Play Hard (The Devil's Share Book 5) (21 page)

“This is the most ridiculous I’ve ever felt in my life. And I banged a chick once who wanted me to bark like a dog.” Jacks was wearing nothing but incredibly snug briefs and combat boots. “I don’t even know how to ride a bike, guys.” He called out to the photographers from astride a vintage Triumph.

Smith raised his hand. “I know how to ride a bike. But I’ve
never
laid out by a pool covered in oil, ever.” He threw a help-me look at Dash. “Come on, man. We can’t do this. It isn’t us.”

“Yeah, I’m for sure not digging this.” I climbed down off the horse they’d put me on. There were several green screens and mock sets up around the large warehouse. They had us all separated and doing things so out of character that it was just stupid.

Dash hung his head, his hands on his narrow naked hips. They hadn’t even given him clothes. “Okay, we need a time-out, please.” He called out to the massive crew of people they had working on us, holding his hands in a “T.” All of us abandoned our asinine posts and joined in the center of the space. “I know this seems lame. I don’t want to do it either, I can assure you. But this spread will go a long way in promoting the band, which will in turn promote the new album.”

“We all agreed to do this, and I’m not saying I want to back out. It’s just…,” Smith gestured around the room. “Does it have to be so stereotypical? Can’t we just be ourselves?”

Dash pursed his lips, his eyes darting around at all the different sets and then back to us. “Let me see what I can do.”

***

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Lexi walked in to the now completely empty warehouse, her camera bag slung over her shoulder.

Dash turned to us. “I promised them they’d get their sexy pictures, as long as we could do it our way.”

Jacks started laughing. “Perfect. I love it.”

“I can’t believe you guys never told us about this.” Lexi started setting her stuff out on a long table against the nearest wall. “We missed out on a lot of good jokes at y’all’s expense.”

Lexi was an amazing photographer, she really was. I had been captivated by her work even when I was too young to really understand art. She moved around the warehouse with so much confidence, so at ease with her camera in her hand like it was an extension of herself. It’d been too long since I’d gotten to watch her work, watch her create. And for a while I sat and did just that.

She set Jacks up, in those same briefs with a guitar in his lap and a bottle of whiskey at his feet. Then she made him remove the bottoms, after Dash threw a small fit about her seeing Jacks’ dick, she had him wail on that guitar for a solid five minutes. After a while, you could tell that he forgot the rest of us were still in the room. Getting lost in the music.

She made Smith climb on the bike and ride it around the massive space, she made joke after joke. Making him laugh in that sarcastic way that only she could. Then she made him do some yoga, something they’d done together while she was pregnant with Halen.

Dash wore a pair of low-hanging jeans, so low you could pretty much see where his dick started. He lay on a couch and she climbed on with him. Getting shots from angles that would have been impossible otherwise, getting these smoldering looks that Dash wouldn’t have given up for anyone else.

“Okay, Lukey. Your turn.” I stood and met her over in front a fake graffitied brick wall. “Take off your shirt and set up that drum set.”

I shrugged out of my hoodie and then did what she asked, with her taking pictures all the while. Luckily the chick in makeup had been able to cover up most of Lo’s bite marks. I really didn’t feel like explaining that to the band right now.

I’d set up and taken down my set so many times I could do it with my eyes closed. It was one of the first things I’d taught Landry to do when I started giving her lessons. “Now what?”

“Drop the pants, sit down, and play real fucking hard.” She threw handfuls of glitter on the tops of the drums, winking at me.

I sat down, grinning, and played. I played all my old favorite songs, the ones I’d perfected when I was still a kid. The ones that had made me fall in love with the instrument in the first place.

Eventually she stopped taking pictures and just stood and watched me play. Wearing the same look on her face I was sure I’d worn while I watched her take our pictures. My heart warmed at the memory that surfaced. And, thank fuck, for the first time in a long time, I welcomed it.

“You played great tonight, Lukey. The crowd was going crazy.”

It was a week into my band’s first tour. Friends since we were kids, we were having the time of our lives, none of us even old enough to legally drink at the bars we were playing in every night. “Yeah? Thanks, Lex.” I took the towel she handed me, wiping the sweat from my body. “Did you get some good shots?”

“Tons. The camera loves you. Wanna see?” She pulled two beers from the metal trough backstage and handed me one. “Or would you rather party with the rest of the guys?”

I took a long swallow. “We have an eight-hour drive ahead of us. I’m cool with just hanging back here until they are ready to go. One of us has to stay sober.” I collapsed on the tattered black leather couch, holding my arm out for Lex to join me. “Show me what you got.”

She fell against my side and held her camera out so I could see the screen. There was image after image of me playing. She’d zoomed in on this look of pure joy on my face. “You look so happy when you’re playing.”

I kept scrolling, every one of us looked fucking ecstatic, fucking thrilled to be up there on that stage. “Lexi, you are so damn talented.”

“Thanks.”

I handed her the camera back. “You need to be in New York, doing shoots for
Rolling Stone
or some shit. Not on this crazy tour with a bunch of dudes.”

She laughed and rested her head on my shoulder. “Nah, I’m pretty happy right where I’m at.”

I stopped playing with a crash of the cymbal. I had broken into a sweat and the glitter was plastered to my body. Smith pointed to my chest. “Lo’s going to think you’ve been at a damn strip club.”

Jacks chuckled. “No joke, man, glitter is the herpes of the craft world. Landry was using some last week and we’re still finding it all over the house. It’s even in the dog’s shit.”

Lexi handed me a damp towel. “Okay, guys, I want to do one more set. This one will be of you all together as a band.” There was a fully stocked bar in the corner; it wasn’t meant to be a prop, but Lexi had us all shirtless standing behind it. She turned on some music and then told us to make ourselves some drinks while she changed around her camera settings.

“So what’s the plan for tonight? We doing dinner together?” Smith filled four rocks glasses with ice.

“I’m getting so tired of eating out, let’s pile in one room and order a shit-ton of room service.” Jacks handed Smith the bottle of whiskey he’d been carrying around since his shoot.

“I’d be down for that.” Dash rested his forearms against the bar. “Halen has been incredibly cranky the last few days. She’s so far off her routine, it’s not even funny.”

Smith handed me a scotch on the rocks. “You and Lo in?”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be cool with that.” I took a sip. “We’re going to have brunch with her dad tomorrow before we need to start getting ready for that stupid gala.” They were honoring our label; there was no way we could get out of it. And believe me, we’d tried.

“Wow, man. You’re meeting her parents? Good for you.” Dash clinked his glass to mine.

“She really isn’t very close to her dad and her stepmom. I think she’d rather get on another plane than go spend the morning with them.” I crunched on some ice. “Apparently he’s this really rich asshole who never spent any time with her.”

Jacks threw his arm around my neck. “So on top of the fact that you brought her on this press tour, you essentially bought her a puppy and you’re going with her to meet her dad? Is it still too soon to tell if she’s the one?”

I tried to tone down my reaction. I tried not to act like a chick. But I failed and broke out into a huge grin. The rest of the guys all made “aww” sounds and started to laugh. After I got a bunch of back slaps and macho man hugs, I held my hands up. “Okay, okay. Enough of the girl talk.” I looked across the space at Lexi. “We going to do this final shot or what?”

“It’s already done.” She gave us a small sweet smile. “All I wanted was to capture my boys, capture your bond. And I got it.”

The four of us got quiet. My throat couldn’t have been the only one thick with emotion. Lexi knew us; she knew our hearts. She knew our strengths and our weaknesses. She was the first woman to be there for not just me, but all of us, to love us instantly and without question. To show us what that even looked like.

In a lot of ways, she was all of our first love.

Chapter Thirty-five

Harlow

“Landry, can you hand me that diaper rag, please?” I had Halen on my shoulder and she’d just finished her bottle. “Thank you, love.” The whole crew was in Dash and Lexi’s suite, wearing pajamas and yoga pants. There was a huge table loaded down with what I assumed was one of everything from the room service menu. And
Mrs. Doubtfire
playing on the big-screen TV.

“Here, Pix, let me burp her.” Luke took the rag and his goddaughter from my hands. “You eat.” He stood automatically every time he held her; that little girl has him trained.

“Lo, did any of those dresses work for you?” Lexi shoved a large bite of ice cream in her mouth.

“Yeah, actually I found one, thank you so much for setting that up for me.” I shot Luke a look. He’d only informed me this morning that there was a charity gala that he had to attend. Luckily Lexi knew exactly what to do and had a stylist come to my room with several options. I chose the sexiest one as his punishment. He’d have to walk around shaking hands with a hard-on.

“Are you kidding me? Thank you. You totally saved all of us by watching Halen for me this afternoon.”

I looked over at Luke, swaying with the baby. I couldn’t help but love the image of him holding her. “Anytime, really, she’s the best.” New York had always been one of my favorite cities to visit. I’d taken Halen and Louie for a stroll around Central Park. The leaves were changing colors, which was something I never got to see in Miami.

Jacks wiped at his face with his shirt and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Smith leaned forward. “Are you fudging crying, dude?”

“No. I got wasabi in my eyes. Why the hell is there so much sushi all over the place?”

Dylan shoved another piece in her mouth and then washed it down a large gulp of wine. “It’s so good.”

Bryan winkled her nose. “What the hell is with you lately? All you do is eat raw fish and day drink.”

“I’m on vacation.” Dylan grabbed the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and topped off her glass.

“I can’t wait for Crash and Dagger to meet Louie; they are going to have so much fun playing together.” Louie was currently stretched out on Landry’s lap, snoring.

Bryan slid the plate of cookies out of reach when Landry moved to get another one, her third I think. “Yeah, I’m sure they will have lots of fun. But remember that Louie will live with Lo, and she doesn’t live in Texas.” It was true, but the reminder stung a little.

Landry looked at me. “Why won’t you live with us?”

“Well, my home is in Florida.” I broke the chocolate chip cookie I was eating in half and gave part of it to her, ignoring Bryan’s scowl.

She shoved the cookie in her mouth before her mom could tell her no then spoke around it. “Home isn’t a place, it’s people. Right, Aunt Lexi?”

Lexi nodded. “Yes, sweet girl. Home is people.”

“See? And we’re your people now, Aunt Lo. And we all live in Texas.”

I teared up. I couldn’t help it. I wanted this wonderful group to be my people, I wanted to stay with Luke. I hated the thought of being away from him. But things were still so new, so delicate. I didn’t want to rush this and risk ruining it. I was at a loss for words, of how to explain any of this to Landry.

“We still have a few more stops to make before we get to go home. Aunt Lo just needs to go take care of some things in Florida before she can come see us again.” Luke smiled down at his niece. “But we’ll get her there soon, kiddo. Okay?”

“Okay.”

***

“Are you nervous about seeing your dad tomorrow?” Luke was naked underneath me. Landry had begged us to please let Louie stay the night in her room, and Jacks had eventually given in.

I rested my chin in my fists. “Irritated, resigned, annoyed. But not nervous.” We’d showered and gotten straight into bed. I’d crawled on top of him and we’d been lying like this for a while, just talking.

“I emailed you the schedule for the remainder of the tour, it’s over in another week.” He moved my hair off my shoulders. “The last three stops are all in Texas.” I didn’t know what to say to that, what he expected me to say. When I stayed quiet, he grinned. “Would you like to come see me?”

“I thought we already established that I was going to come visit at some point soon.” I wasn’t going to make this easy for him. I wanted to hear what he was thinking.

“Would you like to meet me at my house, fly in the same day we get home?”

I did. I really freaking did. But I was bound and determined to play it cool. “Won’t you be tired? You’ve literally been traveling in some form or fashion for the last three months.”

He frowned. “I’ll be missing you like crazy, that’s what I’ll be.” He fisted his hand in my still-damp hair. “Say you’ll be there.”

I nodded. “I’ll be there”

Before I knew what he was doing, Luke rolled me to my back and proceeded to make me act totally uncool, as in heat me up until I was freakin’ on fire.

Chapter Thirty-six

Lexi

Today was one of the best days I’d ever had. Obviously, the day I got engaged and Halen was born was my number one. But still, today was amazing. I got to be with the band, with my boys,
and
I got to pick up my camera. From the second Dash dropped down on one knee in the sand, my life had been chaos. Beautiful, controlled, blissful chaos, but chaos nonetheless. When we were there in that warehouse though, I felt like my world righted itself.