The Rocker Who Wants Me (The Rocker... Series) (9 page)

The smell that was always associated with cows drifted in the air and I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic for home. It felt like forever since the last time I had been in Texas, although my dad visited me often in New York. My father lived on a million-acre spread. He mostly dealt in Herefords, which were beef cattle. When I was old enough to ride a horse and showed so much interest in them, my dad had turned over the majority of the running of his cattle to his ranch foreman so that he and I could start up a hobby of collecting some of the most beautiful horses in the world. When I was seven he had flown me to the Middle East so that I could pick out my own Arabian…

My heart clenched as thoughts of Raad tried to enter my mind. It had been forever since I had allowed myself to think of the horse that had become my best friend. The horse that my mother had ultimately used against me so that I would eventually follow her on her stupid pageant tour. Raad was why I didn’t go home anymore. Because of Raad, I had learned to never trust my mother with anything that was precious to me.

“Home at last,” Liam said with a tired sigh. The long drive down from New York had taken a lot out of him even though he had spent a few hours sleeping. I gave him the best smile I could muster with my heart now aching. “Is it bad that all I want is a shower and the bed I’ve slept in since I was a kid?”

“Sounds like a good idea, actually,” Linc said as he opened the door before the driver could do so. Cold air blasted into the back of the limo, snapping me out of my melancholy. Holy shit, it felt colder here than it did back in New York. Even though I was only going from the limo into the house, I wish I had left my parka out instead of just wearing one of my old hoodies.

“How was your drive?” Marissa asked and I lifted my head to find her standing by the now open door. Her face was lit up like a Christmas tree as she stood there, practically dancing with happiness.

“Rissa,” Liam’s voice was choked with a mixture of emotion and pain as Linc helped him out. As soon as he was able, Liam wrapped his arms around his sister. A tiny sob escaped the beautiful chick as she hugged her brother back. They had only been apart for two days, but with all the drama of the last month, I could almost understand their need to hold each other. I felt the same every time I got to see Harper these days.

Linc let them hug a few more seconds before carrying Liam into the house. With one arm in a cast and his leg so unstable for the moment, Liam would be in a wheelchair for a few more weeks. The chair wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow, so Linc would be putting all his delicious muscles to good work. Liam hated it, but Linc didn’t complain. He was getting to carry around a pretty-boy rocker. He was in gay-boy heaven.

“Don’t get any ideas, big man,” I heard Liam grumble as Linc carried him up the steps of the front porch and into the house.

Linc snorted out a laugh. “Don’t worry, sexy. Your straightness is loud and clear.” He winked as he followed Marissa down a hall that obviously led to a bedroom.

“We made Wroth’s office into a bedroom for you, Li,” Marissa informed her brother. “Everyone thought that with the stairs and the chair this would be the best thing. Once you get sorted, you won’t have to rely on anyone to get you up and down the stairs.”

“Thanks, Rissa.” Linc placed him on the brand new hospital bed that was made up with an old quilt on top. There was a bathroom that connected to the room and I glanced inside, checking it out. If Liam wanted a shower, then Linc was going to have to help me with that. But looking at the size of that bathroom, I determined that wasn’t going to be easy. Three people, one of which was as big as a mountain, weren’t going to be able to fit in there unless I actually got in the shower with Liam.

“I made your favorite,” Marissa said, moving around like a little ball of energy as she straightened things that didn’t need straightening. “Beef stew with thick gravy and yeast rolls. And I made some banana bread and a few pies. But if you want cake, I can make one.”

“Chill out, Rissa.” Liam shifted on the bed, trying to find the most comfortable position. “I’m not really hungry.”

“But…” Her face fell and she turned away before he could see her tears. “You should eat, Li.”

Natalie wrapped an arm around Marissa’s shoulders. “It’s been a long drive, and he’s just tired. Once he’s had his shower and settled in a little more, he will be starving. I know I am, and the smells coming from your kitchen are making my stomach ache with how badly I want to eat. Can I have a bowl of stew?”

“Oh. Yes, of course.” Marissa gave her a beaming smile as she led the way out of the room.

Liam breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m really not hungry,” he told me as I took stock of the room and made a mental list of the things I was missing. Everything I had asked for was present and accounted for, down to the small pharmacy of meds that Liam required being lined up on the dresser.

“It’s okay, I understand.” I turned toward Linc who was trying to slowly back out of the room. “Hey, not so fast. You’re gonna have to help with the shower.”

Both men groaned and I glared at them both. “Shut up, you big babies.” I walked back into the bathroom and turned on the water. After only a small hesitation I stripped down to my bra and panties, thankful that I had on one of my cotton sets instead of the usual lace or silk that I favored. Grabbing a towel to wrap around me for the moment, I headed back in to help get Liam ready for his shower.

His arm and leg had to be wrapped in trash bags to keep the casts from getting wet. His sweatpants were always a bitch to get on and off. Even with the stretchy material cut to get over the bulky cast, it was no easy feat to get him dressed and undressed.

It took nearly forty-five minutes to get Liam showered and back in his bed with fresh underwear—the only clothes he had on. After getting him comfortable it was time to give his next dose of meds and then I made my way upstairs. Linc had left as soon as Liam was in bed, so I had to make my way through the maze of a house until I found someone. I was wet and despite the warmth of the house, I was chilly. My soaked bra and panties were balled in my hand since I had put my clothes back on and hadn’t wanted to get them wet. My hair was still dripping a little because getting it wet had been unavoidable.

As I rounded a corner, I wasn’t really paying attention and nearly walked right into a hard chest. His scent invaded my nose before his hands even reached out to steady me. The first touch of his hands on my arms and I shivered for a reason other than being cold. My body reacted to his closeness as my heart started to race and liquid heat dripped from my suddenly throbbing pussy.

“There you are,” Axton said, chuckling softly, his hands lingering on my arms as his thumbs rubbed circles on the inside of my elbows.

My gaze went straight to his lips. Just as I had imagined, he was sucking on his bottom lip, his teeth snapping lightly on the ring that was in the middle of his full lower lip. I’d always loved sucking on that lip, the taste of metal mingling with a taste that was more addicting than any street drug known to man. Just one taste of Axton Cage would sell for an easy grand on the streets, and people would be coming back for more in droves.

Hazel eyes were eating up the sight of me and I found myself almost swaying toward him. Fuck, I was weak. And easy. So. Damn. Easy. Two seconds of being in a hall with him and I was ready to fall to my knees and worship his dick with my tongue. I knew exactly what he liked. Knew that as soon as I ran the ball of my tongue ring over his slit he would be mine for at least a little while.

“Why is your hair wet?” Axton suddenly demanded. “Is that your fucking underwear? They’re wet… What the hell, Dallas?”

My head cleared just as quickly as it had fogged over with lust. Sighing, I took a step back. “I had to get in the shower with Liam to help him…” When hazel eyes turned more green than brown, I knew he was pissed. “I’m his nurse, Ax. Of course I have to help him shower. He’s not going to be able to do it himself for a few more weeks at the very least.”

“I thought that was Linc’s job,” he growled.

“Linc helps, but it’s my job… And why the fuck am I explaining myself to you?” Rolling my eyes at him and the situation, I pushed past him. “It’s none of your business.”

Axton

I felt like my insides were itching to get free. That was how it always felt when I was this close to the home I had grown up in. I wanted to claw at my skin, to make this feeling go away, but knew that the only cure was to get as far away as possible.

My parents’ house was just twenty minutes from the farm. Twenty minutes was the only distance that kept me from my mother. Since I’d gotten a letter from my aunt a few years ago, letting me know that my father had passed away—well after he had been buried because my mother hadn’t cared to let me know, this was the closest as I’d come to any contact with any of my family members.

My gut churned at the thought of the cold, nasty bitch that had raised me. Or so she had told me countless times growing up. She hadn’t had much interaction in the process of parenting me, other than to look down her nose at how I wanted to live my life. It had been left up to the two nannies and the housekeeper to take care of me from the day I was born until I was old enough to fend for myself. After that the housekeeper had been the only one to care if I ate enough, came home at a decent hour, or even went to school. My mother had only cared if I was embarrassing her and the family name.

Anthony Xavier Huntington was not supposed to be running around with piercings, tattoos, and wanting to rule to rock world. He was supposed to go to law school, take over the family business, and marry a respectable girl that Sharon Huntington approved of. So when my eighteenth birthday came around, I’d done what would piss Sharon Huntington off the most: changed my name, dyed my hair, got my first tattoo, my first piercing, and joined OtherWorld. Anthony Xavier Huntington became Axton Cage. ‘Cage’ because I was finally out of the fucking cage my mother had tried to keep me in.

At the time, my father had simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head with a grin on his face. I was nothing like him, but that hadn’t mattered to him. I reminded him of the only person he had ever really cared about—his sister, Tink. Tink, or Tammy as my mother had always insisted on calling her, was one in a million and the only saving grace in my life until I met Emmie. Tink had enrolled me in my first music lesson, and had supported and encouraged me when we realized that I was a musical prodigy. For about ten seconds my mother had supported it too, until she realized that I didn’t want to go to Julliard, instead wanting to make my own path in the rock world.

Julliard was respectable. Becoming a rock star, not so much.

When I had joined OtherWorld, taking over for the vocalist who had left because of some bullshit reason, my mother’s head had nearly exploded with rage. When I told her that we were being signed by one of the most popular managers in the music world, she’d completely disowned me. It hadn’t bothered me. You could seriously get frost bite being too close to Sharon Huntington for very long. But I did regret having to say goodbye to my father and my aunt. My father might not have been the best dad, but he hadn’t been the worst. And my aunt Tink had loved me in her own way, seeing as her only real love was horses.

Lifting my beer, I took a long swallow and glared out into the distance. Everyone who knew me knew that I hated being here, so they knew that I was only here for one reason and one reason only. Dallas. Nothing, abso-fucking-lutely nothing else would have brought me here. The need to be close to her, to breathe in her scent, to hear the sound of her voice and the adorable way she constantly dropped her g’s outweighed this constant itching inside to get away from here.

Blowing out a frustrated sigh, I watched my breath fog in the cold night air. Dallas hadn’t been here three hours and I was already about to blow my top with jealousy over Liam. Damn. I knew that she had to help him, it was why she was here after all. But why the fuck did she have to help him shower? Why did she have to be the one to see him naked? Couldn’t Linc do that?

The only man she needed to see without his clothes on was me.

Behind me the front door opened and just as quickly closed. I kept my eyes on the dark horizon as I felt Wroth sit down in the chair beside me. He had a beer of his own that he set down on the small round table between us. For a good fifteen minutes we just sat there, both of us freezing our asses off, but not seeming to care.

When Wroth finally spoke, the sound of his voice made me jump a little because I hadn’t been expecting it. Wroth’s voice was the deepest voice I had ever heard in my life. Full of gravel and slightly husky, he sometimes scared little kids with it, but it seemed to drive women crazy. He didn’t speak often, and he sure as hell didn’t sing backup in the band. But give the man a guitar and he could make you weep with the pure beauty of the music he made. Between Wroth and Drake, it would be hard to decide who played better because they could both shred like kings. For me, Drake would always be like a brother, but Wroth would always be the man I picked as my bandmate.