“I don’t even think he wanted that, but fair is fair. He loves you, Nadine. I’ve never seen him like this with a woman before.” Tommy shook his head. “I assumed all wrong, and I’m sorry.”
“Where is he?” Nadine asked as Jacob frowned.
“I heard he’s down at the rodeo acting a fool.”
“Damn it,” Nadine cursed and looked at Marilyn. “Can I use your car? I need to talk to him.”
“Go get your man.” Marilyn smiled as she walked over to get the keys.
Nadine didn’t even freshen up before she left the house in her torn jeans and pale pink t-shirt. She just needed to fix everything. Nadine drove as carefully as she could in the luxurious SUV and parked in the back instead of wasting time finding somewhere closer. She needed to find Owen and tell him that she loved him and that she wanted them to be a family.
Running through the crowd she heard sirens, but Nadine went right to the sounds of cheering to find someone riding a bull. “Nadine? What are you doing here?” She turned to see Cole, who looked stunned to see her.
“Owen James. Where is he?” she demanded as his face fell and he looked around the crowd.
“He just rode and got thrown off. He’s on his way to the hospital,” Cole told her and tilted his head. “Are you with him now?”
“I will be. What hospital?” Nadine asked, and made a mental note to herself as she tore through the crowd to the car. She took a moment to figure out the fancy GPS system before she was on her way through the light traffic as tears slid down her cheeks. Marilyn called as she was driving and Nadine told her what had happened in a flood of tears before she took a sharp right when the robotic voice told her to.
The hospital loomed before her, and Nadine parked quickly and ran inside to a nurse’s station, demanding to know about Owen. The woman told her to calm down as she checked a computer and informed Nadine that Owen was on the second floor of the building, and they could help her up there.
Nadine ran to the elevator and paced as she waited for the car. The baby was moving, and Nadine wondered if she could feel her mother’s stress. At that station, Nadine was joined by Marilyn and her children and they found out that Owen was admitted unconscious with a concussion after a violent ride on the bull. They went to his room, and Marilyn consulted with a doctor while Nadine crept in there to see him alone as she waited for any word.
Owen looked painfully bruised and asleep as she looked at the monitors that he was hooked up to. “Please wake up, Owen. I love you, and we both need you. I know that you weren’t after the money, and I’m so sorry for thinking that and...letting this happen. Please come back to me.” She dropped into the chair and took his hand as she cried against the mattress and prayed for his recovery.
The room slowly filled with family and friends, but nobody moved Nadine from her vigil by his bedside. She could see how loved Owen was by the community, despite his concerns when they had first met. It seemed like days, but Owen opened his eyes only a few hours later and looked around the room before his blurry eyes settled on Nadine at his side. “You’re here.”
“What were you trying to do with that bull? Kill yourself?” Nadine asked him, as Marilyn chuckled and shook his head.
“You took the words right from my mouth,” Marilyn told her, as the rest of the room laughed.
“I wasn’t thinking straight. Am I okay?” he asked, as he clutched her hand tighter.
“You will be, but don’t even think of being that stupid ever again. Our daughter needs you. I need you.” Nadine smiled and cried as he looked at her with wide eyes.
“Does that mean what I think it does?” he cautiously asked her, and she nodded tearfully.
“I love you, Owen,” Nadine pledged in front of the entire room to sounds of gasps and murmurs. “I never want to be without you ever again.”
“Nadine Parson, will you marry me? I want to be a family, and I need you as my wife. I need you by my side forever,” Owen asked her, and she cried and nodded.
“Yes, I want that. I want you.” She gingerly stood to kiss him as he apologized for not having a ring. The witnesses cheered as she smiled and kissed him.
“I don’t care about any of that, Owen James. I am sorry that I doubted you, my love.”
As he kissed her, Nadine knew that she’d found her forever in Texas. Warmth filled her veins.
Texas. Who would’ve ever guessed?
*****
THE END
Played by the Rock Star
Description
I’m a good girl, I don’t like hot, famous rock stars. All I have to do is pretend that I’m dating one...
Brent Jacobsen is living the life of a rock star.
Sold out concerts.
All of the girls that he could ever want.
Parties and fancy hotel rooms.
It’s just too bad that he’s broken and self-destructing. After destroying another hotel room, his best friends come up with a brilliant idea on how to deflect the negative press: date their younger sister out in public and feed off of her sweet and clean life. They already know each other, so it will be easy enough.
It sounds so simple, until it isn’t.
Riley is beautiful and smart. Brent watched her grow up but now, at twenty-two, she is mature and compassionate in ways that he doesn’t understand. They both agree, but soon know that it is more than just a news story.
Can Brent find it in himself to give Riley what she deserves? Can he be what she needs?
Will his friends ever forgive him for what he’s about to do to their sister?
Will he ever be the same again after he tastes her lips?
Chapter One
The sun glared into the room. Brent Jacobson raised his hand to block it and turned onto his stomach in the king sized bed. “What the fuck? It’s so early.”
“Poor baby. What they hell are you up to, Brent?” the sharp voice of his publicist responded, as his head started to pound. “Nice room. Too bad the rest of it is trashed.”
“Trashed? What happened?” Brent groaned as the full effects of his hangover started to kick in and make him feel like shit.
“Jesus fucking Christ. You’re lucky the band is doing well,” McKenzie Adams grumbled, as she stared at the man who was making her life a living nightmare. “A few girls went scrambling out of here when I knocked, since you wouldn’t answer your cell. I got a call from the hotel due to a report of noise sometime this morning and had to catch a flight here from Philadelphia. It was my daughter’s fifth-grade graduation today. Thanks a lot for that, Brent.”
“Shit, I’m sorry.” She snorted at his apology as she paced the room.
“The rest of the band doesn’t even want to answer their phones anymore. Do you think there’s a problem?”
Brent turned in the bed and kept the sheet over his body, even though he knew that Kenzie didn’t care. When she wasn’t babysitting him, she was a happily married mother of two kids. “The gig was great, and we partied afterward. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, except that you have another bill from another trashed hotel room. It’s in the thousands of dollars, this time, Brent. That TV was quite large. Judging from the mess of bottles, you owe on the mini bar as well.” She looked at him with worried, jade green eyes as she ran a hand through her wavy, chestnut hair. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, Kenzie. I wanted to have some fun after a show, and the girls were hot.” He looked at her with dull blue eyes that before covering his handsome face with one thick, tattooed arm.
“You know it’s more than that,” she said, before letting out a sigh. “Are you going to stay calm for a while? I have to do damage control.”
“I’m fine, Mom.”
“I am going to call Declan and have him come be here with you.” Her brother was a roadie for Nothing Lost and staying in the same hotel, but she hadn’t made the call yet. She knew how late he’d been up, and this was her job. Technically. Declan just helped her out.
Brent groaned as he saw her shadow leave the room and pulled the sheets over his head. He had no recollection of last night apart from the girls and the drinks, but Brent was well aware that he could lose control quickly these days. His life was successful, and he was doing well on paper, but inside he was a mess.
Brent had wanted more for himself at thirty, but things had just happened to bring him down. He rode the high that was being lead singer of one of the most popular bands in 2016 and tried not to think about the rest of it. Brent knew that he was awake for the day and got up to hit the toilet and pull on some shorts before he walked out into the living area of the suite.
Kenzie was right. It was destroyed. He looked around at the broken and upturned furniture and the shattered television on the floor, not to mention the general mess from the party that he’d thrown at the last minute. He pushed a reddened hand through his dirty blond hair, which was hanging down into his face, and closed his eyes slowly as he heard a knock at the door.
Brent made his way through the destruction and opened it to find Declan Keller standing there in board shorts and a t-shirt, looking as though he’d partied as well. He just didn’t look or probably feel nearly as bad as Brent did. “Were you here last night?”
“I did the after party with the opening band. Cool guys.” Declan walked inside and whistled as he looked around. “Is Kenzie pissed off? It was Scarlet’s graduation today and she scheduled hard to be there. She could’ve just called me.”
“I think she wanted to scream at me in person. Hopefully, she can write a check and get back in time for some of it,” Brent replied, as he walked into the kitchen and sat at the table. Declan followed him and grabbed some water as he looked closely at his best friend. “I think she’s done with me this time.”
“This is…five rooms?” Declan asked, and Brent nodded. “You guys are making bank, but you’re dragging the band’s name through the mud right now. The media is all over your shit, and the other guys didn’t ask for any of this.”
“I know,” Brent responded before he downed the bottle of water. He’d already done a stint in rehab to clear one of his predicaments, but it hadn’t seemed to help. Besides, he wasn’t really addicted to alcohol or drugs as much as he used them to cope with things in his life. Rehab was always a good cover when you got into trouble, though, and it cleared the air, at least until you messed up all over again.
Declan’s phone chimed and he slipped it out of his pocket. He grinned and punched something in. “Riley’s here. She’s going to hang out with us for a couple of months while you tour if you’re not fired soon.”
Brent rolled his eyes and drank some more. He was close to Declan’s family and thought that his sister Riley was a good kid. Hell, she was twenty-two now. “How is she?”
“Dad fucked her out of college money. He said something about Mom being remarried so she can afford it herself. Mom married a plumber this time, and they have their life to live.” Declan looked at him. “I asked her to hang out to get her mind off of things. She only has a couple of years left and hell, maybe I’ll pay for it.” They both knew that she had a promising future in Graphic Design with her talent, but a degree from Parsons in New York wouldn’t hurt her at all.
“You have Mel,” Brent told him, referring to his fiancée. The two were going to get married in six months, and he was already sending her to school for Journalism. She didn’t work and attended college full time while Declan made the money in the family.
“Yeah, I know. I’ve been pretty pissed off about this.” He sent something on his phone. “She’s going to drop her bag off at my room and come here.”
“Let’s get some room service and eat before we clean up,” Brent suggested, and Declan shook his head. “I’ll need the energy. We drank a lot last night.”
Brent walked over to the phone and ordered a few platters of food before he went to take a shower and face reality. Again. He got out and put some clean shorts on with a gray t-shirt and went back into the living room to see Kenzie and Declan talking to a pretty hot little redhead. “Hey there,” he said.
His eyes almost popped open as bright teal eyes met his, and he realized that Riley was the girl in his room.
Chapter Two
“I hear I’m paying for breakfast,” Kenzie said, as she glared at Brent. “You’re covered with this room, but we need to figure out what we’re going to do. Brent?”
He was staring at Riley but blinked and looked away at Kenzie’s question. Riley was gorgeous now, and it had only been a few years since he’d seen her. “We will. I’m going to eat something and clean this shit up.”
“I am going to the airport. I have a graduation to go to.” Kenzie left in a huff, and Brent glanced at the clock to see that it was still early in the morning.
“Riley, you’ve grown up since I saw you last,” Brent told her, as he walked over to her and gave her a one-armed hug. She was taller than before, just a few feet under his six foot one frame, and she had some beautiful little curves. Damn, if she didn’t smell like something sweet, as well.
“That happens when you’re a famous rock star on the road all of the time,” she replied dryly, as she gave the room a long look. “Really, Brent?” She looked into his eyes, and he turned his face to the floor as disapproval flooded her pretty face. “You’re a talented guy, and this is what you do?”
“Last time, Ri.” It sounded so weird calling this gorgeous young woman by the nickname that he’d used for years. “Your sister is going to kill me if I don’t chill out.”
“You got that right,” Declan agreed, as they heard a knock at the door. He opened it and brought in the tray himself after tipping the delivery guy, giving Brent a look as he wheeled it into the center of the room and poured some coffee. “There’s a crowd outside. Way to be low key, Brent.”
Riley walked over and looked over the platters as Brent tried to force his eyes away from her ass in the skinny jeans that she was wearing. What the fuck was wrong with him? She was like his own sister in some ways, and he pushed his hair back as it started to drip into his eyes before joining them.
They caught up on what was going on in her life and talked about Mel for a bit before Brent pushed his plate away and poured some more coffee. “I guess I should get this done and get into a new room.” They were in New Orleans for another day before they headed to Texas for a few shows. Brent cleaned up the bottles that had been cleared out of the mini bar and tossed them into the trash before he righted all of the furniture along with Declan. Riley was cleaning up the plates and getting the tray back to the door before she left it outside in the hallway. She started to clean up the little kitchen and throw bags of chips away, as well as even more bottles of alcohol, wrinkling her cute little nose.
Brent did all that he could before he dropped a few bills onto the kitchen counter and packed his clothes in a hurry. There was a crowd outside, but he hung his head low as Declan and Riley flanked him out of habit. They managed to make it to the elevator alone, and Brent glanced at the paper with the room number in his hand as he pushed the down button. “They’re sticking me in a regular room.”
“I’m shocked,” Riley told him, and he saw a small smile cross her face. “You won’t do as much damage that way.”
It was obviously meant as a joke, but Brent felt something like shame flood his veins. Brent hadn’t felt guilt or at least admitted that he felt it through most of the past scandals. There were the destroyed hotel rooms and condos, a few pregnancy reports that thankfully didn’t lead to anything, the many women that he’d been photographed with and countless rumors of what had happened with all of them.
If his mom was still around, Brent knew that she’d be furious with him. But that was the catalyst to this behavior…her death to ovarian cancer when he was just twelve years old. He’d had nothing tangible for a dad since he’d split early, and while the Kellers were amazing as step-in parents, he still slipped.
It had been school bands back then and local gigs
in Oregon. Nothing big. Somehow, even while he was having trouble with things, Brent had formed Nothing Lasts with a few guys, and they had taken off. By the time he was twenty-four, they had appeared to be going places. Brent started to make real money and tour in better vehicles as he watched a few things disappear from his life. Brent only knew to fill the void, and he thought about that as he opened the door to his new room on the first floor. It was small and basic and located close to the lobby. His friends followed him into the room and snickered as they looked around. “It’s a bed, right?” Declan said, as Brent dropped his duffel bag onto the small table and looked around.
Was that even a king sized bed?
He was lucky to still be here at all, but Kenzie was a great talker when she needed to be. It might be the band’s last time here, though. He slipped his phone out of his pocket and looked down at the screen. He sent a group text to the band apologizing for the mess and, after a few minutes, only his good friend Gary responded with something along the lines of it being okay. Even Brent could see through that, and he sighed as he stuck the phone back into his shorts.
“So do you want to go out and see some of the city? We have all day and night,” Declan was telling Riley, as Brent focused on them instead of his band’s disappointment.
“Sure, I’ve heard it’s gorgeous here. I have a camera that I’d love to break in,” Riley said, as her eyes lit up. She was an excellent photographer and Brent was vaguely surprised that she hadn’t gone into that for a living.
“Want to go?” Declan asked Brent, looking at his friend. “You seem to be doing better.” Brent usually snapped back after some coffee and breakfast, and he nodded as he glanced around the tiny room.
He pulled on a baseball cap and some sunglasses before they left and went to Declan’s suite so he could shower. Brent sat at the table with Riley as the other roadie looked at them from across the room where he was working on his laptop. Rumors moved fast, particularly with anyone related to the band and their inner workings. Brent ignored him and tossed the sunglasses onto the wood between them before he glanced up at Riley. “So I like the red.” She was a natural brunette like her siblings, but this bright auburn suited her and made her eyes practically glow as she smiled at him. It was cut into a shorter bob and fell over her pale cheeks.
Daddy's Best Friend: An Older Man Younger Woman Box Set Page 45