Sticks (Black Addiction #2) (14 page)

“Well there you go, crisis averted. Dom doesn’t want you.” Max laughed like it was somehow okay that the message wasn’t for me. Right now I would have preferred if the message
was
fucking for me.

“No, he wants Kenzie, and that is soooooo much better.” An irrational pang of jealously washed through me. ’Cause getting territorial over a chick I wasn’t dating made all the fucking sense in the world.

“Fuck, dude.” Max blew out a breath, the two-and-two coming together in his melon as well as mine.

“She obviously had this guy in play before we’d had our talk.”

Kenzie wasn’t the type of girl to play me; that I knew. But who this asshole was remained a mystery, and what he might want with her made me uncomfortable. Shhh, you hear that? That’s the sound of my mind exploding with a bunch of emotions I didn’t understand.

“Well, from the sounds of things she hasn’t done anything.” He took the phone out of my hand and read the message for himself. “And
almost
doesn’t count.”

“Yep.” Not sold. Not even close.

“Look, give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe ask her when you give her back the phone.” Ever the diplomat, Max tried to run interference. It’s not like he didn’t know I was my own worst enemy, especially when left to my own devices.

“You know what, no. And you’re not going to say anything either.” I snatched the phone out of his hands and placed it on the counter. Dom could go get fucked, he had a snowballs chance in Hell before I’d let him anywhere near her. I didn’t give a fuck about whatever magic he wanted to make happen. He could find his own girl. Yeah, because she was sooooo much more mine than his.
Shut up
, I screamed at my inner logic, the bastard not adding anything helpful.

“Joey, don’t do anything stupid,” Max warned, his eyes tracking me as I shifted on my feet; my skin feeling like it was crawling with ants.

“No, no. I won’t.” I tried to remain calm even though underneath I felt like a lion in a cage. “Hey, toss me your phone. I need to call myself.”

Worst thing was, none of this shit made sense. We weren’t in love with each other, and apart from the last twenty-four hours we hadn’t made any kind of commitment to each other—whatever that commitment actually was. So all of this was way out of left field, not that I could reason with myself in my current state.

“Hello?” Kenzie answered confused, guessing she wasn’t talking on her own cell.

“Hey, Kenz, yeah I fucked up and took your phone by mistake. You have mine.”
Don’t mention the asshole. Don’t mention the asshole. Don’t mention the asshole.

“Is this just an excuse to see me again? Surely you could be more original.” She gave a throaty laugh. And if I hadn’t been so keyed about the asshole I was trying not to mention, I would have fucking loved it.

“Sadly, I can’t. Look, I need to go out for a bit so I’ll leave yours here. Max will be around to do the swap.” I gave her my clipped response knowing the longer I spoke the more chance I’d say something I probably shouldn’t. Or maybe something I should.
Who is this asshole,
at the top of the list.

“Oh. Okay. Yeah I can do that.” She sounded surprised, like she’d expected me to say something else. Sorry, all out of happy-happy-joy-joy today.

“Awesome. Thanks. See ya.”

“Bye.” I’d barely let her get the word out before I hung up.

“What was
that
?” Max glared accusingly, a whole lot of explain-yourself radiating off the guy.

“I need to find out who this fucker is.” And maybe kill him. Okay, so I wasn’t a murderer, but I’d find a way to destroy him.

“Joey.” Max warned not realizing the train had already left the station and I was well and truly on it. No stopping me now. Not until I knew either way.

“Just be a friend and do the swap.” Too late. Way too late to stop this now. “Don’t fucking sell me out. I’ve got a number and a name. I’m going to FBI this motherfucker into next week.”

Whoever he was better watch his fucking back because this wasn’t playtime. And like hell I’d sit around while he tried to take Kenzie.

Joey had been weird.

Actually, that was an oxymoron because he’d always been weird. But he was
weirder
than usual.

I’d stopped off at his house and did the phone exchange, but he hadn’t waited around.

See, weird—because things were actually in a really good place between us.

Max had been nice enough, so I chalked it all up to my instincts being on the fritz. It would stand to reason seeing as the rest of my body was completely out of control.

I would literally cry if I had to pee again in the next hour.

Shit was getting ridiculous.

The conversation with Joey about us not seeing other people had been an eye opener, and part of me hoped it might be more than it was. The idea of maybe something happening between us not as crazy as I once thought. But then I remembered.

It was Joey.

Not happening.

So I packed all those hopes and dreams and put them on my metaphorical bookcase where they could sit for all eternity. That was the best place for them.

The days that followed were business as usual. I spoke to Joey every day, sometimes more than once and whatever
weirdness
he had going on seemed to have disappeared.

Like magic, gone. Which was awesome because he was back to being his funny self. The flirting was still there too, no matter how many times I told him we weren’t sleeping together.

Still, it didn’t bother me as much as I pretended. Not that I would admit it, but it was sort of nice.

“Hey, Kenz, I was working on those notes you emailed. I can’t wait to show you what I’ve done with our song.” Dom greeted me at the door with a big hug.

Big being the operative word because the dude was ginormous. His head whipped around, slightly disappointed when he saw I was solo.

“Awesome, Sara’s not well so she is sitting this one out.”

More like she begged me not to go without her, insisting we wait until she was no longer under the influence of NyQuil. I disagreed, wanting to get the song finished ASAP to give it the best chance of getting on the album.

And after a pinky-swear vow to tell her every single thing that happened while I was with Dom in military-precise minutes, she agreed I should go alone. Or at least, she didn’t sulk too badly when I did.

“Is she okay? Nothing serious I hope.”

Dom’s concern for Sara overtook his interest in me as he motioned me to come in. His living room already set up with guitars and notebooks.

“Sounds like it’s just the sniffles, but she’s convinced she’s dying.” I dumped my purse and pulled out my notes. “You could always bring her some soup or something, if you want. Or an erection. Either would improve her mood.”

Sara’s illness not so life-threatening that she wouldn’t appreciate a bedside visit by her crush.

And by bedside, I mean inside of her.

These two really needed to have sex.

Someone should be doing it considering my vagina was developing tumbleweeds. But that was another story.

“You two kill me.” Dom laughed, always getting thrown off by Sara and my personal brand of enthusiasm. “Thanks for the tip. I might stop by her place later.”

“Don’t forget the erection; I was lying about the soup.”

Dom laughed, his face flushing red before urging me to take a seat. “You want to get to work on the song now or you want to try and embarrass me some more?”

“We should work,” I conceded; it was only fun for so long. Besides, the whole point of me coming without Sara was to get this finished. And today felt like it might be the day.

After discussing some ideas Dom had thought of and me throwing in some of my own we picked up our guitars and started to work through the entire song. It was easier to hear exactly what worked in the notes rather than on paper and what we had so far sounded great. Possibly even mainstream enough for radio play, without sounding like Justin Bieber.

“That’s great. Sounds awesome.” Dom’s smile hinted he felt it too, the song a perfect mix of rock and emotion. “You’ve got such a good ear.”

“Thanks, not so bad yourself.” I smiled back, glad it was working out so well.

I had never really written with anyone other than my band but who knew where it could lead? Maybe I could get a gig co-writing songs for other people. It would be an awesome way to supplement my income and be something I could manage with the baby. Look at me being all responsible.

“Hey, you want to take-five?” Dom put down his guitar as he rose to his feet. “Something to drink?”

“Sure. I just need to empty before I fill up again.” I smiled, placing my guitar on the stand. “Sorry that’s probably too much information.”

“Nah, you’re good.”

I excused myself, hopefully making my pit stop as quick as possible. I spent enough time as it was in bathrooms answering the call of nature; I wasn’t interested in prolonging the experience.

The knock at the door came right when I’d taken a seat on the toilet, Dom’s heavy footsteps happening soon after.

“Oh hey, dude, can I help you with something?” Dom’s voice echoed down the hall. His walls were paper-thin, so it sounded like he was in the bathroom with me. Having sex in this place would be tricky, no wonder he didn’t have a roommate. PS. I needed to stop thinking about sex.

“Yeah, I’m looking for Kenzie, is she here?” I heard Joey’s voice and I froze in place. Huh? How did he even find me here? It’s not like I’d mentioned it. Or had I? Me discounting baby brain so early in the game wasn’t smart.

“Yeah she’s here but we’re kind of in the middle of something,” Dom responded, probably not sure if I wanted a visitor or not. We hadn’t really spoken about Joey since my baby confession; he was probably being cautious.

“Okay so let me rephrase it. Get Kenzie.” Joey sounded pissed. Like seriously mad.

“Dude, you might want to watch your fucking tone. No way am I letting you talk to her like that.”

I willed myself to pee quicker so I could leave the confines of my bathroom prison and find out what the hell was going on.

“Fuck off, King Kong, I’m not interested in what you think.” Joey’s aggravation rose, as did his voice.

“Do yourself a favor, take a walk and chill out. I’m not looking to hurt you.” Dom was keeping his cool despite being justified in losing it. Joey wasn’t exactly being complimentary.

“Do you know who I am?”

“As in a dick who plays for Black Addiction? Yeah, I think I’ve heard of you.”

I quickly finished on the toilet, opening the faucet a crack so I would still be able to hear the conversation over the water, trying to speed up the hand washing process. My wet hands forwent the towel as they rubbed the front of my jeans in an effort to hurry up and get to the front door.

“I didn’t mean like that, asshole. I mean, that Kenzie is carrying my kid.”

My heart stopped. There is no explanation why I didn’t at that point go to the door with a big ta-dah reveal.
Hi, it’s me. The girl you wanted to see
. But part of me was so shocked that Joey had apparently lost his damn mind, while another part genuinely didn’t want to see him acting like that.

“She’s mentioned, doesn’t change anything as far as I’m concerned.” Dom refused to budge, his large body blocking the door as I walked from the bathroom back down the hall.

“Doesn’t change anything? Is your Godzilla brain really that small? You really want to mess with that?”

My heart started to thump louder as I got closer, my feet moving slower than they should.

“Bud, lay off the insults. They aren’t helping you right now.”

“All I’m hearing is wa wa wa, Big Foot. For a big motherfucker, you really are a pussy.”

Something inside me snapped. It was like I’d woken from whatever trance-like state I had been in when I walked out the bathroom and finally my brain had kicked into gear. And thank God it had or I was pretty sure Dom would quickly run out of patience.

“What the hell, Joey? What are you doing here?” I slipped into the spot between Dom and the door, most of my body being obscured by his monstrous frame.

“Taking a walk, randomly knocking on doors and seeing if I can find any freaks of nature. Oh look, I found one,” Joey spat back, his eyes mixed with emotions I couldn’t read.

“You want me to get rid of him?” Dom turned to me, completely ignoring the madman on his doorstep.

“No, it’s fine, I’ll talk to him.” I nodded, signaling he could open the door a little more. Whatever was bugging Joey, I doubted he would ever hurt me.

“I’m right here,” he said to me but didn’t take his eyes off Joey, slowly backing away from the doorway to give us some room. No doubt sticking close by in case he was needed.

“Joey, what the hell has gotten into you?” I moved into the now-vacant space but stopped short of inviting him in.

“I read the message.
Let’s make the magic happen
. I thought we had an agreement?”

Oh.

And then it all made sense.

The day of the phone swap, Dom had sent me a message saying he liked the suggestions I emailed him and that he was anxious to get started. I suppose out of context it didn’t sound great, but it wasn’t a smoking gun. In any case, he had no right to come to Dom’s house and start throwing around accusations. Especially when Dom had been nothing but supportive and was providing me a much-needed opportunity.

“You think I’m sleeping with Dom?” I almost exploded, wondering how the hell Joey of all people decided it was okay to be judgmental. Oh, and also he was calling me a whore in a roundabout way. And not in a joking you’re-a-whore-I’m-a-whore way.

“No, I know you’re not sleeping with him. You said you wouldn’t and I believe you,” he fired back, shocking the hell out of me.

He
didn’t
think I was sleeping with him, but he was here acting like a jealous boyfriend. Yeah, because that makes all the sense in the world.

“Then why the hell are you acting crazy right now?”

“Because you’re working with him, yet you won’t even consider working with me.”

The true motivation for his visit was revealed. He was pissed because I was working with another musician? It was my job—I wouldn’t get upset if he suddenly started working with someone else.

“Joey, you’re not a song writer. It’s not personal.”

“You think because I’m a
drummer
I can’t write? Sure, Angie and Rus do the heavy lifting but I’m in there too.” And past the anger I saw some of the hurt, possibly rejection, having dismissed the opportunity to work together so easily days before. Ironically on the same day as the phone swap. That day was just awesome all round it seemed.

“I thought you were joking. You’re a drummer. We’re both guitarists; I just didn’t think you were serious.”

“When I saw that message initially, Kenz, I thought maybe he was an ex-boyfriend trying to hook up. You gave me your word and I knew you wouldn’t go back on that. But even though it made no sense, it pissed me off some asshole would just call you for a booty call.” He lowered his voice as he tried to explain; on his face the look of defeat.

“You mean like you tried to so many times before we actually did it?” I reminded, though his text messages hadn’t been so innocent.

“That was before I really knew you. Look, I was a dick I’ll admit that, but if you are going to be with a guy then he better treat you right. So I did some digging. Found out who he was and then heard through the grapevine you guys were working together.”

Like when I had first spoken to Dom about Joey, the industry was a gossip pit, and it wouldn’t have been hard for him to find out about me working with him. It wasn’t like I was trying to hide.

He took a breath. “You blew me off. Wouldn’t even give me a fucking chance. And it’s more than just about the music. How the hell is that going to work when we are having a baby together? You just going to assume I’m a fucking loser who can only drum? That I can’t contribute because I’m stupid.”

“I didn’t—” I stopped midsentence, the words getting stuck in my throat.

I guess when it came to Joey, I often joked about his intelligence level or his lack of college education. Not because he was stupid but because it was easy. We made fun of each other, that’s what we did. I’d never meant it to be hurtful.