Delicate Us

Chapter 29

Trace

Drumming his fingers on the desk in the empty office room, annoyance spilled into Trace's veins as he waited for Kyle 20 minutes past the time they had agreed to meet.

Prickles of anxiety clawed up his throat, but he did his best to compose himself. The fucking nerve of him. Played Trace like a game, preyed on his weakness of reading to add whatever he wanted to the contract. Take half the money from Trace's football career if he got injured. Somehow he pulled the strings of owning half of Syler's music rights. Trace's jaw clenched in anger that he even had to see Kyle again. And to keep it buried deep down so his agent didn't expect anything was going to be difficult to play off. But Syler was a genius, and he trusted her plan to work because he trusted her. Even in the midst of finding out she had lied to him, it was no use how much he loved her. And that love was the only thing keeping him anchored in this fit of rage boiling in his veins.

The office door opened, and a smiling Kyle approached with a bottle of champagne in hand. "Congratulations! We are about to be very rich, Kelton."

Seeing him triggered Trace more than he thought it would. To be this close and not tear him apart was going to eat him alive. He stood with adrenaline flowing through his body and manufactured a smile. Trace grabbed Kyle's hand, and brought him into a hug, slapping him once on the back, admittedly a little harder than he probably should have.

Kyle poured the alcohol and slid one flute to Trace. "Drink up, buttercup."

Trace took a sip. "I can't believe you put that we get Syler's masters in the contract. What a sneaky bastard you are." It was the truth, but Trace covered the intensity of it with a laugh.

He shrugged with a proud smile and slapped him on the chest with the back of his hand. "I'm always watching out for you. You know, in case you get injured. Athletes' careers get cut short sometimes. We have to be prepared."

Trace wanted to untangle himself from that "we". Kyle was in this for himself and only himself. If he could have me on a gurney with a doctor's recommendation that I couldn't play anymore while he basked in 100% of Syler's rights, he would in a heartbeat. Trace clinked his glass with Kyle's and smiled. "Let's commemorate this moment, yeah?"

Trace pulled out his phone, but it was dead. "Oh, shoot. My battery is dead. Give me yours." Trace held out his hand, putting pressure on Kyle to obey.

"I'll do it." Kyle took out the phone and held it in front of them.

Irritation pooled in Trace's blood. He had to get his hands on that phone.

Together, they smiled for the photo. Trace peeked over and saw the result, growling. "Ew, you're an awful photographer. Must be your shorter arms. Let me show you a trick. It's called the rule of three." I reached out and snatched the phone out of his hand with dominant authority as I stepped closer to him. Using his much larger physical build than Kyle was not something he typically would have done, but in this case, he was standing straighter and taller and puffed his chest just enough for Kyle to feel like the smallest man who ever lived.

Kyle relinquished the phone with a snarl. "Manhandle your ladies, not me." There was a tiny twitch of his hand, like he wanted to impulsively snatch his phone back, but Trace was quick to pull it away from him.

The fire alarm went off. Sirens blasting in all the rooms in the building and the hallways. The sprinkler system on the ceiling activated and water rained down on everything. It was a wet, chaotic mess. The cold drenched Trace's clothes and hit the top of his buzz head with a powerful blend of awakeness and preparation.

"Dammit!" Trace announced, shoving his own phone into Kyle's hand. "Hurry out."

As they entered the hallway full of people headed for the exit, Trace spotted one person with a black hood on and a discreet open hand at her side. Thank goodness her long black hair fell from the bottom of her hood or else he may have mixed Lucy up with the other women pulling up their hoods to protect them from the sprinklers. Trace passed her and placed Kyle's phone in her hand where she then branched off into the crowd and disappeared.

Outside, everyone looked at each other in sodden clothes.

Trace felt a tap on his chest. He looked up into Kyle's confused cold eyes. "This is your phone, Trace."

"Oh, thanks." He casually grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket before wiping off the top of his head from the water.

"Where the hell is my phone?"

Trace shrugged. "I thought I gave it back to you, so I don't know."

Kyle fixed his vision back to the building. "Fuck, it's probably in the office then."

"Well, go get it. It's probably getting soaked."

Kyle shook his head. "You get it. It was your fault."

"Okay, fine, you big baby." As long as he separated from Kyle, it didn't matter who went back into the building. Trace ran in, listening to the fire alarm echo out into the emptying halls. But, instead of climbing up the stairs into the office, he headed straight through the hallway and out the back door where he jumped into the black SUV with tinted windows.

Syler and her mother were hunched over an open laptop in the back seat, Kyle's phone plugged in and downloading its contents. Even while Syler's eyes were turned down, he saw her as his guardian angel. So smart. So beautiful. And his. Those long lashes blinked at the screen with excitement riddling through her beautiful sapphire irises. As if her attention would only allow her to focus on how to free Trace. She was fascinating. On stage. And off. His heart warmed, even when Lucy nudged his arm and whispered, "You're drooling again."

Trace narrowed his eyes then stuck out his tongue. "I could say the same about you whenever you're near Preston."

Her lip curled upward as she scoffed. "Don't talk to me about that rat bastard." Her eyes tore away from mine and landed out the window as she crossed her arms over her chest.

A crease formed in the center of Trace's brows. Angry curiosity suddenly stealing his attention away from Syler and her mother and onto my sister's distress. "Why? What'd he do to you?"

Her lips parted as she took in a deep inhale, but then they shut like she didn't want to get into it.

"Say the word and I'll kill him."

Without looking up, Syler mumbled flatly, "Don't kill anyone, Trace. It's bad for your reputation." Then a grin spread over her candy lips as her eyes flitted up to me in a teasing way.

Trace got out of his seat like he was a magnet to those eyes, leaned into the back and kissed her on her cheek.

She pushed him away giggling, "Ew, you're all wet."

"It's done," her mom announced.

Trace pointed at his sister, saying, "We are coming back to whatever this is."

"No, we aren't," she mocked.

There was a pop as Annie unplugged Kyle's phone and put it on her lap. "Okay, Kyle, let's see what you've been hiding."

✩✩✩

Rapunzel Romantasy ("Body of Chaos")

Hercules Romantasy ("Ungodly")

Hades Romantasy (Coming soon)

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