Under Her Skin
Authors: Alexis Lauren
Table of Contents
UNDER HER SKIN
Alexis Lauren
All Rights Reserved © Alexis Lauren
Other Books by Alexis Lauren
Big Tex
Table for Two
Mending the Soul
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Chapter 1
Look at him standing over there surrounded by all the women…acting all smug and showing off his chiseled body. He thinks he's mister perfect, and those women don't help, they do nothing but feed his over-inflated ego….like it's not big enough already.
Even the guys worship him. Why? What is so great about Tobias Flynn? Sure he sings pretty well, but does that make him worth his weight in gold? There are plenty of good singers out there. Me? I'd take a drummer over a singer any day.
"Watching me again Lola?" Tobias smirked as he brushed past Marlo, bumping his shoulder into hers.
"Ow, you ass! That hurt!" Marlo yelled, rubbing her now bruised shoulder. If she had been paying attention, she never would have let him get that close to her. Tobias always managed to inflict some sort of bodily harm when he got within two feet of her. "And stop calling me Lola. Only my friends can call me that."
"You know for a 24 year old, you sure act like a little baby." He threw back as he walked away.
Marlo clenched her fists and growled. That boy was so infuriating! Of all the guys that her brother could have picked to be the singer in his band Pleasure Pointe, why did he have to choose Tobias? He just loved to pick on Marlo, any time he could. It was like a sport to him, to see how far he could push her.
And no matter how
strong Marlo was, he always got to her. Any time someone else gave her shit, she could give it back to them two-fold. But when it came to Tobias, he seemed to get the best of her every time. Sure, she was able to come up with a few witty comebacks, but more often than not, she was at a loss for words.
Marlo LaPointe, better known to her friends as Lola, was quite a girl. She was always laid back and easy going, usually getting along with everyone. Well, except when Tobias was around. She had friends far and wide, priding herself on her loyalty and openness. Wherever she went, she made friends, even if they were only in town for the day when the band was touring.
She went everywhere with the band. Her brother Dustin had started it about four years ago, and over the past year, their popularity had grown immensely. Everywhere they went, they were recognized, either from the magazines and TV shows that had done features on them, or just from their music itself. Not only did they perform in the cities on the
tour, but they also did a lot of publicity at each stop. Marlo helped her brother by being his
Personal Assistant, since the band was always so busy. Honestly, Dusty didn't exactly need a full time PA, but he and his sister were so close that he used it almost as an excuse to keep her around. Neither one of them had been very close to their parents, and had learned to rely on each other at an early age.
Dusty never felt that having his little sister around all the time was cramping his style with the ladies. Marlo was a lot of fun, and never looked down on him for the choices he made when it came to female companionship. He however, was a little more protective when it came to guys wanting to be with his little sister.
"Breathe Lola." Dusty laughed as he walked up to his sister and put his hands on her shoulders. He thought that the bickering between his sister and Tobias was funny, for the most part. But sometimes they got carried away, and that annoyed the hell out of Dusty.
Marlo shook her head, her long, curly brown hair swaying from side to side. "Why are you friends with such an ass?" She asked, as she had so many times before.
"Come on, the bus is leaving soon." He said, ignoring her question. He steered her to the tour bus, rubbing her shoulders the whole way.
Soon after, the whole band was on the bus. They left the thruway rest stop and set back out on the road. Tobias and AJ, the bass player, were in the back of the bus playing Xbox, while Marlo, Dusty, and Sammy, the drummer, sat up front playing cards.
The card players were having a great time, laughing and hollering as each hand came to an end. They were betting with pretzel sticks, and at the end of the night, Marlo was the one with all the pretzel sticks. She could bluff better than either of the guys, and in the end, that's what won her all the loot.
"Well guys, it's been fun taking all your pretzels, but it's time for me to hit the sheets." Marlo got up from the table and kissed the cheeks of both her brother and Sammy. "See you guys in the morning." She said, walking towards the bunks. She grabbed her pajamas off the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. She reappeared a few short minutes later, then hopped up into her top bunk and closed the privacy panel.
Tobias was getting bored playing video games, so he went up front to see what the others were doing. "Hey guys. Game over so soon?" He asked.
"Yeah, we lost it all man, we're broke." Sammy told him sadly.
"Must have been a big loss, huh? Those pretzel sticks, what're you going to do without them?" He asked dramatically and laughed. "So where's the princess?" He wondered, looking around.
"She went to bed for the night. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow with all the interviews and the concert." Dusty said.
Tobias nodded his head and went towards the back of the bus. A sudden excitement rose in his body as he got an idea. He slowly and quietly slid open the partition of Marlo's bunk. He saw her sleeping so peacefully, causing Tobias to smile. He lowered his head so that his mouth was right near her face, and took a deep breath. "Whatcha doing Lola?" He yelled as loud as he could.
Marlo shot up out of a deep sleep when she heard the screaming in her ear. Unfortunately the bunks were really small, and she hit her head on the top of it when she flew up. Moaning, she put her head back on the pillow and rubbed the spot that she hit. "You dumb ass, get the hell away from me!" Her voice dripped with venom.
Tobias laughed as he walked away, feeling completely re-energized. He lived to torment Marlo.
The next morning, they had arrived in the city and had three different appearances that they had to be at before they performed later that night. At the first publicity event, a morning radio show, the guys all looked surprisingly refreshed. The two women deejays were really looking forward to getting Pleasure Pointe into the studio to grill them.
"Good morning guys, it's great to finally meet all of you in person. I'm a big fan of all your work, and I can't wait to hear you guys live tonight." The tall blonde woman gushed.
"Excuse her, she turns into a total groupie with the younger groups." Her red-headed counter-part quipped.
The guys all laughed, and Tobias wagged his eyebrows at the blonde.
"So, Pleasure Pointe is really coming into its own. You've had some songs top the charts, and you've done a couple of videos. How's it feel?" The blonde asked.
"It's great. It's so much better than we ever expected, or imagined. We have really cool fans that we want to thank for supporting us from the beginning. We couldn't do it without any of them." Dusty said.
"And with all the success, you've been getting a lot more press lately. I've heard some stories about Mr. Flynn. Is it true that you're a wild man and you can't keep your hands off the ladies?" The redhead asked.
"Well, I don't like to brag, but…" Tobias started and winked at the DJ's.
"We're trying to get him trained, but the zookeeper has his hands full." Sammy joked.
The interview went on to talk about the band's music, while Tobias and the blonde made eyes at each other. When the chat session ended, the band hugged the DJ's before leaving. Tobias left with more than a hug though, he got the blonde's number and a groped member. Just a little preview of what was to come later in the night.
Chapter 2
"Dude! That was so fucking awesome!" Sammy yelled, running back into the dressing room. He felt like he was on a high as the blood raged through his body.
"Another sold out crowd boys! Great job tonight. You were all dead on tonight and it seriously rocked." Marlo congratulated them. She gave each one a hug and kiss, stopping when she got to Tobias, and opted to give him a friendly punch on the arm instead of the affection she had showered on everyone else.
Tobias rolled his eyes and yelled to the bodyguard at the door. "Let the ho's in man!"
Marlo shook her head. No matter how many times she had seen him act like this, she never thought she'd be completely comfortable with it. He was such a man-whore.
In a flash, hordes of people flooded the dressing room. Most of the people were women, but there were a few men too. Some had won backstage passes from the radio station contests, while others had been handpicked from the crowd by the band members.
Marlo hung back from the crowd for a little while, giving the fans time to meet the band members. After it seemed like everything had settled down a little, she came out from her spot in the corner and started to mingle. As usual, most of the girls were hoochies, just looking for a quick fuck from a member of the band. There were a few who seemed pretty down to earth, and some who could even form coherent sentences. Marlo gravitated towards those women.
She was getting along great with a couple of the girls, talking about where the local hotspots were in town and where the cutest guys hung out. They were laughing and joking, drawing the attention of a couple of the men who had gotten back stage.
One in particular seemed to take a strong interest in Marlo. He listened to her talk for a few minutes before he stepped up and introduced himself. "Excuse me, I'm sorry for interrupting, but I wanted to introduce myself. My name's Pierce." He said holding out his hand.
Marlo smiled. Hmm…Good looks and charm. It seems like there's a hint of intelligence too. Nice! "Marlo. But my friends call me Lola." She shook his hand softly, gazing into his crystal-clear green eyes.
"So I should call you…?" He questioned, waiting for her to finish for him.
"Lola. Definitely Lola." She told him, still holding onto his hand, a seductive look in her eyes.
Pierce didn't miss the suggestion in her eyes. He felt a slight stirring below the belt, and it seemed as though the temperature in the room shot up about 20 degrees hotter than it already was. "Um, can I get you something to drink?" He asked, his voice cracking slightly.
Lola nodded. "Sure, go tell my brother to mix me up a 'Lola Special'." She said and pointed to Dusty.
Pierce looked over to where she was pointing. There were five or six women surrounding only one man, one of the guys from the band. He didn't see any other guys in that general area. "Which one are you pointing at?"
"Dusty." She answered as if it was no big deal.
Pierce nodded, suddenly even more nervous. He weaved through the clusters of people until he finally reached his destination. "Excuse me." He interjected into the conversation, or lack-there-of. Dusty looked up at him from the bar stool he was sitting on. "Uh, Marlo asked if you could make her a 'Lola Special'."
Dusty looked the man over. Definitely his sister's type. He got up from the stool and grabbed a few liquor bottles. "So, you're trying to get with my sister?"
Pierce didn't know what to say. "Nah man." He said nervously. Dusty gave him a look that said not to bull shit a bull shitter. "Seriously though. Your sister's a knockout, and she looked like she was having a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind getting to know her, and it'd be cool to hang out with her."
"That's cool." Dusty said, mixing the drink. "Hurt her and die." He said, ever so friendly. He handed over the drink, and went back to the groupies that had been drooling all over him.
Pierce scratched his head at the slightly weird exchanged and headed back to Lola. She gratefully accepted the drink from him and moved over on the couch so that he could sit next to her. They talked quietly amongst themselves, getting to know one another. When Marlo's glass was empty, she pulled him off the couch and led him back to her brother.
"What is that stuff, by the way?" Pierce asked.