Take Me With You

by K. A. Linde

  “I’m glad. Henry’s a fucking prick, and I told them as much before I walked out.”

  “You know what I don’t fucking understand?” he said, running a hand back through his hair. “Why would they even fucking invite me here? Was it just to fucking humiliate me? Well, congratulations! It worked.”

  I consolingly ran my hand down his arm. “They’re stupid. I should have known better. I desperately wanted them to meet you and love you like I do. It took me a while to get to know the real you, but I know you are not the villain they are painting you as.”

  “Aren’t I? I have the fucked-up past. I slept around. Those things they said about me weren’t a lie. I can’t take care of you. I can’t even fucking take care of myself right now, Ari.”

  “I don’t care about those things! Do you know how many guys I’ve brought home to meet my parents? None. Not one,” I told him fiercely. “But I brought you.”

  We stared at each other in a pregnant silence before he finally looked away.

  Footsteps behind us drew our attention. Aaron was walking straight toward us. I groaned.

  Great. What the hell could he have to say?

  “Aribel,” he said in greeting as he approached.

  “What do you want, Aaron?”

  “To speak with you.”

  “Obviously.”

  “And to apologize.”

  My eyebrows rose. “What?”

  “I won’t say that I approve of you dating this guy,” he said, looking at Grant.

  Grant just shrugged.

  “But if Henry acted the way you claimed, then he’s no better. In fact, I’ve acted nearly as bad in the past. We all have stories. We all have pasts.”

  “And Mom and Dad?” I asked.

  Aaron shrugged. “They asked Henry to leave after you walked out.”

  “They asked him to leave?” My eyes bulged. “Are you sure they’re the same people?”

  “Pretty sure. I can’t believe Henry did those things. We would never have kept bringing him around if we’d known he was like that, but it’s the same reason I don’t trust Grant,” he said casually as if it didn’t matter. “Anyway, I don’t think we’ll all easily come around to this, Aribel, but I have to say that I approve of you finally standing up to Mom and Dad. I would never have guessed it would be over a guy, but if you’re doing it, knowing full well how they would react, then he must be important to you.”

  “He is,” I told him confidently.

  “I can see that. Maybe you should come back inside and talk to Mom and Dad one more time. I think they’ll see that eventually, too.”

  I shook my head. “I’d rather not.”

  Grant and I exchanged a look, and he nodded his head in agreement.

  “Suit yourself.” Then, my brother did the unthinkable.

  He stretched his hand out, and Grant put his hand in Aaron’s and shook it firmly.

  “Nice show, man.”

  Grant gave him a long hard look before answering, “Thanks.”

  Just like that, it was as if some kind of truce had been drawn. I didn’t have my parents’ approval. I didn’t have Aaron’s approval. But the worst was over.

  “So, your brother sort of came around,” Grant said sometime later as I drove him back to the hotel where the tour bus was parked.

  My eyes widened, and I slowly shook my head. “I must have really shocked them when I told them about what Henry had done.”

  He entwined our fingers, brought my hand to his lips, and kissed it. “Come with me,” he said, changing the subject.

  “I’ve heard that before.”

  His eyes crinkled with delight. “You’ll hear it again, too, darlin’. I mean, come on the rest of the tour with me. You’re done with classes. I want you with me.”

  The way he’d said darlin’ jolted me and reminded me of the very thing I’d been avoiding thinking or talking about—his father. I hadn’t told Grant about his father approaching me. I’d been waiting this whole time for the right moment to tell him in person, but it hadn’t come out. Between finally being back together and my parents, the weekend had been packed. But soon, he would be leaving again. He needed to know.

  “Ari?” he asked, squeezing my hand. “I was joking. I mean, I do want you to be on tour with us, but I don’t want you to freak out.”

  “No, I’m not. There’s just something we need to talk about.”

  He stiffened. “Haven’t we had enough heavy conversation today?”

  “I know. But…I’ve wanted to tell you this. I didn’t know how.” I pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and parked the car. I popped my door and got out of the Mercedes I’d borrowed from my parents.

  Grant came around the car and took my hand. “Come on. We’ll talk inside.”

  “No, let’s stay out here.”

  No one was outside right now, and I wanted the space to be able to tell him this.

  “This doesn’t sound good, Princess.”

  I turned and faced him with my hands splayed in front of me. “I talked to your dad.”

  Grant froze. “You did what?”

  “And I called the cops.”

  “What?”

  “I know,” I gasped out. “I know. You were right. They said there was nothing they could do unless I had been threatened or harmed in some way.”

  “I fucking told you they were worthless. But how the hell could you keep this from me?”

  I’d known this was coming. “Let me explain to you what happened. Your dad came to my house and left his phone number with Cheyenne when I wasn’t home. I never contacted him back, but then after finals, right before I flew up here, he showed up at my place.”

  “Fuck, Ari! He showed up at your apartment?”

  “He wanted me to convince you to talk to him.”

  “I’m not fucking doing that!”

  I threw my hands up. “I told him I wouldn’t convince you, that he had no right to talk to you.”

  “Let me guess. He insisted?”

  “Yes. I just”—I sighed heavily—“I worry he’s never going to stop trying to get in contact with you. I don’t want to play into his hands, Grant. But maybe if you saw him and heard him out, then you could tell him that you never want to see him again, and this nightmare could be over.”

  “That is never going to happen,” he growled. “I’m not fucking stupid enough to think if I hear him out once, then he won’t try to kill me…or you. And he already knows about you, Ari. I can’t keep you safe. I know I was joking before, but come on tour with me.”

  I shook my head. I wanted that, but I wasn’t dependent on my boyfriend. And we weren’t ready in our relationship to spend every minute of every day together. “You know I can’t.”

  “I need to keep you safe.”

  “He didn’t try to hurt me or threaten me or anything. He seemed kind of crazy but not like he’d hurt me.”

  “That’s how he wanted to appear. You’re dealing with a trained ex-military criminal.”

  “I know, Grant. I just want things to go back to normal. I don’t want to live in fear that he’s going to come after me…or you.” An unbidden tear slid down my cheek.

  “Oh, Ari,” he sighed. He cupped my cheeks in his hands and swiped the tear away with his thumb. “We’re going to figure this out.” He gently kissed me on the lips. “I can’t have you in danger. If I have to confront him and all my demons to make sure you’re safe, then I’ll do it. I’ll do it for you.”

  Two weeks later, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

  Our last tour stop was in D.C. The Drift was closing out their tour in the city where they had grown up, and that meant we got in two days early, so they could visit with family and friends. I was kind of wishing that we could get this over with, so I could get back to Ari and deal with this shit with my dad. But The Drift wasn’t staying in D.C. after the tour, so they’d booked in some time in the schedule to stay in town.

  The guys and I spent our first day wanderin
g around downtown. Miller had been there once for a school trip, but none of the rest of us had ever been here. Seeing all the monuments and shit was pretty cool, but I was too anxious to really enjoy it. I opted out of day-two plans and worked on the new song that had hit me since I last saw Ari.

  I was still messing with the guitar chords when they returned.

  “Grant! Let’s fucking party!” Vin cried, launching himself into the hotel room and crashing down on the bed. “Drift said there are some kick-ass places a couple of blocks down. Let’s go pick up some chicks.”

  “It’s almost perfect,” I muttered through the pick in my mouth.

  “You’ve been working on that all day,” Miller observed.

  “Bro, we’ll have plenty of time for working on our fucking music when we’re in the studio. This is our last night before our last show on our first ever tour! Let’s get fucking wasted!” Vin encouraged.

  I slid the pick back between my fingers and started strumming along. Halfway through, I stopped and slapped my hands over the strings. “What’s it missing?”

  McAvoy laughed. “Drums.”

  “A backbeat,” Miller added. “The lyrics.”

  “A fucking recording studio, motherfuckers!” Vin cried.

  “Maybe,” I said uncertainly.

  “Figure it out later. Let’s go drink!” Vin said.

  “Go without me. I’ll meet up with you guys as soon as I figure this thing out. It’s been bugging the shit out of me all fucking day.”

  With the combined effort of Miller and McAvoy, they finally got Vin to vacate the hotel room, leaving me all alone with my cherry red baby and the notebook full of lyrics.

  I spent another forty-five minutes trying to figure out the flaw in the chords before putting the guitar aside in frustration. The music had helped me not to obsess about my dad and Ari at least for a bit. But I needed to get out of this place.

  Maybe a drink or two would do me some good.

  I followed the guys’ directions down to the local pub. I recognized The Drift’s security detail standing out front. Who knew if that was because there were supposed to be crowds or because they wanted to look important? I wouldn’t put anything past Donovan, who had been acting whack all week.

  When I strode up to the entrance, the first thing I noticed was the smoking-hot chick talking to one of the guys out front. She was so hot that I did a double take. I whistled softly under my breath as I took in her features. Her ass cheeks were barely concealed in high-waist cutoff shorts. Her large chest was visible in the skintight shirt she wore. She was tall and leggy with dark brown hair that fell halfway down her back.

  I was so busy checking her out that I didn’t even realize she was arguing with the doorman.

  “I’m here every weekend! What do you mean I can’t go inside?” she snapped.

  She planted her hands on her hips, and in no hurry to get inside, I admired her hourglass figure.

  “Sorry. You’re not on the list.”

  “I don’t understand! There is no list! This place is fucking empty.”

  “Closed event tonight.”

  “Well, let me see your goddamn list, and I’ll write my fucking name on it!” she yelled.

  “Doesn’t work like that. If you’ll please step aside, Mr. McDermott is on the list.”

  I jolted at the sound of my name. I nodded at him and sympathetically took in the hot chick.

  Tough break.

  When she swiveled around, her mossy-green eyes glared at me, and then her eyes widened. They traveled up and down my body like a million girls had done. I got some small measure of satisfaction from knowing I could bang this super fucking hot girl if I wanted.

  “How come he’s on the fucking list?” she asked.

  “Because he’s with the band. Now, move out of the way,” he said, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest. “Or I’ll have to remove you myself.”

  “Give it a try, fucker.”

  She didn’t move an inch, and I watched this chick stare down a six-foot-four bodyguard security detail as if it were the most natural thing to do on her Friday night.

  Fucking hot!

  “Look, it’s no big deal. We’re not that picky about the list.”

  “But—”

  I held up my hand and interrupted whatever he was going to say. “Come on. Just put her down as a plus-one for me.” I threw my arm over her shoulders and gave the guy a big toothy smile. “No harm, no foul.”

  “Mr. McDermott, I’m under strict orders.”

  “And you’re following them,” I told him. “Come on, babe.”

  Without a backward glance, I marched the girl straight through the door and into the dimly lit shithole.

  What the fuck? Why had the guys in The Drift claimed that this place was kick-ass? It looked like a run-down hole in the wall.

  “Thanks for that,” she murmured.

  “Anytime.”

  I removed my arm from around her shoulders. She was hot, but claiming her as a plus-one was all a ruse to get her inside. There was no way I would actually tap that. I had a hot blonde, who loved me, waiting for me when I got back to Princeton next week.

  “So…you’re with the band?”

  “Yeah.” I nodded.

  “That’s cool,” she said. “Girls dig guys in bands.”

  I smirked. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that.”

  She stared at me for a second in assessment. “You probably play guitar. Callous fingers.”

  “I do,” I said, surprised that she had noticed something so small.

  “Nice. Girls get hot for a musician,” she said with a completely straight face, not in the leering way I normally associated with groupies who wanted to get in my pants.

  “Good thing I play an instrument then, huh?”

  She nodded. “Good thing. So, McDermott, do you have a first name?”

  “Grant.”

  “I’m Courtney.”

  “Well, Courtney, if you’re into dudes in bands, let me introduce you to my brothers.”

  I couldn’t believe I was giving up this chick to someone else. I would never have done this before. She was way too hot to be slumming it at this dive bar. But I ignored the radar going off in my head that if she was this hot and single, then she must be batshit crazy. Really, anyone could handle some crazy for a chick like this.

  We ran into Miller first. He raised his eyebrows at me when he saw Courtney. Yeah, she was fucking sexy as well. And I clearly needed to get rid of her.

  “Courtney, this is Miller. She’s a local.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Miller said as he shook her hand.

  “You guys seen anything but this shithole suburb? Everyone likes the tourist crap.”

  She and Miller talked about the different monuments he had visited this afternoon while I grabbed us beers from the bar. When I returned, drinks in hand, Vin and McAvoy were chatting up Courtney as well.

  She accepted the drink I handed her and took a long swig. “Thanks.”

  At that moment, the chick McAvoy had been fucking on tour bounded up to him. She whispered into his ear, and then he guided her toward the bathroom. Vin was looking up at Courtney as if she were the last fucking drop of water in the whole world. Unfortunately, I had a feeling douche-bag game wasn’t going to work on her since she actually seemed relatively normal, so that mostly left Miller.

  “Let’s find a seat,” I said.

  I gestured to the sitting area where I could see Ridley and Trevor smoking with a few groupies. We walked over there when Ridley caught sight of me.

  He jumped to his feet. “Court, baby!”

  She squealed and ran into his arms. “Rid! What the fuck are you doing here?”

  Trevor stood just as quickly and practically grabbed her out of Ridley’s arms. “Shit! It’s been for-fucking-ever since I’ve seen your fine ass.”

  She giggled. Her green eyes were shining, and then everything hit her all at once. “Oh fuck. Guys…”

  Her
eyes went out to the rest of the bar, almost fearfully. She seemed to be searching for someone. I was missing something.

  “So, you guys all know each other,” I mused.

  “Um, yeah,” Courtney said. Her long hair covered half of her face, and she tucked the hair behind her ear. “I really didn’t know. I haven’t been keeping up with the tour schedule. No wonder the bouncer wouldn’t let me in and said I wasn’t on the list.”

  “Bouncer?” Ridley asked. “He fucking set up a bouncer to keep you out?”

  “I thought it was suspicious that he would choose this place,” Trevor said.

  “All right. Someone going to explain to me what’s going on?” I asked.

  Courtney looked down at the ground and then glanced off past my shoulder. Her eyes widened a fraction, and I turned around to see Donovan walking toward us. He looked murderous for someone who looked like he’d just been fucked by each chick on his arm.

  Then, it clicked. God, I was fucking horrible with names. “Courtney,” I muttered, turning to face her. “The Courtney. You’re Donovan’s ex-girlfriend?”

  “She is.” Donovan stood imposingly next to me.

  I could feel the tension rolling off of him from where I stood in the middle of his staring contest with Courtney.

  “And she can get the fuck out of here.”

  Courtney crossed her arms over her chest. “You don’t own the place, Donovan.”

  He cringed slightly at the way she’d said his name. “Actually, tonight, I kind of do since I rented it out.”

  She shook her head in disgust. Her lips curled up, and I thought she was going to snap back at him.

  “Whatever. I don’t want to be near you anyway.” She hugged Ridley and Trevor. “Good seeing you guys. Tell Nic and Joey I said hey. If you’re here for any longer—well, you know where I live.”

  Then, she turned and walked away.

  All of that for nothing.

  Something in me felt for her in that moment. I didn’t know what pussy part of my body was making me walk after her, but I did. I should just let her walk her hot ass out of the bar. Donovan and I were finally on okay terms. Bringing Courtney into the mix was a surefire way to get him to hate me again, yet for some unknown fucking reason, I couldn’t let her leave like that.