Van (Pushing Daisies Book 2)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  I tried to keep the smile off my face but failed miserably.

  16

  Van

  When I found Lexi right outside of their bus, I’d known something had been wrong. She hadn’t had the normal spark, for lack of a better word, and my stomach had sunk. I hated seeing her anything less than happy.

  It had given me the chance to cheer her up.

  I held her hand tightly in mine as we walked back to the venue. Each step brought us closer to likely parting. Which was the last thing I wanted to do. It was dumb. We were on tour, which should’ve meant we could be together a lot, but living on separate buses was killing that idea.

  “Where are your brothers?” she asked me when we approached the buses.

  “On the bus,” I told her. “But why don’t you come there with me anyway? They won’t care. Promise.”

  “I’m not having sex on your bus with your brothers there,” she said quickly.

  I chuckled. “I didn’t mean to have sex. I legit meant just to hang out. Not that I don’t want to have sex with you. I always want that.” I stopped and wrapped my arms around her snugly. “I’m just not ready to let you go yet.”

  Lexi dropped her forehead to my chest and took a deep breath before pulling back and locking eyes with me. “But I kind of wanted you to fuck me, so how about we go to my bus, where none of our brothers are?”

  I groan and my dick immediately started to get hard. “I love it when you say dirty things.” It wasn’t often that she did, but when it happened, it had a great effect on me. It was like she knew how to give me little doses of that shit. “We can stop at my bus for condoms.”

  “I have some,” she told me, which took out that small interruption.

  Suddenly, we were both moving much faster.

  Once inside her bus, I cupped her face and pulled her to me. That was when my mouth took hers. The taste of caramel hit my tongue, causing me to groan. Damn, I wanted her naked as soon as I could get her there.

  As I walked her back to the bunks, I slid my hands down to the hem of her shirt and gave a tug, but she pushed back, stopping me. Maybe this wasn’t going where I thought it was.

  “With my luck,” she said breathlessly. “You take my shirt off and Lawson walks in right after. Come on.”

  Now it was her turn to lead me. Lexi pulled back the “door” on her bunk then climbed inside. Once we were tucked away, I descended.

  Just kissing had never been my favorite thing to do. I enjoyed it. I liked kissing, but mostly because it led to other things I liked more. But if Lexi stopped me right there and said she just wanted to kiss for a while, I’d be just as happy as when I was sinking into her.

  But that sure as hell wasn’t what she wanted tonight.

  The bunks weren’t overly roomy, but there was plenty of space for me to maneuver. I had her naked and squirming beneath me in what felt like seconds. I was equally naked and our clothes were pushed into a corner.

  I kissed my way down her body, kneaded her breasts with my hands as her nails dug into my biceps. I kissed the soft skin right where her leg met her body. She let out a low groan as her entire body relaxed and that was when I got to work.

  I licked from as low as I dared, given that I didn’t want to bring her out of the pleasure she was experiencing and we hadn’t talked about that yet, all the way up until I could suck on her clit.

  Lexi was responsive as hell. I kissed, sucked, and licked until she was making the sounds that I yearned to hear. There was a sense of pride that filled me when she was about to come that I couldn’t explain. And that was when I knew that this was the perfect time. To say it. To tell her.

  I’d let her enjoy this first.

  She gasped and yanked on my hair when I pushed two fingers inside her. Then pleasure gates let loose and her orgasm tightened her muscles, pulsating to a rhythm of its own.

  Once she relaxed back into the bed and sighed, I slowly crawled my way up her body, dropping kisses as I went.

  “Where—” I didn’t get the chance to finish my question.

  Lexi pointed a finger in the general area next to her and let out the breathless word, “Bag.”

  Damn, I loved that I was able to do this to her. I loved her.

  After quickly getting the condom in place, I was back above her and pushing myself inside. Lexi felt like heaven. She was warm, gripping me as if she had control over her pussy and didn’t want to let me go.

  Allowing myself a few moments just to enjoy how she felt, I then got moving, finding the rhythm that might get her there again and would for sure have me fight off the need to release.

  Far too quickly, it was going to become too much for me to fight, but given the sounds coming out of her mouth, she was building again. If I could give her a second orgasm, I wasn’t going to pass the opportunity up.

  I kissed and nibbled at her skin as the tiny gasps dropped from her mouth. After sucking gently at the soft skin behind her ear, I whispered, “I love you, Lexi Styles.”

  Her hands stilled on my shoulders, but her muscles tightened and a second orgasm crashed in waves over her body. It was all I could do to keep from coming right then. Still, I waited until she was on the other side before allowing myself the same release.

  The bus was silent and I had no idea how much time had passed, but I needed to take care of this condom.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told her then dropped a kiss to her forehead.

  “Wait.” She braced her hands on my chest to keep me from climbing to the other side of her. “You can’t go out there.”

  I bit back a smile and said, “It’s pretty quiet and I have to take care of this thing.” I pointed down at my dick in case she didn’t know what I was talking about.

  “There’s a box of tissue right there. That would work temporarily, right?” Her face was so hopeful that I would’ve told her yes even if the answer had been no. But I could do a rough clean up then take care of things later.

  Lexi watched me as I did it and damn, having her eyes on me was about to get me hard again. Once I was finished with that, I slid my boxers back on then snuggled into her. I took my time, kissing her again. Letting my mouth move in long, languid strokes. It wasn’t that I wanted to get her going again, though yeah, I wouldn’t have turned that down. I just wanted the connection. Another new thing in my life.

  “I love you, Van,” she told me when she pulled back. Her voice was soft, breathless. Her lips were swollen from my kisses.

  The fact that she hadn’t said it back immediately hadn’t deterred me in the least. She was preoccupied and I liked to think my words had pushed her over the edge. Maybe they had. But now that she’d said it…there were no words to describe the way my chest filled.

  When I’d started hanging out with Lexi, I’d thought maybe we’d be friends. I’d had no idea this would happen, but fuck, I liked the surprise.

  I kissed her again. This time, it was hard and demanding, and showed her exactly how those words had affected me. I would’ve kept going, but my woman had more sense.

  “We can’t.” She pushed my hand away from her breast. “Lawson will be back soon and I’ll have to address the topic of us with him, put him in his place, but I don’t want to do that while either of us is naked.”

  I sighed. “So many rules.”

  Her giggle filled the bunk, but she was right. As we both dressed in the small area, I knew she was right. Lawson’s response was mostly my fault anyway and I wasn’t going to put Lexi in the position to have to defend that or explain it.

  We’d gotten ourselves together and out of the bunk and I’d shoved the tissue with the used condom into my pocket so there’d be no surprises, in just enough time before Daisy and Lawson returned. They’d gotten inside before I’d gotten out.

  I didn’t care a bit. We were dressed and Lawson already knew we were together. He just thought I was using his sister to get back at him. If I’d thought that about a guy, I would’ve put my fist through his face. That wasn’t
what I was doing.

  “What the fuck?” Lawson said, but it sounded more like words through a sigh. He ignored me for the most part and his glare fell onto Lexi. If he was going to be angry at someone, it should’ve been me. She hadn’t done shit to him.

  “Don’t start,” Daisy said, laying a hand on his arm. For the first time that I knew of, Daisy’s touch didn’t soften him up one bit.

  Must’ve been a surprise to her too because she locked her gaze with mine then shrugged. She couldn’t control him and I didn’t expect her to.

  “Knock it off,” Lexi said, sounding just as annoyed as Daisy looked. “He was just leaving.”

  “He better be.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “Why’s that?”

  “You fucking know why.”

  This was where I was really torn on the inside. The guy was trying to protect his sister. Given that I was in love with his sister, I could respect that. But it pissed me off that he couldn’t see how much I cared about her.

  Again, my fault, and I knew it. Giving him all the shit I had was backfiring. I understood that, but things had changed. I still didn’t like him for my sister and I’d probably given him more shit. He just didn’t need to take it out on Lexi.

  My gut told me to stay there and hold my ground. Or punch him in the face. That would’ve felt so good, but I wasn’t sure Lexi would forgive me for doing it and I didn’t think Daisy would’ve been too happy with me, either. Neither of them would’ve been happy with Lawson, so it was a no-win situation.

  No. This time, I’d do the actual right thing and diffuse the situation. I didn’t want Lexi to face this alone and I wouldn’t run off immediately. It didn’t matter that Lawson was glaring at me and I could feel his anger crawling up my spine. Lexi was my girl and I wasn’t going to just walk out on her.

  Instead, I slid my hand over her cheek until it was like I was holding her. Then I leaned in and kissed her. Nothing inappropriate, given that Daisy and Lawson were standing right there and I had no intention of making Lexi uncomfortable.

  “I’ll see you later,” I whispered, but it wouldn’t make a difference. Daisy and Lawson would’ve been able to hear me.

  Lexi licked her bottom lip and nodded.

  “Wait,” Daisy said as I passed her, causing me to stop. “Why aren’t you just staying here?”

  I cocked my head to the side and gave her a hard look then waited for it to sink in. Her boyfriend was the reason I wasn’t welcome on this bus. He’d been lucky this far to not see Lexi and me together much, but now there was no way for him to deny what we were to each other and that probably pissed him off even more.

  I didn’t even want to think about what I might’ve heard coming from her bedroom if I was here either.

  Daisy threw her hands up in the air and said, “You two are fucking ridiculous.” Then she stomped away, grabbing Lexi by the arm to take her with her. They didn’t stop until they were in the bedroom at the back of the bus.

  I turned to Lawson and raised an eyebrow, but we didn’t exchange any words. I was pretty sure his jaw was fused shut with how hard he was clenching. I just shook my head and left.

  He was going to have to get over it.

  17

  Lexi

  Last night on the bus, Daisy had dragged me to the bedroom and shut the sliding door. She’d looked pissed and I silently dared Lawson to come in at any point.

  He hadn’t. She and I had lain on the bed talking for hours before we’d fallen asleep in there. I’d admitted to her that Van had told me he loved me. I had not, however, told her when, how, or what we’d been doing when he’d said it. But the look of surprise on her face had been worth it. She’d insisted that Van hadn’t so much as dated, let alone been love.

  All things I’d already known.

  Then we’d commiserated over being stuck between our boyfriends and our brothers. We were both in the same position. We also decided that it was their problem to figure out. Neither of us was going to let it affect what we were doing. There was a small pang when Daisy told me that her best friend, Bri, was coming to visit for a couple of weeks. That hurt. I didn’t have anyone to visit me any more and when I got home, it’d be awfully lonely.

  That time with Daisy was exactly what I’d needed. Sometimes you just needed another girl in your life and given that I’d basically lost all of my friends, it was nice to know I still had some others.

  And a freaking rock star at that.

  Lawson was already gone in the morning when we woke up. Daisy had a text from him saying he’d missed her last night and he’d be in the venue whenever she woke up. We were going to be in a hotel tomorrow night, so there’d be plenty of makeup time for them.

  Gag.

  I was able to avoid Lawson when I went inside the next venue to shower. The guys probably weren’t awake yet, which made it the perfect time for me to hop in. Though I had worried my brother would be in there and I didn’t want to argue with him right now. Luckily, he must’ve been busy elsewhere.

  Since I was alone, after my shower, I took the time to wrap my hair into a bun. It was better than drying it for today. I hadn’t slept the best the night before, so any energy I could reserve, the better.

  I’d just gotten back to the bus and put my toiletries away when my phone dinged. Which was weird. Normally, I had it on vibrate, but whatever.

  It was a text from Elijah Maltzman. A dude I’d barely talked to before and hadn’t since he’d tried to get me to hook up. It was a simple message. Just a link, which I was reluctant to follow but decided to anyway. If it was nothing, he wouldn’t have sent it to me.

  Then I wished I’d never clicked on the stupid link.

  It was side by side pictures of me on a stupid Reddit thread. The first was Van kissing me on the street after we’d gotten ice cream last night and the second was one that should’ve been deleted a long time ago. Me at a party. I was drunk and the way this photo was staged, I looked pretty naked with the two guys around me. Basically, it looked like I was in the middle of a threesome and the light pink top I had on was so close to flesh tone that it appeared I was naked.

  The subject? Pushing Daisies Whore.

  The post went on to quote “insider information” that I was fucking all of the guys in the band, probably at the same time. My stomach clenched and my mouth watered the way it did right before I would throw up.

  Just the idea that people might think I was doing anything with Van’s brothers disgusted me.

  The fact that the post went on to say that this wasn’t a new thing and that I was into all kinds of freaky shit just made it worse.

  Threesomes, foursomes, I didn’t mind a dick for every hole. There were even some sexual terms there that I didn’t recognize.

  For fuck’s sake.

  This had to stop. I needed to talk to Lawson to find out if they’d made any progress. Yes, he had his plate full already, but he was my brother and he’d said he’d help. Which he was, but the tears burning in my eyes made it clear that I couldn’t deal with this much longer. The rumors probably hadn’t even gotten far yet, but they felt like they had and I didn’t want people looking at me like they knew me that way.

  I cleared my throat and jogged off the bus.

  Right into Van. Again. It seemed like he had a sixth sense about me being upset and appeared wherever it happened.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked as soon as he saw me.

  “Why do you always ask me that?” I tried to give him at least a small grin.

  It didn’t relieve any of his concern, though. “Because I see it on your face.” He stepped toward me. “Come on.”

  “It’s a stupid picture,” I told him. “It shouldn’t bother me, but it does and if the things that are said get out, you’re going to hear it…Everyone is going to hear it and your parents, whom I haven’t even met, will think these things about me and—”

  “OK. Calm down.”

  I took a deep breath, having not realized how much I’d u
sed with that ramble.

  “First of all, my parents won’t listen to any rumors and they’ll love you when you meet them.” He’d said when not if. “But what picture?”

  I shook my head and took another deep breath while I brought it up on my phone. Reluctantly, I handed it to him.

  “Fuck,” he muttered the moment he saw it and the headline. Then against my protests, he read the post. “That’s bullshit.” He handed the phone back to me. “Is this the friend?”

  I nodded. “Has to be. She’s the one who took the picture. But I swear to you I wasn’t doing any of those things with them and I have a shirt on.”

  “I know you didn’t do any of those things with them.”

  My gaze flew to his. “How? How do you know?”

  One corner of his mouth turned up. “Because you haven’t done them with me. Freaky girls tend to be freaky with everyone.”

  “Jesus Christ,” I muttered as I closed my eyes. “I’m going to show you. This is a crop job.”

  “You don’t have—”

  “I want to.” I’d snapped at him and that hadn’t been my intention at all. I was upset. Stressed. He wasn’t the cause of that. “I’m sorry,” I said in a much nicer tone.

  “You don’t have to apologize to me.”

  I turned my phone toward him after I’d located that picture on the cloud. “I’d had some drinks and was definitely tipsy, but I didn’t do anything with anyone.”

  “Lexi.” Van stepped toward me and pulled me into his arms. “I believe you and even if you had, that’s not a crime.”

  “But I didn’t.”

  “OK.”

  Van held me like that for several minutes. The two of us just there in each other’s space, letting his body comfort me.

  Finally, I pulled back and asked, “You believe me?”

  “Yes. I didn’t even need you to tell me. I already knew that wasn’t your style.”

  “How?”

  He scratched the back of his head and his face tightened like he was uncomfortable. “Because, Lexi, I’ve been with a lot of different types of women and there’s a way to tell. The things they’ve wanted to do. That kind of thing. I’d honestly rather not get into it with you.”