LITMIR.BIZ

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up, she glanced around for a quiet place to talk. She hadn’t spoken with her friend since she’d announced her engagement, one that Kiki proudly took credit for because it was she who’d introduced the pair back in Atlanta. Wedding chatter wasn’t number one on Kiki’s list right now, but a little girl talk might get her mind off things...like Dev.

      Kiki dashed into an empty bathroom and closed the door behind her, dulling the sound of the mayhem. “Banger!” she said when she picked up, using Laina’s old high school nickname.

      “Mash,” Laina replied dully.

      Kiki gripped the phone. “What’s wrong?”

      A sniffle, and then she blurted, “He fucked another girl in our bed, Kiki.”

      Kiki’s blood froze in her veins. “What?” she gasped.

      “I caught them. And then he tried to blame it on me.” Laina let out a choked sob.

      Kiki slapped her hand down on the sink. “Oh, my God. The fucking prick! I am so, so sorry, honey.”

      “Me, too.”

      “And I introduced—”

      “Stop. It’s not your fault. It’s—it’s better this way. He said I was boring in bed, Kiki. It’s better that I found out what a cocksucker he is now.”

      Kiki inhaled deeply to settle her boiling blood. What Jack had done to her had been scathing, but she couldn’t imagine the intensity of what Laina had just experienced.

      “Tell me what I can do for you, Laina. I’m not on Moretta right now, but I’m here for you. Do you need anything?”

      “You mean besides something to castrate Ward with? No, I’m good. Just—I need to get away. Are you up for a visit?”

      “Of course! Except that I’m away for another five weeks,” she added guiltily. Laina had been a rock-solid friend to her when she desperately needed one, and it bothered her that she couldn’t reciprocate in the same way.

      There was a pause on Laina’s end. “Five weeks? Where are you?”

      Not now. Revealing where she was would lead to a conversation about Dev and/or her mother, and this wasn’t the time or place. “Long story. This is about you, honey. Can you come in late November?”

      “I’ll have to check with my boss. She’s a bit of a bitch.”

      At least her sense of humor was intact; Laina had started her own architecture firm two years ago. “That’s not what I’ve heard about her,” Kiki replied. Then she fell silent, wishing there was a sure way to convince her friend that everything would turn out fine. But she remembered what it was like to be in her shoes, and she knew that the only real cure was time.

      And that as soon as she got over him, the next complication would enter her life.

      “Ten minutes,” a male voice crackled in Kiki’s back pocket. Damn it—she’d forgotten about her walkie-talkie, and part of her job was to keep Dev on schedule. She killed the volume and turned her attention back to Laina.

      “It’s going to be alright, okay? I promise. And you are not boring in bed.”

      Laina managed a laugh. “How would you know?”

      “Because Ward seems pretty damned boring himself, if you ask me. Someday you’ll meet a real man, and...” Dev’s face filled her head. That’s what he was, wasn’t he? One of only a few real men out there. Or maybe that was just what she wanted him to be.

      “And what?”

      “Nothing. You just focus on you right now, okay?”

      “Okay,” Laina sniffed.

      After she hung up, Kiki made her way to Dev’s door, preparing herself for the onslaught on her senses. And sure enough, her breath caught in her throat when he appeared. He looked every inch the rock god he was and more. His dark hair was mussed and his shirt was left open at the top, revealing a hint of his muscled chest. She could smell his aftershave, that ever-present reminder of the traces he’d left on her skin. Against her will, her eyes dropped to his leather pants. She felt a jolt shoot straight to her pussy at the sight of his generous bulge.

       Stop it.

      But her face was already flushed. Damn, but being a redhead was an unfair disadvantage.

      Through the walls, the crowd had reached a fever pitch. “Twitch! Twitch!”

      “It sounds like they’re ready for you,” Kiki managed. “What’s that all about?”

      Dev leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. “Just a nickname. Maybe because I like to play my guitar hard and fast.”

      His aqua eyes caressed her body, telling her exactly how he’d rather be applying those two adverbs. She could feel the heat creep down from her cheeks to her breasts.

       Cool it.

      She tried for a casual stance, hands in front pockets. “So, uh...you good to go? I mean, do you have a routine you like to do before you go onstage or anything? I’ve heard some musicians like to do scales, tai chi, snort a few lines, whatever...” She cringed as she trailed off. Did she really just say that? She was nervous as hell, and she always babbled and said stupid shit when she was nervous.

      And yet Dev, the person who should be nervous, seemed perfectly calm. “Never readier,” he replied with a wink—the same two words she’d spoken right before he drove his cock inside her for the first time. Jesus. He wasn’t making this easy.

      In her peripheral vision, Kiki saw a crew member approach. “Hey, Chester,” Dev said when he stopped near them.

      “Hey. Bob was wondering if you wanted us to scout for you tonight. He just took a walk and said to let you know there’s plenty of good material in the crowd.”

      “Nah, I’ll pass. Just like I did on the last tour,” Dev replied pointedly, his eyes never leaving Kiki’s.

      Kiki watched as Chester took his baseball cap off and replaced it on his head, turning the visor backward. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back on his heels, as if waiting for Dev to come to his senses. “You sure, man?”

      “Sure of what—that he’s the best goddamned musician since Springsteen?” a man said as he appeared beside Dev. Kiki felt herself stiffen. It was the heavyset guy with the cell phone she’d noticed earlier. He wore his long white hair slicked back, and his paunch strained at his shirt buttons.

      “Bix, it’s about time,” Dev said, giving the man a back-pounding embrace. “Bix, I’d like you to meet Kiki Becker. Kiki, Bix is my tour manager.”

      Kiki nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

      “Pleasure’s mine,” Bix replied, but his eyes only lit on her briefly. She watched as Chester cleared his throat, trying to remind Dev of his presence. It was an interesting hierarchy dance, Kiki observed—Chester was clearly at the bottom, and a minute ago she would have put Dev at the top. But Bix’s entrance into the picture had made her less certain of that.

      Dev turned to Chester. “Thanks, man—I’m all good.”

      “Hey, you’re the boss.” Chester shrugged and turned away. Bix’s cell phone rang, and after he walked off, Kiki burst out laughing. “‘Plenty of good material’?” she said to Dev. “I take it that’s code for hot chicks.”

      “I would never use such a disrespectful term,” Dev replied. “But yes. There is a certain tradition among certain musicians that involves inviting a certain type of female backstage. It’s not something that interests me.”

      “No?”

      “Anymore,” he clarified with a smile.

      Kiki gave him a skeptical

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