The Rocker That Needs Me (The Rocker...) (13 page)

Shane released his brother. “Why didn’t you just let her go in the first place?” Shane demanded, glaring at Axton. “She could have had this whole fucking thing taken care of in five seconds flat.”

Axton shrugged. “Maybe I didn’t want her to stop it. Fucker had it coming to him.” Calmly, as if nothing had just happened, he dropped down in his chair once more and pulled out his phone.

Behind me the producers and staff were going crazy. Someone kept asking Cole if he was okay. The group of fans was shown out and someone was demanding to know what was going on. I was only half-aware of it all happening, too lost in the exhilaration of being in Drake’s arms for the first time in forever.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t have you tossed in jail?” Someone demanded, stopping behind Drake.

I raised my head to find a fifty-something man with a receding hairline and a big belly glaring at Drake’s back. “Do you think that just because you’re some rock star you can act the way you want and get by with it?”

“Do you think fuck-face can talk about his family like that and he would let it pass?” Axton commented from his chair. “Nah, man. Steel was asking for it and he knew it. If he wants to be a pussy about it, then he doesn’t need to be on the same stage as me and Stevenson.”

I raised a brow at the big bellied man. “You had to know what you were getting into when you decided to do a reality show with rockers. They aren’t exactly sunshine and daisies. Things are going to get hardcore around here. But that’s what you wanted, right? Hardcore brings in the ratings.”

“Just who the hell are you?” the man demanded. “You seemed to have caused all of this!”

Drake finally raised his head, turning a glare so cold on the man that he actually stepped back. “She’s none of your fucking business,” Drake said. “Do you understand?”

Instead of answering, the old man turned to check on Cole. “Are you able to continue?”

He was still coughing a little, but there was a grin on his face. “Reminds me of the good ol’ days.” Cole laughed. “Yeah, man. I’m good.” His gaze went to Drake, and he held up his hands. “Peace. Lesson learned and all that shit.”

“Then let’s get back to work!” Big Belly clapped his hands. “Get this place cleaned up and show another group of fans in.” He glanced back at me. “Will you be staying?”

I shrugged. “For a while.” I wasn’t about to take off yet. “And my friend will be too.” I glanced over at the door where Dallas was still standing, having evaded the guards that had escorted the others out. She looked bored and was still texting away on her cell like nothing had happened.

“Get them some passes,” Big Belly told an assistant who rushed to do his bidding.

“Well, that was fun.” Shane sighed as he straightened the turned over chair his brother had left behind when he lunged at Cole. “Hey, Dray. Did you see the way Ax was holding Lana? Want to break his finger?”

“Whoa, bro!” Axton held up his hands. “Do you not see my arm? I think I need a rabies shot!”

I felt Drake tense at first, and then he buried his face in my hair again, his shoulders shaking as he tried to contain his laughter. “You bit him?”

A grin teased my lips. “Yeah. Pretty hard too.”

Strong arms tightened around my waist. “Good job,” he muttered, warm lips skimming across the sensitive skin below my ear, and I couldn’t contain my shiver. It surprised me that he kissed me, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it…

Sure, my heart was beating like crazy, and my body was aching for him, but I didn’t know if I was ready—if I would ever be ready—for Drake. With reluctance, I stepped back. “Are you okay now?”

“I haven’t been okay for seven months,” he said, his blue-gray eyes intent on my face. “But yeah, I’m good now.”

I swallowed hard and took another step back, needing the added space between us. A glance behind me showed me that Dallas was getting bored with her phone. She was watching me, and I waved her over. “Dallas, come meet Drake,” I told her, and she gave him one of her killer smiles.

He shook her hand when she reached us. “Hello, Dallas.”

“Dallas is one of my roommates and the current foul mouth in my life.” I grinned when Dallas flipped me off. “See?”

“Hey, Lana!” Axton called from his seat. “Introduce us.”

I shot him a sour look. “I heard that you already introduced yourself, Ax. Do yourself a favor and put in some effort, dumbass.”

His brows rose at that. “Effort? What is this ‘effort’ you speak of?”

Drake

The instant the words were out of his mouth I saw red.

Rage didn’t even begin to explain what I was feeling when the old rocker insinuated that Lana was part of the Hos-R-Us club that were typical groupies. My vision became tunneled; all I saw was that fucker, and I went in for the kill. Jumping up so fast that my chair fell over, I didn’t notice that Axton ducked out of the way so I had better access.

I grasped his throat and pushed until the wall stopped me. Cole’s head made a loud THUNK sound as it cracked against the stone wall.

“Don’t you fucking talk about her like that!” I growled. “She’s mine!” He wheezed as I tightened my hold around his neck. “Don’t say another word about her. Don’t even fucking look at her!”

Someone tried to pull me back, but I shrugged them off. “Lana deserves respect and she will have it.”

“Drake!” I stilled when I heard my name from the only source that mattered, but it didn’t completely clear the red from my eyes.

“Shane!” she screamed. “Shane!” I dimly heard from behind me.

Strong arms wrapped around my left arm and neck. I struggled as my brother pulled me away from Cole Steel.

“What the fuck are you doing, Drake?” he muttered in my ear as he kept pulling me backward. “Let him go, bro.

I struggled harder. “Fucker! You ever talk about her like that again and I will end you!”

“A little help here, Axton.”

I heard the other man say something and then shout as if he was in pain. The next thing I knew, all was right in the world—at least in my world—when gentle arms wrapped around me. It surprised me so much I didn’t believe it was happening at first. Then I realized I didn’t care if it was really happening or not, just that I could feel her. I pulled her closer and buried my face in her hair.

Sweet Jesus! She smelled so good. Just like I remembered, the subtle scents of her shampoo and lotion. Her skin was warm and soft under my nose as I skimmed it back and forth. I shuddered, not sure if I could survive if it turned out that this was all in my head. I had dreamed of holding her in my arms, had fantasized about what I would do if I were ever graced with the chance. I heard voices, background noise, but nothing registered. I blocked it all out and focused on the only thing that mattered. Lana fit so perfectly against me. The way her full breasts pressed against my chest, delicate woman against hard male.

Her chest vibrated ever so slightly as she said something, and I turned my head to find the network’s bigwig standing behind me with a scowl on his face. “Just who the hell are you?” The man demanded. “You seemed to have caused all of this!”

“She’s none of your fucking business,” I growled at him. “Do you understand?”

Things around us were calming down, and I pulled her back into my arms, not caring about anything else. Cole laughed off the incident, apologizing. I could see the way his eyes were still narrowed. I ignored him and everything else, burying my face in Lana’s hair again. I wished I could bottle up her sweet smell and carry it around with me everywhere.

It was too tempting to resist, and I wasn’t strong enough to even try. My lips brushed across her neck, just under her ear, and I felt her shiver. My cock was rock hard, and I was already thinking of some viable excuse to get us out of there and back to my apartment…

In the next instance she was pulling away. I saw the indecision in her whiskey colored eyes and realized that I had a lot of work to do before she was truly back in my arms again. I was up for the challenge. She was worth it.

She introduced me to one of her roommates, the girl that Axton had been so into earlier. Dallas was gorgeous, with that dimple in her right cheek that peeked at you when she smiled. Her body was long and slender, and on closer inspection, inked up! Her tee shirt hid most of the ink, but some of it flashed me from time to time.

Shane came over and draped his arm around Lana’s shoulders. “Dallas just got out of the modeling business,” he informed me. “She thinks that just because she’s all badassed up with her ink that no one would be interested in her for jobs.”

I tried not to let my brother touching my girl bother me as I turned my attention on the blonde. “I’m sure Emmie could find her something if she were really interested in it.”

Dallas wrinkled her nose. “No thanks. I’d rather slit my wrists than get back into modeling. It would only make my mother happy, and I try not to give her that satisfaction.”

Lana grinned. “But just think, Dallas. What if you were in some hardcore rock video? Your mother would freak out!” Her eyes sparkled. “Oh! Oh! I know! I’ll call Emmie and see if she knows anyone that needs a girl for their video! You can be in some rocker’s bed in nothing but a smile! Your mom is going to have a stroke!”

“Don’t call Emmie!” Axton called from his seat where he was still on his phone. “I’ll hire her for OtherWorld’s new video.”

Dallas had seemed interested up until Axton had offered her the job. “Um, no.” She rolled her eyes then glanced at her watch. “Lana, I have to go. Are you coming?” She glanced from Lana to me then back to Lana. “Or..?”

Lana sighed. “Yeah, I’m coming. I have practice at three.”

My heart turned to lead. I didn’t want her to go. Not yet. Not ever, dammit! She was already hugging Shane goodbye. I knew that I had to get back to work. We were holding up the tryouts, but I didn’t give a fuck. I wanted more time with my angel.

Stepping back from Shane, she gave me a small smile. “It was really good seeing you, Drake,” she murmured.

I pulled her into my arms, holding on tight for a moment before reluctantly releasing her. “Can we have dinner?”

She bit her lip and seemed to think about it before nodding. “When?”

“Tonight?” Lana nodded again and I felt some of the weight on my chest ease up. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

She hesitated. “Um…I’ll meet you there. Text me the place.” She didn’t give me time to protest as she grabbed Dallas by the elbow and pulled her toward the door.

I watched her go, frowning at her hasty exit. “I don’t have your number…” She had changed it not long after she had gotten to New York. I knew because I had tried it on more than one occasion. 

She paused at the door and glanced back. With a frown she pulled her phone from her hip pocket and messed with a few buttons. Seconds later my phone buzzed. “Now you have it!” she called back.

Lana

I was ten minutes late getting to the gym. I thought for sure Linc was going to blow a gasket. Instead, he just glared at me and rushed me through my stretches. My mind was only half on what I was doing. Thoughts of Drake kept haunting me.

I was anxious about dinner, worried about how I was going to deal with him while we shared a meal. Could I possibly fall back into the old routine that we had once had? I didn’t know if I could. My feelings were too raw, my heart too fragile. Today had only shown me that I was still crazy in love with him, that it wouldn’t take much before I was begging him to love me too…

Before I was begging him to make love to me!

“What is wrong with you?”

I blinked up at Linc, startled by his vehemence. “What? What did I do?” I hadn’t been paying attention. We had been dancing for a while now and I had been on autopilot.

“Get your head out of the clouds, Lana,” he scolded. “We have five weeks before the competition and you are dancing like some marionette with a broken leg!”

I grimaced. “Okay. Okay. I’m sorry.” I sighed. “I’m focused now. Let’s go again.”

When I had first gotten to New York I had turned to dance to keep my mind occupied. I had started taking some jazz dance classes and found that I was kind of good at it. Then two months ago my teacher had asked if I wanted to compete since one of the couples in her team had backed out after breaking up. At first I hadn’t wanted to, but after talking about it with my roommates, Linc had talked me into it, promising to be my partner.

For a big, hulky man he could dance like a freaking dream!

He took competing seriously though and made me practice three to four times a week. There were days when I wanted to throw him out the window of the private classroom that he reserved for us at the gym where he worked at.

“From the beginning.” He hit a button on the remote to start the trio of songs that we planned on dancing to and pulled me into his arms.

Michael Bublé’s
Sway
filled the room, and I let him lead me through the moves. I pushed all thoughts of Drake from my mind for the moment and let the music fill my soul as Linc spun and dipped me. When the song ended,
Save The Last Dance For Me
began, and I was smiling as the tempo became more upbeat.

By the end of the next hour, I was sweating and breathing hard, having just danced my ass off. I grabbed my stuff, blew Linc a kiss, and hurried home. He still had a few hours to go before his shift was over. He was a personal trainer and made a good bit of his money catering to the spoiled rich older women who came in just to ogle him for half an hour at a time.

If I was going to have dinner with Drake, I needed to plan what I was going to wear…and at least attempt to get a good hold on my emotions before I saw him again!

It was just after six when I finished putting on my makeup and looked down to find Drake’s name flash across my screen followed by his text. I still had his number, had tortured myself by putting it in my new phone when I had gotten it. A few times over the last few months, I had come so close to texting him, but then Vegas would come back to haunt me.

I had forgiven Drake for that night almost immediately, but it wasn’t something that I would ever be able to forget…

Picking up my phone and my clutch, I hurried out of the bathroom I shared with Harper. She was sitting in the living room with her computer on her lap going over the pictures she had taken earlier that day. She waved at me as I headed for the front door. “Be safe. Got your mace?”

I held up my clutch. “Got it!” I blew her a kiss as I ran out the door.

Forty-five minutes later, my taxi pulled up outside of the restaurant that Drake had texted me to meet him at. I was running late and hadn’t even had time to mentally coach myself on how to deal with tonight. As I stepped out of the taxi, I frowned at the ritzy establishment. What was it with the members of Demon’s Wings and wanting to take me to these places?

I clenched my jaw. Jesse had taken me to a place much like this when he had been in New York. I had understood his reasons. He had been thinking more about Layla than me at the time, wanting her to have the experience of a high-end dinner in one of New York’s exclusive restaurants.

With Drake… He knew that I didn’t like places like this. The food was always too rich, the cost always too extreme. He knew that I would rather have a pizza or a cheeseburger at a fast food place. It was crazy, but I was hurt that he wanted to have dinner with me here.

Had he completely forgotten what I was like?

When I entered the restaurant I found that I was underdressed compared to some of the patrons. My dress was simple, silver in color, an ended about mid-thigh. It wasn’t cheap, but it in no way compared to the dresses on some of the other women, who were also decked out in thousands of dollars of diamonds.

The hostess offered me a forced smile, as if she knew I didn’t belong there. “May I help you?”

I raised my chin, refusing to let this woman with her fake smile and even faker tan, make me feel unworthy. “Yes. I’m meeting Drake Stevenson.”

Her eyes widened and she stepped forward. “He’s already seated. This way please, Miss Daniels.”

I blinked, having not expected her to know my name. I followed her through the dining room. A few heads turned my way, but I ignored them all as I kept my eyes on the back of the hostess’ head. I didn’t want to be here!

Drake was seated at a table in the back, hidden from most of the other diners. He stood as I drew closer and I took in his suit. Good God, that man was devastating in a suit! The way it encased all those wonderful muscles… I remembered to close my mouth so I didn’t embarrass myself by drooling.

The hostess excused herself a few feet from Drake’s table, and I stopped. As if sensing my hesitation, he stepped forward and pulled me against him.

“Are you okay?” he murmured against my hair.

I closed my eyes, fighting irrational tears. A hot rock star wanted to have dinner with me at one of Manhattan’s most talked about restaurants and I wasn’t happy about it. Maybe I needed to be medicated…but that still didn’t stop my heart from hurting. Swallowing hard, I took a moment to get my emotions under control before stepping back.

“I’m fine,” I told him with a smile that didn’t reach my eyes.

“No you’re not. I know you, Lana. Something’s wrong.”

“Apparently, you don’t know me as well as you think,” I muttered half under my breath as I took another step back and pulled out a chair at the table.

Drake dropped back down into his chair. “Are you mad at me?” he asked.

I sighed. “Yeah. I guess I am.” There was no use lying about it. I was mad and hurt and an emotional crazy woman. “But it’s not your fault. I’m just being my normal bitchy self.”