“Fucking assholes!” she bit out. She and Axton were still holding on even through Dallas’s continued insecurities about Gabriella Moreitti and Axton. “He never mentioned it.”
“You know what we have to do, right?”
“I’ll make the arrangements. I know the perfect club.”
“Good. I’ll see you in an hour and we can plan it out. I say since the bachelor party is Friday, then so is Lana’s.” I glanced at my friend and she only nodded.
“I’ll see what I can do, but this might be something that will require the redhead’s help.”
I snorted, knowing by ‘redhead’ Dallas meant Emmie. Those two had become friends during the time Lana’s family had stayed on the East Coast right after she had come home from the hospital. “Emmie it is then.”
Shane groaned and I knew exactly what he was thinking. For one thing, Emmie probably didn’t know about the bachelor party. For another, if Emmie was going to be going to a bachelorette party, then so was Layla.
Nik and Jesse were going to kick his ass!
Shane
With Harper still upset with me, I had to move fast to make other arrangements. I knew that Emmie wasn’t going to help me, mainly because when I had begged she pointedly refused. She was helping with plans for Lana’s party and to hell with me.
As the days quickly passed, I kept on my toes altering the one party to crashing another. Because Emmie was doing the arranging, I knew that it was going to be almost impossible to get into whatever club she was renting out for the evening. But I had to make sure that we did crash it, or I was going to have three angry men kicking my ass.
Jesse was the first one to call me and nearly rip my head off over the phone. He and Layla were coming out a day earlier than expected just because of the party, and after seeing the way my friend had nearly knocked my brother’s head off a few months ago, I was eager to put things right.
“So now you have not only hurt Lana, but you also have my wife going to some party that I know will be hard-core with the way Em has been dropping hints,” Jesse snarled over the phone. “Oh, and Layla is pissed at me! So thanks, bro.”
“Why is she mad at you?” I demanded. “You weren’t in on this.”
“It doesn’t really matter to her or Emmie right now. Nik’s in the dog house too. Good luck with that, by the way.”
Nik had been more pissed than Jesse. “I’m sleeping in a bed that isn’t mine!” he raged thirty minutes after Jesse had called me. “You better fucking fix this, Shane. Emmie is making me sleep in your room.”
Of course neither one of my band brothers could compare to how furious Drake was. Lana was staying at Harper’s until after the party. I was sure that I was going to have the bruise on my chin for a good month. My brother was like a bear with a sore paw the way he was acting. “I told you, no party!” he had yelled right before he caught me off guard with the punch to the face.
It had taken me two hours to calm him down and promise him that I was going to fix it. Still, as pissed as my family was, it didn’t come close to how I was feeling. Harper was staying at her apartment with Lana, and I wasn’t allowed to visit. I hadn’t gone a day without seeing her since we had started dating. There hadn’t been a night that she wasn’t sleeping in my arms since we first made love.
Now she wouldn’t even answer the phone when I called. All my texts received a short, cold reply.
So yeah, I was hauling ass to get things right.
Now, as I stood with eight other rockers outside of the club Axton had been lucky enough to find out from Dallas was the place for tonight’s revenge party, I was almost scared at how easy it appeared to be to get in.
The seven foot muscle head that stood in front of the doors to the club had a headset in his ear and spoke to his boss for a moment before stepping aside and letting the nine of us pass. Nik raised his brows at me when I glanced at him.
When I hadn’t moved for almost a full minute, Drake pushed past me and into the club. The rest of us could only follow. The corridor was dark. A small light along the floor was the only guide we had so we wouldn’t trip over our feet. Loud techno music was playing. Strobe and laser lights were flashing from every angle, giving me a headache despite the years of using those same lights in our concerts.
I had this scary picture in my head of what we were going to find. All the girls with male strippers grinding against them. Harper sandwiched between two guys while they rubbed their junk all over her… My fists clenched at my sides, and I nearly punched a wall as we all increased our speed.
When we reached the bar area that had the dance floor right behind it, we all stopped at the sight that greeted us.
The place was empty.
Except for a bartender behind the bar, the place was completely empty. Drake exploded into a round of viscious curses that no one heard because the music was so loud. I pulled out my phone, hoping beyond hope that Harper would answer me this time when the music was suddenly cut off.
The lights came on and I had to blink a few times before my vision returned to normal. From the top floor of the club stood a group of laughing women dressed in killer club wear. At the sight of Harper standing between Lana and Dallas, my heart flipped over. The look she was giving me told me I was forgiven because the joke was on me.
“So,” Emmie called from the second floor. “Have we learned our lesson?”
“Fuck, I love her,” Nik muttered under his breath, staring up at Emmie in awe.
Harper
With only about fifteen people in the huge club, it left for lots of dark, quiet corners. I was thinking about taking advantage of one after having spent nearly a week away from Shane.
I had gotten over being mad at him a few hours after our argument. I might have even given in and run back to him then and there. But Dallas, Emmie, and Layla had intervened. We had to teach them a lesson, they told me. Not just Shane, but all of them. Teach them that we weren’t going to put up with something like this without there being consequences.
Because I was feeling so weak, I could only talk to Shane through texts or I would have told him everything.
Now, with Drake and Lana back in each other’s arms after nearly a week of separation, I was sure that I wasn’t the only one planning on using a dark corner. Grinning at Dallas, I pushed her toward the stairs. “Let’s go find our own guys.”
“You go,” Dallas frowned down at the first floor. Axton and the rest of the members of OtherWorld were laughing and ribbing each other as they chugged down the apple cider, which was the hardest thing on the menu for tonight out of respect for Drake.
I left my friend to her heavy thoughts. Dallas had it bad if she was still with Axton despite all her doubts. I knew she had a lot on her plate at the moment and hoped that she was able to work things out with her relationship so she could deal with all the other things she needed to deal with.
I passed Layla and Jesse at the bottom of the stairs, but they didn’t see me. Layla had her legs wrapped around the big man’s waist while he had her pushed up against the wall. Grinning, I continued on my way.
As I reached the bar it was to find that Shane had disappeared on me. Frowning, I hopped up onto one of the barstools and asked for a ginger ale from the bartender. Maybe Shane was mad at me.
“Well hello, kitten.”
Glancing up, I found Wroth Niall and Zander Brockman standing right beside of me. My mouth dropped open a little when I realized that it had been Wroth that had spoken. Wroth was known as kind of a woman hater. Not that it stopped hordes of females trying to grab his attention. The guitarist not only played like a freaking dream, but he was perhaps the hottest male in the rock world—or so all the tabloids said. I wasn’t so sure because Shane had me captivated.
“Hi, guys,” I greeted a little hesitantly.
“You have got to be Stevenson’s girl,” Zander said with a grin. “Now I see why he’s been in such a tizzy all day.”
I blinked. “Thanks… I think.”
“It’s kind of crazy to think of that fucker with a steady girl...” Wroth shook his head “...but obviously he has good taste.”
My cheeks warmed with a mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. I still wasn’t used to compliments from hot guys. “I like to think he does.”
I sat there talking to both of the guitarists for a long while. I found they were both kind of charming underneath all of that rocker toughness. Wroth was an ex-Marine, which fascinated me, and I wondered if I could get him to give me an interview for Rock America. I liked both rockers a lot and even found myself laughing with them.
When Shane still hadn’t appeared, I felt a little deflated and excused myself to the ladies’ room.
The bathrooms were at the back of the club, down a hidden corridor. As soon as I turned the corner to the ladies’ room, a strong hand wrapped around my waist and pulled me against a hard chest. Startled, I nearly screamed until the familiar, tantalizing smell of Shane’s aftershave hit my senses and I melted against him.
I dropped my purse and wrapped my arms around his neck, holding on for dear life. “I thought you were mad at me and you left,” I nearly sobbed.
“So now we’ve both learned our lesson, huh?” he teased before his mouth devoured my own.
I kissed him back, trying to make up for the days we shouldn’t have been apart. I was so glad I had worn the little black skirt that Dallas had suggested I borrow from her. Shane wasted no time in pushing it up my hips as he backed me against the opposite wall.
Maybe I should have been worried about someone finding us like this. But I didn’t. Shane had brought out the wild side in me. During the last few months, we had made more than a handful of visits to Sensual House, and one of their rooms gave you the experience of having public sex with the one way mirror that took up nearly one whole wall.
Oddly enough, that had been my favorite room to experiment in. It was so naughty watching people walk by the one way mirror while Shane took me against the wall, or on the bed, or any other place in that room. But there had been that safety net of no one being able to see us. I couldn’t believe how hard I had come when Shane had taken me against the wall for the first time while I watched a couple stop in front of the wall of the mirror I was looking out of. While the man turned to kiss his girlfriend, I had been filled with a rush that had nearly brought me to my knees as I came around Shane.
A moan escaped me when his fingers slipped under the hem of my panties to find me wet for him. Two fingers thrust into me, and I clenched around them with need.
“I don’t think I can be gentle,” he growled against my ear, making me shiver in anticipation.
“I don’t want gentle. I want it rough. Hard.”
“Thank fuck!” Two seconds, that was all he needed to free himself and thrust into me.
Chapter 20
Harper
It was Christmas Eve.
Not exactly what I would call an ideal time to get married, but it was what Lana and Drake had wanted, so who was I to judge. I stood in the back of the church in my bridesmaid’s dress with Emmie, Layla, and Dallas. We were just relaxing, talking about nothing of any consequence while we waited for the wedding to start.
I was surprised at how calm Lana was. When I had been a bridesmaid for Cecil’s niece a few years ago, she had been anything but calm. She had been borderline bridezilla, screaming at everyone for no apparent reason, sweating off her makeup and having to reapply it several times. But Lana was just sitting on the little sofa with her sister beside her, laughing along with everyone else when Emmie made some mouthy comment.
I was curious as to how Drake was taking the small wait before the wedding started. While everyone else was talking, not paying attention to me, I stepped out of our little room and quietly went down the hall to where Shane and his brother were. Before I lifted my hand to knock, I heard Drake.
He wasn’t as calm as Lana by a long shot. “What if she decides that she doesn’t want to marry me after all? I mean who could blame her? I’m no good for her. She deserves better.”
“Of course she does. She deserves a fucking lot better,” Jesse said in a hard, cool tone. “But she wants you, Drake. Lana loves you, dickhead.”
“But…”
Not wanting to hear Drake tearing himself to pieces a moment more, I opened the door without knocking. Drake was pacing, his hands raking through his shaggy hair like a man tormented. Nik and Jesse stood by the window revealing December in New York and the two inches of snow already on the ground. Shane was sitting on the little leather sofa across the room, watching his brother with troubled eyes.
All eyes turned on me when I entered the room. Without even second guessing what I should do, I crossed over to Drake and hugged him tight. After only a small hesitation, he hugged me back. “Lana sends her love. She can’t wait to see you and become your wife.”
All the tension seemed to evaporate from his body. For a moment his arms tightened around me. “Thank you,” he whispered.
With a smile, I stepped back and gave his hands one last squeeze before leaving the room. Back in Lana’s room, I went over to her and dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Drake sends his love.”
“Is he okay?” Lana asked.
“He’s doing better now,” I promised.
The church was huge but it was nowhere near full. OtherWorld and a few other rockers were in attendance, but that about summed up the guest list. Linc, Cecil, and a girl that was related to one of the members of OtherWorld were the only normal guest in attendance. Lana’s father was sitting in the front row watching with all smiles as Jesse gave Lana away.
The ceremony was beautiful, and I couldn’t keep the tears at bay as I watched Drake struggle through his vows as he openly cried. When the minister pronounced them husband and wife, Drake pulled Lana close and kissed her with such love and tenderness that I was sure there wasn’t a dry eye in the church.
The reception was just as small as the ceremony had been. Of course there were paparazzi trying to get in, but Emmie had hired security to keep everyone out. My boss had asked me to do an article on it, but I had told him point blank that I wouldn’t. Lana and Drake wanted this special day to remain just for them; they didn’t have to share it with the world. And I wasn’t going to disrespect them by writing about it.
“This is nice,” Shane murmured as he pressed his lips to my ear while we danced. “Maybe it will give you a few ideas about your own wedding.”
I stilled in his arms. Shocked to the point of being nearly unable to stand up on my own, I leaned into him for support. “W-what?” I managed in a voice that was more than a little squeaky. Marriage hadn’t been on my mind. We had only known each other a handful of months. But now that he had put that little bug in my mind, I had all kinds of crazy thoughts flashing through my head!
I felt his lips lift into a smile against my forehead. “Just a thought.”
“You’re a jerk, you know that?” I closed my eyes, but I couldn’t help but smile. “I love you, though.”
“I love you more, beautiful.”
Shane
Christmas passed with more spirit this year than there had been the year before. Drake and Lana were off on their honeymoon in the Bahamas instead of rehab this time, so we were all breathing a little easier. We were all smiles as opposed to the tension that everyone had been feeling just twelve months before when Lana had announced that she was moving across the country to start a new life that didn’t involve Drake.
I got to wake up with Harper in my arms, so I had a reason to be happy no matter what day it was. We shared the morning with my family, who were staying in New York until Lucy had to go back to school after the New Year. Then we went back to Harper’s apartment and had dinner with Dallas, Linc, and Cecil.
I liked to think that Cecil and I had become something of friends over the months that I had been with Harper. I knew that Harper thought of him as her only family, so I made sure that we were on good footing. I was su
re that the case of fifty year old bourbon I got him for a Christmas present had only cemented our bond. It sure made Harper happy to see her stepdad’s eyes light up when he unwrapped the heavy present. Harper was the most important person in my world, second to no one. My goal was to make sure that she always knew how special she was to me.
So when she had to go to Miami for a three day conference, I wanted to go with her. Of course, she didn’t think that was a good idea. Since the whole Trey incident, I had been a little overprotective when it came to her job. Following her to interviews, making sure that whomever she happened to be meeting knew exactly why I was there, and probably scaring the shit out of a few people along the way.
Harper’s boss loved the fact that I was her boyfriend and had even asked her repeatedly to get me to do an exclusive interview and photo shoot for the magazine. I was all for doing what would give her the push she needed in her career. Harper wouldn’t have it though. She didn’t want to use our relationship to move up the ladder.
I ended up staying home while she went off to Miami for the conference the second week of January. She had argued and argued, but in the end it had been the promise of a full night at one of our favorite rooms at Sensual House when she got back that had made me back off. I knew that she needed to give the conference her full attention, and that if I were to go with her I would just distract her.
Not that it was a bad thing in my book, but to Harper it was a big deal.
The first night without her sucked.
I was sitting in front of the television flipping through channels, feeling both bored and lonely since Drake and Lana would be gone for at least another week. Harper was supposed to call me after the big dinner with her boss and other higher-ups ended, but I still had at least an hour before I would get to talk to her.
Lucy had been texting me off and on all evening. She had been back to school for a few days now, and she loved the creative writing class her teacher had put her in. The kid had a wild imagination that was for sure. Half the things she wrote about I couldn’t determine if it had actually happened or not.
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