“He’s twenty-seven. Same age as Mack,” I countered as I went back to working on my hair. I could still see all of them in the mirror.
“Exactly.”
I twisted my hair in a final turn and secured it in place. “What’s you guys’ problem with Lawson? You’ve never liked anybody I’ve dated, but Lawson’s a good guy.”
“Is he?” Van pushed to his feet. “You sure about that or is he just looking for a young piece of ass?”
I snapped back as if my brother had slapped me as the other guys groaned. One of them muttered, “What the fuck, Van?” Pretty sure it was Bonham.
“Really, Van?” I took several steps toward him. “If you ever call me a piece of ass again to my face or otherwise, I guarantee you’ll regret it.”
He smirked. “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell Mom.”
Van’s mouth snapped shut as he stood up straighter. None of us would want to be on the receiving end of that phone call or worse… visit.
“Listen.” I sighed. “We have a show to do. I have to finish getting ready. Lawson and I are together and honestly, I’m disappointed that any of you’d think he’s playing me. That’s such bullshit. And because it’s such bullshit, I’m ending this conversation now. If we have to talk about it again later, fine.” I took a breath. “But I feel like this is a powder keg about to go off and I don’t want that before a show.”
None of them responded as I turned back to the mirror to do my makeup.
This whole day had gone to shit and all I could think about was sliding into bed next to Lawson and letting the whole thing fade away.
Chapter Nineteen
Lawson
Seeing that guy with his hands on Daisy had caused a surge of rage through my body like nothing I’d ever felt in my life. She might not have noticed me vibrating well after the fact, but I fucking was. Thank god she’d told me to kiss away his taste. It was the only thing that could’ve calmed me down.
I’d needed her in my arms. Needed to feel her lips against mine and she’d needed it too.
Her brothers were adorable thinking that they scared me with their yelling and puffing out their chests. Fuck that. For her, I’d fight them all.
Daisy told me about their talk in the dressing room that night as we lay in bed. As I held her in my arms tightly, she admitted that she didn’t think it was over. They hadn’t had enough time to really hash it out. Fuck, she even apologized again for not telling them sooner but then countered it with this being the exact reason she hadn’t wanted to tell them at first.
I got it. Didn’t like it but understood it.
“Do you have any idea what happened to that guy?” she asked me sleepily.
“Cal talked to the cop that arrested him,” I told her. “Found out he had some warrants for stalking an ex-girlfriend.”
“Yeah.” She let out a big yawn. “Barrett told me that part.”
“So he’ll be shipped to wherever those warrants are and probably do some time. But, Daisy, I want you to press charges and file a protection order against him so that if he comes back around, we can have him arrested just for being there.”
“Even if he doesn’t do anything?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t I need his information and stuff?”
“I can have Cal take care of that.”
She was silent for a while. Maybe she’d fallen asleep, I thought, but then she sighed. “Yeah. Fine. Whatever we have to do.”
With that settled, and with her by my side, I was able to finally fall asleep.
I woke early the next morning and contemplated staying right where I was to hold on to my girl longer, but work beckoned. When I slid out slowly, I did so without disturbing her or her beautiful red hair, which was lying gently on her shoulder. She put out a lot on stage and deserved to rest as much as possible.
Unfortunately, my schedule didn’t work that way.
My first stop was in the bus restroom, then I went out to the mail area and booted up my laptop as I made myself a cup of coffee.
With all that settled, I could dive into emails, check the schedule, put out any fires that needed to be extinguished. Before any of that happened, though, my phone vibrated and Barrett’s name appeared.
“Hey,” I answered. It wasn’t so unusual for us to talk in the morning. “How’d you know I was even awake?
She snorted. “Please. You’re an early riser, but I saw you log in to our shared doc.”
Oh, right. Hadn’t thought about that.
“Is there a problem?” I asked her.
“No. I wanted to check on you.” The way she kept her voice down, I knew meant that no one else on her bus was awake yet, either.
But I didn’t think Barrett had ever called just to check on me. “Check on me? Why?”
“Lawson,” she said, as if it should’ve been obvious. “You were on edge yesterday.”
“Fuck yeah, I was. After seeing—”
“No one would blame you, but I just don’t think you have anyone who checks on you.”
“My sisters call all the time.”
“OK. I don’t think you have anyone who checks on you whose phone calls you answer.”
Well, that I couldn’t counter. She was right. I ignored my sisters’ calls a lot of the time, but because I was usually busy when they called. But I never ignored Barrett because her calls tended to have to do with the band.
“I’m fine,” I told her because I was. Yesterday had been tough, yes. Seeing Daisy in that position had filled me with rage, obviously. Her brother’s reactions could’ve been called intense, sure. But it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. “I was on edge yesterday because I had a lot of anger that I couldn’t direct anywhere. But Daisy is like ten feet from me right now, so I’m good.”
“You know she’s safe.”
“Exactly.”
Barrett fell silent for a moment. The only thing I could hear on the other side was her breathing until she decided to speak again. “Daisy told me her brothers caught you kissing her.”
“They did.”
“And?”
“And what?” I asked, trying to keep my frustration down. “I don’t care what they have to say.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“Listen,” I said because this subject was done for me. “Was there anything work-related you needed?”
“Actually, yes.” It was like I could hear the smile in her voice. Barrett and I had become friends over the last year but I was still her boss. If I didn’t want to discuss my personal life with her, I didn’t have to. “There’s an email from Samson that shouldn’t wait.”
“Got it,” I told her before I added, “Bye now.”
Then I hung up before she could drag me into any further conversation.
Elijah Samson was the band’s lawyer, so I’d take care of that first. It was probably about some of the contracts we were getting for next year. The thing about my job was that I had to stay on top of things going on now as well as look ahead. Looking ahead was the last thing I wanted to do right then, though. Looking ahead meant thinking about a time when Pushing Daisies wouldn’t be on tour with us anymore, which meant Daisy wouldn’t be on tour with me anymore.
I fucking hated that idea.
A while later, Daisy still hadn’t stirred. I’d let her sleep as long as she wanted, but I had to get dressed and get inside the venue to make sure everything was going as planned. Then I’d work some more. But damn. When I gave a last look into the bedroom, she was laid out across the mattress looking all soft and inviting. The last thing I wanted to do was leave her, but I didn’t have a choice. The real world demanded my attention.
Once I was ready, I headed into the venue. Before I got to the door, Cal passed by. I’d wanted to talk to him this morning.
“Cal!” I called out. He immediately turned and came back to me.
“What’s up?”
“Daisy was still asleep when I left the bus—”
“I’ll
go wait outside the door for her,” he said without me having to finish my sentence. This was why he was my favorite. He knew what his job was and never complained, at least to me, about having to do it.
“Thanks, man.”
“No problem.”
“Good morning, Mr. Styles,” someone called out from the Pushing Daisies’ dressing room.
I stopped then leaned back to see who it was. Fucking Van. I kept moving since I had no intention of dealing with his shit today.
Throughout the day, every time one of Daisy’s brothers said a word to me they called me Mr. Styles. What the fuck was that? However, I didn’t want to know enough to ask. They’d get over it. I also didn’t mention it to Daisy. She didn’t need their shit with me on her plate when I was pretty sure she’d have her own to deal with.
It was more of the same the next day and the day after that. Honestly, it was getting old. As were the dusty eyeballs they kept giving me. I’d shake it off, but fucking hell, it was annoying. Though Daisy was off to a recording studio with Courting Chaos to record their duet.
Four days after the incident, I’d had enough. I passed the entire group of them and they called out various greetings to Mr. Styles and I lost it.
I turned on my heel and went right for them.
“What’s your problem?” I asked all four of them. Any could answer. I didn’t care which.
“What do you mean?” Van asked, his face blank and innocent.
“You know exactly what I mean,” I said, looking him in the eye. They didn’t intimidate me and I wanted them to know it. “Calling me ‘Mr. Styles.’ The fucking stink eye. I know what your problem is, but when are you going to get over it? Because you’re acting pretty dumb and unprofessional.”
“When you break up with Daisy,” Bonham told me.
“Not gonna happen, so you’ll need to get over it another way.” I folded my arms over my chest.
“She’s young,” Mack said, though he’d really been the only one not to be acting hostile toward me. Actually, we hadn’t interacted much at all.
I shook my head. “She’s not that young.”
He raised his eyebrows. “She is. She’s also impressionable and being kind of young and naïve, I think it’d be easy to take advantage.”
“You’re wrong on that, Mack.”
“No. I’m not.”
Ransom and Dixon were lingering nearby, though I gave no indication that I’d noticed them. They could hear us, I was sure, but what I didn’t know was why they were hanging around. Though they had offered to be our lookout. Now they could serve another function.
“Security,” I said in the same tone I’d been talking to the guys. Deadpan and normal because I really didn’t want real security to come over.
Dixon and Ransom immediately rushed over to us and put themselves between me and Daisy’s brothers.
“I’m sorry,” Dixon told them. “We’re going to have to escort you fellas out.”
“Yeah,” Ransom agreed. “We don’t want any trouble.”
“What the fuck?” Van muttered, but it looked like he was trying not to laugh.
“Listen,” I said. “I’ll call my crack security staff off you for now, but I’m done with this. It’s over. I love your sister.” Van and Bonham visibly cringed, though Daltry and Mack didn’t react. “You’re going to have to figure out a way to deal with it. And, Mack… You shouldn’t underestimate Daisy. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t do a damn thing she doesn’t decide on her own to do.”
Then I walked away and let Ransom and Dixon deal it. After about five steps, I heard loud laughter coming from the group, so I assumed things were fine.
That night, after Daisy had fallen asleep, I got up to look through some things on my tablet. I just couldn’t fall asleep. The work could’ve waited, but if I was up, I might as well get some things done.
The quiet hum of the bus rolling down the highway was like home to me. I’d gotten so used to this life that I barely even noticed anymore. It was like white noise.
“Hey.” Daisy’s tired voice came from beside me. She hadn’t been there a minute ago and damn, she was quiet.
“What’re you doing up?” I asked as I set my tablet on the couch next to me.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I rolled over and you weren’t there, so I came see what you were up to.”
“Just work.”
“You work too much.” But then she came toward me and climbed onto my lap, straddling my hips and facing me.
“Well, I’m loving this break.” Instinctively, I clasped her hips and held her to me.
“Well, you know I love being an interruption.”
“You’re never an interruption,” I told her seriously. I’d stop anything I was doing for her. But then I sighed. “You know your brothers are calling me ‘Mr. Styles’?”
She giggled. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re being idiots,” she said once she’d finished laughing. “I told you that they’re like this with me. Which was why I didn’t want to say anything right away. But I haven’t talked to them about us again. I need to. I’m sorry.”
I ran my hand over the back of her head. “There’s no reason to be sorry. And it’s just mildly irritating. They’ll get over it.”
“Maybe.” She thought about it for a moment then shook her head. “I might have to get Mom involved.”
“And what will she do?” I asked because these were grown men. Seemed odd to call their mom on them.
Daisy smiled widely, both melting my heart and hardening my dick at the same time. “Oh, you haven’t met my mom yet. She’s a force. And she’s really good at telling the boys when they’ve overstepped. Plus, she’ll be on my side and when she meets you she’ll love you.”
I turned up one side of my mouth. “Yeah?”
She nodded emphatically. “I told her what was going on when I called after the incident. She’ll love you so much, I might have to keep her from leaving my dad for you.”
Now it was my turn to laugh loudly. “I highly doubt that.”
“You’re right. She really, really loves my dad.” She leaned in and kissed me softly. “So what’s on your mind tonight?”
“Now? You are.”
She snuggled down into me, resting her head on my shoulder. She had to be exhausted, given what she put out on stage every night.
“But in general,” she pushed.
“Actually, in general, you are.”
That made her pop back up. “Why me?”
I shrugged. It wasn’t always easy to talk about anything I worried about or feared. “I’ve had to do some planning for next year. Starting with a short tour, I think. Got me thinking.”
“About?”
“You,” I said. She furrowed her brows in confusion. “Pushing Daisies won’t be on tour with us next year.”
With the confusion gone, Daisy’s face fell. “Right. And I don’t know what Mack is planning for us for next year.”
“If he’s as smart as I think he is, you’ll get a new album out by spring and headline a tour of your own.”
Daisy chewed on the corner of her mouth as she sat there looking at me. “I think he might’ve mentioned something like that,” she confessed.
“And with ‘Break Me/Broke You’ releasing in a couple of weeks, I think you guys are going to blow up even more.”
“Yeah.” She swallowed hard. “But with me on tour with Pushing Daisies and you probably on tour with Courting Chaos… ”
“We’ll have to be creative,” I told her. I’d already been thinking about this. It was likely I could get away for a day more often than she could, given the guys didn’t need me to be on stage and I had Barrett to help me run things. They’d have days off when she could come to me, but it was only a few months out of the year. Still, we’d make it work. We’d have to.
“Creative?”
“Yeah. We’ll figure it out. Honestly, we’ll have to figure out other things before then
.”
Those brows slammed down again. “Like?”
“Well, you live outside of Detroit. I live in Chicago. It’s not bicoastal, but it’s farther apart than I’d like.”
“True.”
“And honestly, I don’t want to come stay with you while you’re living at your parents’ forever.”
“Yeah, I get that. But I do live in a completely separate apartment. It’s not like I live in their house,” she said quickly. “It’s an in-law suite they’d called it. An addition with it’s own entrance that my grandma used before she died.”
“I know.” I chuckled. Sometimes she looked so young when she was animated. “But we’ll figure it out. Your brothers are around Detroit and it makes sense for you to be there with as much work as you all have ahead of you.” I thought about how I wanted to say the next part. “Honestly, it might make sense for me to be in the area since the guys spend all of their off time in Ann Arbor.”
“They do?” she asked.
“Well, yeah. Their girlfriends are all there.”
“Oh, right,” she said. “But I wasn’t sure Indie and Bellamy were staying there since they graduated. You know, it’s kind of convenient that happened.”
“It is. I don’t know they are and I know they aren’t from there, but we’ll see.”
“So… ” She pushed her ass into my legs, which brought her shorts-covered pussy right to my dick. “They’ll figure themselves out and we’ll figure ourselves out, but whatever we decide, it will end with us together somewhere.”
I ran my thumb over her jaw and said, “Fuck yes, it will.”
Then I pushed up off the couch, bringing her with me.
I was taking my girl back to bed.
Chapter Twenty
Daisy
The way Lawson carried me back to bed last night as if I weighed nothing was impressive. I knew I was petite, but I had a little extra in areas. Yet he didn’t seem to notice. Fucking hot as hell.
“Barrett,” I called down the hallway of the arena. She stopped and glanced around as if she didn’t know where the voice was coming from. When she finally saw me, she came my way.
“What’s up, Daisy?” she asked. She had her dark hair pulled up into a perfect bun. Not messy like mine. But she was wearing jeans and a Courting Chaos T-shirt. Totally relaxed but totally business in the way she carried herself.
Daisy (Pushing Daisies Book 1) Page 18
