Home Is Where You Are

by Melissa Grace

  “On one condition.” Ella poked her finger into his chest. “You have to make sure she gets home safe. I don’t care how famous or how cute you are, mister. You let anything happen to my best friend and the only song you’ll be singing is the death march. Understood?”

  “Understood.” He saluted her. “I vow to protect her with my life.”

  Ella narrowed her eyes, analyzing him for a moment. “You have my blessing, but it’s up to Liv.”

  He looked at me expectantly, his palms pressed together in a praying gesture in front of his chest. “What do you say?” I didn’t know what in the world Jaxon Slade wanted with me. A man like him belonged next to the Jessica Rabbits of the world, not a woman like me.

  “You should go, Aunt Liv.” Grace prodded me.

  “Thanks, Grace.” He put an arm around her. “Please?” I couldn’t help but laugh as he made Grace an accessory to his plan. They made sad puppy dog eyes in my direction. I glanced over at Ella who subtly motioned toward Jax with her eyes. I knew if I declined this invitation, I would never hear the end of it. I had to admit, I was curious too.

  “Fine,” I agreed. “I’ll go with you.”

  His eyes lit up, and he hugged Grace. “You did it, Grace! I owe you one.”

  “VIP at every show in Nashville from here on out.” She held her pinky finger out to him without missing a beat.

  “Deal.” He held out his pinky and linked it with hers. “But you guys have to bring Liv.”

  “Deal.” She moved to give me a hug. “Love you, Aunt Liv.”

  “I love you too.” I kissed her on the top of her head. “You little shit.”

  Ella reached out to embrace me too, giving Jax one last inspection with her eyes. “Is your phone charged?”

  “Yes, mom.” I snickered.

  “Call me if you need me.” Ella kissed my cheek. “I love you, babe. I’ll text you soon to check on you, and if this fool pulls any funny business—”

  “I’m not gon—” Jax started to defend himself, but Ella cut him off.

  “And if this fool pulls any funny business, I’m fully prepared to take his life.” She pointed two fingers at her eyes and then back at him to indicate that she was watching him. “I said what I said.” Cash chuckled from where he stood beside her, clearly as amused by this entire situation as I was.

  Jax held his hands up in surrender. “I promise.”

  With one last wave, Cash led Grace and Ella through the exit to the outside, and I was left standing face to face with Jax. He raised his brow, looking at me like a kid at Christmas.

  He stared at me thoughtfully for a moment, looking me over in a way that made me wonder what he was thinking. I was beginning to wonder if I’d made a horrible mistake when he offered his arm to me. “Are you ready?”

  Taking his arm, I felt every nerve in my body stand to attention. “Ready.”

  “I’ve got to grab my stuff and let the guys know I’m out of here.” He interrupted my thoughts as we reentered the dressing room we’d been in together only a couple of hours before. How was I standing here with Jaxon Slade about to embark on God knows what kind of adventure? Was this even real?

  “Liv!” I was brought back to reality as Dallas stood, wrapping his tattooed arms around me in a hug. Jax stepped over to the long counter against the wall and rummaged through one of the gym bags strewn out on the counter, finally landing on a wallet and a set of keys. I watched with probably far too much interest as he shrugged his muscular shoulders into a distressed denim jacket. “You’re still here. What did you guys think of the show?”

  “You guys were amazing,” I said. “Grace was over the moon.”

  “She’s a cool kid.” Dallas grinned, glancing sideways at Jax who had returned to my side and placed his hand on the small of my back. “You sure you want to go off with this fool tonight?”

  “Nope. Not when you put it like that.” I smiled nervously.

  “I’m messing with you.” He laughed. “Jax is my best friend. You’re in good hands.”

  “Liv’s here!” A ripped and shirtless Luca cheered as he entered the room. His alabaster skin and dark hair made his blue eyes appear as though they could pierce your soul. “Sorry, I’m all sweaty.” He leaned in to hug me, not seeming the least bit sorry.

  “You seem to have lost your shirt,” I joked, unsure where to put my hands. “I believe I saw some out there on the merch table. You want me to go grab you one?”

  “I like you, Liv,” he said with a low chuckle. “You’re a local, right? Where should I go tonight? Should I hit up Broadway?”

  “Not if you don’t want to get accosted by a bunch of drunk tourists singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ on a pedal tavern,” I said flatly.

  “Are there lots of pretty girls on these pedal taverns?” He winked at me, and I stifled a laugh.

  “Bachelorette parties full of them, all waiting to make bad decisions. You should probably find your shirt before you head out,” I quipped. “I hear they’re pretty strict with those no shirt, no shoes, no service policies in case you were planning on losing those too.” I gestured at his shoes.

  “I really like her.” Luca raised his brow in Jax’s direction. He began digging through one of the gym bags on the counter as Jax moved his arm to my shoulders, pulling me closer. It felt like a protective move, but I had no idea why.

  “Are you guys headed out?” Derek looked up from his phone as he entered the room. With his tan skin and messy blond hair, he looked like a California surfer boy. It was easy to see why Grace was so infatuated with him.

  “We are,” Jax said.

  “You sure you want to go off with this guy, Liv?” Luca smirked as he pulled a black My Chemical Romance T-shirt over his head. “All I’m saying is I think you’d have more fun with me and ‘Sweet Caroline’ on a pedal tavern.”

  “How can I possibly turn down a drunken ride on a mobile bar that smells like sweaty feet and cheap beer?” I ribbed at Jax. “Maybe I agreed to hang out with the wrong band member.”

  Dallas cackled. “I promise, you’re in good hands.”

  “Beware if he’s driving, though. Look out for any mailboxes that happen to run out in the middle of the road,” Derek teased. “Better yet, call an Uber.” He and Dallas snickered.

  My mouth twisted into a grin. “Oh?”

  “It was one time.” Jax laughed, his smile reaching the corners of his eyes. “You jerks will never let me live that down.”

  “After Jax got his first car, he was so excited to come over and show it off that he took out our mailbox as he drove by waving with that goofy-ass grin on his face.” Dallas was laughing so hard he could hardly choke out the words. “He uprooted the entire mailbox.”

  “It was on the Fourth of July, and our entire extended family was there in the front yard.” Derek howled. “We saw everything.”

  I smirked. “That pedal tavern is looking better and better.”

  “We should leave.” Jax shook his head, a sheepish smile on his face as Cash entered the room. “Before you guys make Liv regret agreeing to go anywhere with me.” My stomach began doing some sort of complicated gymnastics floor routine at the thought of being alone with Jax.

  “I had fun hanging with you guys tonight.” Cash grinned. “Grace is a sweetheart, and that Ella is a pistol.”

  “We had fun too.” I smiled. A pistol, huh? I made sure to add that to my mental notes for Ella tomorrow. “Do you guys get out to Nashville much?”

  “All the time,” Derek answered. “We love Nashville. We’re here for work a lot.”

  “Next time you guys are in town, you’ll have to stop by our bakery. Ella and I own Livvie Cakes Bakery and Cupcakery over in 12 South. We’ll load y’all up with cupcakes.”

  Dallas’s eyes were wide as he pulled his golden blonde hair back into a ponytail. “Liv, are you telling me you mak
e delicious desserts for a living? If you are, I take back everything I said. Don’t go with Jax. He’s the worst. Go with me instead.” He shot a joking glance at Jax, clearly trying to get a rise out of him. “And I’m a good driver.”

  “I’d love to come visit,” Cash said. “I’ll try to pop in before I head back to LA.”

  “Alright, guys.” Jax placed his hands on my shoulders. “We’re going to get out of here.”

  “I meant what I said about those cupcakes.” I waved to the guys, and Cash stepped forward to give me a hug. “It was great meeting y’all. Thanks for everything.”

  “See you guys later. I’ll be by for cupcakes soon,” Dallas called out as Jax steered me out of the room.

  “You need me?” The security guard that had gotten an earful earlier was propped outside the doorway.

  “I don’t think so, man. Where we’re going, we should be okay,” Jax said. Where exactly were we going? “By the way, Liv, this is Brady. He’s part of our security team. He’s usually with me.”

  “Nice to meet you, Liv.” He grinned at me, and my embarrassment from earlier came flooding back.

  “Likewise.” I could feel the heat radiating off my cheeks.

  “I’ll see you back at the hotel,” Jax called over his shoulder as he led me down the corridor toward the exit. He swung the door open, holding it for me. The cool night’s breeze helped melt away my embarrassment as I followed him down the sidewalk. A few feet beyond where their tour bus was parked, he stopped in front of a vehicle that could only be described as The Batmobile. “This is us.”

  “When you said you wanted to make my night, I had no clue we were going to be fighting crime in Gotham City.” My eyes widened. “I left my superhero cape at home.”

  His cheeks flushed as he looked down at the car that looked more like a movie prop than anything you could drive. “It’s a little much isn’t it?”

  “I’m more concerned that we won’t be able to fit in it at the same time.” I laughed.

  “I have this nerdy thing for exotic cars,” he admitted. “They’re way too impractical for me to ever own one, but sometimes when we have some time off, I like to rent one to see what it feels like.”

  “What do you feel like driving this one?”

  “A little like Batman to be honest.”

  “Well, let’s get this show on the road, Bruce Wayne. The good people of Gotham are counting on us.”

  He grinned at me as he clicked the key fob, causing the doors to scissor open. He gestured toward the passenger seat. “After you.” I got in, and he pushed the door, sliding it closed. I glanced around inside the car as he jogged over to the driver’s side.

  The inside was so foreign to me that it may as well have been a spaceship taking us to the freaking moon. For as weird as the night had been, that could have been exactly what was happening, and I wouldn’t have even been surprised.

  “So, where are we headed, Bruce? To the Batcave?” I raised my brow at him as he set the car in motion.

  “Not quite.” He laughed. “I want to take you to one of my favorite places in Nashville, but we have one pitstop to make first.” He easily maneuvered through downtown without the use of a GPS and navigated the spaceship to the interstate with ease.

  “I love that you have a favorite spot here in town. It better not be a pedal tavern though, or so help me I will jump from this Batmobile to escape.”

  “I promise it’s not a pedal tavern.” He laughed. “As Derek said, we come here a lot, especially these last three years. Our label is here, but our contract is up next year. We haven’t exactly been thrilled with the direction things are going, so we’re in the process of shopping around.”

  “Why haven’t you guys been happy?” I asked. “If that’s not too personal.”

  “Our label wants us to start using other writers’ songs.” He sighed heavily. “They’ve been sending us some stuff to listen to, and none of it’s exciting. None of it is us, you know? They’ve also been really pushing us to do collabs with some other artists whose style isn’t anything like ours. No shade, but that’s not something we want to do. Don’t get me wrong, if the right collaboration came along, we wouldn’t say no. But it needs to be organic and not forced to pump up sales.”

  “From what I could tell tonight, you guys are really talented in the songwriting department and every other department for that matter. Sounds like parting ways may be the right thing to do.”

  “This industry is weird.” He glanced over at me as he changed lanes. “I hope this doesn’t sound conceited, but we got to where we are because of our songs. Because of our writing and the way we click together. We put our souls into what we write, and that’s what got us to this point. Not because we did a collab and a high budget music video with some pop star. That probably sounds really cocky.”

  I sat thoughtfully for a moment. “I don’t think so. If anything, I think it says you guys are smart. You know what works, but more than that, you know what feels right for you, and you’re staying true to yourself. It’s refreshing, honestly.”

  “You think so?”

  “Yeah. I do.” I watched as the Nashville skyline disappeared from view in the side mirror. “What’s it like anyway? That level of fame... is it weird?”

  “Honestly? It’s weird as hell.” His thumb smoothed over the steering wheel, and he seemed lost in thought for a moment. “I’d give anything if I could go on stage and not have to worry that someone may try to follow me home or back to my hotel. To be able to exist without having to be Jaxon Slade, frontman of Midnight in Dallas. Most of the time, I want a quiet, simple life, you know?”

  “And a Batmobile, obviously.”

  “Obviously.” He laughed, taking my teasing in stride.

  “I can’t imagine what that’s like.” Back when I played the honky-tonk bars on Broadway, I could walk off stage and go back to my regular life. They’d probably forgotten my name by the time the next band started up if they even remembered it at all.

  “I don’t mean that to sound ungrateful,” he added quickly as he exited the interstate. “I know we wouldn’t be where we are without our fans, and I love them. I do. I love hearing how our music was there for them during a difficult time in their lives or what their favorite song means to them. It’s the other stuff that goes along with it that’s challenging.”

  “I don’t think that makes you ungrateful.” I shook my head. “I think you can be grateful for your success without being in love with every aspect of it.” I paused a moment and glanced over at him. “So these meet and greets, where do those fall on the love it or leave it spectrum?”

  “Sometimes they can be draining. But tonight… tonight, I loved it.” He smiled over at me as we cruised down a road I was only vaguely familiar with. “We’re almost at our pitstop.” I began looking around for any clue as to what this pitstop might be. I saw several car lots, a bank, and a thrift store. The street was lined with businesses, but none that would be open at this hour.

  That’s when I saw it.

  The pink neon lights blinked in invitation to Lion’s Den Adult Entertainment Store.

  Surely not, right? I hadn’t given any indication I would be down for a trip to the Lion’s Den, had I? This guy was hot, but I was definitely not ready for him to see my Batcave. He began to slow the car as we got closer to the neon pink beacon in the night.

  Shit. Shit. Shit. My palms started sweating, and my heart thudded so hard I could feel it in my ears. The one time I forgot to put my mace in my purse, I managed to find myself in the Batmobile with a rockstar going to the fucking Lion’s Den to tame my hostile kitty. Shit.

  “Um, Jax... I think maybe you got the wrong idea here,” I squeaked out as the car’s speed slowed more, the entrance to the Lion’s Den only a few yards away. “I know you said you wanted to make my night, but I hope I didn’t make you think I would be int
erested in…” I trailed off as we passed by the pink neon lights, and he turned right into the Krispy Kreme parking lot. The donut shop sat far back enough that I couldn’t see it until that moment, and conveniently enough, the light on their road sign was out.

  “Wait, what?” Jax looked over at me, confused. “I thought everyone liked donuts.”

  Chapter 4

  Jax

  “Oh shit.” I brought the car to a stop in the parking lot. “Are you gluten-free?” After she’d mentioned her bakery earlier, I thought for sure she’d be down for some donuts, and these were my favorite. Every time I was in a city with a Krispy Kreme, I had to have them. “Or on a low carb thing or…”

  “No, it’s not that.” She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking with laughter. “I love donuts, but I thought—” A fit of giggles ripped through her, and it was so damn cute. I found myself laughing along with her, even though I had no clue what the joke was. She removed her hands, and even in the dim lighting of the parking lot, I could see that her face had turned pink. Her eyes glistened with tears as she tried unsuccessfully to stop laughing. “I didn’t think this was where we were going,” she choked out. “I kind of freaked out for a minute there. Whew. Crisis averted.”

  I chuckled, still completely confused, as I watched her entire body vibrate with laughter.

  That’s when I saw it. Pink neon lights glittered in my rearview mirror advertising the Lion’s Den Adult Entertainment Store.

  Oh. My. God. “Wait. You thought I was taking you to the sex shop?” Warmth rose to my cheeks, and I roared with laughter.

  She nodded and pressed her lips together, unable to meet my gaze. Slowly she turned to look at me and nodded, causing us both to dissolve once again.

  “It’s because I heard that ‘hostile kitty’ comment, huh?” I raised my brow at her.