The Rocker Who Wants Me (The Rocker... Series) (8 page)

My eyes rounded at what she had just told me. What the fuck? Liam had a crazy fan try to… Well, I wasn’t sure what she had tried to do. What I wanted to know was how she had been able to look like me.

“How?” I said as I reached into my back pocket for my ID. “It’s kind of hard to look exactly like me, Emmie.”

She grimaced, her big green eyes on the man she had called Seller as he checked over my ID. “She had on long sleeves so the men couldn’t see that she didn’t have tats, but she did have the facial piercings. And her hair was just as blonde as yours. She kept her head down as she went in so they couldn’t tell that she really wasn’t you. They thought nothing of it, because you’ve been here all week. It wasn’t until Liam started screaming for help that they realized their mistake…” She glanced at the two stone-faced men. “It wasn’t really their fault. No one noticed. She got through four walls of security without getting stopped.”

My attention went back to Seller. “You know my ID won’t really work, right? Anyone can make one of those if they google my name and find a decent fake ID producer. I turned around and lifted my hair. “This is my latest tattoo. The nurse’s symbol with the R and N. Only a few people know I have it. All of them trustworthy…” I paused and shook my head. “Well, if you consider Axton Cage trustworthy.”

“Axton’s trustworthy,” Emmie said with a sigh. I rolled my eyes at her. She couldn’t handle anyone saying anything bad about him, or any of her other guys. It was great that she was so protective of them all, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying. I wanted to dish out all kinds of abuse about him, but knew she would stab me before I got very far.

“Anyway, this is probably what you should check for instead of my ID.” I dropped my hair and snatched my ID back. “Oh, and I doubt the doppelgänger would have busted your balls over checking her identification.”

“You didn’t bust my balls, girl.”

I took a step closer to him. “Call me girl again. Then you will know exactly what it feels like.”

Seller made another scary growling noise. Never one to back down from a challenge, I took another step in his direction. Emmie’s hand grabbed my elbow and jerked me back and into Liam’s room, delaying my foot from being able to get better acquainted with his man-parts. When the door closed behind us she was fighting a grin. “Behave.”

I rolled my eyes at her again before straightening my shirt and turning to face the others in the room. It was a huge room, probably one of the biggest private rooms the hospital had to offer. Marissa and Wroth were standing by the window, the frown they had been wearing most of the week eased now that Liam was out of the woods.

Liam was raised up in the bed, and a few of the tubes from the day before had been taken away from the maze of wires and tubes that had been attached to him. His leg was raised with a sling that hung from the ceiling and there were multiple other casts and bandages that would have to be changed in a few days for longer-lasting ones, once the orthopedic surgeons found out if the bones were healing the way they should.

When Liam turned his eyes on me they narrowed for a moment before he grinned. “Dee! It’s about time you got here. Tell them I want something real to eat. Like steak. Or a burger… Yeah, I could really go for a burger.”

That he was wanting something hearty to eat was good news, but I shook my head as I approached the bed. “No can do. You need to start back slowly on the food. Liquid diet today, soft foods tomorrow, and maybe we can talk about steak or burgers the next day.” I scanned over the heart monitor, pleased to see everything at a normal rate. “You’re doing great, Liam.”

“That’s what the doctors said when they all came in a few minutes ago,” Marissa assured me with a beaming smile that I couldn’t help but return. “And as long as he follows doctors’ orders we might get to take him home next week.”

Before I could open my mouth, Wroth and Emmie were surrounding me. “But he’s still going to need some extra care,” Emmie told me, and I suddenly felt cornered between her little body and Wroth’s much larger one.

“And a physical therapist,” Wroth chimed in. “The doctors said that he is going to need lots of physical therapy and if he is going to get to tour with OtherWorld then they recommended a nurse as well as a private PT to travel with us.”

“Ah, hell,” I muttered. I knew what they were going to ask, and I would have been all for it except for one little problem. “I’m not spending three months trapped on a fucking bus with Axton Cage, Emmie.”

She quickly shook her head. “No, no. You won’t have to I swear. I’ll get another bus. Have it fixed up so that Liam will be as comfortable as possible. You, the PT, and Liam will be on there with Marissa.”

“And me,” Wroth rushed to inform me.

“But I’ll still have to deal with Ax for three. Fucking. Months.” I sighed and pushed past them, trying to clear my head of all the static that had filled it as soon as I realized what was going on. I would be an idiot to turn down a private nursing job like this. It was something that few nurses would ever get to even think about, let alone be offered. Plus, I wanted to do it for Liam. He deserved my help as much as my friendship.

But all of those pros weighed less than the one heavy con.

Being that close to the man who ruled my body without even really trying. A man who had tattooed his name on my heart the first night he had fucked my brains out. The only man to ever shatter me so completely when our so-called relationship ended… It would be pure torture.

“Dee?”

I turned at the almost pleading tone in Liam’s voice. He looked so small in that big hospital bed. He’d lost weight. He’d nearly died. I couldn’t say no to him. “Okay, but I have one condition.”

“Name it,” Wroth told me.

“We can discuss it,” was Emmie’s immediate reply.

“Linc is a certified physical therapist. He doesn’t use it because he makes a killing in tips alone working at Fit for Life, letting the cougars drool over him. But he’s really good. I want you to hire him as Liam’s PT.” I needed Linc with me. He was my voice of reason and I seriously needed reason if I was going to be that close to Axton, who could tempt me so easily.

“Would Linc want the job?” Emmie asked. “He seems pretty happy where he is.”

I shrugged. “I can persuade him.” We might argue about every little thing, but Linc loved me as much as I loved him. He would do this for me.

“Okay. If he can get me all the right documents, his PT license and all that, then the job is his.”

Marissa moved away from the window and wrapped her arms around my waist. For once I didn’t stiffen at the feel of soft, feminine arms around me. Marissa was just so captivating that my discomfort was forgotten. “Thanks for doing this, Dallas. This means a lot to us.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” I hugged her back. “This shit isn’t going to be easy.”

Dallas

Liam’s release the next week didn’t happen. He required another surgery to adjust the rod that were used to replace his femur in his left leg. The doctors had told him that he would have a limp for the rest of his life, but at least he was going to be able to walk. The swelling around his spine had lessened and he was even able to move.

The hospital required a full week of physical therapy before he was released under not only my care but Linc’s as well. Getting Linc on board as Liam’s PT had been harder than I had expected, but he had finally given in when Emmie had sweetened the deal with a huge-ass number money-wise. She knew I wasn’t going to leave New York without Linc, so she had little choice but to help me convince him.

We closed up our apartment for the four months we were going to be gone. With Natalie as Emmie’s assistant, handling the tour and anything else, the apartment was going to be vacant for four months at least. One month was going to be spent in Tennessee on Wroth Niall’s farm. It was where Liam was going to be recuperating, and it was Linc’s job to get him ready as much as possible before we left at the beginning of March.

Of course no one had told me about the month in Tennessee until it was too late to back out. I had nothing against Tennessee. My dad even owned stock in a few farms there; where, I had no clue, as my mother had never let me get to know that part of my dad’s business when I was growing up. And I definitely had nothing against farm life. I loved being around horses and cows, and would have still been in Texas on my father’s ranch if I’d had anything to say about where I grew up.

What I had against the whole thing was that it wasn’t going to be just Wroth, Liam, and Marissa at the farm. It was going to be the entire band. Which included Axton Cage.

Emmie and I had nearly come to blows over her keeping that little bit of news from me. I swear if that bitch hadn’t been pregnant I would have gone to town on her auburn head. I might love her, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t kick her beautiful ass. She’d known it too, and hadn’t bothered to hide her smirk as she reminded me I had signed a contract. Bitch.

If it hadn’t been for that contract I would still be in New York, maybe cuddled up on my couch with a beer and a few boxes of pizza, looking for a job online. I didn’t need the money. I had my mother’s credit cards that I maxed out on a monthly basis—but that she paid for with the money she had made off of my years as a model. I also had a trust fund from my dad, which I had gotten the day I had turned twenty-one. Money my mother couldn’t touch. Money that I didn’t want to touch because I wanted to earn my own way.

Instead, with that iron clad contract in Emmie’s hands, I was now in the back of a freaking Hummer limo with Liam, Linc, and Natalie. It was better than an ambulance, which was what the hospital had wanted us to take to transport Liam from New York to Tennessee. I’d have much rather have taken a plane, but the doctors didn’t want Liam flying at the moment.

Two days ago, Wroth and Marissa had left to get the house ready for Liam. A hospital bed was supposed to be delivered and a few other supplies that I would need since I was taking over as his nurse as of now. Liam still had bandages that needed regular attention as well as pain meds that had to be monitored. He didn’t want them at all, because he was terrified they were going to hurt his addiction recovery. Unfortunately, the pain was still too extreme for him not to take them.

The drive down wasn’t horrible, but snow made it take longer than expected. I wasn’t looking forward to getting there though. Natalie had let it slip that while Zander, Devlin, and Harris had yet to arrive, Axton had already left for the farm. For some reason everyone thought that was odd. Apparently Ax didn’t visit the farm, or Tennessee for that matter, unless he absolutely had to.

The closer we got to our destination, the more my heart raced. Why I was so anxious to see Axton I couldn’t honestly say. Over the last three weeks I’d seen plenty of Axton in passing. He always arrived at the hospital in the evenings, just as I was getting ready to leave for the day. He would bring Liam something special each time, whether it was something to eat, a book or some magazines, or even a Blu-ray and some movies to watch. What had really surprised me was that Axton had been staying all night with Liam, because he was still there every morning when I arrived. When I’d asked Liam about it he had remained tight lipped. The only thing that had kept me from pushing the issue was that Liam was obviously sleeping enough. Of course, that only left me with more questions that I knew wouldn’t get answered from Liam, and he knew I wasn’t going to ask Axton.

Seeing so much of him, even if only in passing, had woken up memories I had thought I had locked away tight. Memories of a time when I had been happy, but convinced that I was going to lose Axton. Of course I had been right, but part of me couldn’t help but wonder if my continued prediction had pushed us apart just as much as my jealousy of that fucking tattoo of another girl’s name on his wrist.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Linc murmured as the driver slowed down to take our exit, pulling me out of my musings.

I shrugged. “I have nothin’ to say.”

He snorted. “That’s a first.”

Despite the apprehension I was feeling about spending the next month under the same roof with my ex, a grin teased at my lips. “Shut up, you.”

Linc bumped his shoulder against mine. “It’s not gonna be that bad, Dallas. He’s only one man.” It was my turn to snort. Only one man. Sure, it wouldn’t have been so bad. If he wasn’t the only man to make my body come alive just by breathing the same air. If he wasn’t the only man that still owned my heart. A heart that he had bent and broken, but still owned. The fucker.

Twenty minutes later the limo pulled to a stop in front of a huge three-story house. It looked newer than I was expecting, but I did know that once OtherWorld had taken off in a big way, Wroth had built his mother her dream house here on the farm that had been in his family for multiple generations. Liam had told me all about the farm, and how Wroth’s dad had nearly lost it to the bank. When Wroth was eighteen he became a marine simply for the sign-on bonus that had gotten his parents caught up on their mortgage and put some extra money in the bank. That, along with Liam’s part time job after school, had helped get the farm operating in the black.