Only for You (16 page)

Nodding at the shirts, I
ask, “What are you doing?”

“
Sewing on buttons,
repairing little rips,” she says. “You can sit down with me, if you
like.”

Against my better judgment,
I do sit down with her, watching as she sews up a little hole at
the hem of one of Violet’s dresses. “Is that hard to
do?”

She pauses, smiling shyly
at me. “Is playing guitar in front of thousands and thousands of
people hard to do?”

Actually, I’ve played in
front of millions and millions on television. “Not
anymore.”

“
There’s your answer,” she
says, and then goes back to sewing.

I don’t think she’s being
dismissive. I think she’s turning the conversation back on me. I
also think she’s hiding something.

“
At least try, for me,” I
say, giving her a friendly smile she can’t see.

“
If I do, will you stop
interrupting me work?”

Okay, so that wasn’t the
answer I was hoping for, but I’ll take it. “Sure. Give me a minute
to grab a guitar.”

After finding one of mine,
I head back to her spot. The clothes are put away and she’s sitting
cross-legged on the floor.

“
Ready?”

She sighs and I sit beside
her. “As I’ll ever be. But really, Jaxon, I’m—”

I press a finger to her
full lips. “Hush. You can learn.”

“
First I’ll teach you a
simple song.”

“
Why not just the
chords?”

“
Easier to learn a
song.”

“
Easier for you, maybe,”
she grumbles.

I laugh. “Would you stop
and let me teach you?”

She smiles and then presses
her lips together, nodding. I scoot closer to her, so that we’re
touching thigh to thigh, and realize it won’t work this way. “Hold
this.”

Bliss takes my guitar and
before she can protest, I lift her up and settle her down in my
lap. Her ass wiggles against my groin, and I bite back a groan, my
fingers tightening and digging into the fabric of her jeans. Damn,
but she’s firm, soft, and curvy. Everywhere.

And I’m getting
hard.

“
Pay attention,” I murmur
into her silky curls, more to myself than her. I adjust her hands
and fingers just so, pressing the guitar against her. “I’ll play
with you the first couple of times.”

“
Okay.”

Not much for words, but I’m
okay with that. Slowly, I strum our fingers over the strings,
making sure to keep her first and third fingers in the proper
position at the neck, over and over again.

Suddenly she sits up
straighter. “I know this song!”

“
Everyone knows Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star,” I say, resting my chin on her shoulder. Bad
move, because she shifts slightly and I can see down her shirt. Her
chest rises and falls. The tops of her perfect, round tits teasing
me. “You do it this time; I’ll watch your fingers move.”

“
What if I can’t remember
what to do?”

I slide my hand over hers,
fingers gliding between hers. “I’ll take over. Remember, I’m the
teacher and you’re the student. It’s my job to show you…
everything.”

I feel rather than hear her
sharp intake of breath. “Everything?”

“
Mmm-hmm.” Moving our
hands, I run her palm over the smooth grain of the wood, up and
over the strings, repeating the motion. “How to touch, how to
stroke… where to coax just the right note and keep it going for as
long as you can.”

Bliss turns toward me, her
lips inches from mine. Her sweet breath coming in little puffs of
air. “Jackson, I don’t think—”

“
Not thinking is a great
idea.” I’m ready to throw the guitar to the side and Bliss to the
floor. All I want to do is taste her lips, feel them move under
mine as I sink inside of her.

Footsteps sound and I look
up. Callie is standing there, pissed as anything. “How could
you?”

Bliss scrambles out of my
lap and my guitar crashes to the floor. “We’re… he was… I… nothing
happened,” she says before she runs out the trailer.

“
Didn’t look like nothing
to me.” Callie’s expression turns bland right after Bliss passes
her. “He’s mine and blah, blah, all that crap.”

I hate when Callie does
crap like this. She couldn’t give two shits who I screw, not
really. It’s the pretense of it all that she demands I maintain.
“What do you want?” I ask, picking up my guitar and standing. I
check it for cracks and rub at a smudge in the shine with my
shirt.

She sashays over to me. “We
haven’t been spending a lot of time together lately.”

“
That’s because I don’t
like you.”

With a little sigh, she
lays her head on my shoulder. “It doesn’t matter what you like,
baby doll. You’re mine, until the end of it all.”

The end couldn’t come fast
enough. “Aren’t you tired of pretending, Callie?”

“
Not until after this tour
and my career is gold. Only then will I set you free,” she says
theatrically.

“
Do you really think he’ll
leave her?” I snap.

Then she says the one thing
that turns my body cold. “I don’t care anymore, Jaxon. All that’s
important to me is my career. You, your dad… this tour, is all a
stepping stone.

“
I’m done, Callie. We’re
though.” I shrug her away. “Go find another guy to play your
beard.”

“
You remember that girl,
down in Atlanta? Only fifteen years old and pregnant.” Making a
little tsking sound, she pats my shoulder. “Sure would hate for
that to get out about you.”

Damn Everett Morgan. “A
simple DNA test would prove that it’s not mine.”

“
A simple DNA test
wouldn’t disprove an allegation that you two hooked up.” Looking up
at me, her brown eyes grow cold. “Can you imagine what would happen
in the meantime? Especially in light of you paying her
off.”

I grit my teeth. “I didn’t
pay her off.”

“
Money came from your bank
account,” Callie says softly, no mocking. Just plain and utter
truth in her gaze. “So far, her family has agreed to keep things
quiet, but you know how greedy people get.”

A cold sweat breaks over my
body. Jesus. She’s not lying. “Fine. We can grab dinner
tonight.”

“
And you have to be seen
leaving my room the next morning.”

I scrub a hand over my
face. I’d only met Tara once, when she’d won an audition through a
local radio contest. She’d come to the studio, all tiny and blonde.
As soon I’d seen her, dread had coated my insides.

As soon as Everett had laid
eyes on her and that lecherous smile had taken over his face, I
thought I was going to throw up. But after she told us her age,
barely fifteen years old and a sophomore in high school, I thought
she was safe.

I had been
wrong.

Chapter
Twenty-One

Violet

In my hurry to get back to
my bus, I ram into Everett. “Where’s the fire?” he says, catching
me before I hit the ground. He runs his hands down my arms,
checking my hands for scrapes and bruises. “Can’t have my best girl
hurt before the show.”

In the past, my skin
wouldn’t have crawled when he touched me, but now, knowing how much
he hurt Cole and his family, coupled with what he did to Jackson
and me, it feels like a thousand spiders are marching across my
skin.

“
I’m fine,” I say, wanting
to get away, from him, from his son… from this entire tour. “Just
tired.”

He releases me, eyes so
much like Cole’s that I have to look away. “Go on, then. I’ll send
someone over with some hot tea and honey for you to drink. Your
voice sounds a little off.”

A little off?
I want to scream
. You
beat your son half to death and left me by myself, when I needed
someone the most.
But I can’t prove it,
and I feel so
trapped
by everything that all I want to do is hide.

I make myself walk slowly
to the side door of the bus and walk in like nothing’s bothering
me.

Only before I can take two
steps, Callie slams the new girl into me.

“
You little
slut.”

Joy Anne tells me to move
out of the way. I do.

They two of them fall out
fighting, literally. They’re in the floor, pulling hair and
kicking. When my brain finally starts working again, I run out of
the bus, screaming for help.

Two security guards, local
cops that were off duty, head my way.

“
Bus. Girl. Fight,” is all
I can get out.

I slump against the
conversion van. Bliss comes out of nowhere, standing beside
me.

“
That’s why I rode in the
van,” she says.

“
Want some
company?”

She giggles.

We hear a scream, and then
a bunch of words that make no sense at all. Finally, the guys come
out, a girl each. And they’re still trying to get at each
other.

“
Damn Jaxon, and his horn
dog ways.” I turn to her. “That’s why you should stay away from
him.”

Bliss shakes her head,
pushing her glasses back up and on her nose. “He didn’t have
anything to do with that.”

“
Honey, you don’t know
Jaxon like I do.”

She doesn’t get angry.
Instead, she sighs and runs a hand through her long curls. “I know,
but I do know this.”

“
Bitch,” Callie spits, as
the cops cuff her and Joy Anne. “Whore.”

“
Slut,” Joy Anne screams.
“He’s mine, not yours. You’re too old for him anyway.”

Bliss and I don’t say a
word, just watch as they take her away.

“
And you,” Callie rounds
on Jaxon. Everett’s standing beside him, and he takes Jaxon by the
arm, jerking him back a little. “We’re over, you hear me?
Over.
Take your ring,
your engagement story, and shove it all up your ass.”

Jaxon grins big like some
great weight has been lifted from his shoulders while Everett looks
shocked as hell—not that I can blame him. It’s not every day that
both of your opening acts loses their dang minds.

“
I’ll be a gentleman, and
let you keep the ring, Callie,” Jaxon says.

She lunges at him, but the
cops spin her around and march her off in the opposite
direction.

Joy Anne calls Callie a
name I’ve never heard anyone say in polite company. Suddenly,
Callie breaks free, knees one of the cops in the groin, and jumps
on top of the other girl.

“
That a sure fire way to
go to jail,” Bliss says.

The second cop grabs
Callie, but she rears back and bites him. He grunts in pain and
pulls her off Joy Anne.

“
Ouch.” I wince. “Hope
he’s up to date on all his shots.”

Bliss and I laugh. What
else can you do when two people go all Jerry Springer on each
other, over a guy?

“
Tonight’s show is
cancelled,” Everett informs the stage manager. “Give everyone back
their money and a free ticket to the next show.”

“
Want to grab something to
eat in a little while?” I ask Bliss. I still need time to think and
sort things out. But I don’t want to be alone tonight, and Jaxon is
my only other alternative.

“
I don’t know,” she says.
“I need to finish up my sewing.”

“
You don’t have to talk,
Bliss,” I say softly. “I just need some company with someone who
won’t judge me.”

Her eyes turn sympathetic.
“Don’t we all?”

Chapter
Twenty-Two

Jaxon

After today’s drama, I feel
so damn free that I want to shout. I want to run away and not come
back for a year. Just be a normal guy, with a normal
life.

Last night I actually went
out to a bar, by myself, and drank and shot pool… and talked shit.
Flirted with some girls. Then I went back to my hotel by myself and
slept.

I dodge a roadie and nod at
the stage manager. “Rehearsals won’t be until tonight at
ten.”

“
See you then.” I rub my
hands together. Finally, this tour is what it needs to be, just
Violet and me.

Now Violet will have to
take me seriously. Everything is over with Callie and we can put
this behind us. We can start over.

So of course, this means
the first person I seek out is Bliss.

She’s in her normal spot,
listening to “Cups” and humming out of tune.

“
Why are you doing this?”
I ask. She pauses for just a minute, and then returns to sewing on
a button.

“
Because I know how, and
it’s a waste of time and money to send them somewhere and have to
wait for them to be repaired, cleaned, and sent back.”

“
Is that what Anita
said?”