The Rocker Who Wants Me (The Rocker... Series) (22 page)

As she walked away, her shoulders hunched, the three of us muttered curses under our breath. I waited until she was out of sight before turning to Wroth and Liam. “What the fuck were they thinking? We don’t do this kind of shit anymore.”

Wroth grunted. “Obviously neither one of them got that memo, bro. So, what are we gonna do about it?”

“Emmie will be here tonight. Let’s follow her lead,” Liam offered, and I had to agree that it was the best plan of action.

Liam went to find Linc to do his physical therapy while Wroth went to find Marissa who was helping Harris with his homeschool work in our dressing room. When my cell vibrated with a text message, I pulled it free and groaned out loud at the sight of the picture of Dallas blowing me a kiss. I sent her a message telling her to take her time before saving the picture as my wallpaper so that I could see that gorgeous face blowing kisses at me every time I looked at my phone.

I could have gone back to the hotel, because there was plenty of time before we took the stage at nine, but I knew that if I went back Dallas wouldn’t get any time to herself to relax. She deserved to have some time just for herself. Instead, I pulled up my emails and started going through some of the work I’d put off the day before.

I had some things that needed my attention from
America’s Rocker
. I’d agreed to sign on for another two seasons if my changes were implemented. Cole Steel wasn’t coming back, but thankfully Drake had agreed to at least another season. The show was a huge success, which had surprised me, because I thought it would be a flop after the first few seasons with the way the producers tended to run everything. I would admit that there had been some amazing talent that had been able to get recognized because of it, last season’s winner being the best of them all.

Obviously, someone was going to have to replace Cole for the next season. The producers were already throwing out names and having sit downs. Two names topped their list though, and I was sure that when Emmie found out who was on that short list she was going to flip her lid. Honestly, the producers better be glad that they got Drake to sign an air tight contract or they would have had to replace him should Tommy Kirkman get the job. Thankfully, Drake and I had some say in who took the third judge’s position and they would be getting a ‘fuck no’ from us.

No way did I want to work with Layla’s father. I’d written him off the same night the fucker had had four of his personal bodyguards jump Jesse. I’d been drunk as hell that night, and gotten my own ass handed to me when I’d jumped in to help Shane help Jesse.

It took more than an hour to deal with my emails, and by the time I put my phone away Dallas was walking through the back doors. She had a smile on her face, so I was sure she hadn’t yet heard about the cluster fuck that had happened the night before or that her friend was basically a shattered shell of herself today. I didn’t want to be the one to wipe that smile off her beautiful face, but I didn’t want her to be blindsided by the news coming from someone else.

Before I could open my mouth, she threw herself into my arms and kissed all rational thoughts from my head. I wrapped my arms around her as she climbed my body, wrapping those long, silky legs around my waist. Her hands thrust into my hair, deepening the kiss and forcing me to back her against the closest wall. Her kiss was full of a wildness that stole my sanity in the blink of an eye.

Breathing hard, she pulled back a long time later. “I missed you,” she whispered before brushing another kiss over my lips.

“Ah, baby, I missed you too.” I skimmed my nose down her neck, inhaling the subtle yet intoxicating scent of her body wash. “Did you enjoy your breakfast in bed?”

“It was perfect. Thanks for that, babe.”

Reluctantly I stepped back and she unwrapped her legs from around my waist. I was rock hard, but would have to suffer for the moment. “I need to tell you something.”

Her eyes lost some of their brightness. “What’s wrong?”

“Last night Dev and Z got into a fight. Em is going to be here just before the show starts tonight.”

Dallas rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

“The fight was over Nat…”

“Again. Not surprised.”

“…because they had a bet who could nail her first,” I finished, then stepped back when I saw her face cloud over.

“Excuse me?”

“I just found out about it myself, baby. They apparently made the bet before the tour started. I don’t know if Dev and Nat actually hooked up, but they obviously have gotten closer over the last two months. Or they had.” I grimaced for what felt like the hundredth time in the last few hours at the rage in Dallas’s eyes. “You should go find her, baby. See if she needs to talk.”

“I’ll find her as soon as I take care of Summer and Eve.” My face obviously showed my confusion because she rolled her eyes. “The douche twins. Devlin and Zander.”

“No,” I said, stepping between her and the path she had been about to take in search of both my bandmates. “Don’t do that, baby. Look, they beat the fuck out of each other last night. Z can barely stand and Dev looks like he might even have a concussion the way he was playing so shitty earlier.”

“Are you seriously protecting those two dickheads right now?” she snarled.

“Of course not. I’m trying to protect you. Neither one of them is in a good place right now, and I don’t want them to do or say something to you if you confront them. If they did something that hurt you in any way I’d have to kill them, and honestly I’m too pretty to survive prison.” That last part produced the smile I was hoping it would, even if it was smaller than I wanted. Leaning forward I kissed her, long and hard.

“Fine,” she conceded, pushing me away after only a few seconds of enjoying my kiss. “I’ll go check on Natalie. But if they cross my path I’m not going to hold back on telling them what I think of their sorry asses.”

“Fair enough.” I kissed her again before letting her go. “I’m going to go relax a little before the show. If you need me I’ll be in my dressing room… that has its own bathroom.” I wiggled my brow at her and she snorted but couldn’t hide the obvious need the thought of us putting my private bathroom to use caused in her. With a wink and a slap on her perfect ass, I left her to find her friend.

“Uncle Ax. Uncle Ax. Uncle Ax!”

My head snapped around at the sound of Mia’s voice. I didn’t say a word to the roadie I’d just been talking to as I broke into a run toward the running three-year-old who was hell bent on reaching me as fast as her little legs could get her to me. As I scooped her into my arms and twirled her around, I couldn’t help the stupid grin that spread over my face.

After only a few twirls I stopped and kissed her cheek. “Wow, look at my pretty girl. You’ve grown since I last saw you, beautiful.”

“Guess what?” she demanded with an excited expression on her face that made her big green eyes shine up at me.

“Umm… You are running away to become a trapeze star in the circus?”

“No, silly.” She rolled her eyes at me like I was the incorrigible toddler while she was the adult. “I’m going to have a brother!”

“Really? Does Daddy know?” I pressed another kiss to her cheek before turning to a very pregnant Emmie waddling instead of walking toward us.

“Pretty sure Daddy had a good idea before we left this morning.” Emmie sighed as she paused long enough to let me drop a kiss on her cheek. “Hey, stranger.”

“Em, we talk every day,” I reminded her.

She shrugged. “I haven’t seen you since January. That seems too long for me.”

“You’re right. It is.” I put Mia on her feet and wrapped an arm around Emmie’s shoulders. “How was your flight?”

Her eyes narrowed. Apparently I’d asked the wrong question. “Oh, it was wonderful. Considering that I had to listen to the cow behind us criticize the fact that I had my three-year-old in first class while her son had to sit in coach with his sister. The best part of the damn thing was when Mia finally turned around in her seat and asked the woman why she was so bitchy.” That produced a laugh from us both. Mia might only be three years old, but she took after her mother in more than just looks. “I kid you not, Ax. Mia used the word bitchy. And she was asking the same question I wanted to ask, but hadn’t because I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of my child, so I couldn’t exactly scold her for it.”

“Sounds like you had an eventful day.”

“It’s only getting started. I’m going to seriously bust some balls tonight.”

“You said balls, Momma,” Mia called from where she was jumping over a thick cord. “Daddy said that balls is a bad word.”

I coughed to hide my laugh and went over to pick Mia up. “Let’s find somewhere for you to play, Mia, before Momma’s head explodes.”

Mia glanced at her mother over my shoulder. “Oh. Okay. She does that a lot lately. Daddy said it was the baby doing it to her and that I shouldn’t take her too seriously. You shouldn’t either, Uncle Ax. She loves you too, ya know. But like she loves Uncle Jesse and Uncle Drake and Uncle Shane. Not like she loves Daddy. Daddy said that he would cut your balls off if she loved you like she loves him.”

I had to bite my cheek to keep from grinning. I couldn’t believe the words that came out of this kid’s mouth. She missed nothing and spoke her mind. She owned just as big a part of my heart as her mother did. “Sometimes you shouldn’t repeat what Daddy says, Mia. Sometimes it can make Momma’s head explode for real.” Chancing a glance at Emmie I saw that her face was blood red and she was muttering something under her breath. I tried hard to keep my grin at bay, but it broke free. “I’m gonna take her to Marissa. She will be in Wroth’s dressing room if you get worried.”

“I’m sure she will be fine,” Emmie said. “She likes Marissa. It’s me I’m worried about. I’m wondering what else
Daddy
has been saying lately.” She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over the top of her very large stomach. “If I didn’t love that man so much I would cut off
his
…” She broke off, but it was obvious that she had been about to say ‘balls’. “Be a good girl, Mia.”

“Okay, Momma. Love you big.”

Emmie’s face softened. “Love you bigger.”

Dallas

I doubt there was a more beautiful woman when she was pissed.

Emmie Armstrong was magnificent when she was raging. Long, auburn hair flying. Cute little nose flaring. Breasts heaving. Very pregnant stomach trembling under the force of her son’s kicking feet as she paced back and forth in front of the five rockers standing lined up as if she were a drill sergeant and they were her troops.

Her voice shook as she spoke. “I’m seriously not in the mood to deal with children, but that’s exactly what some of you have been acting like.” Her blazing green gaze went to Zander who was at one end of the line, then to Devlin who was at the other end. “Do you know how pissed off I am right now? Do you honestly think I signed up for this shit? I’ll gladly drop OtherWorld’s contract right now and you can go back to Rich Fucking Branson since he apparently put up with your childishness.”

My gaze went to Axton who was lined up with his bandmates. When Emmie mentioned Branson’s name I saw his face grow stormy. I’d heard through Harper that when Demon’s Wings had refused to resign Rich Branson as their manager, the creep had gone after Emmie. If Nik hadn’t stepped in between them and punched the douchebag, the man might have actually hit Emmie. After hearing that, Axton had convinced the band to drop Branson as soon as their own contract was up. From what Harper had said, it hadn’t taken much to get the rest of OtherWorld to agree.

“That’s bullshit,” Devlin grumbled. “You wouldn’t send a dead dog back to Branson.”

Devlin Cutter was well over six feet tall, maybe six three if not taller. Emmie, however was considerably smaller. Even with her belly sticking out like it was, Devlin probably outweighed her by over a hundred and twenty pounds. That didn’t seem to deter Emmie as she stepped closer to the drummer and poked him in the chest with her finger. “Try me. I don’t work with immature dickheads. And you and your buddy? Biggest dickheads I’ve ever met. You know what, Dev? I thought for sure it was going to be Liam who would make this tour so difficult…”