Play Nice Read online

  Jacks threw down his controller. “What?! No way. We keep the schedule and Dagger can sleep with whoever sleeps in the bedroom.” He leaned back against the dog and rubbed his ears.

  Lexi held up her hands. “I don’t need special treatment. I don’t mind doing the rotation schedule for the bed. HOWEVER, you must always change the sheets. ALWAYS. And Dags sleeps in there with you, he doesn’t like to be alone.”

  Smith took the pencil out of his mouth. “Fine by me, besides, the only reason Dash wants Lexi to get the bedroom is because she’ll let him bunk in there with her.”

  Luke shot up from the couch and turned to glare at me. “What the fuck does that mean?”

  Aw hell, I guess he didn’t know we shared a bed last night. “Lexi and I bunked together last night. It’s not a big deal, nothing happened.”

  Jacks chuckled, “Looked pretty hot and heavy when I walked in.”

  I was about to reach across the room and sucker punch him when Lexi threw her water bottle at his head. “Can it, Jacks. Nobody asked you.” Ha, this girl had spunk. She barely knew these guys and she was already treating them like the brothers she never wanted.

  I turned my attention back to Luke. He was still towering over me, his face red. He looked pissed. “Dash, can I please speak to you? Privately.”

  I’m not sure how he got those words out when his teeth were clenched together so damn tight. Lexi reached out and grabbed his hand. “Lukey, I love you for caring, but this really isn’t any of your business.”

  Luke straight up ignored her. His eyes never wavered from mine. I glared right back. “Sure, we can talk. Step into my new bedroom.” It was a low blow, I know. But he had ignored Lexi and he was starting to irritate me a little. Luke followed me down the hall and into the back bedroom. It was dark in there, and cool from the door being shut and the AC blowing. It was like a little cave. I wanted to bring Lex in here and get hot under the covers. I leaned against the wall, arms crossed, face impassive waiting for Luke to say his piece.

  He ran his fingers through his hair and down his face. “What are you doing Dash? Lexi is important to me, man.”

  “She’s important to me too.” I was shocked at the words that just spilled from my mouth, shocked at how true they were.

  Luke rolled his eyes. “Yeah right. To you all girls are all the same. They are all toys, all disposable. Lexi isn’t a groupie. She isn’t a whore. You can’t toss her out when you’re done. Wait. Is that why you wanted to hire her? So you could have on-premise pussy? I’ll fucking kill you.”

  I held my hands up. “Hold the fuck up, dude. First of all, I hired Lex because she is fantastic at what she does.” It wasn’t lost on me that fantastic was the word I used to describe her hand job skills this morning. “Second of all, I like her, okay? I like her. And nothing happened last night. I want to spend time with her. I want to know her. I won’t hurt her, Luke. Do you two…do y’all have a history? Is that what this is about?”

  Luke sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “You really like her? You aren’t just using her?”

  I put my right hand over my heart and raised my left. “I swear, Luke. I’m not using her.” I dropped both my hands to my sides. “Are you going to answer my question now? Is there something going on between you two?”

  Luke stared at me for a while before dropping his gaze to his shoes. “No. There isn’t anything between us. We’re friends, family. I’d die for her though. Make no mistake, man, she means the fucking world to me.” He walked out and left me staring after him.

  I knew I should go back out and hang with the crew. I knew that it would be wrong to rub the situation in Luke’s face when he was obviously upset. But a nap with Lexi was way too tempting. We hadn’t been alone together in hours and I just wanted to kiss her so damn bad. I sat down on the bed and called out, “Dagger, come.” A few seconds later I heard his massive paws thumping down the hall. He appeared in the doorway and just like I had hoped, Lexi was standing behind him.

  “Did you need Dags for something?” She smirked. She knew what I was doing.

  “I needed him to bring me you. Come take a nap with me.” She looked over her shoulder at me. She bit her lower lip. She was torn. But in the end she shut and locked the door and climbed in bed next to me. Dagger put one foot on the mattress. “Oh no, sir. You sleep on the floor. Down.” I snapped and pointed at the ground. He huffed but lay down all the same. I reached down and patted his side, “Good boy, Dags.” I lay back and turned to face Lexi.

  “Is everything okay? Between you and Luke?” She reached out and ran her finger over my eyebrow. Odd, but soothing.

  “Everything is fine. He was just worried about your virtue.”

  At that she laughed. “Virtue? He should have worried about that long ago. I doubt I have any left at this point.”

  I scowled. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, Kitten. I’m going to pretend that you have loads of virtue left and that you have just been saving it all this time for me.”

  She giggled, “Go ahead and pretend all you want babe. It’s not like you have any room to talk.” I cupped her face in my palms, rubbing my thumb along her lower lip. “What are we doing, Dash?”

  I gave her that crooked grin I knew she liked. “I don’t know about you but I was thinking about stealing third base.” She laughed. I loved making her laugh. I’d never loved making a girl laugh before. I never even put in the effort to be funny. Hell, I rarely put in the effort to learn their names.

  “We work together now. I’m on this bus for the next eight weeks straight before we get a break. I just don’t—”

  I put my hand over her mouth. Any sentence that started with “I just don’t” couldn’t be good. Unless it ended with “think you should ever stop touching me.” “Here’s how I look at it, Kitten—we can either spend the next eight weeks skating around each other, trying to ignore this crazy attraction between us or we can have some fun. I can make you laugh all day and moan all night. I like you. I want you. I choose option two.”

  Lexi was quiet for so long I started to panic. I didn’t know what I’d do if she turned me down. I had to have her, as often as fucking possible. Finally she spoke. “If we are going to do this, there can’t be anyone else.”

  My thoughts immediately went to Luke. I closed my eyes so she wouldn’t see my anger. “I won’t share you, Lexi.”

  She snorted, “I meant you, you male slut. No more groupies being sneaked onto the bus. No more whores lined up outside your dressing room.”

  “Of course not. Just you and me.” She leaned into me, touching my lips with a feather light kiss. Then she ran her tongue along my lower lip. “Is that a ‘yes Dash, I’d love to spend the next eight weeks underneath your hot body’?”

  She shook her head as she giggled. “That was a yes, Dash, I’d love to make you my sex slave for the next eight weeks.”

  “I’ll take it.” I grabbed the back of her head and fused her mouth to mine. I needed to taste her. I needed to invade every inch of her. She moaned. I almost came in my pants. “Kitten, those sweet sounds you make are going to be the death of me.” I felt her smile against my mouth. I rolled over on top of her, placing my dick right at her core, grinding against her slowly. She gasped. I groaned. “I want you so fucking much.”

  “I’m right here, Dash. Take me.” She arched her neck, giving me better access.

  I could feel her frantic pulse with my lips. “Believe me, baby, I will.” I pulled her earlobe between my teeth and ran my hand down the side of her body, grazing her perfect breast. “But when I take you, an hour won’t be nearly long enough. I want all night to touch you, to make you moan. And we’ll be in Houston soon. So how about you let me spoon you while I take a nap?”

  Chapter Ten

  Lexi

  I woke up to a banging on the door. “Lex! Dash! We’re here. Get dressed.” Smith could be an asshole. I rolled over to see Dash giving me a sleepy smile. “Time to go to work, rock star.”
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  He lifted his wrist and checked the time. “Yes, sadly, it’s time for me to go to work. The guys and I usually shower in our dressing room. There is just more space and more hot water. You and Amy get dressed here and then come meet us. I’ll get one of the security guys to come and walk you over.” He rolled out of bed and tripped over Dagger. Catching himself on the wall he cursed, “Damn. That dog takes up the whole room.”

  I reached over the side of the bed, petting Dagger. “Yeah, he isn’t very compact. You should see his crate. It’s massive. I don’t even know if there will be room on the bus for it. I might have to leave him in the bathroom and hope for the best.” The best being that he wouldn’t eat the whole door trying to get out.

  Dash leaned over Dags and stuck his tongue down my throat. I raised my eyebrows in question when he pulled back. “Just a little something for the road.” He winked. “Bring Dags with you. We’ll find him some doggie headphones so the show doesn’t hurt his ears.”

  “Really? Are we allowed to do that?”

  Dash threw his head back and laughed, “Kitten we are headlining a sold-out tour, there isn’t much we aren’t allowed to do.”

  “Spoiled little rock star.” I rolled my eyes and threw the covers off. I was a little hot after that kiss.

  Dash paused with his hand on the door and spun around slowly. “Little rock star? We both know that there is nothing little about me, Kitten.” I threw a pillow at him as he walked out laughing. He was right though; I’d learned that this morning.

  ***

  About an hour later, after both Amy and I had showered and gotten dressed, that guy Chase came and got us. Now we were all sitting in the guys’ dressing room waiting for them to take the stage. Dash had come through with some badass looking headphones for Dagger; they had a skull and cross bones on each side.

  Dash and I were sitting on barstools—the band requested a bar in every dressing room apparently—with our legs intertwined. He was rubbing his hands up and down my leather leggings, coming very close to my ass every time. “Let’s take a shot.” He stood and went around the bar, reaching for a short green bottle.

  “NO. No Jäger! Please don’t even open the bottle. If I smell it, I’ll puke. Anything but Jäger.”

  Dash slowly drew his hand away from the Jäger and reached for the Fireball. “Okkkkay, what’s the deal with Jäger?” He got out 6 shot glasses and lined them up.

  “Bad river trip in college, took one too many pulls off the Jäger bottle and threw up for hours. Pretty sure I had alcohol poisoning.” I reached for one of the glasses. “Now whiskey, whiskey I can do just fine.”

  Dash came around the bar, put his hand on my hip and his mouth on mine before turning to the rest of the room. “Come on, let’s take a shot. We need to celebrate.” He waited until everyone had gathered around and had a glass in hand. “Here’s to finally meeting Luke’s two favorite girls. Here’s to hiring a badass photographer, and here’s to our new band mascot.” He gestured to Dagger with his glass before slamming it back. Everyone else followed suit. The yellow light by the door turned green. Dash grabbed my hand and snapped his fingers at Dagger, pointing to his side. “Dags, come.” My normally disobedient dog dutifully stood and walked over to us.

  Luke threw his hands in the air. “This is bullshit.” He got down eye level with Dagger. “I’ve known you since the day your mom brought you home. I’ve fed you, played with you, cleaned up your destructive messes…and you never listen to me. This guy?” He gestured to Dash with his thumb. “He’s doing dirty things to your mom behind our backs. Yet you listen to him? I’m at a loss, Dagger, really I am.”

  I laughed and ruffled Luke’s hair. “Don’t take it personally, Lukey. He loves you.” I waited until he stood and then made sure I looked him in the eye. “We both do.” He gave me a nod and a small smile before pulling me in and kissing my forehead. Dash’s hand tightened on mine, but he didn’t say anything as we all walked out of the room. I knew Luke wasn’t pumped about whatever was happening between Dash and I, but I needed Luke to know that no matter what, I loved him.

  When we got to the stage Dash placed Dags earphones on his head. “Leave it, Dagger.” Dagger huffed, but sat down. He put his finger under my chin and gave me a long lazy kiss. “Enjoy the show, spend some time with Amy, because as soon as I walk off the stage we’re going to bed.” I slapped his ass as he left.

  The crowd went wild when the guys walked to their spots. Cameras were going off; people were screaming; a few girls were crying. I snapped a couple pictures of the tear-soaked girls. Amy came and stood next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. “Can you believe that’s Lukey out there? I still can’t wrap my head around it.”

  I nodded. “I know. It’s so surreal.” Every part of the last two days was surreal. I was going on tour with a hella famous rock group. I was hired to take pictures for their next album. My pictures were going to be seen by millions of people. And the craziest part about it? I was semi-dating Dash Conner. “I’m going to miss you these next few weeks.”

  Amy laughed and gestured towards the stage. “Are you kidding me? Between partying with the rich and famous, working, and banging Dash…when exactly will you even have time to miss me?”

  I stuck out my lower lip, making a sad face. “Times like right now. When I can feel the groupies shooting daggers at my back. When the boys are all busy working and I’m just standing off to the side with my camera and my dog.” I reached down and patted Dags who was still wearing his headphones, just like Dash had told him to.

  I looked back at the stage in time to see Dash wink at me. Not gonna lie, a hot guy winking at me in front of a thousand screaming fans, made me swoon a little. “So, I met this girl.” He waited for the audience’s cheers to die down. “She likes Van Morrison and I like her. So tonight we are going to do a little cover song if y’all don’t mind.” He smiled out at the crowd when they all applauded.

  If I thought I was swooning before, it was nothing compared to how it felt hearing The Devil’s Share doing a rocking cover of “He Ain’t Give You None” for me. If I had any doubts about following through with our little arrangement, they flew out the window.

  The rest of the show flew by, probably because I was starting to feel anxious about what was going to happen after. The whiskey and coke I’d been drinking was helping. Amy’s flight left really early, so early that I would be telling her good-bye tonight. Luke and she had decided to get a hotel room close to the airport and spend all night watching movies and hanging out. I didn’t know if that had been Amy’s idea or Luke’s. Either way, I wouldn’t have to worry about pissing anyone off when I jumped into bed with Dash. I heard Smith yell, “Thank you, good night!” and my heart skipped a beat.

  Chapter Eleven

  Dash

  The stage lights went down and I made a beeline for Lexi. No part of me was joking when I told her that I was walking off this stage and straight into her pants. I’d waited two days. I’d wooed her, spooned her, taken care of her dog and professed my “like” for her in front of a thousand people. That should prove to both her and Luke that I was into her.

  When I got to her she was hugging Amy bye. “Ugh, I’m going to miss you.”

  “Me too, Lex. Have fun and take care of Lukey for me?”

  I grabbed Lexi’s hand. She hugged Amy one more time. “Of course I will. Have a safe flight.”

  I quickly hugged Amy and reminded Luke the bus pulled out at eight a.m. tomorrow. Amy’s flight left at seven, so he should make it back in plenty of time. I pulled Lex to my side. I had Chase, my favorite security guy, walk in front of us to deflect the groupies. It was almost comical that his job with the groupies had changed overnight. Chase knew how to pick ’em. He could always tell the ones with fake IDs, and for some reason he was good at recognizing crazy when he saw it. “Did you like the show?”

  She hugged me tighter. “Are you kidding me? I loved the show. Thanks for the song by the way.” I took Dags leash from her
hand. He seemed to pull her a little, but when I took him he fell into step. Maybe I was the dog whisperer. “So where next?”

  “Starkville, Mississippi.” I felt Lexi tense underneath me. “Playing at the stadium after a football game. It’s more of a charity gig. Our manager went to Mississippi State. It’s a really pretty drive from what I hear.” She didn’t say anything. “What? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. It is a pretty drive, I’ve actually made it before.” She was biting her lip, trying not to react.

  “If this has something to do with a piece of your missing virtue, I don’t even want to know.” That was the truth. I couldn’t handle the thought of Lexi and another guy. It made want to punch someone. And I had never considered myself a jealous person. “Well?”

  “What? You said you didn’t want to know.” She had let go of her lip and was full on smiling.

  “You’re right, I don’t.” I did. Sort of. It was one of those “you do but you don’t” situations where what is in your head is hopefully worse than the reality. Luckily, we reached the bus and all conflicted thoughts left my mind as the majority of my blood headed south. I opened the door, ushering her and Dags inside. I locked the door behind me—all the guys had a key. When Lexi went to head to the kitchen I grabbed her hand and started to pull her down the hallway. “Nope. No detours.”