Broken Fairytales Series Box Set (Broken Fairytales, Buried Castles, Shattered Crowns)

by Monica Alexander

  “I, uh, got a blow job my first night in Vegas,” he said, and I saw him glance up at Cole who was watching the interview from outside the studio.

  I could actually attest to what he’d shared, unfortunately, because I’d been on the phone with him while he was getting head. I’ll still needed to kick his ass for that. Talk about things I didn’t want to witness my friends doing.

  “Last night you got head?” Johnny questioned, not seeing where Andrew’s gaze had gone, and Andrew nodded.

  “Yeah, last night,” he said, grinning from ear-to-ear.

  “Nice. Well done, sir. Leo?”

  Leo cleared his throat. “I had sex on the roof of our hotel.”

  Leave it to quiet, reserved Leo to drop a bomb that none of us expected.

  Three head swiveled in his direction. “Are you serious?” Derrick asked, just a little bit in awe.

  “Uh, yeah,” Leo said, smiling shyly. “After you all went to bed, Kristin and I stayed up there.”

  He was a man of few words, but when he talked, it usually made an impact.

  “Nice,” Andrew said, high-fiving him.

  “You guys must have a lot of sex,” Billy said then, and we all just looked at each other. It was sort of true. Of course three of us were in relationships.

  “Well, like I said, four rock stars who look like they should be in a boy band, that’s a lethal combination,” Johnny said. “Alright, Zack. You’re last.”

  I looked up and smiled at Emily while fingering the ring on my left hand. I’d been aware of it in a really good way all morning.

  “I got married my first time in Vegas,” I said, loving how that sounded.

  “You did?” Johnny asked, amused at what I’d shared. “Last night?”

  I nodded. “Yeah,” I said, grinning.

  “To who?”

  “Her,” I said, pointing to Emily, whose eyes went wide.

  Johnny and Billy both turned around. “Her? The blond knockout standing outside the studio?”

  “Yeah, her name’s Emily, and she’s my wife.”

  Damn, that sounded good.

  “And did you just meet her last night?”

  I shook my head. “No, she’s our publicist, and she’s probably going to kill me because I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to share that we got married, but oh well. Now you all know.”

  “Zack, you do realize our viewing audience is quite large, don’t you?”

  I shrugged. “I know.”

  “Well, then I think we need to get Emily in here and talk to her. What do you think, Billy?”

  “Bring her in,” he said, motioning for Emily to walk inside.

  Her face bright red, Emily walked into the studio. I held my arms out and pulled her onto my lap. “Hi princess,” I said to her.

  “Hi,” she said shyly.

  “Emily,” Johnny said. “You really married this guy?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

  “Do you love him?”

  “Of course,” she said, sounding offended that he would ask that.

  Johnny put his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I had to ask. This is Vegas. More people who aren’t in love get married here than those who are. How long have you two known each other?”

  “Since last summer,” I told him.

  “Aww, that’s sweet. Look at that, Billy. It’s not every day you see true love sitting right in front of you. For those of you who can’t see, we’ve basically got Barbie and Rocker Ken sitting in our studio, and neither one of them can wipe the smile off their face. Congratulations you two. You seem really happy. Best of luck.”

  “Thanks,” we both said, even though we knew we didn’t need it.

  “Alright, well, if you missed the Liar’s Edge show last night, you missed a good one. They’re currently touring the country, and you can catch them next in San Diego. If that’s too far for you to drive, then stay tuned to this station, and I guarantee you’ll hear this song, Without You, a few times throughout the day. It’s the latest single off of their new album, Devil’s Countdown, in stores now.”

  Johnny started the song and pulled his headphones off. “Thanks guys. That was fun, and your show really was great.”

  “Thanks,” we all said, and that was our cue to leave.

  Emily stood, and I took her hand in mine as we walked out.

  “Are you mad at me that I told everyone listening that we got married?”

  She smiled. “No, not a bit. You were right. We shouldn’t have lied about being together. This feels better.”

  I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her to me. “It feels awesome.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Andrew

  I was drifting in and out of sleep, tucked in next to Cole, my face buried against his chest, as he stroked my back rhythmically. I’d woken up an hour earlier, looked up and saw him watching me, his surfer hair messy from sleep, a soft smile playing on his lips.

  “How’d I get this lucky?” he’d whispered, and I smiled sleepily and let my head fall onto his chest. That was when he’d started raking his fingers up and down my back gently, lulling me to sleep again.

  When I woke up the next time, I inhaled his familiar scent and wrapped my arm around him, tucking in closer to him. I didn’t want him to ever leave. It had been a week since Zack and Emily’s wedding, and they had yet to return to the bus, opting instead to fly from stop to stop and stay in hotels, so Cole and I had taken the bedroom. Had we not, Derrick would have used it for random hook-ups, and Zack would have been pissed if he found out, so I honestly felt like we were doing everyone a service by claiming it.

  The bed wasn’t big, but it was better than squeezing two grown men into a bunk, and we got to be together each night. I loved falling asleep in Cole’s arms and waking up in the exact same place.

  “Where are we again?” he asked, and I wracked my brain to remember where we were headed after we’d left San Francisco the night before.

  “Portland, I think.”

  I could have looked out the window, but I didn’t want to get up. I was also avoiding the elephant in the room. Cole was originally supposed to leave from L.A., but he hadn’t. He’d just gotten on the bus with us like he had for the few nights before that, and I was afraid to ask when he was going home. I dreaded that day.

  “I like Portland,” he said, and I looked up at him. His eyes were closed.

  “Have you been here before?”

  He shook his head but didn’t open his eyes. “No, but I got to wake up next to you in Portland, so it’s already one of my favorite cities. I also liked Las Vegas, San Diego, L.A. and San Francisco.”

  I pressed my lips to his bare chest. “I liked those cities too, but we’ll have to come back and visit when we have more time. I feel like we haven’t been able to hardly see any of the places we’ve been to.”

  “We’ll come back,” he assured me. “We have our whole lives to go wherever we want.”

  Our whole lives. I loved the sound of that.

  “Are you ever going to get sick of me?” I asked, teasing him, but somewhat serious at the same time.

  “No,” he said definitively. “Truthfully, each night when I see you on-stage, playing your guitar and singing, I fall a little more in love with you – especially when you look at me while you’re singing those lines from that one song, Shattered Crowns.

  “What lines?”

  I knew exactly what lines he was talking about because I sang them to him each time. They were part of the chorus where I accompanied Zack.

  “Take off the crown you wear above. Fade away into the one you love.”

  “I love those lines,” I agreed.

  The song itself was angry, but the chorus softened as if barriers were broken and pride took a backseat. Then the tempo picked up again and the anger was back. The song was about warring within yourself, fighting between what you thought was right and what you knew you wanted when it came to the person you loved, and ultimately letting you
r guard down so you could be with them. It was a great song.

  I’d written those lines. Zack wrote the rest of the song, but he’d had trouble with the chorus. I was good at choruses, and I’d been thinking of Cole when I’d helped Zack out. The fact that I now got to sing the chorus to him each night was a little surreal.

  “You inspired it,” I told him.

  “No, I didn’t,” he said, not believing me.

  “Yeah, you did. I kept thinking about how my parents and everyone around me saw me one way, like this perfect guy who could do no wrong, and they would never accept that I wanted to be with you. But if I was brave enough to take down the façade and just tell the truth, then I could be with you. I wouldn’t have to hide anymore.”

  Cole was looking down at me in awe. “Damn, that’s probably the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. You wrote a song for me?”

  I chuckled. “I wrote two lines of a song for you, but if you want, I’ll write you a whole album.”

  The arm that was draped over my back tightened as he pulled me closer. “I think I just fell a little more in love with you,” he said, and I smiled.

  “I still feel bad that I’m hiding you,” I told him.

  I knew that even though Cole and I were together, I still had some of those barriers up. I wished I was brave enough to let them down completely.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, my friends know, but my family doesn’t. We can’t hold hands or kiss in public. I feel bad about that.”

  His hand reached up to smooth my hair back from my face. “It doesn’t matter. I know you’re mine. It’s all I need to know.”

  “I think I just fell a little more in love with you.” I said, echoing his line.

  That made him laugh.

  “Get up, guys!” Jonathan said, suddenly pounding on the bedroom door.

  I groaned. “I don’t want to get up,” I called back.

  “I have amazing news! You want to get up,” he called back. “Derrick, Leo, get up. Come on.”

  “This had better be the best news ever,” Zack said, and I was surprised to hear his voice. He was on the bus for the first time in a week.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. I interrupted your honeymoon love fest. You’ll get over it.”

  Cole and I both threw t-shirts on with our boxers and walked out of the bedroom in tandem, his arms around my waist and our legs tangling together, tripping each other up as we walked.

  When we reached the couch he sat down and pulled me down on top of him, tucking us into the corner. It was where we sat most of the time, usually touching in several different places. The guys had gotten used to it fairly quickly, but we didn’t do much else in front of them, and we hadn’t had sex on the bus. I was slowly easing them into the idea that Cole and I were together. I didn’t want to freak them out, and the walls were really thin.

  Derrick stumbled out with a blanket wrapped around him and stood leaning against the window, his eyes half-closed. I was pretty sure he was naked underneath the blanket. He usually slept in the nude, which took some getting used to, but thankfully since Cole had been with us, Derrick had abstained from actually walking around naked, which was a nice change.

  Leo didn’t say anything as he collapsed in one of the captain’s chairs. He just nodded at Zack. Of course, Leo was quiet most of the time, so this wasn’t too out of character.

  Jonathan smiled. “You guys got invited to play the New Year’s Eve show live from Times Square,” Jonathan announced, and then he stayed quiet, letting that information just sink in.

  “Seriously?” Zack asked, his eyes wide.

  Jonathan nodded. “Yeah, Lindsay Hollenbeck is hosting. You remember her from the show you did in L.A., right?”

  Right, the girl who hit on Zack. I remembered her.

  We all nodded.

  “Well, she’s a huge fan, and she requested you guys. It’s going to be on national television, on primetime.”

  Suddenly we were all wide awake and on our feet, hugging each other and talking at the same time.

  “Whoa!” I said as Derrick accidentally dropped his blanket, showing us that he was in fact naked. I jumped back before he got too close.

  “Oh, shit! Sorry,” he said, bending over as he scrambled to pick up the blanket.

  “Derrick!” Cole yelled from the couch, covering his eyes as Derrick full-on mooned him. “I didn’t need to see that.”

  “What? You didn’t like that?” Derrick asked playfully as he righted himself and rewrapped the blanket around him. “I have a nice ass. I figured you’d enjoy looking at it.”

  “Show it to me again, and you’ll know just how much I liked it after I shove my foot in it,” Cole shot right back at him.

  Derrick made an uncomfortable face, wincing at the thought of how much that might hurt. I smiled, enjoying the playful banter between the people I cared about most. I figured the simple fact that Derrick was starting to be a smartass with Cole, and Cole was giving it right back, was a sign that they liked each other. So quickly Cole had become part of our little group of idiots.

  “Don’t you have a job you have to get back to?” Derrick said sarcastically. “Or have you changed careers and decided to become Drew’s full-time bitch?”

  “I like that job,” I chimed in. “Can I really hire you for that?”

  Cole grabbed me around the waist from behind and pulled me down onto his lap again. “You don’t have to hire me. I’d do that job for free,” he growled in my ear so only I could hear. Then he aimed his taunt at Derrick and tucked his chin over my shoulder, pulling me back against his chest. “Jealous that I can get some whenever I want?”

  “Psshh,” Derrick said, waving his hand in dismissal. “I can do that.”

  “Yeah, but you have to hunt for it. Mine’s right here.”

  “I don’t hunt. They come to me – in twos and threes mind you.”

  Cole laughed. “I don’t need two when this one’s already more than I can handle.”

  “O-kay!” Jonathan said, clapping his hands together.

  I wondered if Cole had taken things farther than Jonathan’s hetero ears could handle.

  “I think this is grounds for celebration, boys? Don’t you?” Leo asked then.

  We all nodded and uttered words of agreement.

  “I was hoping you’d say that,” Jonathan said. “Tonight, on me, steak dinners after the show.”

  “Hell yeah!” I cheered, having gotten tired of living off of fast food for the past few weeks. I’d forgotten what actual vegetables tasted like.

  “I’m in,” Zack said, and Leo agreed.

  “Good deal,” Jonathan said. “So you guys have the day to do whatever you want. Sound check is at seven, and the show’s at nine. I’ll see you there.”

  With that he hopped off the bus, going back to whatever work he had to do.

  “I’ll see you guys later,” Zack called over his shoulder as he started to follow Jonathan. “I’ve got a beautiful blond to get back to. I’ll see you for sound check.”

  Derrick and Leo mumbled something about going back to bed as they shuffled back to their bunks, leaving Cole and me alone in the main area of the bus.

  He squeezed me around the waist. “I’m so happy for you, babe.”

  “Thanks,” I said, relaxing against this chest. “Me too.”

  “In fact. I think we should have our own celebration.”

  I took note of the fact that his voice had dropped, and as it did, my body sprung to life. It has been five days since we’d had any sort of real intimacy, and I was going out of my mind with want.

  “Oh yeah?” I questioned, playing along for his benefit, but it wasn’t like I was going to reject anything he offered. I wondered if I could keep quiet during a blow job. Sex, no way, but I could probably bite a pillow or something while I was getting head.

  Feeling brave, I pressed down against his lap and felt the hardness start to grow, so I rubbed my ass just enough to create friction
. Cole groaned in my ear.

  “I want you so bad, right now,” he murmured.

  With that, I turned and straddled his lap, cupping his face in my hands before I kissed him, showing him with that kiss just how much I wanted him too.

  “I can be quiet,” I said, as I pressed my hardness against him and continued to kiss him.

  “No, you can’t,” he said as his hands slid down to cup my ass. I groaned in his mouth, making him smile.

  “Yeah, you’re right, I can’t,” I said when I pulled back. “This sucks.”

  Cole looked up at me, his eyes showing me exactly how he felt, how much he loved me but also how much he didn’t want to stop either.

  “Go get dressed,” he commanded.

  “That’s about the last thing I want to do,” I said, pouting just a little.

  He smirked at me. “Go get dressed, so I can take you to a hotel, undress you and make love to you all day. How does that sound?”

  I grinned. “That’s exactly what I want to do.”

  “Then go,” he said, as I started to get up from his lap. When I turned to walk toward the bedroom, his hand connected with my ass in a loud smack.

  “Hey,” I said, jumping and turning around to see him grinning devilishly.

  “I heard that,” Leo called.

  “We’re leaving,” I called back to him. “I’m going to get laid.”

  “Too much information,” Derrick called back, and Cole and I just laughed.

  * * *

  Later that afternoon, as I lay naked next to the man I loved, having shown him just how much I loved him about ten different ways, I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

  “I’m going to miss this,” Cole said, breaking the spell.

  I’d been waiting for him to say that. The whole day had been amazing, but it had also carried the weight of goodbye as we’d kissed and touched and connected. It was like we both knew we only had so much time left before we had to be separated, but we didn’t want to acknowledge it.

  “When are you leaving?”

  “I’m going to fly home from Seattle,” he said, his lips pressing down on my chest where he lay tucked under my arm. I stroked his arm evenly, my fingers lightly raking through the blond hair.