Page 24

‘Interrupting something am I?’ came a deep voice from the hallway that led upstairs to my studio.

Sunshine let out a quick gasp and clenched me tighter. My eyes landed on him as he walked out of the dark cover of the wall and approached, gun pointed directly at us.

Slowly peeling her hands away from me, I stood up and stepped between the gun and my girl. ‘Just a little bit. Now, if you don’t mind, we have a bit of cleaning up to do.’

A bark of laughter was his only response before the rushing of footsteps and the cold press of a barrel met me. ‘This isn’t a joke, bitch.’

‘I didn’t think it was. Now if you don’t mind, I need you to fuck right off. You’re scaring my girl and you’ve already pushed me further than you want to.’

He pushed the barrel of the gun harder against my forehead breathing hard he almost spat with rage at the notion I didn’t fear him. I assumed his default was that women feared him, and this was quite an unusual turn of events for him.

I looked past the rage, the scruffy jawline and slightly shaggy hair. He was handsome enough, with nice blue eyes and a decent build, but I still couldn’t see it. My girl with him. Even cleaned up, he wasn’t even close to her level, but I supposed he knew that; those insecurities driving his need to control her.

‘Namazzi, it’s time for you to come home with me. You had your fun; now let’s go. There’s nothing left for you here. Come home with me. Where you belong.’

She stood, gripping the back of my blazer before finding her voice, embodying the once whole sculpture thatnow lay broken at her feet. She was like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

‘No. Fuck no,’ she spat.

Jason’s face flushed with anger and sweat. He looked high out of his mind. ‘I suppose there’s one thing left for you here, but I can end that quick enough.’ He cocked the gun, ready to shoot, and as if anticipating his response, Sunshine pushed me out of the way.

Bang.

A scream escaped me, fearing the worst that she had taken the bullet meant for me as the sound rung out, bursting all rational thought and leaving ringing confusion swirling in my mind. Blood was seeped into her gown. But the shot didn’t come from his gun and the blood wasn’t hers.

Z stood a few feet away, a quiet, brutal anger lacing his features. Cool hands pulled me into a hug. Jason lay groaning on the floor but it was Sunshine’s panicked words that I heard.

‘Are you okay? Are you? I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I love you, please tell me you’re okay.’ She was spiralling. Pulling back my hands, I caressed her cheeks lightly before firmly gripping her face, snapping her attention to me.

‘I’m fine, thanks to you. None of this is your fault, Sunshine. It’s ours. Z should have found his arse a lot sooner.’ Z grunted in the back, angrily agreeing.

She shook her head, about to argue once more, but I crashed my lips to hers, warmth coating my tongue as my arms wrapped around her, pouring all my gratitude that she was safe into that moment. Jason groaned in pain, dragging us back to reality.

‘Z, you know where to take him, but be back in time for the show.’

‘What show? Everything is ruined.’

‘No Sunshine,everythingis right here.’ I said stroking her cheek, gazing into those endless brown eyes.

We didn’t pay much attention to her ex’s body being dragged from the space, as our eyes were locked on one another. Too scared to look away in case we slipped through each other’s fingers. That was far too close a call for my liking.

She finally looked away from me, taking the extent of the damage all in, her shoulders caving under the weight of it all.

‘This show is our story, including the ugly. Let’s show them how perfection can drive an insecure man mad. How perfection can survive the unimaginable and still rise. How perfection bends but doesn’t break.Youare perfection. You go and get ready for the caterers and the guests. Get yourself cleaned up and find us some new clothes. I’ll worry about the art.’

She hesitated but nodded, heeding my instructions. I knew exactly what to do about this.

13

SUNSHINE

Ihad no idea what V was going to do to fix this. I didn’t think the night was salvageable unless she had a whole second collection hidden away somewhere, but I trusted her. I trusted her more than I trusted myself or anyone who had ever entered my life. On the way back home, I wondered when it had become my home; yet somehow, that’s exactly what it was. I called the caterers, waiters and other vendors to explain that there had been a break in, but they were still supposed to carry on as rehearsed. In the meantime, I rushed back home to find new clothes. It was the first time in a long while that I felt comfortable being by myself, but knowing Jason was with Zane, I had nothing to fear. He had already tried his best and failed.

The house was oddly quiet after the commotion of this afternoon, but it didn’t take long to find some clean clothes for the pair of us. Sliding out of my blood-soaked satin gown I pulled on one of V’s power suits, red like the lingerie I wore the first night I met her and fitted in all of the right places. I pulled out a second one for V; thistime, it was white. She had darkness lurking within her, but in my chaotic life, she was a bright light of hope.

It wasn’t long before I was back on the road, heading to the gallery. I found V taping ripped paintings back together. Some of the broken sculptures had been slightly repaired and glued together, but they were still half crumbling.

‘Step back, Sunshine. I can’t have you ruining your clean clothes.’