Rock Bottom (Tristan & Danika #2) (3 page)

“It’s just not the same without him.
 
It never will be.”

“No, it won’t.
 
It will be completely different, but that doesn’t mean it won’t still be good.
 
For the guys and for you.
 
And for Jared.
 
It was his dream for the band to make it, and he was not selfish.
 
He’d be just as happy if you made it without him.
 
But you’re never really without him.
 
He’ll always be a part of you, right?
 
And that part of you needs to do this, baby.”
 

He hugged me to him, his face burrowing into my neck, breathing me in, making my eyes flutter closed in pleasure.
 
“Thank you.
 
You’re my rock, sweetheart.
 
I don’t know what I’d do without you.
 
You make everything better.”

I melted into a messy little puddle at his feet.
 
Having this man love me like he did had become my whole world.
   

Though he’d put up a token protest, I knew he wanted this bad, and I couldn’t blame him.
 
I understood his need for this.
 
I desperately wanted to amount to something too, and so I didn’t ever even consider holding him back.

My approval, or encouragement, was seemingly all he needed, and so it was settled.
 

I got more details, troubling details, as we rejoined the group of giddy bandmates.
 

They were going to start working in the studio in just over a week.
 
And that studio was in L.A., which was a five-hour drive away.
 
They were required to work on the new album five days a week, and the entire process could potentially take months to complete.
 
I wanted to throw up, but instead I smiled, and congratulated them all, and let Tristan hang his arm over my shoulders like all was right with the world.
 

I didn’t need another reason to hate Dean, but he always seemed more than willing to give me one.

Tristan was off talking to their new producer, leaving me alone for less than five minutes when Dean approached with a shit-eating grin on his face.
 
I had the strong urge to literally make him eat shit.
 

“Out of town five days a week…How long do think it will take for Tristan to bury himself in some fan pussy?
 
I give it two weeks.
 
Let’s make a wager out of it.
 
If I’m right, I get to bury my dick in
your
pussy.”
 

I glanced in Tristan’s direction, debating whether I should deck the creep or sic Tristan on him.
 

“Aww, you gonna tell your boyfriend that I was out of line with you?
 
You can dish it out, babe, but you sure can’t take it.”
 

I glared at him, because I’d been real good about
not
dishing it out where Dean was concerned.
 
The less interaction the better, I’d learned.
 
“I would tell Tristan what you just said to me, but then he’d kick your ass, and I don’t think it’s right to hit girls.”
 
I smiled sweetly as the jab hit home, and he glared at me.
 

In an act of supreme self-control, I walked away.
 

At least I’d gotten the last word.

CHAPTER TWO

TRISTAN

The party had gone into full swing with the announcement of our record deal.
 
Music started blasting and across the brightly lit backyard, I saw Danika dancing with Frankie.
 
No matter how many times I saw it, Danika moving her hips to the beat was the hottest fucking thing I’d ever seen.
 

She was wearing a little tiny blue skirt, her legs toned and shown off to perfection, her little ass so tight my mouth went dry every time she turned it my way.
 
I was standing near the pool, talking with a group of guys about the news, but I wasn’t really.
 
In my mind, I was lifting up that tiny skirt, bending her over, and burying myself balls deep inside her.

I owned that.
 
She was mine.
Mine
.
 
That sexy as hell creature belonged to me, and the second I thought someone else didn’t seem to understand that, I lost my fucking mind.

How I knew I was a lunatic about her was that I was even jealous of her smiles, her laughs, any damn thing that brought her joy that I hadn’t caused.
 
I just didn’t want to share her, any part of her.
 

She was mine.
 

The way she felt about me was evident with just a look.
 
I’d never been loved like that before, not by anyone, and it did insane things to me.
 
I’d only had one other relationship to compare this to, and so I thought of Nat, and how she’d said she loved me five fucking times a day, incessantly, until I felt suffocated by it.
 
Suffocated, but never actually loved.
 
Not like I felt with just one glance from those pale silver eyes.
 
Now if I could only become halfway worthy of that love, I’d make it through all the shit life was throwing at me.
 

“She is beyond hot, I’ll give you that.
 
If you’re gonna let a bitch pussy whip you, she ain’t a bad choice.”

I sent Dean an unfriendly look.
 
He and I had not been seeing eye to eye lately.
 
“Knock it the fuck off, unless you’ll
enjoy
it when I kick your ass.”
 

He just smiled his crazy smile.
 
When we were kids, I’d loved that smile.
 
It had always meant fun, likely trouble, but still fun, but something had changed about him over the years.
 
I couldn’t put my finger on when it had happened, but he just wasn’t the same guy he’d been.
 

I cut him an ounce of slack, because losing Jared hadn’t only broken me.
 
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the change in him had happened long before Jared’s death.
 

“I’m just talking, Tryst.
 
Just words, my man.
 
Anyway, all of that pussy whipping that’s got you so salty will be worth it when you kick her to the curb and I get a revenge fuck out of her, Nat style.”

I had his shirt in my hands, my temper going through the charts with a few sentences out of his asshole mouth.
 

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I asked him through my teeth.
 
“And what the fuck does Nat have to do with anything?”

“She fucked me, not a week after you broke it off.
 
Let me do all kinds of messed up shit to her, just to get back at you.
 
Joke was on her.
 
You never found out until now, when you couldn’t give two fucks about who taps that.”
 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”
 
I was shaking with rage.
 

“Oh, my bad.
 
You still give a shit who gets inside of Nat?
 
Good to know, man.”

I shook him like a rag doll.
 
I could feel how everyone had frozen around us, so my voice was quiet when I spoke.
 
“Girlfriends, ex or not, are off-limits, and you fucking know it.
 
It doesn’t matter what goes down, if you ever lay a finger on Danika, I will cut your dick off and fucking feed it to you.
 
Do you understand?
 
I don’t care if it’s ten years from now.
 
You touch her, you’re
dead
.”
 
I let him go, my fists clenching.
 
I had to get away from him before I lost my mind and someone called the cops.
 

Dean was still grinning like the crazy bastard he was.
 
“I got your message loud and clear.
 
Good to see that anger management is working for you.
 
I’ll leave you alone so you can practice your zen and shit.”
 

He walked away, whistling like nothing had happened.

“Crazy fucker,” I muttered to his back.
 
He’d been blatantly baiting me, and still, it had worked.
 
The idea of another man so much as shaking Danika’s hand made me lose my shit, and the idea of Dean, fucking dirtball Dean,
having her,
made me feel murderous.
 

“Tristan,” a breathless, all too familiar voice called my name softly, gripping my elbow.
 

I turned, giving Natalie an annoyed eyebrow lift in question.
 
The woman was becoming a real nuisance.
 
We’d gone years without so much as bumping into each other, but now that the old man had dumped her, she was everywhere I turned.
 
I didn’t think for a second that it was an accident, and I was beginning to think back on the years of no contact with genuine affection.
 
It was becoming apparent that even though we’d grown up together, we weren’t going to be able to be friends.
 
She was never going to let go of the idea of us getting back together, and there was a no percent chance of that ever happening again.

“What do you want?” I asked her, ill-tempered and making no attempts to hide it.
 

She smiled, unfazed.
 
She was a sly one, and for years I’d mistaken that slyness for intelligence.
 
It wasn’t that.
 
Over time, I’d realized that she was nothing but a dumb bitch.
 
“I had some things I wanted to talk to you about.
 
Can we go somewhere private?”
 

That was so crazy it was almost amusing.
 
“Fuck no we can’t.
 
My girlfriend hates your guts, on account of you being a fucking bitch to her, and the last thing I’m going to do is piss her off again because of you.
 
If you have something to say to me, you can say it right here.
 
And make it quick.”

She touched my arm, smiling up at me.
 
All I could think was that she wasn’t worth talking to for five seconds if it got Danika mad at me.

“Oh, Tryst, remember how it used to be?” Her tone was dreamy.
 
I felt suffocated by it.
 
“Remember the chemistry?
 
We were so
hot
for each other.
 
I’ve never felt anything like it, not before or since.”
 

I couldn’t help it, I laughed.
 
It was not a happy laugh.
 
I was too sick of her walks down memory lane to indulge her.
 
Just over it.
 
“That’s not how I remember it.
 
I remember how you withheld sex to get your way.
 
And the chemistry was nothing special.
 
Frankly, I get better every night now.
 
World’s better.
 
No comparison.”

She gasped in outrage, but I wasn’t done.
 

“I hope someday you find someone you really care about, Nat, someone you really love.
 
Then you’ll realize that what you and I had was nothing but dumb puppy love.”
 

DANIKA

I abruptly stopped dancing as Tristan yelled something at Dean and grabbed his shirtfront.
 

Not again
, I thought, cringing.
 
Those two were at each other’s throats every time I turned around.
 
Two men had never seemed less suited to be roommates, but roommates they were.
 
I wasn’t sure how long that could last, but I’d be more relieved than anyone when they parted ways.
 

“What the ever-loving
fuck
did Dean do now?” Frankie muttered behind me, tugging on my arm.
 

“I should go try to break it up,” I said, the very idea just making me feel exhausted.
 

“No, you shouldn’t.
 
You should come inside with me and let them sort it out.”

“I might be the only one that can calm him down,” I explained, but I followed her in.
 

“That is a very temporary solution to a much bigger problem.
 
That man has got to learn not to lose his temper without you as a crutch.”
 

I knew she was right, but I still couldn’t stop worrying, and looking outside every few seconds, trying to gage if the situation was going to spiral out of control.
 

I was beyond relieved when Dean strode through the door, whistling.
 
He even smiled when he saw me, as though the sight of me made him happy, when it never did.
 

“You,” he said, making it sound like an endearment.
 
“I was just looking for you.”
 

There was no way that was a good thing.
 
The bastard was looking for trouble more than me, I just knew it.
 
I crossed my arms over my chest, glaring at him.
 
“Why?
 
And what did you say to Tristan to get him riled again?”
 

“Let’s not pretend he isn’t always riled, yeah?”
 

I hated that he had a point.
 

“But that out there, that was nothing.
 
He was just having a jealous fit about Nat and me hooking up.
 
You have nothing to worry about, though.
 
I’m sure that doesn’t mean he still has feelings for her.
 
Oh and look,” he pointed out the window.