When the baby kicked again Lana let out a soft groan and switched positions. “I think she is going to be a ninja,” she grumbled.
I grinned. “Probably,” I agreed, brushing my lips over her slightly damp hair. “We can put her in karate or something. That way I don’t have to worry about all those fucking boys messing with my baby girl.”
She snorted. “Yeah right. Drake Stevenson is going to be the scariest daddy on the block. Boys are going to pee their pants when they meet you for the first time.” Her dark head lifted from my chest and I was rewarded with the sight of that beautiful smile of hers. “I’ll record it and we can have our own personal scary movie.”
I tapped her on the hip with my hand, making a slight smacking sound but nothing that would hurt her. She giggled and my dick twitched. That pretty sound never failed to make me hard as a rock. “Be good, woman,” I commanded, pulling her head back down onto my chest. As much as I wanted to carry her off to bed and sink as deep as possible into her tight little body, we were on babysitting duty tonight.
Emmie and Nik hadn’t gone out, but they had still asked if I would listen for Mia in case she woke up. I was worried about Em. I hadn’t seen her so sick in years and I wanted her to have a good night’s rest.
Lana relaxed against me once again, turning her attention back to the crappy movie we had rented. I stroked my fingers through her long, dark hair enjoying the silky strands against my rougher flesh…
I was half asleep when I felt my phone vibrating from my front jeans pocket. I pulled it out and glanced down at the screen with a frown. It was a text message from the producer’s assistant for America’s Rocker.
Meeting Wednesday morning @ 10:30 Please attempt to be on time.
I sighed. Lana and I were leaving to go back to New York on Tuesday and I wasn’t expected to be back at work until Thursday at the earliest and Friday at the latest since that was the next live show. We had been on a two-week hiatus because there were only five contestants left and the producers were doing makeovers and who knew what other shit they usually do.
I had wanted to spend a few days alone with Lana before I had to go back to work. Her next appointment was at 1:30 on Wednesday and I always went with her. The fucking meeting had better not take longer than an hour, I texted back and didn’t get a reply.
“Who was that?” Lana asked, sounding sleepy.
“Bridget or Brandie or Betsy. Whatever the hell her name is,” I muttered, tossing my phone on the coffee table.
I felt her stiffen and she raised her head to glare down at me. “Bethany?”
The name clicked in my brain and I nodded. “Yeah. That’s her.”
“I hate that bitch! That skank hates me too. I seriously can’t stand her. She’s always drooling all over you. What the fuck did she want?”
Her vehemence made me blink. Angel had never said anything—never even hinted—that she didn’t like the executive producer’s assistant that I had to work with. She had never been the jealous type. Not even after the nightmare of our breakup and the disaster of my one-time drunken slipup. She loved me, trusted me. I was disturbed by her reaction to a girl I could barely even remember even after seeing on a daily basis. “There’s a meeting on Wednesday morning. I have to be at the studio by ten-thirty. I promise I’ll be back in time to take you to the doctor.”
“How about I just go with you and then we can have lunch with Dad before we go?”
I shrugged. Having lunch with the man who was my father-in-law wasn’t something I enjoyed, but if that was what my angel wanted to do then I was all for it. Cole and Lana were working hard on their father/daughter relationship and I wanted to help her any way I could. Since Cole had found out we were having a baby, and a daughter in particular, he had started trying even harder. The reality of becoming a grandfather was making that old man grow up fast.
“Anything you want, Angel.”
The anger seemed to fade from her whisky eyes. “Anything I want?” she murmured, her eyelashes lowering to hide those eyes that I never failed to get drunk in. She was my addiction now. My only addiction.
My body hardened and my heart started galloping. “I promised Nik…” I started.
Lana reached for the baby monitor on the coffee table, waving it at me. “I need you, Drake.” She lowered her head and brushed her lips over my ear, her teeth sinking into my lobe. “Please, babe? I need you deep inside of me. Making me wet. Making me beg. My nails scratching down that big back. That dick stroking every inch of my pussy…”
“Fuck, Angel,” I growled, standing with her in my arms in one smooth movement. “You’re going to kill me.”
Chapter 4
Shane
Hearing my girl scream in fright was a mixture of heaven and hell for me. I knew that nothing around us was real, that there was nothing in the park that could or would hurt her. I knew just as well that she was having the time of her life. But the man in me, the part of me that was conditioned to protect her from everything in life, was on edge. Ready to destroy the man in the mask who was causing the screams coming from Harper’s fuck-me lips.
“Dude!” Linc yelped as we went around the next corner in the Resident Evil 2—the game, not the movie—haunted house. Sorry, no Alice here, people. “Fucking yeah!”
I snickered at how high he jumped as one of the zombies lunged at him before turning in the other direction to startle the group a few feet behind us. For all his muscles, brawn, and all around bad-ass attitude, Linc was terrified of the fantasy world of Resident Evil. The Lickers were the worst for him and I watched as he grabbed my sister’s hand and seemed to cling to it as they walked ahead of us through the maze.
Behind me walked Harper holding hands with Dallas, while Axton brought up the rear. I wanted to take the lead in front of Harper to have a little peace of mind of what she was walking into, but it wasn’t working. I was sure that Axton was only straggling behind so he could check out Dallas’s ass. I didn’t care if I was right or not. Having my friend in the rear gave me a fraction more comfort, because I knew that he would protect not only Dallas but Harper from any hidden danger.
When we were finally out of the first haunted house/maze for the night, I sucked in a relieved breath. We had walked through every house the last two nights, just as we were going to do tonight, but it was a different experience each time. And tonight was made even more special for Harper because she had Dallas to explore them with.
After the first night I had wondered what I was thinking, setting this up for three fucking nights in a row. Between the stress of Harper’s screams—delightfully frightened—and the gore, I was going on nerves alone tonight. But I knew why I had done this. It was the reason I did anything now.
She was now walking arm in arm with her best friend toward a vender to get a beer. The melodic sound of her giggles made something curl inside of my heart that was both comforting and painful. I stopped walking and just watched the woman who owned me heart and soul. So beautiful, so perfect. So…mine.
Axton’s hand pounded me on the back before squeezing my shoulder. “This has got to be the most fucked up bachelor party I’ve ever been to with you, man. But I have to say I’m having a blast.”
I grinned. “Could it be the sudden change in scenery that makes it so fun?” I asked, nodding my head in Dallas’s direction.
“Fuck yeah.” His gaze went back to the girls, now carrying two light-up glasses of beer each.
“Here, babe.” Harper handed me one of her extra glasses.
“Thanks, beautiful,” I murmured, dropping a kiss on her lips before taking a sip of the offered beer.
“Do I get a beer?” Axton asked Dallas who was still holding onto her second glass.
Dallas raised a brow. “Depends. You want to drink it or wear it?”
“Drinking sounds like the better option.” He stepped back, however, when she took a step forward. We all knew that she was more likely to pour it over his head than let him drink one drop.
> “Dallas, please play nice,” Harper scolded, taking the beer from her friend and handing it over to Ax. “It’s too early for Axton to smell like draft. Maybe later.”
Natalie and Linc finished getting their own beers and joined us. Jesse was supposed to join us later, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath that he actually made it. If I had Layla to snuggle up to back at the hotel I would have a hard time leaving too. I hated that Drake wasn’t able to join us though, but knew that between the temptation to drink and being without Lana he would have been miserable out here with us.
“What house should we go to next?” Natalie asked, taking a big gulp from her beer mug. I was still getting used to her drinking. When she had turned twenty-one a few months ago Drake and I had both started freaking because she was going to the clubs with Linc more and more. If she had been going out with anyone else we probably would have stepped in and done something, but we knew she was safe with Linc. He wasn’t going to touch her like that, and we knew he would keep anyone else from sniffing around too.
Up until she had moved to New York after the crazy stunt that my baby sister, Jenna, had pulled and my stepmother had nearly had me arrested, neither Drake nor I had ever had any brotherly/sisterly affection for Natalie. Then she moved in with Linc and Dallas and started working for Emmie. The three of us had gotten to know each other, and all those overprotective instincts that we still had for Em transferred over to our sister. It felt like we had always been a part of each other’s lives.
“The American Werewolf in Paris is just down that street.” Harper pointed to the right and I swallowed my groan. It wasn’t particularly scary, but there was one part of the maze that had a man with his insides popping out from being attacked by a werewolf.
“Sounds good to me.” Linc pulled out his Front of Line Pass that would get us into the shorter line. Without our FLPs, we would have spent hours waiting in line to walk through a house/maze that only took less than five minutes to experience.
I wrapped my arm around Harper’s waist and we fell into step behind Linc and Natalie as we headed for the next haunted house/maze. “Having a good time, beautiful?” I asked.
“This is perfect, Shane.” She leaned her head against my shoulder as we walked. “Thanks for doing this for me.”
My fingers tightened on her side. “Anything for you, beautiful.” I kissed her and swallowed the rest of my beer before tossing the plastic cup in the next trashcan.
We walked by at least a thousand people waiting in line as we headed to the front of the Front of Line Pass line. It was dark outside and no one really paid us any attention so I wasn’t worried that someone might recognize me or Axton. I wasn’t worried if they did recognize us. It was Harper I stressed about my fans spotting.
The day our engagement was announced she started getting death threats. A mob of girls stood outside of the Rock America headquarters in LA waiting for her for an entire month. When Harper wasn’t with me, she had a bodyguard that went with her everywhere. Especially to work.
Dallas and Axton walked ahead of us through American Werewolf in Paris and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud as Dallas went up to the man in the werewolf suit when he popped his head out of a window. She scratched the top of his head and cooed up at the scary-looking beast. “Ah, poor Jacob. Where’s Bella, boy? Where’s Bella?”
An attendant stepped out of a dark corner. “Miss, no touching.”
Dallas sighed. “Okay. I gotta go now, Jacob.”
When she started to touch the masked man again, Axton grabbed her elbow and tugged her forward. “Let’s go, babe.”
“Bye, Jacob!” she called over her shoulder.
“Oh Gods, Dallas!” Harper was laughing so hard she had tears pouring down her face. “I can’t take you anywhere.”
Jesse found us before we made it to the third house of the night and we stopped for a bag of popcorn and a few more beers. There were seven houses total and the night was still pretty young. All right, I’ll admit it. I was taking my time because I knew the next house was Cabin in the Woods and I knew that there was some fucked up shit in there.
Like the clown room where one of the clowns was lying on the floor in a bloody mess of gore. Yeah, I was going to close my eyes as we walked through that room of the house/maze.
Axton
The first time I laid eyes on her I knew I wanted her. The first time I kissed her I knew she was mine.
It fucked with my head so bad, that I knew that it was what Nik, Jesse, and even fucking Drake had felt when they found the one. So of course I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have. And of course I fucked it up like I tend to fuck up everything that seems to make me happy.
I hadn’t really realized how much I had fucked up until the end. When she offered me that sad but completely bitchy smile and told me it was nice knowing me, but sharing wasn’t her thing. If I had been smart I would have told her the truth then and there. If I hadn’t still been pretending to be the badass rock star that was the face I let the world see, I would have run after her.
Instead I did neither and ended up in limbo for the last two years.
She was right in front of me now, and I was determined to spend the weekend getting her back.
“Damn, it feels good to unwind.” Dallas sighed as we all sat on a bench drinking yet another beer.
Thank all those fucking Gods that Em lived by for beer. Universal Studios was party central. Haunted houses, freaky-as-fuck rides, and plenty of beer. When Shane had first told me this was his idea of a bachelor party I had scoffed at the whole thing. But now I was seeing exactly how brilliant it really was.
I swallowed the last of my beer and tossed it in the trashcan beside me before turning toward the hottest chick I had ever laid eyes on so I could do the one thing I had been aching to do since I had set eyes on her earlier that day. Touch her.
I had been walking around with a semi-hard dick all night and as soon as I touched her bare back, I became rock hard. Being in the rock business for as long as I had, fucking a different chick every night, I could honestly admit to never reacting so strongly like that to another girl in my life.
Dallas stiffened at the first brush of my fingers. She started to turn toward me but I put just enough pressure to elicit a moan from her as I started massaging her shoulders. Her head fell forward. “Please don’t stop,” she begged in that Texas accent that went straight to my dick, making it pulse.
Her muscles were all knotted up and I dug my fingers just a little deeper. She moaned again as I rubbed away the tension in her neck. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail, exposing the long gracefulness of her neck and making my mouth ache to taste her skin there.
I traced my thumb over her latest tattoo. A symbol for nurse with R on one side and N on the other. I wanted to tell her how proud I was, how much fulfilling her dreams of becoming a nurse made me want her even more than I once had. Now the world knew what I had known—that Dallas was brilliant as well as breathtakingly gorgeous.
“Let’s get the next house over with,” Natalie suggested, and I wanted to tell her to fuck off. I could have gladly sat on that bench rubbing Dallas’s shoulders all night. “I hate that stupid maze.”
Shane was already pulling Harper to her feet from where she was sitting on the other side of Dallas. When Harper turned to tug Dallas up, my girl let out a whine. “But… But… I was halfway to heaven,” she grumbled.
“A few more minutes and you would have been sleeping on the bench,” Linc told her as he tossed an arm causally over Natalie’s shoulders.
Muttering a curse, I fell in behind everyone else, keeping my eyes glued to Dallas’s back as we walked toward the next haunted house.
Jesse bumped his shoulder against mine. “When d’you got to get back to New York?”
I shrugged. “My plane leaves Tuesday, but I might leave sooner than that.” Like on the same plane as Dallas when she goes back Monday morning. Or later, if I could talk her into checking out my apartmen
t in LA. Yeah, I liked that idea a lot better than having to get up piss-ass early the day after Shane’s wedding.
“I freaking hate that you and Drake are on the East Coast for Christmas. No one gets to travel this year.” He grimaced. “Layla says it is okay, but I know that she’s going to be upset Christmas morning.”
I didn’t have to spend Christmas in New York. Normally I spent it at Emmie and Nik’s house, sleeping over and opening presents with everyone else when the others arrived. Or if they all went to New York we all went to Drake and Lana’s apartment for Christmas dinner and presents. The first year I spent with them had been the first year I had really enjoyed Christmas in my entire life. Gods knew that I hadn’t enjoyed it as a kid. My parents hadn’t let me enjoy it like I was sure all the other kids got to enjoy the holiday. Waking up, excited to open presents…
I shook my head, dispelling the troubling memories of my parents. They didn’t cross my mind often, but lately they had been there more and more. Ever since they sent that fucking letter.
“It was cool of you to tell Drake you were going to stay in New York with him and Lana and the baby. Thanks, man.” Jesse lifted his hand and we bumped fists.
“We’re family, man.” They were all the family I had—all that I wanted. I was closer to the Demons than I was my own band. I loved Liam, Wroth, Zander, and Devlin. But I was the outcast with them. We had all grown up in roughly the same community, but I had been the preppy with the rich, butter-won’t-melt-in-my-mouth family while they had been middle class or lower. If their lead singer for their band hadn’t broken his leg in a water skiing accident, I never would have been a part of OtherWorld.
We stepped into the Front of Line Pass line and Shane turned to us. “If I throw up, don’t let Harper see.”
Jesse and I both snickered. “Yeah, man. We’ll cover your ass.”