Play Fair (The Devil's Share Book 3) (7 page)

As far as Bryan was concerned, Dylan’s worries were wholly unnecessary. I didn’t know how many more times I would have to stress the fact that we were only friends. Only friends for that very reason: we didn’t want to hurt each other or the people around us.

Chapter Eight

Bryan

I was somewhat glad to escape Jacks’s bed. I woke up smiling, with his huge hard-on poking me in the back. I wasn’t shy, and I wasn’t some blushing virgin. But holy hell. The rumors about Jackson Cole were true. I shook my head, trying to clear the images out of my brain. I made scrambled eggs for breakfast, two dozen scrambled eggs to be exact. It seemed that if someone smelled food in this house, it was game on. And these boys (plus Lexi) could eat. Landry helped me crack the eggs and she set the table again. She was such a good kid. Why anyone would want to leave her was beyond me. Why anyone would abandon their kid, good or not, was baffling. After breakfast the guys headed down to the studio to work on their new album. Dylan went to work. I didn’t know what she would do once they all moved to the compound they were building in Texas, but for now she’d kept her job as physician’s assistant at the ob/gyn office. Lexi was sitting in the recliner, flipping through a baby furniture magazine. Landry and I were on the couch, watching Animal Planet. We’d been sitting here for over an hour. There wasn’t really anything else for her to do here. She didn’t have any toys or games. No books…. “Hey, sweet girl, you want to go to a toy store?”

Her eyes lit up. “Really?”

I nodded. “Really. We can spend more of Jacks’s black card money.” I didn’t really figure that he would mind. He wanted to take care of her, and she needed something else to do around here besides watch documentaries.

Lexi looked over at us. “I want to get in on that.”

I clapped my hands together. “That settles it, we’re going shopping.” I made a mental note to stop by the grocery store as well; this house needed more kid-friendly food. I stood and held my hand out for Landry. “Let’s go get that card.”

Landry smiled and put her hand in mine, and the three of us girls—well, four if you counted the baby girl in Lexi’s tummy—headed to the studio. When we walked in, we were greeted with the wail of a guitar. Jacks was standing in the center of the room, his eyes closed and his fingers flying. My mouth became dry, and my heart did that little flutter thing again. Holy hell. My best friend looked hot. I’d seen him play before, in New Orleans, but damn. The way his tongue darted out to wet his lips, the way his hands on the strings seemed to mimic his hands on his cock. Not that I’d ever seen his hands on his package, but still…it was almost too much. He opened his eyes and winked when he caught me watching.

Dash held his hand out and pulled Lexi down to his lap. “What are you girls up to?”

Jacks quieted the strings and then sat his guitar on a stand, taking a few steps in our direction. It was nothing, a causal movement. But I couldn’t help but feel that there was purpose in his steps. That he was stalking toward me.

“We are going shopping.” Landry’s hand was still in mine. I gave it a little squeeze when she leaned her head against my hip. I was surprised by the gesture; it was so natural.

Jacks got down eye level with her. “You need some black card money?”

Landry nodded shyly.

Jacks stood and took his wallet out of his back pocket. He removed the card and handed it to her. “Here you go, Buttercup.” Then he looked at me, a cocky smile on his face. “Get yourself something pretty.” Damn. He was too cute for his own, as well as my, good.

I smirked. “Oh, don’t you worry, I intend to.” I held my hand out. “I need car keys.”

Jacks’s smile fell. “You want to drive the Tesla?”

“What else am I supposed to drive?” I played it nonchalant, casual. But hell fucking yeah I wanted to drive the Tesla. I had a need, a need for speed.

“It’s a really fast car, and if you aren’t used to driving it…” He was trying to think of a reason not to give me the keys.

Luke expertly twirled his drumsticks around, one in each hand. “You know, Jacks, you really need to get a more family-friendly car.”

Jacks whirled around, glaring at Luke. “You bite your tongue. The Tesla is the safest car on the market; it has all those sensors and stuff.”

I nodded, hand out. “Which is why you want us in it, right?” Thanks for the setup, Luke.

Jacks hung his head in defeat.

***

He was right; that car was FAST. Driving it was the most fun I’d ever had in a car. And I’d had plenty of fun in cars, if you catch my drift. The three of us had gone from store to store buying everything a kid could ever want or need. We got bags of books, tons of board games, coloring books, paints…you name it? We got it. And on the way home I ran into the grocery store with Landry while Lexi napped in the car. I got all her favorite foods. Which consisted of a lot of canned pasta and macaroni and cheese. Now we were back at the house, and it was just before dinner. Landry was exhausted; she and Lexi were in the living room playing some electronic version of Go Fish on Landry’s new iPad. I was making
my
favorite childhood meal: crunchy beef tacos.

“That smells amazing, baby doll.” Jacks came up behind me, tugging lightly on my dark hair. He seemed to like touching my hair. Not that I’d noticed or that I’d intentionally worn it down for him or anything. “Where’s Landry?”

“In the living room playing on her new iPad.”

He grabbed a beer out of the fridge and sat down at the island. “How was your day? Is my car okay? Did you get a speeding ticket?” He didn’t ask how much I spent, evidently unconcerned about the money. He didn’t even ask for his card back.

I scoffed, “Of course not.” I actually
had
been pulled over, but he didn’t ask that and I’d only gotten a warning. So there was no reason to tell him. I really didn’t want to hear an
I told you so
. “Did you guys get a lot done in the studio?”

He ate a pinch of shredded cheese out of the bowl I’d placed on the counter. “We got started, and that’s always the hardest part.” He took a pull off his bottle. “The label wants more of what we’ve always given them, but we want to try something new. It’s going to be a fight.”

I turned off the burner under the skillet of ground meat. “Will they drop you?”

“Maybe. They’ve mentioned it, but I think it’s more a scare tactic at this point. And it’s not going to work.” He stood. “Do you need help with anything?”

“Nope. All done.” I gestured to the living room. “You can grab Landry and let everyone know it’s ready though.”

Once again we were all gathered around the table. As odd of a family as this was, I was sure it was still good for Landry to experience. People who loved each other, joking and laughing, coming together at the end of a busy day to share a meal. I knew that Jacks worried about normalcy with her, but really, what defined normal these days?

“So, Buttercup, did you have fun with B and Lexi today?”

Landry nodded. “We went shopping and we went to lunch and we met a really nice policeman.”

I wrinkled my nose and held my breath.

Jacks’s eyes got wide. “You met a policeman? Where?”

Landry’s little body was bouncing as she swung her legs back and forth. “In the car on the way home.”

“Oh really?” Jacks sat his fork down and leaned closer, engrossed in her story.

She nodded again, the dark topknot I’d done for her wobbling. “Yeah, he flashed his lights and then came up to the window and asked for B’s number.” I couldn’t help but smile when she called me B; it was sweet. Even though she was ratting me out.

Jacks looked over at me. “I thought you said you didn’t get a ticket.”

“I didn’t.”

Lexi laughed from the other end of the table. “She got a warning and then asked out on a date.”

Jacks’s smile faded as he turned to me. “Did you say yes?”

“No.” I reached across the table and moved Landry’s milk away from the edge; with all the bouncing around she was doing she was bound to spill it. Not that Dagger would mind. I’d seen him camped out under her chair at every meal so far.

Luke leaned back in his seat, stretching his arms overhead. “Thanks for dinner, Bryan. It was delicious.”

“No problem, glad you liked it.” I stood and started gathering dishes, glad the subject of me getting pulled over had been dropped.

Jacks put his hand on my arm, stopping me. “No, you cooked. I’ll do the dishes.”

“I thought you had some errands to run tonight.”

He nodded, grabbing mine and Landry’s plates. “I do. But that’s later.”

“Okay. Well, Landry and I are going to watch
The
Little Mermaid
, can we use your TV?” While we were out that day I realized that Landry had never seen any of the Disney movies. My sisters and I had watched those movies over and over when we were younger.
The
Little Mermaid
was always my favorite, so when I’d seen it at the store, I bought it. Along with
The
Lion King
,
Aladdin
,
Tarzan
, and
Sleeping Beauty
.

Dylan clapped her hands together. “
The
Little Mermaid
?! I want to watch it, put it on down here.”

Fast forward twenty minutes? Everyone in the house was gathered in the living room. There were pillows and blankets and bowls of popcorn everywhere. Jacks was on the couch sitting between Landry and me, with Luke stretched out on the L part of the sectional. Dash and Lexi had made a pallet on the floor with Dagger. And Smith and Dylan were on the recliner. I couldn’t help the contentment I felt. I loved getting to be around my sister. And I had thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Lexi today. I felt very at home here with all these people.

After a while Landry leaned her head against Jacks’s arm. So he lifted it and pulled her against his side. She bit her lips together to hide her smile. I felt so lucky to be here, to be able to watch the bond forming between those two. I looked up to see Jacks watching me watch them. He kissed the top of my head and then put his arm around me. And that’s how we stayed, the three of us, snuggled together watching
The
Little Mermaid
.

When it ended, Luke jumped up. “This was fun, I’m going out. Jacks, you’re coming, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll meet you out front.”

I stood and put my hand on top of Landry’s head, playing with her now disheveled topknot, trying to hide the sudden pang of jealousy that coursed through me. “Come on, sweet girl, I’ll get you tucked in. Jacks has some stuff he needs to do with Luke.” I wasn’t stupid, I knew when he asked me last night to watch Landry what kind of “errands” he needed to run. I mean what else would someone need at ten thirty at night? I’d put it out of my mind all day, not particularly comfortable with the way it made me feel. I didn’t want to say I was jealous. Because why would I be? We were just friends. Sure we spooned all night, sure I’d woken up with a huge smile on my face, sure he smelled amazing all the time. But we were just friends.

When Landry and I stepped past Jacks, he reached out and grabbed my free hand. “You okay with that?”

I smiled, giving his palm a squeeze. “For sure. No worries, have fun.” I waited by the stairs while he told Landry good night and that he’d be home soon. And then I watched, silently, as he left the house in search of something our friendship would never give him.

Chapter Nine

Jacks

I didn’t want to go out with Luke. I didn’t want to go to a bar and drink and flirt and fuck some chick in a bathroom stall. I wanted to go upstairs and tuck Landry into bed; I wanted to spend some time alone with B. I wanted to wake up in the morning and have breakfast with them. Landry and Bryan had been here for two days. Two days and already everything I wanted out of life had shifted. When Bryan had come into the studio this morning…the look on her face when she was watching me play…I knew that look. I saw it a thousand times a night. I was turning her on. And fuck if that hadn’t made me ecstatic. I knew I was walking a fine and dangerous line. I knew we couldn’t be together, I knew that we were just friends. But that didn’t mean I wanted to be with someone else while she was here. Which was precisely why I needed to.

“Hey, man, you’re killin’ my buzz.” Luke clapped a hand on my back and handed me another shot glass full of brown alcohol. I’d seen Luke drink, but damn, we’d only been here for about an hour and he was downing shots like a man dying of thirst.

“I’m sorry. I just feel guilty about being out instead of at home with Landry.” I took the shot he was offering. “This is only her second night here.” And I was already leaving her at home to try to prove a motherfucking point?

Luke chuckled. “It’s Bryan too, isn’t it? You don’t want to be out with me. You want to be at home with Bryan.”

“We’re just frie—”

“Shut the hell up, Jacks. You don’t have to prove anything to me, you don’t have to convince me of anything.” He signaled the bartender for another beer.

I kept quiet. I knew Luke had his own shit going on, his own issues and demons. And I knew a lot of them stemmed from his friendship with Lexi, their past together.

He took a pull from his bottle, eyes scanning the crowd at the overpriced club we were in. “If you want to be at home, go home. If you want to try to fuck her out of your system? Pick a girl.”

I leaned against the glass top of our little VIP bar, finally letting myself take notice of all the chicks hovering around our table. Every single one of them just waiting for us to crook a finger. Maybe I didn’t need to prove anything to Luke, but apparently I needed to prove it to myself. The first girl that caught my eye was thinner than a rail with mounds of dark wavy hair. She was gorgeous, but she not only looked too much like Bryan, she looked too damaged. I tried my best to stay away from those chicks. I made eye contact with a leggy blonde, letting my gaze rake over her porcelain complexion. The dress she was wearing was small enough to be called a shirt, and I’d be willing to bet that she was naked underneath. I gestured with my head, giving a slight nod in the direction of the private bathroom behind me.