She could picture it. Drew Stone, the philanthropist. Somehow, it fit with his personality. He was always looking out for his dancers or anyone else on tour, caring more about them than himself.
Melanie sighed. “Right now, I’ll bet you’re sifting through everything you thought you knew about your boss from the tabloids.”
That wasn’t what Lola was doing at all.
But Melanie didn’t stop. “Drew has a certain image he portrays. The All-American boy with a bit of charm, some playboy antics, and just the right grin to make the entire world love him no matter what he does. But none of that is him.”
“You care about him, don’t you?”
Melanie searched her face as if looking for something before nodding. “I care about all of them, all my clients, but Drew… he’s special. Always has been. The first time I met him, he was an eighteen-year-old kid. But he acted much more mature than that. He walked into my office, having just signed his first recording contract. The guy sticks out his hand for me to shake and gives me this grin, I’m sure you know the one. Kind of ornery but also sincere. He says ‘we’re going to be friends.’ Just like that.”
Lola leaned forward, needing to hear more. She remembered Drew at eighteen, even though she’d only been eight when he left home. “Keep going.”
Melanie smiled. “It was like he knew me instantly and saw what we could be. I told him I was his publicist, not his friend. I must have said it a million times over the years until one day I realized he was right. Despite my insistence on never getting close to my clients, we were friends.”
“I don’t think anyone can resist him when he wants something.” Lola knew how Melanie felt because she’d felt it too. From the moment she ran into Drew in the dance studio, he’d wanted to know her, as if one conversation was enough for him to know he needed her in his life.
Melanie laughed. “No. He’s spoiled in that way. When he wants something, he gets it.” She leveled a stare at Lola, and Lola knew they were no longer talking about Melanie and her friendship with Drew.
Lola crossed her arms over her chest and averted her gaze, embarrassed at the insinuation. What would Melanie think if she knew Lola kissed Drew first? Did it matter?
Melanie hauled herself up. “Well, I should get back out there. It was good chatting, Lola.” She slipped her feet into her heels, and her steps echoed through the bathroom as she made her way out the door.
Lola sucked in a breath as she rose, unable to even think about wearing her heels again. She’d put them back on when she reached the ballroom.
Scooping them up with one hand, she gave herself a final glance in the mirror before pushing open the door. Before she knew what was happening, her back slammed against the wall next to the door and warm lips met hers.
Her brain caught up as she recognized the kiss, the feel of Drew’s hands holding her against the wall. She dropped her shoes and rose up on her toes to deepen the kiss as her arms wound around his back.
Brooke’s words came back to her about how she knew Lola and Drew weren’t hooking up, how Lola was one of them now.
But still, she couldn’t push him away. As his hands reached for hers, she squeezed him tighter. As he lifted her hands to the wall above her head, she nipped his bottom lip.
And as he rested his forehead against hers, all she could do was stare into the deep well of his blue eyes, wondering how she’d lived this long not knowing that kissing him could light a fire under her skin.
“I needed to kiss you,” Drew whispered, his chest heaving. “When I got off stage, I couldn’t find you, and all I wanted to do was feel you against me.”
“I’m right here.” She stared into his eyes in challenge, waiting for him to press his lips to hers once more.
A slow smile spread across his lips. “Challenge accepted.” This time, when he kissed her, the fire simmered low like he savored her. Gone was the desperation, the feeling that each kiss might be their last. They weren’t together, and Lola had no illusions of making this more than it was.
A secret.
Their secret.
Well, theirs and the woman currently clearing her throat.
Drew pulled away so quickly it was almost like he hadn’t been there at all. Jo stood watching them with a crease between her brows. She crossed her arms and pursed her lips.
“Hey, Joey.” Drew flashed her a grin.
A grin she didn’t return as cold eyes settled on Lola. “Drew, can I talk to you?”
His smile fell. “Yeah, uh, sure.” He looked to Lola like he was unsure how to proceed.
Lola could take a hint. With the kiss still burning on her lips, she walked away from him, knowing this was just another reminder of how stupid they’d been.
The problem was she’d spent her entire life doing the right thing, thinking of others before herself.
She’d earned a little stupid.
27
Drew
“What are you doing, Drew?” Jo tapped her foot.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight, Joey?” He smiled. “You’re glowing.” He reached for her and put a hand on her stomach like he’d done a million times before. “How’s our little bean doing tonight?”
She pushed his hand away. “My little bean. Mine. Not yours or Noah’s or Ben’s. And certainly not Dax’s.”
“Why the emphasis on Dax?” He laughed, imagining the quietest of the group having any opinion on Jo’s baby.
A growl sounded low in her throat. “This isn’t about Dax. You.” She poked him in the chest. “How many times have I had to hear about your rules?”
“Rules are meant to be broken, babe.”
“Don’t you sweet talk me, Drewsoph Stone.”
He choked on a laugh. “Drewsoph? You know that’s not a name, right? Drew is short for Andrew.”
“I. Don’t. Care.” She stepped toward him. “I am cranky.”
“Hormones,” he coughed.
She cut through him with a glare. “Yes, thank you, Drew. I am freaking hormonal. I had to stuff myself into a dress that only sort of hides the bump.”
She barely had a bump, but he wouldn’t contradict her now.
Jo continued. “I have to leave tour soon before people find out I’m going to have a baby with the biggest jerk in the world. And one of these days, it’ll be here. This little bean will be a real crying, poop machine. I’m walking proof of what happens when you break your own rules.”
“Joey…” He pulled on the back of his neck.
“Don’t get involved with people on tour. Isn’t that what you’ve always said?”
“Yeah, but…”
“Does Piper know you’re sleeping with one of your dancers?”
“We aren’t sleeping together.”
Jo didn’t look like she believed him. “Why now, Drew? Are you bored? Can’t you find some nice fangirl after one of your concerts? This is all going to blow up on you, and for what? A girl who will be gone once Leah is better?”
“Leah isn’t coming back to the tour.”
“But what about after the tour? Leah is still your partner, not Lola.”
Drew kicked his foot back against the wall and sighed. “She’s not just some girl, Jo. I’ve known her since I was fifteen years old.”
“When she was five, right?” Jo shook her head. “She’s too young for you, too much a part of this tour’s success, and too much a part of your family.”
Ah, there was the dagger. Lola’s connection to him wasn’t supposed to be through dance but through Asher.
“I know.” His shoulders dropped. “I know all of that, but…” He didn’t know what else to say.
“But you did it anyway. Why?”
“It’s like I can’t stop myself, Jo.”
“You can always stop yourself. Next excuse.”
“I dream about kissing her. When we’re dancing, it’s like there’s no one else. Just two people dancing in an empty world. I think…” He blew out a breath. “I didn’
t realize how much I needed that. She clears my mind, Jo. She makes me love it again.”
Jo uncrossed her arms and stepped toward him to wrap him in a hug. He rested his chin on the top of her head, soaking in the rare comfort from the hardest of the Rockstars Anonymous crew.
“Does this mean I’m forgiven?” he asked.
She looked up at him. “It means I want you to be careful. It means we all want someone to say those things about us.” Sadness entered her gaze.
Jo was the strongest person he knew, but she was going to have a baby on her own. No, not on her own. She had him and the rest of their friends.
“You know we love you, right?” He wiped a tear from her cheek. “Always.”
One corner of her mouth lifted as she nodded and stepped back. “Yeah, I know.”
Only last year, going to Rockstars Anonymous meetings was a chore, but now he couldn’t imagine his life without this group of people. Without Jo yelling at him and Noah making him laugh. Without Ben’s calming influence and Dax’s quiet laughter.
Yet, they weren’t the only ones who mattered.
Jo’s lips hooked up into a smile. “You want to go find her, don’t you?”
“I think I have to.” He looked over his shoulder.
“Go go.” She waved him away. “At least one of us needs to be happy.”
He dropped a kiss on her cheek. “You will be too.”
She pushed him with a shake of her head. “What are you doing still standing there?”
He flashed her a grin before walking back toward the ballroom. Dinner had been served, but it wasn’t the food that caught his eye. An empty chair sat where Lola should be.
Drew walked toward the table, eyeing the chair in question. Melanie gave him a knowing look. “Lola wasn’t feeling well, so one of the drivers took her back to the hotel.”
There was no excuse he could make that wouldn’t raise suspicions, so he dropped into the chair next to the senator.
Over the next hour, he barely tasted the filet he ate and talked idly to the powerful man at his side. He checked the time on his phone, wanting to get out of there as soon as he could.
Dessert was an array of cheesecakes and mousses. The sugar sat like lead in his stomach. As the after-dinner dancing began, Drew rose from his chair and set his napkin on the table. Rounding the group, he held a hand out to Senator Warner. “Senator, thank you for inviting us tonight.” He dropped his voice. “I’ve initiated a transfer for my donation. I hope it helps.”
“You are a good man, Drew.”
“A good man who is on a long tour. I’m afraid I must head back to the hotel. We leave early tomorrow for New York.”
The senator released him. “Of course. I hope to see you next time we’re both in California.”
Drew dipped his head once before turning and striding from the room. Footsteps sounded against the floor as someone chased after him.
“Drew.” Brooke sounded out of breath. “Wait, I’m coming with you.”
He couldn’t very well tell her no, so when they reached a black town car, he opened the door for her before the driver could get out. As soon as he slid in next to her, he realized how much she must have had to drink.
He settled into his seat and fastened his seatbelt, and Brooke leaned into him.
“Why haven’t we ever hooked up, Drew?” She looked up, her eyelids drooping as she almost fell over sideways, barely catching herself.
Leah would have chastised him for putting himself in this position. It wasn’t the first advance Brooke had made toward him, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. He’d never outright told her they weren’t going to happen.
And right now, as her fingers trailed his thigh, those words garbled in his throat.
“Drew,” she cooed.
Drew met the driver’s eyes in the rearview mirror, and he wished no one else had to see Brooke like this. She’d be embarrassed in the morning.
Pressing his hand over hers, he removed her fingers. “Because I have rules, Brooke.” Rules he’d now broken twice with Lola.
“And no one has to know we broke them.” She fiddled with his bow tie as her words slurred. “Just this once.”
He swallowed. “Brooke.”
“I know you want me.”
At one point he had. Brooke made herself available, and he’d had to keep himself from giving in to her flirtations. Brooke was beautiful and talented and smart, but she wasn’t Lola. He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek as he met her gaze. “We aren’t going to happen, Brooke. I’m sorry if that hurts you, but I have to be a professional.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she withdrew her hands. “That’s what I thought you’d say. Why do you have to be so nice, Drew?” Her voice trailed off as her eyelids grew heavier.
He watched her slump in her seat, sliding sideways to lean on him as she closed her eyes.
He released a sigh but didn’t push her off him. Most of his dancers went out to parties after concerts, they drank and probably did harder substances, but Brooke was on a level of her own. It surprised him when she showed up to practices sober.
This lifestyle wasn’t for everyone. Some people could handle it with flying colors. Others needed support to get through it like he got from Rockstars Anonymous.
And there were many who let this world devour them heart and soul until there was nothing left.
Drew refused to be one of those people.
The car pulled up outside the back entrance to the hotel, the one Drew used to avoid any paparazzi. His door opened, and the driver looked on in concern. “Do you need help with her, Mr. Stone?”
“I can handle it. Thank you.” He climbed out of the car and leaned back in to lift Brooke into his arms. He’d barely made it two feet before a flash went off.
Turning as quickly as he could with his load, he searched the surrounding night for a photographer but saw no one.
The driver unlocked the hotel door and held it open. Drew nodded in thanks before hiking Brooke higher in his arms and heading for the elevator bay. On his floor, the two security guards straightened when they saw him.
One of them tried to take Brooke, but Drew shook his head. He stopped outside her room, knowing who was on the other side of that door. Brooke’s roommate for the tour.
Lola.
Sucking in a deep breath, he knocked on the door using his foot. Only a moment passed before Lola pulled the door open, her eyes going wide when she took in Brooke’s state.
She’d showered and dark wet hair hung down her back. Fuzzy pink pajama pants hung on her hips with a large t-shirt that nearly engulfed her. Stepping aside, she gestured for him to come in.
It was only then he noticed she had a phone clutched in her hand with FaceTime pulled up and Asher’s face on the screen.
“Looks like Drew had some fun tonight.” Lola averted her eyes as Asher spoke.
Drew tried to ignore the insinuation as he put Brooke on one of the beds.
Lola chewed on her lips. “That’s, um, actually my bed.”
Lifting Brooke again, he shifted her to the other bed as she sighed out his name. “Kiss me again, Drew.” She didn’t open her eyes.
Drew backed up, his gaze going from Brooke to Lola. “I never—”
Asher interrupted him. “We might not talk much, Drew, but even I’m cheering for that one. Brooke is hot.”
Lola’s face paled as Drew watched Asher’s words take root in her. “I’m kind of on the phone, Drew.” There was a coldness in her tone he didn’t recognize. “I’ll see you at the busses tomorrow.”
He wanted to tell her he’d come back early to see her, that he needed to kiss her again. But with Asher’s face grinning up at him and Brooke’s drunken snores, he couldn’t find the words. He rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, okay. I’ll, uh, see you in the morning.”
She gave him a tight smile, and he took it as his cue to leave.
Out in the hall, he passed dancers heading toward thei
r rooms. They invited him to join, but there was only one person he wanted to talk to.
His person.
He escaped to the blissful quiet of his suite and pulled out his phone, finding her name without even looking at it.
But Leah didn’t answer. The phone rang and rang again, and by the time it got to voicemail, he’d lost hope.
She was the only person he could talk to, but right now, he wasn’t sure what to say, so he didn’t leave a message.
A knock sounded on his door, and he considered not answering it. But then a stupid hope came to him. Maybe it was Lola. When he pulled open the door, he couldn’t hide the disappointment on his face when he saw it was Piper.
“Oh gee.” She pushed past him into the room. “I feel so loved.”
He shut the door and turned to face her. “Pipes, I’m tired and not in a great mood. If there’s business to discuss, can it wait until tomorrow?”
Piper dropped onto his couch and tucked her legs under her. “I’m not here about business.”
He perched on the corner of his bed and waited for her to continue.
“Okay, so… Jo talked to Noah who in turn told Dax. And you know Dax tells Ben everything. So, here I am.”
“None of that made any sense. I’m too tired for this game of Rockstars Anonymous telephone.”
She huffed out a laugh. “Well, this game of telephone brought some interesting information to light. You have feelings for one of your dancers, the girl from Gulf City you insisted on giving the job to.”
He couldn’t deny it. Not to Piper. “I kissed her if that’s what you mean.”
“And Drew Stone wouldn’t kiss someone on one of his tours if there weren’t some kind of feelings involved.”
He leaned forward, dropping his head into his hands. “I’m so screwed.”
“Probably.”
He lifted his eyes to his matter-of-fact assistant. “So, there’s something I haven’t told any of you.” If Leah wasn’t around, Piper was a good substitute, and he needed to get this out. “I first met Lola Ramirez when she was five. Her and my brother used to tag along after me, but they were just annoying little kids. She was eight when I signed my first record deal, and I didn’t think much about her when I left. She was just Asher’s little friend.”
Love is a Dance Step (Rockstars Anonymous) Page 20
