I turned to see Natalie talking to Johnny, and I rolled my eyes. Good. Maybe he’d leave me alone if she paid him some attention.
“Damn, it’s hot.” I lifted my shirt and flapped it, trying to get some air. My leather shorts were stuck to me like a second skin. The lights shining down on us during the show didn’t help the heat factor either. I grabbed another bottle of water and sucked it down, my stomach growling. I wondered if Johnny was going to deliver our food again.
Beau opened his bottle and flung water at me. “Stop!” I snapped.
“Just trying to cool you off,” he shrugged, putting the cap back on the bottle. He was used to my demands. If there was anyone that truly got me, it was him. We’d met almost exactly ten years ago, the month I moved in to what would be my final foster home. We’d immediately connected. Playing music with him and running away from the home together, along with Natalie, had been the only thing that kept me from losing it completely. Even though Natalie couldn’t carry a tune to save her life, she’d taken on the role of being our protector and manager, and that was fine with me.
“What’s up with Natalie and Johnny?” Tanner asked. I followed his gaze and saw they were standing in the hallway. She had her hand on his chest, and he was leaning over so he could hear her, his eyes intent on hers.
I rolled my eyes. “Who the hell cares? She’s a big girl. If she wants to hook up, more power to her.”
Beau groaned. “Please. Don’t talk about it. That’s my sister.”
Ryver laughed. “What, you don’t want to think about Natalie getting pounded by a hot beefy bartender?”
We all laughed, even though I didn’t want to. That caught the attention of Natalie and Johnny, and they headed towards us. I turned so that I wasn’t looking at him. He wasn’t worth a second of my attention.
“What’s so funny down here?” Natalie asked. Johnny didn’t say anything, but I could feel him in the room. Hell, I could smell him in the small space. Tingling erupted in my belly again. I made a mental note to invest in a good vibrator. I obviously needed to get a grip.
The guys all shut up and shrugged, making Natalie turn her attention to me. I shrugged, still not turning around to see him standing with her.
“I’m hungry,” I announced. “And hot as fuck. I’m going upstairs to take a shower.” I turned my head and looked pointedly at Johnny. “Are you bringing food tonight? I want chicken tenders and fries with a side of ranch and a huge coke. Can you handle that?”
I felt Natalie glaring at me. Yeah, I was being a bitch. This was something they all knew about me. I didn’t apologize for it. To me, you either liked me or you didn’t, and I couldn’t care less if you didn’t. I’d spent my life trying to get attention, to be good so I could be loved, and look where the hell that had gotten me. I’d decided long ago that I was no longer sweet Bexley who had friends and loved people. No, that Bexley didn’t get anywhere with that.
Johnny turned to the other guys. “What do you guys want? Same room, Natalie? Cal has a full staff, so I’m solely for your pleasure tonight.”
I snorted. I couldn’t help it. “Any of you guys need a blow job? Johnny’s offering his services tonight.”
Even the guys looked shocked at my diarrhea of the mouth. Damn, I needed to get out of here. “I’ll be in my room.” With that, I stormed out, leaving all of them staring after me. I was sure Natalie made some sort of excuse for my attitude, but she shouldn’t. I wasn’t sorry and didn’t need his ass following me around all the time.
I’d no sooner stepped into my bathroom to shower away the grime when I heard a rapid knocking on the door. Wrapping myself in a towel, I padded to the door and looked out the peephole. Fuck. Of course, he was at my door. Wasn’t he supposed to be in Natalie’s?
“Wrong room. The band is meeting in 301.”
“Open up.” I stared at him through the peephole. What did he want?
“No.”
I watched him run his hand through his hair, making it spike. He didn’t have any food in his hands. That meant that he’d either already been to the other room or Natalie had taken the food for him. Either way that meant she was in on this. What was their end game here?
“Bex.”
I rested my forehead against the door. What in the hell was this guy’s problem? “Are you just so used to people doing whatever you want that you can’t catch a hint? I’m not interested.”
“Open. The. Door.” He wasn’t playing, but neither was I.
“I’m in a towel. I was about to take a shower. I’m not up for visitors. So why don’t you tell me what the hell you want, and then leave me be.”
He clenched his hands. I recognized the set of his jaw and the ticking of the muscle because it was one of my tells also.
“Open the door,” he said again. This time, he reached into his pocket and lifted a card up to the peephole. “See this? It’s from Natalie. So either you let me in, or I let myself in.”
Fuck her. She was fired. Why the hell would she give him the key to my room? She didn’t know him from Adam! What if he was a rapist or something?
“She didn’t give you my key. She wouldn’t.”
He sighed. “You’re right. It’s her key, so I could take the food in. Please.”
I didn’t know why, but something about the way he said please made me a little less frosty to him. Just a smidge. And even if I let him in, that didn’t mean I had to entertain anything else.
I ran to my suitcase and flung on a t-shirt and short shorts sans underwear. At least I was more covered than a towel. Flinging open the door, I crossed my arms in front of my chest for several reasons. First, I didn’t want him to think I was welcoming him in here at all, and second I didn’t want him to see I wasn’t wearing a bra. I was perky, but I was full. My nips would be on full alert around him.
He filled my doorway, his eyes raking me up and down. “You said you were in a towel.”
“I was.” I indicated behind me, where the towel was on the bed. “I put some clothes on to find out what was so goddamn important you wouldn’t leave me alone. How do I know you aren’t some sort of freak or something?”
He smirked. “Do you really believe I’m a freak? I might be, but the kind you would like.”
A freak in bed. Damn you, lady bits. Shut the hell up. “How do I know who you are? All I know is that ever since we got here yesterday you’ve been all over me like white on rice. Now you’re demanding me to open the door to my room. What am I supposed to think?”
I watched as Johnny stepped inside the room and shut the door. The whole place got a lot smaller once he was standing within a foot of me. “I wanted to apologize.”
A bitter laugh burst out of my lips. “Really. For what?”
“For what I’m about to do.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but I didn’t have time to react any further because he hauled my body to his and held the back of my head with his large hand. He consumed my mouth just like he’d done last night. My bare breasts under my thin shirt pressed into his firm chest, and I hated myself for furiously kissing him back. My hands gripped his forearms as he sucked my tongue into his mouth. My hips had a mind of their own as I started moving against him, feeling how aroused he was for me. Why wasn’t this a good idea again? At the moment, I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with enjoying him for one night.
He pulled back just as quickly as he’d taken me in the first place, leaving me gasping for breath and turned on. “Tell me you don’t fucking want me, Bex, and I walk out that door. I want you, and it’s obvious that you want me, too. But I’m not going to beg you.”
“Why do you want me? Are you some sort of groupie? Are you going to go tell everyone that you banged the lead singer of Jaded Regret? I mean, what’s your end game?”
He stepped one step back and put his hand on his large girth under his shorts. “I don’t need to be a groupie, Bex. I also don’t go talking about my life with anyone. So no, that’s not why.”