Treyton (A Savage Beasts Rock Star Romance Book 2)

by J. Nathan

  He ticked his head toward our next line. “Ready?”

  I nodded, knowing I could do it.

  “Bryce will meet you at the next platform,” Hans told us.

  We both moved to the edge of the second platform and stepped off again. This time I was a little more brazen, flying down the line with more confidence than I had the first time.

  Trey howled.

  I laughed.

  “Try it,” he called over.

  “What?”

  He howled again.

  I howled, my voice echoing all around us.

  He laughed, and when he laughed liked that, all seemed right in the world—at least for a little while.

  I leaned back, trying to see how fast I could go and still feel secure. I closed my eyes and a rush of euphoria swept over me. I wanted to believe it was the rush of the zip lines. But something told me it was Trey and me coming to an understanding. Something I hadn’t realized I needed until now.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Brielle

  “Stop there,” Cam yelled from the backseat of the van on our way back to the hotel.

  The driver pulled into a dirt parking lot of an old dive bar in the middle of nowhere with crooked neon signs in the windows with half the lights out.

  Once the van stopped, Cam pulled open the door and the guys piled out.

  Z poked his head back in and looked to the driver. “Don’t leave, man. We shouldn’t be long.”

  The driver nodded.

  “You’re not coming?” Z asked me.

  I shook my head.

  He shrugged.

  When I twisted back in my seat, I heard a tapping on the passenger window. Trey stood outside, ticking his head toward the bar.

  I lowered my window. “You guys go do your thing. I crashed your party today.”

  He cocked his head, his blue eyes pleading with me to go inside.

  Him wanting me in there, mixed with us having such a good day together, moved my hand to the door handle. He was extending an olive branch. I didn’t want to ruin that. I pushed open the door and stepped out of the van.

  The other guys were already crowded around the bar when we walked into the dark space.

  “I ordered a pitcher,” Marcus said as I slid onto a worn stool.

  Cam and Z moved to the dart board, and Marcus took off for the bathroom. Trey slipped onto the stool beside me.

  “You’re not playing darts?” I asked.

  Trey shook his head.

  “I don’t need a babysitter.”

  He snickered. “You sure about that?”

  I straightened my spine.

  “Relax. I was talking about the clientele.” He lowered his voice and leaned closer to me. “There are some shady characters in here.”

  I exhaled slowly, reminding myself to stop being so defensive and always thinking the worst about everything Trey said. “Well, like I said before, you got stuck with me today. I don’t want you missing time with your friends.”

  “I’m not missing anything. And I didn’t feel stuck.”

  My brows arched. “You didn’t?”

  He shook his head, his eyes drifting around the bar and avoiding my gaze. “Maybe I needed you today just as much as you needed me.”

  My stomach dipped. That was as close to a thank you as I’d ever received from him.

  “I liked seeing you scared today,” he continued, his eyes cutting back to mine. “I liked knowing big bad Brie can be vulnerable. And, despite the tough exterior, she actually needs other people. I was happy to be one of those people today.”

  I stared into his eyes, floored by his words.

  “Nice,” Marcus interrupted, squeezing between Trey and me to grab the pitcher and glasses that had been placed there. He began pouring beer into glasses, and our conversation quickly ended.

  Two beers later and I’d beaten both Cam and Marcus at darts. I couldn’t be sure they didn’t let me win. But now I was up against Z. He would never let me win. He pulled back his hand and released the dart. It missed the bullseye, the only spot we both hadn’t hit yet.

  The guys groaned as Z grabbed the darts off the board.

  “What do I get when I win?” I asked.

  Z rolled his eyes, though I could see the humor behind them. “If you win, you get bragging rights.” He held the darts out to me.

  “Bragging rights? That’s it?” I took the darts from him.

  “Nobody ever beats Z,” Cam informed me.

  “Until tonight,” I assured them as I threw my first dart. It hit the black eighteen slice in the top right corner of the board—nowhere near the middle.

  The guys snickered.

  Dammit.

  I evened up my next dart, eyeing the bullseye. I released it, but it dipped, hitting the point of the three, the black slice right beneath the center.

  The guys snickered again.

  I evened up my last dart. I could see the bullseye.

  “She’ll miss,” Trey whispered to the guys.

  I released the dart and it hit the center of the board. My arms flew into the air, and I couldn’t stop my hips from swaying from side to side in a happy dance.

  Z turned to me with his hand extended. “Nice game, Superstar.”

  I laughed as I stilled my hips and shook his hand. Then I turned a steely gaze on Trey. “She’ll miss, huh?” I didn’t let him respond, twisting and walking to the ladies’ room instead.

  I stepped up to the sink and washed my hands, taking in the dark circles around my eyes and my messy waves. Zip lining and drinking definitely did a number on me. I pinched my cheeks so I didn’t look so pale and tried to tame my waves.

  The restroom door opened then closed behind me. Once I heard the lock click, I spun around.

  Trey stood against the door.

  “I think you missed the men’s room. It’s next door.”

  He said nothing, just stared at me.

  “Did you come to see if I was puking after I didn’t miss?”

  “I knew you’d make that shot.”

  I scoffed. “Right.”

  “Don’t you realize that’s what we do? Me and you. We push each other’s buttons. We challenge each other.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, Trey.”

  He pushed off the door and stalked toward me. My ass hit the sink as I tilted my head back to meet his gaze. “I was impressed out there.”

  I swallowed my shock. “What?”

  “None of us ever beat Z at darts, and you did. That was impressive.”

  I blinked, unsure how to respond.

  “And, I was proud of you today on the zip lines too.”

  My eyes lowered, his words suddenly unnerving me. No one had told me they were proud of me since my mother passed away.

  Trey reached up and tucked an unruly strand of hair behind my ear. “I came in here because I like dancing with you.”

  “What?”

  His lips turned up in the corners. “They’ve got a jukebox out there. And I just dumped a shitload of money in it and lined up a hell of a playlist.”

  “Cam won’t dance with you?”

  “He probably would if he wasn’t already on his way back to the hotel.”

  My brows furrowed. “He left?”

  “They all did. They wanted to head back.”

  “And you didn’t?”

  He shrugged. “I wasn’t ready for the day to be over yet.”

  A ripple rolled through my belly, his words throwing me off balance. This back and forth with him was dizzying.

  “So, are you gonna dance with me or not?” he asked.

  My emotions were all over the place. One minute I felt like an outsider and the next I felt included. I was struggling to keep up. “It didn’t really seem like a dancing crowd out there.”

  “Do I look like someone who cares?”

  My lips twisted as I considered his question.

  Not waiting for me to make a decision, Trey stepped back and grabbed my hand. I consi
dered resisting, but between our shared zip line experience earlier and him sticking around to hang with me, I had no reason to. I let him pull me away from the sink, out of the restroom, and into the dark bar.

  An ’80s hair band ballad drifted from the speakers. I glanced to him. “You chose this one?”

  He laughed. “It’s the best I could do in the middle of Belgium.” He pulled me into the center of the floor. No one else danced, but it didn’t stop him from turning toward me and wrapping his arms around me. I rested my hands on his shoulders.

  This was different than dancing in the parking lot. He’d stayed behind to spend time with me, and I suddenly liked that idea way too much.

  Trey stared down at me, his tongue flicking out and dragging over his bottom lip.

  God. I wondered what that tongue ring would feel like in my mouth. A jolt shot between my thighs. His scent invaded my senses as the raspy sound of the singer floated through the speakers.

  Trey swayed us to the music, dropping his mouth beside my ear. His breath fanned out over my neck. I held my breath, waiting for his next move. He hummed the words to the song, the vibration sending goosebumps racing up my arms.

  As we moved around the empty dance floor, thoughts whirled through my head. How, after five years, had we gotten to this point? How, after the fight with Flow, were we dancing in a dive bar in Belgium?

  As if he could read my thoughts, his arms tightened around me.

  The final notes of the song drifted through the bar. Trey gazed down at me before inching closer. I sucked in a sharp breath. Was he going to kiss me? Did I want him to kiss me? Would I let him kiss me? Should I let him kiss me?

  Clapping erupted around us.

  We stilled, our eyes shifting to the people scattered around the bar who applauded our dance. Laughter burst out of Trey as I buried my head in his chest and laughed.

  Another song began.

  “We can’t let our audience down now,” Trey said as he began to move us to the music.

  I lifted my head and stared up at him. A shiver rushed up my spine. I’d wanted him to kiss me. Like, right there and then, with eyes on us. Something changed today. Something inexplicable. Maybe it was a long time coming. I had no idea anymore.

  The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk, and I was beginning to think he really could hear my thoughts.

  “You gonna tell me why I can’t play “Clair de Lune”?” he asked.

  “I was mad when I said that.”

  “You still mad?”

  I shrugged.

  He pulled me closer. “You still mad?”

  I stifled a smile and shook my head.

  “Good.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead.

  The intimate contact branded my skin with a tingling I hadn’t felt since I was a teenager. Suddenly, I had the desire to feel his lips elsewhere and tried futilely to even my breathing that had suddenly become shaky.

  Trey bent his head, his mouth hovering by my ear. “I’ve tried being good, Brie. I really have.”

  The vibration of his words sent a quiver rushing through me.

  “But I can’t do it anymore.” He lowered his head. His breath drifting over my neck and collarbone sent my mind whirring. Then, catching me completely off guard, he licked a path from my neck to my ear.

  My eyes rolled into the back of my head as the ball of his tongue ring created a dizzying sensation between the muscles in my neck. Could he feel my heart trying to escape my chest? Could he feel the electricity humming off my body?

  He flicked his tongue at my earlobe, rolling the ball over the back of it.

  Sweet Jesus.

  “Trey,” I breathed.

  He said nothing, licking another path up my neck.

  My knees nearly buckled as I tightened my grasp on him.

  He chuckled, the devious sound rumbling against my skin. “Do you want me to stop?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes?” he asked, dragging his ring around the outside of my earlobe.

  “No,” I breathed, unable to control the throbbing between my legs.

  “I haven’t been able to look at you without seeing those booty shorts and belly button ring in weeks.”

  “Why are you so fascinated by my belly button ring?”

  “Not fascinated. Turned the hell on.”

  I stifled a smile.

  “I heard you broke up with your man.”

  I nodded.

  He smirked, the reaction doing strange things to my belly. “You ready to get out of here?” he asked.

  “Now?”

  “I’d rather not start undressing you in the middle of a bar.”

  “Who said anything about undressing?”

  He lifted an unconvinced brow.

  Something about his certainty made me feel like he was seeing me as one of his groupies. Was that what I’d be if I went “home” with him? I was horny as hell, but it wasn’t like we’d never see each other again. We were stuck together for the foreseeable future. Was this just a get-it-out-of-our-systems thing or did he really feel something for me? Because I honestly had no idea. One minute we were fighting, the next we were on the verge of making out like a couple of teenagers.

  But I knew Trey. And for as long as I’d known him, I’d never seen him with the same girl more than once. And that wasn’t me. I couldn’t be that girl. “Yeah. We should head back.”

  “To your room or mine?” he asked with bouncing brows.

  I stepped back from him and headed toward the door, trying to gather my wits about me. As much as I wanted to feel that tongue ring in other places, I needed to work with Trey. And sleeping with him, especially after I’d had a couple of drinks, seemed like a bad idea. Sleeping with him at all, seemed like a bad idea.

  The van had returned for us and idled in the parking lot. I pulled opened the front passenger door.

  “Whoa,” Trey said.

  I glanced over my shoulder.

  “You’re gonna make me sit back here all alone?”

  I said nothing, just climbed inside the front seat, knowing it was safer to keep a buffer between us.

  A moment later, I felt the backseat dip with the weight of him as the side door slammed shut.

  “Well, this sucks,” he grumbled.

  I swiveled in my seat to look at him. The sight of him in the backseat with dilated eyes and disheveled hair sent a surge to my chest. “You know it would only make things awkward between us.”

  “I’m fine with awkward.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not those groupies. And I’m not someone who can act like nothing happened when I know it did.”

  “I’m not asking you to act like anything.”

  I cocked my head. “So, you’re saying you want to be with me? Because we both know that’s not you.”

  His eyes lowered. “I told you. I don’t do anything I could get addicted to.”

  “Sounds like a line.”

  His eyes jumped to mine. “Do I need you right-fucking-now? Absolutely. Will I be the best lay you’ve ever had? Yup. Can I promise you a happy ending? No. I don’t believe in them.”

  Something inside me splintered at the certainty his words held. I knew he had a rough start to life. I also knew the only people who loved him died at nearly the same time. Abandonment issues and self-preservation were to be expected. But he was a grown man. He needed to learn to let people in—people other than his band mates—without fear of being deserted. He had to see that he forged his own future now. His choices paved the way for whatever future he wanted.

  I shrugged. “I believe in happy endings. So, I’d be setting myself up for disappointment if I let this go any further.”

  “You’re saying I’d disappoint you?”

  “You just admitted you would. We want different things and have different needs.”

  He avoided my gaze so I took the hint, twisting back in my seat and facing the road. I wondered what the driver thought of our honest conversation because his e
yes stayed on the road the entire time.

  We arrived back at the hotel a little while later, and we both stepped out of the van at the same time into the dark night, walking side by side into the hotel.

  “You playing tonight?” I asked, my eyes glimpsing the piano in the empty lobby.

  “Probably. Got some stuff on my mind.”

  I didn’t pry, and he didn’t stop at the piano. We made our way to the bank of elevators. I pressed the button, and we both waited in uncomfortable silence. Once the doors split apart, we stepped inside. I turned to face the door, but Trey turned to face me. Once closed inside the small space, the electricity between us was palpable.

  “Brie.”

  I wouldn’t look at him. If I looked, I might not be responsible for my actions. “Yeah?”

  He moved toward me. I turned for fear of him knocking me over. He moved so close that my back pressed against the side wall of the elevator. He shifted his hips and through his jeans his erection moved against me. “This is what you do to me.”

  “Trey.”

  “We could have so much fun tonight.”

  I huffed my frustration, especially with the word tonight implying it would only be one night.

  “You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about it.”

  “Stop.”

  “You can’t tell me you haven’t wondered what my tongue would feel like down there.”

  I clenched my thighs together, having a pretty good idea how good it would feel.

  The elevator dinged, as we passed the floor beneath ours.

  “Last chance,” Trey said.

  I dropped my eyes and shook my head. “I can’t.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  I deserved more. “Both.”

  The elevator dinged on our floor and the doors split apart. I hurried out, fishing in my pocket for my keycard. Trey didn’t keep my pace, and the notion that he wouldn’t chase me—that I wasn’t worth chasing—sucked. But he had left the ball in my court, and I said no. I couldn’t fault him for abiding by my wishes.

  I reached my door and scanned my card, ducking inside before I changed my mind. I stood against the door, dragging in deep breaths. I’d never needed to say no to something I wanted so badly before. And even though I knew it was for the best, it still stung.