Toxic (Addiction #1) (38 page)

“You’re sexy as hell, you know that?” he whispered into her ear.
 

She smiled up at him and gave him a light kiss on the lips.
 

“Back at ya, ace.”

***

“She’s much hotter in person. I can’t blame Rook for taking advantage of a hot little thing like Maisy being on tour with him,” said Johnny D, the loud, fat and obnoxious DJ everyone loved for some unknown reason. Maybe because he ran his mouth and made everyone uncomfortable.
 

“Agreed, I wish I was in Rook’s shoes,” replied Ridiculous Rick.
 

Maisy felt Rook tense up at the DJs’ comments. She was sitting on his lap since there were not enough seats in the studio for all of them. Willow was sitting on Cruz’s lap who was having too much fun with her on her impromptu seat. She kept swatting his roaming hands away.
 

Placing her hand on Rook’s thigh, she rubbed it softly to calm him. She didn’t want him flipping shit on the DJs when they were live on the air and millions of listeners could hear them.
 

“Thank you, gentlemen, but I highly doubt I would give you the time of day,” Maisy said with a laugh, trying to break the tension.

“Feisty and sexy,” Johnny licked his lips. “I like that.”
 

Rook was about to open his mouth when Grey cut in. “Are you going to be a bunch of horn dogs all day, or are you actually going to ask us about the tour? We have backstage passes for you two, but right now you’re not earning them,” Grey said, jokingly.
 

“Alright, alright. We will get back to you two love birds in a second.” Johnny looked down at the paper he was holding. “So you guys are on the last leg of your two month tour, how are you holding up now that you have a new opening band that is creeping up on you quickly on the charts?”

“We couldn’t be more excited about having Twisted Perfection on tour with us,” Landon said.
 

“I bet,” Rick said, while wiggling his eyebrows. Rook blew out a frustrated breath.

Grey continued. “I wouldn’t focus so much on the girls as I would on the little romance between Kinkaid and Landon.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Landon chimed in. “He’s just crazy jelly about my bro-mance.”

“Bro-mance, when did this happen?” Johnny asked.
 

Kaid grabbed the mic. “I can’t really pinpoint an exact time, maybe the first time I looked in his eyes or the time he shook his little ass while celebrating his win in Mario Kart, whatever it was, it blossomed into a beautiful bro-mance.”

The DJs were laughing as Landon and Kaid continued to talk about their relationship. Maisy was extremely grateful for the distraction. Rook leaned in and kissed her ear as he said, “You’re so beautiful.”

Maisy smiled down at him, wondering how in the world she was able to have such an amazing man in her life, especially when he was surrounded by willing and able women.
 

Willow flicked Maisy in the leg, bringing her attention back to the conversation that was taking place in the studio. The DJs were talking about the new-found success Twisted Perfection was having with their song that was now number five on the charts, something that had slipped past Maisy’s mind. They were really number five? Holy crap!
 

“How are you doing with your new-found fame?” Rick asked Maisy.
 

She cleared her throat as Rook pressed a kiss to her arm. “I think we’re handling it just fine. We are still able to go out in public without being mobbed, well that’s if Shattered Souls isn’t with us.” They laughed and she continued. “No matter what, I don’t foresee us seeking the spotlight and doing anything crazy for fame. We are here to share our music and, if a couple of bucks roll our way, then we’ll take them,” she finished with a smile.
 

“Maisy did you know that you and Willow were voted sexiest newcomers in
People
magazine this week? I think your non-mobbed days are over. You guys are big time now.”

“Really? Sexiest newcomers?” she asked, completely confused.
 

“Have you been living under a rock?” Rick asked.
 

“More like a Rook,” Cruz added.

The DJs threw their head backs and laughed as Rook punched Cruz in the arm.
 

“Ouch!” Cruz pretended, as he nuzzled into Willow for comfort.
 

“Get off me, you leech.” Willow tried to fend off Cruz, but his pawing hands kept at her.
 

He grabbed her leg and she screamed from him squeezing her ticklish spot.
 

“Things are getting out of control here, so we’re going to end on that note. Shattered Souls and Twisted Perfection, thank you for coming in today.” They all said you’re welcome at the same time.
 

“Cutest couple goes to Raisy,” Johnny added as they signed off. Maisy rolled her eyes at the couple name Johnny D gave her and Rook. She prayed that name didn’t catch on.
 

Once they were off the air, they all went to the hallway and took one giant picture together with the DJs. Rook kept his arm tightly around Maisy as the DJs talked to everyone.
 

“I can’t wait to get out of here and rip that skirt off your body,” Rook bent down and whispered in her ear. “I need to taste you and be inside of you or I’m going to lose my fucking mind.”

Maisy looked up at him. “You just had me an hour ago.”

“It wasn’t long enough. I need to hold you and feel your skin on mine.”

“Rook, I need to talk to you for a second,” Pete called from the side, as he scrolled through the tablet that was in his hand.
 

Rook blew out a frustrated breath as he kissed Maisy on the head and finally let go of her. She watched Rook walk toward Pete and exhaled deeply. His tight jeans cupped his ass perfectly, giving her a great view of what he had to offer. He really was the epitome of the male specimen. Perfect body, perfect piercing blue eyes and perfect hair that was styled to look unruly, but just made him a hundred times more attractive.
 

“It won’t be easy,” came the deep voice of Ridiculous Rick. “He has a reputation, you know.”

Maisy slowly turned around to face the negative man.
 

“I know and I’m not worried.”

“As long as you’re aware. I want to let you know if you ever need a little extra help promoting yourself, I would be happy to help,” Rick said, while stepping closer to her. Maisy instantly felt dirty as he handed her his card. “I wouldn’t mind helping both you and Willow out at the same time,” he added with a wink.
 

Maisy felt like she could puke all over the disgusting man. He actually was slightly attractive, unlike Johnny D, he was thin with a nice head of hair, deep brown eyes and brown hair. Where Rook’s features were sharp, Rick’s were more rounded, giving him a boyish look.
 

“I’m good for now, thank you,” Maisy replied trying to be sweet and not blow up Twisted Perfection’s career by slapping the advancing DJ’s face right there on the spot.
 

“Alright.” He wrapped Maisy up in a hug and said, “It was a pleasure meeting you, sweetheart. Call me if you need anything. I would be happy to help.”

His embrace sent flashes of her father’s hands touching her body to the forefront of her mind. No, she would not think about him. Rick was not her father and he wasn’t trying to take advantage of her. He was just being skeezy. She blocked off the horrible black cloud that tried to hover over her head as she attempted to end her interaction with the man so she could find Rook.

Maisy stood stiffly in his arms as he finally moved away. Maisy just smiled and walked away trying to catch up with the rest of the group as they headed down to the car. Rook was standing at the end of the hallway, waiting for her. She was relieved until she saw the fury in his eyes. She looked behind her and saw Rick wave at her before she stepped outside where they were bombarded by screaming fans.
 

The boys were signing autographs, so Maisy joined Willow and Kaid and introduced themselves to fans as Shattered Souls talked to their fans, signed autographs and took pictures. They were such naturals compared to Willow, her and Kaid who struggled with the attention that was thrown at them.
 

Maisy tried her best to connect with her fans, but the look on Rook’s face was disconcerting. She would occasionally glance his way and see him talking to a female fan and smiling at them like he smiled at her. She tried to tell herself he was just being nice, but it was difficult when her jealous tendencies started kicking into full throttle.
 

“Rook! Rook! We love you!”
 

Maisy looked over and saw a bunch of girls in barely-there bikini tops holding signs stating their love for Rook and what they wanted him to do to them.
 

“I love you too, ladies,” Rook said, as he walked over to them.
 

How easily those three words slipped from his tongue to strangers he didn’t know and yet he had never said them to Maisy. She tried not to think about it, but couldn’t tear her gaze away from what her boyfriend was doing. He was signing the girls’ breasts and taking pictures with them as they kissed him on the cheek and pawed at his body. Maisy saw one girl grab his crotch and he just smiled and kindly pulled away, then placed a kiss on her cheek.
 

Maisy felt ill as everything started to come crashing down on her. The thought of Rook with another girl, the creepy way Rick touched her and the unforgettable feeling of her dad touching her sent Maisy into a crazy spin of emotions.
 

She needed to get into the car that was waiting for her band or else she was going to lose it in front of a bunch of people. She pulled Kaid and Willow toward the car, thankfully they didn’t object since they saw the whole shameless display Rook just put on. They had two cars which was nice because once they closed the door, the driver was able to take off. Maisy looked out the window one last time as Rook stared at her and then kissed another girl without taking his eyes off Maisy.
 

She was disgusted and felt absolutely dirty. She needed a shower and some time to herself before the concert because she felt…betrayed.
 

***

“You are so in the fucking dog house,” Cruz said, while laughing and grabbing a bottle of water from the car. “Did you see the look on her face when those girls were practically giving you a hand job through your pants?”

Rook did see Maisy’s face and the look cut through his bones and hit him hard. He was pissed because he saw Ridiculous Rick hanging all over Maisy and didn’t see Maisy shy away. Rick was known for getting it on with all the female artists and the thought of Maisy and Rick together made Rook fly off the deep end, hence his asinine interactions with his fans.
 

They normally were like that, but he usually did a better job fending them off; he gave into them today.

“Whatever, she was hanging all over Rick the douche bag.”

All three of his bandmates looked at him as if his dick just fell off and he stuffed it in his ear for safe-keeping rather then re-attaching it in its proper place.
 

“Man, you’re never going to keep her if you say shit like that and pull stunts like you did today,” Landon said.
 

“She’s too good for you anyway,” Cruz added. “Maybe it’s for the best.”

“I wasn’t in the wrong,” Rook practically shouted. “She was the one flirting with that giant asshat of a DJ.”

“Dude, you are all kinds of messed up,” Grey interjected. “He was practically attacking her. Instead of pawing at your fans, you should have made sure she was okay. You know how Rick can be. He goes after every female artist he can get his hands on. Did you not see him go after Willow too?”

Rook thought about it for a second and, in fact, he did. A knowing, uncomfortable feeling started taking place in the pit of his stomach as he realized what a giant ass he was. He was so upset during the whole interview from the looks and comments the DJs made at Maisy that when he saw Rick with Maisy, his mind practically blacked out and he didn’t really see what happened. Instead, he jumped to the completely wrong conclusion and then acted like an idiot.
 

“Shit.” Rook rubbed his forehead with his palm.
 

“Just give up now, man,” Cruz said, as he patted Rook on the shoulder. “You are too fucked up to give her what she needs.”

Rook knew Cruz was right. Rook was all kinds of wrong for Maisy, but hell if he was going to let go of her that easily, not after they just started getting into a routine. Why did he have to be such a moronic ass?

***

Maisy sat on the bus as Willow and Kaid brought her a cup of hot cocoa. They let her sit by herself for long enough in the car and now she knew they were on their way to talk to her. She wasn’t in the mood, but she knew they weren’t going to leave her alone.