The Rocker Who Cherishes Me (The Rocker 8)

“Amen,” Linc said with a grin as he took a drink of his coffee. “That’s why I keep to dicks. It’s less complicated that way.”

Liam snorted his coffee up his nose at that and started coughing. For the first time in a long time I actually felt a grin teasing at my lips. I was relieved that Linc was gay. It meant that I didn’t have to worry about him trying to get into Marissa’s pants…

Rhett on the other hand… Yeah, I wanted to slaughter that little fucker. Especially if he had already gotten into her pants.

Around lunch time the buses stopped and Axton climbed on board. We spent the next few hours going over our playlist for the night and rehearsing. It was our normal routine while on tour, so that we didn’t have to worry about it once we got to whatever venue we were preforming at. If the noise from our rehearsal woke Marissa or Natalie, neither came out to complain about it.

I hadn’t seen Marissa since she had stormed off before the bus had filled up with everyone else. I’d wanted to go back into the roosts and confront her, comfort her, but Liam had taken one look at my face and told me to give her a few days to cool off. Halfway through our set list, Natalie came out and nuked something in the microwave, completely ignoring everyone around her. Devlin’s eyes locked on her the moment she walked in and didn’t leave her until she walked back toward the roosts with her food.

Poor bastard.

Chapter 6

Marissa

My head was killing me and the sound of the guys jamming from the front of the bus wasn’t helping.

I hadn’t been able to sleep. Instead I found a roost and just stared up at the bed above mine. Silently crying, hurting…trying to talk myself out of doing something stupid. It wouldn’t do Liam any good if he found me in a puddle of my own blood. I had to think of Liam. He was the only one who mattered.

So I curled up into a ball and closed my eyes, letting the tears fall and the pain consume me.

“You asleep, Rissa?” I’d heard Natalie come back not long after the bus had started moving, but thankfully she hadn’t tried to talk to me until right then. She’d taken the roost right above mine and I hadn’t heard anything from her until now.

I wiped my damp eyes and rubbed my aching head. “Nope.”

“Can I come lie down with you?” Her question was softly spoken, as if she were scared I would turn her down.

The thought of having someone hold me for just a few minutes made my chest ache. “Yeah, come on.”

When the curtains of my roost were pulled back, I saw that Natalie’s eyes were just as red and puffy as my own. Obviously I wasn’t the only one who had been having a pity party today. I opened my arms, silently offering her the love and understanding that we both needed. Natalie climbed in, closed the curtains and then cuddled up to my side, her head resting on my shoulder.

Some of my earlier pain faded until it was almost bearable and I breathed a sigh of relief. Natalie and I lay there for nearly an hour, neither of us speaking, but we didn’t sleep either. Eventually her stomach grumbled and mine wasn’t any better. She offered to make us a snack and I accepted with a smile and a nod. “Be right back.”

Ten minutes later she produced a frozen pizza and a bag of baked chips with two bottles of water. I sat up as much as I could and nibbled on a slice of the pizza while she opened up the chips and started crunching away. When the food was gone and our stomachs were no longer demanding attention I lay back down, listening to the band continue to rehearse and trying to tune out the sound of the guitar solos.

Natalie remained where she was but I could tell that her earlier pain was turning into a burning fury. I wished I could get that mad, and stay that mad. It would be so much better than all the pain I was feeling…

I grimaced at my thoughts, hating that I sounded like such a wimp. Suddenly I hated myself for letting a man do this to me. For giving him the power to make me hurt to the point that I had actually been considering... Yeah, that wasn’t me. I was stronger than that, damn it.

Glancing at Natalie’s set jaw and her angry eyes only made me even angrier. Men were such pigs. They thought they could walk all over us, cheat on us, or even make bets on whether they could sleep with us. I wanted to hurt the two men who had destroyed me and my friend. I wanted to make them pay.

“I keep thinking about that fucking bet,” Natalie said, twisting the napkin in her hands until it started to tear. “How could they…he do that to me? I thought we had something special, but all I ended up being was some kind of immature fun for him and damn Zander.”

I don’t know why the idea suddenly entered my head. I wasn’t a vindictive person, but the past year had seriously changed me. Hardened me. The grin that suddenly lifted my lips was evil and I didn’t care. “Let’s have a little immature fun of our own, Nat.”

“I love you and all, Rissa, but I’ve never been interested in experimenting with a girl before.”

For the first time in what felt like a million years I burst out laughing. I gripped my sides; I was laughing so hard it hurt to breathe. “No, no,” I got out through my giggles. “I wasn’t going to suggest that.”

“Oh,” Natalie said and grinned. “Sorry. What were you going to say?”

Wiping my eyes with the back of my hand, I sat up again and moved closer to Natalie so that no one else would hear if they happened go come back there. “I was thinking about that bet that Dev and Z made. How about we make one of our own?”

Blue-gray eyes widened and then the evil grin I’d had on my face earlier broke across her beautiful face. “You’ve roused my interest, my friend.”

“Let’s make them sweat. It’s obvious that both Devlin and Wroth want us to take them back. Especially Devlin, he’s like a kicked puppy when he’s around you.”

Natalie’s grin faltered. “Wroth isn’t much better, Rissa.”

“Whatever, I don’t care.” I didn’t. I. Didn’t. “I don’t want a man who is going to cheat on me.”

“And I don’t want one who treats me as nothing more than a game.”

I caught her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “So let’s make them the game. I bet you that I can make Wroth beg me for another chance, seduce him and then drop him before you can do the same to Devlin.”

“You want me to seduce Devlin?” Natalie whispered fiercely. “Have you lost your fucking mind? I don’t want to get within touching distance, let alone let him kiss me.”