“Because this is the story of us, princess,” he whispered.
Dasher dipped his hand down and placed himself at my entrance. I felt the bare skin of him against me and he hesitated only for a second before pushing into me slowly.
That night we joined together in what seemed like the beginning, but what in fact was the beginning of a very complicated chain of events.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Dasher
The competition was nothing short of amazing. The rules were simple. You had to have the most impressive set of skills that made you stand out from all the rest. Fifteen minutes to showcase your talent against the twenty-four other competitors from all around the world.
These were people who probably had the best that money could buy in terms of education, equipment and the kinds of gigs they played at. Some of the people are also dudes and chicks from rough backgrounds who had a dream and saw it through.
Take Rebecca for example. She stood next to me as she filled out her application forms in terms of emergency contacts and all that other fancy stuff. Her red hair was cut into the famous angular Rihanna hairstyle and it was bright blue. She had cat-slanted eyes and a wide mouth.
She was from Melbourne and her accent fascinated me. I texted Aria to tell her I landed and that I was safe. She responded with a good luck message and a selfie of her in my t-shirt with my name across her boobs. It made me smile.
“What’s got you smiling, mate?” Rebecca’s thick accent asked.
I grinned. “Just a girl back home.”
"Ah," she nodded. "I had a guy back home before I jumped on a plane to here too."
“Had?” I asked as we grabbed our duffles and made our way to the hotel elevators.
"Yeah," she shrugged. "This life isn't for everyone. As a woman who spent all nights at clubs and traveling around to different cities, he hated the attention and events."
“True, but sometimes we’re lucky enough to find someone who actually puts up with it all,” I said thinking about Aria and how she managed to deal with the nightlife.
“But do they really?” Rebecca asked with raised brows. “What does your girl do while you club hop and play your sets?”
I opened my mouth and as I spoke, I realized Rebecca’s point. “She doesn’t actually come to them unless her shift at the club is during one of my sets.”
“See?” she laughed without humor. “I’m not saying that there isn’t a bunch of people out there who would adapt to the lifestyle and enjoy it with us, I’m just saying that when we see the signs, it is easier to leave before the emotions start messing with the music.”
We were all housed in the YVE Hotel. It looked extravagant at night. The pools were lit up with lights that shone out of palm trees. The cobblestoned pathways were lined with little lantern looking lights and the lobby was light and opened.
I felt like a king entering his domain. It felt as if everyone knew who we were and why we were here. Miami was known to be a musical capital. I remembered the many conversations Austin and I had about his sets and the rush he experienced.
My mood wound down as I realized that he wasn't here with me for such an amazing opportunity. In fact, I knew that we would've been doing this together if he were still alive. Which reminded me that I needed to get in touch with Jace and see how he was holding up.
I waved at Rebecca as she got off on her floor and took out my cell. I pressed Aria’s name and waited until she answered.
“Hey handsome,” she breathed.
“Hey princess,” I smiled. “How are you?”
“Tired as hell, I had Sophia over today.”
“That’s amazing what did you two get up to?”
Nope,” she laughed. “We are not talking about Sophia and the impressive tea party that we had, we are going to talk about what you have experienced so far.”
I entered the room and whistled out loud. “Babe, you should check this room out!”
“Tell me about it,” she sounded excited for me which spurred me on.
“Wait, hold on, I’ll call you back,” I ended the call and quickly switched to video call.
Aria’s beautiful face filled the screen. I almost groaned when I saw her lying against her headboard with my t-shirt on and her blonde hair in a curly mess. Her blue eyes widened with excitement when she saw my face.
“Hey, oh my word I can already see the view. It looks amazing!” I swiveled the phone around to show her the massive entryway with three steps leading into an open plan bedroom-kitchen and a frosted door to the side signaled the bathroom area.
“Still doesn’t beat the apartment, though,” I said.
Aria shook her head at me. “Now is not the time to be modest, darling, now is the time to appreciate and enjoy exactly what you have achieved!”
“I know but I cannot forget where I’ve come from,” I said as I dropped my duffle on the floor. I used the pillows to hold up the phone at an angle, so I could see her as I took off my jacket and shucked my shoes.
“Dash,” she said, using my nickname on a rare occasion. “Sorry to break it to you, but you do come from that sort of life.”
I narrowed my eyes playfully at her. “Can we not remember that point of my life.”
“You need to,” she smiled softly at me, her features sobered into one of seriousness. “You have to remember the reasons why you did whatever it took.”
“You really motivate me, Aria,” I picked up the phone and looked at her earnestly. “I need you to remember that. No matter what the obstacle may be, but you are important to me.”
“Go be a Rockstar deejay, Dasher,” she blew me a kiss and then we ended the call.
I collapsed on the fluffy bed and sighed. "Let the games begin."
Aria
My hands shook as I scrolled through the feed on Dasher’s Instagram. I couldn’t help it. Old wounds and all that. Already, three days into his competition he met someone. I knew from his phone calls and texts that she was just a competitor who he clicked with, but, she was gorgeous. She was that classic beauty complete with Monroe piercing and stylish haircut. Her body was to die for especially in all those mid-riff tops and shorts.
I wondered how he hadn’t fallen for her yet. Maybe he did.
I dropped my phone on the bed and continued the new outline to my next book cover project. I was amazed at how quickly word of mouth and the website got my name around. I had several projects lined up. After trying hard to find a specific image of what an author was looking for, I gave up with frustration.
The doorbell rang as if to save my laptop from the hell I would’ve unleashed on it. I padded down the hall making sure my NERDS ALLOWED t-shirt was unwrinkled and that my shorts were not rolled up to represent underwear.
I pulled open the door to find a familiar face looking down at me with what seemed like a mixture of disdain and amusement. He was tall with blonde hair and piercing brown eyes. His smile gave him away a few seconds later.
“If you’re looking for Dasher, he is in Miami,” I said with a self-conscious twinge to my tone.
Standing in front of media mogul Travis Camden was intimidating as hell.
“I know he isn’t in town,” his voice sounded crisp and clear. It was cultured. Calculated. “I’m here to see you.”
He walked forward causing me to step back out of instinct as he came into the apartment. He looked around with his hands behind his back. He was dressed in a light blue buttoned-down shirt tucked into black jeans. He looked imposing even though he was dressed semi-casual.
“Are you going to give me the whole you're not good for my brother, stay away from him, talk?” I asked, folding my hands across my chest.
Travis shook his head. “I don’t care what he does with his live life, that is his to ruin.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence there,” I snapped.
I watched as he took the place in. the mismatched furniture and the small place made my defensive side rise. “I know this isn’t Park
Avenue but can you stop looking at my place as if it crawled out from under a sewer?”
Travis turned and regarded me with a tilted head. "The place we grew up in before the Camden's took us in was much worse than this. There isn't anything wrong with your place, in fact, it suddenly makes sense why Dasher would choose to live here when he has a quarter of a billion dollars to buy a place somewhere else."
My mouth dropped opened but snapped shut immediately. “His net worth isn’t my business. What did you come here for?”
“I actually have a business proposition for you,” he said as he lowered himself onto my couch.
I laughed. “Yeah, I’m not Paisley. I won’t do your bidding and snitch on Dasher.”
“Paisley was just a mosquito I needed to tickle Dasher’s ear, I knew eventually he would swat her aside.”
“Oh. My. God,” I stared at Travis with shock. “She is a person.”
“A person who had no qualms about betraying he boyfriend and her boss,” he shrugged. “I treat people as a reflection of their personality.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I want you to help me with some rebranding,” he steepled his fingers together and wrapped them around one knee.
“Rebranding for what?”
Travis smiled. “I think you need to sit down for this.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Dasher
“And the winner of the semi-final is DJ DASH!”
I roared with the crowd as they announced my name. After weeks of competing, I was in the top four. It felt so amazing. The crowd was stoked at the performance.
Rebecca, also known as DJ Bex, won the second semi-final. She rushed up to the stage and threw herself into my arms. I grinned and spun her around.
“You did it Dash!” she screamed in my ear.
“This means we are now pitted against each other in the finals,” I reminded her through my smile. I couldn’t believe I had gotten this far.
“We need to go out and celebrate!”
Rebecca and I raced up to our rooms and got ready in record time. I stood in front of the mirror slapping on some cologne as I took a quick glance at my attire for the night. A DJ DASH t-shirt and dark jeans completed the look with my messy dark hair in perfect disarray.
I glanced at my phone as it lit up. I scrolled through the millions of comments on social media at the live video of the win. My smile dropped as soon as I saw the pictures that surfed around the net. Me with a happy smile and Rebecca in my arms with her legs wrapped around my waist. Anyone looking at that photo would think that we were much more than friends. I could even admit that the picture looked incredibly wrong.
If I could admit that to myself, I could only imagine what Aria was going through. I dialed her number and listened to the voicemail pick up immediately. She had turned her phone off.
I tried one more time as I left the lobby and when I couldn’t get through, I decided I’d contact her later and explain.
We hit one of the famous clubs TORTURED. It belonged to Austin's group of friends. Many of the now famous bands had found their fame here at this club. It was like a family run business. Everyone was so tight-knit.
I was greeted by Jace the moment I stepped through.
“Congratulations,” he grinned with a sincere look on his face. His dark blue eyes lit with pride. I slapped his back as the badass Eden popped up from behind him.
"I heard you were back in town making waves," she hugged me tightly. She glanced at Rebecca. "This your girl?"
“Nah, just a fellow competitor.”
“It sure didn’t look like that on the live feed of your win,” Eden said as we watched Rebecca disappear into the crowd.
“I realize that now,” I sighed as I threw back a shot of whatever cocktail the bartender pushed my way. “Aria is going to kill me.”
“Aria is the girlfriend?” Eden asked as she slid in next to me on the barstool.
“Yeah, the worst part is that she is insecure due to past relationships, I don’t think this would make her feel any less annoyed or hurt.”
“You can’t blame her if she is,” Eden shook her head. “At the end of the day, you looked really comfortable with that chick. Not only that, but you’re at one of Miami’s famous clubs with her instead of trying to get her to listen to you.”
“I guess I was on such a high from achieving a goal, that seeing to her emotions wasn’t one of my top priorities,” I knew it sounded dick-ish, but I knew I made a wrong move by still going out with Rebecca.
Eden stood from the bar and tapped me on my shoulder. A sad smile lit up her gorgeous face as she looked down at me. “Dasher, no goal is going to make you happy if you have to celebrate it alone. I know your family isn’t in the picture anymore from what Parker told Jace. If this Aria is the only one you have? I would say don’t lose her just to prove a point.”
I knew there was no way that I was going to concentrate on enjoying the high, so instead, I made sure Rebecca knew how she was getting home and then I left.
I stripped out of my clothes and crashed on the bed with my phone in my hand. I tried Aria’s phone again. This time it rang. I looked at the time, it was eight, she would probably be chilling on the sofa and watching series or something.
“Hi,” she said a little unsure.
“Hey babe,” I said, trying to sound normal.
“Now’s not a really good time, Dasher,” she said in a stern voice. “I’ll call you later.”
“Look I know you are upset about the live video feed—”
“I really don’t have time to deal with this right now, I’m about to go into a business meeting, I will call you later.”
Just before she hung up, I heard words that stunned the breath out of me. Miss Thorne? Mr. Camden is ready for you.
Aria
“Aria, good to see you so soon,” Travis said as he swiveled in his chair to face me.
The office was as corporate as they come. White, glass and pretentious. Travis was dressed in a black three-piece suit with a light blue tie. He would've looked handsome if only I hadn't gotten to know the inner workings of his mind and what he was capable of.
“It’s been a week since you spilled your intentions, Travis, I’m pretty sure you knew I was going to agree,” I rolled my eyes and laid my laptop bag on his immaculate glass table. “Now tell me what you need me to do?”
“Always in such a hurry,” Travis tsked. “Anyway, I’m just waiting for my assistant to bring through the plans so that you can get to work on it. Also, I’m going to need you to use one of my laptops.”
“Uh,” I frowned. “All my programs are on this one.”
Travis leaned forward with a scary look coloring his face. “This is an important venture, Miss Thorne. This rests on the shoulders of your discretion. I cannot chance the idea that someone manages to get a hold of your laptop, or Dasher finding out.”
Dasher’s name paints a frown on my lips. “He’s out of the country.”
“Considering he is just two days away from the finals with that girl that was all over him, I’m banking on him being home pretty soon,” Travis shrugged.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked with annoyance as he pushed a laptop towards me.
It was state of the art. It was the kind of gadgets only billionaires could afford. Figures.
“Dasher is a standup guy,” Travis leaned back in his high back chair. “If he is seeing this blue haired girl he would rather end things with you first.”
“Wow,” I shook my head and started downloading my go-to programs for rebranding. “You really are a piece of work.”
“I was also going to say that if it is all a misunderstanding,” Travis rolled his eyes, “then he would make sure he gets here faster to clear everything all up.”
“If you know him so well,” I glared at Travis. “How have you managed to piss him off at every turn?”
Travis smiled at me which looked rather creepy. He was definitely o
ne of those stoic millionaires that you read about in books. “My brother isn’t always open to believing anyone else but himself. It takes him a lot of time to finally see the light, usually after he massively destroys everything in his path.”
“Much like the truth you’ve told me,” I raised my brow at him.
“I’m still debating on whether or not that was a good move,” he sighed as he gestured for his assistant to come in. he took the file from the shaking intern. It was almost comical to see the kid bolt as soon as the file was in Travis’s hand.
“Why did you tell me? What if I decided to tell Dasher?”
“I have good instincts,” Travis smiled. “You seem to be someone who understands the need for discretion.”
“I’m still not all that comfortable with having knowledge about something this big,” I glared at him while I opened up the file Travis pushed towards me. I was impressed with his vision, even if I wasn’t impressed with him.
“Dasher will come to know the truth eventually, just not from anyone but me,” Travis tapped his pencil on the desk. “Now, let me leave you to it, I have a business lunch to attend.”
I looked down at my phone which lit up just as he left the office. The screen showed Dasher’s name.
Dasher: please tell me I misheard. Please tell me you are not with my brother.
Please tell me that live video wasn’t what I thought it was.
I waited for two minutes before his response came.
Dasher: that video isn’t as it seems. I can explain.
What you heard isn’t as it seems. I can explain.
My phone went silent and after ten minutes of staring at the screen, I shook my head and started in on my work.
I knew Travis was a soft spot for Dasher. I also knew that Travis, as much of an asshole as he was, was trying to finally do the right thing. Two years ago, their family was hit with a tragedy that as adults they couldn’t deal with. They couldn’t believe that even at that age, something like that could happen to someone they considered dear to them.
The Wreck of Our Hearts Page 16
