Chapter 17

Mick

Waking up after only having a total of an hour of sleep the entire night is awful but damn was it the best night of my fucking life. Candice’s beautiful blonde hair is draped over the pillow, and I take a deep inhale of her vanilla shampoo. Last night, she gave herself fully to me and now it’s all I crave.

“Hey,” I whisper and kiss the top of her head.

“Please God no. I can’t have any more sex.” Candice doesn’t move.

“No, no. We have to get up and go to the airport.” I chuckle.

“I don’t want to do that either,” she says as she turns to face me.

“Hi,” I smile and kiss the tip of her nose.

“Hey,” she smiles. “I don’t want to get out of this bed because it means I have to go back to pretending I don’t know what you look like naked.”

“Ditto.” Last night was amazing. Maybe she isn’t “sexually experienced” as she calls it, but she is enough for me. Every second I spend kissing and touching her is the craziest high I’ve ever had.

“Do you think we’re going to keep our promise?” she asks.

I want to scream hell no, but I know we have to. She’s right. There’s no way we could get away with secretly dating. Whether the paps caught us or not, there is always someone lurking around waiting to sell a story about me.

“We have to,” I say.

“I know.”

“We’ll be okay. Ten months from now we’ll be back here again.” There’s a flutter of butterflies in my stomach. I can’t tell Tommy about this. If I do, I become the person I don’t want to be. I’m then the guy who’s going to break her heart and I can’t be him anymore. Not when I know how good it feels to have her next to me.

“Ten months from now, aye? I feel like a lot can change between now and then,” she says.

“Like what?” I ask.

“You could have a new love interest. Especially now that I gave it up,” she says. It’s like she’s reading my thoughts and I freeze for a moment.

“Don’t be daft.” I shake my head.

“I’m not being daft. I’m being realistic. You can’t just wait ten months to sleep with me again.”

“Why not?” I ask.

“Because you’re you and beautiful girls throw themselves at you on a regular basis. It’s not like I expect you to be celibate.”

“Do you want me to be celibate for the next ten months?” I ask.

“Pah! That’d be the day.” She laughs.

“Seriously. If you want me to, then I will be, but then it means the same thing for you,” I say.

“I think I could outlast you!” She pokes me in the side.

“Is this a bet then?” I ask. No more fucking bets, Mick.

“You’re on,” she says.

“I really hope you don’t lose,” I say.

“I hope we both don’t,” she says.

“I won’t. I never lose a bet.” She doesn’t know the irony behind her statement.

“Me either,” she says. I look at her and a feeling I’m not familiar with washes over me.

“Come on now.” I pull away from her to check my phone. “I just texted Rex to bring my bags here and pick us up.”

“When is Violet coming to meet us?” she asks.

“What?” I ask and stop texting. I forgot Violet was coming.

“Your sister? When is she coming to visit?” she presses.

“I booked her on a flight tomorrow,” I say. I have to tell her the truth about my parents before Violet comes. I have to tell her the truth about everything if I want a shot in hell to make this last.

“I look forward to meeting her,” she says.

“Look, I have to tell you something—” I stop as soon as I look at her face. She squints at me as if she’s trying to read my mind.

“What is it?” she asks. I pause and think about it. This is going to hurt her, so what’s the point in telling her.

“I think you look beautiful,” I say and kiss her. I’m the biggest piece of shit on Earth.

“Are you sure that’s all?” She studies me.

“I’m sure.” I give her a smile.

“Mick—” she says, and my phone goes off.

“Hold up,” I say. Saved by the phone. Rex tells me he’s outside and I look over at Candice. “Looks like it’s time to go love. Put some clothes on.”

“You too.” She sits up and the sheets cover her. How I wish they would slide down just a bit so I can take one last look at her body. “Wait, how is your car going to get home?”

“I’ll just get someone to come pick it up later,” I say.

She nods. She reaches off her bed at the discarded shirt on the floor and slides it over her head. My eyes can’t stop watching her as she puts on yoga pants. I walk towards her. She turns around and she’s facing me.

“Kiss me.” One of my arms wraps around her waist and I pull her into me. Our kiss turns desperate as I guide her backward to her bed. She lays back and I move beside her, only breaking our kiss for a moment. As soon as our lips touch again, we start to get lost in each other. I’m about to lift her shirt when my phone rings again.

“Shit.” My forehead leans against hers.

“Duty calls.” Candice sighs.

“We will finish this in ten months.” I adjust my hard-on.

“Ten months,” she repeats.

This is going to be difficult.

The drive to the airport is quiet. Candice leans against me and falls asleep. Rex chuckles from the front and shakes his head. I’m going to kill him. Her blonde hair is draped over my shoulder, and she looks angelic sleeping against my shoulder. I need to tell her the truth even though the thought of it crushes me. We pull up to the airport and it’s relatively quiet. Having a private plane has its advantages.

“Wake up,” I whisper to Candice. Her eyes open and she sits up to stretch.

“I can’t wait to get on the plane and sleep more,” she says.

“Me either,” I agree. We get outside and Rex grabs our bags.

“I can carry mine,” Candice says to him.

“Nonsense,” Rex says and hands me my bag.

“Wait, so you carry your own bag, but I don’t have to? I like this.” She grins and I smile back. Even at five-thirty in the morning, with no makeup on and her hair pulled into a ponytail, she is still the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. We get inside and I see the lads and a few of the crewmembers.

“Before we go over there—can I talk to you?” I ask her. Rex continues to move towards the rest of the group.

“Sure, what’s up?” she asks.

“I just wanted to tell you last night was—” I stop. When did I turn into such a sap? “—was great.”

“It was pretty okay,” she teases.

“We have a deal, right?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says as she shakes my outstretched hand.

“Cool,” I reply. I feel anything but cool in this moment. Candice’s eyes light up as she looks past me.

“Charlie?” she says.

“Candy!” A guy I can only assume is Charlie moves past me and swoops her up for a hug.

“You’re not going back on the road with Felix?” she asks.

“Nope. We decided to take a break,” he says in his thick American accent.

“What happened?” she asks.

“Just disagreed about the way he’s handled some stuff.” Charlie shrugs. He looked to be about twenty-eight with short black hair and a bit of deliberate stubble.

“I’m bloody happy you’re here. It’ll be nice to know someone,” she says.

“You’re coming on tour? No way! I knew Caroline was, but I’m so stoked you are too. It’ll be great to catch up Candy,” he says and squeezes her arm.

“Definitely. We will have to plan a hang out when we both have off time,” she says.

“For sure,” he says, and I cough.

“Hey, Mick. I’m Charlie, your new guitar tech.” He holds out his hand.

“Okay.” I glare at him and don’t take his hand, the jealousy rising in my chest.

“All right—nice to meet you. I’ll see you on the plane Candice,” he says and looks back to her.

“She’ll be on my plane,” I say.

“Oh,” he says, “See you later, Candy.”

“I’ll see you later,” she says. He walks away and Candice hits me in the stomach. “What the hell?”

“I could ask you the same thing. That guy was all over you,” I say.

“He was not. Don’t be stupid. We’ve known each other for a long time,” she says.

“How long?”

“Since he started working with The Hestons so like four years.”

“I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

“I don’t care what you like. You don’t own me.” She crosses her arms. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” I say.

“Then relax.” She touches my arm.

“I will. But I still want you to come on my plane with me,” I say.

“How many planes are there?” she asks.

“Two. Tommy, me, and a few of the crew members like Rick and Caroline will be on my plane and then the others will be on the other plane with Brandon, Kane, and Conner,” I say. It isn’t entirely true but I’m about to make it a reality.

“Shouldn’t I go on the other plane and get to know some of the other crew members,” she says. Of course, she would be difficult.

“I guess but I figured ‘cause Caroline was going to be joining my plane then you would want to do the same.” I lie. Caroline actually was on the other with Brandon and the other lads, but not anymore.

“Fine,” she sighs, “I’m going to go say goodbye to Knox and Lottie.”

“Okay,” I say. I see Caroline talking to Rick as Candice heads towards the other Bryans.

“Caroline, can I talk to you for a quick sec?” I ask.

“What can I do for you?” she asks. Her eyes narrow, unsure of what my request could possibly be.

“You’re flying with me in my plane today,” I say.

“Is that a question or a demand?” she asks.

“Both?” I reply.

“You hate me so why do you want to share a tiny space with me for the next eight hours?” she asks.

“I just do.” I glance over at Candice.

“Candice thinks I’m on your plane and if I’m not, then she’ll follow me, and you can’t watch her every move.” She raises her eyebrows at me. Damnit. How do these women have the ability to read me so well?

“I don’t need to watch her,” I say.

“Don’t you though?” Caroline smirks and I look back at Candice who’s now talking to Conner. My blood boils.

“I don’t want you to have a heart attack because my paycheck relies on you being alive, so I’ll do it under one condition. If you’re rude to me even once, then I’ll never do you another favor.” She crosses her arms.

“Deal.” I grit my teeth. I didn’t want to have to see Caroline for the next eight hours, but I didn’t want Candice to be anywhere but with me.

“Sheesh you’ve got it bad.” Caroline shakes her head and walks away. I let out a large sigh. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.

“Hey bro.” I turn to see Charlie.

“Can I help you with something?” I glare at him.

“Yeah, I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t fuck around with Candice,” he says. I’ve got to hand it to him, it’s a bold move and it makes me almost respect him a bit.

“What did you say?” I start to laugh. “Who are you anyway?”

“The guy who will kick your ass if you do anything to hurt her,” he says.

“I could fire you,” I say.

“You could but you won’t. Rick basically begged me to come on this tour. Looks like you’re running out of people who want to work with you.”

“Why don’t you worry about what my guitar is doing and then I’ll worry about what I do in my life.”

“All right man.” He shrugs and walks away. What a prick.

“Already fighting with the crew aye?” Brandon says and walks up to me.

“You’re always around, aren’t you?” I say.

“We work together,” he says.

“It’s already been a day and it’s barely begun so leave me alone,” I say.

“I wasn’t going to say anything. I was going to introduce to you to Hannah.” He points to a beautiful brunette with legs for days.

“Why?” I ask.

“I don’t know, Mickey. Maybe because we’ve been doing this too long and I want to patch things up with you,” he says, “or maybe it’s because I have a super-hot girlfriend and I want to show her off.”

“I’ve had hotter.”

“See you don’t get it. It’s not a competition.” Brandon shakes his head.

“I’m tired,” I say and slide on my Ray Bans. “I’ll meet her in New York or something.”

“Fine,” Brandon says, “Whatever, Mick.” He walks to Hannah, and she gives him a big smile. Jealousy courses through my blood. I want that. I want uncomplicated, but I also want Candice.

I grab my bag and follow Rex to the tarmac.

“Candice is going to be on our flight, is she?” he asks.

“Don’t you dare say a word.”

“I won’t.” He smirks. “But if I were to say a word—”

“I just warned you not to,” I say.

“I know but if I did, I would say you’re in love, Mickey.”

“I don’t do love. After what happened the last time—” I stop. “I definitely don’t do love.”

“Does being a brooding rock star ever get old?”

“Nope.” I smile. I turn around and see Tommy laughing with Candice. Everything with her was easy even if I tried to make it difficult. Maybe Rex knew something about me I didn’t yet.