Certainty (RiffRaff Records Book 7)

by L. P. Maxa

“Um, okay.” His frown deepened. “Well, you type the things you’d want to do to each other, you know, to get started.” He cleared his throat. “And then it kind of escalates from there, kind of becomes incoherent words and quick thoughts.”

  I nodded, trying to act barely interested when really I wanted to grab the notebook and pen from my desk and take notes.

  “Who are you wanting to sext with, M?” Jett put his phone in his pocket, concern for me all over his face. “You’ve been on one date in the last twelve months, and that didn’t end well.”

  “No one.” I shrugged, pointing to my head. “You know how my brain functions. I want knowledge on everything.” I wrinkled my nose, working to keep him from asking me any more questions. “We better hurry, that burning smell is how my mom tells when things are done.”

  Jett quickly climbed out my window, reaching in to help me down. My distraction had worked, like I knew it would. He smirked, pointing toward his house in the distance. “Wanna race? Winner gets to be player one?” I rolled my eyes like the thought of racing was incredibly juvenile and beneath me. But he knew me better than that and seconds later we took off across the field, laughing like two children.

  To say I was slightly competitive in nature was a giant lie. Massively competitive was closer to the truth, and I saw it as a simple by-product of my drive and ambition. And Jett? He liked to prove that he was the best because he was the youngest of three boys. That, and he liked to hold victories over my head.

  We raced up his front steps, fighting each other through the too-narrow space of the door. Jett grabbed me around the waist, spinning me to deposit me behind him in his parents’ entryway. But I knew that move and I quickly grabbed hold of his shorts, pulling them down to his ankles so he tripped and I was the first one to the kitchen island.

  I threw my hands in the air, a smug look on my face. “Winner.”

  “She beats you more often than not, son.” I laughed at my uncle’s comment, turning to the kitchen table, but stopping short when I saw that Talon and Dane were sitting with Uncle Luke and Aunt Lo.

  Jett came shuffling into the kitchen, his shorts still around his ankles. It would have been comical if not for the look on Talon’s face. He wasn’t amused. And it got even worse when Jett started tickling me, making me squirm and giggle.

  “Pull your shorts up, Jett, we have company.” Uncle Luke was barely holding in his laughter at our usual antics.

  Jett straightened, shuffling to the table with his shorts still dragging the ground because that was simply who he was. “It’s not company, it’s Talon and Dane.” He sat down next to his mom. “And it’s not on me if Marley likes me better pantsless.” He winked at Talon and I swear Talon broke a molar from clenching his jaw so hard.

  “One of these days your uncle Dash is gonna beat your ass, and I’m gonna let him.” Aunt Lo pointed at her youngest son with the fork in her hand.

  Jett shrugged, as if to say it would be worth it. Then to drive his point home he patted his thigh. “Come sit with me, MVP.”

  I rolled my eyes, pouring myself a glass of orange juice and grabbing a muffin before going to join my family. The only empty seat was between Jett and Talon, which seemed annoyingly fitting at the moment. The instant I sat down, Talon’s hand landed on my thigh under the table. He curved it around, resting it between my legs. I was really hoping the fact that my breath had hitched wouldn’t give us away. Every time he touched me, I was affected. And instantly, I wanted more. I wanted to crawl into his lap. I wanted both his hands on my body and his lips against mine.

  I hadn’t understood lust until Talon. And now I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to give it up.

  “What have you two hooligans got going on today?” Uncle Luke took a large bite of eggs, his gaze shooting between Jett and me. “Bodies to bury?”

  “Nah, we do that at night like true pros.” Jett smiled, expertly deflecting with a quick joke around a mouth full of bacon. “What about you guys?”

  “Your mom and I are headed into Austin. We have a couple meetings and then we’re going to go check out a new band tonight. You want to come with?”

  Jett shook his head. “Can’t. Got plans that are too naughty to mention in front of my mother.”

  Aunt Lo made a grossed-out face before taking another sip of her coffee. Uncle Luke turned his attention to the rest of the table, ignoring his son’s attempt to shock and embarrass. “What about you guys? Talon, you want to come into town with us?”

  I reached down, placing my hand on top of his, making him squeeze my thigh. Silently reminding him that he had other plans tonight. Would he keep them? Or would he use Uncle Luke’s invitation as the perfect excuse to not be alone with me?

  He cleared his throat. “I uh, I have some things I need to do tonight.”

  Uncle Luke turned to Dane. “You?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, I’m game. And I’m sure Brax will be down to go into Austin.” Dane chuckled. “He’s, uh, hurting if you know what I mean.”

  “He needs to get some ass?” Jett looked up at Dane, humor in his eyes. “Yeah, I can see that. There isn’t anyone on the compound for him to occupy his dick with.”

  “For the love of all things holy, Jett Wilson Matthews.” Aunt Lo popped him in the back of the head.

  “What?” He winced, rubbing his scalp. “We all knew what he meant. Why am I in trouble for agreeing with him? Landry and Halen are taken. Evie is in Dallas. Katie already shot him down. Avory is…uh, you know, Avory. And Marley is too young.”

  I closed my eyes briefly, pissed that Jett felt the need to point out how young I was in front of Talon. If it wasn’t on his mind already, it clearly was now. He slid his hand off my thigh and returned it to the table to hold his coffee mug.

  “Plus, she’s my girl.” Jett threw his arm around my neck, smacking a kiss to the side of my head.

  Uncle Luke shook his head, tossing his napkin on the table. “Your mother is right. Dash is going to lose his shit on you one day.”

  “Uncle Dash didn’t hit Beau for banging his underage daughter. I doubt he’s going to begrudge me a little harmless flirting.”

  I wanted nothing more than to punch Jett in his mouth at that moment. It was as if he was doing it on purpose now. Underage daughter? Too young? Did he know something? Had he seen Talon’s hand on my leg? Why was the universe punishing me this morning?

  “Jesus, Jett, were you raised by wolves?” Aunt Lo popped him again.

  “No. I was raised by four rock stars and the crazy women who fell in love with their insane asses.” Jett met his mom’s eyes over his coffee cup.

  She sighed. “I guess that makes sense then, huh?”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Talon

  Before

  I knew that it would be frowned upon for me to punch Jett in the dick, but I wanted to. I wanted to hit that kid so fucking bad. His hands were always on Marley. He demanded her attention like a child. And the things that came out of his mouth were altogether unnecessary. He really was so much like Brax that it was disturbing. But Brax didn’t touch my girl, so he got a bit of a free pass.

  Breakfast had been a little bit of torture seeing the easy closeness between Jett and M. Then him pointing out that she was too young for someone my age as my palm had been twitching on her thigh? Yeah, that felt as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head.

  After breakfast we went our separate ways. The band worked on postproduction through lunch, so I hadn’t seen anyone other than my bandmates all day. But now it was dinnertime, and we were all gathered around the large table in Jacks and Bryan’s backyard. When he’d invited me to eat with them, I hadn’t realized that more of the Devil’s Share family would be in attendance. Luke and Lo were in the city, and they’d taken Brax and Dane along. Smith and Dylan were in Dallas visiting Evie, and the youngest spawn had gone with them. And, of course, Cash, Crue, and Katie were in Cali. But even with those people missing, there were still twelve of us having dinner to
gether.

  I was sitting in between Marley and Avory, and across from Dash. I’d kept my hands to myself this time, a little nervous that somehow Dash would be able to tell I was touching his seventeen-year-old daughter. I shouldn’t touch her. I shouldn’t have touched her last night or this morning. Six months was nothing in the grand scheme of things, and I should have held my ground and waited until her eighteenth birthday for that first kiss.

  But she’d begged. She’d put her hand over my heart and whimpered against my lips. She’d easily turned me into a crazy person with little to no resolve.

  And I wanted more.

  I wanted to pull her from her seat and take her somewhere we could be alone. I wanted to kiss her again. I wanted her in my lap and in my arms. I wanted to be completely consumed and surrounded by my classically cool girl.

  “Talon, what do you think?”

  “Huh?” I looked up from my plate of fried chicken and my brain reengaged in the here and now to find Jacks, Dash, and Brody staring at me. “About what?”

  Jacks raised both his eyebrows like he was surprised I hadn’t heard them speaking to me. “Uh, about finishing the rest of postproduction at the Florida studio?”

  “Oh, um, why would we do that?” I instantly wanted to say no, I wasn’t ready to leave M yet. I knew we’d be touring soon enough, but I thought I’d have another couple of weeks to hang out with her. To be her friend, and learn everything about her.

  “Dude.” Brody adjusted the baby sitting on his lap, handing him a green bean and letting him squish it in his chubby baby fist. “We’ve been talking about this for the last five minutes. Where is your head?”

  On your underage cousin, the one sitting so close to me I can feel her body heat and smell her shampoo. “Sorry, I guess I zoned out there for a minute.” I took a sip of my water, playing it off as best I could. “Tell me again why we need to move to Florida for a few weeks?”

  “I feel like your album is missing something.” Dash steepled his hands under his chin. “The songs are great, the lyrics, the sound. But it needs a little tweaking. It needs some freedom. Does that make sense? You guys are surfers with a rock star day job, and I feel like this album doesn’t reflect that like your last one did.”

  I pursed my lips. “You want us to start over?” There was no way. It would take us another six months to redo the album. It literally wasn’t possible.

  “No.” He shook his head. “I want to rerecord some of the songs in the Seaside studio. It’s right on the ocean. Y’all can surf and feel more like Clashing Swell.” He chuckled. “We have you guys landlocked here, and I think it’s messing with your vibe.”

  Ordinarily, I’d agree one hundred fucking percent. I craved the beach, the waves. But I was currently exactly where I wanted to be. I was next to Marley, and that was becoming my new happy place.

  “What about Landry and Wyatt? We’re recording here so Brody can be at home with his family.” That was the reason we’d decided to record on the compound to begin with, being away from them was too hard on him. It brought him down, which in turn brought us all down.

  “You really tuned out the entire conversation we had, didn’t you?” Brody shook his head, picking smashed green beans out of Wyatt’s blond curls. “Landry and Wyatt would come with. It’s only for a few weeks.”

  “We could take Wyatt to see the ocean.” Landry took the baby from Brody’s lap, placing vegetables in his mouth without giving him the option of playing with them first. “And to be honest, I’m feeling a little landlocked myself. I miss the beach.”

  Dane and Brax would never protest going to Florida. And if Brody and Landry were on board as well, then there was no way I could say no. It wouldn’t make sense for me to not want to go. And I couldn’t explain to everyone why I wanted to stay here.

  “Yeah, sure. That sounds great.”

  It didn’t sound great. But as Marley’s leg pressed up against mine and I smoothed my palm down her thigh, it did sound smart.

  I had almost zero control when it came to the dark-haired beauty sitting beside me. So maybe distance was exactly what we needed until she turned eighteen. I could be strong if it meant that I could do right by her in the process.

  ***

  By the time I’d made my way into the basement, it was after ten. Dash and Jacks had been feeling fucking chatty after dinner. Brody and I sat outside with them around a firepit, talking about the future of RiffRaff, and the direction they wanted Clashing Swell to go after this next mini tour.

  My knee had started to bounce around nine o’clock, and it took everything in me not to check my watch every three minutes. Luckily, Landry had called Brody home and that had given me the perfect opportunity to leave.

  “M, you down here?” I was on the stairs, but I didn’t see her messy topknot anywhere. “Bab—”

  “Talon?” Jett came around the corner carrying a small leather duffle. “What are you doing here, man?”

  “I, uh, I told Marley I’d help with some test.” That sounded vague and shady as shit. Where the hell had he even come from? I didn’t see him when I walked in. “She here? Or did I get the date wrong?” Did that help? Did that make yet another Talon appearance in the basement grow house any less suspicious?

  “Yeah, she’s in the back.” He gestured behind him with his thumb. “I didn’t realize we were testing any new product though.” His forehead wrinkled in a bit of a frown. “She’s transferring seedlings tonight, I thought.”

  I shrugged, trying to go for that casual thing all the Devil’s Spawn seemed to have mastered. “I just work here, dude.” I chuckled, taking it all a step further. “I’ll do whatever the boss says I need to do to get my free product.”

  He laughed, throwing the duffle over his shoulder. “You and everyone else.”

  Marley came out of the hidden back room carrying a plastic tray full of tiny green plants. “Are you sure you’re good with delivering? We could always make those asshats come pick up.” She sat the tray down on one of her stainless-steel tables. “Not to sound like one of our overbearing cousins, but driving around with a duffle full of that much product probably isn’t the saf—”

  She stopped talking when she turned to face Jett and noticed I was there as well.

  I smirked, crossing my arms over my chest at her warning to Jett. Maybe she wasn’t as immune to worry after all. She had low regard for her own safety, but she worried about Jett and that was another example of how much he meant to her. “Please continue.” I gave her the universal keep-going hand gesture. “I’m digging this secondhand lecture you’re giving him.”

  She narrowed her eyes, making me smirk.

  Jett slung his arm around her neck, smacking a kiss against her head like he often did. “No worries, MVP, I love you too.” He jogged up the stairs, slapping my hand in greeting and in good-bye before he walked out the door whistling an old Foo Fighters tune.

  “You enjoyed that more than you should have.” She sent me a withering glare and then turned her attention back to her small plants.

  I made my way down the stairs, coming up behind her and placing my hands on her hips. I rested my chin on her shoulder, watching her work. “I really did.” I watched for a few minutes as she picked up the small cartons, burying the whole thing into larger pots already filled with rich soil. “But you want to know what I didn’t enjoy?”

  “No.” She spun in place, resting her arms on my shoulders, staring up at me defiantly. “But it really sounds like you’re going to tell me anyway.” Her smile was sassy and I wanted to kiss it from her plump pink lips.

  “Jett in his boxers, telling you to come sit in his lap.”

  She sighed and dropped her hands to her sides, turning to her plants, clearly annoyed with me. “I’m not going to keep arguing with you about my relationship with Jett.”

  “Do you want to know why I didn’t enjoy it?” I placed my hand on the back of her slim neck, gently making her face me once again.

  She put her fist
s on her hips, a hard look in her dark eyes. “I don’t know. Do I want to know?”

  I picked her up, palming her ass and walking backward with her in my arms until I reached the bottom step. I sat us both down, her straddling my lap. “Because I was jealous as fuck.” I kissed the tip of her nose. “I want you in my lap.” I smiled, letting her know that I wasn’t mad, and that my petty jealousy wasn’t a cause for real concern.

  I knew that Jett and Marley were a package deal, and I couldn’t keep giving her a hard time about him if I wanted to keep her in my life.

  She leaned into me, resting her forehead against mine. “I don’t want you to go to Florida.”

  “I don’t want to go either.” I took a deep inhale, closing my eyes and enjoying the feel of her. “But, since I can’t seem to keep my hands off you, it’s probably for the best, yeah?”

  I knew she was smiling without even opening my eyes, I could hear it in her voice. “Is this the way it always is?” She scooted closer, her ass resting on top of my quickly hardening dick. “This insane need to touch.”

  I held her face in my hands, completely enamored with my girl. “No, baby.” I shook my head. “It’s you. It’s us.”

  I brought her face closer mine, a debate raging in my head as the space between us got less and less. I knew that I was playing with fire. I knew that I should put a stop to this. But it looked like I was leaving soon, and I wouldn’t have much more time with her. So, what was one more kiss?

  Her lips met mine and we both seemed to sigh in relief, that this was what we’d both been needing all damn day. Her small body rocked against me, instinctively seeking friction. I groaned against her lips, my fingers digging into her ass. Her nails did the same to my back as she deepened our kiss, finding a rhythm and moving against me.

  I wanted to lay her out on one of her steel tables. I wanted to feel her core clench around my fingers, my tongue, and, oh yeah, my dick. We were alone, and no one else could even get down into this locked basement. She wanted me, and I fucking craved her.

  I stood, keeping her in my arms as I crossed the room, knocking all her papers to the floor before I sat her on the cold metal surface. I slipped my hands up the front of her shirt, about losing my mind when I realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. “Baby, fuck, tell me to stop.”