to Kiera. The energy coursing through me was almost too much to bear, and I found myself constantly moving. I had to be annoying the shit out of the person sitting beside me on the plane, but the older woman just smiled whenever she looked at me.

I stared out the dark window, willing time to speed up. Who knew a plane could feel so…slow.