RUTHLESS: The Complete Rockstar Romance Series Boxed Set

by Vivian Lux

  It was no big deal, not a big deal at all. I was only about to meet the members of my favorite band on the planet.

  I shoved my hands in my pockets and tried to convince myself that this was nothing huge.

  No fucking big deal, at all.

  The gray-doored entrance banged open in the way that only Piper could open a door. "Right on time," she said, and I swear to god she sounded happy as hell to see me.

  I went to her, relishing my newfound power to kiss her whenever and wherever I wanted. Seeing her close her eyes in expectation of my lips on hers was something I would never, ever tire of.

  "It's about time," she sighed when she pulled back. She patted my chest and grinned. "I've been keeping my mouth shut while these guys had their girlfriends visiting for way too long. Time for some payback."

  I stopped in my tracks and looked down at her. She seemed to stiffen and then look at me with a panicked look on her face.

  I shook my head and grinned. "Did you just call me your boyfriend?"

  She bit her lip and grinned, then lifted her chin defiantly. "Yeah. You got a problem with that?"

  Laughing, I pulled her close. "Only that you waited so long," I said, squeezing her tight.

  She brushed the hair away from her face and sighed. "You ready to go in?" she asked. She had a peculiar look on her face, a mixture of excitement and... was that triumph? Was it pride? I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell anything about her, and I felt like I needed to pay attention all the time so I wouldn't miss a single thing.

  So I watched her face, and not my surroundings as we walked in the door. She pursed her lips, lowered her eyes then looked up and widened her mouth into a grin. "You guys are lazy as hell," she observed.

  I looked around, startled that there was anyone else in the room, and that's when I saw them.

  Ruthless.

  Holy fuck.

  Ruthless.

  Keir Wilder was sitting in the middle of the floor, fiddling with something mechanical.

  Rane Wilder, my guitar icon, was slumped in a chair fiddling pensively with the strings of his instrument.

  And out of nowhere walked Jane Doe, the lead singer of this band Wrecked I'd just started getting into. What the hell was she doing here?

  Billy Balantzian, the bassist everyone called Balzac for whatever reason, was even bigger in person that he had looked on stage. He was also the only one who seemed to notice that we'd walked into the room.

  Well. Not the only one.

  "So you're True," a deep voice said over my shoulder.

  I turned around and looked into the same pair of eyes I'd just turned away from. Lowell Stowe was definitely Piper's brother. He had the same dark hair, the same upturned eyes and the same long, lean body that on him led to him looking me dead in the eye, inches from my face.

  "Lowell, don't be an ass," Piper called.

  "I'm not being an ass, Piper," Lowell said patiently, concealing an eye roll. "I just want to talk to the guy you've been spending so much time with."

  "Low," Piper said in a tone of voice that could freeze a man's blood in his veins.

  But Piper's twin brother seemed like he'd was well-versed in putting up with her. He ignored her, and put a proprietary hand on my arm. I recognized that look on his face. I'd worn that same look. "Why don't we go over here and have a little talk, man," he said, keeping his voice deliberately casual as he guided us over us into a corner.

  I looked behind me and saw that Piper was staring bloody murder at her brother. But he paid her no mind. Instead he looked at me, so closely I felt like I was under a microscope and there was no mistaking the way his fists balled at his side. "You're with my sister?" he said evenly.

  I shoved my hands in my pockets and lifted my chin. "Seems like it," I said, not backing away for an instant.

  Lowell blinked once, very slowly. "Do you know?" he said very deliberately.

  I licked my lips. "Know what?" I challenged.

  Lowell shook his head slightly and then looked down at his feet and then back up at me. "She hasn't told you?" There was danger in his voice, I could hear it. I'd been in enough fights in my lifetime to know exactly where he was aiming to bring this.

  I held up my hand. "If you mean, do I know what happened to her? No, but I have a pretty good idea."

  Low seemed to soften a little at this, and some of my defensive anger died down. After all, this guy was just trying to protect his sister. Wouldn't I do the same? Didn't I always do the same for everyone in my life? Maybe we had more in common than he'd like to think. "I'm not about to do anything she's not ready for," I said, keeping my voice low. I was acutely aware of the fact that Piper was staring daggers into my back. "I like her, a lot. And I'm waiting on her."

  Lowell looked up sharply. "So you haven't..."

  I crossed my arms over my chest, determined to make him deliberately spell it out. "Are you asking me if I'm fucking your sister?"

  Lowell rose up, and seemed to get taller in an instant. "In so many words," he said threateningly. "Yeah, that's what I'm asking."

  I shook my head. "No man. She's not ready."

  Lowell slumped a little, relaxing. "No, she isn't."

  "But when she is ready," I asked. "Are you going to be okay with it?"

  Lowell shook his head, not meeting my eyes. "Guess I have to be, huh?"

  But I wasn't letting him get away with that. "Not have to, man. You have to want it for her. If she says she's good, you need to believe her, okay?"

  Lowell looked back up again and he almost looked startled. I saw something pass across his face and then he stepped back. Lifting his chin in an upward nod he held out his hand. "You want to jam with us?"

  I grinned and accepted his unspoken peace offering. "Yeah, yeah I do."

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Piper

  When my brother stepped back and extended his hand, I exhaled the breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

  Low was pissing me off. That was nothing new. What was new was the sense of frustration I felt as I watched the two of them over in the corner -- clearly talking about me -- with no way of knowing what they were saying. It was impossible to ignore their murmured voices, and the rest of the band all turned away deliberately, busying themselves with various tuning and warming up so as not to accidentally overhear something they shouldn't. I noticed Rane kept shooting worried glances in my direction. In a flash, I realized he was just as worried as my brother was about True, but felt he had no right to say anything. A few weeks ago I would've agreed with him, that he had no right, but at the moment I was touched to see that he really did care.

  I looked at him and gave him a nervous smile. My smile seemed to startle him and I wondered just how many times he'd seen me smile in the past ten years we'd been bandmates. Possibly once or twice, more likely, never. He broke out into a wide grin and nodded at me. "Seems like a good guy," he said, low so my brother and True wouldn't overhear.

  I nodded and looked down at the floor, then decided to stop feeling sketchy about this. "He is," I said. The memory of the night we'd spent together, how he'd managed to break me open so gently I didn't even notice until I was out of my shell, had me still reeling. I kept looking at him, remembering the way his face looked that night. It seemed like a dream, except it wasn't. Because he was still here.

  My brother stepped back, nodded and then reached out to shake True's hand, his face breaking out into his usual smile. The whole room seemed to exhale at once.

  Rane jumped to his feet. "Let's play some fucking music then!" he yelled. Low handed True a guitar, who looked at it startled for a moment, then slung it easily across his chest. My brother went to his kit.

  "Jam on Basic Desires," Low called, grinning at True. "By request." He counted out the beat and we started to play.

  True smiled so wide his face might crack.

  Keir nodded. Jane leapt off of the speaker she'd been sitting on, clapped her hands and began singing, weaving improvised harmonies around
Keir's practiced vocals. I looked over to the booth and saw Alan's eyes go wide, and the light flicked on to indicate that he had started recording.

  I looked back over to see True, looking like a man undergoing a religious experience. His joy was clear on his face and as he swayed, his happiness seemed to affect everyone. Keir started to smile, hamming it up for his audience of one, leaning into a deep crouch as he sang the chorus. With a hoarse shout, Rane broke into his solo, his fingers dancing across the guitar like lightning. Low stood up and broke into a thunderous solo ending with a crash and suddenly we were all laughing. "That's what I'm talking about!" Keir yelled over the din of excitement.

  "Wait! Everybody shut up!" Rane yelled, clapping his hands he dropped to his knees and started scribbling on a piece of paper.

  True looked bewildered as everyone fell immediately silent. Rane started counting off, humming some scraps of melody, murmuring over and over, "here we go, here we fucking go..."

  I reached out and grabbed True by the hand, and pulled him to me. "You did it!" I whisper shouted.

  "Did what?" he hissed back, careful to not move his jaw.

  "You broke the curse!" I laughed, gesturing at Rane. "He's had writer's block this whole time, but jamming with you, with someone who actually loves the music..." I pulled him down into a kiss that surprised both of us. I was feeling -- feeling too much at once. "Come with me!" I urged him.

  He squeezed my hand and I pulled him, leading him out of the narrow hallway past Alan's booth and out the side door. The staircase up to the roof was there, the one I'd been eyeing since our first day here.

  "Up here," I said, yanking the chain over my head and taking the steps two at a time. Wild exultation bubbled up in my chest, unfettered and free for the first time. I felt drunk, high on this feeling, and leaped up onto the low wall that ran along the edge of the building, balancing like a gymnast.

  "What the hell are you doing!" True said, rushing to my side.

  "Look, I can do a cartwheel!" I shouted and I truly believed I could. I raise my arms over my head right there at the edge of the building, the sheer sides dropping off three stories to the parking lot below. There was no way I would fall though. In fact I was pretty certain I was ready to fly.

  True's face was white as a sheet. "What are you, some kind of danger slut?" he growled, reaching for my hand.

  I yanked it away, laughing and dancing out of his reach. Why wasn't he coming up with me? "Are you calling me a slut?" I teased. I bent over at the waist, balancing on one leg and laughed out loud when I teetered wildly and had to rest my hand on the edge.

  A piece of concrete broke away from my fingers and showered down onto the pavement below with a clatter and I laughed out loud.

  True watched me. I could feel his eyes on me, feel the waves of worry, of sick dread emanating off him, but he didn't try to reach for me again. I didn't want him to pull me down. I wanted to yank him up. Why isn't he seeing that? There's nothing to be afraid of...ever. "Come on!" I urged. "Live dangerously."

  "You want to live life on the edge and be all dangerous?" he called, his voice strangled with emotion. His words hummed around me, barely making an impression as the adrenaline hummed in my veins. "I'll tell you what's fucking dangerous," he said. "I'm falling for you."

  I froze like a statue. Slowly, I crouched down, aware of the thick blood that pulsed in my ears. I looked at him.

  He nodded slowly. "I love you Piper." He reached out his hand to me. "You want danger? What's more dangerous than falling in love?"

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  True

  At first, she seemed like she hadn't heard me. Her face stayed contorted into that Cheshire cat grin. But as I looked more closely I could see that her smile no longer met her eyes.

  She'd heard me.

  The question now was, how did she feel about it?

  I waited for her to respond, to say anything, even if it was to shoot me down. But she slowly lowered her eyes, sliding them down to the ground where she studied her hands as they clenched the crumbling concrete.

  That crumbling had the hairs on my neck standing on end. "Come on Piper, get down," I urged. "Please."

  She shook her head minutely. "I'll be fine," she said automatically. Just a rote response.

  She wasn't fine at all.

  I reached out my hand. "Yeah, you probably will be," I joked, trying like hell to jar her out of this weird frozen fugue state. "But I'm going to die of a heart attack in the meantime. Will you please get the fuck down?"

  She snapped her head back up and stared at me with those fierce eyes. "Stop trying to scare me," she hissed. "I'm not scared."

  I shook my head. "I know you're not scared. You're a fucking danger junkie and it's freaking me out. I'm not fucking around with this anymore." I grabbed her wrist before she could yank it out of my reach again. "Get down," I growled, yanking her down.

  She stumbled forward, landing sideways on her foot. I winced when I saw her roll her ankle, but at least she wasn't teetering on the edge of a roofline anymore. She grabbed her ankle and hopped on one foot away from me. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" she yelled in a half shout, half sob.

  I spread my hands and subtly moved between her and to edge of the roof again. "Saving you from yourself," I said.

  "I'm fucking fine, True," she said, straightening back up. She put her foot down, testing the weight, then stepped towards me menacingly. "Stop trying to protect me. I don't need to be protected."

  "Yes, you do."

  "You think you know me?" she challenged.

  "Yeah," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Yeah I fucking know you. I see how scared you are that I said I love you. You're terrified about what you feel for me, freaking out that you want to get close to me." She edged away, trying to move to the stairs but I blocked her path.

  "Don't you think I see how you're literally running away from me right now? Look at the way you're breathing, how pink your cheeks are. You went looking for danger and baby, you've got it right here. This is what you want," I urged her, lowering my voice. She moved a little closer, biting her pouty little lower lip. "I'm all the danger you need and you know it, don't you? I bet if I slid my hand down those tight little black jeans of yours right now, that you'd be wet as hell."

  "Don't you fucking touch me," she said, but it came out as more of a moan.

  "Say that again," I murmured, moving close enough to feel the heat rising from her skin.

  "Why the fuck should I say it again?" she babbled.

  "Because I want to hear that you mean it."

  "Of course I mean it."

  "So say it again. Tell me not to touch you."

  Her eyes were wild, but she didn't say a word.

  "I know. Piper, I know you don't like to be touched. You're only just starting to get used to it. You don't have to tell me what happened to you that made you this way, not if you don't want to. But I want you to hear me, okay?" I ran my hand up her arm, up that soft skin. When she didn't flinch away, I closed my hand around it, holding her loosely, but not letting her get away. "I am not going to hurt you. You should already know that by now. But I'm also not going to fuck around and waste both of our time. You want me. I want you. I fucking love you. Stop running away from me."

  "I'm not running away," she said defiantly.

  "No," I chuckled. "Because I'm holding you." I squeezed her arm a little tighter. "Do you want me to stop?"

  I felt her wiggle and loosened my grip. If she pushed me away, I'd let her. If she shouted and called me an asshole, I'd accept it. I knew what I wanted.

  I just wasn't sure that she did.

  "Are you going to push me away, Piper?"

  "Stop talking."

  I slid my other hand behind her neck. "I'm going to kiss you now," I told her. "Should I kiss you?"

  She made a small sound, maybe a whimper. A sound I never thought I'd hear come from the mouth of such a formidable woman. She whimpered in my arms....


  And I was fucking gone.

  I pulled her closer. She held herself just rigidly enough to stumble a little, overcompensating and then falling back.

  I let her fall but caught her right at the last moment. Just to make sure she wouldn't hurt herself.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Piper

  I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the pain that never came.

  He caught me as I fell, and now I was flat on the ground, cradled in his arms.

  "Look at me," he urged. "Look at me."

  I opened my eyes and gasped. It was like I was falling up into the sky. The blue surrounded me, enveloping me, and I was in danger of falling. Wasn't that what he'd said I'd do if I didn't come down, if I didn't come to him? I was having trouble remembering. I was having trouble doing anything but feeling the way I was feeling. Feeling all the backlogged feelings, like I was a bursting dam.

  He'd warned me that falling in love was the most dangerous thing I could do.

  The way my heart raced as he kissed me, down and down and down, there was no way I wasn't in danger. But I also knew, I knew that he -- this man I'd found -- would keep me safe.

  "Stop," I moaned.

  Immediately, he backed off, scrambling up to his knees. I could see a pulse beating in his temple and there was no mistaking the shape of him pressing hard against his jeans.

  I took a deep ragged breath, then lifted my head to look up at him, surrounded as he was by the sky, silhouetted in the sun. He had not shaved his head this morning, probably didn't have time, and the sun caught each fine little glinting hair. I was surprised to see red glints in there among the gold, the fine little baby hair just starting to come out. It felt like a secret he'd kept just for me.

  I knelt upward and reached for his head. As he bent forward, I kissed those new baby hairs. When he pulled back and looked at me, his expression was one of pure wonder.