by Thomas, C. M
“I don’t like being here, Zane.” Her eyes looked scared.
“No matter where you are, you’re safe. Three guys are standing just outside this room keeping you safe. And you got me right here.”
“I know. But I don’t like hospitals.”
“No one does.” I leaned down and kissed her, hoping it would help her relax. I didn’t want her to get the pain back in her chest.
Two hours later, we were back at the hotel. When the doctor came to talk to us, he told us Anna was ready to go. He gave her a number for a therapist back in Colorado Springs, so if she wanted to talk with a professional over the summer, she could. I thought she needed to, but for now, I didn’t push her. And I told Kylie not to push her either. Cole was right last night; she had to be the one who made the decision.
Anna was in the shower right now, so I lay back on the bed and watched some stupid show on the television. Anne came out from the bathroom, just wearing underwear.
“You’re killing me. You know that, right?” She sent me a small smile. I pulled the covers aside so she could slide under them. She came over to me and snuggled into my chest. “You okay?” I kissed her on her hair.
“I am now. I just missed you before.” She looked at me with her beautiful eyes. I leaned down to kiss her. She met me halfway and caught my lips with hers, driving her tongue over my lips, asking me to let her in. I parted my lips and gave her access to my mouth. She crawled over me so she was straddling me, still kissing me like she never had before. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me. Feeling her skin against mine was making my blood boil. Her perfect soft skin. She broke the kiss and looked at me.
“Miss me, hmm?”
I winked at her. “I did. And I think you missed me too.” She grinned and wiggled on top of me. Yes, I definitely missed her. My cock was rock-hard. And her wiggling her pussy on me was not helping. My cock was pressing against the zipper in my jeans. Why did I not wear boxers? This was painful.
“I always miss you when I’m not with you.” I put my hands on her bare ass. She was wearing a thong. She really was trying to kill me. Pulling her closer to me, I reached her lips and kissed her again. She melted right into the kiss. I flipped us over so I was on top of her, still kissing her. I saw her eyes change for a moment before she relaxed again.
“Tell me to stop if it gets too much.” I looked her in the eyes when I talked to her. I needed her to trust that I would stop no matter how hard it was. She nodded, and kissed me again. I moved one of my hands down to her breast, freeing it from the bra. When I played with her nipple between two fingers, she let out a small moan and her nipple got hard. She lifted her pussy up against my hard cock. I kissed her down the neck, down to her breast, lifting her up long enough for me to unhook her bra and take it off. I kept eye contact with her, needing to know that she was okay.
When I got her bra off, I moved my kisses to her breast. With one hand, I held myself over her, not wanting to squeeze her. Then I kissed her breast. This was where it went wrong the last time. I was carefully kissing her breast before I closed my lips around her nipple, playing with it with my tongue.
“Zane…it feels so good,” she moaned. I moved my attention to her other breast, doing it all over again. But this time, I moved my hand down to her pussy. Not sure if she was ready for me to take off her thong, I just moved my hand down on top of her panties, playing with her clit against the lace thong. She closed her eyes and groaned loudly, pushing her pussy against my hand. I kept kissing her breast and playing with her clit until I felt her whole body tremble. Then she let out a loud moan when she came all over my hand and her thong. I kept touching her until her breathing was more normal again.
“You okay, baby?” I slid down beside her and pulled her close to my chest.
“More than fine. That was amazing.” She blushed a little when she looked up at me. I gave her a small kiss on her nose.
“Don’t be shy.” I held her close to me. Feeling her body against me like this was the best feeling.
“I try not to. But it’s hard. I’m not as experienced as you.”
“I know. But this with you is so different than anything I’ve ever done before. I want you to trust me. I want us both to be in this together.”
“I do trust you. More than anything.”
“Love you, baby. You ready to go to Salt Lake City tomorrow?”
“Not really. But I will be. Don’t you have anything better to do than being here in bed with me today?” She smiled against my chest when she said that.
“I have an interview this afternoon. Other than that, no, I just want to spend time with you.”
We just lay in bed for the next hours, talking, making out, and talking some more. I liked how free I felt when I was with her. She made me forget about all the things we were battling with outside this room.
Kylie called me just when Anna and I got out of bed to inform me that Tristan had canceled the interview and that he wanted to have a video conference with us instead. I got dressed and walked down to Kylie’s room. All the others were already there when I got there.
“What’s up?” I asked the moment I entered the room.
“Tristan wouldn’t tell me. Come in here so we can find out,” Kylie replied. I walked over to the table and sat down beside Cole.
“How is Anna?” he asked.
“She’s fine. Getting some sleep while I deal with this.”
“You ready to find out what he wants?” Kylie asked when Tristan’s head popped up on her computer. We all nodded, and she accepted the call.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” Tristan growled the moment the call came through.
“Tell you what?” I asked. I knew he was talking about Anna and me.
“That you got stupid, and got yourself a girlfriend.”
“Excuse me?” I snapped. He could call me many things, but calling me stupid because of Anna? No way.
“You heard me. You can’t have a girlfriend, Zane. It ruins your image as the bad boy.” He couldn’t be serious.
“What if it does? We all support Zane,” Liam said before I got a chance.
“And you are our manager, yes. But this you have no say in,” Caleb added. And I saw Cole nod in agreement.
“Listen to me. I have everything to say on this matter. You need to make a public statement saying that you’re as single as you’ve always been.”
“I will do no such thing. I love her, and you don’t get to decide when it’s time for me to be in a relationship.” I was mad. No, I was angry. Thank God he was not sitting in front of me, because then I might have just punched him in the face. If he thought that he could decide what I did in my personal life, he could dream on. No way was I letting him come between Anna and me. And if we had to fire him, then that was what we had to do. Our record label was managing the tour, so even though it was Tristan doing all the work around the tour and the budgets, then we could still finish it without him.
I moved over to turn off the signal to Tristan.
“What are you doing?” Kylie gasped.
“We need to talk, guys. I can’t let him come between Anna and me.”
“We know, and I think it’s time we find a new manager. If he thinks that he can control us like this, he’s not the right person for us anymore,” Cole said.
“I agree. We can do this without him. Kylie, how fast can you get us some potential new managers?” Liam asked.
“I have a couple who have already asked to talk to you. More than once. I think I could have a meeting ready tonight.” She smiled. I knew she hated Tristan, and that she would gladly see him gone.
“Then set the meetings up. And no one talks to Tristan tonight,” Caleb said. Kylie nodded and walked into the other room to set up the meetings.
“Thanks, guys,” I said. I knew we’d talked about firing
Tristan for a while, but I couldn’t wait anymore.
“No need to thank us. We don’t like him either. And you know that he will do anything to break you and Anna up. And I don’t want her hurt, or you for that matter,” Liam said. We talked for a while before Kylie came back to us.
“I got a meeting with one of the potential managers in fifteen minutes. He has wanted to talk to you guys for months. He cleared his schedule to talk to you. I think he is a great choice. He has a lot of experience in the music business. He has worked what some of the biggest in the rock music world. He is located in Denver, so that means you don’t have to go to LA when you have to record the new album. You can do that in Denver, where his office is, and the record label has a studio there too. Closer to home.” She paused. “I set up a meeting with the other one tomorrow morning, just before we have to go on the bus. I will tell you more about him tomorrow morning.”
Two hours later, I was back at our room. Anna was sitting on the couch, reading. She looked up from her book when I came into the room.
“Hey, that was a long meeting. Everything okay?” I walked over and sat down beside her.
“Yes, we just fired Tristan. Or we will do that when we find a new manager.”
“Why?” she asked.
“For one, he wants to control us. Second, he wanted me to break up with you.” I took her hand.
“But why? He doesn’t even know me.”
“I know. He just wants me to be single, to keep up the bad-boy image. But don’t worry, this was just the last straw. And we’ve just had a meeting with a potential new manager. He has tried to get a meeting with us for months now. And I think he could be a good choice. But we will sleep on it, and then talk to another tomorrow before we make the decision.” I kissed her hand.
“But I don’t want you to do this because of me. I understand that you have an image to live up to.” She looked sad. I moved around, then I pulled her over to me so she sat between my legs, with her back against my chest.
“I don’t care about that image. I want you, and only you. If that ruins the bad-boy image, then so be it. Cole can be the new bad boy.” That made her laugh.
“I think he already is.” She grinned.
“Yeah, you’re right.” I kissed her just below her ear. “You got some sleep?”
“A little. But I’m hungry, so I couldn’t sleep.” I heard her stomach growl.
“I can hear that. Let’s order some food, then.” Just when I said that, there was a knock on the door.
“I already did.” She walked over and opened the door, rolling the cart in with the food. I walked over to her and wrapped my hands around her.
“I can see that. You ordered for everyone?” I looked at the cart; there was indeed a lot of food.
“No, I just couldn’t decide what I wanted. I will pay for this.” Like hell she will.
“You will not. And you can order anything you want.” I kissed her before letting her go. We moved the food over to the table and started eating.
“I need to talk to you about something,” I told her.
“Everything okay?” She looked nervous.
“Yes. I just wanted to tell you that the PA job is yours if you want it. Kylie told us she won’t come back on tour after the summer.”
“I know, she told me. Are you sure? I don’t have any experience, and what do the guys say?”
“We all agree on this. And you’ve worked all the way through college, so you know more than I do. And I want you with me. If you want to. You don’t have to make a decision tonight, just know that the job is yours if you want it. And no matter what, we will be together, even if you want to get a job back in Colorado Springs or Denver.” I reached over the table and took her hand. “I love you, and I want this to work. The new manager we’ve talked to is located in Denver. That way we don’t have to go to LA to record the new albums. We can do that in Denver.”
“I’ll take the job. But I have some conditions.” She looked at me. I nodded and waited for her to keep talking. “One: I will not do this before my stalker is caught. Two: you pay me the same amount of money you paid Kylie. Not a penny more. Three: are you sure you want me to boss you around?” She grinned when she said the last part.
“I like when you boss me around, baby.” I winked at her. “And for the other two conditions, I think we can work with that.” I hoped we found her stalker soon. I didn’t like knowing that she wasn’t safe. And I knew she couldn’t work before she was safe.
“You just wait until I’m in control of your schedule, then you won’t like me bossing you around.” She grinned. I moved over to her and took her hand. We walked over to the couch and sat down together.
“What are you doing this summer?” I asked while I ran my fingers through her hair.
“Not much, hoping to be with you. And maybe see my parents. Why?”
“I want you to come home with me. I want you to meet my parents and my crazy sisters. I want you to consider staying with me this summer.” I knew I was pushing her, but I wanted her to stay with me.
“I’d love to stay with you this summer. But can we see my parents in one of the weekends? I want them to meet you too.”
“Sure. I would like to do that.” I kissed her on top of her head. She leaned against my chest. She sat on my lap, just the way I liked it. To have her this close was like coming home.
“Where do you live when you are home?”
“At my parents’ ranch.” She looked up at me, surprised. “I have my own house on the ranch. We all do, even Cole. It’s only Amy and Gia who live in the main house with our parents.” She relaxed against me again.
“I didn’t know your parents had a ranch. Do you have animals?”
“My mom and sisters have horses. A lot of horses. I think around twenty, maybe more. Then we have two dogs: Buddy and Bear. Gia named them. Buddy is my dog, so I hope you like dogs. Whenever I’m home, he is at my house, even though they both technically are my parents’ dogs. Bear is always at Liam’s house. My dad is a contractor and an architect, so he runs his business from the ranch. He doesn’t do much work anymore, but he still works in the office every day, and so does my mom. I think Amy will work there too when she is finished with college. She has always been amazing at drawing. I think she will work alongside our dad as an architect unless she gets a better offer in the city.”
“Wow. I love dogs. Did your dad never want you guys to be a part of the business?”
“Of course, but he also wanted us to fulfill our dream. So that’s what we did. And some of our cousins are working for our dad, and no matter what, the company will be in our family even when my dad is gone.”
“I like that. I know my parents wanted both me and Kylie to become lawyers like them, and work for their company. But I never wanted that. I never wanted to make the rich people even richer, just because I could. That’s what my parents do. I’m proud of them, and I understand that the work they do might be important, but I want to make a difference, and I think Kylie wants the same. I think that’s why she’s going to work for Happy Childhood.”
“I think so too. I think she will do an amazing job at the foundation. But will you be okay with working as a PA for us? I don’t see how you can make a difference here.” That was really what was worrying me, that she would take the job because she wanted to be near me, and not because it was what she wanted. She had told me that her dream was to work for a big company in Denver, and I didn’t want to hold her back from that dream.
“I will, babe. I don’t think I could see myself in a normal job anymore. I like this, being on the road. I never understood why Kylie loved it so much. But I get it, it gives you freedom, and then seeing a lot of different cities doesn’t hurt either. But so that you know, you guys will make a lot more appearances at benefits around the country. So that’s my way of making a difference. Making you guys atten
d will give the benefits some publicity that they can’t get anywhere else.” She looked up at me, smiling.
“I love you. And I think we should do more to give back to people who need it. The guys do too.” I kissed her, long and deep, feeling our tongues against each other. I loved this feeling of connection with her.
“Love you too, babe.” I smiled when she called me that. She didn’t do it much, but I loved it when did.
“I like when you call me that.” She just smiled at me.
The next morning, I got up early to get ready for the meeting we were having. I still felt like the guy we talked to last night, Logan, could be the perfect manager for us. But we needed to be sure. We wanted someone who understood that at some point, we all wanted a family. We would still make music, go on tour, and record new albums. But we also wanted to have time for a family.
Anna was still sleeping when I was ready to go. I walked over to give her a small kiss on the cheek.
“I have to go,” I softly whispered to her.
“Okay, when do we leave today?” She slowly opened her eyes.
“Don’t know yet. But I think this afternoon. You don’t have to get up yet.” I kissed her on the lips before I walked out of the room.
“Love you,” I heard her say just when I was about to walk out of our room.
“Love you too.” I walked down to Kylie’s room with a smile on my face. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would be the first of us to get a girlfriend after we signed the big contract a little over three years ago. At that point, Evie had left Liam heartbroken. I thought that at some point she would come back for him. They were perfect for each other. But now three years later, she was still gone. And Liam was still heartbroken. Not as much as in the beginning, but again, I could see he was hurt. I just hoped that he would get to a place in his life where he decided that she was the past and he had to move forward.
But the fact was that it was me who had a girlfriend. It was weird, and at the same time I would not give up Anna for anything. I wished that Kylie had introduced us earlier, but I didn’t think I was ready before now. Not that I thought I was ready when I met Anna the first time. But something about her just made me want to have more. More than only one night. More, like the fact that she hopefully would spend the summer with me. More, like the fact that in five years I hoped we were still together.
