Daisy (Pushing Daisies Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  The door swung open. “Hey, Lawson, I—” Barrett cut herself off.

  Lawson dropped his hands from my face and his jaw tightened as he glanced over at her. I, on the other hand, turned my face away from the door so she wouldn’t see the embarrassment burning my face. Or the lust.

  “I’ll… just go back out here,” she said, closing the door behind her.

  At first, neither of us said a word. Then when Lawson said, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

  Fuck, I wished Barrett had never come through that door right then.

  “Why would you say that?” I asked him. It wasn’t the kiss. That was off-the-charts amazing. Unless… Maybe it hadn’t been for him. I touched my lips, which were still burning from his touch. “You know what? Never mind.” My gaze didn’t waver from him. No way was he going to ruin this for me. “That was an amazing kiss and I don’t want to hear what you didn’t like about it.” I took a step back. “I have to go get ready for the show.”

  I scurried out of there quickly enough that he didn’t have a chance to respond.

  If the only kiss I ever got from Lawson was that one, at least it’d be memorable. For me at least.

  Nope. I wasn’t going to think about the reasons Lawson had said he shouldn’t have kissed me. Wasn’t going to think about the fact that he clearly didn’t want to do it again. Instead, I’d focus on getting my hair and makeup done for the show.

  Barrett wasn’t in the hallway when I’d gotten out there. She must’ve really tried to disappear as I headed for our dressing room. Damn that interruption. If it hadn’t happened, that kiss might’ve led somewhere good. I wasn’t thinking directly to sex, though I wouldn’t have said no but at least it could’ve gone longer which may have allowed me to get a better handle on how he felt about me.

  All of my brothers came in a while later since it took them almost no time to get ready. Guys had it so easy.

  “What’d you do today, Daisy?” Daltrey asked me as he pulled his shirt over his head.

  “Not a lot,” I told him. “Hung around here because I’m under arena arrest.”

  “Oh right.” His response, and the way he glanced at Mack the same way he had when we were kids and didn’t want to incur our big brother’s wrath, led me to believe that Daltrey knew exactly why Mack wanted me to stay put.

  I shrugged. “Mack doesn’t want me going anywhere ever because apparently I’m seven years old again.”

  “And you’re listening to him?” Van asked.

  I nodded. “For now. He’s being really weird about it, so I thought I’d play along until he tells me why.”

  “You know I’m right here,” Mack said.

  “Oh, she knows,” Bonham told him.

  “I do. Could you just tell me why you’ve gotten so Papa Bear on me?” I asked Mack.

  “It’s just a precaution, Daisy,” Mack told me, but I knew there was something else there. I just didn’t know what.

  We finished our prep without talking to each other any further.

  My brothers were all fantastic and all able to get on my nerves. It was the nature of being siblings. And they’d always been protective of me but never to this level. I wanted to know what was happening and honestly thought I had a right to know. Yet there was no way they’d tell me until they were ready.

  Once we were all ready, it was showtime.

  I hit the stage with a renewed energy. A different pep in my step as it were. I sang my heart out. The crowd was amazing and enthusiastic. As if those few extra moments I’d taken with them out back brought us closer together. Maybe that was a crazy thought, but something was on fire for both us and them.

  At the end of our show, as I was thanking the crowd for coming, I caught a glimpse of something flying toward us out of the corner of my eye. Choosing to ignore that, I finished up my curtain call and said goodnight.

  When I got over to the thrown item, I found it was a small bouquet of daisies. How damn nice of whoever had thrown it.

  I picked them up, gave them a sniff, and waved out at the crowd again, hoping that whoever had thrown them would take it as a thank you. Then we left the stage. I could get used to this kind of reception.

  As I turned the flowers in my hand, something scraped against my skin.

  Oh. There was a note attached.

  I’ll see you soon.

  That stopped me in my tracks so quickly that one of my brothers slammed into my back, causing me to take a huge hop forward.

  “Fuck, Daisy,” Daltrey said from behind me.

  “Sorry,” I said under my breath.

  “Why’d you stop?” Van asked me.

  “Nothing. It’s dumb,” I told him as the hallway filled with the voices of Courting Chaos who were coming out of their dressing room. They had about half an hour before going on.

  “What is it?”

  I shook my head and finally looked up at him. “Just these flowers have a note on it saying, I’ll see you soon. Spooked me for a second.” When I glanced down the hallway, I had to do a double take when I saw Lawson talking to one of the security guys. Even seeing him from this far away had my heart racing.

  “It says what?” Mack asked loudly, bringing almost all of the eyes in the hall to us. He snatched the bouquet out of my hands.

  Ugh. Leave it to my brother to make something embarrassing.

  “Why would someone say that to you?” Bonham asked in his protective big-brother voice. All of a sudden, they were all around me, as if they thought I needed a big brother wall.

  “We don’t know it was meant for me,” I countered. “They threw it on stage. It could be for any of us.”

  “They’re daisies,” Van practically yelled.

  “Van,” I snapped as I rolled my eyes. “We’re all daisies. Pushing Daisies. Get it? This is nothing.”

  “It better fucking be nothing.”

  Yeah. It wasn’t anything. Sure. I’d had a moment of pause, given that sometimes weird things happened with people in the public eye. But that wasn’t the case here. I’ll see you soon probably meant at another concert.

  As we continued walking, Mack forcefully slammed the flowers into the first trash can we passed.

  “Hey,” I snapped. “Don’t take your mood out on my flowers!”

  He mumbled something under his breath and parted from the pack to head over to Lawson and the security guard I always saw around.

  As I walked down the hall, Lawson watched me the entire time. I didn’t have to look back to know that he did.

  Chapter Six

  Lawson

  Damn.

  I battled with myself every time I saw Daisy and being in here alone with her, listening to her play her violin, was all too much to take and the wrong side won. Yet when my lips touched hers, I was gone.

  So far gone that I hadn’t heard Barrett come through the fucking door. Not only had I crossed a line, but I’d probably embarrassed Daisy. Last tour, I’d had to worry about Drinkswine and then the guys after Drink had left the band. I’d never had to worry about me.

  I stood there, my hands on my hips, contemplating all of that, when Barrett came back through the door.

  “Hey,” she said, grinning widely and her eyes gleaming with excitement. Fucking hell. She’d already teased me about watching Daisy. Now… who knew what the fuck she’d say?

  Before anything else came out of her mouth, the guys piled in, loudly filling the room. I’d have to talk to her out in the hall.

  “Come with me,” I said as I passed her. My tone was probably much harsher than it needed to be. Barrett hadn’t done anything wrong. I had. Probably not the best idea to take my frustration with myself out on the person who helped me keep this band running.

  “Right away, boss,” she countered, though I knew she was fucking with me. Her voice had too much humor in it to be anything else.

  “You needed something?” I asked her once we were outside the dressing room. We’d shut the door. The guys wouldn’t hear us.

 
; Barrett blinked five times as if she had no idea what I was talking about. Then recognition hit her and she said, “Right. Calvin wanted me to tell you he’s got everything that you talked about in place. But he wouldn’t tell me what that was.” Her head was bowed down as she looked at her iPad, but she was watching me out of the corner of her eye. Barrett and I had gotten to know each other very well over the last year and honestly, I wasn’t sure this tour would’ve come together without her.

  “Good. Thanks.”

  She watched me as she worried her bottom lip. Nope. Didn’t think that would be the end of it.

  “What?” I asked her.

  “Do I want to know what security things he was talking about?” she asked me back.

  I shook my head. “Probably not, but I should fill you in in the event that they can’t get me for any reason.” I took a deep breath. “Mack asked me to help step up security because they’ve gotten some weird messages through their website.”

  Her brows slammed down in confusion. “That’s not unusual.”

  “I know. But he seemed concerned because they were all about… Daisy.”

  “And they’re legit?”

  I shrugged. I couldn’t answer that question. “Mack was spooked, so I have to assume they are. So I talked to Cal to make sure he arranged for some extra police at the venues for the foreseeable future.”

  “Does Daisy know about any of this? She hasn’t said a word.”

  “I don’t think so,” I told her. “He didn’t say if he was going to tell her or what.”

  She nodded slowly as I spoke. “OK. Good. It’s taken care of, then.” Once the concern left her, that small grin and excited eyes returned. “So you’ve been spending time with Daisy.”

  “Is that a professional question?” That wasn’t going to work with Barrett. Not even for a minute. Especially since she and Daisy had become friends so quickly, as women tended to do.

  She chuckled. “No.”

  “Daisy’s a nice girl,” I told her trying to sound as unaffected as I was supposed to be. But that fucking hope took Barrett over. “She’s also very young.”

  “She’s twenty-one,” Barrett snapped before I’d finished my sentence. “And she’s hot as hell.”

  Well, now I clenched my jaw because Daisy wasn’t just hot. She was fucking beautiful. Sexy. There were things that had crossed my mind about that woman that never should’ve. Things that would make her brothers, rightfully, want to knock my teeth down my throat or cut my fucking balls off. I swallowed hard. I liked my balls and didn’t want them going anywhere.

  “I mean,” Barrett continued, “if I was into girls, I’d be all over her.”

  “Make sure you tell Dixon that. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the mental image.” But damn, did I hate the mental image that conjured up. I didn’t want to imagine Daisy with anyone else.

  With Daisy, I wanted to be the one to do things. Yes, fucking nasty sexual things and I’d imagined bending her seven ways to Sunday as we both worked toward a release. But I wanted to take her places. Like in New York, I thought she’d enjoy the symphony orchestra, given her love of the violin. In Chicago, I thought she’d love the Shedd Aquarium. There were museums and galleries all over the country I thought she’d like as well as romantic shit. A horse-drawn carriage in the park. A picnic under the stars.

  With Daisy… I wanted to do it all. Take her places. Do things with her. Make her happy. And bury myself inside her so deeply that I’d lose myself.

  “I know what I saw when I came in there, Lawson, and it didn’t look to me like Daisy wasn’t enjoying it,” she told me quietly.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yeah, OK.” She chuckled and folded her arms under her breasts. “But I don’t understand why you’re trying to deny any of it. Her age is not a big deal.”

  “Hey, Lawson. Hey, Barrett,” Mack stopped beside us, causing me to stand straight up and shove my hands into my pockets.

  “I’m going to go wrangle the guys,” she said while biting back a laugh. “I’ll see ya later, Mack.” Then she disappeared behind the dressing room door.

  “Calvin just stopped me and filled me in on the extra precautions. Thanks for that.”

  “No problem,” I told him. “I just want everyone to be safe.” Especially her.

  “Yeah. It’s been driving me crazy. Daisy’s my baby sister. I used to change her diapers and always protected her. All of us always have.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Sometimes I think it would’ve been easier if my parents had just had another boy. Less to worry about.”

  I chuckled, but all of that was like a punch to the gut. Here I’d been thinking some pretty hot things and had just fucking kissed Daisy. The whole while Mack had been stressing over whatever these messages were about.

  “Maybe you need to show me these messages,” I told him because I thought my imagination was probably worse than the reality.

  He shook his head. “Nah. You don’t want to see them. Some could really be harmless. Just how much this person loves her and shit like that, but some of them are more disturbing. Van thinks it’s someone being a keyboard warrior. You know, saying shit because he can with the anonymity of the internet.” He sighed. “But I don’t want to read about all the different ways some perv wants to fuck my sister along with the rapey vibes he’s giving off and I don’t think you do, either.”

  My muscles tightened. No. I. Did. Not.

  Fucking rage took me over. My skin burned hot and I had to clench then unclench my fists so I didn’t punch the concrete wall beside us. I only hoped Mack could see the way all that adrenaline was making me shake or the way all of my muscles were trying to hulk out of my body.

  “I’m going to go make sure they don’t need anything,” he told me. “But thanks again.”

  I could only nod in response. Nothing good was going to come of the way I was feeling.

  My phone rang in my front pocket before I could do anything stupid.

  “Hey, Mom,” I answered. She called every couple of days if she hadn’t heard from me and I’d been so busy this week that I hadn’t called.

  “Hey, honey,” she said happily into the phone. “How’s the tour?”

  As I talked, I walked down the hall looking for an empty room in which to take the call. “Fine,” I told her. When I couldn’t find anything, I decided to step outside. It wasn’t as noisy out there. “How are you and Charlie?”

  Mom had married Charlie when I was nineteen. I liked the guy well enough and he seemed to love my mom.

  “We’re doing well,” she told me. “Charlie hurt his shoulder again. Cleaning out the gutters.”

  I groaned. “I told him to hire someone.”

  “I know. But you know Charlie.” Yeah. I did. “He said he’s not even sixty years old and can clean out the damn gutters.”

  We both laughed at her impression of my stepfather. Sounded just like him.

  “So what’s up?” I asked her.

  “Do I need a reason to talk to my only son?”

  “Obviously not.” But then I waited for it. Sometimes she called me just to check in but that wasn’t the voice she was using.

  “But I’m a little concerned about your sister,” she finally told me. “And maybe have a favor to ask.”

  And there is was. Oh, boy. I leaned against the brick wall nearest me.

  “Which sister?” I asked.

  “Lexi.”

  Younger. Lexi was the baby of the family and had such a good heart.

  “She’s been having a rough time,” Mom told me.

  “What kind of rough time?” I asked and what did it have to do with me?

  “Just… some of her friends aren’t being their best selves.”

  I wasn’t sure what exactly that meant and obviously Mom was being cryptic. Why? I didn’t know.

  “Why is this a rough time? They’re basically kids. What could they have to worry about?” Even to my own ears that sounded like
a douchey thing to say.

  My mother, the traitor that she is, laughed into the phone. “She’s twenty-two.”

  “A child. Like I said.” I let out a long sigh. “What’s going on with her friends? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Lawson Styles,” Mom snapped. “Twenty-two is not a child. I had your sister when I was twenty-two.” Damn. I’d forgotten that. “But you don’t know what’s going on because you’ve been busy getting ready for the tour. She doesn’t want to distract you.”

  Lexi wouldn’t want me thinking about her problems when I had all of this on my plate. “What do you need from me?”

  “I think you should ask her to come on tour with you for a while.”

  “Seriously?” I ran a hand over the back of my head out of frustration. Having my sister with us would definitely distract me especially with Daisy’s crazy fan. It’d be double the worry for me.

  “Yes. It would get her away,” Mom told me with that voice she used to ensure she’d get exactly what she was asking for. “Maybe she’d tell you what’s going on.”

  “Maybe you could tell me what’s going on.”

  “Frist of all, Lawson, that wouldn’t be my story to tell and you know it.” Something rustled against the phone. “Second, I don’t know everything. She’s not talking to Erica or me.”

  “Fuck.” I blew out a breath. “What’s Erica think?”

  My older sister usually had a handle on everything. The fact that Lexi wasn’t talking to her wasn’t a good sign. We both talked to Erica about everything growing up.

  “Erica thinks it’d be good for Lexi to get away for a while. She finished college and doesn’t have a job yet so the timing is perfect.” Then Mom waited. She was waiting for my response as if she didn’t already know what it would be. As if there was a question that I’d be there for my sister.

  I sighed again. I’d do what Mom asked but that didn’t mean I’d like it. The last thing I wanted right then was someone else to keep an eye on. Though maybe being around Daisy and Barrett would help whatever was going on with her. “I’ll make it work,” I promised. “Let me look at the schedule and see where she could join up.”