Release: A Ransom Novel

by Rachel Schurig

  “Oh, come on, Paige. He’s rich and famous and lives this exotic life. There’s nothing about him that could be confused with boring. He’s basically everything you could ever want—not to mention that he’s gorgeous. And you love his family. And your good friend is dating his brother—”

  “Jesus, are you trying to convince me or turn me off?”

  “I’m trying to warn you of the danger of letting your head get away with you. I don’t want you planning some elaborate double wedding with Daisy and Daltrey, even if it is only in your head. It might seem like a harmless fantasy, but you could get hurt, Paige. I don’t want that for you.”

  When I don’t respond, she continues, her voice as gentle as I’ve ever heard it. “This tour is a big deal for you, babe. The work experience is such a massive opportunity—”

  “I know that.”

  “It would really suck if you lost sight of that over some guy, you know? This is about you, what’s best for you. And you deserve awesome things.”

  I shake my head, unsure of how to respond. I know that she wants what’s best for me; it’s what she’d always wanted. Karen has been there for me in a way that no one else ever was. She’s the one I go to when the agitated, over-excited part of me can’t seem to get it together—she’s my calm place, my peace. And, when my seventeen-year-old self—distraught and heartbroken—came inches from losing it entirely, Karen put me back together again. I don’t really know where I’d be without her, honestly.

  “It was just one night.” My voice is stronger than before. I want her to believe me, want to believe myself. “I’m fine with that, Karen, I swear.”

  She watches me, quiet, for a long moment. “Okay,” she finally says, her smile only slightly forced. “I’m sure you will be.”

  Chapter Nine

  Reed

  I spend the entire morning trying to convince myself that I’d made a huge mistake. If I wanted rebound sex, a meaningless one night stand, there were plenty of women who would be happy to participate. Paige Brennen is not one of them. She’s one of Daisy’s best friends, and Daisy is like a sister to me. Not to mention that Paige has been getting closer to the rest of the family for the past six months. And that she’ll be coming out on tour with us in a matter of weeks—working for us, for Christ’s sake. Plus, she’s sweet and kind, full of integrity and fiercely loyal. The complete opposite of the kind of girl willing to be down for a night of meaningless sex with a rock star. What kind of a douchebag asshole takes advantage of a girl like that?

  But, as much as I try to berate myself—and I do it a lot—I still can’t quite shake the thought that I don’t regret the previous night. Like, at all.

  When I wake up to an empty bed, I feel a split second of panic—why did she leave? Does she regret what happened? An even worse thought occurs—what if I dreamt up the whole thing? But a quick appraisal of my room tells me that I didn’t imagine anything. There’s the empty bottle of wine on the balcony ledge. And there’s her hoodie, draped over the back of one of the chairs, exactly where she had tossed it before going to the kitchen for water when she first came in the night before.

  I lie in bed, heart pounding, as images of our encounter run through my head. I’ve had sex with plenty of girls in my life. Even before the band got famous, there were always bar flies and band followers at even the smallest of gigs. It wasn’t like I was some inexperienced virgin.

  So, why did the mere memory of the feel of Paige’s skin against mine make my stomach tighten? Why did the image of her slipping off her tank top, confident and scared at the same time, make my heart thud in my chest?

  And why did she leave?

  That’s the thought that finally breaks me from my recollections and gets me out of bed. I pull on fresh boxers and the same wrinkled cargo shorts I wore the night before, the smell of bonfire clinging to them weakly. I need to find her, need to figure out what she’s thinking. Is she pissed at me? Pissed at herself?

  Does she want to do it again?

  I shake my head to dislodge the errant thought as I pull a t-shirt from my drawer. There are so many reasons why I shouldn’t be thinking about doing it again.

  The kitchen and living room are empty. A quick look at the clock tells me it’s only ten a.m., meaning most of our party will probably still be sleeping. I have a fuzzy memory of trying to sneak by the bonfire party last night on our way back to the villa, the sound of Paige’s giggle in my ears as she clutched my arm in the darkness.

  “Morning, sunshine.”

  I jump a little at the sound of Daisy’s voice. Shit. She is totally going to know what happened last night. If Paige didn’t tell her, she’ll be able to figure it out just from looking at me—especially if I keep jumping at the slightest surprise. I turn to face her, head hung a little low in anticipation of the ass chewing I’m sure is about to occur.

  But Daisy just grins at me, nudging me out of the way with her shoulder so she can reach the fridge. “Since when do you get up before noon after a party?” she asks, voice cheerful.

  “Uh, couldn’t sleep, I guess.”

  She grabs a bottle of orange juice from the fridge before turning to face me, a slightly confused frown appearing on her face. “Did you leave early? I don’t remember seeing you once the tequila came out.”

  “Maybe that’s because you were drinking tequila?” I offer, not wanting to admit that I had, in fact, snuck away. She was sure to ask me why.

  She grins again, pointing the top of the bottle in my direction. “Good point. You hungry? Come down and eat with us.”

  “Us?” I can’t contain the crack in my voice at the word. Daisy looks at me like she thinks I might be a nut job. I clear my throat. Keep it together, man. “Who are you eating with?”

  “Just me and Dalt. There’s plenty of food—they brought it over from the restaurant.” Her eyes are searching my face now. “You okay, Reed?”

  “Course I am,” I say quickly. “Food sounds great.”

  It’s cowardly, I know, to agree to eat with Daltrey and Daisy when I should be out looking for Paige. But I still have no idea what I should say to her—the only thing my addled brain can come up with is a vague plan to kiss the hell out of her on sight. Not exactly smart.

  So, I follow Daisy down the stairs to the lower level and out onto the patio, where Daltry is waiting at one of the wicker tables. He raises his eyebrows at the sight of me. “You’re up early.”

  “I can say the same for you, little brother.”

  He jumps up quickly to pull out Daisy’s chair and I would have rolled my eyes if it wasn’t for the completely gratified expression on her face as she sits down. It would be a lot easier to mock them if they both didn’t seem so damn happy.

  “We’re going snorkeling this morning,” Daisy informs me brightly, reaching for a plate of fresh fruit. She transfers some pineapple and strawberries onto her plate before snatching several pieces of bacon from the tray Daltrey is grabbing.

  “Off the beach?” I too start to load up my plate. It feels like ages since I’ve had bacon that wasn’t made of soy or some other nonsense that Sienna insisted I eat.

  “No, they’re going to take us out in the catamaran to some little island.” Daltrey passes Daisy a half-filled glass of champagne to which she adds a generous amount of orange juice. “Mimosa?” he asks me, passing off another glass to Daisy. “Apparently there are lots of sea turtles in that area, you can swim around with them.”

  “Swimming with sea turtles,” I nod my thanks as Daisy hands me the mimosa. “That sounds like a nice way to spend a morning.”

  “Want to come with?” Daisy asks, but the look on Daltrey’s face over her shoulder makes it perfectly clear that he has no intention of sharing his private Daisy time with me or anyone else. I shake my head.

  “No, thanks. Cash talked about taking out the jet skis again.”

  Conversation peters off as we dig into our breakfasts. As I chew my bacon, my eyes wander down to the beach. The sand is deserte
d on our side of the wall, the remnants of the bonfire visible in the distance. I wonder where Paige could be—not on the beach, definitely not in my bed. Had she gone back to her own room?

  “Bacon,” a bleary voice behind me says. “Thank God. Move over.”

  I slide my chair over a bit so Cash can collapse into the seat next to mine. “God, my head is pounding.” He grabs the tray of bacon, upending the remaining slices onto his own plate.

  “Good morning to you, too,” Daisy says pointedly, grabbing two pieces of bacon from his plate.

  “The hell, Dais?”

  “You don’t get the rest,” she tells him sternly. “You have like, twenty pieces on your plate.”

  He scowls at her but makes no move to steal the bacon back. “Seriously,” he continues, as if he’d never been interrupted. “I don’t know if my head has ever hurt this bad.”

  “You drank an entire bottle of tequila, Cash,” Daltrey points out.

  “I think it’s stronger down here,” Cash mumbles around a mouthful of food.

  “I’m surprised you’re not sleeping it off,” Daisy says. “You and Reed both. Are the Ransome brothers getting old?”

  “As if,” Cash mutters before downing, in one gulp, the entire glass of mimosa Daisy handed him.

  “I think we need to head over to the dock,” Daltrey says, glancing down at his watch. Cash, his bacon now gone, looks hopefully at Daisy’s plate as she stands. His face falls as she shoves her last slice into her mouth with a grin.

  “Cruel,” he mutters as Daisy and Daltrey gather their things.

  “Sure you don’t want to come?” Daisy asks.

  “Nah, you guys have fun.”

  She waves as they set off for the sloping lawn toward the beach. “Score!” Cash shouts suddenly, grabbing the platter of sausage. “I didn’t see these before.”

  My eyes follow Daisy and Daltrey’s retreating figures down to the boat dock. I still don’t see any sight of Paige or Karen. I really should finish eating so I can go look for her. With the goal of hurrying up, I shove half a pancake in my mouth just as Cash says, “So, you hook up with Paige last night?”

  I choke on the mouthful of food, coughing hard to dislodge it. Cash pounds on my back, grinning delightedly. “You think I didn’t know what was going on?”

  “How?” I manage to gasp out, reaching for my mimosa. I take a long gulp, then cough once again, my windpipe finally clear. “How’d you know?”

  “I saw the two of you sneak off last night. When you didn’t come back, I kind of put two and two together.”

  I collapse back into the chair, strangely relieved not to have to keep the secret. Cash may be a womanizing bastard, but he’s surprisingly good to talk to about this kind of stuff.

  “I think she might be pissed or something,” I admit. “She was gone when I woke up.”

  He shrugs, chomping on another sausage. “Maybe she just got up earlier than you and didn’t want to wake you.”

  It’s definitely feasible, but for some reason I have a hard time buying it. When I don’t respond, Cash crosses his arms, giving me a stern look. “Did you do anything that makes you think she has a reason to be pissed? Were you an ass?”

  “No!” I’m slightly offended he would even ask. I make it a point to never be an ass to any woman I sleep with. Particularly not one who’s friends with my practically-sister.

  “Did you take advantage of her in any way? Was she too drunk to make a decision?”

  “Jesus, dude, who do you think I am? Of course I didn’t take advantage of her. We both had beer and we shared a bottle of wine but neither of us was hammered.” I pause, trying to remember for sure if Paige had displayed any signs of being wasted. I would have noticed, wouldn’t I? For the life of me, I can’t remember her being anything other than totally in control of herself. “No,” I say, my voice more firm with my certainty. “She wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with her.”

  He nods. “Well, then, maybe she’s just feeling regretful in the cold light of day.”

  I sag a little, more upset by the thought than I want to admit. But Cash, for all his sometimes boorish ways, is more insightful than he lets on. “You don’t regret it at all, do you?”

  I shake my head, staring out at the turquoise water. “I feel like I should. Like, logically, it was probably a mistake. She’s Daisy’s friend and she’s going to be working on the tour. That’s really not rebound material, you know?”

  “And you’re thinking of all the ways Daisy will kick your ass if she finds out you hurt her friend with a one night stand.”

  I don’t argue with the idea that little Daisy Harris, all 5’4”, hundred-and-twenty pounds of her could possibly kick my ass. She could do it easily, and we both know it.

  “Was it just a one night stand?” Cash asks, his eyes searching my face. “’Cause you’re kind of acting like it maybe wasn’t.”

  I sigh loudly. “I think it would have to be. Would I like a repeat of last night’s activities? Sure. I’d be crazy not to.”

  Cash grins wickedly and I ignore him. “But it could never be more than just a casual thing. And Paige is way too cool to be led on, you know? I wouldn’t want to hurt her.”

  “You assume she’d be interested in more than just a casual thing. For all you know, she has no desire to be more than a casual thing.”

  For some reason, that thought makes me frown.

  “Besides,” Cash goes on. “Why would it need to be just a casual thing? If you like her and the sex is good—” he raises his eyebrows at me “—and from the way you’re talking, I’m thinking it must have been pretty good—then why wouldn’t you want it to be more?”

  I shake my head. “I can’t be in a serious relationship, dude. I just got out of one, and you see how much of a disaster that ended up being. No, my focus needs to be on the band and this tour, nothing else. Paige deserves to be more than someone’s good time on the side—and I can’t give her more than that right now.”

  He has a strange look on his face that I can’t quite read but before I can ask him to explain himself, I see Karen and Paige making their way up the beach from the privacy wall.

  “Shit,” I mutter, moving to stand. “She’s here.”

  Cash is smirking as he shakes his head. “You look like a middle school kid, you know. All jumpy and nervous. Chill out, man.”

  “Shut up,” I hiss. “What should I do?”

  “Sit your ass down and be a man,” he mutters. “God, I’m embarrassed for you.”

  I sit, trying to take a deep breath and not panic. There’s nothing to be nervous about. Paige and I are both adults. I am perfectly capable of handling the morning after talk.

  As she nears, I can’t help notice that she’s in the same shorts and tank top that she wore last night. For some reason the realization makes me want to kiss her—she didn’t go up to her room after waking up, after all. Apparently, she just went off somewhere private to talk to Karen. Is that good news or bad news?

  “Hey, guys,” Paige calls out once they’ve reached the lawn. “Is that breakfast?”

  “Yup. All the bacon is gone, though.”

  “Well, shit,” Karen says. “What’s the point, then?”

  They join us at the table and my palms are sweating so much I have to wipe them on the front of my shorts. Paige, though, looks completely normal, as if nothing had happened last night. Once again I’m visited by the crazy thought that maybe I imagined it. She smiles at me in her normal, friendly Paige way before attacking a plate of fruit and croissants.

  “You’re seriously just going to eat that healthy crap?” Karen asks her, reaching for the sausage. “You’re on vacation, Paige.”

  “No reason not to take care of myself,” she says cheerily, and I try not to think about just how well she takes care of her body.

  “You guys already eat?” Paige asks, looking at my empty plate.

  “Yeah, I’m, uh, pretty full. Pancakes, you know. And bacon. Before it w
as gone.” Jesus. Could I sound any more awkward? Karen has her eyebrow arched in my direction but Paige merely digs into her fruit. I have to get a hold of myself and stop acting like a giant wuss.

  “Uh, Paige, I was gonna go put my suit on. But, uh, you want to take a walk? Like, after I’m done, I mean.” I can see Cash staring at me from the corner of my eye, his expression a mixture of horror and amusement. “And you’re done, too, of course,” I babble on, pointing at her breakfast plate. I’m making a fool out of myself but I can’t seem to stop.

  Paige comes to my rescue. “Sure,” she says easily, pretending not to notice that I’ve suddenly turned into an awkward, babbling asshole. “I was going to change, too. Want to meet back here in twenty minutes?”

  Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes to get myself together and stop being such a creep. “Sounds good.”

  Though Paige merely smiles and goes back to her breakfast, Karen and Cash are both still gaping at me. I need to get out of here. I stand up so quickly I knock the chair over behind me. “Shit,” I mutter, bending to pick it up.

  “You okay there, Reed?” Karen asks, her voice dry. She jumps slightly and I somehow feel sure Paige just kicked her under the table. The realization makes me feel like even more of an idiot—the girl I was so worried about feeling embarrassed is now defending me from the judgment of her friend. Excellent.

  “I’m fine,” I mutter, setting the chair back in place. “See you guys later.”

  I stalk into the house, wondering when in the hell I went from international rock star to love struck, awkward loser. And why does it bother me so much that Paige seems completely unaffected?

  In my room, I take a quick shower and brush my teeth before changing into a swimsuit and t-shirt. Like a little bitch, I peek over the balcony at the patio below before leaving my room—it’s deserted.

  On the empty patio, I wander over to the edge, looking out at the beach and ocean beyond. I don’t even hear Paige approach and jump at the feel of her soft hand on my arm.

  “Sorry,” she says quickly, pulling it away. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”