White Trash Damaged (26 page)

“I got next,” Eric called out as he handed a beer to Tucker and me. “You wanna play?” he asked.

Tucker wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my back against his chest.

“We’re just watching for now. Why don’t you play teams? You and Donna can take on the twins.”

Eric looked behind him and the twins as they trash-talked each other and then his gaze fell on Donna who stood on the other side of the table watching.

“You think she will have beginner’s luck?” he asked, turning back to us and causally sipping his drink.

“It’s pretty hard.” I shrugged. “You may have to help her.”

He smirked, raising an eyebrow as he tipped the neck
of his bottle toward me. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

“That’s what she said.” I laughed, and Tucker and Eric chuckled.

Sarah yelped from behind us, and we all turned to see what had happened. Derek had pinched her butt hard and she smacked him playfully before pulling him in for a kiss. I looked back at Eric who looked devastated.

“This looks easy enough,” Donna said as she walked up beside Eric. His attention shifted, but I knew he was not in the greatest mood. It took very little to set him off.

“We can take them,” he replied, his eyes drifting down to her chest for a split second, but I had caught it.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” Sarah grabbed my arm and yanked me out of Tucker’s embrace. This night was not going to be easy, but I wasn’t going down without a fight. I held out my beer to Tucker, and he took it to hold for me. I gave him a pleading look to save me, but he only shrugged and took a drink, ready for the inevitable.

We made our way back to the tiny two-stall bathroom, and I cringed when I saw how disgustingly filthy it was. I’ve seen poor, and this wasn’t it. It was downright lazy.

Sarah primped herself in front of the mirror as I watched, and it didn’t take long for her to casually bring up Eric.

“Eric seems like he’s in a good mood.”

“Yeah. He’s having a good time.” Anyone with a pulse could spot Sarah and Eric’s attraction to each another, but now
she’d promised herself to Derek. I knew she thought her flirting was harmless, whereas to Eric it was anything but that.

“What’s with Donna tonight? She seems different.”

“She’s actually making an effort. It’s really nice.”

“An effort to get laid,” she mumbled and dropped the subject, but I could hear the bitterness in her words. “You guys getting rooms after this? I’m dying to sleep in a real bed for once.”

Wrapping myself in a fluffy comforter and having room to roll around seemed like heaven.

“I hope so. I’ll say something to Tucker.”

“Can’t wait.” She was all smiles as she turned to leave the bathroom. Part of me wanted to stop her and tell her how Eric felt about her, but I let her walk out, following behind her. I couldn’t mess up such a happy night for her. I had to trust she knew what was best for her own life. Even if she didn’t, it was a lesson in life she was meant to learn.

I tried to plaster a realistic smile on my face as I walked over to the pool tables, but I felt like I was being ripped in two. I wanted to do what was best for both of my friends, but it just no longer felt possible. Someone was going to end up getting hurt.

I was surprised to see Eric leaning over behind Donna and guiding her on her next shot at pool. I smiled at Tucker, and he returned the gesture, holding out his arm for me. I slipped under it, snuggling into his side as we watched them play. I took my beer from Tucker’s hand and took a little drink.

“They did two rounds of shots while you were gone,” he said quietly into my ear before kissing my earlobe. I closed my eyes, savoring his sweet gesture. Tonight was about living in the moment, and I missed that.

“We should get a room tonight.” I looked him in the eye to gauge his response. His eyes fell to my lips, and I could feel the electricity pulse between us. I’d missed this feeling, the thought of him touching me. And suddenly, all I could think about were his hands on my skin. He glanced over at Eric and Donna. They were laughing as she hit the cue ball and it spun and touched nothing.

“I’ll talk to them. At least something good can come out of this night.” He pulled my face to his and kissed me softly, but there was nothing innocent about the way his lips pressed against mine. I smiled, forgetting all of the chaos that brewed around us. Things between us were right, even when the world was crumbling around us.

Donna yelled and her arms wrapped around Eric. I could tell by the way his hand slid down her back that they were actually connecting. Maybe he wouldn’t react too badly to Sarah’s news if he really felt like there could be something between him and Donna. . . .

As the night began to wind down and everyone seemed to be losing their spunk, Tucker brought up the idea of getting rooms at a hotel. Donna was apprehensive, but she was outnumbered and conceded fairly easily.

Donna went off to use the ladies’ room before we left, and I used the opportunity to talk to Eric and see how the plan was working.

“You and Donna seem pretty cozy,” I said.

“She’s all right.” He finished off the last of his warm beer, making a face at its bitter taste.

“Maybe you guys could room together,” I suggested, and he looked over at me, rolling his eyes.

“Is that what all this has been about? You’re trying to get me to hook up with her? Why? She’s been nothing but mean to you this whole trip.”

I shrugged. I had no good reason to help Donna; I’d just hoped it would give us all a chance to become friends. But really I just wanted to see Eric happy. Filth was saying their good-byes and walking out of the bar. Eric’s eyes followed them.

“It would just be good to see the both of you let go and have some fun,” I said.

His gaze went back to me, and he nodded once but didn’t say anything back.

T
HIS IS REALLY
nice.” I looked around the hotel room. Everything was white, floor to ceiling. The bed was covered in a dozen fluffy pillows, and the lamp next to it was covered in white feathers. “Like stepping inside a cloud.”

Tucker walked up behind me and pressed himself against my back as his arms looped around my waist.

“I was thinking this is more like Heaven.” He placed a small kiss on my neck. A smile spread across my face, and I couldn’t have agreed more with him. We hadn’t had a night alone during the entire tour. I turned around in his arms to face him, his hands pressed against my lower back, holding me against him as I placed my hands on his chest.

“I don’t know . . .” I had no idea what I was trying to say. I had put off being intimate with Tucker for so long that now I was nervous.

“It’s just you and me tonight. We can do whatever you want. We can stay up all night and talk, we can play a game, we can write music. . . . It doesn’t matter as long as we’re together.”

He was right. Nothing else mattered: the past, the fights, and the long road we traveled to get here, literally and figuratively. All that mattered was that he and I were together.

“I love you, Tucker.”

“You have no idea how much I love to hear you say those words.” The pad of his thumb slid over my lower lip. “I love you so much, Cass.”

I pushed my lips against his, not wanting to spend another minute contemplating what would be best and just do what felt right in this moment. I wanted nothing more than to make love to the man I fell in love with. Tucker kicked off his shoes, never breaking our kiss as he held on to my waist and guided me backward toward the bed. I slipped off my shoes, nearly tripping us both, and our lips pulled apart for us to laugh, but he quickly covered my mouth with his again. I grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up, running my hands over the ridges of his stomach muscles.

He yanked his shirt over his head, not wanting to waste another second. I smiled as the back of my knees made contact with the mattress. I grabbed my shirt and pulled it over my head. His gaze dropped to look over my body before he pressed his warm chest against mine. His fingers slid around my back,
finding the closure to my bra. He rolled it between his fingers until it went slack.

His fingertips ran over my shoulders and he dragged them down my arms, leaving goose bumps in their wake as he pulled the straps from my shoulders. I let my bra slide down over my hands and fall to the floor between us.

“You are so beautiful.” His fingers tangled in my hair as he pulled my mouth to his, sucking my lower lip.

My hands explored his toned chest as he worked to rid us of the rest of our clothing. He undid the closure of my jeans and shoved them over my hips. I stepped out of them as I ran my nails down his stomach, his muscles flexing beneath my fingertips as his breath caught. I loved that my touch gave him that reaction. I unbuckled his belt and undid his jeans as my tongue tangled with his, and he helped kick his jeans off. We lost our balance and fell back onto the bed. Tucker laughed, brushing my hair from my face as he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead.

“We don’t have to do this tonight. I’ll wait as long as it takes. We have forever.”

I slid my hand in his messy hair and pulled his lips back to mine. The playfulness was quickly replaced with hunger for each other. He wanted to spend forever with me, and I didn’t want to waste another second of it second-guessing myself.

He pushed his hips against mine, and I slid my nails down his back until my fingers touched the fabric of his boxers. He
pulled back from me and stood at the edge of the bed as he shoved his boxers down and kicked them off. His eyes took in every inch of my body as he leaned over and looped his fingers in the sides of my pale-yellow panties. He slid them down slowly and tossed them aside as he lowered himself back on top of me. He kissed along my jaw and down the length of my neck. I wrapped my arms around him and held his body against mine. His mouth moved to my ear, and he kissed my earlobe.

“I love you,” he whispered into my ear as he rocked his hips against me and slowly made love to me.

A
FTER OUR NIGHT
in the hotel, nothing was going to rain on our parade. Not even spending a few more days in a cramped bus. Tucker and I checked out of our room and waited in the lobby for everyone else to join us. The twins arrived first, hungover and moaning like they were on the verge of death.

After a few more minutes of waiting, we had the receptionist call up to Eric’s room.

He appeared shortly after, looking like he had been hit by a train.

“Jesus, what the hell did she do to you?” Chris asked.

“Who?” Eric looked around at all of us.

“Donna.” Chris laughed.

“She went back to the bus last night. You didn’t actually think I was going to sleep with her when she was that
drunk, did you? Besides, how awkward would the rest of this trip be?”

That left everyone speechless. We just glanced at each other, impressed that Eric had decided against it.

“Let’s get back to the bus so we can get on the road.” Tucker stretched as he yawned.

The afternoon sun was blinding, and I couldn’t get back to the bus fast enough. I felt like Tucker and I had hit another milestone in our relationship, and I was ready to see what else lay ahead.

We spent the next few hours sleeping as we headed west. The band needed to rehearse later, and Donna had already lined up a place for them to do so. The Video Music Awards were coming up fast, and they needed as much time as possible to make sure everything would be perfect for their biggest show to date.

When we arrived, Donna came out of her room in full bitch mode, with matching outfit. The time out with us had done little to change her demeanor in the light of day—in fact, it seemed to only worsen her mood now that she was clearly nursing a hangover—but it gave us all a little insight into who she was deep down.

I got to work on cleaning up the bus. The sink was still full of empty beer cans, and junk-food wrappers were strewn about. It took me a full hour to get the bus looking semi-decent.

I decided to give my father a call and catch up on how June was doing with the pregnancy.

I dialed my father’s number and sat down on the edge of our bunk.