Daisy (Pushing Daisies Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Her hand slapped against my chest; the stinging sound was unusually loud in the otherwise quiet room. It didn’t hurt. “Lawson.”

  “Fuck, Daisy.” I sighed and pulled her in closer to me. “I started falling for you when I met you.” Surprisingly, my chest didn’t fill with dread admitting that.

  She readjusted herself to rest her chin on my chest and looking up at me through her lashes. I thought she wanted to seem wide awake yet was ridiculously tired. “Really?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I told her quietly, running my fingertips up and down her arm. The fact that she’d put her pajamas back on before sliding in beside me wasn’t something I loved. Having her naked body pressed against me was more my speed. “Seeing you on stage… You’re sexy as hell. Just… everything about you.”

  She grew quiet for a few moments before saying, “That’s not the answer I expected.”

  “No?”

  Her hair brushed against my arm as she shook her head. “No. I mean… seeing as we were just naked together, I assumed you like me on some level, but you’ve been kind of stand-offish and I’m not used to that if someone likes me.”

  “Trust me, I didn’t want to be, but you’re young and you just joined the tour. I was… I was trying to do the right thing.”

  “I think we just did the right thing,” she countered, then she giggled.

  If I had been wondering if she’d enjoyed everything we’d just done, which I hadn’t been, this would’ve answered that question.

  “When I saw you running at me…” I spoke quietly. “You looked so scared. With those tears falling down your face, fear like I’d never felt before ripped through me. I’m glad the guy wasn’t still on the bus when I got there because I probably would’ve killed him. Or seriously injured him at least. I don’t think I would’ve been able to control myself.”

  “He didn’t touch me. And I wasn’t really crying. It was more all of the emotion coming out.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t care why. All I knew was that whatever happened, I was putting myself between you and the danger.”

  Daisy leaned up and kissed my cheek. “It did freak me out, though. Every thought of what could happen ran through my head, but I was focused on getting out of there.”

  My arm tightened around her without me meaning for it to happen. “I don’t want you in that position again. I wish Mack had gotten to the bottom of who was sending the messages.”

  She jolted up onto her elbow. “What messages?”

  “Shit,” I muttered. “I forgot he hadn’t told you about those yet. You’ve been getting some disturbing messages through your website.”

  “The band?”

  I shook my head. “You. Mack didn’t go into too many details, thank fuck, because what he did tell me had me crawling out of my skin. I don’t think I could’ve handled reading the actual things without going out of my mind.”

  Her eyebrows slammed together. “Why would he tell you and not me?”

  “He told me because he wanted me to make sure we had the security we needed. Probably didn’t tell you to protect you.”

  “Well, that worked,” she bit out sarcastically. She threw her hands up before letting them fall back down with a muted thud. “If I’d known about them, maybe I could’ve been more prepared. Not knowing had me living in ignorance.” She grew quiet before a loud groan erupted out of her. “That’s why they were so insistent that the note thrown on stage was for me.”

  “Probably.”

  “So they all knew?”

  “Probably,” I said again.

  “I’m going to murder my brothers in their sleep.”

  I chuckled quietly as the day began to take its toll on me. Averaging four hours of sleep a night sometimes caught up with me. “They were just trying to keep you from worrying.”

  “Not an excuse but thank you for telling me.”

  “Did you recognize the guy?” I asked. I’d been wanting to ask that question since it happened.

  She shook her head. “No.” But after a moment she added, “There was maybe something familiar about him but I couldn’t really see his face because all the lights weren’t on and he had a big-ish beard.”

  It would’ve been easier if she remembered him from somewhere but Daisy met so many people, saw even more, it wasn’t surprising that she couldn’t remember seeing him before. Maybe she hadn’t.

  For a while, we were both quiet after that. So long, in fact, that I thought she’d fallen asleep. My chest filled at the idea of having her beside me all night.

  Then she broke into the quietness with, “So was this a one-off?”

  “What?” I asked her. Had I really not made it clear to her that I wanted to be with her? Being with Daisy once would’ve never been enough.

  But fuck… what if that was what she wanted this to be?

  “A one-off. Hookup. One-night stand. Booty call—”

  “Yeah, I know what a ‘one-off’ is. You can stop.”

  She let out a small giggle. “OK. But what is this to you? I’m not trying to be a clingy woman, but I need to know where we stand so that if I see you with someone else, I won’t lose my shit because I think you’re cheating.” Daisy turned onto her side and I did the same. We were so close, our noses almost touched and my hand rested on her hip. “Not that I think you’d cheat, by the way, but if we’re not a thing, you’re allowed to see other people.”

  I quickly wet my lips and asked, “Are you done?”

  She gave me a closed-lipped smile. “Yes.”

  This was an easy thing to answer. “I don’t want to see anyone else, Daisy. I sure as fuck don’t want you to see anyone else.”

  Her smile widened, showing me as many of her perfectly straight teeth as possible. “Really?”

  I kissed the tip of her nose. “That really shouldn’t surprise you.”

  “You should let me tell my brothers,” she said quickly.

  “Why?”

  “It’ll be weird if I don’t finesse this a little. You’ve heard how Mack talks about me.”

  “Fine, but let’s not take too long, yeah?” I told her. The last thing I wanted was for us to have to hide from her brothers. That would mean missed time together. Fuck that.

  “Yeah,” she said right before her face contorted with a huge yawn.

  I could’ve used some sleep too, so I waited until she nodded off, then let myself go.

  In the morning, sun seeped in around the shades on the bus windows. This wasn’t what had woken me, given I’d lived on a bus more than anywhere else for over a year. The soft, warm skin of the woman next to me also wasn’t what had woken me. When I glanced at my phone to check the time, I realized that I’d slept for almost eight hours. Couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.

  Daisy had a leg thrown over my thigh, her knee dangerously close to my balls. Her finger lay gently on my bare chest as her head rested on my shoulder. It was an off day for us, no show. But Courting Chaos had some other work to do. Interviews and a few meetings. Nothing overly hard or exciting. All part of the job. I’d given Barrett the day off, though, because she didn’t need to be there for these since I had to be.

  With no intention of waking Daisy, I gently slid out from beneath her arm and leg, threw my legs over the side of the bed, and quietly walked over to the bathroom. It was only a matter of time before my phone began reminding me of appointments and we still had to get settled into the hotel.

  “Where are we?” Daisy asked, her voice muffled by the pillow.

  “I had the buses go to the hotel to save time.” I crawled up the bed toward her. “Instead of going directly to tomorrow’s venue.”

  Once I was hovering above her, I leaned in to kiss her good morning.

  “I haven’t brushed my teeth,” she said, as if that mattered.

  “Don’t fucking care,” I said, then I kissed her anyway.

  Her lips were tense at first but only took a few seconds to give in to me. The way she moved beneath
me got me hard without her even trying. I’d love nothing more than to fuck her again right this very second, but alas, there wasn’t time.

  “I have to go,” I whispered against her lips. “I have to shower and change before our first meeting.”

  “Go then,” she said, but she moved in such a way that made me climbing off her impossible.

  “You’re making leaving incredibly difficult.”

  Her slim shoulders shrugged. “Not my fault.”

  “It’s all your fault,” I countered. “Come on. Go get settled in the hotel.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said snuggling further into the mattress. “I’ll be in in just a bit.”

  I pulled on the pants and shirt I’d been wearing when I’d gotten on the bus last night. No sense putting on something clean until after I showered. Then I grabbed my overnight bag, filled it with my necessitates, and picked up my hanging bag before leaving the bus.

  Hardest thing I’d done all tour.

  Chapter Eleven

  Daisy

  Once Lawson was off the bus, I forced myself to get up too. It was much easier to do once he wasn’t above me, keeping all my attention on him. I pulled on the clothes I’d been wearing yesterday and packed my bags for the next night in a hotel, where I’d get to take a bath if I wanted to instead of just showers all the time. I loved showers, but a good soaking does wonders once in a while.

  The lobby of the hotel was busy as hell, given that Courting Chaos and Pushing Daisies were all there, as well as a few extra people from the tour on top of the hotel’s normal clients. Though my eyes found Lawson as if they were heat seeking missiles and he was the sun.

  I’d seen him dressed before he left the bus this morning but in my sleepy state, I hadn’t paused to appreciate how sexy he was. And now that I knew what he looked like naked it was even harder to keep my thoughts off all the things we’d done last night.

  But I couldn’t think about that now. He had things to do. Important thing.

  Instead, I walked toward my brothers but Mack caught me first.

  “Hey,” he said before giving me a hug. “How are things going on Lawson’s bus?”

  As hard as I tried, I really hoped no expression crossed my face, but my stomach roiled at his question. “Fine. It’s fine.”

  “Good. Here’s your room key.” He handed me the plastic card. “You’re in 322.”

  “Thanks. I can go up now, yes?”

  “Yeah. You’ve got your key.” Mack moved in a little closer. “What’re your plans for today?”

  I shrugged. “Nothing. Take a bath. Maybe play my violin a little. Veg out.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, OK, but if you leave, please tell us so one of us can go with you.”

  I rolled my eyes but agreed. Now that I knew Mack was worried about me for a reason, I wouldn’t give him as hard of a time. I’d also talk to him about this at some point but now wasn’t the time. There were too many people around.

  Right now, I just wanted that bath.

  “Daisy!” Barrett squealed as she skipped her way over to me. “What’re you doing today?”

  “Nothing, as far as I know.”

  “I have the day off too.” She slid an arm around my shoulders and began pulling me away from my brother. “And Paige is here.”

  As if hearing her name, Paige glanced over at us then headed our way. Paige was about my size, though all three of us women would’ve been considered small compared to the guys. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she was in shorts and a T-shirt like me. I’d only talked to her over video chat which didn’t give great perspective on height.

  “Hey,” she said with a big smile. “It’s so nice to finally meet you in person.”

  “Right?” I said back. I’d been Facetiming her and the other two Courting Chaos girlfriends with Bellamy semi-regularly. It was like we’d already become friends.

  “So,” she continued, “are you coming with us?”

  “I haven’t gotten a chance to ask her yet,” Barrett explained.

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “Just some shopping. Nothing major, but it’ll be fun.” Then she shrugged. “Paige and I aren’t the best shoppers, though. Just so you’re warned.”

  “Why not? Retail therapy is a real thing.”

  “We know,” Paige told me. “But growing up in foster care has a way of making a girl frugal.”

  Barrett had told me about how she’d grown up one night after a show. She’d painted a vivid picture. I couldn’t blame them for not wanting to spend money needlessly. It also made me realize just how privileged I’d grown up.

  “But looking is fun, too,” I countered. “Let me take a quick shower and we’ll go.” The bath would just have to wait.

  “You’ll have to tell… ” Barrett glanced over at the guys as the congregated closer to the elevators. “Your brothers. Will they let you go?”

  I snorted. “Listen… I’ve been humoring my brothers and there’s a reason for that, but they’re not going to stop me from going out with you two.” I thought I’d be walking away from Paige and Barrett, but it didn’t take me long to realize they were right behind me as I approached my brother standing together in a group.

  “Paige, Daisy, and I are going shopping today,” Barrett called out to the guys before I had the chance to open my mouth. “In case anyone was wondering our plans.”

  “Are you taking Calvin with you?” Lawson asked. I thought it would’ve been one of my brothers to pull the trigger first. But no. My gaze flew to his. If he wasn’t careful, people would think he had a thing for me before I had a chance to tell my brothers.

  I lifted an eyebrow at him. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

  His jaw tightened and I wondered if anyone else noticed. Though the others probably weren’t watching him as closely as I was. As I always did. but more so now after last night.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I phrased that wrong. You’re taking security with you.”

  I bit my lips together as my eyes widened. The way he’d just demanded that shouldn’t have been sexy as hell, yet my heart beat slightly faster.

  “I agree,” Mack told me. “At least for a while.

  “Cal!” Lawson called out.

  The security guard who’d recently become my shadow walked quickly over to us. His dark skin looked soft as his hard muscles tested the strength of his white T-shirt.

  “What’s up?” Cal asked.

  “The girls are going shopping,” Lawson explained. “We’d like you to go with them. Do not let Daisy out of your sight.”

  “I don’t really want to be babysat,” I protested. “Paige and Barrett will be with me.”

  Booker cleared his throat and said, “I feel better that he’s going with you all.”

  “Me, too,” Dixon agreed, as if them speaking up would smooth this over. As if the security was for the three of us and not just me. Then again, I didn’t know how things worked when the girlfriends were on tour. Maybe this was normal for them.

  Still, I gave Lawson a hard look, my gaze settling on his again, silently begging him not to make this one outing weird.

  “How about you stay close,” he said to Cal without moving his eyes away from mine and cocked his head to the side, “but not too close?” That last part was for me.

  Something I could agree to.

  “When do we leave?” Cal asked.

  “I have to shower,” I told him and I couldn’t help noticing how Lawson bit back a grin. It was his fault I needed the shower. “But I can be quick. Like twenty minutes?”

  We all agreed and I hopped off to the elevator.

  As promised, twenty minutes later, I was meeting Cal, Barrett, and Paige in the lobby. I’d showered but not washed my hair. Dry shampoo was my best friend on tour. This way, I didn’t have to take the time to blow dry it.

  “Ready?” I asked them. I was in shorts and a white tank top—nothing special. Barrett and Paige were dressing similarly, only Paige had
on a snug-fitting Courting Chaos T-shirt.

  “Yup,” Paige told us. “Where are we going?”

  We both looked over to Barrett, as if we’d planned on her figuring it out. I snickered because she was a pretty good planner, after all, and I didn’t think she’d let us down.

  “Well,” she said as we left the hotel, “we didn’t say there was any specific shopping we wanted to do, but I asked at the desk and he said we should check out Harbor Point. It’s like half an hour from here and has the best pizza on the planet, he says.”

  “Ooh,” I said. “Pizza sounds divine.”

  “Yeah. It’s mostly tourist stuff, but they have a great bookstore… I looked it up,” she clarified. “And some boutique-type stores. It’s on the beach.”

  I shrugged. “Sounds perfect to me. Who wants to order a ride share?”

  “I have a car,” Cal said from behind us. He’d been so quiet that I’d almost forgotten he was following us. Which was probably part of his job description. “Rented.”

  “Even better,” I told him.

  The three of us settled into the backseat of a black Navigator as Cal punched our destination into the GPS. We chatted and giggled on the thirty-minute drive, mostly about nothing.

  “How do you like being a nurse?” I asked Paige partway through the trip.

  “Love it,” she told me. “Every day is different.”

  Barrett made a disgusted noise at the back of her throat. “It’s disgusting.”

  “It’s not disgusting,” Paige countered.

  “Yes it is. All those… fluids.” Barrett gagged in the back of her throat.

  “And babysitting a bunch of rock stars isn’t sometimes disgusting?” Paige countered, then she turned to me with big eyes full of regret. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  I shook my head. “Please. I live with three rock stars and their manager most of the time and it’s definitely disgusting sometimes. No one knows that better than me. I just like to think that I’m not one of the gross ones.”

  The girls laughed, but it was true. My brothers may have tried to be careful around me, but it didn’t help. I heard and saw things that I never should’ve.