Reckless Beat Box Set #2

by Eden Summers

  It wasn’t hard. Things were frantic on the road, not enough sleep and too much adrenaline. It helped when Reckless now stayed in hotels and the up and coming group had to slum the nights in their tour bus. “So dating this woman will save our asses?”

  Leah wouldn’t look him in the eye. She looked everywhere but him. “If you’re comfortable doing it, then yes, it would be the easiest option. Then again, if you’re not willing, we’ll work around that, too. I don’t want this to affect your divorce.”

  His thumbs throbbed with the need to smooth the furrow of her brow. “No, I’ll do it. It’s no skin off my back.” He’d do whatever he could to take her stress away. He’d do it for Blake, too. And Mitch and Sean and Mason.

  “Then all we can do now is wait.” She focused her attention on Mitch. “Can you go and check on Blake for me?”

  “Yeah, of course.” He walked past her and rubbed her upper arm. “Is there anything else I can do?”

  “Get some rest.” She gave a sad smile at his touch and then glanced at Mason and Sean in turn. “You’ve got another sold out show tomorrow, then we’re back on the road.”

  “Yes, Mom. Let us know as soon as you hear something.” Mason accompanied her to the door, Sean and Mitch following after. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Good night.” She held the door open and watched them leave. Even after their footsteps faded, she didn’t look at him. “Are you going to hang around here for a while?”

  “No. I just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”

  “I’m good.”

  She lowered her gaze to the hallway floor, killing him slowly with her disconnect. They couldn’t be alone in the same room together anymore. He wasn’t sure if she thought he was going to steal another kiss, or do something else equally moronic, but it was clear that returning to the way they once were wasn’t easy for her.

  “I need to get going, though.” She shot him a millisecond glance. “I’ve got some research to do on your new girlfriend.”

  He winced. He wasn’t interested in dating a stranger, fake or otherwise. “I’ll let you go.”

  Yep, the same stilted conversation they’d been having for months. One uncomfortable sentence after another. Curse him and his senseless mistake. He missed her. He missed the conversation and the friendship. He missed the laughter and the reliance.

  He strode to the door, trying to ignore the slight tense of her shoulders on his approach. “Don’t worry about this mess, OK?” He’d do some pretty crazy things to be able to move closer, to pull her in for one of the hugs he’d grown to rely on. “I’ll blow this chick out of the water.”

  She gave a derisive laugh. “I don’t doubt it. But I’m also sure she’ll blow you, too. It’ll be a great way to get back on the horse.”

  He wasn’t looking for a damn horse. Apart from an end to the divorce bullshit, all he wanted was Leah’s forgiveness. He needed his best friend back. And now, he was certain this situation with the lead singer of Slicker would send his ‘right time, right place’ progress back in the opposite direction.

  Chapter Two

  Leah hadn’t slept in days. Not that it was common to notch up a lot of slumber hours while on tour. Finding a pleasing hotel resting place was an unfavorable lucky dip. You never knew when you were going to score sound-proofing and a good mattress, and you certainly had no warning when there would be paper-thin walls and a chorus of sex noises from the room next door. And that was on the favorable nights when she wasn’t on the sleeper bus, traveling from location to location with a crew who snored loud enough to damage her hearing.

  The insomnia had allowed her to spend the last two nights online stalking Felicity ‘Flick’ Knight and prepare how to tackle the latest Reckless disaster. The woman was drama-free according to the Internet. She was also too scarily stunning, too talented, and too fucking flawless to not have more than a few skeletons hanging in her perfect closet. But there was no getting around the relationship charade. Grander had agreed to stop riding their asses if this stunt went to plan, and the termination of said ass riding was on the top of her to-do list.

  Ryan was due to arrive at her suite any minute now. A discussion about his responsibilities would be had. She’d then formally introduce him to the squeaky-clean singer and they could be on their merry way to fake Fucksville.

  Yippee for a job well done.

  Only it didn’t feel like she’d succeeded this time. Her insides churned as if she was approaching failure. Failure of what, she had no clue, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t shake the sensation.

  If anything, she should be relieved. Since their kiss, and the subsequent escape to Vegas, she’d been on the edge of anxiety, wondering if her professionalism would slip again, shoving her into another fantastically inappropriate embrace in his profoundly muscular arms.

  This situation should be her saving grace. Her buffer. Ryan’s occupation with another woman would give him less time to obsess over their fractured friendship, and maybe give him someone else to rely on, seeing as though she’d successfully kept her distance from him for months.

  Yep. It was a win-win. Any minute now gratefulness would kick in. Any. Damn. Minute.

  Fortunately, the knock at the door saved her from trying to awaken an emotion she wasn’t prepared to welcome.

  “I’m coming.” She stood, sucked in a breath, and straightened her calf-length skirt. Sweat coated her palm as she pulled open the suite door and found a handsome face she hadn’t been expecting. “Blake? What are you doing here?”

  “Ryan said he was meeting with you and Scott. Do you mind if I sit in?”

  “Is that a good idea?” He was still temperamental from the first showdown. Being away from the woman he loved was far harder for him than Mason and Sean. Not that the others were dealing. They just had a thick layer of pride that didn’t allow for pining in public.

  “This is a meeting about Ryan and Felicity. At the moment, the additional tour dates are on hold, and you know I’ll keep you informed if that changes.”

  “Yeah, I know, but I still want to be here.”

  He wiped a hand down his face and his fatigue pulled at her heavily guarded heartstrings. She rarely let the Reckless men lead her to make emotional decisions. Apart from Ryan, Blake was the only one near capable of manipulating her rarely seen non-professional side.

  “Come in.” She released a defeated huff and side-stepped to open the door wider. “Ryan should be here any minute.”

  She glanced down the hotel hall, double-checking the man of the moment wasn’t already on the way before she closed the door and walked to Blake. “Spill.” She rounded the small glass dining table and sank into a seat opposite him, the manila folder full of her research placed between them. “Why do you need to be here?”

  “I guess I feel guilty. I won’t agree to more tour dates because I can’t go for months without seeing Gabi. But it also doesn’t sit right to let Ryan slut himself out for me.”

  “It isn’t specifically for you.” She ignored the slut comment, because frankly, it fit. Anyone with a brain and a healthy libido would realize this type of arrangement would end with the fake relationship turning into real sex. “We all want to be finished with the tour when the baby comes.”

  “I know.” His knee began to pulse—up down, up down—as he tapped his foot on the carpeted floor. “And I’m well aware that Ryan needs to get laid, but not like this. Not when it’s staged and under a microscope.”

  She bit the inside of her cheek, unprepared for the brutal truth.

  “What he needs is a woman who will unapologetically screw Julie out of his system,” he continued. “A cheap and nasty groupie who will—”

  Leah held up her hand. “I get the picture.” The visual was like a machete to her sex-drive. “Ryan needs to get laid.”

  “Speaking of getting laid, when was the last time you got busy?”

  She screwed up her face in the most unladylike way. “Unless you’re offering your servi
ces, that’s none of your damn business.”

  He grinned, his bad-boy charm surpassing the everyday male and moving into god-like territory. Thankfully, she was immune. “I’m only asking because you were determined to take more time for yourself after you returned from Vegas, yet you’re still the work-obsessed woman you’ve always been.”

  Another knock sounded at the door, a welcomed reprieve from the unwanted conversation.

  “Gabi’s pregnancy changed my priorities,” she lied, pushing to her feet. “I need to work harder now to make sure everything syncs with the birth.”

  In reality, she’d come home from Vegas and taken an additional two nights off from the usual Reckless mania to try to regain some of the social life she’d once had. All she’d scored were rejection texts from old friends who were now too busy to catch up, and innumerable hours spent obsessing over her mistake with Ryan. So she slid straight back into the breakneck pace of working twenty-four-seven and became addicted to the distraction.

  “I’m sure you can cut back on a few things to make more time for yourself.”

  She headed for the hall, not looking back. “Are you offering to take some of my duties?”

  His non-answer wasn’t surprising as she flung open the door and came face-to-face with a walking, talking heart palpitation.

  “Ryan,” she greeted.

  “Hey.” He jerked his chin at her, his smile lazy and sweet.

  Even with tired eyes he was profoundly handsome. It was the one thing she couldn’t ignore—his physical appeal. Her thoughts could be smothered, her dreams stabbed and incinerated, but his gorgeousness was always there. Always an insistent reminder.

  “Come in.” She swung an arm toward the dining table. “We’ve only got a few minutes before Scott and Felicity arrive.”

  He strode before her, making it impossible for her gaze not to latch on to the tight stretch of his biceps against the material of his T-shirt. She hated those muscles. Loathed and despised how mouth-watering they were from years of guitar play.

  “What are you doing here?” Ryan directed to Blake.

  “Being a good pimp.” He gave a girlie smile and winked, the expression in complete contrast to his lethally spiked hair and the harsh tattoos inking every inch of his arms. “I wanted to make sure your first act of prostitution was done right.”

  “Nice,” Ryan muttered, settling into the seat beside his friend. “I think I can handle the logistics on my own.”

  “Maybe.” Blake shrugged. “But it’s been a while since you fucked something warm-blooded.”

  “Assh—”

  Leah held up a hand, and like always, her men complied. “Are you two done?”

  Ryan glared. “I was about to tell Blake to go fuck himself, then I would’ve been finished.”

  Blake’s lips twitched. “And I would’ve replied with, ‘I will, and I’ll think of you while I do it,’ and then the conversation would’ve been over.”

  Leah clutched the back of her chair and gave them the look. The one she’d honed to perfection.

  “Sorry,” Blake muttered.

  He certainly would be if he continued with the bullshit. She currently lacked the patience to put up with their non-stop smack talk.

  “We need to get started.” She sank into her seat and flipped open the folder. “Here’s the information I pulled on Felicity.”

  Researching Ryan’s next bed partner was akin to a chili sauce enema. Unfortunately, she hadn’t paid the woman enough attention before the Grander bombshell, and being unprepared wasn’t an option.

  “She grew up in a small town in Michigan. Didn’t go to college but had good grades in school. She’s played everything from piano to guitar to violin.” She spread out the pages, exposing black and white images of the dark-haired, light-eyed beauty. “I couldn’t find anything on past boyfriends or scorned lovers. No connection to drugs or alcohol abuse. In fact, there was nothing juicy at all. Nothing exciting. Nothing memorable. It doesn’t add up, but then again, who am I to judge a straight-laced rocker?”

  “Nobody came out of the woodwork when they signed with Grander?” Ryan sat forward and shuffled through the information.

  “No. There wasn’t any dirt at all.” Not a single thing to give her reason to stop the charade and keep another woman from setting claws into her rhythm guitarist. The band’s rhythm guitarist. “From what I can tell, she’s drama free.”

  “She’s also fucking hot.” Blake picked up one of the pictures, his eyes wide with appreciation. “She’s got the goth, rock goddess thing going.”

  Leah cringed and both their gazes fell upon her as if the reaction had been audible. Fuck, had it been audible?

  She couldn’t refute the woman’s beauty—full lips and flawless skin framed by sleek blue-black hair, boy short at the back, chin-length at the front. Add the slim waist, perky breasts, and what seemed to be a firm butt, and the woman became a walking erection dispenser.

  “Just keep it in your pants for the duration of the meeting,” she muttered. “I don’t want Scott thinking this arrangement is anything more than a huge pain in my ass.”

  Blake smirked and she anticipated his filth before he opened his mouth and said, “If Ryan’s lucky, it might be more of a pain in Felicity’s ass, right, my friend?”

  Ryan didn’t bite. There was no humor. No reciprocated perversion. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  Leah shrugged. “Fucking her in the ass is probably something you should discuss with—”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about and you know it.”

  Yeah, she knew, but like Blake, joking away the uncomfortable squeeze in her chest was a crutch. She still couldn’t shake the feeling that this situation was all wrong when it should’ve been all right.

  “Yes.” She shuffled the pages together and closed them inside the folder. “If we’re successful in boosting Slicker’s popularity, it should be enough to placate Grander.”

  “And if it isn’t?” Blake asked.

  “I honestly don’t know.” Scott had made thinly-veiled threats over the past two days. Threats that couldn’t be ignored when Reckless wasn’t in a position of power. “Your current contract states the number of tour dates should be determined by buyer demand, not band availability. Even though Grander signed off on this tour being shorter than previous years because of the baby, it doesn’t mean they can’t change their mind. And we all know they only agreed because they were hoping to sweeten you up for another contract.”

  “If only there was another way to go about it.” Blake stared at the closed folder, a hint of humor in his tone. “We need to boost this chick’s reputation and sex appeal, but we’re relying on a dude who hasn’t used his dick in ten years.”

  “Don’t worry about my dick,” Ryan muttered. “Gabi seems to think it works fine.”

  “Whoa.” Blake choked on a laugh. “When did you turn into a smart ass?”

  Leah pressed her lips tight to fight a grin.

  “I guess your taint has finally rubbed off on me.” Ryan turned his gaze to her, freezing her heart with those soulful eyes. “And now that I don’t have an ungrateful wife nagging me about my image, I can finally relax and not give a damn.”

  “At least once this charade is over, anyway.” He shouldn’t have to wait. He deserved the world and everything in it after putting up with Julie for so long.

  “I know.” He inclined his head. “It’s only a matter of time before I get what I want.”

  She stiffened, inside and out. There was a warning in his tone. A threat. Fuck. Maybe it was a promise. No. She shook off the stupidity and pulled her professionalism back into place. Clearly, she was hallucinating. Blake hadn’t even noticed the tension she seemed to think was clogging the air. He was still smiling at Ryan’s comeback, oblivious to her skip down Daydream Lane.

  The last awaited knock sounded at the door, breaking the silence and tearing a pathetic gasp from her throat. Motherfucker. She needed to stop being a tem
peramental Nancy around him. One kiss shouldn’t have the power to shake foundations. Not when she’d successfully ignored the topic for this long.

  “Let’s do this.” She shoved back in her chair, more aggressive than necessary. “And please, for the love of god, think before you speak.”

  She made for the entrance, trudging her grumpy ass forward, feeling Ryan’s stare follow her for the duration. With a heavy yank of the knob, she swung the door wide and glanced at the unwanted guests in turn.

  “Scott…”

  The Grander representative gave a smug grin.

  “Felicity…” The woman, on the other hand, was subdued. Her smile was in place, yet her eyes were filled with scrutiny. Judgement. For someone who had been given the golden goose to skyrocket her career, she definitely wasn’t showing a worthy dose of excitement. “Come in. Take a seat.”

  Leah hung back as her guests shared nauseatingly merry greetings and made themselves comfortable around the dining table. This was it, the moment where Ryan jumped from one bad decision to another. One unworthy woman to the next. All for the sake of the Reckless Beat family.

  “I gather you’ve informed Felicity on the publicity stunt.” She pulled out the chair at the head of the table and took a seat.

  “Yes.” The woman nodded. “But please, call me Flick. Only my mother calls me by my real name.”

  “Sure.” How cute. She focused on Scott, ignoring the way Ryan and Blake eyeballed the singer. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “You tell me. As far as Grander is concerned, we have nothing to do with this. It’s all on you.”

  “Right… So you’re demanding this publicity stunt take place but refuse to be a part of it?” Yippee fucking ki-yay. She couldn’t wait to add Fake Relationship Facilitator to her resume.

  “I don’t think we need our hands held,” Ryan said to Felicity. “Do you?”

  The woman cringed. “God, I hope not. I feel embarrassed enough already.”