by L. P. Maxa
“College. I went to the University of Florida. I got a full academic scholarship. After I graduated I got the job at Dr. Solomon’s office.” I failed to mention the dramatic parts. I had followed my high school boyfriend to Florida. He got a full ride to play football. He was really good, all state all through high school and a starter his freshman year at UF. But then everything went to crap. He suffered a heart attack at twenty-years-old from steroid use. I saw the whole thing happen; I was kneeling right next to him at the end. Watching someone you love slowly kill themselves? It was the most helpless I’d ever felt. But it was the lies and the secrets that really tore my heart out.
Smith lay down on his back, resting his head on Dagger’s side. Lexi’s dog was a giant, gray monster, and the sweetest dog I’d ever met. “Any siblings?”
I smiled, thinking of my sisters. “I have two younger sisters. They both still live in the Charleston area. Mikah is a freshman in college and Bryan in a senior.”
Lexi laughed, “You’re parents named their three daughters Dylan, Bryan, and Mika?”
I smiled, nodding. “Yeah, my dad wanted sons. Instead, he got three daughters. It worked out okay. Bryan is going to college on a volleyball scholarship, Mika is a fly fishing guide during summer breaks, and I’m an ace with a gun.”
“Really? I like a girl who knows how to handle a big pistol.” Smith propped his feet up on my chair; Jacks kicked them off. Smith put them back and called him an asshole under his breath. There was a lot of profanity on this bus. That poor baby’s first word was going to end up being shit. I was studying Smith. I couldn’t help it; my eyes kept getting drawn to him. So I didn’t miss it when his phone started to vibrate, nor did I miss the furious look on his face when he ignored the call and tossed his phone on the floor beside him.
Chapter Three
Smith
Everything about Dylan turned me on. The way she looked, the sound of her voice. I needed to get inside her. I needed to hear her scream my name. I needed her little hands griping my ass while I nailed her tiny body. Ever since the incident with Jared a few weeks ago, my family had really been on my mind. It didn’t help that the music festival we were playing in a few weeks was in New Orleans. I’d refused to play there for years now, but our music label had finally had enough. Apparently, I didn’t have a choice anymore. For the first time, since I was seventeen, I was going home. And now, out of the blue, my father kept calling me. I’d yet to answer; I didn’t want to hear anything he had to say. Dylan was a nice distraction from the heartache and the bad memories.
Although, not all my memories were terrible, I had a few good ones. All those revolved around my mother. She died when I was twelve. Now, my family had never been very upstanding or anything. I never knew a time when my dad wasn’t physically or mentally abusive towards us. But when my mom was gone, when she wasn’t there to add some light to my life…things got so much worse. I’ll never forget the last time I laid eyes on my father. He’d been sitting on our old ratty brown couch; at one time it’d had been this pretty tan color. I told him I was leaving and never coming back. His smile was evil as he flicked a lit cigarette at me and said, “Good.” Remembering life back in Louisiana made my already shaky sobriety even shakier. I hadn’t turned back into a full-blown addict. I was nowhere near as bad as I used to be…no meth, no heroin. Just the occasional bump of coke, the occasional handful of pills. No one needed to know. I had it all under control. I yawned, my buzz wearing off. “Where is our next stop?”
Dash opened up his phone, checking our schedule. We’d all been emailed one last night, but I tried my best to leave the thinking and adult responsibilities to Dash and Luke. They were much better at it. “We drive to Oklahoma for a show tonight.” He glanced at his watch. “Which means you have about eight hours to rest up before we need to be at the venue.” He brushed some hair off of Lexi’s forehead. “Come on, Kitten, it’s going to be a long night. I want you in bed until we get there.” He helped her sit up.
Luke snorted. “I think she needs to sleep, bro. And if she’s in there, in bed with you? We all know that’s not all she’ll be doing.”
Dash stood and pulled Lexi to her feet. “Not really any of your concern, is it?”
Lexi ignored them both and headed down the hall towards her room. She was good at letting them figure their shit out on their own for the most part. Every once in a while she blew up and screamed, that was always fun to watch. Dash took a step to follow her, but then turned around and addressed Jacks and me. “I trust the two of you will be on your best behavior?”
I saluted him with my middle finger. Jacks nodded solemnly. “Yes, daddy. We’ll be good. Now go have fun with mommy.”
“Can it, Jacks!” Lexi yelled from the back room.
About two minutes after the door shut, I heard Lexi giggle. I cut my eyes over to Luke, watching his reaction. I spend a lot of my time judging the reactions of the people around me. Survival skills from a less than stellar childhood. If you could see the rage coming, sometimes you could find a good enough hiding place. Luke stood and opened one of the cabinets over the couch grabbing a pair of headphones and heading towards the bunks. Dylan moved from her chair to the couch, curling up on her side in a teeny tiny little ball. She looked adorable. I had a sudden urge to spoon her. “Smith, you can get back in a chair now.”
I winked at her. “I’m good. Dagger here is the best snuggle buddy.” Jacks yawned and pushed back in his recliner, popping the footrest up. Good. Let him fall asleep. Jacks slept like the dead. I’d essentially be alone with Dylan. I tried to stay awake, really I did, but my buzz was now completely gone.
***
I was woken by a blinding, deep-seated pain. “Holy mother of—” I tried to jack knife into a sitting position to better protect my balls.
“Oh, my gosh! Smith, I am so sorry! I—”
“Dylan, if you wanted to cop a feel, all you had to do was ask.” I was trying to make light of the situation, which wasn’t easy considering that Dylan had just rolled off the couch and landed right on top of my nut sack.
“I don’t know what happened, I—”
“Smith! What the hell are you doing?!” Lexi came barreling down the hall with her hair all a mess and lines from her pillow on her face. Huh, guess Dash let her sleep after all.
“What am I doing?! Are you kidding me? I was in the middle of a very lovely, very dirty dream, when Dylan head butted me in the dick.”
Dylan pushed herself to a sitting position, giving me a wonderful view of her tight little ass. “It was 100% my fault. I move around a lot in my sleep and I rolled off the couch and landed right on top of Smith.”
I sat up and put my hands protectively on my balls. “I’m not trying to sound like a wimp here, but that was incredibly painful. I think I need to see a doctor.” I winked at Dylan. “Or, you know, a PA.”
She rolled her eyes, but smiled.
“Stop it, Smith. Dylan is not checking your dick.” Lexi glared at me for a full ten seconds before turning around and going back to her room.
I looked over at Jacks. He looked annoyed but tired. “Go back to sleep, princess. Show’s over.” I waited until he turned on his side away from us before I rolled over to face Dylan. “How’s your head? My dick was rock hard from that dream I was having.” I wasn’t lying. I had been dreaming about Dylan. Naked and on top of me. Maybe dreams do come true…except for the naked part.
She rolled her eyes again. “You’re a handful aren’t you?”
I raised my eyebrows, grinning like a mad man. “Oh, Cher, I’m much more than a handful.”
She snorted and shook her head. “Case in point.” She lay back down, facing me. “I really am sorry about falling on you. That must have been an unpleasant way to wake up.”
“A beautiful girl’s head in my lap? There are definitely worse ways to wake up.” She smiled when I called her beautiful. Typical chick. But still, I’d meant it. I wanted her…I just needed to figure out the best way to
get her without pissing everyone off. I mean, after the tour was over Dylan would go back to her life. And I would still have to live with the band and Lexi. I needed to be smart about this. I needed to mind my manners, fly under Lexi’s radar, and get Dylan to come on to me. Shouldn’t be too hard. Hell, I was a fucking rock star. “So, Dylan, have you ever been to one of our shows before?”
“No. I haven’t been to a concert in ages. I work a lot.”
“All work and no play? How can you live like that?” If all I did were write and perform, I’d lose my mind. Although, it’s not like my recreational activities were all that mentally healthy.
“I like my job. Plus, it keeps me out of trouble.”
There was no humor in her tone. And for some reason, her no nonsense attitude was turning me on. I wanted to teach her to play. “Sometimes a little trouble is a good thing.”
She narrowed her beautiful eyes on me. “Did you really do coke this morning?”
Well, hell. She was gorgeous, sexy, smart and direct. Who was this chick? “Would it matter to you if I had?”
Her expression became guarded, and I could tell she was choosing her words carefully. “Yes and no. I’m a PA. Drugs are bad for your health.” She ran her tongue over her lower lip. “But your sobriety isn’t my concern. I’m here to keep an eye on Lex, not flirt with you. I’m working.”
Your sobriety isn’t my concern. For some reason, her words stung. I had the sudden urge to tell her that I had used this morning. I wanted her to fix me. In that moment, I wanted her to be on the bus to keep an eye on me. I wanted to be real for once in my life. But that just wasn’t possible. If anyone knew the real me? Well, let’s just say I’d be off this bus in a flash. “You know, Lex is technically ‘working’ on this tour too. She does her job, takes all her badass pictures. And she’s now dating Dash and knocked up.”
Dylan rolled on to her back, looking at the ceiling and sighed, “Well, Smith, since I doubt you want to date me or knock me up, there really is no comparison.”
She had me there. A wife and kids was not in my future. Yet another thing that just wasn’t possible. For so many reasons.
Chapter Four
Dylan
I was too scared to fall back asleep. I didn’t want to roll off the couch again. So I just faked it. I couldn’t talk to Smith anymore. The more we talked, the more I liked him. And I definitely didn’t want to end up liking him liking him. I was going to be spending the next few weeks on a bus, in close proximity to both Smith and a bed. I was here to work. Not bang a hot rock star. Huh, now that I was saying it in my head, it did sound startlingly similar to Lexi’s situation. Except, Smith seemed like trouble—the kind of trouble I’d dealt with before, and was not looking to deal with again. Smith was like the bad boy version of Peter Pan and it seemed his inability to grow up manifested itself in drugs, alcohol and girls. I did not need to be another notch on his bedpost. He probably had STD’s anyway.
I rolled back over on my side and stared at him, watching him sleep for an inappropriately long time. He looked softer in his sleep, less troubled. I fought the urge to reach down and rub my hands through his dark blonde hair. My fingers itched to touch him. Plus, the way he’d called me Cher earlier? Wow. His deep, slow drawl made the word sound more like sha. It was freaking adorable. Dammit. This was going to be a long tour.
“Dylan? You awake?”
I looked toward the bedroom and saw Lexi coming down the hall. “Yeah. Is everything okay?”
She smiled and sat down in the recliner next to a sleeping Jacks. “Everything is fine. I just can’t sleep and I didn’t want to wake Dash.”
I sat up, pulling my sweater closer around me. “What happens when we get to the venue? Do you go with the guys to their shows? Or do you stay here on the bus?”
“I go to the shows. Ever since…well Dash just likes to know I’m there and safe.” She rubbed her hand over her little baby bump. “When we get there, the guys will go change and warm up. Then Chase will walk us over to the stadium a little later.”
“Oh, no, I don’t need to go to the show. I’ll just stay here on the bus.” It’s not that I didn’t like the Devil’s Share, or their type of rock. But, I don’t know, it seemed like going to a concert was play not work.
Lexi cocked her head to the side, “Do you know how many shows I’ve been to? How many times I’ve stood side stage while groupies gave me dirty looks? You’re coming with me. I am sick and tired of being surrounded by nothing but these men and the girls that want to fuck them.”
“Pretty talk, Lex.” Luke came walking into the room looking disheveled and groggy. He sat down on the floor, his back resting against Lexi’s chair. He looked up at me. “Please excuse her pregnancy paranoia. No one gives her dirty looks. And there are way less groupies backstage now that her whore of a boyfriend is off the market.”
I smiled when Lexi reached down and smacked him on the head. Had Luke just happened to wake up the same time Lexi did? Or was he waiting for her? Those two had a very interesting dynamic. I’d asked Lexi about it one night when we were hanging out. She’d explained that they were like family. Lexi met Luke through his sister Amy, and had toured with him and his first band. But to me, it seemed like Luke was constantly suffering from unrequited love. “Yeah, I guess I could go. I didn’t really bring any clothes to go out in, though.”
Lexi grinned, “Well, tonight just wear whatever. And then we’ll find some time to go shopping for some concert attire.”
Luke snorted, “Be careful, Dylan. Lexi will have you in full sex kitten mode if you aren’t careful.”
Sex kitten? So not me. But it might be fun to actually wear shoes with heels on them.
Jacks ran his hands down his face, groaning loudly. “Why are all you people awake? And talking?” He got up and stumbled down the short hall, climbing into a bunk and closing the curtain.
I looked across the room to Lexi, eyebrows raised in question. She just shrugged and continued to play with Luke’s thick blond hair. I cleared my throat, “So how did the Devil’s Share come to be?”
Luke closed his eyes as Lexi dug her fingers into his scalp. “The band held open auditions for a new drummer when Jared was fired. They asked me to join on the spot and I’ve been touring with these assholes ever since.”
I nodded, “And the rest of the guys? Have they all been together from the start?” I probably should have googled the band I was going to be touring with. But hearing it first hand was more fun.
Luke looked down the hall, towards the closed bedroom door. “Yeah, the rest of the guys are all original members. The band’s first drummer, Jared, was Smith’s cousin and he got really deep into drugs. Started screwing up in front of promoters and missing gigs. The guys had to cut him loose.” Luke absentmindedly reached for Lexi’s hand, squeezing it briefly before letting it go. “I think they all kind of met up randomly.” Luke stretched his leg out and toed Smith’s ear with his sock covered foot.
Smith swatted at Luke but didn’t open his eyes. So Luke did it again, harder this time. Smith opened one eye, “Get your toe out of my ear, you perv.”
Luke did it a third time. “Wake up.”
Smith reached over and popped Luke’s leg. “Why?”
“Dylan was asking about the band. And I don’t remember how all you jerks met.”
Smith opened both eyes and looked up at me. Dammit the man was gorgeous. His flirty smile made me feel a little overheated. “Once upon a time, in a faraway land of booze and pussy lived a sexy badass bass guitarist…” He chuckled at his own joke. “Just kidding. Dash knew Jacks from high school. They grew up together in Houston. One summer they took a road trip to New Orleans to sneak their under-aged asses into Mardi Gras parties. My cousin and I were in a bar on Bourbon street, hustling unsuspecting tourists and playing for tips. Those two walked in using the best fake ID’s I’d ever seen. We got to talking and then one thing led to another. Long story short, three weeks later Jared and I moved to Texas and w
e formed the Devil’s Share.”
My eyes went wide. “How old were you and your cousin? I mean, you just picked up and moved to another state? Weren’t your parents worried about you? Where did you live?” My parents would have shit a brick if my sisters or I had tried something like that.
Smith’s smile faded and the humorous light in his eyes died. “We were seventeen. Our parents never really gave a crap what we did. They were happy to see us go and we were more than happy to leave.” He shrugged. “We crashed on Jacks’s parents’ couch.”
The room got quiet after that. No one quite knew what to say. Thankfully Dash picked that moment to come out of the bedroom, breaking the strained silence. He was wearing jeans slung low on his hips, a tight black t-shirt and a sleepy scowl. All these guys were ridiculously good looking. “Kitten, stop touching Luke.” Lexi blew him a kiss but kept playing with Luke’s hair. Dash sat down in the recliner Jacks had been in. “What are y’all talking about?”
Luke shot a glance at Smith. “Dylan was just asking how the band came together.”
Smith sat up. “Who wants a beer? Or a shot? Time to get this night started.” I could sense the tension in the room. Was it me asking about Smith’s family? Did the mere mention of them make him want to drink? That wasn’t healthy. Smith had more issues than I wanted to deal with, that was for sure. He stood and went to the little kitchen area, turning to face us. “Who wants what?”
Luke raised his hand, “I’ll take a beer.”
Dash nodded, “Yeah, me too.”
He looked at me. I shook my head. “Oh, no. I’m good.”
He rolled his eyes. “You need to learn to have some fun, mi Cher.”
I shot him a look. “I am working. I am not here to drink and party.”
Lexi chuckled. “Dylan, trust me, take the drink.” She looked longingly towards the minibar set up in the corner. “You’re working; I’m working; we’re all working. But in the end? It’s a sold out stadium tour with one of the hottest bands in the nation. Don’t fight the party.”