Claiming Addison (15 page)

“You,” he says soft as a whisper. I roll over quickly, looking at him standing against the door to my room.

“You can’t be serious.”

He smiles. “I am. I’ve wanted you since you gave that speech about the band’s dicks. Actually, since you pulled up to the bus in LA.”

“I’m not…”

“Stop. Please, I just need you. I just want you.”

“For tonight. What about tomorrow night, or the next? Tonight you struck out, so you come to me for second best.”

He shakes his head. “I didn’t strike out tonight, or last night for that matter.”

“Oh great, because that makes me feel a whole lot better. I don’t do sloppy seconds, Kyle.”

“Will you shut up and listen to me for a minute? I haven’t slept with anyone tonight or last night.”

“You looked awfully cozy with that blond chick tonight, I can’t imagine she walked away willingly.”

He laughs. “No, she drank too much and started throwing herself at Talon then somewhere along the line she passed out on the couch in the bar. I came up here looking for you. But you were gone, no one knew where you were and I panicked. I didn’t tell Talon until I came back up after walking through the casino, but then they were…” He doesn’t finish his sentence, he doesn’t have to.

“I…” I have no clue what to say. He looks so sad standing all the way over there. I want to comfort him, to give him what he wants, but I don’t know that I can do that. “I haven’t been with anyone since Dan,” I say under my breath.

“Jesus, panda. That’s a… damn, that’s a long time,” he stutters his way through his words.

I snort without humor and roll back over. “You’re telling me,” I mumble.

Don’t even think about asking me for their names because I have no fucking clue, nor do I care. All I know is I’m fucking drunk and I need a place to bury my stick. A blond, a brunette and an out of the box black haired chick is exactly what the doctor ordered to cure my itch.

“Did you see that chick?” Blondie says.

“Which one?” says the brunette.

“The one that came running through here all bent because Dex was getting it on with those two chicks.”

“Oh yeah, that one, yeah. I’m pretty sure she was crying. I mean, seriously, who wants a fucking drummer when you can have the lead singer?”

“You guys are stupid. She didn’t go running until she saw us sitting here. Pay attention next time,” the black haired one announces.

“GET OUT!” I growl at the three of them. “Get the fuck out now.”

“What the fuck is your problem?” And just like the biggest nightmare imaginable they ignore me, start pawing at me, trying to pull my clothes off.

“I said get out,” I growl again but they don’t move. I manage to disentangle my phone from my pocket. “Mills, get in here and get Dex and his hoard out of here and take these three with you. NOW!”

Despite my phone call, the girls don’t leave. They keep going, making out with each other, desperate to undress me, until I finally manage to politely push them back and away. Now that I’m free of them, I go for the bathroom, locking the door behind me.

“This is fucking lame. I knew he wouldn’t put out,” one of the dumb bitches says and I’ve about had it. That’s when I hear Beck.

“Alright, ladies, party’s over. Let’s go.”

The girls don’t give him any lip and after about ten minutes and a shower, Mills pounds on the door. “They’re gone.”

“Thanks, man.” I open the door. “Sorry about that.”

“What happened anyway?” Mills asks me.

“They were talking shit. Pissed me off, then when I told them to get out they ignored me. Nothing unusual really.”

“What were they talking smack about? You don’t usually get agitated without good reason.”

This is one of the reasons I keep Mills around. “Addison.”

“Oh, shit. She alright?”

I shrug. “No clue, she’d already locked herself in her room when I came back in. I know she got an eyeful of Dex before she made it to her room.” I watch Mills flinch. “Yup, pretty much. But I think those three caused more trouble before Addison managed to get out of the room.”

Mills gives me a sad smile. “Well, they’re gone. Get some sleep.”

I nod. “Yeah, you too.”

Unfortunately, I’m too drunk and way too fucking horny to talk to her tonight. I’ll end up doing something we’ll both regret.

Why is this so fucking hard? I’ve never had a problem getting girls, getting laid. But since her panda wearing ass walked onto my bus, I can’t fucking stop thinking about her.

I sit down on the bed, hard as fucking stone and naked, I lean forward with my head down. “Get a grip, dipshit,” I tell myself. She’s just another fucking chick. Yeah, another chick that while I fucking want her like nobody’s business, I can’t fuck and throw out. Addison isn’t the type of girl you bang and forget. She’s the type of girl you fuck and fall in love with.

Chills run through me. Fuck, I need a piece of ass to move past this…but I can’t even do that right. Two fucking nights in a row…

“He meant that much to you?” Kyle asks.

“I thought he did, at the time, but now I don’t know. I threw myself into work to get through those weeks following his death and I’ve just stayed there ever since. Being here now is a product of all that hard work.”

“Well, you’ve certainly accomplished a lot.”

Over the course of the last few minutes Kyle has made his way closer to the bed, so close he’s actually sitting on it looking down at me. His eyes are soft and warm. I want him, I really do, but this is the first time in seven years I’ve had to face the choice of whether or not I’m actually ready to sleep with someone. “In some areas, yes, I have, in others, not so much.”

“What do you mean?” he asks. There is a genuine curiosity in his voice and it’s comforting. It doesn’t sound strained or forced.

“I mean that because I’ve been so wrapped up in work that I haven’t had much time for other things.”

“What about, what are their names? The girls from last night?”

“Sam and Jess?”

“Yeah, you guys seem close.”

I shrug and sit up, still holding the pillow tightly to my chest. I push off my hood. “Maybe, but I blow them off so much. Sometimes it’s work related and sometimes not. I used the concert in San Diego as an excuse. I wanted to see the show, didn’t want to go alone. So I thought I could finally break that barrier and spend a couple of days with my girlfriends on the beach. But as it turns out, I was needed for more important things. I’ve bailed on them every single time we make plans to do something because I feel bad telling them no. And now I am supposed to make it up to them when the tour is over. I pacified them and I feel bad about it.”

“I think last night more than made up for it.”

“What do you mean? Wait, do I want to know the answer to that?”

“Probably not. I just know that two of our guys woke up with smiles on their faces.”

“Ew, damn it. Wait, two? You mean Jess and Peacock?”

He nods. “I thought you knew?” He cocks his head at me.

I shake mine. “No. I gave Sam a lecture behind the club before I went back to the bus. Tried to talk her out of sleeping with Dex. Dex came out and told her that what I said was true, that he’d have his shit buried in another pussy, or two as is the case, tonight. I told them both I didn’t want to hear about it the next day or ever. Sam is the clingy type, sleep with her once and you’re screwed. Jess, Jesus, she was always the ‘date me, woo me, love me, fuck me’ type, I didn’t think I needed to…damn it.” I throw the pillow down in frustration.

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about Jess too much. Peacock didn’t pick up a chick tonight, which is probably why he was in the hallway tonight, and Mouse and Dex were otherwise occupied. I think there may be more between Jess and Eric than we realize,” he says, and he’s absolutely serious about it. “I saw him messing with his phone a lot today, so maybe there is something more between those two. Dex, on the other hand, is being Dex. Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am and all that.”

I don’t know whether I should feel relieved or not at the information Kyle is telling me right now. I want to believe that it could be something more between Eric, aka Peacock, and Jess. And I warned Sam, so she ultimately gets what’s coming to her.

“I’m not ready to sleep with you,” I blurt.

Kyle smiles and brings his hand to my cheek. “I know you’re not, but it won’t stop me from trying to prove it to you.”

I smile. “Thank you.”

“Now, slide over, I’m snuggling with you.”

“Kyle, I…”

“No funny business, I’ll be a perfect gentleman, but I’m tired and frankly I don’t want to leave you.”

“I need to change.”

He gestures with his hand for me to go ahead and I do. I slip into my pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, ditch the jeans, bra and other clothes I’m still wearing, before brushing my teeth and climbing into bed.

Kyle wraps his arms around me and I snuggle into his chest. I take a long deep inhale, pulling his scent into me. His scent is all Kyle with a faint hint of cologne. It smells like heaven and I drift off to sleep.

When I wake up the next morning, Kyle is gone. I’m not surprised when I see it’s after two in the afternoon. These late nights are going to run me dry. But today is worse. Today dawns with a major migraine. My head is pounding behind my eyes and I refuse to turn on a light. I stumble my way into the bathroom and into the shower without the light on. I don’t want to even think about turning it on.

When I stumble out of the shower I go digging blindly in my bag for my migraine medicine. It’s too late to take it, but at this point something has got to be better than nothing. I haven’t had a migraine in over a year so I guess I was due, but damn it there’s a concert tonight and I need to be there.

I find my medicine, down the two pills with a glass of water from the faucet, throw my pjs and hoodie back on and climb back into bed, passing right back out again.

Sometime later there is a knock on the door that wakes me up. “Go away,” I moan.

“Red, you alright in there?”

“No,” I groan and suddenly the room is flooded with light. “Argh!” I groan, “turn it off. Turn off the light,” I shout as I cover my head with the blankets.

“Come on, it’s almost show time,” Talon says from the foot of my bed, then I feel him pushing down on the bed shaking it.

“No stop.” My stomach swirls and I swallow back the bile rising in my throat. “Talon, I’m gonna…”

I bolt out of bed, not thinking about where I am and I stub my toe on the door “Fuck!” I scream as I try and get into the bathroom before I let loose what little contents are in my stomach. Finally, I manage to find the toilet.

“Fuck, Addison, what’s wrong with you?” Talon’s concern isn’t exactly heartwarming as I’m retching into the toilet. He comes to stand near me and pulls my hair off of my face.

“Get out,” I manage between heaves. “Don’t. Need. To. See. This.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Migraine,” I manage before heaving into the toilet one more time.

“Ah shit, panda, I’m sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t think. I thought you were hiding in here because you were pissed at me.”