Hate Me Today (Save Me #3) (3 page)

Jason

“Where the hell is she, Mandi?” I pace the small room, pissed off because we’re supposed to be on stage in ten minutes and Vanessa is MIA.

Mandi pulls the phone away from her ear. “I don’t know. She disappeared this morning sometime without telling me where she was going.”

Just as I’m about to throw something and go tell someone that we won’t be going on, the door flies open. Vanessa steps through like nothing is wrong.

“What the fuck is wrong with you! We’re supposed to be on stage
,” I yell

Vanessa jumps back like she didn’t realize anyone was in the room with her and that’s when I realize something is wrong but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. She looks at me but it’s like she’s not seeing me and stumbles forward, catching herself on the edge of a chair.

“Five minutes.” She raises her hand, her eyes fluttering closed like she’s falling asleep. I’m about to yell again when her eyes snap open and she rushes off to have Eve get her ready.

~*~*~*~

The entire show is off. Vanessa is always a beat or two behind us and it’s driving me insane. I work my way over to Jack and yell over the noise, asking him if he knows what’s wrong but he doesn’t.

Toward the end of the show she starts to come around, getting back into the right groove but I’m still livid that she would show up and perform like this. It’s not fair to us and it’s definitely not fair to the crowd that came out and paid to see her. At least the crowd doesn’t seem to notice her being off.

As soon as we’re done I drop my bass off with the crew, hang out for the meet and greet and then head off to find the closest bar I possibly can so I don’t completely lose my shit on Vanessa tonight.

I went through having an addict in the band before and I won’t do it again. If I find out she’s using more than tonight I’ll pack up and leave faster than she’ll be able to find her next fix.

I mutter to myself for a few minutes before the bartender finally works his way over to me and I order a whiskey straight, telling him to keep them coming. The first one goes down smooth, followed by about three more before the doors open and a crowd of people pushes in. The stool next to me gets filled with some pretty little blonde and I know exactly who I’m going to be doing tonight to calm me down before I go back to the bus.

I turn myself on my stool so I’m facing her and ask her what she’s drinking. She licks her bottom lip before pulling it between her teeth.

“Vodka and cranberry.” She smiles and I get the feeling that it’s not going to be as hard to get me back in a good mood for the night after all. She holds out her hand and I grip it, rubbing my thumb over her skin. “I’m Leanne.”

“Jason.”

“Yeah,” she laughs, “I know. I actually just came from your show. You rocked it pretty hard.”

We chat back and forth until she finishes her drink. The door opens again and I’m hit with the voice of the person I’ve been trying to get away from.

“You wanna get out of here?” I ask, grabbing her hand. She nods and lets me pull her around the crowd that’s formed around Vanessa and outside onto the crowded street. It’s still bugging me that she would show up to a fucking show higher than a kite. “How’d you get here?”

“Uh…
,” she loses her train of thought when I slide my hand under the sides of her shirt, trailing my fingers up her skin. “My van. It’s up the road.”

I tuck her under my arm as we walk but don’t talk anymore until we get to some beat up old caravan. Sliding the door back after she unlocks it. I wave my arm in front of me so she climbs in before me and slide onto the seat next to her.

It doesn’t take her long to get over the shyness she had back at the bar. She straddles my lap, pulling her shirt over her head before kissing me. I try to ignore the fact that she has a car seat in the back. I’m not sure I could handle the fact that I’m doing some kids' mom. Not that mothers don’t deserve love too, it’s just not my style. Too many things to think about if it goes anywhere.

I reach around her and unclasp her bra, sliding it down her arms and toss it to the floor. Leanne pulls her face away from mine and slides down onto her knees in the tight space between the seats. Her hands grab my belt, fighting to get it apart and my jeans undone.

“You know what I really want to do to you?” she whispers as she pulls my dick free.

She doesn’t finish her thought. Instead
, she slides the head of my cock into her mouth, swirling her tongue around the tip before sucking me all the way to the back of her throat.

I pull her long blonde hair to one side so I can watch as she bobs up and down, wrapping her hair around my hand so I can move her at the speed I want. Just when I go to pull her down a little further she bats my hand away, letting me know my assistance is not needed when she’s blowing me.

It kind of pisses me off that I can’t be in control but I don’t say anything. One night won’t kill me I guess. She climbs back up my body and attacks my mouth like a dog with way too much tongue.

“I’m gonna ride you like it’s a fuckin’ rodeo,” she growls against my ear and tries to impale herself on my dick but I grab her hips just in time to stop her. “What the fuck!”

“What the fuck is I’m not going in without a raincoat. Not fucking happening. You wanna ride, I wear protection.”

She huffs and puffs but slides back just enough for me to roll a condom on then bats my hand out of the way again. Since I figure I’m not getting a say in how this goes tonight, I spread my arms out across the back of the seat and let her go to town. Her movements are erratic and out of sync with what I think should be happening, like she’s trying too hard.

I grunt and sputter where I think I should, making noise around her porn star style screaming. I hate that. I swear the perfect girl will never do anything like that and the first time she ever bats my hand away will earn her a swift slap to the ass.

My mind drifts, wandering to a body I shouldn’t and really don’t want to think about but it’s the only way I’m going to get anywhere right now. I hate Vanessa but her ass is nice to look at. Maybe if I just picture her ass slamming back against my dick I won’t hate myself for it in the morning.

I mean, she doesn’t seem like an anal type of girl so I know it’s nothing she would like which makes it OK in my brain. As soon as my mind starts wandering down that track my balls pull tight against my body. I’d help this chick along, help get her off but I think if she bats my hand away one more time I’ll walk away and just stroke it out when I get back to the bus.

“Oh god. God, I’m so close. Don’t move, you’ll wreck it.”

I drop my head back, ignoring what she’s saying since she won’t let me do anything and keep imagining myself banging some other chick until I come and push her off me. Done or not, I’m out of this van and never looking back. I don’t even stop when she starts yelling after me through the open van door as she’s pulling her clothes back on. I just book it back to the bus so I can wash myself clean again and have another drink to wash the thoughts I was just thinking away.

Vanessa

My hips sway back and forth to beat of the song playing, happy that I finally have some energy back after yesterday’s doctor’s appointment. I’ve got my headphones in listening to the new demos that were sent over. Between the knife I
used to butter my toast and the spoon that was stirring my coffee, I’ve got a pretty good beat going against the counter to go along with the music playing. It isn’t until it’s too late that I realize I’m no longer alone.

I turn to hit my spoon off the fridge behind me, except instead of hitting the appliance; I hit Jason’s chest. My eyes widen at the same time his eyebrow shoots up. Just what I need. Another reason for him to be pissed off at me.

“Did you just hit me with a spoon, Princess?” His voice is low enough that I can barely hear it over the music, but I do, and damn if the gravelly tone of it doesn’t send shivers down my spine.

Don’t get me wrong
, I can’t stand the way he treats me. I don’t appreciate being treated like trash just because he doesn’t like me. I don’t like a lot of people, but I still treat them with respect unless they give me a reason not to. As far as I know, I haven’t given him a reason.

Choosing not to let him get to me this time, I pull one of the headphones out, rest back against the counter and grab my coffee cup.
I sip from it slowly while trying not to laugh at the glare he’s shooting at me.

“You got in my way, asshole. Not my fault.” I shrug him off.
             

He looks shocked at the fact that I’m starting to stand up for myself and not taking his shit. My back presses further into the counter as Jason crowds me. Calmly, I set my cup down, pull the remaining bud out of my ear and slide them into my pocket. I press my hands against
the counter, sliding up between his arms and cross my short clad legs.

Jason’s eyes drop to my legs, skimming over the tan
, bare skin before popping back up to my eyes. It happens so fast that I almost miss it and if I had missed it, I wouldn’t know why he was breathing funny. It’s there though; the little hitch in his inhale and the slight shudder when he exhales that tells me that even though he hates me, he’s still affected by me.

He traps me, pressing against me more. I can tell by the look in his eyes that he’s hoping
to break me again today but I won’t let him. I’m done being a pushover.

I flick my tongue out over my lips before speaking, holding back another laugh as he follows the trail my tongue just made.

“Do we have a problem?” I whisper.

The gray eyes staring at me narrow. I can’t help myself
; I reach out, grab my toast and slip it between us to take a bite. I chew slowly with a slight smile playing on my lips because I can tell it’s pissing him off that he isn’t getting to me. He closes in a bit more, letting his stomach bump against my knees, his lips barely an inch away from mine.

“Always in my way. Always causing problems. You’re not even worth my time.”

“Then why do you take the time to try to piss me off? In case you didn’t notice, it’s not working anymore. Do you know why?” I pause and wait to see if Jason is going to jump in. He doesn’t. Movement catches my attention but I don’t move; I know it’s just Jack and Devon. “Because you aren’t worth my time. The other guys don’t seem to have an issue with me. Do you guys?”

Jason jumps back like he’s been burned when I question the other guys. They chuckle and flop down on the couch.

“The only problem I have is you won’t give me a knob job, but I can get one anytime, anywhere else so it’s no big deal.” Jack chuckles and I just shake my head, taking another bite out of my toast.

“What about you
, Devon? Do you have a problem with me?” I ask without taking my eyes off of Jason. Watching as his teeth grind with anger.

“Will you two just fuck each other and get it over with.”
Devon’s fingers strum across Jack’s unplugged guitar as he sings the words. Stopping, he pins us both with a glare that I catch out of the corner of my eye. “We all know it’s where all this shit is leading.”

Jack busts out laughing and Jason just shakes his head. Walking over to the couch, Jason steals the guitar from Devon’s hands and plops down in the chair, his fingers caressing the neck gently.

“There are two extra strings there, Jason. Don’t get frustrated when you mess up.”

Chuckling, I slide from the counter and make my way
to the back of the bus but am stopped short by the pop of an amp and shredded out notes followed by a voice I never expected.

I spin and march back to the front of the bus. Jack and Devon are laughing their asses off while Jason belts out Striptease by Hinder. His eyes meet mine, locking onto me while he sings about a girl who has no talent, someone who can’t do much more than shake her ass.

He thinks that this is going to get to me. Like it’s something I haven’t heard before. I have a hard time keeping my mouth closed, not because of the way he’s acting, but because I never would have expected his voice to sound this good. The gravelly tone he used earlier is more pronounced when he’s singing and suddenly I feel like I’m going to turn into a gushing groupie.

Keep your mouth closed. Don’t you dare let him get to you like this and everything will be fine.
I keep telling myself this over and over, trying to keep myself from drooling over Jason.

The song ends and Jason hands the guitar back to Devon and steps toward me. I grip the edge of the counter as he closes in on me and hold back a whimper when his breath hits my ear.

“I can play anything with strings, Princess. What the hell can you do?”

With that
, he walks off, heading down towards his bunk and I’m reminded of the one thing that I forgot while he was playing a minute ago.

Nothing is ever going to be good between us.