Daddy’s Wild Friend

by Charlize Starr

“Happened to your…what?” he asked, and she saw his eyes fall on her hand, which was still placed on her belly.

  “Why did you show up?” she asked, looking at him.

  “I found out where you worked, and I was waiting for you to leave. Probably just like that asshole,” he said, and she noticed how his eyes flickered. He looked like he was embarrassed, or at least shy to admit he had been waiting for her.

  “Why? After all these days,” she blurted out before she could stop herself. “Why were you waiting for me?”

  “I wanted to see you again and apologize. I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind,” he said quietly. Tamsin looked away from him. She didn’t need another reminder of her bad decisions.

  “You don’t need to apologize. You were doing what you wanted. I was doing something stupid. As always,” she said, biting down on her quivering lip.

  “You weren’t stupid with me, Tamsin. There was a real connection there. I felt it,” he said. She turned to look at him. What was he talking about? Was this one of his games? What would he say if she told him the consequences of their actions?

  “I can see you don’t believe me. And why should you? But what started off as a ruse to get you into bed turned into something different. At least for me. Those things I told you about my childhood, about my father who I never talk about... I felt like I was talking to a friend. I’ve never told those things to anyone. We had just met, but I could trust you.” Crosby looked her in the eye as he spoke, and Tamsin wanted to look away. It wasn’t the same expression that had been in his eyes that evening at his house. He wasn’t in a daze, he didn’t have an excited glint in his expression. He was being serious.

  “Is there something else that you want?” she asked him, trying to keep her thoughts civil. She shouldn’t be letting her feelings run amok again. They had already got her into more trouble than she could handle.

  “Nothing other than a proper date. One date, at a public place with our clothes on,” Crosby said. Despite herself, Tamsin laughed. He was smiling too. The air was easier now and she could breathe better.

  “So you’re asking me out?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re more than just a conquest. I want to get to know you.”

  “What about all your other supermodel girlfriends?” Tamsin asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

  “Clearly I need to change my game plan. I haven’t found a soulmate among them. Yet with you, I could sit here and talk for hours.” Crosby reached for her lips, and traced her skin with his fingers. Tamsin closed her eyes, breathing in his scent. She wanted to kiss him, wanted to feel his lips on her skin, the clenching of his muscles underneath her fingertips. She wanted to run her hands through his hair. Tamsin’s neck craned as Crosby traced her throat with his finger.

  “Stop!” she shrieked in an attempt to snap herself out of it. Crosby pulled his finger away as if burnt.

  “What?”

  “I need to tell you something. I need to be honest with you,” she said, inching away from him. This was going to be very difficult, to keep her wits about her when she was so close to him.

  “What is it?” he asked, and sat back in the seat.

  “That evening. When we…when I was at your house. I…” She couldn’t bring herself to say it, and she looked away from him. Crosby was silent. What was he thinking? When Tamsin looked back at him, she caught him staring at her hand on her belly.

  “Tamsin, are you pregnant?”

  They looked at each other silently, and then she nodded.

  “Mine?”

  “There has been nobody else since and at least for months before you. Ever since that night with Adam, six months ago, I had been keeping myself away from men,” she said. Her voice was quivering, and she watched as he moved towards her. Instead of anger, doubt or mistrust, which she expected to find, Crosby placed a gentle hand on her knee and looked into her eyes.

  “Well, I’m glad I was here then. I wouldn’t have wanted anything to happen to my kid,” he said. She could see a smile beginning to spread across his face.

  “You’re not upset about this?” she asked him, and Crosby laughed.

  “Upset? No. Surprised? Yes. It wasn’t in my plans, but you weren’t either.”

  “We don’t know each other at all. I’m sure you don’t even remember my last name,” Tamsin said, her shoulders and muscles relaxing now. His attitude and the smile on his face had put her at ease.

  “It’s Clarkson. And so what if we don’t know each other? Doesn’t mean we can’t have a baby together. We’re already going on a date. I already admitted that I can’t get you out of my head. Maybe it’s meant to be.” Crosby inched closer to her and Tamsin sighed.

  “You didn’t look like a guy who believes in destiny,” she said, dropping her eyes to her lap. Crosby Jones was playing his magic on her, again.

  “It’s not destiny, it’s just you,” he said, and touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers. Tamsin closed her eyes and smiled.

  “So it’s decided then, a date with clothes on and…” But before she could finish, he interrupted her.

  “And the following ones don’t need a dress code,” he said, and within seconds, he was kissing her and making her forget where she was.

  *****

  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 r
oom. 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. “The
y’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.