Page 117 of The Maverick
"You should stay here tonight," he said. "At Dominion Hall. You're safe here."
"Are you sure about that? The yacht?—"
"Was at the pier. Not in the house. The house is—" He paused. "The house is the safest place in Charleston right now."
I looked at him.
"Do you trust me?" he said. Low and direct.
I thought about every reason not to. The money and the world I didn't understand and the fight this morning and the shower knob and the stage I'd failed and the pier I'd been standing on when something exploded and the photographs of me I'd never asked to be in.
I thought about his hands holding the Gibson back out to me with both hands. His forehead against mine.I need you, in a text.
"Yes," I said.
He reached out and took my hand. His thumb moved over my knuckles.
"Then, let me handle what needs handling," he said. "And let me keep you safe while I do."
I looked at the ceiling.
"I don't love that I need keeping safe," I said.
"I know you don't."
"I want to be a person who keeps herself safe."
"You are that person," he said. "Tonight was different. Tonight wasn't about you."
"It felt like it was."
"It wasn't." He squeezed my hand once. "It was about me. You got caught in the edge of it. That's my fault, and I'm going to fix it."
I turned my head and looked at him.
"Tommy?”
"Yeah."
"I really blew the gig tonight. Before all this. It was bad. I walked off the stage after one verse."
He didn't say anything right away.
"I know," he said.
"I just—I wanted you to know that I'd already failed before any of this happened."
"You didn't fail," he said.
"I walked off the stage."
"You had a bad night," he said. "That's different from failing. Failing is not going back."
I looked at him.
"Are you going back?" he said.
I thought about Lexi.Those opportunities don't happen once. They happen until you're ready for them. You go back. That's the whole answer.
