Daisy and the Front Man (Entangled Crush) (Backstage Pass)

by Purdy, Rebekah L.

  “No, more like you wore me down. I ran out of excuses to keep you away.”

  “Oh, is that so?” Trevin liked their banter; in fact, there wasn’t much he didn’t like about her. It felt good to be able to be himself, to have someone to spend time with. But not just anyone—someone who got him and made him feel happy.

  A part of him thought maybe things might be too good to be true, but he shoved those vicious thoughts away. He’d spent enough time doubting himself and whether or not he’d be able to handle dating someone. He wanted this to be his fresh start. And he wanted it to be with Daisy. He definitely needed to talk to Ryder soon. There was no way he could keep going with the bet. Collaboration or no collaboration—he liked Daisy too much to keep up the ruse.

  …

  Daisy clung to Trevin. She loved watching him smile and how his eyes always seemed to twinkle with some private joke. Tonight was magical—perfect—and she felt her shields shatter down around her.

  Maybe things really would work out. Like maybe the universe decided it was her turn to be happy.

  Now would be the perfect moment to ask him about the dance. Her stomach knotted. She just had to stay calm and ask. She took a deep breath, then released her arms from around his shoulders. “So, I wondered if you might want to go to the fifties dance that the hotel is sponsoring in the ballroom tomorrow—I mean, since you have the night off?” she said.

  His eyes met hers. “You’re asking me on a date?”

  “Y-yeah. I thought it’d be kind of cool, get dressed up and do fifties dances—you know, the twist, pretending like we’re swimming—maybe you could even learn a few moves to put into one of your shows. Oh, maybe when you guys do your ‘WET’ set, you could do the swim. That’d be hot,” Daisy said.

  “You think I’m hot?” His brows raised.

  “A lady never tells.” She smiled, pretending to swim backward on the bus, only to hit Trevin in the head. “Ah, sorry, so didn’t mean to do that.”

  “Easy there killer, you almost chopped me up with your arms.” Trevin tugged her closer to him.

  “Oh, you didn’t know, did you? My arms are like weapons.”

  “Now you sound like your dad…”

  “That is the most un-romantic thing you can say to a girl on a date.” Daisy swatted at him.

  He chuckled. “You’re probably right.” He wrapped her in his arms once more.

  Daisy chewed her bottom lip and nestled her head against his chest. She closed her eyes for a moment and listened to the slow doo-wop song playing on the iPod. “So, will you go with me?”

  “I’d love to.” He brushed tendrils of hair from her face. “Does that mean we get to dress up in fifties clothes?”

  She opened her eyes and watched him. Trevin Jacobs had said yes. Oh. My. God. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She was finally going to get to go to a dance with him. “Absolutely.”

  “Sounds fun. Now, we should probably eat some of the food I brought up here. Don’t want it to go to waste.” He reached over, grabbed a piece of chocolate, and put it in her mouth.

  Daisy sat up and chewed the chocolate-covered caramel. It melted in her mouth and she sighed. A cool breeze came through, and Daisy rubbed her arms.

  “Are you getting cold?”

  “A little, but I’ll be okay.”

  “Do you want to go into the tour bus for a while? I have a key.” Trevin reached into his pocket and pulled it out.

  “Are you sure it’s okay?”

  “Yeah. We’re fine.”

  “What about all this stuff?” She gestured to the blanket and food.

  “We can grab it before we go back to the hotel later.”

  They climbed off the top of the bus and made their way around to the front, but before they got on, Trevin kissed her, pressing her tightly to his body as if she were a blanket to cover him up. After a second, he led her up the stairs and into the bus. When they got inside, she wrapped her arms around his neck and crushed her mouth against his. She loved the feel of him—the scent of him, the way he held her. And she couldn’t get enough.

  He groaned, sliding his hands down to her waist, where he proceeded to pull her so close against him that there was no space between them. Trevin trailed kisses down her neck and she gasped.

  Her body tingled as if she’d been shot out of a cannon and was plummeting to earth at high speed. She’d never done anything like this with someone before. And she really didn’t want to stop.

  Trevin backed her up until they tipped onto the couch. He propped himself above her. “I-Is this okay?” he asked.

  She nodded her head. “Yes.”

  Her fingers stroked his face then slid down his chest. Her hand trembled as she felt the hardened muscles beneath her palm. She tugged at his T-shirt, and he captured her mouth once more. His tongue darted against hers, her breathing becoming more ragged.

  “Daisy,” he said, his voice hoarse as he touched her bare leg.

  Her blood pounded in her ears like waves against the shoreline. She loved the sound of her name on his lips. She kissed him again, this time pulling his T-shirt up so she could run her hands along the contours of his back.

  Right then, the door flew open and in walked her dad. Even in the dim light, she saw the anger flash over his features. “What the hell is going on?”

  Trevin leaped up and Daisy followed close behind, smoothing down her dress. “We were just kissing,” she said.

  “It looked like you were about to do more than kiss. I trusted you two… Daisy, you’ve got two seconds to get your ass up to your room. And you”—he glared at Trevin—“better sit your ass down until I come back.”

  Her dad grabbed her arm and half dragged her into the hotel and up to their suite. Once they were behind closed doors, he spun to face her.

  “You are not to be alone on the bus with Trevin, do you understand me? What do you think would’ve happened if I hadn’t walked in?”

  “We were kissing. Jeez, he’s the first boy I’ve ever kissed and I’m a flipping senior in high school. It’s not like I planned on screwing him in his bunk bed.”

  “Don’t talk like that. From now on, you’re not going anywhere alone with him, do you understand me?”

  “Dad, I’m sorry, please, just trust me?”

  “Get your pajamas on. I’ll be back in a while.” He stormed out of the room.

  Her eyes welled. Crap. Her dad was totally pissed. What if he forbade her to see Trevin again? Or worse yet, what if he beat him up? Damn it. She didn’t mean to get him in trouble.

  She paced in her room, wondering what the hell she was going to do. A few minutes later, her room phone rang. She hurried to answer.

  “Hello?”

  “Daisy, it’s Trevin. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to get you busted.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “I was going to stop by to see if you were okay, but figured I’d better not show my face for a while. But I promise, I’ll still meet up with you for the dance tomorrow night.”

  “So my dad didn’t scare you away?”

  “He was too mad to talk to me and told me to get back to my room—so I’m assuming he’ll be stopping by in a while to have a chat. But no worries, we’ll figure this out,” he said. “One thing’s for sure, I’m going to have some damn good dreams tonight.”

  Through her tears, Daisy laughed. “At least you’re looking at the positive side. So what time do you want to meet up tomorrow?”

  “How about seven thirty? That’ll give us enough time after the recording session to get dressed then head downstairs.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “And Daisy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks for tonight and for being you. I loved spending time with you.”

  She twirled the phone cord around her finger. “Same here—I mean, I loved hanging out with you, too.”

  “Sleep well.”

  “Good night,” Daisy said then hung up. She collapsed on her bed and s
tared at the ceiling. She touched her lips where Trevin’s had been only minutes ago. What would’ve happened if her dad hadn’t interrupted? Would she have had sex with Trevin? She imagined his hands on her bare thigh. Time to turn the thoughts off.

  One thing was for sure, she’d fallen. She wasn’t sure when it’d happened, but there was no more denying it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “So I heard you got busted last night, mate.” Miles launched himself onto Trevin’s bed like a wrestler jumping from the high rope.

  Trevin groaned and rolled onto his side. “So you heard Beau go off on me?”

  “I’m sure every room on our floor did. He even told LJ you were making out with Daisy on the bus.”

  “Shit. Please tell me Lester hasn’t stopped by yet.”

  “Nah. But he did call and say we need to be ready to go to the studio soon.”

  “That’s probably a good thing. I think I’ll need to stay away from Daisy for a few hours today, until Beau chills. Daisy and I are supposed to go to the fifties dance tonight as long as Beau doesn’t change his mind.”

  “You’re not chickening out, are you?” Miles propped himself up on his elbow.

  “No—but I’d like to live to see tomorrow, so I’m gonna lay low for a while.”

  “Good plan. But you know, you probably should just sit down with Beau and tell him you like Daisy a lot and that you aren’t going anywhere. Let him know you won’t hurt her.”

  “We kind of already had that talk, but after last night he wants to break every bone in my body. He told me he’s disappointed in me for trying to compromise Daisy, which I wasn’t going to do.”

  “You’ve always been his favorite; he’ll come around. Just hang in there.”

  A knock sounded on the door and Miles climbed from the bed and wandered out into the other room.

  “Trevin, you and I need to have a talk,” Ryder said.

  “I’m in bed.”

  “Well, get your ass up. We have shit to do today…”

  Trevin slipped from under his covers. With the guys up and around now, he knew he wouldn’t get any more sleep. He trudged into the living room area. “What do you want?”

  “I heard you’re trying to take over the title of Bad Boy—but there’s only room enough for one of us in the group…” He grinned.

  “How the hell did you find out?”

  “Ask James Bond here. He couldn’t wait to gossip this morning.” Ryder nodded at Miles, then sat on the couch and threw his legs up on the coffee table.

  “Damn, does everyone know?” Trevin ran a hand through his hair.

  “Pretty much all of us guys, LJ, Beau, and the bodyguards…that’s pretty much it,” Miles said with a smile.

  “Gee, is that all?” Trevin snorted.

  “No, I might’ve told Mia about it,” Ryder said.

  “And I told Aimee, too—she said it’s about time, but thought it was funny that you pissed off Beau.”

  “For shit sake, you might as well have contacted the paparazzi to see if they wanted the inside scoop.”

  Another knock sounded at the door, and Will walked in with Nathan in tow. “So, you’re still alive—that’s good news. Wasn’t sure if Beau would let you see the light of day.”

  “Yep, still alive, and I’m going to take a shower and get dressed.”

  “Trevin, you need to be careful with her,” Nathan said.

  Trevin glanced at him, wondering if his first instinct had been right. Did he have a thing for Daisy, too? “I will be.”

  “But you don’t understand—”

  “I do, and right now, I need to shower.”

  He got cleaned up, then threw on some clothes. When he came out of the bathroom, LJ was there too. “Okay, boys, I want all of your phones in the basket, now.” He pointed at the decorative wicker basket on the counter. “I don’t want any distractions during our recording session. We’ve only got today to be in the studio and need to get some of these tracks laid.”

  With a groan, all the guys dropped their phones into the basket.

  “Is that everyone’s?”

  Trevin counted the phones. “Yes.”

  “Good, let’s head on out.”

  For once he didn’t lecture Trevin, which surprised him. Unless he was waiting until later to talk to him or punish him. Sometimes he’d let you stew for a bit before he pounced.

  When they got to the studio, the guys were sent right into the recording room. Malcolm and Gary, two of their producers, were already sitting behind the glass, ready to work the mixing board and mikes.

  “All right boys, why don’t we start with ‘Closer to Me,’” Gary said.

  Trevin put the headphones on and moved to his mike, while the others did the same. They spent most of the day up in the studios trying to make sure the mixes were good. After several hours, Trevin glanced at the clock. Shit, they needed to wrap this up soon so he had time to get ready for the dance.

  LJ poked his head into the recording room. “Okay, I think we have what we need.”

  Everyone piled out of the room. “Finally,” Ryder said. “I’m starving.”

  LJ grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair. “You boys need to hustle into the limo.” He rushed out the door, waving at them to follow.

  “Good, I need to get back. Daisy and I are going to the fifties dance tonight.”

  “Same,” Ryder said, then grinned. “Well, I mean I’ve got a date night, too, but not with Daisy. Mia and I are going to have dinner then maybe watch some movies.”

  “I want to sleep,” Will said.

  “You always want to sleep.” Trevin rolled his eyes.

  “That’s because someone keeps me up too late playing video games.”

  “See, mate. I knew it was you all along…” Miles slugged Trevin in the arm. “Trevin here tries to blame you all the time for the late nights, but I defended your honor the other day.”

  “At least someone has my back,” Will said.

  They all piled into the limo, where Trevin noticed five clothing bags hanging up. Looked like suits. The car pulled away from the curb and headed across town, but when it stopped, he realized they weren’t at the hotel.

  “You boys aren’t going to have time for anything tonight. Lars Blancon has a fashion show that he asked specifically for you to be at. He’s not only dressing you for the night—but you’ll be performing for the show as the models come out.”

  “Wait—I had stuff going on tonight,” Trevin said. His stomach knotted, and he clutched hold of the armrest on the door and sank back against the seat, squeezing his eyes shut. No, no, no. Why the hell hadn’t LJ told them before now that he had an event planned?

  “Well, now you have something else.” LJ shot a piercing look at them. “Grab your suits from the hooks. Each bag is labeled with a name. So make sure you get yours.”

  Trevin groaned. Shit, this wasn’t happening. He’d promised Daisy he’d be there. He couldn’t just turn around and break it.

  LJ ushered them out of the vehicle and their bodyguards rushed them in through a back door.

  “Does anyone have a phone?” Trevin glanced at his bandmates.

  “No,” Ryder said. “Remember, LJ made us leave them in your room.”

  “Son of a bitch. I’m screwed.”

  “You’re not the only one who had plans tonight.” Ryder scowled.

  “Yeah, mate. Aimee expected me to video chat with her at eight. And apparently that’s not going to happen.” Miles stalked toward his changing room, his suit flung over his shoulder.

  “Why didn’t he tell us?”

  “Maybe he’s trying to make a point about us having girlfriends.” Ryder’s jaw clenched.

  Trevin frowned. Would Lester stoop to that level? Lately, anything seemed possible with that man. Damn it.

  “Lester, let me use your phone. I have to call Daisy.” Trevin cornered him.

  “No, I said no phones tonight. You’ll live one night without talking to that girl.
”

  “Look, you don’t understand, we had a date set up. If you won’t let me use your phone, will you call the hotel and leave a message for her?” If he didn’t, then Trevin was pretty much screwed.

  “Fine. You go get ready, and I’ll give her a call. Okay?”

  “Don’t forget.”

  “I’m on it right now.” LJ held up his phone.

  With a sigh, he went into a changing room to get his suit on for the show. He sure as hell hoped Daisy would forgive him. Even when he wasn’t with her, all he did was think about her. Maybe he’d fallen too hard, too fast. But he couldn’t exactly put the brakes on now. It was kind of like free-falling—and he loved the sensation.

  …

  Daisy paced the length of the room, her black dress swishing at her knees. The very same dress that Trevin had bought her. She’d spent an hour getting ready for tonight. She glanced in the mirror, trying to make sure her hair and makeup were still good. When she finished that, she sat back on the edge of her bed and checked her phone for the thousandth time. Where the hell was Trevin? It was already seven forty-five. He’d told her last night he’d be there at seven thirty. Maybe he’d fallen asleep after working in the recording studio all day? She could call his room. But when she dialed, it only rang. Maybe he’d stopped to get a bite to eat downstairs? Or perhaps he’d hopped in the shower and didn’t hear the phone.

  With a sigh, she stood back up and looked out the window to the pool below. She watched the evening sun glint off the clear water. It reminded her of summer and when her grandpa used to take her to the public pool in town. It was always packed with kids splashing and diving and jumping. You could pay a few bucks and swim all day.

  In a couple of days it’d be the anniversary of his death. She’d almost been able to forget the pain of losing him, thanks to Trevin and this new relationship. But now, sitting there alone, it gave her too much time to think.

  Damn. She checked her phone again. Her stomach sank, knots twisting so tight she thought she might puke. Don’t panic. He’ll be here. She reached for her bag, took out the tube of lip gloss, and applied more to her lips. Daisy definitely wanted to make sure she looked okay when he got there.

  After another hour, Daisy grabbed her purse and room key. Maybe Trevin meant that he’d meet her in the lobby? She might as well go check. When she got down there, she heard the fifties music drifting in from the ballroom. She wandered around, even going as far as peeking inside the ballroom. But Trevin was nowhere to be found.