“That’s for you, Liv,” I said.
She looked at the ring then at me.
Eyes wide.
“That’s what you think,” I said. “That’s a little taste of forever. Something I never thought I’d give a shit to taste. But here I am.”
“Wait a second,” Liv said. “You’ll get on one knee to rip my panties off, but you can’t get on one knee to ask me to marry you?”
I lifted my eyebrow. “What were you expecting? Prince fucking charming, babe? I’m a filthy rock star. Take it or leave it.”
Liv looked at the ring again. She carefully slid it onto her ring finger. She held her hand out and stared at it.
She nodded. “This’ll do.”
“Yeah?”
She looked at me. “Yeah.”
Her eyes glistened over and I jumped up out of my chair.
She did the same.
Liv jumped into my arms and I spun her around, holding her tight.
I put her on her feet and kissed her.
“This’ll do, huh?” I whispered.
Liv grinned. “Said the writer to the filthy rock star.”
Epilogue
DEX
Back home, right where we belonged.
Flying through miles and time, showing a little playful fun high up in the sky, in the bathroom with a flight attendant who could have been a goddamn model if she wanted to be. And all I asked her to do was to show me how the lock on the door worked. Everything else after that… well… I preferred to keep silent about my dealings with the mile high club. Even though I’d probably gotten laid more times at thirty thousand feet than most did three feet off the floor in their bed.
I got home and didn’t feel like hanging around.
So I jumped on my motorcycle and took off.
I rode my bitch up through twisting roads and pulled over for a minute to take a piss and listen to the ocean beat up on the shore.
My scene wasn’t any of that romantic bullshit though.
The beach was good for two things.
Drinking.
And fucking.
The fucking part was tricky though.
Sand was a bitch to get out of certain delicate areas.
And going down on a woman at the beach… forget about it. It was a sandwich for sure.
I cruised back into the city and went to my favorite bar.
A corner building, dressed in black, no name needed.
This wasn’t the kind of place that advertised itself. Or hosted fucking trivia night.
Dicky was a good guy I knew from a different life. I could drink there without people asking me to sign their tits or blow a load in their mouth. Not that I didn’t love the fans, but sometimes it was nice to have a few drinks in peace. And when it came time for me to blow my load, I didn’t have to worry about autographs.
I got to the bar and ordered two shots.
One for me.
One for whoever the hell ended up next to me.
I nodded to a dark haired vixen across the bar.
She gave a playful wave.
I pointed to the shot glass.
And sometimes, love, it was just that easy.
And that was okay.
No judgement passed by me ever.
There was nothing wrong with having a few drinks and just getting shit done. We could wake up tomorrow morning, have a smoke and a laugh, grab some greasy breakfast and call it quits. I wasn’t exactly a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy, but there was no fucking way I’d end up like Nash.
Throwing a diamond ring on a woman’s finger was a prison sentence.
Making that kind of promise, not knowing if the most beautiful woman in the world was about to walk into your life.
Get the hell out of here with that shit.
The dark haired vixen made her way toward me and I slid the shot glass toward her.
“Destiny,” she said and grabbed the shot and threw it back.
I laughed. “That’s a fake name, love.”
“So?”
“I guess I’ll make up a name then too,” I said.
“You can try but I already know who you are.”
“Damn. So much for playing the rich businessman angle.”
Destiny leaned toward me. “I can still play the poor helpless girl angle if that’s what you want.”
“I’m more into the quickie in the bathroom bar kind of thing,” I said.
“Then I guess you’ll know where to find me,” she said.
I watched her walk away and laughed to myself.
I reached for my shot glass and felt someone grab my arm.
A second later I was on the floor of the bar.
Two guys standing over me, fists locked up tight, one wearing enough rings to open a goddamn jewelry store.
“Fuck you,” I said to them.
“No, Dex… fuck you.”
I had no idea who they were.
But they knew me.
I swung my foot before they could hit me again, catching the ring man in the balls.
That gave me enough time to focus on the other guy, who was already coming at me with a punch that landed right on my jaw.
I saw a handful of stars but not enough for a constellation.
I kicked my way back and got to my feet.
I grabbed a chair and swung it.
The cheap chair exploded into pieces off the ring man’s shoulder.
He yelled in pain.
As he turned, the sleeve of his shirt pulled up, exposing a tattoo on his arm.
I saw the logo and the name and nodded.
And here I thought maybe these assholes were involved with the vixen waiting in the bathroom for me to get behind her.
They weren’t.
They were with Raunchy Recks.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked the other guy as he lunged at me.
“You know what this is for,” he said as he took another swing.
I took the punch like a champ and then tossed him against the wall.
I landed two good punches to his ribs before the door to the bar flew open and in came the goddamn police.
Some jerk off must have tipped them off… or maybe this was part of the set up…
A cop pulled me off the guy I was beating and put me face down on the bar as he cuffed me.
It wasn’t the first time I was face down at a bar.
As the cop growled orders at me and read me my rights, the bathroom door opened and out peeked the vixen. Destiny.
“Sorry, love,” I called out. “I got a little tied up.”
She quickly shut the bathroom door.
I started to laugh.
My face was peeled off the bar and I looked at Dicky as he stood there with a dirty towel over his shoulder.
“Hey, Dicky,” I called out.
He waved a hand. “I’ve got it. I’ll call Toby.”
“Thanks, man. I have cash in my pocket so I could pay for those two drinks.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Dicky said as the cop started to drag me out of the bar. “I know you’re good for it.”
I took a deep breath when I was back out on the street.
I looked at my motorcycle and frowned.
I wasn’t going to be riding her home tonight, huh?
Shit… and I wasn’t going to be riding Destiny either.
Don’t let anyone tell you living the rock star life is easy, love.
(Dex’s book will be available on 5.1.20 BUT if you’re reading this before that date, it’s available for pre-order… if you’re reading this after that date, it’s LIVE right now! Just go to Amazon.com and type in “JAXSON KIDMAN A FILTHY ENGAGEMENT” right now!)