Van (Pushing Daisies Book 2)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Daisy was wrapped up in Lawson’s arms. He was looking down at her and she was smiling. Until he leaned in and kissed her. The moment his lips touched my sister’s, I rolled my eyes.

  “Better watch your back,” I said, which caused him to pull away from my sister. “Payback’s a bitch.” It wasn’t like I’d hurt him physically. Just maybe make his life a bit uncomfortable.

  “Van.” Daisy sighed. “Come on.”

  “Whatever you want to do, Van,” he countered. Lawson and I were evenly matched, physically. About the same height so he’s six foot one, broad-shouldered, though Mack put us all to share there. “Daisy is worth it.”

  Fuck that guy. I didn’t have a plan, but he didn’t need to know that. I tried to make him understand what it felt like when we’d met his sisters a couple of weeks ago by flirting with the younger sister. But she’d left, so it wasn’t like I could really fuck with his head.

  Instead of trading verbal barbs with him, I went on my way to get something to eat before the show.

  An hour later, I was back in the dressing room getting ready. It wasn’t like there was a lot to do. We didn’t have costumes or makeup. It was throw on some fresh clothes or don’t. I’d already tuned my bass earlier. Or rather, all three. I had two backups because you just never knew when you’d throw a string.

  Daisy wasn’t with us yet, but she’d be here soon, so while I had my brothers to myself, I asked, “Anybody got any good ideas on how to make Lawson miserable?”

  Two of the three guys groaned.

  “Let it go,” Daltrey countered, barely glancing up from his phone.

  “Fuck that,” I told him.

  “That’s what I said earlier,” Bonham said to Daltrey. As I thought. They were on the same side, which was a weird situation, given that Bonham and I were always on the same side. But not this time.

  “Mack?”

  Our oldest brother’s jaw tensed then released. I’d bet a lot of women swooned for that chiseled jaw muscle. Whatever. The rest of us didn’t do too badly ourselves.

  “I don’t have any good ideas,” he told me. “Because you and Bonham have always been the troublemakers. But I’m with you on anything you want to do. That fucker gets under my skin.”

  Daltrey shook his head. “You two are going to piss Daisy off.”

  “She’s five-feet-three inches, maybe. Tiny as hell. What’s she going to do about it?”

  “Call Mom.”

  I winced. That was something none of us wanted. We loved the hell out of our parents, but Mom could put each of us in our places with a single look. Even as adults. And none of us ever wanted to disappoint her.

  “We’ll think on it,” I told Mack right as Daisy came in to get ready for the show.

  Since I was already done, I left to seek out Lawson. As soon as I found him, I pulled my phone from my pocket and moved my fingers across the screen like I was typing.

  “Hey, Lawson, what’s your middle name?” I asked him.

  “Why?” He raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical of anything I would ask.

  “Just wanted to look you up on the sex offender registry. You seem to like your girls young.”

  Anger washed over his face as he shook his head.

  “You’re real fucking lucky that your sister asked me to let you guys work through this on your own.”

  I snorted. “Why’s that?”

  “Because a statement like that could get a man hurt.” He walked away without looking back.

  Shit. I wasn’t looking for a fight. I’d just wanted to irritate him. Which I had, obviously, but damn. That might’ve been too far. If a fight happened, it happened. I wasn’t afraid of Lawson and I thought it’d feel good to punch him in the face. But Daisy would never forgive me.

  That night while we were on the road, I played all I could on Words with Friends, which no one ever got to know I do, when the best idea ever hit me. Plus, it’d take me very little effort.

  I pulled up the Twitter app on my phone and tapped out a tweet.

  In-house female masseuse needed for the manager of Courting Chaos. Then I tagged it with the next city and the venue. With a pretty hefty following on there, this should take care of itself.

  Then I settled in for as good of a night’s sleep as I could get on a moving vehicle.

  Sleeping on the bus wasn’t bad. At first, it was kind of weird, but now I was used to the sounds of the tires on the road and the movement helped lull me to sleep.

  Each of us brothers slept in a bunk. Back when Daisy had been on our bus, we’d given her the bedroom at the back because she was the only girl and it felt like the thing to do. Now that she had moved to Lawson’s bus—thanks, crazy fan—Mack had moved in there. He was the oldest. That was how it worked.

  We slid into Phoenix early in the morning. So early that I don’t even know what time it was.

  Our days weren’t full of the amazing experiences most people would think they’d be on tour. I woke up, showered in the venue, then grabbed breakfast. Usually, we went together, but today it was just me.

  I walked down the street with no real destination in mind, other than to stop when I found something I wanted to eat. I chose this omelet place that had all the cheesy egg decorations available crammed into a not-so-spacious place. Then, once my belly was full, I headed back to the venue.

  Mack needed to regularly meet with us about band shit. Especially now that we’d lucked out and snagged the opening gig for Courting Chaos. Last year when Chaos had been on tour with Kissing Cinder, we’d read all the news we could get because that was where we wanted to be.

  As I turned the corner, I noticed Daisy and Lawson walking in front of me, his hand on her lower back.

  Fucker.

  I pressed my lips together and narrowed my eyes. All of my muscles tensed. I didn’t know what it was about this guy, but him with my sister irritated the fuck out of me. He was too old and she was too good.

  But fuck. My brothers weren’t wrong. He made her happy. Shouldn’t that be enough?

  That was when I realized that I didn’t hate him, not really. Lawson was a good guy. But as Daisy’s brother, it was my job to make sure he wasn’t going to run at the first sign of trouble. But damn, he’d proven that already.

  Whatever. I was doing this, no matter the reason.

  They hadn’t seen me yet, but as the three of us turned the corner of the bus, a small group of women called out to Lawson. Took everything inside me not to release a loud laugh.

  I’d thought one or two would turn up, not the twelve who were there.

  “Lawson.” One voice rose above the rest. This tall woman, with blonde hair pulled back into a bun, waved him over.

  “What in the hell?” Lawson said, only loud enough for the three of us to hear.

  I snorted, which was when they realized I was even there.

  The women hadn’t quieted down as they called out to work out his knots, which seriously just confused the two of them more. It was so hard biting back my laughter.

  “Is there something you’d like to tell me?” My sister looked up at him with those big hazel eyes and damn. I hadn’t thought about what this might’ve looked like to Daisy.

  I’d wanted to mess with Lawson. Not hurt my sister.

  Lawson rubbed the back of his head, moving his weight from one foot to the other. That was the reaction I’d been looking for.

  “Not that I know of,” he finally answered her, but he glanced at me. His jaw hardened. The look on my face must’ve given me away. “I have no idea what’s going on here. But I think he does.” He nodded my way, causing Daisy to give me her trademark look. The one she gave any of us when she thought we were being fucking idiots.

  “Sorry, ladies,” Lawson called out. “I’m just the manager. Maybe Van can help you out.” He slid his arm around my sister’s shoulders and turned away.

  As they walked away, the small group started calling me over as if they too had just realized I was there. Probably had, but I s
pent the next twenty minutes taking pictures and signing whatever they shoved at me.

  Now my brain began to work in a different way. Annoying Lawson was the goal. Hurting my sister was definitely not.

  I needed a new plan.

  3

  Lexi

  I had to learn to ignore all of my social media apps. After considering whether or not to just delete them all and be done with it, I’d decided against that. The rationale was that I’d need to know what was coming if one of these guys went off the rails. Instead, I only checked every few days for escalating messages. Other than that, I was ignoring everyone.

  Every text. Every call. I would’ve changed my phone number but then I’d have to tell my mom what was happening. No way was I ready to do that.

  “Lexi,” Mom called while knocking from the other side of the door.

  “Come in,” I replied as I slid my phone under my pillow.

  I had no idea why I’d done that. I’d been playing Word with Friends, not looking at anything suspicious. Yet I’d still done it, as I’d done it every time I’d been on my phone the last few weeks when she’d come around.

  “Your brother’s trying to get a hold of you,” she said as she came to a stop at the end of my bed and folded her arms over her chest. “Says you’re not answering.”

  “Oh. I’ve had my phone on silent,” I lied straight to her face. It wasn’t on silent. It was on vibrate and I knew every time someone called or sent a text. I just didn’t look at it.

  “Uh-huh.” She didn’t buy it for a minute. “Will you please call him so he’ll stop calling me?”

  I furrowed my brows. “You love it when he calls.”

  She nodded. “I do, but not to bug me about you not answering his calls. You two are adults. I shouldn’t have to run this kind of interference.”

  “OK,” I said with a sigh.

  “Lexi…” She sat on the corner of my bed, facing me. Everyone said I got my looks from Mom. She and I both had the same chestnut brown hair as Lawson and Erica, but Mom and I shared clear blue eyes. It was a look that could intimidate some, as the darkness with the blue was something you didn’t see all the time. “I wish you’d tell me what’s going on with you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Mom shook her head. Playing dumb with her had never worked once in my life. “I know something is going on, Lexi. You can talk to me.”

  “I know,” I admitted. “It’s nothing, really. I promise.” I wasn’t sure my words reassured her, but at the very least, she wasn’t going to push.

  “Call your brother or at the very least, answer when he calls again.”

  “Will do.” I gave her a dumb salute that wasn’t my finest move.

  Why Lawson wanted to get a hold of me so badly, I didn’t know. And since he only called occasionally—mostly we sent texts—I figured I’d better return his calls.

  “Fucking finally,” he said into the phone without greeting me first.

  “Sorry. I was ignoring the world,” I told him. “What’s up?”

  “Why are you ignoring the world?” he asked.

  “Because I want to.” It was the only reason he was getting right now. Some of what was happening was so embarrassing that I didn’t want my big brother to know about it.

  “Lexi,” he said, then he sighed. There seemed to be a lot of sighing around me lately. If they thought dealing with me was frustrating, they should live my life for a few hours. It wasn’t that fun right now. “Why don’t you come on tour for a while?”

  My heart jumped as I pushed myself up to a sitting position. “What?”

  “Come on tour for a while. Have some fun. Get away.”

  He wasn’t fooling me. “Mom wants to get rid of me?”

  Now he chuckled into the phone. “Have you met our mother? I’m surprised she let any of us move out of the house at any point. No. We don’t get to see each other as much as I’d like, so this would be a good chance. You’re out of school.”

  “I am. But this doesn’t make any sense. You didn’t invite me last year.”

  “Because last year we were the opening act and had a lot of shit going on with Eric.”

  Oh. Right. True. Having one of your band members caught having sex with underage girls could put a kink in your plans. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. Plus, you’ll get to know Daisy better so you won’t be a fucking weirdo every time she’s around and there aren’t many women on tour, so I’m sure she and Barrett would love to have a third.” Barrett was Lawson’s PA or some variation of PA and she was also Dixon Dodge’s girlfriend.

  I hadn’t been a fucking weirdo the first time, so I couldn’t imagine I would be later, but he had a point. I’d never seen my brother as serious about a woman as he was Daisy. Which meant she’d be around for at least a while.

  At this point, I didn’t care if he was just trying to take me off Mom’s hands. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this would be fun. Plus, I had no other plans for the entire summer, so now I was thinking I’d stay as long as he let me.

  “When?” I asked.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. Whenever you want. I’ll book your flight to wherever we are.”

  Nothing like right this second. “How about tomorrow? I can pack tonight.”

  Silence met me. Maybe that was too soon for him. “We’re in Houston tomorrow. I’ll see how early we can get you out here so you can go to the show if you want. I’ll get all your passes worked out, too, so nobody will stop you from coming and going. So we’re good? We have a plan?”

  “We do.” I swallowed hard. Lawson couldn’t possibly know what this meant to me, but he should. “Thank you, Lawson. You have no idea how much I need this.”

  “I think I do just because you said that. I love you, sister.”

  I smiled a big cheesy grin that he couldn’t see. “I love you, brother.” That was how we’d said it since we’d been little. Little Lawson had always been looking out for us girls.

  “See you tomorrow,” he said, bringing me out of my memory, then he ended the call.

  “Mom!” I called out as I pushed off my bed.

  I had a lot to do before tomorrow.

  As I stood, bouncing on my feet while Courting Chaos put on another amazing show, I felt free. I hadn’t looked at my phone for more than texting my brother and playing Words with Friends. Yeah, I knew it was an old game. Whatever. I liked it and up until the car had picked me up at the airport in Houston, it had been the only fun I’d had in weeks. I’d hoped by now, mid-June, the crap from my former friend would’ve died down. Nope.

  But I didn’t have to think about that right now.

  It’d been cutting it close from the airport, so Cal, my brother’s favorite security guy, said he’d take my two bags to the bus for me. That also meant I only had time for a quick shower and to change. After grabbing some new shorts and a T-shirt from one of my bags, I let Cal have them.

  At the concert, once Courting Chaos finished playing, I pushed against the current of people to go toward the stage while they were moving for the exits. A few girls followed me, but I ignored them and wondered if the guys had to put up with a lot of adoring fans trying to get backstage.

  All security had to do was glance down at my lanyard and they let me through. The girls didn’t get to follow.

  “Hey, Lexi,” Ransom said, causing me to spin toward him. Ransom was tall with messy dark brown hair and a cocky smile. I’d recognize his voice anywhere. The guy had been to our house, for god’s sake.

  “Hi.” He wrapped me in a wet hug and kept his arm around my shoulders. Courting Chaos had all always treated me like the little sister I was to Lawson mostly, I thought, because I think I was like fifteen when we’d met. They weren’t much older.

  “Finally coming on tour with us?”

  “Finally asked,” I told him honestly.

  “Pft. Girl, you know you’re welcome anytime.” He sounded honest as we entered the dressing room.

&nb
sp; “Anytime?” Cross asked with a raised eyebrow. He’d already been inside and his hair was a little longer than he usually kept it. Usually is was cropped short. He had strong arms that probably could still make me blush.

  “Well, yeah.” Ransom dropped his sweaty arm from my shoulders then went over and grabbed a towel. “Now that we all have girlfriends, it’s probably safe enough.”

  The group of them laughed loudly. Cross Rhodes, Ransom Drake, Booker Coyote (whom I knew the least well), and Dixon Dodge were all there. Yet my brother wasn’t.

  Booker was taller and leaner than the other guys with tattoos for days. Dixon had dark hair that was a little longer than normal as well. He was also the biggest joker of the bunch.

  “Where’s Lawson?” I asked. “I haven’t seen him yet.”

  “Probably with Daisy would be my guess,” Cross told me as he yanked his shirt over his head. This wasn’t something I wanted to see. Millions of women probably did, but not me because I knew the clothing coming off wouldn’t stop with the shirt.

  “I’ll go look for him.” I went to the door. “See you guys later.”

  As soon as I stepped into the hall and the door closed behind me, I heard, “Lexi.” That was my brother’s voice.

  It only took a few seconds to search him out. He was coming down the hall with Daisy beside him.

  Man, she was beautiful and I seriously wondered how in the hell my brother had snagged her. Sure. He wasn’t ugly. He was tall with dark hair and dark, broody eyes. But he was… Lawson.

  “You made it,” he said as he reached down to hug me.

  “I did. Barely. Missed most of Pushing Daisies.”

  “Luckily, there’s another show tomorrow,” Daisy offered with a smile. “I’m so glad you decided to come out for a while.”

  Of all Lawson’s girlfriends, or the ones we’d met anyway, Daisy was the best and I hoped they lasted. Not just because I’d already loved her before we’d met. Pushing Daisies was being played a bunch on campus and they were one of my favorites. Though I hadn’t had a chance to see them when they’d played Chicago.

  “It was perfect timing.” We gave each other a quick hug, the kind where you mean it, but it’s a little weird because you don’t know each other well. Daisy was probably super used to that kind of thing. When I pulled back, Lawson was watching me, questioning me without saying a word. “I’m going to go get settled on the bus. Cal said he’d drop my bags, but I just want to make sure I remembered everything and all that.”