Burn Out (9 page)

“Damn right it
could. Come on, think about it, Ev. We’re good, but we’re still wet behind the
ears compared to Trey. As a new artist just breakin’ on to the scene, wouldn’t
you be stoked to work with Trey-freakin-Turner?”

“Yeah, I would.”
His eyes narrowed as he tried to keep his excitement in check. This could be
exactly what he needed to put a little balance back in his life. “Have you
talked to him about this?”

“No, I wanted to
talk to you first.”

“I appreciate
that,” Evan said, inclining his head. “Hell, I think it’s a great idea. We just
have to convince Trey. Why don’t you get him on the phone, set up a meetin’ for
later today or tomorrow before we leave?”

“I was thinkin’ we
should wait until we’re in the Bahamas to talk to him about it.”

“Why?” Evan asked,
folding his arms.

“Then it wouldn’t
seem so much like a contrived business proposition, you know what I mean? It
would just be his two nephews pitchin’ a cool idea they had.”

“What’s the
difference?”

“He retired
because he wanted to spend more time with his family. I don’t want him to think
this is gonna be a full-time proposition. It doesn’t have to be. I mean, you
probably spend, what, twenty-five or thirty hours a week on artist acquisition
and development?”

“Yeah, about
that,” Evan said, scanning his schedule in his head.

“Think about it,
you could go from workin’ eighty hours a week to fifty hours a week if Trey
goes for this. Five days a week, ten hour days, and your weekends are your own
again. How great would that be?”

“Since when does
my schedule concern you?” Evan asked, frowning.

He had noticed
Ryan trying to convince him to delegate more responsibility lately, and when
he’d finally agreed to start small to see if his brother could handle the added
pressure, he’d been pleasantly surprised. Not only had Ryan handled it
effortlessly, but he’d completed the tasks in half the time it would have taken
Evan because he wasn’t being pulled in so many different directions.

“Since you’ve been
so miserable this past year,” Ryan said quietly, leaning forward. “I hate that
I’ve found everything I ever wanted with Bri and you’ve had to sacrifice your
one shot at happiness because of this company. It doesn’t seem right. If I can
do anything to help you get back on the right track, I’ll do it. Anything.
Whatever it takes.”

His brother still
surprised him sometimes. Over the past year, Evan had watched Ryan go from a
hard-drinking, self-centered player happy to collect a pay check for partying
with the talent to someone who routinely pulled ten and twelve hour days to get
the job done. “Thanks, man, that means a lot.”

“I know you’ve
been through hell since you lost Erika, but from what I saw the other night,
you may have another chance with her and I really don’t wanna see you screw
that up.”

Evan smirked.
“Thanks… I think.”

“You gonna tell me
what happened when you guys left Jimmy’s?” Ryan asked, kicking his feet up on
the desk as he settled in to hear the story.

Evan had never
been comfortable talking to his brother or any of his friends about his sex
life, especially when it involved Erika. But he’d been struggling to make sense
of that night. He wanted to believe it was the start of a new beginning for
them, but when she claimed it was a mistake…

If there was one
subject Ryan was an authority on, it was women. Maybe he could help him put the
situation in perspective. “We slept together.”

Ryan grinned.
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about.” He held his clenched hand out for a fist bump.

Evan rolled his
eyes. “What are we? Sixteen years old? Grow up, already.”

“Okay, gimme the
detes,” he said, chuckling as he wiggled his fingers. “Was it as hot as you
remember?”

“Crazy hot,” Evan
said, trying to wipe the smug smile off his face. “There’s no doubt in my mind
that she’s still into me, but she’s runnin’ scared.”

“Can you blame her?”

Evan didn’t need
to hear his brother’s condemnation. He’d already beat himself up enough about
the mistakes that cost him the most important relationship in his life.
“Suddenly you’re an expert on relationships? Hell, Bri is the first real
relationship you’ve ever had.”

“Yeah, but I’ve
learned a lot in the last little while, bein’ with Bri, and you can be damn
sure I’d never neglect or ignore her the way you did with your woman.”

“Don’t start,”
Evan said, feeling that familiar twinge of guilt that plagued him whenever he
thought about the boyfriend he should have been… the man Erika deserved.

“You left her home
alone night after night or dragged her out to parties when she wanted time
alone with you. You told me yourself that you’d leave before she woke up and
get home after she’d already gone to bed most nights. You told me yourself you
stopped makin’ love to her ‘cause you were so damn tired…”

Evan winced when
he thought about how many weeks would pass without the physical intimacy they
used to share. He always told her he would make it up to her on the weekend,
but those days were all about attending the required parties, being seen at the
right events…

“Hell, she used to
beg you to take a vacation or even just go away for the weekend, and you’d
always tell her you couldn’t get away. Do you know how that must have made her
feel, to know she mattered so little to you?”

“Why’re you doin’
this?” Evan asked, his voice cracking with regret. “You don’t think I’ve told
myself a thousand times what a stupid S.O.B. I am? You’re supposed to be my
brother, to have my back…”

“That’s what I’m
tryin’ to do, man,” he said, leaning forward. “If I were the one makin’ these
dumbass mistakes with Bri, I’d count on you to slap me upside the head and tell
me to get my act together before I lose the best thing that ever happened to
me.” Ryan linked his hands behind his head. “I hate like hell that I was too
selfish to see what you were doin’ to that girl before it was too late. I
should’ve been there. I should’ve been the brother you’ve always been to me.”

Evan shook his
head. “The blame for this falls squarely on my shoulders, Ry. I was hell-bent
on doin’ things my way, provin’ to the world that I was every bit as good as
the old man, but you know what? I’m not, and I’m okay with that.”

“Like hell you’re
not,” Ryan said, rolling his eyes. “We made more last quarter than we have at
any other time in our history.”

“Yeah, but Dad was
more than just a business man. He was a father, husband, friend, and he earned
those titles. He didn’t let us grow up without him just ‘cause he had a
business to run. Hell, he and Mom are as in love now as ever. How do you think
they’ve made it work for so many years?”

“Yeah, I guess
you’re right.”

“Mom said
somethin’ at Jimmy’s the other night I can’t get out of my head.”

“What’s that?”

“She told me that
Dad always put her and his family first, no matter what.” He sighed. “Why
couldn’t I have done that… put the woman I love first? If I had, we’d still be
together.”

Ryan tapped his
watch. “We’ll be boardin’ that jet soon. You’ll have seven days in paradise to
convince Erika you’re not the same man she walked out on.” He got to his feet.
“You know I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“Thanks, Ry.” He
looked his brother in the eye. “Hey, you grew up while I wasn’t lookin’.”

Ryan chuckled. “I
know, it’s amazin’ what the love of a good woman will do for you.”

Erika raced up to
the steps to her friends’ boutique. She was twenty minutes late for their final
dress fitting, and judging by the parking lot, the rest of the bridal party was
already there waiting on her.

“There she is,”
Alisa said, raising a glass of champagne. “Girl, we thought you’d never get
here.”

“I’m so sorry,”
Erika said, a little breathless. It reminded her that she really needed to
squeeze in a little more cardio on her days off. “There was an emergency at the
clinic right before I left and Jeff had already left for the day, so I had to
take care of it.”

“Speaking of
Jeff,” Lena said, taking a long, coral silk gown off the rolling rack, “is he
still coming to the wedding?”

“Of course, why
wouldn’t he?”

Alisa, Brianna,
Lena, and Anna shared a look before Lena said, “Uh, when you left with Evan the
other night, we just kind of assumed that meant y’all were gettin’ back
together.”

“We’re not!” She felt
the heat creep up her neck when she realized she’d been so emphatic. “It was
one night… that never should have happened.”

“So you guys did
sleep together?” Alisa asked, grinning. Alisa was Evan’s cousin and Lena’s
business partner. Erika still considered Alisa a close friend, but she wasn’t
willing to share intimate details of that night with anyone, not even her
closest friends. It still hurt too much to think about.

“Does Jeff know
what happened between you and Evan?” Lena asked, setting the dress over Erika’s
arm.

“Of course, I have
nothing to hide.” She shrugged when Anna raised an eyebrow. “We were both free
to date other people and he of all people knows that I still have a soft spot
for Evan.”

“If you ask me,
you and Evan would still be together if not for that guy,” Lena said, scowling.

Lena and her
fiancée had never made a secret of the fact Jeff wasn’t their favorite person,
but they tolerated him for Erika’s sake. “I know you think Jeff convinced me to
break up with Evan, but that wasn’t the case.” She sighed when the four women
rolled their eyes in unison. “Okay, maybe I confided in him that things weren’t
going well at home and he convinced me to get out before I wasted any more time
with a man who was never going to change, but he was right, wasn’t he?”

Alisa sat down in
an overstuffed armchair and pulled her legs up as she reached for her champagne
flute. “I beg to differ. I think Evan was just going through a period of
transition. I think things would have gotten better if you’d just given him a
little more time to sort things out.”

It hurt Erika to
realize that her friend blamed her for the break up. “Really?” she asked,
turning to Brianna. “You work with Evan. Has he slowed down at all in the year
since we broke up?”

Looking
uncomfortable at being put on the spot, Brianna said, “No, I can’t say that he
has. He is trying to delegate more responsibility to Ryan though.”

“Probably so he
can free himself up to work on other projects,” Erika said, heading for the
dressing room. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

Anna touched her
arm as she made her way past her. “Hey, we love you and Evan. We just want you
to be happy.”

“I know.” Erika
couldn’t be angry with her friends for wanting her to smile the way she used to
when Evan was a part of her life. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to admit it, but
nothing filled the void he left. Not a new man, a puppy, a home of her own, a
business she loved…

Lena put her arm
around Erika’s waist and whispered in her ear, “I’ve known you a long time,
girl. I’ve seen you happy and I’ve seen you miserable.” She pointed at the
reflection of the two of them in the mirror. “You don’t look happy right now,
and you haven’t for a long, long time.”

“You don’t think I
want to fix my life?” she asked, setting the long dress on a hook outside the
fitting room door. “I do. I just don’t know how.”

Lena tugged on her
hand, leading her back to the sitting area. “We just want you to listen.”

“I know y’all are
trying to help, but-”

“Hush,” Alisa
said, handing her a glass of champagne. “You don’t get to have your say until
we’ve had ours.”

“Why is this
starting to feel like an ambush?” Erika asked, bringing the glass to her lips.

Lena inclined her
head toward an empty chair, encouraging Erika to sit down as the other women
gathered around, claiming spots in vacant chairs and on the arms of the small
sofa. “We’ve wanted to talk to you about this for a while. Given what happened
between you and Evan the other night…”

“You’re assuming
something did happen,” Erika said, trying to ignore her friends’ smug smiles.

“The way he
dragged you out of there, I’d be surprised if y’all made it out of the limo.”

Erika lowered her
head to hide her crimson cheeks when she thought about what had almost happened
in the limo. “I’d had a lot to drink. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“You were thinking
with your heart instead of your head for the first time in over a year,” Lena
said quietly.

Erika knew her
friends were only trying to help, but it was difficult not to feel defensive.
“I did what I had to do.” She lifted her head and looked at each woman in turn.
“You think leaving him was easy? It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,
but I did it, and I’m not ever going back.”

“We’re not
suggesting you go back to the way things were,” Alisa said quietly. “We’re just
suggesting you give him a chance to try and make things better. He still loves
you, honey. You have to know that.”