Make Me Stay (27 page)

“What the fuck, Dave?” Reece asked. “Don’t look at our Kitty that way. Only we can do that. When’s the last time you got laid, man?”

He bit down on his lip, “Sorry, it’s just--I can’t take my eyes off her.”

The urge to get up and punch him for looking at her like...like a piece of perfectly cooked meat that he was going to devour...was messing with my head more than usual.

I didn’t know what the fuck came over me. Maybe it was the fact I could see his dick pushing against the clipboard from where I sat, or maybe it was the way he was licking his lips, but I fucking lost it. I stood and got in his face. “I think you should leave,” I said, looking down at him.

He adjusted his headset with one hand, keeping the clipboard securely over his dick.

He shook his head. “You fuckers always get the good pussy.”

“That’s because we’re rock stars, benefit of the job.”

He turned his head and looked at Caroline again as she started to put on the shirt that Trent had given her. I followed his gaze and we both watched as she grabbed her shirt from Reece. She stood in front of her chair, staring across at Dave and me.

“I thought you were done with her,” he said, eyeing me up.

“Get the fuck out of here, Dave. We need to get ready. We’ll see you back stage in thirty.”

I followed his gaze again to Caroline, who was still attentively watching.

With a cocky air about him, Dave made in intentions clear. “Fine, but while you’re up on stage, I’ll make my move, since you’re done with her and all. She’s free game now.”

The guys who worked on the tour were known for picking up scraps or promising girls things, and Dave, manager and all, was no exception.

“You can try, but that girl is fucking hard for my dick and my dick alone. Good luck, though,” I said, clasping his shoulder. “Oh and you might want to wear a cup if you’re going to try anything while we’re on stage,” I said before leaving Dave, the guys, and Caroline and heading for the stage.

I got around the busses and out of sight. Leaning against one, I rested my head and stared up at the darkening sky. Hands in my hair, I wanted to punch the bus behind me, get the frustration out. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was falling under her fucking spell again. I shouldn’t have cared that Dave or anyone was interested in Caroline. She wasn’t mine any more.
I don’t want her...I don’t want her...fuck, I want her!

CHAPTER 43

Caroline

Thursday, eight o’clock at night, and I was stuck in the office again. The large table in the conference room was filled with stacks of papers. Hours-old Chinese containers and coffee cups sat atop the span of papers.

Ever since I got home from last weekend’s adventures to win Kane back, I couldn’t stop smiling. He had stood up for me and, damn, if I didn’t want to jump over the fire and do all sorts of naughty things to him. My plan to get him back was working, slowly, but it was working. He was on his way back to me. I had one weekend left before their tour was over.

JJ and the guys were keeping me informed of all their moves so I could be with them. It didn’t surprise me that once the tour was over they were headed to LA to work on an album. They were going to sign with the same record label as 4 Alliance and they were through-the-roof happy. It was happening for them. They’d be playing those big arenas Kane had always known they were destined to play in.

Their last stop put them in central Maryland, home field advantage. All I had to do was make it through all the papers in front of me, and I’d be free to head home--

“Caroline, you okay?” I looked up from the file, that I had been reading and re-reading for the past twenty minutes, to find Danny looking at me.

“Yeah, I’m good. Why you ask?”

“I don’t know. You’ve been frozen in that position for, like, a half hour, and you’re smiling at the files. No one smiles at files, especially these,” he said, holding one up.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to get side tracked. I just had a really good weekend and can’t stop thinking about it.”

“That weekend have anything to do with that guy I saw you with at the bar a couple months back?” he asked, raising a brow.

“How do you--”

“Sarah busted you. I got stuck in the elevator with her, and she told me everything,” he said.

“What do you mean everything?” I asked, sitting up in my chair.

“She told me you were trying to win the guy back or something. Caroline, can I give you some advice.” I nodded for him to go on. He sighed. “Don’t you think you’re wasting your time? I mean, you’ve been going to see him every weekend and then coming back here to work. Listen, I heard that the ups were going to offer you a senior position and a team to work under you. If you keep running after this guy and acting all starry eyed, they’re going to give it to someone else.”

That information hit me like a freight train--a senior position, a team of my own.

I slumped back in my chair, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I am. They called me in a week ago to give an evaluation. Caroline, I saw you with that guy. He didn’t seem interested. I know that sucks, but I also know men who
are
interested.”

Okay, this conversation just took a sharp left
. “What are you trying to say, Danny?”

“I’m saying why the hell run after that asshole when you have someone here who’s going to--I mean--”

“Danny,” I said cutting him off before it was too late “Don’t do it, please don’t.”

“Caroline, I like you. I mean, I like you as more than a coworker.”

Fuck, he went there. You know, when it rains, it fucking pours.

It took me all night to get it through Danny’s head that there was never going to be an “us,” that I was in love with Kane, and I’d stop at nothing to get him back. I meant it too, and I would do what I had to. The opportunity to run my own team would be amazing, but I’d take Kane over it. I didn’t before. I left him, thinking this was what I wanted, and I was wrong.

The coming weekend was my last chance to get him back. He was leaving for LA. I had this job opportunity. If he didn’t want me after this weekend, I’d have to take the promotion, put Kane on the back burner till I came up with another way to get him back.

***

I was late getting there. Crowds of people clamored around the gates that led to where the busses sat. Fitting that it was the biggest stage the guys had played on. That I had seen at least.

The gate was guarded by a guy who worked for the stadium and he wasn’t letting me through. I called all the guys, but no one answered. It was my last chance, and I couldn’t even get back to see him.
Fucking, pouring rain
.

I thought that I’d have to leave and find another way, until the door to the bus the guys rode on, opened up. I stood straighter to see who was coming out of the bus. The sight of Kane always made my heart pump a little faster and my knees get wobbly and, even after a year, time hadn’t changed the way I reacted to him. A bunch of girls who were standing next to me started screaming and pushing on the gate once he was in sight. He turned at the screams and waved over to them--us.

“Kane,” I yelled over them, gaining his attention.

He took another look in the crowd and took a few steps toward the gate. The moment his eyes landed on me, he shook his head in disbelief.

“Kane, tell him to let me in,” I said, not having to yell as much because he was closer.

“Do you know this girl? Should I let her in, she keeps saying she’s family,” the guard asked from the other side of the fence.

I saw it in his eyes, that little snicker and evil grin. “No, I’ve never seen her before.”

“Are you kidding me, Kane?” I yelled at him.

“Yeah, man, I’ve never seen her, better keep her locked out. She looks like the kind of girl that’d claw her way through that gate. I’d also keep you’re balls away from her knees if I were you.” Winking at the guard, he nodded my way, waved, and kept on walking to the back stage area.

“You’re an asshole, Kane! You’re just going to leave me here!” I screamed.

He stopped mid step and looked back at me. Straightened his body, held his head up, and continued walking.
Fuck, he wasn’t over it
. Here I was thinking I was closer to getting him back and he just walked away, leaving me, like I left him.

The door to the bus opened again and a skinny, red-mohawked man came sauntering out. Again the girls next to me went wild. Unlike Kane, Reece walked over to the gate, grabbing hands and signing autographs. When he got to my hand, I pulled him tightly against the fence. His face was plastered to the gate in a painful looking position as girls pulled on his clothes through the rails.

Reece loved the attention but when he saw it was me his smile fell. “Kitty? What the fuck are you doing over there?” He flipped his hand around and held mine tighter as the girls around me tried to push me out of the way so they could get a hold of Reece.

“Please, just get me out of here,” I begged, holding his hand for dear life.

Reece turned to the guard, asking him to open the gate so I could get on the other side.

The guard shook his head, “I’m sorry, I can’t do that. Kane gave strict instructions not to let her back here.”

“Well Kane isn’t fucking Prince Ali. I said let her in and I mean it,” Reece said, still holding on to my hand.

“Me too!”

“Please let me in!”

“I need you, Reece!”

“I want in too!”

Shouts like these, were flying all over the place as Reece argued with the guard to let me in.

A few minutes later, he let me through after he called another guard to help hold back the masses so there wouldn’t be a stampede. Safely on the other side, I walked with Reece to the back stage area.

“Why the hell didn’t he just let you back here?” Reece asked.

We stood outside the doors that lead backstage. “I don’t fucking know. He was trying to prove a point I guess. Where the hell is he? I’m going to beat the shit out of him for that,”

I followed Reece in and down the winding hallways. “He’s probably getting ready to do the meet and greet. We all are actually. Last show, they want all of us to sign autographs and meet fans.”

We’d made it to the room where the meet and greet was going to take place. I sent Reece in there and told him to send Kane out without letting him know it was me. I stood against a wall, a hallway away from the signing. Kane’s footsteps were getting closer. As he came around the corner, I stepped out of the darkened doorway I was hiding in. I stood in the middle of the hallway, his only option was to turn around, but he must have known I'd just run after him.

So, he stopped in his tracks.

I smiled up at him, “Hi, Kane.”

“Jesus Christ, how did you get back here?” he demanded.

“Wow, Kane, it’s great to see you too,” I said, taking a step closer.

He crossed his arms defensively, “What do you want, Caroline?”

“I just want to talk to you,” I said, dropping the annoyed act. This was my chance to make him see I still loved him. He gestured for me to get on with it. “Can’t you see that I--Kane, I’ve said it before and I’m going to sound like a fucking broken record but, I made a mistake leaving.”

He nodded in agreement, the hard exterior he always seemed to have up when I was around dropped as he leaned against the wall.
Was I finally getting through to him? Was he finally hearing me, instead of reminding himself of the past?

“You want me to, what? Forgive you?” he asked, looking over at me.

“Yes,” I sighed.

Silence was all around us, even the screams from the arena were muted as I waited to hear what he was going to say.

“I want to forgive you,” he said, breaking that silence.

Unfolding his arms, he pushed himself off the wall to come closer to me. His hand moved, so he was almost touching my cheek. I’d never felt power like and he wasn’t even touching me. My eyes closed of their own accord, as I took in the energy coming off his hand. I wanted to lean into it, to feel his touch against my skin. I craved it more than air.

With my eyes still closed, I whispered, “Then forgive me.”

When I opened them, I expected to see his beautiful blue eyes, but he’d closed them, and I knew that was him trying to keep me out. Our bodies were pulling us together, without us even knowing. His cool blue eyes finally opened. I could see him and the struggle he was having.

“Caroline, I--Damn, you’re beautiful,” he said, finally running the tips of his fingers across my cheek.

I felt hopeful and terrified at the same time. Terrified that this would be the last time he’d touch me, hopeful that it was just the first of many more.

“You’re not going to stop, are you?” he asked, moving his hand from my cheek and down to his side. “Well, I’ll make it easy on you. You can stop. Stop running after me. I’m letting you off the hook. I forgive you, so you can go back to your life in New York, go back to your dream job and whatever else you have to go back to.”

Is he kidding me with that!
“All right, Kane, enough with the bullshit!” I was livid that he still wasn’t getting it. “I’ve been here every weekend, waiting for you to get your head out of your ass. Can’t you see that I’m crazy about you? Open your eyes, Kane. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere!” I was up in his face, trying desperately to make him see me, see that I was here for him.

“Fine, you’re here right now, but tomorrow you’ll be gone. You’ll leave to go back to your other life in New York.”

“You’re right. I could go back tomorrow to my job. They offered me a position that I’d be stupid to turn down,” I snapped at him.

He’s being so fucking stubborn!

Cleary disgusted, he took a step back from me and tossed his hands up. “And there it is, right back to the beginning--you leaving!”

“Then make me stay, Kane! Make me believe you want me, make me believe you could love me again, make me believe you give a shit, and I’ll stay!” My voice echoed off the walls all around us. I took a breath, gathered my thoughts, and spoke softly this time. “Make me stay, so I’ll never leave you again.”