Play Hard (The Devil's Share Book 5)

by Maxa,L. P.

  She pursed her lips. “Um, a four?” She looked down between our bodies when she felt my cock start to harden on her thigh. “But this time, you’re wearing a condom.”

  “Probably a good idea.” I hopped out of bed and went over to my suitcase. “Uh, Lo?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you take the condoms out of my bag already?” I traveled with a jumbo economy-size box of Trojans. It was hard to miss but I couldn’t seem to find it anywhere.

  “No…why?”

  “Shit.” I stepped into some shorts and pulled a hoodie over my head. “I think I may have left them back in Nashville. I’ll run down to the gift shop and grab some.” I paused with my hand on the door. “Unless of course pull and pray works for—”

  “No.”

  I held my hands up. “Fair enough. I’ll be right back.” I took the stairs, for the second time today, two at a time. I busted through the door, jogged to the lobby and then skidded to a halt when I caught sight of the gift shop. It was full of pink boas, looked like some kind of bachelorette party. I did not want to go in there and be recognized; it’d take me an hour to make my way back to our room. Lo would be asleep, and she’d look all peaceful cuddled up with Lou and I wouldn’t have the heart to wake her up just to bang her against a wall.

  I pulled out my phone, sending out a group text to my band.

  Me: Any of y’all have any condoms?

  Their responses were immediate and one right after the other.

  Smith: Nope

  Jacks: I’m never using a condom ever again. EVER.

  Dash: My dick’s so powerful it destroys them.

  I rolled my eyes.

  Me: You assholes know that unprotected sex leads to unplanned pregnancies, right? #babiesareablessing #ilovemynieces

  I tapped my foot, my eyes searching the people in the lobby. Maybe I could pay some teenage kid to grab some for me. Or the concierge.

  Jacks: B’s on the pill.

  Smith: Stop using hashtags, you pussy.

  Dash: PROTECTED sex leads to unplanned pregnancies too.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. I’d missed these guys while I was gone. We were all so different, as evidenced by this group text, but we were a family.

  Dash: Lex is in the gift shop buying more bottled water. Ask her to get you some.

  Jacks: Fuck that noise, call room service, they’ll bring them up for the right price.

  Smith: Pull out.

  Jacks’ answer would have won out if I’d still been on my floor. And Smith’s suggestion could only work so many times and we were already pushing it. Plus it’d been vetoed by Lo. I sighed and hit Lexi’s name on my favorites list and waited for her to answer.

  “Hey, Lukey, what’s up?”

  “Can you buy me some condoms?”

  There was a long pause and then Lexi spoke in a whisper. “Hello? Is this Luke from 2006? Did you just climb out of your DeLorean?”

  I chuckled. “You’re such a nerd.”

  “Says the grown man who just called and asked me to procure him some prophylactics like he’s a scared high school sophomore.”

  I stood on my toes, trying to see around the sea of chicks to spot Lexi. “I’m standing outside the gift shop. I don’t want to get stopped in that crowd of buzzed bachelorettes.”

  She snorted. “I don’t blame you. One of them just asked me to help her tie her shoe.” I finally spotted Lexi. She was next in line at the register. I watched as she stepped up to the counter. “Do you have any condoms?” She said it loudly, causing everyone’s head to turn to her.

  I hung my head. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” She didn’t answer, but I saw her start to smile when I heard the man ask her which ones she wanted.

  She put her finger to her chin. “The smallest ones you sell, please.” The girls around her started to snicker. Lexi paid for her purchases and then turned to leave. I was bouncing on my feet at this point, aching to get upstairs. Lexi shrugged, addressing the group. “He’s gorgeous as hell, and he’s good with his hands. But he has the smallest dick I’ve ever seen.” She sighed. “It’s sad really.” I ran my hands down my face and then watched in horror as she walked out of the store and straight toward me, tossing me the box as she passed.

  I stood frozen for several seconds. I could feel all eyes on me. I ground my teeth together and then turned heel to follow Lexi to the elevators. I pulled out my phone and replied to the group text.

  Me: Thanks, bro. Your fiancée is deranged.

  Dash: You had to know she was going to fuck with you.

  Jacks: What’d she do? Was it epic? Damn, I wish I’d have been there.

  Smith: Please tell me the whole hotel thinks you have a micro dick.

  Me: If there was a middle finger emoji, I’d send it right now.

  Smith: hahahahahahahahahaha

  Jacks: lol

  Dash: I’m sorry, bud.

  Me: Thanks.

  Dash: and also, ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahalol

  “Come on, Lukey. Ride in the elevator with me, it was just a joke.” Lexi was holding the door open for me.

  I frowned as I stepped inside. “You’re hilarious. Really. I don’t know how Dash doesn’t piss his pants every day from laughing so hard.”

  “Don’t you worry about Dash, I can make him do other things in his pants.” She winked and my scowl deepened. “I’m actually glad that you are currently trapped in here with me.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “That sounds creepy as fuck, Lex.”

  “It’s just that we didn’t get to finish talking this morning at the coffee shop. And I have some things I really need to get out.” She stared at me, when I gave her a resigned nod she continued. “I know that you always pictured us together. But, and this is hard for me to say to you, I never felt that way. I’m sorry for not telling you that before, when we were younger. I always wanted to be a part of your life, but I never wanted the part you wanted me to play. You know?”

  I didn’t really want to be having this discussion right now. I should have taken the stairs. I’d be buried in Lo right now. Not hashing out my issues with Lexi. Huh. Would you look at that? I wanted to be with Lo, not Lex. I took a deep breath, ready to get this all on the table so I could be with my girl. “I know, and it was stupid of me to hold on to that notion for so fucking long.” I dipped my chin. “I think I convinced myself that we weren’t together because I hadn’t made my move yet. It’s stupid really, but when you came to see that first show, the one in Austin? I was going to tell you then, tell you I wanted you.”

  “Instead I hooked up with your lead singer and broke your heart.” Lexi bit at her lip, a tell she and I both shared.

  “No. Instead you met your soul mate and conceived my goddaughter.” And that was how I planned on seeing things from now on.

  Lexi threw her arms around my neck. “Thank you.”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Harlow

  “Did you get lost?”

  Luke came in the door, shutting it quietly so he didn’t wake up my snoring puppy, then tossed the travel-size box of condoms on the bed. “It was an interesting trip.” He grabbed the back of his shirt, removing it in that sexy way that only men seemed to accomplish. “You still naked?”

  I lifted the covers, checking for him. “Seems that way.”

  He kicked off his shorts and then stalked toward the bed. “Stand up.” I did what he demanded of me, I always did. It was like I couldn’t help myself. He tore open a condom and slid it expertly down his stiff shaft, stopping a few inches from the edge of the bed. “You ready?” He searched my eyes; he must have found the permission he was looking for because he picked me up and spun around. I was trapped between Luke’s rock-hard body and the wall. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he entered me in one slow slide. He wanted to bang me against this wall, he’d said as much before he’d left the room. But he was being careful, holding back, making sure not to hurt me.

  I put my mouth on his neck
, just like he had done with me in shower. I bit down hard and started to suck on his skin. “Fuck, baby.” He threw his head back, losing all restraint. He nailed into me, unrelenting.

  I’d never experienced sex like this before. Everything with Luke was almost brand new. He was so demanding, so rough. But at the same time, his every touch made me feel special. I let my nails dig into his shoulders, causing him to let out a strangled growl.

  “Get there, Pix.” He lifted me higher, thrusting up into my body and putting his mouth on my breasts. He suckled and bit, causing jolts of pleasure to shoot down to my core. Before I could even comprehend what was happening I was clenching around him, coming so suddenly that I forgot to breathe. “Holy fuck. That right there, baby. I fucking live for that, for your pussy fisting my dick.” His hands tightened on my ass and his thighs tensed, he came on a loud, long groan.

  ***

  One more walk and another shower later and we were lying back in bed with Louie in between us. “He’s going to have to get his own bed.”

  “I’ll get him a crate and a bed for New York.” I reached out and patted his bare puppy belly. “But when I’m back home in Miami he can sleep with me. I won’t mind.” Luke and I hadn’t discussed what was going to happen after their next stop. They had a few more weeks of work to do and I had a home and a life back in Florida. It was a sobering thought.

  “Yeah, well, when y’all come to Texas he’s sleeping on the floor. The fact that you aren’t lying on me naked right now is really bumming me out.”

  I was afraid to look at him, afraid that I had heard wrong. “When we come to Texas?”

  He threaded his fingers through mine. “You’ll come visit me, right? I know I still have a bunch more stops on the press tour, but once we make it home I want to see you.” He kissed the back of my hand. “I’m sure I’ll be missing you like fucking crazy by that point.”

  I couldn’t not smile. Hell, I was smiling so big my cheeks hurt. But I played it cool. “Sure, we’d love to.” I guessed now was as good a time as any to ask him about coming to my dad’s. “Hey, remember when you said that you would owe me one?” I started tracing circles on his nipples.

  “Yeah. Did you come up with something?” He spoke against the top of my head. I loved that he was always touching me, that he demanded the constant contact.

  “I need you to come with me to my dad’s for a few hours, return the pretend dating favor.” He didn’t say anything right away, so I got nervous. “I know that after everything I’ve said about him the last thing you want to do is go meet him. But I talked to him today and he was questioning me about you because he saw pictures of us together. It just slipped out that we were dating and I told him you were coming and I should have never done that without asking you first, but he made these really stereotypical comments about me adopting a pit bull, and it pissed me off.”

  Luke’s mouth was still pressed against my hair. “Are you done?” I nodded. “Of course I’ll come with you to your dad’s. I’d never planned on making you go through that alone, even before we started dating. And we are dating by the way. There is no faking, there is no pretend. You are mine. You got that?”

  “And you’re mine?”

  “Of course I’m yours. I’ve been yours since you cock blocked me with that flight attendant.” His voice lost some of its humor. “I’m sorry I tried to push you away. I’m sorry you had to watch that…watch me deal with all that Lex—”

  “You weren’t pushing me away, kid.” I didn’t want to bring her into this moment. This was just about Luke and me, about us coming together. Realizing what we meant to each other, what we wanted out of all this. “You were just finding your footing is all.”

  “I’d never have found it without you, Pix. You showed me who I could be, who I wanted to be. By wanting me, liking me, wounded heart and all.”

  We lay there in silence, letting the heaviness settle between us. Finally I sat up and removed my shirt, crawling on top of Luke’s bare chest. He wrapped his arms around me and let out a content sigh.

  “There’s my girl.”

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Luke

  The only alone time I’d gotten with Lo today was on the forty-five-minute car ride from Newark to New York City. We’d dropped the girls off at the newest hotel and then been whisked away to a cover shoot for People magazine. They were doing a whole exposé on the band, our history and our recent shift in sound. We rarely did stuff like this, and when we did it was for Rolling Stone or Texas Monthly. People was something none of us ever even read. But the label had insisted, and we’d relented only because we were proud as hell of our new album and we wanted it to succeed. We hadn’t even told the chicks that it was happening, all of us borderline too embarrassed. We were rockers, not actors.

  “This is the most ridiculous I’ve ever felt in my life. And I banged a chick once who wanted me to bark like a dog.” Jacks was wearing nothing but incredibly snug briefs and combat boots. “I don’t even know how to ride a bike, guys.” He called out to the photographers from astride a vintage Triumph.

  Smith raised his hand. “I know how to ride a bike. But I’ve never laid out by a pool covered in oil, ever.” He threw a help-me look at Dash. “Come on, man. We can’t do this. It isn’t us.”

  “Yeah, I’m for sure not digging this.” I climbed down off the horse they’d put me on. There were several green screens and mock sets up around the large warehouse. They had us all separated and doing things so out of character that it was just stupid.

  Dash hung his head, his hands on his narrow naked hips. They hadn’t even given him clothes. “Okay, we need a time-out, please.” He called out to the massive crew of people they had working on us, holding his hands in a “T.” All of us abandoned our asinine posts and joined in the center of the space. “I know this seems lame. I don’t want to do it either, I can assure you. But this spread will go a long way in promoting the band, which will in turn promote the new album.”

  “We all agreed to do this, and I’m not saying I want to back out. It’s just…,” Smith gestured around the room. “Does it have to be so stereotypical? Can’t we just be ourselves?”

  Dash pursed his lips, his eyes darting around at all the different sets and then back to us. “Let me see what I can do.”

  ***

  “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Lexi walked in to the now completely empty warehouse, her camera bag slung over her shoulder.

  Dash turned to us. “I promised them they’d get their sexy pictures, as long as we could do it our way.”

  Jacks started laughing. “Perfect. I love it.”

  “I can’t believe you guys never told us about this.” Lexi started setting her stuff out on a long table against the nearest wall. “We missed out on a lot of good jokes at y’all’s expense.”

  Lexi was an amazing photographer, she really was. I had been captivated by her work even when I was too young to really understand art. She moved around the warehouse with so much confidence, so at ease with her camera in her hand like it was an extension of herself. It’d been too long since I’d gotten to watch her work, watch her create. And for a while I sat and did just that.

  She set Jacks up, in those same briefs with a guitar in his lap and a bottle of whiskey at his feet. Then she made him remove the bottoms, after Dash threw a small fit about her seeing Jacks’ dick, she had him wail on that guitar for a solid five minutes. After a while, you could tell that he forgot the rest of us were still in the room. Getting lost in the music.

  She made Smith climb on the bike and ride it around the massive space, she made joke after joke. Making him laugh in that sarcastic way that only she could. Then she made him do some yoga, something they’d done together while she was pregnant with Halen.

  Dash wore a pair of low-hanging jeans, so low you could pretty much see where his dick started. He lay on a couch and she climbed on with him. Getting shots from angles that would have been impossible otherwise, getting
these smoldering looks that Dash wouldn’t have given up for anyone else.

  “Okay, Lukey. Your turn.” I stood and met her over in front a fake graffitied brick wall. “Take off your shirt and set up that drum set.”

  I shrugged out of my hoodie and then did what she asked, with her taking pictures all the while. Luckily the chick in makeup had been able to cover up most of Lo’s bite marks. I really didn’t feel like explaining that to the band right now.

  I’d set up and taken down my set so many times I could do it with my eyes closed. It was one of the first things I’d taught Landry to do when I started giving her lessons. “Now what?”

  “Drop the pants, sit down, and play real fucking hard.” She threw handfuls of glitter on the tops of the drums, winking at me.

  I sat down, grinning, and played. I played all my old favorite songs, the ones I’d perfected when I was still a kid. The ones that had made me fall in love with the instrument in the first place.

  Eventually she stopped taking pictures and just stood and watched me play. Wearing the same look on her face I was sure I’d worn while I watched her take our pictures. My heart warmed at the memory that surfaced. And, thank fuck, for the first time in a long time, I welcomed it.

  “You played great tonight, Lukey. The crowd was going crazy.”

  It was a week into my band’s first tour. Friends since we were kids, we were having the time of our lives, none of us even old enough to legally drink at the bars we were playing in every night. “Yeah? Thanks, Lex.” I took the towel she handed me, wiping the sweat from my body. “Did you get some good shots?”

  “Tons. The camera loves you. Wanna see?” She pulled two beers from the metal trough backstage and handed me one. “Or would you rather party with the rest of the guys?”