LIMITLESS: A Less Than Zero Rockstar Romance: Book 2: Jace & Alex

by Kaylene Winter

  Despite how young they were, Connor and Jen’s devotion to each other mirrored my parents’ strong marriage. Jen knew that Connor built homes only out of financial necessity and that he really wanted to be a professional musician. She was the one who helped convince him to pursue his bass wizardry and devote his spare time to join LTZ with me.

  As much as we wanted the big ginger to be a permanent member of the band, his family obligations had always been something we had to work around. So, we were thrilled last year when his dad’s recovery enabled him to return to work and Connor was free to commit to the band—and all that it entailed—fully.

  Meanwhile, Jen actually loved her work as a contractor, and she was going places in her chosen field. I’d never known anyone more secure with themselves than my sister. As one of the only women on the labor side of construction, she didn’t allow anyone to fuck with her. Her talent and professionalism allowed her to rise through the ranks, and she had just been promoted to foreman at one of the largest construction companies in Seattle. Driven, focused, and confident, my sister was the complete opposite of Cassie, who didn’t seem to have any ambition beyond bartending at the latest hot spot.

  I honestly wasn’t sure why Jen and Cassie were even still friends.

  The second Jen vacated her seat to cuddle with Connor, Cassie launched herself into it and scooted into the chair closer to me.

  “Hey, handsome.” Her red curls shone against the fire, reminding me of the fire-woman from Game of Thrones. “You look good enough to eat.”

  “I’m not in the mood, Cass.” I barely glanced over at her.

  “Oh, I can get you there.” She purred.

  “No thank you.” I hated to be a dick, but . . .

  “J-bird, we only have a few weeks until you’re gone for six looong months. Can you blame a girl for wanting your thick cock inside her as much as possible before you leave?” Cassie lowered her eyelids and looked up from under her eyelashes, licking her lips in a supposed-to-be seductive sort of way.

  “Jesus,” I muttered to myself, knowing that the standard Seattle passive-aggressive route wasn’t going to cut it with her.

  As I contemplated how to handle things, my mind inexplicably wandered to the natural, blonde beauty who had just left in her green Beetle. The differences between the women were vast, age difference aside. Alex was, quite possibly, the sexiest woman I’d ever encountered. She was clearly inexperienced. Pure, even. Her sensuousness was innate, she didn’t try at all. I knew she couldn’t be mine, but it opened my mind to new possibilities.

  Cassie’s aggressive sexuality simply didn’t do it for me anymore. I felt nothing for her but annoyance. At this point, we had nothing in common but the fucking. It made me feel gross. Plus, it wasn’t fair to her. Jen’s lecture had an impact on me. In a family of amazing sisters, I wasn’t going to disrespect her or any woman again.

  So, yeah. It was time to man up. Own my shit. Time to end the dysfunctional “relationship” with Cassie for good.

  “Cass, let’s go have a talk.” I got up and held my hand out to her, which she gleefully grasped, mistaking what was about to happen.

  Without speaking, I led her back into the house to catcalls from the peanut gallery teasing us with a million euphemisms of “having a talk.” All I could do was roll my eyes. Once inside, I sat on Carter’s plush, corduroy couch and patted the seat next to me. Cassie sat and without a beat pressed her body against mine as she leaned in and kissed my neck.

  “Let’s go back to Zane’s room, baby.” She put her hand on my thigh, her long, pink, acrylic nails stroking suggestively up toward my package.

  Gripping her hand to prevent her from reaching the intended destination, I gritted my teeth and began. “Cassie, you need to know that it’s completely over between us. I don’t want this anymore.”

  “What do you mean?” Her eyebrows knit in confusion. “You’re breaking up with me?”

  “Stop. We aren’t together, Cassie. I’m not your boyfriend. You know that.” I leaned back, pinching the bridge of my nose.

  “Oh, Jace. You’re so funny. Let me fuck all of this tension out of you.” Cassie tucked a long strand of her shiny red hair behind her ear and leaned in again, stroking my nape and brushing her breast against my arm in the process.

  Standing up abruptly, I moved to the big stone fireplace and turned to face her.

  “Please, Cass. Don’t do that. I don’t want this, and I sound like such a dick, but there is no ‘we.’ It isn’t going to happen with us again. It can’t.” I kept eye contact and tried to make my voice seem firm and decisive.

  “Who was the jailbait girl?” Cassie deftly changed the topic.

  “Zoey?” I decided to play dumb. “She’s Ty’s girlfriend?”

  “I know who Zoey is. The other blonde, Jace. The one who just left. Are you fucking her too?” Cassie spat.

  “Do you mean Zoey’s friend Alex?” I mentally thwacked myself for saying her name out loud.

  “Is that her name?” She crossed her arms over her ample cleavage, sulking in the cushions.

  “Um, she’s only eighteen. So, no.” I squinted at her as a warning.

  “She’s pretty.” She ignored my denial, determined to play it cool. “You want to smash her? It’s okay. Get her out of your system. You’ll realize I’m the one for you eventually.”

  “Cass, shit! Stop. We’ve been friends for a long time. I can’t do the FWB anymore. Okay?” I pleaded, feeling sick that she’d have so little self-esteem and any part I’d played in making her feel that way. “We aren’t a couple. We aren’t going to be a couple. Please let’s not make this weird.”

  Cassie buried her face in her hands and started wailing hysterically. Considering that I’d spent my life as an only boy amongst sisters, I had to physically resist the Pavlovian impulse to comfort her. The thing is, I’d been suckered by Cassie’s histrionics before. There were always a lot of sobs but never actual tears. She knew what she was doing. So did I. Without another glance, I wasted no time heading for the sliding door.

  “Cass, it’s over.” I tried to sound empathetic on my way out, knowing that I was failing. “I’m leaving on tour in a few weeks. Please don’t call, don’t text, don’t come to band functions. I’m sorry to be harsh but it’s best if we don’t see each other again. I’ll send Jessica in and you guys should leave.”

  Once outside, I closed the sliding door and breathed a sigh of relief. I was so ready to be on the road with my dudes. There was no need for me to be involved with anyone right now. Satisfied that I’d headed things off with Alex and cut things off with Cassie, I went back to my bandmates feeling a bit lighter.

  “Cassie needs you.” I motioned to Jessica with my thumb as I approached the firepit.

  “You’re such a fucking asshole,” she spat before jumping up and running toward the house.

  “Yeah, so I’ve been told.” I grabbed another beer.

  “I’m assuming you ended it?” Jen came up behind me.

  “Yeah, because she wasn’t my girlfriend and she kept trying to claim me. You’re not mad?” Fear of disappointing my sister was one of the reasons I’d let the situation with her friend drag on for so long.

  “Of course not, little J.” Jen grasped my hand and pulled me into a hug away from the others. “It’s actually a relief. She’s not the right girl for you, but she doesn’t deserve to be led on either.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Just go out on the road and have fun, you’re too young for such a big commitment.” She clinked my bottle with hers.

  “Pot calling kettle?” I teased.

  A cloud crossed her face and she regained her composure. “No, I’m too young too. I’m a hypocrite.”

  Shocked, I stared at her.

  “Jen—” I started.

  “Oh, stop. It’s nothing.” She shooed me.

  At this point, the entire night had been such a psychological mindfuck, I knew I just needed to call it. As I rode home in my Uber,
my thoughts drifted to the lovely gypsy Alex. There was a twinge in my heart when I saw her. My mind filled with happiness when I spoke to her. Tonight I learned there was a palpable zap of energy when we touched even just a little. Was that what Ty and Zoey felt? Connor and Jen?

  It didn’t matter though. I was resolved. Even though my dick got hard just thinking about how close I had come to kissing her tonight, I wasn’t going to act on it. Zane and I could be the carefree single guys on the tour and sow our wild oats, as my dad liked to say. It was time to stop thinking with my little head and use my big one. Alex would remain firmly in the little-sister territory.

  Of course, those were best-laid plans. Suddenly Alex was always with Zoey at rehearsals. She also showed up nearly every day at the studio while we recorded. It was like she was taunting me, even though we barely spoke. She seemed to have a uniform of either a black or white tank top with cutoffs, faded, ripped overalls or some sort of short, fluttery skirt. Always with those Frye boots. She was so fucking sexy.

  As far as I could tell, she either didn’t wear a bra or perhaps just a wisp of a bra. In the cold studio, her nipples were always just barely visible through her tanks. Goddamn, those perky, firm tits of hers. They did it for me, big time. I had to deliberately avert my eyes, which meant I deliberately avoided Alex. Board shorts were out. Whenever she was near in one of those tank tops, my body reacted. Cutoffs or jeans provided the only coverage that would allow me to discreetly shift my junk around, so I didn’t come off as some sort of creeper. The crisis was real.

  I couldn’t help but notice everything about her. Sometimes she’d wear a fisherman’s cap backward over her honey-blonde hair, it made her look so badass. Often, she’d be buried in her tablet while we ran through yet another take, of whatever song we were working on, her long limbs tucked up under her on the black-leather studio couch. When she and Zoey got in one of their giggle moods, her joyous, gleeful face was a sight to behold.

  On lunch breaks, when I amused myself by posting social media videos of Ty and Zoey in full slurpy-durpy PDA mode, Alex would joke around with all of us while we ate. Every day, she’d bring in a different flavored pie from her mom’s online bakery business, which endeared her to everyone, including all of the studio techs.

  So yeah, I found myself drawn to her like a fly to honey. Which meant I retreated into my shell more and more. Self-preservation. My plan was to ignore her as much as possible and get myself on the road, and then I could forget all about her. It wasn’t that hard to avoid her, I was either able to hide behind my drum kit or my phone to post new videos of our studio time. Alex often tried to engage me when I was in the middle of our social media stuff, but I’d taken to giving her one-word answers and acting disinterested, when I was anything but.

  After our last night in the studio, we loaded everything out and everyone had left but I still had to pack up the last few pieces of my drum kit. When I brought the bass drum to the band’s new green Ford passenger van, Alex was leaning against the side of the brick building where it was parked.

  “Dude, are you mad at me?” Alex inquired, sucking on an orange lollipop. Today wearing a white tank with cutoff shorts and those boots. I swear, I could see her nipples through the fabric of her top.

  “Nope.” I pushed my hands into my jeans and slouched next to her against the side of the building, avoiding her gaze. And looking at her chest.

  “Oh-kay.” She leveled her gaze at me.

  “I’m just focused on my band right now.” I shrugged. “We have a lot riding on this.”

  She didn’t break eye contact. “Yeah, I’m aware.”

  “We leave in just over a week.”

  She bit off the orange candy and crunched it. “Yeah, I know.”

  “Carter has really set things up for us. We have a real chance to make this work, so I have to focus.”

  “What did he say to Zoey?” Alex squinted at me. “She was crying earlier.”

  “Maybe he was comforting her because she’s upset about us leaving.” I really had no idea what she was talking about.

  “I don’t think so.” She was unimpressed. “She was upset by something he said to her.”

  “I don’t know, Alex. I mean, don’t you think Zoey and Ty are a little too serious for having just met a couple of months ago?” I usually kept my feelings to myself, but it was something that Connor, Zane, and I had talked about with Carter.

  Unlike Connor, who had been with my sister for years, Zane who would fuck anyone for the sheer pleasure of it, and me who was slightly more discerning but not in the market for a serious relationship, Ty was a sensitive soul. He was our lead singer. We needed him to give 100 percent to the band right now. We all loved Zoey, but the odds of them working out were next to zero. Less than zero, pardon the pun.

  “Yeah, I think they are too serious.” Alex surprised me. “She’s going to get her heart broken, and I can’t stop it.”

  “What do you mean?” I was similarly worried about Ty’s heart.

  “You guys are going on the road. You’ll have your pick of beautiful women in every city you visit. Zoey thinks Ty is the one for her. I know that Ty will not be able to resist temptation.” She raised her eyebrow.

  Despite my feelings on the matter, her comment made me angry. “Wow. You don’t give him much credit.”

  “He’s a dude.” She shrugged as if it was a foregone conclusion.

  “You know nothing about him, do you?” My voice raised even further. “He’s not wired that way. If anything, Zoey will meet someone at college and forget all about her fling with a rock star.”

  “Hmm.” Alex walked over to the trash and threw away her lollipop stick.

  “Hmm, what?” I followed her, wanting to complete this conversation and stick up for my man Ty.

  “You just seem very defensive.” She smirked defiantly. “But, I’m glad to hear you say that about Ty, it makes me feel better.”

  “Why?”

  “Because tomorrow she’s going to lose her virginity to him, and he better goddamn know what a gift it is.” Alex crossed her arms across her perky tits, drawing my eyes to them. Christ.

  “Jesus.” I was shocked. “The way they carry on, I could have sworn they have been going at it all summer.”

  “Nope.” Alex smiled. “They’re making it special. Seems unnecessarily dramatic.”

  “Well, it’s none of my business.” I walked back over to the van we’d dubbed “The Green Dragon,” unlocked it and loaded in my bass drum.

  “Can I tell you something?” Alex walked up behind me, her hands clasped behind her, causing her breasts to jut out slightly.

  “Um, sure.” I couldn’t help but lick my lips.

  “I was hoping that you’d do that for me.” Her cheeks reddened just a little, but she kept her composure.

  My heart stopped. What?

  “Do what, Beanie?” I gulped.

  “God! Stop calling me that. I hate it.” She cocked her hip and narrowed her eyes.

  “Okay.” My heart was pounding.

  “All summer I’ve been hoping you’d notice me because I wanted my first time to be with you,” Alex said boldly before looking down at her boots.

  I couldn’t speak, my dick filled at the thought of her naked and writhing under me. All I could do was stare at her like a nutjob.

  Alex looked up at me innocently, yet there was lust and passion behind her big blue eyes. She was impossible for me to resist. I reached out and stroked her lips with my finger and all bets were off when she opened her mouth and sucked in the tip, still staring directly into my eyes.

  “Fuck. Alex. That’s such a bad idea.” I stroked her hair with my free hand as she drew my finger farther into her mouth and then released it.

  “Probably.” She grinned.

  “You really thought I didn’t notice you?” I stared into her eyes, questioning.

  “Sure hasn’t seemed like it.” She playfully pouted.

  “I’m too old for you.” I sho
ok my head but couldn’t help but smile. “You need to be with someone your own age.”

  “Do you want my first time to be with some un-showered hipster in a hostel somewhere in Europe?” She cocked her brow. “Or a sexy drummer that smells like, God, whatever that awesome cologne you wear is.”

  “Sandalwood essential oil,” I murmured into her hair.

  “It’s so yummy.” She leaned into me, pressing her tits against my chest just slightly.

  I swallowed. I couldn’t speak but resumed eye contact, still threading my fingers through her soft, blonde tresses.

  “I want it to be you, Jace.” She reached up with both hands and placed them on my shoulders.

  Her words stunned me. My voice came out rough, shredded. “Why?”

  “Because we’re friends. And you’ll also let me go do my thing without trying to make this into a Ty-Zoey situation.” Alex’s hands had intertwined behind my neck and she leaned up toward me, her lips parted.

  “Where?” I closed my eyes for a minute, willing myself to say no.

  “My mom had to go out of town for a couple of days. No one is home at my house until late tomorrow.” Alex pressed herself even closer to me, willing me to say yes.

  Alex won. Cupping her face with both hands I lowered my lips to hers, holding her gaze. Her grip tightened on my hair at the base of my neck. My lips brushed against hers slowly, gently. Barely even a touch. I could feel the energy between us buzzing all the way to my toes. Drawing in a tight breath, my lips moved more firmly against hers. I parted them gently with my tongue. Savoring the orange flavor of the remnants of her lollipop, I began a warm, languid exploration of her mouth. Alex’s body stiffened and then melted into me. She tilted her head and kissed me back. Softly. Nothing wild. Our tongues slid against each other, lips melding as we found our own rhythm.