Wounded But Not Scarred (New Adult Rockers 2) (12 page)

I give her a blank look. “I’m not
trying to fool anyone about anything.”

She rolls her eyes. “The only
reason you’re doing so well is because you’re sleeping with the label owner's daughter.”

This shit again.

I feel my entire body tense up, and
adrenaline courses through my veins. Of course, that’s exactly what Scarlet
wants. I take a deep breath and plaster a condescending smile on my face.

“I’m sorry you feel that way.
Especially since you just saw us perform, so you know damn well that we’re
successful on our own accord.”

I can see that she can’t argue with
me and she makes a small huffing sound.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m
trying to make my way to my girlfriend. Enjoy the party.”

I turn to leave but she grabs my
arm, her expensive manicure digging into my skin.

“You may have traded my daughter
and all her money for that little country-singing tramp, but don’t think for a
minute that I don’t believe it was a purely career-driven choice. You knew that
sleeping with Paige Lawson was going to improve your music career which you
never
intended giving up for Savannah.”

I wrench my arm free of her death
grip and fix her with a cold gaze.

“You’re lucky that you’re a woman,”
I say slowly, “So I’m going to warn you one time and one time only to never lay
your hands on me again. You’re right about one thing – I never had any
intention of giving up my music. The rest of your hate-spewed crap is bullshit
and I suggest you watch your language when you refer to Paige. Enjoy mooching
off of Paige’s father’s money tonight.”

I stride away, refusing to look
back. I see Paige staring directly at me, her eyes wide. I close the space
between us quickly.

“What the hell was that about?
That’s
her
isn’t it?” Paige whispers angrily.

“Yes, it’s her. But don’t worry.
She’s just here to stir up shit. Don’t pay any attention to her.”

Paige looks over my shoulder.
“Bitch,” she mutters and I can’t help but laugh out loud. It’s so unlike Paige
to get angry, or result to name-calling.

“Well she is,” she says
defensively.

“I’m not disagreeing.”

“What did she want?”

I sigh because I really don’t want
to explain things to Paige, but on the other hand, I won’t keep things from
her.

“She thinks that I broke up with
Savannah so that I could better my career.”

“How?”

Sometimes I love how naive Paige
can be.

“By sleeping with the owner of the
label’s daughter.”

“Ohhhhh.”

She stares after Scarlet.

“Come on. It’s all a bunch of crap
to save face. The Devlins can’t swallow the fact that their poor daughter was
dumped. Let’s get a drink.” I lead us to a nearby bar and order Paige a glass
of wine and a beer for myself. We sip our drinks, enjoying our few moments of
privacy.

“Daddy really did a nice job with
this, didn’t he?” she asks, sipping her wine.

“He did. I’ve been to a few album
releases and none were ever this nice.”

Paige frowns, her beautiful face
creasing at the forehead. “Do you think it’s because of me?” she whispers.
“Maybe I am getting special treatment because I’m his daughter.”

“Of course you’re going to get some
special treatment,” I reason “and you should.” She looks shocked at my
admission. “But what parent wouldn’t do that for their child? And
ninety-percent of this is because you
are
incredibly talented.”

“And so are you,” she adds.

I shrug modestly. “As long as your
father thinks so.”

“He had already signed you before I
was even in the picture,” she points out, as if reasoning with herself.

“Right. So, see? Your father isn’t
doing any of this because I’m dating you. We were already set to go on tour
while I was still engaged to Savannah.”

Paige nods, and I can see she is
already feeling better about Scarlet’s ridiculous accusations.

“Okay! Enough thinking about that!”
she says cheerfully, taking a huge swig of her wine. “Let’s go enjoy the last
hour or so of this party!”

I take one more sip of my beer and
set it down before spinning Paige out onto the dance floor. Our dancing is
short lived before we’re summoned for more photographs.

We’re pulled in two different directions
and I end up with Ben and Ryan, posing in front of one of our posters in the
hallway.

“Hey, was that Savannah’s mother I
saw you speaking to earlier?” Ryan asks in a low voice as we follow directions
on how to pose.

“Yes,” I mutter.

“What the hell did she want? Did
she want a piece of that dick too?”

I can't help but laugh.

“I don’t even want to talk about
it." I say smiling. "That family is giving me so much shit for
breaking up with Savannah.”

“Really?” Ben asks surprised. “I
would've thought that they would have been happy.”

“Yeah, exactly. Like they wanted
their daughter to marry some bum in a band,” I scoff. “But not the case.
They’re acting like this scorned family who has had their reputation
tarnished.”

“What the fuck?” Ryan breathes.

“Yeah. Just let it go. It’s pissing
me off and it’s upsetting Paige.”

“You and Paige are pretty serious,
aren’t you?” Ben asks. He’s always the more perceptive one.

I give him a gruff nod.

“Serious like ‘get-married’
serious?” Ryan asks, head cocked to the side.

I nod again and Ryan lets out a low
whistle.

“Are you surprised?” Ben asks,
turning to Ryan. “He’d be an idiot to let go of Paige. If I found a girl like
her, I’d marry her too.”

Ryan looks wistful for a moment.
“But think of all the girls you’d be giving up.”

Of course, Ryan would say something
like that.

“Pig,” I mutter, and he shrugs,
unembarrassed. “She’s worth it. Trust me,” I add.

Ryan gives me an envious look.

People are starting to leave and we
watch them pick up their swag bags from a nearby table.

“Think this will actually help us
sell albums?” Ben asks.

“I hope so. There were definitely
enough big names here to see us sing and to get copies. Hopefully we get some
more air time now too.”

“I just hope we’re ready for this
tour,” Ryan remarks. “They’ve been pushing us like crazy.”

We wrap up and go back into the
ballroom to enjoy what’s left of the party.

“There you are!”

I feel Paige wrap her arms around
my waist and nuzzle my neck.

“Hey, baby. We just finished up
some photos.” I say.

“Yes, I saw you in the hallway. I
just said goodbye to my mother. She wanted to say good bye to you too but she
couldn’t find you.”

"Damn, I'm sorry I missed her.”

And as if on cue, my parents appear
from the crowd.

“We’re heading out,” my mother
says, playing with a stray piece of hair that’s come undone. Her face is
flushed and her eyes are bright. In fact, I hardly saw my parents tonight
because they were so busy dancing and enjoying themselves. It was nice to see
my parents so happy together, especially after thirty years of marriage.

“It was a phenomenal party,” my dad
says, giving me a pat on the back and hugging Paige.

“I’m so glad you guys were able to
make it.”

“Honey, we wouldn’t miss it for the
world,” my mother says, kissing my cheek. She hugs and kisses Paige. “You were
wonderful tonight. And you looked beautiful.”

Paige blushes. “Thank you.”

“Thanks for coming Mom and Dad,” I
say, “Drive safe.”

My dad pulls out a little plastic
card. “No driving tonight. We got a room.”

My mom smiles mischievously.

“Oh come on! I don’t need to know
that,” I moan.

Paige laughs.

My parents smile at us and wave as
they disappear into the crowd.

“That was smart,” she says
thoughtfully. “I didn’t even think about booking a room. I was so caught up in
the evening itself.”

I give her a little smile.

“What?” she demands.

I pull out my own little piece of
plastic.

“Blake!” she cries out happily.

“I thought you might enjoy a night
at the Vanderbilt,” I say smoothly.

Paige's eye light up and she hugs
me tightly.

“I would enjoy a night with you,”
she murmurs, and suddenly her mood has gone from playful to sultry.

“Mmm,” I growl, “you’re going to
make me hard before we even leave the ballroom.”

She giggles nervously, pressing
herself against me. “You better watch it then,” she softly threatens, “because
my daddy is headed over here now.”

I quickly straighten up and push
her away. All thoughts of disrobing Paige are gone as her father comes over and
shakes my hand.

“You and the guys did great
tonight,” he says jovially, “I couldn’t be prouder.”

“Thank you, sir.”

He laughs and then turns to Paige.
“And you, sweetheart, were amazing. Like always. I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” She gives him a
hug and a kiss.

“So, err, I um, won’t be home
tonight,” Kenny says awkwardly and I see Paige blush. Kenny motions to Daisy,
who is talking to a group of women a few feet away.

“Nothing else to say, Daddy,” she
says quickly. “Got it!”

“Okay,” he says gruffly. “Great job
again, you two.”

He walks away and Paige laughs
quietly.

“Looks like everyone has the same
idea,” she says.

“Yeah, let’s not think about
that
.”

I wrap my arm around Paige’s waist
and we walk out of the ballroom. We follow the throngs of people making their
way out, and Paige grabs a swag bag.

“I want one as a memento,” she explains.
I nod and guide her away from the exit, and into the lobby, where we see a few
other party guests retreating to the elevators.

We walk to the far elevator, and I
press the button. After a moment, the doors slide open and we step inside. I
press our floor and then push Paige up against the cool metal.

She lets out a small groan.

I kiss her neck softly, my hands
playing with the short hem of her dress. My mouth trails down to her collarbone
and I gently kiss her, hearing her sharp intake of breath.

The doors open again and we step
into the low-lit hallway. Paige looks around for a minute, trying to gather her
bearings.

“There aren’t many doors up here,”
she says, confused.

I walk to our room, slip the card
in the slot and then push it open after it lights up green.

“That’s because I got us a suite,”
I explain.

I hear Paige gasp as she walks into
the room.

There is a fire burning, and the
lights are dimmed low. The bed is scattered with rose petals and there is a
candle burning on each of the end tables. The curtains are pulled open to
reveal the beautiful skyline.

“Blake, this is gorgeous,” she
breathes, walking to the bed and trailing her fingers along the soft red
petals.

“I wanted to do something nice,” I
shrug, “and I know we have a crazy rehearsal schedule coming up.”

She nods. We’re spending the next
two weeks staging our tour and then we’re off and running.

“I seriously love you,” she says,
turning to me and kissing me.

“There’s one more thing,” I say,
pointing to two small packages resting on an armchair.

She gives me a quizzical look and
then grins like a little girl as she goes over to the boxes. She picks up the
first package, which is wrapped in brown paper and opens it.

“Blake!” she squeals, “You are so
sweet! I can’t believe you even paid attention to my things!”

I smile proudly, as she examines
the travel size set of her skincare so she can wash her makeup off. She laughs
as she pulls out a toothbrush and toothpaste.

“I figured you would need a few
things tonight.”

She smiles, shaking her head as she
puts the items down and moves on to a bigger box.

“Sak’s,” she murmurs, as she sees
the Sak’s Fifth Avenue logo. She pulls off the lid and gingerly pulls apart the
tissue paper.

“Ooh.” She lifts out a matching bra
and panty set that I chose for her. It’s pale pink and black, and incredibly
sexy. She moves more tissue paper and gingerly lifts out an orange blouse,
black pants and a pair of gray flats.

“Blake! This is an entire outfit!”

“I know. I picked it out for you. I
figured that you couldn’t go home tomorrow in your party dress. And I thought
we could have brunch in the hotel before we leave.”

“That is so thoughtful of you!” She
jumps up to hug me. “I notice there are no pajamas,” she says coyly.

“You don’t need pajamas,” I say,
pulling her hard against me.

I start to kiss her, and my hand
trails down her exposed back until I hit her zipper. I tug her zipper down and
feel her dress open.

She lets out a small moan of
pleasure as I push her dress over her shoulders and it falls to the floor in a
puddle at her feet.

I step back to watch her step out
of it, and I can’t help but twitch in my pants. She’s wearing a low-back corset
and black thong, and that combination coupled with her edgy, spiked heels is
incredibly sexy.

“Turn around,” I order.

She obeys.

I pull her to me, then scoot her to
the bed and bend her over. She gasps as I run my hands along her ass, and
gently spread her thighs. I caress Paige’s smooth skin, taking my time as I run
my hands over her beautiful body, not quite believing that Paige loves me just
as much as I love her.

I run my hands along her back and
unhook her corset. I push her down on the bed, and I start to pull off my own
clothes as Paige kicks off her heels.

“Mmmm,” she moans, as I tug down my
boxers and climb on the bed.

“Do you like it?” I breathe,
sliding her thong down and burying my face between her thighs.