“I’m saying are you going to fuck this guy …”
“You don’t even know him, Pauly, so leave me be. I’m trying to enjoy myself and make some new friends. I saw you sure as hell did,” I spat back, trying to walk away, but he grabbed ahold of my arm. “Let me go.”
“I’m teasing with you, you know that right Luce?” Pauly joked. “You know how protective I am of you; you’re like my sister.”
When you’re romantically interested in someone, the last word you want to hear is sister.
“Yeah… sister…” I whispered. “When he comes back over here please don’t be a dick, Pauly.”
He put a hand up to his heart. “Me, act like a dick?”
“Hey, sorry that took so long.” Liam walked back over to me, handing me my cup of water and he noticed Pauly standing so close to me. “I’m Liam, by the way.”
Pauly stared at Liam’s hand for a split moment, contemplating if he wanted to shake it, but then he did. “Paul Donovan. How’d you meet this gem?”
Liam looked from me over at Pauly. “I actually met her at the store earlier when she knocked over a couple of bottles of wine…”
My face flushed at reliving the moment. I was completely embarrassed knowing I’d made a huge mess and Liam could actually laugh about it. I know I couldn’t.
Pauly gave me a look that said ‘How the hell did you pull that off?’
“That’s my girl for you, sometimes she can be a klutz, but ya gotta love her for it.” Pauly chuckled, patting me hard on the back. “I’m going to get back to some people over there. Enjoy yourself tonight,” he said to Liam and they shook hands again. When he strolled past us, I looked back for a split second and so did he; I saw a hint of jealousy in his eyes. I hoped he didn’t see it in mine.
Liam and I stepped onto the porch and made the trek down to the lake.
“So Lucy, tell me something about you. I mean besides that you play in an obviously well known band.” Liam asked me as he reached for my free hand. I took it and squeezed his hand.
I exhaled. “Well, I grew up on the west side of the state, over in Muskegon, and I still live there now when I get a break in the touring schedule,” I paused and turned the tables on him. “Tell me something about you?”
Liam followed suit, exhaling and said “Not much to tell. I went to college up here on a hockey scholarship. I’ve lived in Alpena my whole life, and I played a year in pro hockey but broke my leg so badly I couldn’t skate again. Instead, I own one of the restaurants in town.” He shrugged his shoulders as if that wasn’t a big deal. “My parents live nearby, but it’s a very strained relationship because they hate that I can’t skate anymore.”
I was flabbergasted. “Why would they blame you for that? That seems stupid for parents to blame their son.”
“Well when they paid for me to take every hockey lesson there was available and pushed me to practice at home on our own rink, it’s a big deal. I was all my parents had; they put all of their time and frustration into me and grooming me to be an NHL star.” Liam explained. “After the NHL, I took the money I had and put it into the restaurant, and it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made.”
“Do you still speak to them?”
Liam nodded. “Once a week or so. They ask how business is going, and I give them the same generic answer I do every time. They don’t care about my business. They want to know when I’m going to hang it up and try to play again.”
I’m fortunate I still have my mom around, despite our periodic differences; we were still close. I couldn’t imagine her hating me. I don’t even know how Liam deals with it. In the time I’ve spent with him, he’s been such a gentleman and a sweetheart.
“So you spend most of your time up here with friends?”
“Sometimes. I spend just about every waking second I have at the restaurant, adding on to the business, making my own wooden tables, things like that. I’m actually in the process of constructing the bar right now. But I still have my friends from high school I hang out with. Like Evan and Zach. They were my college hockey buddies, and we’ve been friends ever since.”
“It’s hard for me to keep friends anymore.” I said honestly. “Because as the years go on and the band’s popularity grows, gossip and rumors spread. I only have one or two friends outside of the music business because of that.”
Liam smiled. “Well, three now including me.” Seeing that smile warmed my heart. He had such a positive energy around him, and I was hoping I’d be able to see him more often now. “I know that’s kind of crazy considering we met just hours ago.”
“I like crazy.”
We slipped off our shoes and dipped our feet into the water. The water felt warm between my toes as I watched other people swim out past the point I usually did.
“It’s nice out here.” Liam smiled, gripping my hand tighter. “I’ve seen the lake up close and swam, fished, just about everything, but being down here having your own private section just seems so surreal.”
“I know, right? That’s why I love to come up here. There’s something so peaceful about watching the water and how the sun light hits the lake at the right time.” I sighed, inhaling deeply. “If I wasn’t into the band stuff, I’d kill to live up here year round.”
“You wouldn’t say that when the snow is piled up to your roof!” Liam teased, and I laughed.
“True. But it gets just as bad over where we’re at. That’s why I’m thankful most of the winters we’re on the tour bus so we don’t have to worry about that.” I explained. We spent the next couple of minutes just staring at the water around us and enjoying each other’s company. I had just met Liam, but I felt so comfortable around him, I didn’t want him to go.
On our way back up to the cabin, I decided to show Liam the pavilion, which the guys had thoroughly cleaned up during the day, except for the various pieces of music lying around, and my acoustic guitar, which was kept at the cabin.
“This is one of my favorite places to write.” I told Liam, plopping down onto the seat in front of us. “I love to come out here and just listen to music peacefully while the guys do their own thing.”
Liam was perusing through the music, and his eyes settled on an old Deep Purple CD I’d had since I was at least 12.
“Do you mind if I put this in?” he asked, showing me the cd.
“Nah, go ahead. I love Deep Purple,” I told him, and he put the cd in the music player before sitting down next to me.
“So what else should I know about you, since we’re all alone…” Liam asked me, scooting closer to me so that our legs were almost touching. “Not that it means anything, because I’m not one of those guys that will just out right try to kiss you when I barely know you.”
He seemed nervous. I only knew that from the way he’d started. “Well, I have never dated any of my bandmates.”
His eyebrows rose in response. “You mean you’ve never dated any of them, even before you guys were a group?” It was the truth! The only one I had ever been involved as far as anything to do with sex was Pauly, and that was only once.
I shook my head in response. “Does that surprise you?”
“No. But I don’t know them, either,” Liam joked. He positioned his arm so it was now draped around my shoulders. I snuggled closer so my head lay on his shoulder, and we made small talk, taking about our childhood, what we’d wanted to be when we grew up, and our first kisses oddly enough.
Then I heard a loud thud outside of the pavilion, which caused me to stand straight up, and out of Liam’s hold. “The fuck was that…” I murmured, peeking around the corner to see Damon lying against the outside of the pavilion, looking pretty passed out.
“What the hell, Charming…” I groaned, running toward him, trying to get him to stand up without falling back on his ass.
“Hey Luce, I’m perfectly fine… no trouble here. Pauly was trying to get me to come out and get you…” Damon slurred, and I rolled my eyes. I looked behind me and Liam came to m
y side to help lift Damon up. “And who’s your new boyfriend, Lucy?”
“He’s not my boyfriend, asshole; his name’s Liam, and I just met him today. You need to go to bed,” I scolded him. “Did you kick everyone else out?”
“Hell if I know. Alex was out there getting people that were in the water. It was getting too rowdy in the place for him, I guess. Frickin pussy.”
“I’m sorry he’s acting like this,” I whispered to Liam. “Damon can be a sloppy, dickhead drunk.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve seen worse than him up here before,” Liam chuckled.
“I don’t think I’m ready just yet, though,” Damon whined. “I thought we’d sit down and watch a movie.”
“Yeah and you’ll zonk out a second after it comes on,” I snickered. We stood on either side of Damon, hoisting him up to his feet, and holding onto him as we lead him back inside. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we opened the sliding door to the living room. There wasn’t a soul in sight, except for Emily, who was stumbling around, trying to pick up the red solo cups that were smashed on the floor.
“I guess they really did kick the people out,” Liam said to me as we gently set Damon down onto the closest seat we could find. He turned to me and kissed me on the cheek. “I better get going. My friends probably got a cab, but it was an absolute pleasure meeting you Lucy.”
“You, too. I might pop in sometime to your restaurant,” I told him and he gave me a huge grin.
“That’d be amazing. It’ll be on the house,” he winked. “See you around Lucy,” and he walked out the front door, briefly waving at Emily who nodded in return.
Once the door clicked shut, Emily squealed and frantically ran over to me. I heard Damon groan again behind us as she reacted to my encounter with Liam.
“Holy hotness on a stick, Lucy! That guy is fucking beautiful, and he is totally into you,” she said, and I couldn’t stop smiling.
“You think so? I can’t believe I didn’t scare him away with all of these crazy people here.”
“Please, girl. He’s seems like a gentleman if he didn’t try to put the moves on you. I respect him for that because otherwise I might’ve kicked his ass out… with a little help of course,” she giggled. “So are you going to go see him again?”
My first thought was why wouldn’t I? “I told him I’d eat at his restaurant sometime, so more than likely, yes, I’ll see him again, Em.”
Emily appeared even more excited by my news.
“That guy was trying too hard!” Damon shouted behind us. He had a shit-eating grin on his face.
I narrowed my eyes and said, “He acted just fine, Damon. And by the grin on your face you seem perfectly fine, too.”
He shrugged his shoulders and met my stare dead on. “Maybe I am.” I put two and two together.
“You fucker, you pretended to be drunk?” I yelled, pointing a finger at him. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“Because Pauly didn’t like that Liam dude and told me to do something about getting him out of here, along with the rest of the crowd. So I yelled parties over and kicked everyone out. Even though there were a few pretty gorgeous ladies hanging out…”
“Damon Charming, you never cease to amaze me.” I shook my head, giving him the middle finger. For acting, he had done a pretty damn good job of it. “If Pauly didn’t like him, he should have told me. Besides, why does he care anyways? What was he doing, sucking face with a girl or is that what he’s doing right now?”
“I can’t confirm or deny what he’s doing right now, Luce.” This only meant it was a matter of time before I heard random screaming coming from his bedroom. Great. “Now, how about we turn on a movie and you can fall asleep on me and I’ll carry you to your bed like a princess?”
I couldn’t contain my laughter any longer. Anyone that would hear us talk would assume we had feelings for each other, but that’s never been the case. But we still crack jokes about it nonetheless.
“Since it’s just the three of us apparently, why not?” I replied, and Emily and I plopped down on each side of him as he turned on American Pie 2 to round out our night.
I must’ve fallen asleep during the movie. I could hear Damon whispering something to Emily as I was carried, like he promised.
“Staying true to your word, huh?” I mumbled, my eyes closing again once I knew he had a good grip on me.
“You bet, sis. Plus, I wanted to sleep in my bed; no offense to you sleeping on my shoulder or anything,” Damon joked, rounding the corner to my room. I heard complete and utter silence, so that meant all the others must’ve had their fucking fun and were finally sleeping like I was about to.
“Thank you, Damon.” I said he set me gently under the covers and covered me up to my neck.
“Anytime, Luce.” Damon kissed me on the forehead and patted my arm. “See ya in the morning.”
Chapter 5: Tempted
Pauly
I woke up this morning to some girl I vaguely remember from last night sucking my dick.
Really?
Not that I’m fucking complaining or anything; that’s the best way to wake up after a long night of partying. I gripped the girl’s hair as she bobbed her head up and down, her mouth taking in all of me.
As soon as she finished, I pushed her aside and sat on the edge of the bed. Enough was enough. It was a new day, and she needed to get the fuck out. I had to work on damage control with Lucy.
“You need to go now.” I didn’t even look this girl in the eye. Usually, I wasn’t this much of a dick to a girl after I’d fucked her, but today was different for some reason. I pointed to her skimpy dress on the floor and said, “Your clothes are over there.”
The girl huffed, getting off the bed butt naked, bending over in front of me, ass in my face on purpose. I had a look of disgust on my face. She didn’t even have a nice ass, I thought to myself. What was I thinking?
Lucy and new guy, Liam. That’s what.
“So am I going to see you again?” the girl asked me sweetly. She tucked her bleach blonde hair behind her ears as she slipped her dress on over her head.
“I’m afraid not…Uh… Amber…” I took a stab in the dark with her name.
The girl rolled her eyes and flipped me the bird. “My names not Amber you asshole, it’s Melanie” Then, without another word, she slammed the bedroom door behind her, her heels clomping down the hallway.
“Good fucking riddance,” I murmured, lying back in bed. All that was on my mind was whether Lucy actually went through fucking some random guy just so we could have some decent lyrics. Why had she even thought of that in the first place? Of course, at the party last night, I see her with some tall blond haired dude who looked like a cocky son of a bitch. So did his two sidekicks. I didn’t like any of them. Not at all. Maybe that’s why she invited him in the first place.
After seeing her walk outside with that prick and being gone for a long time, I bribed Damon into pretending like he was a sloppy drunk to scare Liam away. Being the best friend that he is, he drove all the guests out of the house with a few short words, except for the girls we had all scored and taken upstairs. I’m sure Lucy was cursing my name after finding out Damon faked being drunk, but I love seeing her pissed at me.
I loved seeing her no matter what. It crushed me when I’d told her we couldn’t have sex again, that we needed to stay friends. I wanted to run after her once she’d slammed the door shut and take every single word back. But it was what was best for the group, or so I’d thought. I wouldn’t look at her the same again though. It was completely obvious to the guys in the band that Lucy and I had a thing for each other, but that didn’t matter.
I got out of bed and found a clean pair of boxers and basketball shorts, not bothering with a shirt. This morning, we were going to start working on a few guitar lines for a song Lucy had written awhile back. Or at least, that was my idea. Walking downstairs, Alex, Mike, and Lucy were sitting at the island counter drinking coffee. Fuck, just the sight of Luc
y bright and early in the morning made my dick as hard as a rock. Her black hair was stick straight down her back and she seemed to be happy this morning. Maybe I was in the clear.
I decided to sneak up behind her and startle her. “Did you have fun with prissy dick last night?” My hands quickly cupped her shoulders as I whispered behind her. Mike and Alex saw me coming, but Lucy immediately dropped her coffee cup and let out a high-pitched scream.
“Pauly, what the fuck?” She spun around in her seat and shot me daggers. Her blue eyes narrowed and her mouth twisted. I wanted to take those lips and claim them again; they were too fucking plump not to kiss them. “Why did you have to walk up and scare me like that? I could have spilled that all over my shirt.”
“I certainly wouldn’t mind that happening.” I winked at her. “I’d totally help you change, among other things…”
Mike and Alex stared hooting and hollering. Lucy rolled her eyes and tried not to crack a smile. “You’d like that wouldn’t you?” she questioned me, “What happened to that girl that came down here not that long ago? She wasn’t good enough for you? Oh let me guess, she wanted to have a relationship, and you shot her down?”
That was a direct hit if I’ve ever seen one before. Should I tell her that I regret saying those things and that I wanted nothing more than to be the guy that makes her smile, not pissed off?
“I’m a sucker for girls who wear corsets.” I admitted, looking directly at her. “This girl didn’t fit the bill.”
“Damn, you’re harsh, Donovan,” Alex piped in.
“When is he ever nice?” Lucy interjected. “He’s Pauly for Christ sake, harsh is his middle name.”
I put a hand to my heart and pretended to sound sad. “What’s with this ganging up on me? It’s no different when we brought girls to the bus or the hotels.”
Alex stood up and patted my back. “I’m messing with you,” he smiled, lowering his voice “She’s pissed you bribed Damon, by the way,” he said, making sure Lucy didn’t hear us.
I chuckled. “Figured that much. I didn’t like the looks of that prissy dick.”
Don't Break My Heart (Straight from the Heart #3) Page 5