Manage Me (Taven's Circus Book 1)

by Unknown

  “Hey, this is my lip now, so take better care of it.” I can feel him getting hard again and he starts to slowly move his hips again. Jaden’s large hands find you bare ass lifting me up so I wrap my weak arms around his shoulders, and he slowly sinks us into the hot water.

  Chapter 21

  Nell

  We finally are able to pry our hands and mouths off each other long enough to make it back to the bus. We were leaving in the morning for Seattle, WA for one night before heading out to The Gorge Amphitheater in George. A location that I have never been to but have always wanted to see. The Gorge is rated the best scenic concert venue in the world. The main stage sits at the edge of a cliff overlooking an enormous view of the Columbia River that snakes through the foothills of the Cascade Range.

  Jaden left for his parents’ house after we parted ways. Finn and Ashton also went to their parents and I haven’t seen Ryker since he left the stage. Gemma has a flight out early to make the wedding she has to shoot, so she crashed as soon as I came in. She is going to meet up with us next weekend at The Gorge, so we can get some more footage for the video.

  I decide to sleep in Jaden’s big bed tonight. Not that my rack wasn’t totally comfortable but I wanted to wrap him around me. The back bedroom is huge, with a queen beds headboard rests against the opaque glass of the huge tile shower. The left wall is lined with a vanity table with mirror sitting on a dozen drawers. All but two have colored duct tape with names claiming them. I snuggle into the big bed, covered in black from the sheets to the comforter. I curl up into the sheets, surrounding myself with his spicy scent. Because I am alone, I allow a big stupid smile to spread across my face. Turning into the pillow, I let out a happy scream, and squirm around in the bed in excitement.

  I freeze at the knock on the door.

  “Uh, are you okay in there?” Comes Ryker’s concerned voice through the door.

  “Yeah, Ryker, I am fine.” I squeak out as I pull a pillow over my face.

  “Nell?” Comes his questioning tone as he pops open the door. I decide to stay hidden, since no one knows about Jaden and I and he is now finding me in Jaden’s empty bed. “Hey, what are you doing in here?”

  Pulling the pillow from my face, I try not to look guilty. “Oh, well, Jaden is staying with his family tonight, so I just thought that since he was going to be gone, that I would steal a chance at sleeping in a real bed for a night.” I give him my best innocent look. ”What are you doing back here?”

  “I had the same thought, then heard you screaming. It didn’t sound like the fun kind that usually comes from this room.” I try hard not to flinch and Ryker chuckles before falling forward onto the bed.

  “Uh…dibs, what are you doing?”

  “We are the only two on the bus tonight. I thought we could hang out.” He says almost shyly.

  I realize then that we are in his hometown and he is staying the night on the bus. He didn’t have anyone cheering him on tonight like the rest on the band. No family, no friends. I quickly gather that the band is his family but that doesn’t make this time easy for him.

  “Yeah, we can hang out. What do you want to do?” I smile at him and see a sense of relief wash over his face.

  “We could make some food and watch a movie.”

  “I get to pick the movie!” I yell jumping up.

  “Fine, but I pick snacks.”

  “Deal,” Along the vanity there is a line of blueray cases. I start skimming the titles, as Ryker makes his way to the kitchen.

  All the movies are either action, comedy, or horror. I love a good horror movie, so I grab Rob Zombies, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. I set up the first one in the player then head out to help Ryker with snack. Upon entering the kitchen I smell popcorn. He has about 10 different kinds of candies mixed in a bowl, a 6-pack of Dr. Pepper, and a bag of Cheetos.

  “My god, you eat like a 10 year old.” I laugh grabbing a soda. “Mmm… my favorite.”

  “Me too. And yeah, I kind of splurge in the candy aisle. We didn’t have a lot when I was growing up and so candy wasn’t something that I got very often.”

  “Well it’s a good thing that I love candy.” I say popping a skittle into my mouth and grinning. “Do your parents still live in Oregon?”

  “No, they are both dead.” His face closing off.

  “Yeah, my mom is dead. Died when I was 16.” We share the quiet moment but neither of us elaborate. The microwave dings and Ryker grabs the bag out, adding it to the bowl of candy, then mixing it all together.

  “Gah, what are you doing!”

  “Its good trust me.” He loads up his arms, making his way back to the bedroom, leaving me to stare in shock at the candy he just destroyed.

  We make ourselves comfy on the bed with our snacks. With an unspoken agreement Ryker stays on the outside of the blankets fully clothed. The candy concoction from hell is actually really yummy. The salty, sweet, buttery mix somehow taste delicious.

  We make it about half way through the first movie and half the bowl of sugary goodness before we both pass out.

  Chapter 22

  Jaden

  I make my way back to the bus early since I have to meet up with Emily to talk in a couple hours. It is always great to see my family but when we are all under the same roof it becomes a bit overwhelming. Plus, I miss her. I want to see Nell before having to face the dragon.

  We will be heading to Seattle. I am looking forward to having 24/7 together for the next 3 months. A fact that didn’t freak me out at all. In fact I was truly excited to spend more time with her. I want to hear about her childhood growing up with all those music legends. I want to know what foods she likes, her favorite movies, and what her favorite color is. I want to know what makes Nell tick and what drives her. I want to just bury myself deep inside her over and over again.

  I think about the night before in the hot tub. Nell was definitely not the innocent girl that I thought she was and I fucking love it. I love that she was willing to play games with me. She messed with me right back, which is a first. Most girls will just jump on for the ride so they can say they fucked me. Nell wanted to challenge me and make me work to get her. She is stubborn and competitive. My cock is twitching in excitement and I hope I can convince her to play another game before I have to leave.

  Entering the bus, Finn and Ashton are quietly eating cereal together.

  “Hey, so I wanted to talk to you guy about something real quick.” They both eye me with concern. I told them and Ryker, about Emily’s pregnancy and they all felt the same way I do about it. “I know things are crazy with the whole Emily thing but uh,” I lose my nerve a little bit but power through. "Nell and I, uh, well I really like Nell.” I finally get out. They both give him the same what the fuck look.

  “Jaden what? You can’t date Nell, she is Craven’s daughter. You can’t gamble with the bands future because you can’t keep your dick in your pants.” Ashton spits out, trying to be quiet but she looks like she's about to jump out of her chair and choke me.

  “It’s not like that. I really do like her. I want to see where this can go with us.”

  “What about Emily? Have you even warned Nell about that crazy asshole?” Finn jumps in.

  “No, I haven’t told her yet, I wanted to wait until we get the results of a paternity test before freaking everyone out about it. I am meeting up with her this morning to talk through a plan. I’m going to tell her that I will pay for the test to be done and that it needs to stay absolutely quiet. No one needs to know about any of this especially my family.”

  Ashton is shaking her head but Finn continues, “Good, that all sounds great. Hopefully she will be understanding…” he say this while giving me a, good fucking luck, look, “And what happens when you lose interest in Nell, in a week? We have 3 months to spend trapped on this bus with the two of you. Do you really think that you can just sleep with a girl like Nell then ditcher to sleep with another chick 6 feet away?”

  “I told
you, it’s not like that with her.” I feel like they are my parents lecturing me.

  “It better not be like that Jaden. We all love this band, the music, the fans, the tours, it’s not fair to ask us all to risk losing that because you have a crush.”

  “I promise, I am not going to fuck this up. If it doesn’t work out with us, we will figure out how to continue working together. This won’t affect the band. She knows how much the band means to us. She wouldn’t do that to us.”

  “You’ve known her for like two seconds. You have no idea what she would and wouldn’t do to us.” Ashton points out.

  “Look, she doesn’t want to fuck up her career either. Going to her Dad or trying to fuck with us, if we don’t work out, would fuck her up too. She is the first chick I've liked, and I mean really like, in forever. She’s not just some groupie skank that I want to get my rocks off with, and while yeah that part is fucking amazing, I do actually like to hang out with her too.” They both just stare at me.

  “Jesus, does everyone really think I am that bad?” I ask starting to feel like I am a huge asshole without knowing it.

  “Well you haven’t been with a girl for more than a couple nights since, you know…” Ashton trails off without saying the name of the girl, we all promised we would never talk about again. Regardless to her sensitivity I still visibly flinch.

  “Yeah, well…” With the thought of her, I feel my walls crash down. I hadn’t actually thought about her in years but I can see how what she did has directly affected my need to keep girls from getting close.

  “Let’s just drop it. We know you’re a good guy, Jaden. We all know that she wreaked havoc in your life but Nell does seem really great and fairly sane, besides being interested in you.” Ashton says trying to make light of the situation. Finn eagerly nods his agreement with her.

  Shaking my head, it dawns on me that it’s just the three of us. “Where is Nell and Ryker?”

  “Still asleep I think.” Finn says as milk dribbles down his chin.

  I make my way past him, through the kitchen, and into the hall with the bunks. Nell’s bed is empty and with a grin, I assume she decided to sleep in my bed. Heading through the large bathroom area to the bedroom door, I try to open it as quietly as I can.

  She sleeps soundly in my spot on the bed. Her face smothered in my pillow. The comforter half covering her with one long smooth bare leg thrown over another pillow. It’s almost as if she built herself a Jaden pillow to snuggle with. A big grin breaks out on my face as I creep closer. I can just make out the hem of her shorts and a strap of a tank top on her shoulder, bummer, I guess she isn’t sleeping naked. I survey the rest of the bed noticing the blanket that is usually at the end of the bed tossed over Ryker.

  My blood fires straight to kill mode and I reach grabbing his shirt and hulling him up to my face. A couple pieces of candy stick to his cheek and a strain of drool came with him hanging off his chin.

  “What the fuck are you doing in bed with Nell?” I roar at my best friend. His blurred sleepy eyes focus on my face with a look of confusion.

  Nell jumps out of bed and pulls on my arm, “Jaden let him go! Nothing happened, we were watching movies, and fell asleep!” she tries for calm but I don’t hear her. Finn barrels through the bedroom door and tryies to get between us. Ryker still hasn’t said anything, he just looks at me with hurt in his eyes.

  The look he is giving me take a few minutes to register past my fury. But when it does I stop, I let him go, and take some steps back. Nell is in my arms, grabbing my face to look at her. When I do, her eyes are full of tears, and her mouth is moving but I can’t hear anything. I close my eyes and shake my head making my hearing return.

  “Watching scary movies, eating candy, and drinking soda. We must have fallen asleep. I swear we were just hanging out. It wasn’t anything like what you are thinking.” The tears are falling down her face and I reach up catching them, nodding my head. I see that now. Ryker is still fully clothed in jeans and a t-shirt. A big bowl of popcorn and candy is tipped over in the middle of the bed. Soda cans litter the top of the headboard. The TV is even still on running the blue rays screensaver.

  “Yeah, I see that. Sorry for jumping to conclusion.” I mumble, feeling like an ass for flipping out. Even though I don’t know Nell all that well, I do know Ryker, and he is my brother. He would never, ever do that to me. “Ryk, I am sorry, man…I” before I can continue Ryker stomps out of the room. I start to head after him but Finn grabs my arm stopping me.

  “Let him go and give him some time. You know how he is’, I nod agreeing and turn back to Nell, Finn and Ashton head out, closing the door.

  I step into Nell’s space and grab her tear stained face with both hands. “I’m sorry,” I say softly looking deep into her eyes.

  She tries to shake her head, to shake off the apology, but I don’t let her. “I was an ass and lost my cool. I should have taken a second but I didn’t and I am sorry. I had just been talking with Finn and Ashton about some shit and it had me spun up. Walking in here, I just wasn’t expecting to see, what I saw. Will you forgive me?” Nell lightly nods. The look of fear in her eyes is gone and she tries out a smile. I lean forward brushing my lips softly against hers. I need her to give me the okay, before going deeper, and luckily I don’t have to wait long as she leans into my kiss, sealing our lips together.

  We kiss lightly at first, but her hands soon weave up into my hair pulling me tighter against her. Nibbling on her lips causes her to release a sweet gasp but coyly pushes me back before I get to really dive into her.

  “So what were you talking about with Finn and Ashton that had you all spun up?” Damn it I was hoping to not have to talk about this now. But after being such a douche I know I own her more of an explanation. Mulling it over, Nell patiently waits me out.

  “My ex.” I pause, maybe she’ll be satisfied with that…

  Arching a brow and folding her arms over her chest. “Annnnnd?”

  Damn it.

  “And how she played a big part in royally fucking me up for any future I'd hoped to have with a female.” I take a deep breath, readying myself to spill my guts.

  “I had known…Courtney,” I choke over the name, “for years. She was the only kid on the street my age to play with so we ended up falling in together. When high school hit, we eventually started dating. She was my first real girlfriend, my first real anything. We lost our virginity to each other, and thought we would be together forever. She loved coming to see us practice and always made it to every performance. After we all graduated, it became all about the music for us but Court was still there. She worked and was in school. I made it through a couple semesters but knew that it just wasn’t for me, music was, and school was taking my time away from the band.” I run my hands through my hair and pause, I hate talking about this time. Nell pulls me over to the bed and pushes me to sit. She sits down next to me, grabbing my hand, resting it on her bare knee. Offering me silent support to continue my story.

  “Toven’s Circus was quickly building a following in Portland and we were getting booked at bigger places. A few labels came out to talk to us but no one had made any offers yet. After quitting school, I got a job making pizzas at the Blooming Onion. We all worked crappy jobs and put any extra money towards studio time. Court and I started having fights about how much I was devoting to the band. She was ready to settle down, wanted me to get a real job, so we could move in together. I didn’t not want to settle down and have a family someday, but I didn’t want it when I was 19 years old. I wanted my music, I wanted my band. I wanted to see, to travel, and share my music with the world. Despite our issues, we stayed together, and things seemed to be going fine when we continued to not get signed.

  When we heard that Craven was interested and sending someone to see us play, we were out of our minds excited. Our big break was just right there and we just needed to focus. We wrote some new songs and practiced until everything was perfect. The night finally came and we wer
e air tight, playing better than ever before.” I am grinning ear to ear at the memory.

  “It turns out, that your Dad decided that he wanted to come in person to see us instead of sending someone else. He offered a deal at the end of our set. We naively signed the contract, that we were lucky was a good deal, because he could have royally screwed us. But your dad is a good guy and it’s a big reason he has become so successful.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know how wonderful and noble my father is, keep going.” Nell says rolling her eyes.

  “Yeah okay, Princess.” She laughs, punching out to hit my arm but I grab her, pulling her into me for a kiss. Despite the heaviness of the conversation, I can’t seem to keep my hands off her for long. I nibble on her jaw to her neck, wanting to get her under me again, but she pushes me back again with the sweetest giggle.