Rockstar Daddy (Wilder Rock #1)

by Taryn Quinn

  He closed his hand around mine on his face and didn’t say anything. Just brushed away my tears with his other hand.

  It was all I needed. More than I’d dared to want.

  “I should probably tell you I met your dad back in the day too.” He cleared his throat. “It may have happened when I was, ahem, massaging Maeve’s breast.”

  I raised a brow. “You met my dad when you were massaging my sister’s breast?” That bore repeating.

  “Yes. With my mouth.”

  I laughed, tipping back my head while my tears changed to ones from mirth. Didn’t it just figure?

  “So that explains why he thought you were the devil.”

  “Well, the ramshackle cabin in the woods probably didn’t hurt.”

  “Least you didn’t have the heads of your enemies on posts beside the door.”

  “Hmm, might be a design aspect I should look into.”

  I hooked a finger in the towel around his waist. “Perhaps save it until after you meet my parents. Both of them this time, not just my dad. You know, like a family dinner.”

  Just like that, his open expression shuttered. If I hadn’t been so intimately involved with the situation, I might’ve even found it humorous.

  Look at poor Maggie Kelly. She believes in family and settling down, yet she’s mixed up with a commitment-phobe who claims to hate those things. Isn’t that hilarious?

  Except it was my life, and it was harder to be amused while the tears were still drying on my cheeks.

  The doorbell chimed, and he couldn’t move fast enough to get away from me. I didn’t follow. Suddenly my appetite for Chinese had dimmed.

  You can’t blame him for this. He never lied to you or led you on. If he had, it would be different.

  The door opened, and the voices that boomed through the house had me jerking away from the counter and down the hall before I fully knew what I was doing.

  Kendra stood in the doorway, her hair a mass of braids that clacked as she spoke. Low, angry words that were probably laced with threats, if I had to guess. Beside her, my older brother Liam, one of the twins, glared at Kellan as if his stare alone could kill. He might have normally friendly blue-green eyes and an easy smile, but right now his expression was pure ice.

  Shock rooted me in place.

  As did Liam’s reaction upon seeing me. Relief came first, then joy, then resignation, each emotion scrolling across his face. He dropped his gaze to my attire, and I remembered all at once that I wore only a towel.

  A towel that matched Kellan’s.

  I didn’t have a chance to react. To insert myself between them before Liam spun back to Kellan and decided words weren’t necessary since he had two perfectly good fists. He plowed one of them into Kellan’s face, snapping his head back so hard that I cried out and rushed not to him, but my older brother.

  Who I punched soundly in the chest, hammering at him until he stumbled back and Kendra waded into the fray.

  “Enough,” Kellan roared, cupping his bleeding mouth. The sight of the red liquid squeezing out between his fingers was enough to make me rear back, nauseated, but he still wasn’t done.

  “You came to take her home. That’s probably for the best.” He raised his hands and stepped back. “I’m not going to fight with you or make a scene.”

  Because I’m not worth it.

  I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and forced myself to glance at Kendra instead of the man I’d spent the weekend with. She was already watching me, her careful attention all the proof I needed that I must look like hell.

  “No,” Liam said, shaking out the fist he’d used to hit Kellan as if I hadn’t pummeled him. “Why would you? There’s more where she came from, I’m sure.”

  I didn’t know what he was referring to, but all I wanted to do was leave.

  This gorgeous sanctuary we’d spent the weekend in now felt like a prison, the walls closing in to trap me.

  “I said to just go,” Kellan snapped, his jaw flexing. “I’m not doing this with you.”

  Kendra laid a hand on Liam’s arm, and for a second, surprise at how close together they stood replaced my own shock and heartbreak. Since when were they getting along? They’d been like oil and gasoline since high school. Before then, probably. If she’d gone to anyone, I would’ve figured she would have picked Angus, who was no-nonsense and didn’t say much but was the guy you’d want by your side in a crisis.

  Just as I’d believed Kellan was. Forget a crisis. He couldn’t even stay by my side to face my family. Guess it took a couple times to beat that into my thick skull, since he hadn’t exactly stood firm to my father either.

  “You didn’t need to come here to collect me,” I said, pleased my voice didn’t tremble. I didn’t even sound particularly affected. “I had a ticket back tonight, and I’ll use it. Alone. Thank you for coming, but I’m fine to get back on my own. I’m also old enough to take care of myself. One of these days, maybe you’ll realize that.” I looked between my brother and my best friend. “Both of you.”

  Liam drilled me with his gaze. “You don’t even know who he is, do you? Ken said you didn’t, but I thought she was shitting me. You come to a place like this and you think you’re just dealing with Joe Nobody? C’mon, sis, there’s being naive and there’s just being stupid.”

  Kellan reached out, whip-fast, and shoved Liam back. “You’re not going to speak to her like that. Say what you want to me, but not to her.”

  “Oh, that’s sweet. Chivalry from the lying cheat. Now I’m touched.”

  “Liam, stop it,” Kendra demanded, glancing from him to me and back again, her eyes full of an apology I didn’t understand. “This isn’t the way to do this.”

  I didn’t want to ask. Didn’t want to ask them especially. I’d already asked Kellan so many things, only to get evasions and small truths. Nothing big. I had attributed his behavior to a personality quirk rather than an attempt at genuine secrecy, but maybe he had good reason.

  Some criminal justice student you are, Magpie. Can’t even read the clues right in front of your face.

  Pushing back my shoulders, I stepped forward and gripped Kellan’s forearm. “I’m going to ask you what they’re talking about. Not them. You don’t have to tell me. You haven’t had to tell me anything. But I’m asking you.”

  For the longest moment, he didn’t look at me. As usual. His jaw twitched as he turned his head, pinning me in place with his stare. “I’m in a band.”

  Liam choked out a laugh, but I didn’t spare my brother a glance. “A band.”

  Kellan nodded.

  That explained the guitar comment, and the calluses, and the music while I was sleeping. Probably also explained why he’d been hiding out in a nondescript cabin in the woods in Turnbull, but his home was…this.

  “You don’t manage bands then.”

  “I did,” Kellan said, eyes narrowing at Liam before he returned his focus to me. “For several years. That’s how I got this gig. My manager Lila gave me a chance to get the band back together I fronted in high school. A spot on the roster opened up, and she saw something in me.”

  “Was that before or after you slept with her?” Liam questioned.

  Neither of us spared my brother a glance. “You’re a singer then. A guitarist.”

  It made sense, even down to the pictures he’d admitted to painting on the wall. He was artistic, though he hid it under a layer of gruff. Just like the talent he buried down deep, only taking it out for those with the price of a ticket.

  He’d offered it to me for free, but I hadn’t known what it was. Or what it meant.

  Rather than replying, he took out a crumpled piece of paper from his back pocket, smoothing it against his arm. His jaw working all the while. “Your brother and Kendra wanted you to see this, to know the kind of man I am. But you already know me, Red, better than anyone ever has.” He held out the paper. “Remember that.”

  I stared at it, torn between wanting to see and not wanting to know. D
id he really believe that I knew him that well? That what we’d experienced this weekend wasn’t just a mirage?

  Or worse, that I’d experienced it alone.

  Been there, done that.

  Regardless of what he meant, I couldn’t deny that it felt true. I got him on some fundamental level, and even if he hadn’t come clean with me, that truth remained.

  He’d never said anything that was an outright fabrication. He didn’t have to. He deflected by changing the subject or looking away or sharing things that once had been reality, so they weren’t technically lies if you didn’t care about little things like timelines.

  Except I did. I cared about timelines, and being straightforward, and understanding what I’d dived into headfirst.

  Swallowing hard, I took the piece of paper and let the headline soak in before I studied the pictures.

  New band Wilder Mind explodes on the scene in more ways than one.

  The first picture wasn’t of Kellan at all. It was of a guy with crazy hair bent over a woman spread out beside a drum kit, her bare breasts and the area between her legs blurred out. Probably since crazy hair guy’s hips were between them. His bare flexing butt wasn’t blurred out though. Guess crack action was okay for a tabloid.

  Good to know.

  “My drummer, Bryan,” Kellan said tightly without being prompted.

  “Classy dude,” Liam offered, holding up his hands at Kendra’s sharp look.

  The inset picture contained Kellan in a leather vest, no shirt. Hair spiked up like it had been on Friday, eyes heavy with makeup. He was smiling down at a tiny blonde who’d wrapped her leg around his thigh and flattened her hands against his chest. His name was clearly visible in black Sharpie on the cleavage revealed by her brief top.

  “When was this taken?” I asked once I was certain my voice would be steady.

  “A couple nights before you texted me.”

  “Busy weekend for you then.” I folded the paper and handed it back to him. He shook his head and jutted his chin toward my brother and best friend.

  Of course. The only reason he was telling me now was to get me to leave.

  Because good girls don’t hook up with rockstars. We head home to lick our wounds and think about our steady, secure ex-boyfriend, who had just happened to run off with a stripper.

  Hell, I was starting to see the appeal of those in the entertainment arts, since I’d certainly done some running of my own.

  I secured my towel, unable to meet his eyes. Or Kendra’s. Or Liam’s. “I’d better pack so I make my flight.”

  “So you’re going then.” Kellan’s voice was even. Measured.

  “What else do you propose I do? Maybe you’d rather I let you sign my breasts before I go?”

  He said nothing.

  “Mags.” Kendra stepped forward, her voice contrite. “I’ll help you pack.”

  “I’m good. Really. I appreciate the time you took to come here. Thank you, even if the effort was misguided. I hope that someday you’ll learn to trust my choices,” I said, encompassing my brother in my statement.

  He rubbed the back of his neck, his brow furrowed.

  “Not this time though,” I added brightly. “Since anyone can see the colossal mess this is. But hey, lesson learned. I got a nice trip out of it, right?”

  “Mags,” Ken said, gripping my hand. “Let’s go upstairs and talk for a few minutes. Alone.”

  “No, thank you.” If I didn’t keep this shield of politeness in place, I would shatter like china. Just break apart in Kellan’s foyer like the fragile doll he hadn’t trusted with the truth.

  Why would he? I was the sweet, innocent girl from Turnbull he’d had lark sex with. You know, something different and easily tossed aside.

  Flavor of the week. Or weekend, since I hadn’t even gotten that.

  “Maggie,” Kellan said, and that single word was nearly my undoing. So low and raw, as if it physically pained him to say my name.

  I let go of Kendra’s hand and walked to the spiral staircase. I climbed to the third step, then stopped and turned. “Just tell me this. Did you lie to me intentionally? Or was it an accident?”

  I didn’t see how it could have been. The truth was the truth. You didn’t forget it if you were tired or unprepared.

  Honesty didn’t happen on a whim. Either you were forthright or you weren’t.

  No do-overs.

  Kellan held my gaze for so long I thought that was his answer. I turned to continue to climb, but his response stopped me.

  Stopped everything, including the warmth in my chest that hadn’t even really had a chance to take root.

  “I lied to you on purpose. Over and over again.”

  I tore my gaze from his and ran upstairs, my only thought to escape. Until I reached the bedroom I’d shared with him and glimpsed the tangled sheets hanging off the mattress. We’d fucked like animals in that bed. I patted my ass, realizing I didn’t have on my jeans. My phone was down in the kitchen.

  But his was sitting right there on the nightstand, and I was willing to bet he hadn’t changed the passcode from the easy one he’d had the last time I’d broken into it. And I didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty for breaking in again either.

  I snatched his cell and tried the passcode that had worked before. Bingo. I didn’t go to his mail app or his messages. Instead I went straight to YouTube and typed in Wilder Mind. I had to see. Had to know.

  The first clips that came up were grainy without great sound. I didn’t care. I just wanted to watch Kellan at work. To see the man I’d fallen for making thousands of women fall for him onstage.

  Within seconds, I found what I was looking for.

  He gripped the boxy mic and gazed straight into the audience, his hips moving as if they had a mind of their own. Truly, he had to be double or triple jointed.

  Warmth scalded my cheeks. I’d thought much the same this weekend.

  But there he was, seducing the crowd with that honey and gravel voice that had made me wet so many times. I wasn’t the only one. Girls were screaming and crying and pulling at their clothes as if they couldn’t stand the constriction. He didn’t do the crazy moves some singers did, just gave his all to the song. He threw back his head, making the cords of his neck stand out in sharp relief, and he slid his hand down the mic stand as if he was caressing a lover.

  Even angry and ashamed—since yet again I’d made another stupid mistake in who to trust—I couldn’t help shifting on the bed. Pressing my thighs together didn’t stem the ache. My nipples tightened and I sucked in a breath, holding it as Kellan onstage opened his eyes and seemed to stare right at me through the screen.

  I had no defense against that look. Not on the video, and not when footsteps in the hall alerted me to his presence. Defiantly, I turned to glare at him without shutting off the video.

  Barefoot and bare-chested, still clad in only his towel, he stopped in the doorway. His jaw was tighter than I’d ever seen it.

  “You baited me about the music I liked. Did it bother you I didn’t know yours?”

  Nothing. Not even that muscle tic in his face that was his usual tell.

  “No, of course it didn’t.” Though it was surprisingly difficult, I stopped the clip and tossed his cell on the bed, then I rose to look for my shoes. I hadn’t had much use for my heels the last couple of days.

  He remained silent. Just watching me.

  I dragged them out from under the sheets dangling on the floor and slipped them on. Now what? I had to go in the bathroom to get dressed or else I’d have to do it right here.

  Screw it. He’d seen me naked plenty, and I was tired of hiding.

  I unwound the towel and walked over to root through my suitcase in just my heels. His rough intake of breath gratified me immensely.

  At least I could take comfort in the fact that his lust for me hadn’t waned. As many times as we’d had sex, that was probably a feat.

  “Red.”

  His nickname for me was my undoing
. Hot tears sprung into my eyes, but I battled them back and unzipped my suitcase.

  I’d be damned if another man saw me cry anytime this century. Especially when he was the cause.

  If only he had told me the truth. I wished like hell he hadn’t hidden his true identity from me for some reason I couldn’t quite comprehend. I didn’t understand the whole rockstar thing, but I would have tried to. For him, I would have fought to deal with it even though that lifestyle couldn’t have been further removed from my own.

  He was worth it to me. We were worth it. Too bad those feelings didn’t run both ways. To him, I must’ve just been a lark. Clearly he hadn’t seen anything serious happening between us—even after this crazy weekend—so what did it hurt to lie? I was just his latest hookup. It wasn’t as if I’d be a permanent fixture in his life or anything.

  Message received loud and clear.

  “You know me,” he said again, his tone strangely hollow.

  Just like I felt inside. Hulled out and empty.

  Somehow those three words sliced me deeper than all the rest. Then he turned away from the door and left me alone to pack.

  15

  Kellan

  Two weeks later

  “From the top,” Cooper said, shooting me his fiftieth odd glance of the night.

  I wasn’t leading the rehearsal. Shit, I was barely participating in it. Considering I’d nearly called out ten times before I’d dragged myself into the car and to the record studio, without showering and in yesterday’s dirty clothes—hell, the same dirty clothes I’d worn all week—it wasn’t much of a surprise.

  Naturally Lila had decided to sit in on this rehearsal so she could report our progress to Donovan. We’d be recording another song for the EP next week if Cooper’s new piece came together the way it had during the first week we’d rehearsed it.