Wounded But Not Scarred (New Adult Rockers 2) (10 page)

I decide to take a shower, and once
I’ve rinsed off and changed my clothes, I can feel myself beginning to mellow
out. I speak briefly to Paige on her way back to Nashville, and I casually
mention that I’m going to stop by and see her once she gets back.

It’s been a solid seven hours since
Jeffrey’s insulting visit by the time I drive over to Paige's. I’ve calmed down
but I’m still pissed as hell. More than once I wanted to call up Savannah and
demand to know what she was telling her family, but I knew that would only make
things worse, and I don’t want her to know that she’s getting to me.

I knock and Kenny opens the door
for me and I see that he’s freshly showered and dressed up.

“Hey Kenny! Looking good!”

“Thanks,” he looks slightly
embarrassed. “I actually have a date.”

I completely forgot that Paige had
told me how well his date with Daisy had gone last week.

“Nice! Is it with Daisy again?”

“Yes it is. We had such a great
time last weekend, that we decided to do it again this weekend.”

I’m impressed. And I’m happy for
Kenny too.

“That’s great, Kenny. You kids have
fun,” I joke.

He rolls his eyes and grabs his
keys from the kitchen counter.

“Paige will be up in a minute,” he
says, as he heads out the door, “She was just changing her clothes.”

“Thanks. Have fun!”

He waves as he heads out the door.
I close the door and turn around. I can hear Paige coming down the hall.

“Hi!” she says cheerfully, throwing
herself at me in that sexy way of hers.

“Hey, baby.”

“Did you eat dinner? I’m sure I can
scrounge something up for us,” she says, kissing me and trying to pull away to
check out what’s in the fridge.

“I need to tell you something.”

She sees the serious look on my
face, and she puts her hands on her hips and stares me down.

“Please tell me this is not about
Savannah.”

“It is.”

“What the hell?” she explodes. I
rarely have seen Paige angry, but I know that anything Savannah-related presses
her buttons. “This is ridiculous! What now? Did she come over again and profess
her love for you? Threaten you?”

“Not exactly.”

“So, what then?”

“Her father paid me a visit.”

“What?” She stares blankly at me.

“Yes. Jeffrey Devlin was waiting
for me in his chauffeured town car when I got home.” I take Paige’s hand. “Come
on, sit down. Let me tell you about it.”

I lead her to the couch, and hold
her hands to reassure her. I know how vulnerable Paige is, and I want to make
her as comfortable as possible when I tell her what he said to me, and how I
have no intentions to ever be with Savannah again.

Paige is my world now. I only want
her.

I recount what happened with
Jeffrey and I see the pain, anger and disbelief cross her face.

“He offered you that much money?”
she whispers.

“It’s ridiculous. For starters,
you
know that I want nothing more to do with her. And it’s just pathetic that
he’s out bargaining for his daughter over a man who doesn’t even love her.”

“Is the family that embarrassed?”
she asks.

“I don’t know,” I say shaking my
head. “I can’t figure out what Savannah’s tactic is here. She also made a
comment last time about how well I seemed to be doing now that the music is
taking off.”

“But it’s not like we’re making
loads of money,” Paige points out.

“Right. And even if we were to
become really successful, I still wouldn’t make anything near what her family
is able to provide her. I just can’t figure it out.”

“Maybe it’s about me,” Paige says
quietly. “Maybe she could handle you ending things with her, but not the fact
that you left her for someone else.”

“Maybe. She made a comment about
how sleeping with you was helping me with Kenny. But either way, we’re not
going to let it affect things between us.” I take Paige’s face gently into my
hands. “Paige Lawson, you are the best damn thing that ever happened to me. I
don’t care if I sound like some lovesick teenager – I’m crazy about you and
only you.”

“I love when you get all mushy on
me,” she says, slowly letting her guard down. I know how dealing with
Savannah's bullshit upsets her.

“I do have some good news,” I say
between kisses.

“Mmhm?”

“There’s a bidding war happening on
my house right now.”

She abruptly pulls back to look at
me. “Get out!”

“Nope! Two people came in with
offers, which were lower than I wanted, but now they’re fighting over it, so
hopefully it will raise the price to what I wanted or better.”

“Blake! That’s fantastic!”

“I know, but I don’t want you to
freak out. I know this is happening faster than we wanted, but my parents have
already said I can stay with them, and we’re going to be so busy over the next
few months-’’

Paige cuts me off with a kiss.

“Shh. Don’t say any more." She
says. "I’m not worried at all. And just for clarification, I was never
‘freaked out’ about being with you, just about the labels and things that come
with taking the next step. It’s just a lot happening at one time.”

“I know, baby. We’re going to take
this slowly.”

I start to kiss Paige again, but
she laughs and pushes me away.

“As much as I’d love to get naked
with you right now, I am starving!” she declares.

Usually Paige will take sex over
food, but then I actually hear her stomach growl.

“When was the last time you ate?”

“Umm, I think I had a granola bar
for breakfast.”

“Well, that won’t do! You need to
take care of yourself.”

I pull her up and drag her to the
kitchen. I open the refrigerator and see turkey dogs inside. “Tell you what,” I
say turning back to her, “I’ll make you dinner.”

Paige raises her eyebrows.

“On one condition.”

“Really? What’s your condition?”

I eye her tank top and pants.

“Take off your shirt and pants.”

Paige’s eyebrows go higher. Without
a word, she smirks at me and pulls her tank top over her head, revealing a
pretty yet revealing tangerine bra.

Damn. I didn’t think she would
actually go for it.

I feel my pants tighten instantly.

Keeping her eyes trained on me, she
hooks her fingers into her pants and slides them down, exposing her tangerine
and black boy short underwear.

I’ve hit the jackpot.

I give her a little smile and turn
back around to make us dinner.

“Oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can
do this,” I moan, sinking back into my chair.

“Of course you can,” Jami says,
giving me a wide smile. “And you look amazing.”

I glance at myself in the mirror
and marvel at the magic Jami has performed. She put together an incredible
outfit and brought in an amazing makeup artist and hair stylist for me.

“Jami, you did such an amazing job,
but I’m so damn nervous.” I bury my head in my hands, feeling my shoulders sag.
This is my big moment and I am paralyzed with fear. What I really want is for
Blake to wrap his arms around me, but I know he’s already out on stage. And I feel
lousy that I’m not in the wings watching him.

“Hey, hey,” Jami says quietly. “You
got this. Everybody loves your single and they are psyched for your album to
come out. You worked hard for this. Go out there and enjoy your hard work.”

I pick my head up and straighten my
shoulders. “You’re right,” I say, nodding vigorously. “You’re right. I’m going
to get out there, sing my songs and embrace it.”

“That’s right!” Jami cheers.

I stand up out of the makeup chair
and give myself one more look in the mirror before I leave.

I can barely recognize myself and I
wonder how I got so lucky to have Jami as my stylist. She's dressed me in a
deep plum-hued dress with a demure neckline and cap sleeves. While it's covered
in lace, it's sassy with its short hemline and deep-V open back. The A-line
skirt flatters my figure perfectly, and the material under the lace has a slight
sheen to it—I'll literally sparkle under the lights.

Jami also picked out a pair of
trendy, studded heels, which make my good-girl outfit slightly edgier. Maura,
the hair and makeup girl, stuck to my natural look keeping my hair down and
curling it a bit. And while the makeup looks heavy under the dressing room
lights, I know it's going to be fabulous under the bright stage lights.

While Maura had already left to
enjoy the party, Jami noticed my nerves and stuck with me.

“Come on,” she says gently, leading
me from the room. As soon as we enter the hallway, I can hear the loud strains
of Rust playing one of their new songs, with the crowd going wild in the
background.

My daddy sure did know how to throw
a good party.

We wind our way through the halls
of the Loews Vanderbilt hotel, until we reach the wings of the stage.

“Are you going to be alright if I
leave you here?” Jami shouts over the loud music.

My eyes are already glued to Blake,
who is so undeniably sexy as he wails into the mic. I tear my eyes away from
him and look back at Jami.

“Yes. Thank you!” I throw my arms
around her, pulling her into a big hug. Jami and I have grown closer over the
past few weeks, and I really hope our friendship continues to grow; especially
since her mom and my dad are an item now.

“Okay! I’m heading out there to
find my mom and your daddy!”

I nod and wave to her as she
disappears.

I turn back to Blake, and sway to his
song, singing the lyrics myself because I know all the words. He turns around
and sees me, and the smile on his face is priceless.

I seriously love that man.

Grinning back at me, he continues
to sing and I see Ben and Ryan look my way and smile at me, too. I’ve missed
being around the guys and I’m actually excited to go on tour in a couple weeks
with them.

Rust finishes their number and the
crowd goes wild. The MC, a popular disc jockey for one of the big country
stations in Nashville, cheers them on, saying what a phenomenal job they did.

The guys bow again and then come
running off the stage in my direction.

“Blake, you were amazing!” I scream,
as he picks me up and hugs me, spinning me around.

“I’m so glad you saw some of it,”
he whispers in my ear. He puts me down and takes a step back to look at me.

“You are smokin’,” he says
appreciatively, and I can’t help but blush.

“You are hot as hell,” Ryan agrees
from a few feet away and Ben gives me a thumbs up sign.

“Knock ‘em dead,” Ben calls, as he
and Ryan head out into the audience. Blake is staying in the wings to watch me
and then he and I are going to wrap up with a song together.

“You can do this,” Blake whispers,
giving me a squeeze.

“God, I’m so nervous.”

“And now, ladies and gentleman, the
woman you’ve all been waiting for, Pa-a-a-a-ige Lawson!” the disc jockey cries
into the microphone.

I don’t have any more time to be
scared, because I’m stepping out onto the stage and waving to the hundreds of
guests who are cheering and yelling for me. And like magic, my nerves melt
away. I know I can do this. I have already been on tour. And even though there
is more press here, and this is considered one of the biggest events in
Nashville of the season, I feel confident.

“Hey y’all!” I call out to the
crowd. “Thanks for coming out! I’m so excited to release my first album and I
hope y’all love it!”

More cheers erupt from the crowd.
Everyone who was invited to our album release party is going home with a swanky
gift bag, filled with goodies, which of course, included my new album and
Rust’s new album.

“I’m going to kick us off with my
first single –
Lovin’ Him is Easy
!”

Everyone cheers again and I look
over in the wings at Blake and wink at him. This song is about him. Which the rest
of the world pretty much knows by now too.