Damn shutterbugs always invading her space. She wanted out of this life, and here she stood deeper in the headline-abyss thanks to their almost kiss and Tab’s need to exploit the drama. She had to give Heath’s persuasive techniques their due too because he’d easily convinced her to participate in the charade.
Using her fingertips, she rubbed her forehead where a stress headache throbbed at her temples. Her attraction to Heath triggered this Catch-22. What about him caused her to see him differently than the rest of the band? Yeah, they weren’t blood related so the family thing wasn’t a viable concern. She’d known him since she was nine, and they’d suffered similar sibling rivalry and spats just like she had with Jase. She’d done stupid sisterly shit to him as well. Pulling his hair, knuckle punching his arm, and calling him childish names had been at the top of her list. She and immaturity had been rag-tag BFFs for a long time.
Even her best friend, Nessa, had gotten in on the tyranny a time or two. Tears stung her eyes at the thought of her pal. She missed Nessa and hadn’t seen her in over two years. College kept her friend busy, while Sam goofed off and rebelled at her unsatisfactory life. Texting and phone calls were inadequate. Often she felt as if Nessa had her future mapped out, while Sam was stuck in the same dead-end navigation. Breaking out of bad habits compared to a junkie’s inability to detox without assistance.
With a sigh, she racked the billiard balls. She didn’t resent Nessa’s goals, but was happy for her. It wasn’t Nessa’s fault Sam was miserable. The only person who could change her circumstances was herself, but displeasing Jase was her biggest worry.
Like my criminal behavior pleases him.
Confessing all to Nessa might relieve her tension, but she wasn’t ready to admit the truth of her emotions for Heath to anyone.
Being Heath’s fake-girlfriend held an expiration date. Their affair couldn’t continue indefinitely. If by some miracle their romance endured until the end of the tour, she’d have to break up with him then. Fans adored Heath, so the consequences should be minimal for him, and she could tolerate anything the news-hounds threw at her.
Sam chalked her stick before settling into a bent over position, her aim lined up with the cue ball. One quick thrust and the pool-stick connected with the white ball, which sent it careening into its multi-colored siblings.
The crack of their meeting soothed her frazzled nerves and three plunked into pockets each with a thunk. Calm drenched her. Billiards appeased her the same way a bubble bath would normal women. In her youth she’d had a runaway temper, and her daddy taught her to play initially to refocus and quiet her rages.
Daddy, I miss you.
With a sniffle, she sunk two more balls into pockets. Her agitation might be pacified if she thought of Derringer and Keys in the same carnal way she did Heath. They’d helped raise her after her parents died. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t known them as long as Heath, they were still as much her family as Heath and Jase.
Why can’t I be lusting after Derringer or Keys? She adored both men, but neither did anything for her.
“Did you kill Fang’s cat?” Thinking of the devils must have brought them out of hiding, as both Derr and Keys entered the game room. Their testosterone riddled energies swaggered in ahead of them.
She rolled her eyes at Keys’ tasteless joke. “I’m a hell-raiser, not a cat-killer.” The twenty-five pound feline would probably shred her to pieces if she tried to injure him. If he could work up the energy to do something other than sleep and eat. She adored the overweight purring snuggler. He’d never be in danger from her for any reason. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no reason, really.” Derringer ran his fingertips along the dark shadow of a mustache and halted beside her. “Except Fang was a fucking tyrant just now.”
Two balls went in their pockets. “What’s that got to do with me?”
“He came from your illustrious presence, hellion.” Derr shoulder bumped her. “He was fine until your private tête-à-tête.”
Tête-à-tête indeed!
Note to self: all future sequestered conversations with Heath are off limits.
The man was lethal to her willpower. Putting his mouth and tongue on her wasn’t playing fair. And she couldn’t trust herself to make the right choices in his presence. Heath only had to grin at her and she wanted to strip and offer herself up for his personal enjoyment. Just one little kiss and she wanted more. Her tongue vibrated with the memory of how he’d piloted his against hers.
Keys took the stick from her, distracting her from her thoughts. Thank goodness! She needed some interference.
He executed ill-trained shots, knocking balls around the felt-lined slate. She cringed at his novice mistakes. She’d offer instructions, but he excelled at instruments and held no desire to improve his billiard aim.
“Spill the juicy details, Boo.” Keys sent her a sidelong glance. “I can tell something’s going on in that pretty head of yours.”
She sighed. Brat, boo, and hellion. She guessed she’d earned all of her nicknames. “We agreed to try Tab’s plan. I can’t help he didn’t like my opinion of other… things.” Why’d she say the last part?
“What opinion of other things would that be?” Derringer eyed her with a speculative expression, one she couldn’t gauge. She had a sneaky suspicion he read more into what transpired than he should.
“Give me my stick.” She extended her arm toward Keys and wiggled her fingers.
“Nope.” Keys whacked her balls around some more. “Not until you answer the question.”
As the band’s lead guitarist lined up his next shot, she said, “I told him he kissed like Jase.”
Keys busted out laughing and missed hitting the cue ball.
Derringer shook his head, but smiled. “That’s cold, hellion, even for you.”
“I can’t help he can’t take the truth.” Or at least what I wish was true.
“Uh huh.” It didn’t take a brainiac to catch the disbelief in Derr’s grunt.
Keys rubbed moisture away from the corners of his eyes. “Wish I could’ve seen Fang’s face.”
“What?” Ignoring Keys, she gaped at Derringer, offering him her best innocent impression. “It’s the truth. Kissing him was… yucky.”
Could she sound more adolescent while she was on fire from a single kiss?
Derringer tapped her on the nose with his fingertip. “I saw the vid, you were in to Fang.”
Shit.
If he could gauge her real emotions in a ViewTube video, then Heath would have zero challenge perceiving the truth when he watched the clip. Obliged to deny the assertion to save face, she said, “Derr—”
“He’s the adult here, so I hold him responsible.” I’m an adult! “If he hurts you, I’ll make him eat his teeth.” Hot Wired’s bass guitarist elevated his dark eyebrows and angled his head slightly forward in his patented ‘I’m dead-fucking serious’ expression. She knew not to push him when she received that particular look. She’d been on the receiving end of it a lot.
Sam swallowed past the sudden uneasy knot in her throat. Causing friction among the band members was intolerable. “Tonight wasn’t Heath’s fault.”
“Fang’s a big boy. He doesn’t need you to defend him.” He kissed her forehead and slinked to the bar. He moved like an assassin with silent stealth, which aided in his gangster appeal. “He better not go too far with you.” He sliced his thumb across his throat. “That’s a promise.”
She turned to Keys for help. “Talk to him, Keys. He’s being unreasonable.”
“I agree with Derr.” NY’s heir braced the pool stick on the floor, picked up the red, solid three ball and began to toss it up and catch it. “That video was hotter than porn.”
“You’re desperate if that’s true. Nothing. Happened.”
Keys grinned. “To the casual observer it seemed like a lot of nothing happened.”
Derringer agreed with a nod and a muttered, “Yep.”
What the hell was tha
t supposed to mean?
“What I want to know is when exactly did you two kiss since you never actually locked lips at the store?” Keys puckered up and performed dramatic kissing noises at her.
“I’m gonna punch you in your mouth.”
“Thanks. I don’t mind if you do. The chicks might dig a man with a busted lip in need of get-well kisses.”
“Be serious.” Did she normally adore Keys for making her laugh? She changed her mind. He irritated her as much as Jase did.
Derringer chuckled low at their quips.
Keys gave her a mock insulted gasp. “‘Serious’ is my middle name, Boo.” He leaned forward and gave her a soft knuckle punch to the chin with the hand holding the ball.
“You don’t know the meaning of the word.”
A lopsided grin contorted his handsome face. “He steals more than a kiss from you, and while Derr’s knocking his teeth down his throat, I’ll bust his kneecaps.”
“And by kneecaps you really mean balls?”
“No, but I like the way you think, so consider that my intention hereafter.” Keys swung her pool stick around, offering it to her, grip first. “Re-rack them. I lose… I get a kiss to cheer me up.”
There was no question he’d lose. She palmed the staff and set it aside. “If I thought you were serious, I’d nail you in the crotch with this.” She waggled the stick at him.
“Ouch.” He whined dramatically and cupped his privates. “You’re heartless, Boo. Heart. Less. Stay like that. Rack them so I can cheer you up by letting you beat me. And, Sam….” He waited until she gave him her attention before he finished whatever he wanted to say. “I am serious about Fang’s”—he made quoting motions with his fingers—“kneecaps.”
“I can take care of myself.” She’d learned how to defend herself thanks to them. At their insistence, she’d even received private self-defense lessons. “If either of you interfere in any way with my fake-relationship with Heath, I’ll bust both of your kneecaps.”
“It’s not the fake relationship I’m worried about.” Derringer said as Keys rolled the balls down the felt so she could bracket them in the triangle frame. “I’m trying to figure out why a kiss now.” The bass guitarist poured a splash of scotch. “What’s the point in a private kiss when you’re faking it?”
“That’s what I said. You busting or am I?” She peered at Keys.
“You.” He chalked the stick he’d retrieved. “Pour me one of those.”
Sam lined up her aim with the cue ball and set it in motion with a hard whack. It struck the grouping, and they flew apart. She met Derr’s calculating gaze. “Heath said the fans would want us to kiss. Didn’t want our first to be in front of an audience.”
“Was tongue involved?” Expecting a leer on Keys’ face, she was surprised to witness his straight-faced expression. His fingers were wrapped around the pool stick with enough grip he could choke someone to death.
“How is that any of your business?”
“That’s a yes, Derr. We might need to rough Fang up a bit as a warning.”
They had to be kidding? But Keys looked way too somber for her peace of mind. Where was the teasing man she adored?
Sam put the tip of the pool stick beneath the ball and it popped up. The spherical object flew mid-air across the table and nailed Keys in the gut. Grunting loud, he clutched his belly and bent over gasping.
“Both of you nix the exaggerated protective brother routine. I missed your dick only because I wanted, Keys.” She pointed her stick at them both. “This is Heath for goodness’ sake. Not some shady guy off the street. Give him some credit to play his part like the good guy he is.”
“That was a low-blow, Boo.” Keys winced as he struggled to stand upright.
“Man up, that was a sweet shot. I thought about hitting you lower.” She indicated the pool table. “Two solids went in. Are we still playing?”
“As soon as I can breathe,” he wheezed out.
She rolled her eyes at his performance. “Good. I’ll take the stripes, and I’ll shoot them in number order to give you a handicap.”
“You’ll need that handicap,” Derringer remarked dryly as he returned to the billiard table and slid Keys a glass of Scotch. He set the bottle on the ledge.
“For the record,” Keys grimaced as he shifted his stance to retrieve the glass. “I should’ve given Fang more credit than I have. That was a smooth line he fed you, and you fell for it.”
She glowered at him, hoping he’d get the hint to drop the subject.
“You can give me that killer-glare all you want, but the truth’s the truth. You’ve been played.” He downed his liquor and shot at his first color. He managed to disarrange the ball’s alignment with the pocket.
“Keys is right, it was a line, hellion,” Derringer agreed. “He wanted what he was denied at the store.”
She blinked at him and shook her head. They had no idea what they were talking about. Heath didn’t want her. He wanted more for the band.
“Good thing he kisses like Jase.”
“Yep.” She pinned a ball in the pocket and moved around the table to sight her next shot.
“Won’t be any chance of him breaking your heart or us being obligated to shatter his kneecaps since he kisses like Jase.”
Yeah, if only she hated his kisses as much as she claimed, she’d be thanking her lucky stars.
Instead he’d kissed like a rock star god, holding nothing back, like he owned her, and knew his sexual place in the world. Double damn. He’d kissed her like he knew his way around her body already. With his learning curve, the man would be lethal to her libido once he knew how to traverse the sensitive spots.
I’m in over my head.
Fear spiraled down her spine. She’d obligated herself, and she wouldn’t renege on a deal. That wasn’t her style. But she’d luckily given herself an out with the clause that she could break up with him whenever she wanted.
Satisfied she’d had the sensibility to add in that disclaimer, Sam met Derringer’s cool regard. “You got something to say, Derr? ‘Coz it sounds like you’re trying to get at something.”
“Just calling bullshit when I hear and see it.”
“Heath is like a brother to me.” She pocketed her next four balls back-to-back.
“I could tell in the video.”
Glaring at Derr, her hold on the stick tightened to the point her fingertips whitened and her flesh stung.
“I knew you’d run the goddamn table on me,” Keys bitched. “What happened to the handicap you were going to give me?”
“Your tag-team pranks pissed me off.” She smiled sweetly as the last of her stripes went into their holes. She pointed at the corner pocket nearest her. “Eight ball here.”
At this angle, the final orb would bank three times before reaching its final resting spot.
“I’d say no way in Hell you could make that shot, but I know how good you are.” Derringer uncapped the Scotch and filled Keys’ glass more than half full of the liquor. “Drink up, you’ll need it, she’s about to kick your pansy ass.”
On the way to her bedroom an hour later, she received a text from Nessa.
You and Fang? OMG! BFFs share details.
Not in the mood to elucidate, Sam supplied minimal words necessary to appease her friend. Complicated. Will xplain l8r.
Nessa’s chirpiness over Sam’s predicament came through loud and clear through her message. You tease. He’s so dreamy. Can’t wait to hear ALL.
As much as it hurt to admit, her long-time friend’s reaction proved Tab accurate. The world thought she lived a fantasy by dating Heath. After knowing her so long, Sam expected Nessa to see beyond the false pretenses of fame. Unless one lived her life, she doubted anyone would understand.
About to settle into bed her phone rang and displayed Omega Starr’s name.
As she pulled her tank top down her belly, she connected the call. “Hey.”
“Nightmare or wet dream, Sam?”
She sighed. Weird that her no-strings attached lover-slash-best friend understood her predicament and her best girlfriend didn’t. Did that mean he listened to her better than Nessa? Or maybe he could relate? Nah… he knew her. He also knew how she felt about Heath. That said tons about her rapport with Nessa when she confessed her desires to Omega, but not to the girl she’d known the longest.
She and Omega lived similar lives, both caught up in the limelight thanks to family. With his father being a famous producer, he couldn’t ditch the newsfeed any more than she could. Pillow talk made confessing her darkest desires easy, especially with their common interests.
“At the moment, I can’t decide. Something tame has snowballed—”
“Sam, sorry to interrupt but have you watched the ViewTube video?”
“No. I haven’t had time.”
“What I saw was anything but tame, sunshine. Knowing how you feel, I wasn’t sure if I should be congratulating you or offering my services.”
He excelled at his ‘services’, but Heath was the one she wanted in her bed. And the one person she couldn’t have. “I’m tempted to take your offer and call the pap on the way over. Would almost be worth the shit storm it’d cause.”
If she were lucky, Tab would be so upset she’d drop dead with a seizure.
“Have I ever told you how much I adore your wickedness?”
She grinned. “Only because you enjoy being my side-kick.”
“Guilty as charged.” She could picture the way his green eyes lit up when concocting spectacles. He loved feeding the press theater as much as she did.
He didn’t even know the half of what’d gone down. She explained the forthcoming drama and even spilled her guts about the kiss over billiards.
“Damn, girl.” She heard the tinkle of ice hitting glass. “You want my help, just say the word.”
“Nah. I’ll survive this. Thanks anyway.”
“You sure? I’ll invite the pap inside after I meet you at the door naked.” Omega despised reporters as much as she did, so his offer was huge. Only a real friend would pay such a weighty price.
Rockin' the Heart (Hot Wired) Page 7
