Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Which of course, everyone does know. Our only salvation is that the people in the hotel weren’t at the concert, so they don’t know who we are. They’re paying us no mind.
Still, my skin feels itchy, as if their gazes are giving me hives.
We reach the room, and Dragon pulls out his key card and lets us in.
The blond girl frowns. “We thought you’d have a suite with an open bar and everything.”
“Afraid not,” Dragon says. “This will have to do.”
“I’m afraid it won’t do at all.” Pink tips girl leaves, and goth girl follows her.
The other two—both brunettes, one brown-eyed and one blue—don’t leave. In fact, they’re smiling.
“Well, that works out well for us,” Blue Eyes says.
And it works for me as well. Now I have an excuse to get out of this. What was I thinking, anyway? That I could be the guy who fucks women indiscriminately? That was my plan initially, and then Brianna happened. It was my plan for tonight…but…
“I’ll take my leave,” I say. “You can handle two women, Dragon.”
“Sure I can.”
“I don’t think anyone will miss me.”
Brown Eyes grabs my arm. “I’ll miss you. Please stay.”
“Sorry, ladies. I’m out. You all enjoy your night.”
I pull my arm away from her and leave the room without looking back.
I’ve got to get rid of this adrenaline somehow, and jacking off in my room doesn’t sound like the right thing. On a whim, I head downstairs to the bar. A drink may help, and then I’ll go back upstairs and turn to Rosie Palm and her five friends.
I get there and—
I stop in my tracks.
My sister and Brianna have just entered, each on the arm of Zane Michaels.
Oh. Hell. No.
I head right toward them.
“Maddie, Brianna,” I say.
“Oh…hi, Jesse,” Brianna says, her voice shaking. “You know Zane, right? From Emerald Phoenix?”
“I do.” I shoot darts at him with my gaze. “What exactly are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d purchase these lovely ladies a drink.”
I absently close my hand into a fist. “It might interest you to know that these lovely ladies are only twenty-two years old, and that one”—I point—“is my sister.”
Zane’s eyebrows shoot upward. “Sorry, dude. I didn’t know.”
“You want to buy them a drink? Knock yourself out. I’ll be coming along.”
Zane pauses a moment. He didn’t have a drink in mind, and we both know it. I weigh the pros and cons of my actions in my head. Zane is Jett’s second-in-command. If I piss him off, we could be kicked off the tour.
But this is my sister…
And Brianna…
Yeah, I know where my loyalty has to lie.
“Sure,” Zane says, trying to save face. “Come on. Let’s head to the bar.”
I pull Maddie back. “You two go ahead.” When they’re out of earshot, I place my hands on her shoulders and lower my voice. “What the hell are you thinking?”
“I…”
“Madeline Jolie Pike, I forbid this.”
She swats my hands away. “You’re not my father, Jesse. And even if you were, I’m a grown woman.”
“Grown women don’t take strange men up to their rooms.”
“We weren’t going to—”
“Save it. You think I don’t know what rock stars are like? Zane Michaels is a player. Everybody knows it. I can’t believe you and Brianna were going to go through with it.”
She glances down at the floor. “Don’t blame Brianna. I talked her into it.”
“I blame you both. What the hell were you thinking?”
“It’s not like I’ve ever done anything like this before, Jesse.”
“Good. You’re not going to start now.”
“But it’s Zane Michaels,” she says.
“You think I give a fuck? You’re my little sister, Maddie. This is not happening.”
“You can’t stop it.”
“The hell I can’t.” I step toward the bar, Maddie following me meekly. Zane and Brianna are already sitting down at the table, talking to a server.
“Bring the best bourbon you’ve got for the lady,” Zane says. “And I’ll have the same.” He looks to us. “Oh good, the rest of our party is here. What will you have?”
“I’ll have what you’re having,” I say dryly.
“Awesome, and you, beautiful?” He eyes Maddie.
“Sidecar,” she says, her lips trembling.
“Excellent,” the server says. “I’ll get those up for you in just a moment. Did you want to order anything from the bar menu?”
“No, thank you,” Zane says.
The women both shake their heads.
But I raise my hand. “Yeah. We’ll have a large pizza, pepperoni and mushrooms.”
“Perfect. That will take about fifteen to twenty minutes.”
“Perfect,” I echo.
“I didn’t know you were hungry, man,” Zane says.
I force a smile. “There are a lot of things you don’t know.”
I’m not hungry, but the pizza will take time, and maybe by then Maddie and Bree will have come to their senses. Or, more likely, Zane will get bored and get off elsewhere.
I’m determined to keep this from happening however I can.
“Jesse,” Maddie says, “can I speak to you privately?”
I gape at her. “Nope.”