“Which follower?”
“Just one of my fans. Not someone I know personally. I should thank them, actually. They’re the reason I’m here.”
“Maybe I should thank them, too.”
He narrowed his eyes and looked me up and down, just like he had the day before. I was wearing the same type of pencil skirt and blouse, but the colors were reversed— a cream white skirt and a dark grey shirt. The longer he stared, the faster my heart raced.
Was I just imagining the heat in his eyes? He lingered on my bare thighs. The hem of my skirt had ridden up while I sat. A warm flush threatened to creep into my cheeks. I was ensnared by his gaze, the rush of blood flowing through my body making me reckless, daring. A naughty thought entered my head.
Instead of pulling the hem down, I casually shifted in my seat, making sure to turn sideways, giving him a better view of my ass and the curve of my back. His chest expanded, and I knew he’d taken in a sharp breath. He brought a thumb to his bottom lip and tapped it, considering. His laser gaze lingered on my ass before roaming over the rest of me, enjoying the swell of my breasts. A wave of excitement rushed through me. He was just as attracted to me as I was to him. I had the power to make this man, this rock star, this musical god, desire me.
The moment was interrupted by loud voices shouting outside the bus. The rest of the band members must have arrived.
I did blush, then. I turned around in my seat and tugged my skirt down to the tops of my knees. What had gotten into me? I was here for work, not to play the desperate groupie. I didn’t want Jayce to think I was throwing myself at him, eager to spend the night with a rock star.
In the back of my mind, though, I couldn’t help a small persistent thought. From the look in Jayce’s eyes, I had no doubt he would be willing to indulge me.
CHAPTER 4
“KELL: BOXERS OR briefs?”
“Commando.”
I rolled my eyes and typed Kell’s response.
We’d been on the road for a week already, and the guys were used to these interrogations. I ambushed them with prying fan questions on the first day, thinking it’d be best to break the ice by just jumping in headfirst. I had wanted the band members to know exactly what kind of work I’d be doing. Luckily, they didn’t mind. In fact, the guys usually had a lot of fun with it.
Jayce was on the sofa farthest from me. Ever since that moment we’d had on the tour bus before everyone arrived, he’d been trying to keep his distance. I still caught him glancing at me out of the corner of his eye every so often. The more days that passed, the more often I caught him.
I was attracted to Jayce; I couldn’t deny it. I’d been bold that first day, showing off for him, but it made me blush and squirm every time I thought about it. What had gotten into me?
Jayce was clearly attracted to me, too. That much was obvious. But why? Why me? I was just another intern. Did he think I would just throw myself at him like every other fan? That wasn’t going to happen. I was determined to be professional from now on.
Which was why I was grilling the guys about their underwear habits and posting the answers online.
Morris and Ren had chosen to sit at the bar. Morris already had a beer in his hand, chilled from the bar fridge. I wondered whose job it was to keep the band stocked with drinks and food. Probably some other intern.
Kell had draped himself over my shoulder, reading the questions from my phone’s screen, laughing aloud at each one before I read them to the room.
“Ren: You touched my hand in Dallas, and I haven’t washed it since.” I raised my head from my phone. “Any response?”
Ren lifted an eyebrow. “Tell whoever wrote it that I’m flattered, but for sanitation’s sake, please wash both hands regularly.”
“How do you even choose which questions to respond to?” Kell asked, grabbing my phone and scrolling through the messages I had marked to answer. “There must be tons coming in every second.”
“Every second, huh? You must think pretty highly of yourself,” I teased, grabbing at the phone. He let me steal it back, giving me a smug grin.
“It’s not that hard. Sometimes I look for questions that are interesting or unique, something nobody’s asked before. Or I’ll choose something funny or cute that’s bound to get lots of shares. I’ll usually check to see how many followers they have and if their posts tend to get shared a lot. I don’t only choose popular users, but it helps if they have a following. We want people to be talking about us.”
“But only good stuff, right?” Morris asked.
“Hey, it’s us. There’s only good stuff.” Kell grinned.
I continued scrolling through the list of questions. A notification popped up on my screen before I could ask the next one. It was a private message. I tapped to open it, and my jaw dropped.
wonder who you had to fuck to get a job as an official groupie
That message was clearly aimed at the person running their band’s social media accounts. Aimed at me. What kind of jealous loser would send a message like that? My hands trembled a bit as I swiped to delete the message. What kind of psychos would I have to deal with? I shook my head inwardly. Some people took their fandom way too seriously.
“What is it?” Jayce asked, sitting up from his casual slouch on the sofa, looking concerned. “Something wrong?” He must have noticed my pause and seen my hands shaking.
“It’s nothing. Just a stupid message. I ignore a lot of them.”
He didn’t look convinced, but nodded and settled back down. Kell continued to watch me carefully.
“Let’s get to the next question. ‘My friend Sharon told me she used to date Kell and that See The Light is about her. She’s a lying bitch, right?’ Huh. Some friend.”
“Tell them See The Light is about Tracey. That’ll get them talking.”
“Who’s Tracey?” I asked as I tapped at the screen.
“My stepsister.”
I choked out a laugh. “Well, stepbrother romance is hot these days, so who knows. Won’t she kill you for saying that, though?”
“Nah, she’s cool.”
“Jayce, will you marry me?” My heart skipped a beat as I glanced at Jayce. “Gonna make some girl’s dream come true today?”
He threw me a wicked grin.
“I’d rather marry my guitar,” Kell mimicked Jayce’s low baritone before he could answer. “You practically have sex with it on stage anyway.”
Jayce lifted his eyes heavenward as if praying for patience. “Tell them my heart only has room for one true love: music.”
“Awww, how poetic,” Kell bantered back.
I nearly melted at the quirk of Jayce’s lips. I took a steadying breath and moved on. I wouldn’t let myself fall into a stupor every time Jayce gave me one of his patented looks. I refused to fall under his spell like every other fangirl.
“Morris: I’ve seen you in concert a hundred times. Will you ever take off your shirt?”
“Impossible. We haven’t done one hundred shows yet,” Morris said, deadpan.
“And the shirt thing?” I prompted.
“Write down that I’ll take off my shirt when Kell takes off his pants.”
“Man, don’t give him ideas,” Jayce groaned.
Kell’s eyes lit up. “Hey, how about next show I—”
“No.” All three of them spoke at the same time.
“Why don’t I just tell her to keep coming to shows, and maybe she’ll get to see your naked chest one day?”
Morris nodded and went back to his beer.
“Ren: Would you ever date a girl as tall as you?”
Ren’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I dunno,” I said doubtfully. “You’re pretty tall. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a girl as tall as you.”
“Tell them I have no preference when it comes to height.”
I typed it up. “What do you look for in a girl?” I asked, knowing someone would ask it as a follow-up question.
&n
bsp; “Who said he’s into girls?” Kell quipped.
I raised an eyebrow at Ren. “You want me to type that?”
He shrugged. “Just say I like a good personality.”
Kell snickered. “You can do better than that.”
“It’s true,” I told him. “Everyone knows that’s a cop out answer.”
“Ugh. Fine. Tell them I’d like someone who can hold deep, meaningful conversations. Is that good enough?”
“That’ll do. Jayce: ‘It’s my eighteenth birthday next month. Will you come to my party?’ Aw, that’s sweet.”
“Eighteen means she’s legal.” Kell wiggled his eyebrows in a fake leer.
“Gross,” Morris said under his breath, but I saw him suppress a grin.
“Tell her I’m sorry, but I’ve got something secret planned for next month.”
“Awesome.” I gave him a nod. “That’ll answer her question and get people wondering what the secret is.”
“How often are we going to have to do this?” Jayce asked. It had only been a week. I wondered if he was already getting sick of it.
“Ideally, once a day for the rest of the tour. I know you guys are busy, so we’ll only do it when you have a spare minute.”
He nodded once, looking relieved.
“Next I need some pics to go with your responses.” I lifted my phone and opened the camera app, pointing it at Jayce. “Give me a sexy look.”
Jayce leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, hands dangling loosely between his legs. His expression changed like he was putting on a mask, shifting from fatigued and long-suffering to narrow-eyed and heated. He quirked the corner of his lips into a smirk and threw a familiar smoldering look my way.
The muscles in my stomach clenched automatically. I suppressed a whimper as a delicious ache throbbed between my thighs. I’d seen that panty-melting look at concerts and in photos, but being the sole recipient threatened to make my insides gush.
“Yeah, that’s good,” I croaked. I tried to keep my hands from shaking as I took the photo. “Done. Thanks.”
Jayce leaned back and I expected that look to melt off his face, but he kept the smirk for a moment longer, catching my eyes. I went still, trapped by his gaze. I thought I saw his expression soften in amusement before he flicked his eyes away, freeing me.
“Jayce, that’s rude,” Kell admonished. “Don’t go ensnaring our internet girl with your sexy rock star look.”
I looked down at my phone, trying to hide a blush. “Don’t worry,” I said, pretending to type away. “I’m sure I’ll build up an immunity eventually.” I hoped.
“Yeah? Wait till you see grumpy-just-woke-up-with-morning-breath Jayce after we’ve spent a night sleeping on the tour bus sofas. That’s enough to scare off any woman.”
That only made me think of waking up next him, naked and wrapped up in cotton sheets, our arms and legs tangled together, bodies pressed against each other.
I squashed that thought immediately.
I hoped maybe that moment we’d had would die a slow death once the other band members showed up and invaded the tour bus, but it hadn’t. The sexual tension between us had only intensified. I hoped to god the others hadn’t realized there was something going on. Every time Jayce threw that stare my way, my knees went as weak as jelly. I was determined not to let him affect me like that, but if I didn’t get a hold of myself, I was going to die from sexual frustration before summer was over.
A small part of me couldn’t help but think that, as far as dying went, it wouldn’t be a bad way to go.
DON’T EVEN THINK about getting your dirty paws on Jayce or you’ll be sorry
A spike of fear shot through my chest. Another one. Another threatening message. Was it the same person as before or someone else? Why did they think there was something between me and Jayce?
I flushed as I thought about the looks he kept giving me. How could Jayce be interested in me? He was a rock star. He could have any girl he wanted. There could never be anything between us.
No, this person must just be a jealous fan. They knew I got to go behind the scenes and interact with Feral Silence. Of course they would worry I’d go after one of the guys. After all, most fans were halfway in love with at least one member of the band.
Still, I couldn’t shake off the chill that overtook my body whenever I thought of those messages.
What if someone was really out to get me?
“Hey, you okay?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin as Jayce walked through the door to the artist’s lounge. This concert venue only had one, and I’d been perched on the edge of a loveseat, trying to get some work done.
“Sorry. Did I startle you?”
Jayce looked like he was on his way to the stage, pure white guitar in hand. I thought, not for the first time, what a perfect contrast the skin of his hands made against that guitar of his. Was that why he’d chosen it? Did he know how seductive it made him look?
He must. Everything Jayce did on stage was probably calculated to bring fangirls to their knees.
His eyes flickered to the phone in my hand, no doubt taking in my clenched fist and white knuckles. I relaxed my grip and shoved my phone into my purse. The threatening message still echoed in my head. I couldn’t shake it.
“I’m good. You should get to rehearsal.” I hoped he didn’t hear the trembling in my voice.
He looked me up and down, then lay his guitar down gently on a nearby couch. He came up to me until his body was right in front of mine. I had to crane my neck up to meet his eyes. Jayce reached out and cupped my cheeks between two hands. The skin of his fingers was rough and callused from the strings of his guitar.
My lips parted in surprise. His hands were warm and broad, engulfing my cheeks, the tips of his fingers threading through the strands of hair behind my ears.
“You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled, looking down, not wanting to meet his gaze as I lied.
“If something’s wrong, you can tell me.”
I didn’t want to worry Jayce over something so stupid. The kinds of messages I’d received were part of the reason I had my job in the first place. The band members had enough to take care of without having to worry about internet trolls and obsessed fangirls.
I faked a bright smile. “Don’t worry about me. The internet is just a creepy place sometimes. It’s my job to deal with it; that’s all.”
He studied my face carefully before nodding and letting me go.
I realized, for once, that my heart wasn’t racing and my nerves weren’t tingling. Usually being in Jayce’s presence was enough to ignite my insides and start a slow burn between my legs. He usually trapped me in that fiery gaze of his.
He hadn’t this time. He wasn’t trying to flirt with me. There’d been no tension between us, nothing sensual at all.
He was just worried about me.
My heart fluttered in a completely different way than it usually did. I felt warm inside, but it wasn’t an erotic feeling. I felt safe. Protected.
I was touched. I knew from the looks Jayce had been giving me that he was attracted to me. It was plainly obvious. But the fact that he paid attention to my well-being went beyond simple lust.
Did Jayce actually care about me?
“If you need anything, just tell me.” He picked up his guitar and headed toward the door, pausing with one hand on the doorframe.
“Anything at all.” He threw me that familiar smirk, that heated stare. I flushed and squirmed.
Affection and lust weren’t mutually exclusive after all.
WE’D BEEN ON the road for weeks, and I thought seeing Feral Silence in concert every day would get old, but it never did. Whenever they were on stage, they lit up the concert halls with their burning-hot presence.
We were in a new city every other day or so. I’d been worried their fans wouldn’t figure out the secret clues in time, but each and every venue was packed. I heard people lined up for hou
rs.
Kell was as dynamic as ever, crouching down at the edge of the stage to see the fans face to face one minute, jumping all over it the next, never staying still.
Morris looked as comfortable as ever pounding away on his drums, concentrating hard on the beats. He played with the same intensity whether he was in front of an audience or not.
Ren got right up close to the side of the stage, reaching out his hand and nearly causing fistfights as fans clambered over each other for the chance to touch him. His long, glossy hair fell over his shoulders, and a few fans almost seemed to snatch a few of the dark strands right off his head. He laughed and pulled back, whirling away from the grabby hands of his fans. Their disappointment was almost audible.
Jayce had the fans eating out of the palm of his hand. He put a hand to his ear and they screamed their lungs out. He jerked his arm up, pointing to the ceiling, and they jumped, bouncing along to the beat. He darted his tongue out to wet his lips and girls nearly fainted in the front row, squeals and shrieks deafening even over the loud music.
I was trying to capture every moment of their performance, every detail. This was the stuff people wanted to see. They wanted to see their idols on stage, the passion in their eyes as they sang and played their hearts out. The film crew had multiple cameras filming the whole thing, but their footage wouldn’t be released for months. The stuff I was getting would be instantaneous, from my smartphone’s camera to their fan’s eager eyes.
My staff badge allowed me to get into the upper balconies and take some shots from the audience’s point of view. The venue wasn’t too big, and it was still possible to get a good look at the guys on stage from up there.
I made sure to capture a photo of the audience awash in a sea of glowing light sticks. I also posted some of what the fans were screaming out loud, both at the guys and to their friends, especially when the exclamations were funny or risqué. One girl even talked about throwing her panties on the stage hoping Kell would take them. I was sure he would get a kick out of it.
Bad & Bold - A 7 Book Bad Boy Romance Collection! Page 30