9781618857958KissMeLikeYouMeanItLeveyNC (12 page)

“No
coaching.” Jackson shadowed her.

Carlie
flipped him off and noticed the employees stationing security at the entrance and
exit.

“What’s
going on?”

“Nothing,
babe, just some precaution.”

“Why
don’t we just go home?”

“Because
I owe you an off-key song and have a reputation at stake bowling against you.”

“So
you just bought the alley for the night.”

“Yeah,
but didn’t want to ask them to kick everyone here out, so instead I paid them
to make sure no one else entered. They can’t lock the doors with people in here.
Doing so is against the fire code.” Jackson grabbed a beer just as
Levion
moved to bowl again.

“Off-key?
Dude you don’t sing off-key.”

“Yeah,
tell me about it. I guess she wants my nuts crushed. I mean my rep is going to
take a hit if that shit gets streamed.”

“Aw,
baby can’t take a tiny bit of criticism? I thought you didn’t pay attention to
shit said about you?”

Levion
bowled poorly again.
Auja
climbed onto his lap and
kissed him to ease his pouting face.

“If
I throw a turn will you treat me like that?”

“I’ll
kick your ass.” Carlie took his beer and drained the bottle dry. “What?” The
alcohol made her loopy. She grinned and kissed him saucily.

They
played two full games that drew out forever with how bad
Levion
played.

“Next
time we’re doing couples. This is some BS. Lev, why the fuck do you even play?”

“When
your date says she wants to bowl, you bowl. What are ya’ll doing next?”

“Well,
I have to face the karaoke gauntlet and then I don’t know, head back to the
crib and hang.”

“All
right, sounds good. Why don’t we all go to the bar side and get the party
started right.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah,
but first give me your keys. Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.”

“I
didn’t drive. But good looking out. Raul will get us.”

“Thank
the gods you have some sense now.”

“When
you have precious cargo you make plans ahead of time.” He slipped his arm
around her.

Carlie
slipped her ball back on the rack.
Levion
ended with
a one-hundred-twenty score,
Auja
a two hundred-ten
score, the luck of the devil, Jackson tied with her at three-hundred and
seventy. “You can be so sweet sometimes, where is Jackson and what did you do
with him?”

She
giggled and planted a full assault kiss on his lips. He gripped her and hoisted
her around his hips. The carnal kiss went on forever. Carlie wound her arms
around him and moaned.

“Uh,
bro. We’re in a family establishment, cut that shit out.”
Levion
smacked him on the back of the head.

Carlie
climbed down from her perch on his groin and blushed beet red.

Auja
linked arms with her, leading her away from the men to the bar. “You and I need
a drink to cool off. Frozen margaritas sound good.”

At
the bar they each grabbed a shot of honey whiskey instead and checked out the
songs on the Karaoke playlist. She loved the way people sang off key, or worse
made up their own words to songs popular on the charts. “There is no Crimson
Rage on here,” she exclaimed with some angst.

“Yeah,
well there’s not a whole
lotta
rock on here so of
course not.
Whatcha
gonna
make him sing?”

“Princess,
now that is a great question.”

Carlie
pounded the bar for a second shot. The bartender returned and filled her up. “Well
now, I do believe I’ve found a winner. Disk five, song seven.” She kissed him
on the cheek, slammed the book closed, sauntered over to the deejay and handed
him the paper.

When
she came back, Jackson held four shots of Patron. “Lev, man, let my driver
bring you home. I’ll even send him to your place to get you whenever you wake up
to come get your car.”

“Sounds
good. To new friends and familiar faces.” Everyone downed their shot. The
bartender poured another. Carlie wasn’t sure mixing beer and liquor was a good
idea and fought to remember the mantra. Was it liquor before beer you’re in the
clear or beer before liquor you’ll be no sicker? Jackson eyed her like she
couldn’t keep up and of course she had to with the challenging stare in his
gaze.

“I
do believe you’re trying to get me drunk.”

“Maybe
a little. I want to see a flash of the fearless Carlie. You’re safe with me,
princess.” He kissed her lips and heard his name called over the intercom. He
moved through the crowd to the stage and took the
mic.
“I don’t know what my princess picked for me, just know this is going to be
painful as I lost a bet.” The music started and Carlie couldn’t take her eyes
off him. Even in a small bar and grill, he entertained with passion. At first
he seemed to forget he was supposed to sing off-key. It took him a few lines to
get into sounding like cats in a bag being shaken. No offense to cat lovers but
damn he made sure he sounded horrendous performing
Cryin
’
by Aerosmith with a straight face as if he was singing for his
life.
Levion
and
Auja
both
roared with laughter. The crowd murmured and gave him encouragement. He played
guitar so no one expected him to sing perfect. When he locked eyes with her,
her heart melted into a puddle of mush. And then the most bizarre thing
happened.

“Carlie,
bring your sexy ass up here. I need some inspiration.”
Auja
pushed her toward him. She moved to the stage and he grinned, and sang the rest
of the song in the right key. She moved to leave and he stopped her. “
Ohh
no, darling girl. Payback is a bitch, babe. Deejay spin
that beat.”

The
screen flashed and
You’re So Vain
geared up to play. He handed her a
mic
and kept his.
“You are so funny,
Jacksy
. I bet you by tomorrow this
shit is global and tweens all around the world will be yelling,
Jacksy
, we love you,
Jacksy
.”

“I’m
so going to paddle your ass for that. Now sing.” He nudged her and they faced
off again, him singing the first verse. After flipping her hair, she faced
their audience and went into the chorus. When her part ended he went into the
second verse, of course in key, and his baritone voice melted her into a gob of
gooey goodness, she’d do anything for him with that voice, he stepped into her
face and sang the chorus to her. Carlie forgot the words and pretended she was
playing an acoustic guitar.

Jackson
laughed and mumbled, “Good save,” under his breath. With attitude she gave him
the what for with the third verse and held the
mic
out to the crowd who joined in. Inches from his face, she pretended to go in
for a kiss and dipped out at the last minute, leaving him alone on stage as the
final chords played out. His expression at getting duped was priceless.

When
he caught up with her, he spun her around to face him and stalked her as she
made hesitant steps backward. The bar disappeared and all she saw was him,
until a drunk asshole spilled his beer down her shirt as he tripped. Jackson
saved her from harm but not from getting drenched.

“S-sorry
about that.”

“Man,
watch where the fuck you’re going. Fucking asshole.” Jackson’s jaw clenched.
She knew his
I’m about to go postal
on someone
expression. Carlie reached up
and kissed him to diffuse the ticking time bomb. He growled into her mouth,
clearly perturbed at her manipulation of him. “I’m not hurt, it’s a little
beer, well like a whole one, but no biggie. Let’s go sit with
Levion
and
Auja
.”

“Pal,
this is your lucky day.” He nudged Carlie past the asshole to their seat. Once
she sat down, she exhaled a pent up breath.

“Thank
you, Jackson.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek.

Auja
plied her with napkins and began to pat her down. “Hey, no worries. Spilt beer
will dry. Let’s have another drink and blow this joint.”

“Your
lover boy doesn’t need another drink. If he fights in this state he’ll end up
in the slammer.”

“So
we’ll call it a night then?”

“Okay.
If that’s what you want, princess.”

Aw,
he sounded grumpy. Was he avoiding going home with her? She knew he wanted to
do wicked things, the wood he’d sported most of the night gave everyone a
direct view.

“Yeah,
let’s go home. Come on Lev and
Auja
. Jackson, let it
go.” She saw the way he still looked at the dick who drenched her. As they
turned to leave a lovely girl climbed onto the karaoke stage and began belting
out a
Lita
Ford
song. Her beauty and sound stopped
them all dead in their tracks.

Jackson
stood behind her and wrapped his hands around her waist.
Levion
and
Auja
mimicked the same pose. “She is good, she’s
better than good and she is fucking sexy.” Not everyone sounded good playing a
karaoke song. That girl was on fire.

Jackson
kissed her head and dropped his arms from her. She watched him cross over to
the stage and wait with his hands tucked in his pockets. She heaved a sigh of
relief that he wasn’t going to push any retaliation buttons. When the song
finished, the girl did a half bow and moved to join her friends off to the
side. Carlie noticed they were a band, she could almost make out who did what
with a look. Jackson intercepted her and moved to talk to her friends. Their
eyes lit up when they noticed who he was. She watched him pull out his wallet and
give them a card. Then he was striding back to her with cocky swagger that
turned her hormones molten fire.

“Ready?”

“Yeah,
did you find out who they were?” She linked her arm around Jackson’s back as he
hugged her to him. As the four of them walked out of the bar and grill.

“Yeah,
they play locally. I let them know I’d be interested in hearing them. I imagine
the rest of the band will too.” He stopped and pulled out his phone and dialed
a number. “Raul, come around to the back please.”

“We’re
at a local place do you really think the back door is necessary?” she asked.

“We’re
not sure if the tweens really called their friends or not.”

“It’s
like two in the morning, what parents would let their teens out now?”
Auja
interjected and was hushed by
Levion
.

“Who
knows, but why risk the hassle if we don’t have to.” Jackson stopped to talk to
security who escorted them out to the service car. Carlie was wrong, there may
not have been many tweens outside waiting for a glimpse of Jackson but there
were plenty of overage women. He crushed her in his embrace, hustling her to
the vehicle.
Levion
provided the same protection for
Auja
, while security held back the mob wanting to get
autographs or meet Jackson. In the safety of the car, Carlie let out a deep
breath. She’d forgotten how insane it could get. Unlike Carrie, she didn’t
travel with her brother to shows and help out.

“Are
you okay, princess? You look a bit panicky.” He brushed a hand down the side of
her face and caressed her thigh.

“Yeah,
just need to catch my breath, talk about intense.” She frowned when his phone
began ringing off the hook.

“What?”
he snapped. “I know and no it wasn’t planned. Someone saw us and let the world
know where I was.”

“Who
is that?” she whispered. He silenced her with a shake of his head.

“We’re
not on tour so we don’t have a security detail with us. I handled the situation
and we’re en route to my place, well to drop off a close friend first, then to
my place. Goodnight.”

Carlie
quirked her brow and looked out the window.

“Sorry,
that was our PR manager, Trish. She wasn’t happy to read about the mob at the
bowling alley, but she’ll get over it. Raul, let’s get out of here.”

Chapter Six

“
Carlie
, do you know what time it is? What’s wrong? I got
your drunk text.”

“I’m
so sorry for that, but I need help.”

“Okay,
shoot.”

“Jackson’s
asleep. I want to wake him up and, well I want him so bad. He wants me too, but
Garrick…”

“Yeah,
been there with Shea. Turn the tables around. If you initiate sex, our brother
will still go ballistic but he can’t blame Jackson.”

“Yeah,
any suggestions on an out clause? I mean that shit won’t fly with Jackson. He’s
already ‘there can’t be an us if Garrick isn’t down with it.’” Carlie ran a
hand through her tousled hair and bit her lip.