Play Fair (The Devil's Share Book 3) (13 page)

Luke let out a sigh, defeated. “I would never do that.”

“You’re right. The old Luke? The one from before Lex joined the tour? Would never even think about letting a child see him destroying himself. But you see, the old Luke didn’t
want
to destroy himself.” Jacks faced his bandmate, arms crossed. “I’m sure Landry has seen enough shit in her life. I won’t let her see any more. You feel me?”

Luke pushed away from the wall, turning to leave. “I feel you.”

Landry came bounding back into the room. I loved seeing her run around like a normal kid. For the first few days she was here, she kind of walked around very cautiously most of the time. Like she needed to be invited into every room before she entered. Jacks playfully dove onto the bed next to me. “What do my beautiful girls want for breakfast this morning?”

This man melted me. He gave love and affection so easily, so naturally. He’s exactly what Landry needed right now. “Hmmm…I think I want…doughnuts!”

Jacks looked over to her. “What do you say, Buttercup? Want to go for a drive and get B some doughnuts?”

***

When those two left to get everyone breakfast I headed downstairs and found Dylan sitting on the back porch with a cup of tea in her hands. She was wearing an oversized t-shirt and a pair of leggings. I looked down at the shirt I still had on, the one I’d slept in. It was Jacks’s. When I’d gotten out of the shower last night it had been sitting on the bathroom sink. There was a note in the mirror fog that said WEAR ME. It didn’t necessarily look like a man’s shirt; it fit me pretty well. Jacks wore his shirts incredibly tight; maybe she wouldn’t notice. “Hey.”

She looked up when I opened the back door, smiling. “Hey.”

I sat down in the padded chair next to her. “What are you doing up so early? It’s Saturday.”

Dylan took a sip out of her cup. “Just used to getting up early, I guess. What about you? Where is Landry?”

“Jacks took her to go pick up doughnuts.” I leaned back in the chair, enjoying the early morning sun before it turned blazing. “He asked me to stay, for the summer. To help with Landry.” I hadn’t told her last night, I didn’t want to ruin all the fun we’d been having.

“And? What did you say?” I could hear the disapproval in her voice already.

“I said yes.” I brought my knees up, hugging my legs to my chest. “I want to be here; with him, with her, with you.”

Dylan sat her cup down. “I love having you here, Bryan. But you need to be careful when it comes to Jacks and Landry. Children need consistency, and you have a tendency to be the opposite. You need to make him be her father; you can’t start to raise her for him.”

I jerked back. Disapproval was one thing, but I wouldn’t let her belittle Jacks. “What are you talking about? He is amazing with her and she adores him. He spends time with her every day. He has never once acted like she is a burden. And could you
please
stop acting like I have one foot out the damn door? Because I don’t.” I couldn’t understand her concern. Jacks was doing the best he could and from where I was standing, which was pretty damn close, he was doing a great job.

“Yeah, he spends time with her, plays with her. But what about all the other things she is going to need? Counseling? School? Boundaries? Jacks is a child, and he needs to learn to be a parent.” Dylan turned to me, taking my hands in hers. I barely resisted the urge to pull away. “And what about you? Is it fair to ask you to stay here, to help him? You just finished college. You need to be finding a job, getting
your
life together, taking on your own responsibilities.”

I stood. “This
is
my life, Dylan. Right here, right now, I’m living it. I’m not running from anything, can’t you see that? I’m just…” I threw my arms out to the side. “Living.” I put my hand on the back door. “I’m staying here, with Jacks and Landry. And I’m not asking your permission or your opinion.” I went inside and stood in the kitchen. I wasn’t really sure what to do now. Jacks and Landry were still gone, I was done talking to Dylan for the moment, and everyone else was still asleep.

I didn’t need to be in South Carolina to figure out my future; I could do that from here. And Jacks was a good father. He’d known about Landry for less than a week; it was okay that he hadn’t figured everything out yet. I took my tea and headed back upstairs. I sat at the small desk in my room and started going through the catalogues that Lexi had left for me. There was a note with a checklist attached. Jacks’s house had five bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms. Seemed a little large for just him and Landry. But I guess one day he’d have a wife and more kids. Would that be me? We’d decided to take our friendship to the next level last night. But there were a hell of a lot of steps between making out and moving in together, right? I flipped open a huge magazine full of light fixtures and lost myself in decisions for a house I might never even see.

Chapter Fifteen

Jacks

Landry and I had been gone forty-five minutes, and the second I got home all I wanted to do was find Bryan and kiss the hell out of her. Because I could. Because we’d crossed that line, hell, we’d shot that line all to shit. I wanted her before, but now? It was a whole new level of want. “B? You up here?” I peeked my head into my room. Then walked farther down the hall. “Doll? What are you doing?” She was sitting at the desk, a pile of catalogues surrounding her and a pen stuck between her teeth.

She looked up when I walked in, a bright smile on her pretty face. She still hadn’t put her contacts in yet and seeing her sitting there with that topknot and sexy glasses about made me pass out. She must have noticed my level of want, because her smile turned wicked. She started playing with the pen in her teeth and brought one of her bare legs up to rest on the chair, causing her shorts to ride up her thigh. I growled like a dog with a bone and made it across the room in two long strides. She stood and threw her arms around my neck when I got to her. I put my hands on her tight little ass and pulled her against me, kissing her sweet mouth. She moaned, the vibrations making me lift her up and wrap her legs around my waist. I stepped forward, putting her back against a wall, grinding against her core. My hands were braced above her head, her grip on my hips with her thighs and the wall were the only things holding her up. “Tonight is date number two, right? Another date, another base, baby doll?” She grabbed me by the hair and brought my mouth back to hers, nodding furiously. I smiled against her skin, trailing my kisses down her neck.

“That’s hot. Now I’m horny.”

I pulled my mouth off Bryan’s throat and rested my forehead against her chest. I was breathing like I’d just run a marathon and I could feel her heart racing. “Is there something we can help you with, Lex?” I could hear the unusual edge to my voice. I was wound tight. That little shower session last night helped calm me down for all of fifteen minutes. About as long as it took for B to come get in bed and snuggle her perky ass against me.

I sat Bryan on her feet as Lexi walked in and took a seat on the bed. “As a matter of fact, yes you can.” She pointed to the desk. “I need to get your color choices to the painters.”

“For what? The house? Was I supposed to be picking out paint colors today?” I reached down and adjusted my dick. I was hard as fuck and I didn’t really care if Lexi knew it.

And judging by the smirk she had on her face, she did. “Uh, yeah, you were.” She shrugged. “But I knew you wouldn’t. So I asked Bryan to do it for you.”

“Oh. Okay.” I looked over at B. That’s what she was doing in here? Picking out colors for the house I was building. Was that weird? Was that too soon for her? She wanted to take things one step at a time. I’m pretty positive that designing a house for us to live in is a step numbered in the thousands.

Bryan walked over to the desk and picked up a handful of colored squares of paper. Color swatches? Is that what those were called? “Here are two different choices.” She spread them out on the desk. “You can either go with these grays or these beiges. Then everything will be neutral and you can be bolder with lighting and furniture.”

“Uh…the beigggge—” I saw both Lexi and Bryan start to wince. “Ggggray. I choose the gray.”

Bryan smiled. “Good choice.”

“Thanks. Cabinets and countertops are next, Baby Dil.” Lexi grabbed the swatches off the desk and started toward the door. “You guys can get back to sucking face. Although, unless you are ready to announce to the family that you are now ‘more than friends,’ I’d shut the door.” She winked over her shoulder as she walked out.

“Did she just call me Baby Dil?”

I sat on the bed and pulled Bryan between my legs. “Lex loves a bad nickname.” I slid my hands up her sides, stopping my thumbs against the underside of her breasts. “Now, where were we?”

She smiled and moved toward me a fraction of an inch. “Were we about here?”

“No, doll, I think we were a little closer than this.” I reached up, fisting my hands in her beautiful hair and tugging her closer to me. Within seconds I was caught up in her again. Lost in the feel of her mouth on mine, her hair in my hands. She climbed on my lap, straddling me and making me want to toss her on the bed and bury my face between her legs. That was second-date material, right?

“Really? What did I just tell you two?”

I pulled back a second time, shooting Lexi an annoyed-as-hell look. “Why are you still watching, creeper?” Bryan climbed off my lap, but I held her hip to keep her from going too far.

“I’m not
still
watching, I forgot to tell Bryan we have a Skype call with the GC on Monday morning.” Lexi rubbed her hands on her belly, a serious look on her face. “And also, I won’t say anything to Dylan, about what I saw. Twice. But I won’t lie to her either.”

I stood, wrapping my arms around Bryan’s chest and pressing my hard-on against her ass. I didn’t really know what to say. Luckily, it didn’t look like Lex expected me to say anything at all. She turned and walked out without another word.

Bryan leaned her head back. “Is that a pistol in your pocket? Or are you just really fucking horny?”

I snorted. “You are perfect for me, you know that?” I spun her around. “You want to tell your sister?”

“Not really. Is that okay with you?” She rested her forehead against my chest. “I’m just not ready to deal with anyone else’s opinions.”

I reached down and squeezed her ass. “It’s okay with me. We can tell her whenever you’re ready.”

“Are my doughnuts downstairs?”

I chuckled. “Yes, Landry got you ones with sprinkles.”

Bryan held on to my hand and pulled me toward the door. “Hey. Speaking of Landry, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about some activities for her this summer.”

“Okay, sure. Tonight? After she’s asleep?”

She nodded. “It’s a date. Now let’s get downstairs before I let you have your way with me and ruin all my steps.” I looked longingly at the bed, my bottom lip out in a pout.

I put one hand on the back of her neck and steered her out the room and down the stairs. “Don’t tempt me, baby doll.” When we got downstairs I found Landry on the couch with a book balanced on her lap. It seemed like that girl spent a lot of her free time reading. Which I assumed was a parent’s dream come true. Although I wouldn’t mind if she wanted to pick up a guitar and give that a try too. Lexi was sitting next to her, her legs on the ottoman and her laptop open. Dylan was in the recliner thumbing through some kind of house magazine. “Where is all the testosterone? Dagger isn’t even in here.”

Lexi and Dylan both answered, “Studio.” At the same time.

“The studio? It’s Saturday!” I left the girls to go search for my bandmates. When I descended the steps I expected to see papers all over the place, chewed pen caps, instruments out, and a giant pot of coffee. We used to use coke to keep us awake. Those days were long gone. Instead, Smith was lying on the floor asleep, Dash was on the couch looking at something on his phone, and Luke was playing on the PS3 I’d left down here yesterday. “What are y’all doing? Because you sure as hell ain’t working.”

Dash tilted his head back toward me. “Lexi wanted me to help her pick out bedding.” He winced. “I didn’t want to spend my Saturday looking at sheets.”

Luke shrugged. “It’s dark and quiet down here, I’m hung over.”

I pointed to our bassist. “And that one?”

Dash chuckled. “Dylan wanted to eat brunch at some new vegan place.”

“So you are all hiding down here, waiting for the chicks to leave?” I sat at Luke’s drum set and started to play. I wasn’t near as good as Luke, but I wasn’t as bad as Dash. I laughed as Luke covered his ears and Smith jerked awake. I hit the cymbal and then reached out to calm it with my hand. “Now that I have your attention, what do you guys want to do today? Because I’m sure as shit not spending this beautiful Saturday indoors.”

Dash sat up, putting his phone down beside him. “How ’bout you tell us what happened with you and Bryan last night?”

I sat Luke’s drumsticks down. “What do you mean? We went out with Smith and his cock-blocking girlfriend. Danced, drank, came home, and went to bed.” I was never one to mind a good kiss-and-tell. Although the banging had always been implied. But with Bryan it didn’t seem right to talk about it with my bandmates. Last night meant something to me, even though it was only kissing, I didn’t want to cheapen it with high fives. Not that any of them would actually high-five me for making out with my best friend…but, whatever.

Luke turned off my PS3. “Dude. Did you bang Bryan?”

I rolled my eyes. “Really? What are we, sixteen?”

“Sixteen? I thought you started earlier than that.” Luke winked.

I sighed. “We may have crossed over that friendship line, just a little.” I held my finger and thumb up, about an inch apart. Then two inches, then three.

Smith let out a loud chuckle. “Just a little? You two can’t even see that damn line from where you’re standing.”

“I asked her to stay for the summer, to help me with Landry.” I gestured around the studio. “I need to be in here with you guys working on the new album and I want Landry to be with someone she likes and trusts.”