Cadence (Ruby Riot Book 1) (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

TEGAN

The volume in the room grows as more of the tour staff arrives. Most keep away from our table, which surprises me. I recognise a few of them – Mac, the security guy I chatted to the first night and Tina from PR of course although Riley isn’t with her. I’ve meant to catch up with Riley since the party in Lisbon but haven’t seen her around the hotel or restaurant.

“Tegan.” I look at Ruby who inclines her head toward the other side of the restaurant. Her disagreement with Jem over, they’re back to quiet conversations excluding those around them.

Across the room, Jax stands scanning the tables and my mouth dries. When I’m with Jax, my attraction to him is intense; his allure, a mix of the body covered in his rock star uniform and not a towel this time, the sculpted perfection of his face, and something between us I can’t pinpoint.

Watching him now, the something is clearer. He’s not trying to be Jax Lewis, he just
is
. There’s a presence around him he’s unaware of, the aphrodisiac of fame and good looks. Jax’s arrival draws eyes to him, but his are looking for one thing. Me. I glance at Bryn whose attitude has thankfully shifted in a happier direction after a few drinks, as he shares banter and laughter with Liam.

Jax spots me and his gaze remains on mine as he approaches.

He wouldn’t.

“Hey,” Jax says with a grin and drags a chair across to the table to sit next to me.

“It’s late. I didn’t think you were coming,” Ruby says, and sips her water.

Jax ignores her, and places his lips on mine. The length of time his mouth lingers screams that we’re more than friends.

Next, Jax places his arm across my shoulders and pulls me close.

Holy crap.

I look across the table at Bryn. I’m not the only one waiting for his reaction because the amusement on Dylan’s face is barely controlled.

Bryn watches impassively but a muscle twitches in his cheek. “Hello, Jax.”

“Quite an entrance you made their, mate,” says Dylan. “Anything you want to tell us?” He arches a brow at me.

Jax shrugs and his nonchalance stuns me. This is the guy who claimed to be terrified of my brother’s reaction, and here he is outing us to the whole band.

To the whole venue.

“I wanted to see Tegan and let you guys know what’s going on.”

“What’s going on?” asks Bryn in a cool voice.

Jax looks to me; and when he does, the expression on his face makes the decision for me. He doesn’t look concerned, but determined. How much more sincere can he be about wanting us to give this a go? This man screws with my logic.

“Tegan?” Jax asks softly.

I keep my eyes on his, as if this will help the next words. “Me and Jax. We’re…” I grapple for the words. “Kind of together.”

“Kind of together?” repeats Bryn.

“Dating,” says Jax with a smile at me. “If that’s what you want to call being with a chick when we haven’t -” I dig my elbow hard into his ribs and he winces.

I swear Dylan mumbles ‘yet’ and grins into his bourbon. Either Jax is being smart about this and letting Bryn know safely, in public, or he’s literally telling the world because somebody in this room will share this moment outside of these four walls.

“Right.” Bryn drains his glass and pushes back his chair. “Getting a drink.”

Jax watches him go and laces his fingers through mine. “Your hands are damp,” I whisper.

“I just outed us to your brother and anybody else whose line of sight we’re in,” he whispers back.

The rest of the table watches proceedings with interest, and I’m aware the voices around the room have quieted too; the sounds of 60s rock and roll taking over.

“Dude…” Liam shakes his head and follows Bryn.

Jem lounges back in his seat, arm across Ruby’s shoulder. “Did you know about this?” he asks Ruby.

“Yeah, none of my business though. Or anybody’s.”

“Makes no difference to me. Just curious,” replies Jem.

I bet this does make a difference to him. Jem’s as aware as I am of the undercurrents in Ruby and Jax’s relationship.

“Bryn’s just gonna have to suck it up,” remarks Jax, stunning me. Talk about change in attitude.

“Jesus, this is funny,” says Dylan. “I wouldn’t underestimate him though.” He throws a beer mat across the table at Jem. “Hey, Jem, remember what happened that time you pissed Bryn off?”

“Which time?”

“Well, several but the big one. When we...” He glances at Sky. “That evening in Sydney. First overseas tour. Remember?” Jem frowns, but Dylan continues, “Man, never seen him so pissed off. How long did it take your arm to heal?”

Jem gives Dylan a sly smile. “Ah, that time.”

Jax pales. “What?”

“Really?” I know my brother has a temper; but he’s also aware of his strength, and it would take a lot for him to lose control and hurt somebody.

“Mmm. Still have the scars.” Jem shakes his head. “Don’t envy you, Jax.”

“Bryn. He’s all calm and collected on the surface, but after a few more of those -” Dylan points at Bryn’s empty glass.

“Fuck, but I thought -” begins Jax.

Sky smacks Dylan on the arm. “Behave! I know this isn’t true!”

“Yeah? How?” he asks, mouth curling into a smile.

“Because I know you, and you’re lying!” She looks at Jax. “Ignore the pair of them. I think it’s sweet.”

Jax visibly winces at the word. “Sweet?” His fingers trail along my leg. “I don’t do sweet.”

“Oh! Listen to you, Mr. Badass,” snorts Ruby. “You’d better be sweet to Tegan or -”

“Or what? I don’t think you’re in the position to get high and mighty about relationships affecting the band.”

“Whoa, okay, mate. We went through this earlier!” says Jem. “No more trash talk about Ruby fucking up the band. End of.”

Awkward. Now I really want to know what happened in that meeting.

A waitress appears with our meals, setting down a huge plate of chips and burger in front of me. Jax and Ruby avoid looking at each other, and Jem glowers at Jax.

My head spins. On tour, I expected the famous Blue Phoenix debauchery, totally forgetting their situation these days. In front of me are a pregnant couple and the lead singer famous for being a heart breaker, now so loved-up he’s part of a poster couple for squishy romance. Next to me? The so-called bad boy Jax Lewis who announced we’re dating.

Rock stars don’t date.

Do I date rock stars?

Bryn’s absence is noted by his plateful on the table in front of his empty seat. I look around and spot Bryn resting against the polished wooden bar, with Liam.

Jax steals one of my chips and I slap his hand. “I’m starving! Order your own!”

Jax grins, grabs another chip, and calls over the waitress.

****

JAX

The amount of shit that’s happened the last few days and I’m over the drama. Tegan’s there when I need to take a step away from the band; she’s downtime from the mounting fame and craziness. Tegan can keep me grounded – she already is – and I don’t want to lose that. So, I called her bluff. If this is about her brother, I fixed that problem. If her doubt is about me, Tegan can kick me to one side now before I become attached.

Emotionally attached? Bloody weird. The last chick I craved hardly noticed I existed, but this one definitely does. Kissing Tegan blows my mind; the softness of her skin beneath my fingers begs me to touch her, taste her… Fine, I could be confused here. My lust could be causing the ridiculous tingling in my chest every time Tegan graces me with a smile or kisses me. Whatever this is, Tegan has perfected a trick where she flicks from soothing me, to driving me crazy in a spilt second.

I want her. Simple as that. Apart from it isn’t, and now the ball’s in her court.

Gradually, Tegan relaxes and eventually takes my hand again. The longer we sit here, the more on the edge of the guys’ lives I feel, like a little kid dismissed by his superiors. I never noticed before; Jem’s always been a bit of a douche around me and Bryn has his reasons, but Liam and Dylan don’t have the time of day. Maybe they’re more up their own backsides than I realised.

“You want to sit somewhere else?” I ask Tegan, helping her finish her chips.

“Aren’t Will and Nate coming tonight?”

“Nah. They’ve been in a bar in Pigalle since lunch time; I doubt they’ll move from there now.” I stroke her hair, willing her to say she’ll leave with me because all I want to do is discover if my announcement equals bed.

“You didn’t go with them?”

“Oh, yeah. For a couple of hours, but word spread we were there, and I couldn’t be arsed with the attention.”

She stiffens. “Female attention?”

“Media.” I pause. “Plus, I wanted to talk to Bryn.”

She glances at the others. “Come with me, I want to talk to
you
.”

Tegan leads me to a quiet corner, behind a pillar at the edge of the bar and I carry our drinks over. My experience of figuring out how women’s minds work is limited. Who knows if she’s happy or not with my decision to announce our hook-up to her brother.

“That was brave of you,” she says quietly. “Possibly stupid, but brave.”

“Does it change anything?”

Her face softens and she touches my face and I curl my fingers around her hand. “You know that you didn’t only tell Bryn, but the whole of the room.”

“And? I meant what I said this morning, Tegan. I like you and I don’t care who knows.” I wrap an arm around her slender waist, eager for her mouth. “Do you?”

“Are you sure about this?” she whispers.

“Do you really need to ask me that question?” I brush my lips against hers and she parts them slightly. “I want you.”

In response, Tegan pushes her mouth onto mine, surprising me as she swipes her tongue along my lip. As her curves press into me, the awareness of the rest of the room vanishes. All that exists and matters is the girl in my arms, whose kiss unites me with a part of myself I crave to know better. She tastes of champagne and sweetness, of the girl who’s stolen my ability to make rational decisions. Here, with her, is where I want to be. Kissing her wakens the part of me I was killing with random hook-ups, a part of me aching to discover what sex with Tegan would be like.

She gently untangles my fingers from where they’re gripping her hair and slides her mouth from mine. The sound around re-enters my awareness, but my focus is on the pink-faced girl looking back at me with darkened eyes.

“We should leave,” she says.

“Good idea.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Her lips briefly meet mine and she weaves her way through the tables, the heat she just ignited growing as I watch her ass in the oh-so-tight jeans of hers.

Bryn approaches and I steel myself. I’m in public; he has to deal with this calmly. I attempt to gauge the thoughts held behind his dark brown eyes as the tall man’s physical presence takes up the space around us.

“How much have you had to drink, Jax?” asks Bryn, indicating my glass. “That was quite a move you pulled there.”

“Just a few this afternoon. About the same number as you, I think.”

He pauses long enough for the perspiration to build along my back. “You and Tegan, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” He lowers his voice. “You do realise that if you hurt Tegan things will be very unpleasant for you.”

I gesture at the people around. “I shared the fact I’m with a chick, who she is, and that it’s exclusive. I wouldn’t do that if Tegan wasn’t something to me.”

Bryn’s mouth tips at one corner. “I’d be heavier handed with you, but you’re about to learn a valuable lesson on your own.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What you just did? You’re public property now, man, and I can’t wait to see how Tegan deals with that. You should know by now that she doesn’t take shit from people. You might be the one getting hurt.”

“We don’t care what people think!”

“You say that now. I never had as much shit from the press as them.” He indicates Dylan and Jem. “Early on, when I did stupid crap, yeah, but not recently. I’m never under the spotlight, and never hit the headlines. You, my friend, are deep in it.”

“Yeah, I get it, I’m on their radar.”

Bryn cocks a brow. “You’re dating the Blue Phoenix drummer’s sister. That’s quite a story. You know what’s a better story?” I shake my head. “You getting caught with someone else and the Blue Phoenix drummer ripping your balls off.”

“I just said –”

He laughs. “That wasn’t a threat. Much. It won’t be me you need to persuade, Jax. I call bullshit on half the things printed about people I know, but Tegan may not. Reckon she can deal with you being randomly linked to other chicks? ‘Cause I know her and she won’t.”