One More Night (Backstage Pass Book 1)

by Ali Parker

  It actually brought a smile to my face, wondering what kind of punishment she would’ve thought out for Jared. I would have bet anything that he would be washing dishes all the way into next year, and it was only nearing the end of May now.

  “You can tease me all you want, but someone needs to point these things out to you. I’m just the lucky winner of having that role this morning. After I get off the phone with you, I also get to be the one to take care of the PR spin on this whole thing. So, if that’s all, I really should be going.”

  “Lecture over already? I thought I was going to have to pretend to listen to you for at least another two hours.” Jared still sounded like he didn’t have a care in the world.

  Sighing deeply, I mourned the precious minutes I’d spent trying to get through to him. I really had to learn that arrogant swagger was all there was to him, despite the glimpses I got sometimes that tried to convince me otherwise.

  “Nope, I don’t have two hours to teach you the basic traits of humanity. Some of us have to get to work. You do realize that this means that you lost the bet, right? It hasn’t been anywhere near a month, so no dinner. And if that was your plan, no chance to try to seduce me.”

  “You win some, you lose some.” Well, that stung a little. “Guess I’ll just have to get some other woman to fuck me. Millions of takers out there.”

  “Better get to it then,” I replied, masking the hurt I felt over his insult with sarcasm. It wasn’t like I thought I was anything special to him, but I also hadn’t thought that I meant absolutely nothing. I should have known better.

  “Yeah, I’d better,” he replied flatly, and for a split second, I thought that I heard something other than arrogant indifference in his tone, but it was gone so fast that I was sure my stupid imagination was just playing tricks on me again. “Time to get to work on that. I’m feeling a hot—”

  “Goodbye, Jared,” I interrupted him, not at all in the mood to hear what he was feeling. I hung up on him after that and set my phone down before I threw it against the exposed brick wall across from me.

  I felt insulted, mad, and on some level, a little disappointed that he not only lost our bet, but didn’t seem to care at all. I carried my coffee to my living room, grabbed my laptop from its bag, and prepared to get to work. Why did he have to be so confusing? And why did I care at all? He obviously didn’t. There’d been no trace of disappointment from his side, and the whole thing had been his idea.

  As I sank into my cranberry-colored couch, I tried to convince myself to nip the disappointment in the bud. I hadn’t even wanted to make the bet. There was no reason to feel dejected about having won it.

  The only reason you’re feeling like this is because he’s handsome and looks good in tight leather pants, I chided myself. It wasn’t anything more than that. The fact that he was more beautiful than any man had the right to be and that his ass was downright bitable in those pants didn’t mean that I could, or should, ignore his flaws. Of which, there were many.

  I just had to keep reminding myself of those. If I could do that, if I could just remember that he was an arrogant, self-involved man who thought that he was entitled to punch someone for the fun of it, I would be fine. I would be able to let go of this strange, unrequited disappointment, and focus on simply doing my job. A job that all those flaws of his had just made ten times harder.

  With that in mind, I finished off my coffee, typed in my password when my laptop prompted me to do so, and leaned back on my couch as I opened my browser to start searching for the evidence of Jared losing the bet. It was time to see how much damage control I was in for.

  A few seconds later, I felt myself going pale as I gaped at my screen. This was a nightmare. A bigger nightmare than going out to one dinner with Jared for winning, which was saying something.

  Not only had he lost the bet, but he’d done it the same way he seemed to do everything else: in a spectacular fashion, with a cocky smirk fixed on those full lips, and literally holding up his middle finger to anyone who dared to question his choices.

  Yeah, the guy was flawed alright. I needed more coffee. Since the news was spreading like wildfire, my day had just gotten longer. A lot freaking longer. If I had any hope of containing the situation, I was going to have to start pulling strings and calling in favors right away. Maybe give out a few favors, too.

  Goody.

  Grumbling as I made my way back to the kitchen, I wondered if this was a cosmic sign that I had to stop searching for the good in him, even in my dreams. “Good morning to you, too, universe. Consider your message received. Loud and clear.”

  CHAPTER 13

  JARED

  Absolute silence descended in the studio when I belted out the last note to the song we were recording. This.

  This feeling was one of the many reasons why we had the best job in the world. And why we didn’t need drugs to get high.

  We got it from being the fucking kings of what we did, and we’d proven it once again by laying down an unbelievable track. When the light blinked on to tell us we were in the clear, a chorus of “Fuck yeahs” erupted.

  I threw my fists into the air victoriously, turning in a slow circle to see Matt and Nick high five each other, while Nick threw his ass back and put a finger to his mouth. “Oops, we did it again,” he said.

  Even Dom was smiling as widely as a kid who got told that there was no math class that day. He slow-clapped and looked at Nick. “You’re ruining it, but yeah, we did.”

  It was only Caleb who was still wearing the same scowl he’d been wearing all week.

  The song we’d managed to nail and record for the album had an epic guitar solo of Caleb’s in it, and he’d rocked it. Yet judging by his expression, if I hadn’t known that he’d just made that solo his bitch, I would have thought that someone had just kicked his puppy or he got told he could never have vodka again.

  The guy was clearly in a dark place, and I didn’t like seeing him like that.

  “We done?” he asked, his fingers hovering over the fretboard of his guitar while his other arm hung limply by his side.

  Dom and I nodded in unison. “Think so. It doesn’t get much better than that. I think that’s it for that track.”

  Caleb gave a relieved sigh, lifted his guitar over his head until he was clear of the strap, and put it in its stand beside him. “Great, I’m out of here then. See you fuckers later. Or maybe not. Cheers.”

  Matt, Nick, Dom, and I shared a look, but all of them widened their eyes and shook their heads. No one knew what was going on with him, which wasn’t necessarily odd since we didn’t sit around braiding each other’s hair and talking about our feelings, but it didn’t make me less worried about him.

  He should’ve been feeling the same good vibes as the rest of us, but he clearly wasn’t. I was riding cloud nine over that track. There was a spike of adrenaline in my blood, and I was feeling like something had just clicked into place in the universe, knowing that we had another hit on our hands. There was no other feeling like it, and I wondered why my brother wasn’t feeling it.

  He was already hurrying to the door, his back turned to us as he tossed his hand up for a final wave. I immediately followed him out, catching up to him in the quiet hallway. Turning when he heard my footsteps behind him, he crossed his arms as if expecting a confrontation and narrowed his eyes.

  Everything about him, from the way that his shoulders were locked, to the way that his eyes were almost black in warning, told me that he wanted me to fuck right the hell off. Too bad for him, I sucked at heeding warnings. I stopped only when there was just about who feet between us and dipped my chin, demanding an explanation from him.

  “What?”

  I held my palms up to show that I came in peace, then stuffed my hands into the back pockets of my favorite pair of black leather pants. “You know what. You’ve been cranky and pissy all week. I’m beyond confused about why you’re even mad. That went great in there.”

  Caleb shoved a hand
in his hair, dragging it through a few times before it came to a rest at the back of his neck. Defiance mingled with defeat in his dark eyes until he blinked it away, sighing and rubbing at his side like he always did when something was bothering him. I knew that the words, Always Remember, were tattooed on the skin he was touching over his black Henley.

  I had the same words tattooed in the same place. We’d gotten them done together to mark the five-year anniversary of our parents’ death, and Caleb had a habit of touching his when he was searching for strength. I didn’t think that anyone outside of the band knew that, though.

  “It’s not about the song,” he finally said, dropping his hand back to his side. “I know we sounded great, and I agree that the track is done. I just need to get out of here.”

  “What’s it about, then? Are you still hung up on the arrest?”

  Caleb paused, then nodded. “Kind of.”

  “That was a week ago. Alicia has taken care of the press, and the charges were dropped. No harm, no foul. It’s time to let it go, dude.”

  “How am I supposed to do that? We got arrested for assault. That’s not exactly something to be proud of.” Caleb’s eyes darted to the framed picture of Axl Rose on the wall beside him before he squeezed them shut.

  “The only reason assault even became a thing was because you took a swing at the bouncer,” I pointed out, still not understanding why he seemed mad at me, when for once, it hadn’t been me who had gotten us into the situation.

  “I know, okay. I got steamed up. I admit it. And I take full responsibility for that. I was just so angry that that chick came onto me, when she had a boyfriend, that I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t want to fight the guy. I didn’t even see him or know that he was her boyfriend when he swung at me. I only realized what was going on when he asked me what the fuck I thought I was doing with his girl, but by then, he was already hitting me, so I hit him back. I knew I was the one in the wrong for being on my way to fuck his girl in the first place, but I had no idea, you know?”

  He put his palm to his side again and huffed out a sigh that mirrored the pain in his eyes. It was suddenly clear as daylight what he was hung up on, and what had been going on with him since we got arrested. Fuck, I was an idiot for not seeing it sooner.

  Putting my hands on his shoulders, I spoke to him as his brother, and not his bandmate or the egomaniac rock star that I portrayed, just me. The ass who should’ve pieced together where, or to who, his mind had gone. It was a miracle that he’d managed to nail the solo while in this frame of mind.

  “I know. I know that you didn’t want, or mean, to fight him, and I get that the chick being down to fuck you when she was in a relationship triggered you. That girl wasn’t Liz though, man. You need to chill out, calm the fuck down, and let it go.”

  “You keep telling me that you understand shit, but you don’t. How do you suggest I do that, Jared? How does the great Jared-fucking-Larsen propose that I chill out and get over it?” He stared daggers at me for having brought up the woman who’d betrayed him, ripped out his once-romantic heart, and made him believe that relationships were for idiotic fucks. I deserved it, but it didn’t make what I said any less true.

  “I’m not sorry for bringing her up. You know she was at the root of what happened, and you know that I’ll always have your back. If punching out half of LA is what it takes, I’ll be swinging right beside you, but there has to be a better way. I don’t know. Maybe you should consider taking a long break by yourself when we’re done recording. There should be enough time before we start the tour.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Caleb said, tension still rolling off him in waves. Then he sighed and stared off past my head, as if he were talking to himself in an empty room. “There might be time, but there’ll also be all the promotional shit that we’ve got to do. So probably no time to get away.”

  “There are also four other people in the band with you. If you want to go, go. We’ll deal with it as it comes. Being a rock star is supposed to be fun. I don’t like you being unhappy, and if seeing you happy again means stepping up and doing more interviews or whatever, then I’ll do it.”

  “Thanks man. I’ll think about it.” His eyes, so much like my own, met mine, and there was a tiny amount of life there. Tiny, but I would take it. “You’re right that it might be a good idea. Thanks for having my back that night. I don’t think I got around to saying that.”

  “Always.”

  With a nod of his head and, at least partially, seeming lighter, he turned and walked away from me. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I hoped that he would take my advice.

  I also hoped that it would work. Contrary to what Alicia believed, I knew what responsibility was, and I still felt it for Caleb. I just wanted him to be happy and to actually enjoy the life that we’d made for ourselves. Was that really too much to ask?

  I headed the other way down the hallway, surprised when I turned the corner to find Alicia lurking there. Shit, I wondered how long she’d been standing there.

  That was a private conversation that I knew Caleb wouldn’t appreciate someone else hearing. I also didn’t like the thought that she might have heard me when I was just being me. Time to rectify that, just in case.

  Pulling my lips into a knowing smirk, I folded my arms across my chest and gave her a look that said, you’re busted. My tone was purposefully mocking when I told her, “Well, well, well. Eavesdropping, are we? That’s beneath you.”

  Indignation sparked in her shimmering blue eyes, but she might as well have had the word “Guilty” stamped on her forehead as she blurted out, “Why didn’t you tell me what the fight was about when you called?”

  I shrugged, playing the part of the disinterested star all too fucking well. “It didn’t matter then. It doesn’t matter now. We got arrested for assault. You needed to know that so you could get out ahead of the press. It wouldn’t have made any difference for you to know the reason behind the assault. The press doesn’t care about shit like that. They only care about the fact that we were arrested.”

  Alicia was quiet for a second, regarding me like I was some kind of anomaly, or a riddle that she was trying to solve. “That might be true, but I will always care about the story behind the story. Besides, you should have told me, if for no other reason than I probably wouldn’t have insulted you quite as much had I known the truth.”

  “No, you would have. You enjoy yelling at me too much to have passed up the opportunity.” I grinned as I pointed out the obvious, then stressed the important part of what she’d overheard. “I was just backing up my brother, but you should know that whether or not he was justified in having thrown that punch, I would have protected him anyway. And you didn’t insult me that much.”

  I stared her right in the eye as I said it, needing her to understand that she would have to be prepared for me getting into more completely unnecessary fights and not giving a single fuck if it made headlines, as long as it was to have my brother’s back. I cocked my head, fully expecting another lecture.

  What I got, however wasn’t that. Not at all. Instead, the woman managed to do what not many could. She surprised the living daylights out of me.

  “Yes, I did,” she muttered, her voice just barely above a whisper. “But even so, can I still take you up on that offer for dinner?”

  If my poker face was anything but perfected, my jaw would have hit the floor, and my eyebrows would have shot up so far they would have disappeared into my hair.

  Where the fuck did that come from? She looked as confused as I was feeling, but she didn’t take it back. Instead, she planted her hands on her hips and kept her eyes on mine. My lips curled into a slow smile, because as much as I had no idea what had caused this change in attitude, I wasn’t going to turn her down.

  “I like a woman with the balls to ask me out, so sure. Pick me up at seven on Friday, and don’t forget the flowers.” I batted my eyelashes and pressed a hand to my heart.

  Alicia rolled her eyes so hard t
hat I was worried they were going to be permanently stuck to the ceiling, then she glared at me, the tiny daggers those eyes were hurling at me lodging themselves firmly in my eyeballs. “I’m so going to regret this.”

  Shaking her head, she spun around and started walking down the hallway while I called out after her. “Call me!”

  She didn’t look back, but she threw a hand into the air with her thumb up, telling me that she’d heard me. I didn’t know whether she realized that I was actually being serious when I told her to call me.

  But as I watched her walk her tight ass away from me, covered today by a short, navy-blue dress with white dots on it, I decided that if she didn’t call me, I would call her. She’d given me an in, and as I imagined how good she would look naked as she disappeared down the hall, I knew that I was going to take advantage of it.

  CHAPTER 14

  ALICIA

  Kelly nearly choked on the chocolate chip cookie she was munching on when I told her that I’d agreed to go out with Jared. Her big green eyes, our father’s apparently, filled with surprise as she swallowed the treat and washed it down with her glass of water.

  “Wait, how are you only mentioning this to me now?” she asked, crossing her legs underneath her.

  “I don’t know. I’m thinking about just calling the whole thing off. We talked about it a couple of days ago, but we only made plans this afternoon.” And I’d been thinking about it ever since.

  Kelly and I were in my apartment, settled in for a night of watching sappy romantic comedies, but even spread out on my couch with my plate of baked goodness on my lap and our first movie lined up, I couldn’t shake my concern about my date with Jared from my mind.

  “Why would you call it off?” she asked. “He’s only one of the hottest guys on the planet, and I mean, he’s got to be loaded.” She grabbed another cookie from her plate and pointed it at me. “You’d be crazy not to take him up on a date.”