“Good,” I answer, folding my arms over my chest and sinking into the car’s black leather as I watch the multimillion-dollar homes pass us by.
The ride falls into an uncomfortable silence, my bandmates annoyed with me for calling them out on their bullshit. I know these two better than they know themselves. Both of them could get into trouble in a fucking convent.
My cell vibrates, and I pull it out of my pocket and read the message. “Are you fucking serious?” I yell while staring at the Google Alert.
“What happened?” Zeke asks.
“Fucking Alice, she’s sold her damn story,” I yell, waving my cell in their faces.
“Fuck!” Eli curses as the two of them scramble for their phones and google themselves.
The car goes still as we read through the reports.
“Least she said our dicks were big.” Zeke chuckles.
“She says she has photos and videos of us fucking her.” My stomach sinks at that thought.
“How?” Eli asks.
“I don’t know, but we’ve all been pretty fucked-up when we’ve fucked her. Maybe she’s planted them throughout the house and waited for her opportunity. What a fucking bitch,” I scream, punching the seat in front of me.
“Do you think she wants to put a sex tape out there?” Eli asks.
“For the right amount of money, who fucking knows,” I say to him.
We all fall quiet again.
“Vanessa will know what to do,” Zeke adds.
“We’re already on thin ice with her. This might be the last straw.” I sigh.
“They wouldn’t drop us because of this, would they?” Eli asks.
“It’s a huge fuck-up. She’s probably exhausted from having to clean up our messes.”
“Guess we’ll soon find out.” Zeke sighs quietly.
Guess we will.
We pull into the driveway of Vanessa and Christian’s home and get out of the car with trepidation following us.
“This feels weird like we’re about to meet the parents,” Zeke jokes.
It most definitely feels like that.
We’ve been huge Dirty Texas fans all our lives, and being mentored by your idols is surreal. Now we’ve been invited into their inner sanctum, the nerves have kicked in, especially now considering we have huge targets on our backs.
I walk up to the imposing entrance and press the doorbell. The three of us wait in anxious silence until someone opens the door.
“You made it!” Vanessa says, greeting us with a warm hug and a wide smile. Her cheeks are rosy, and her eyes a little glassy—I think Vanessa might be tipsy.
Shit! Has she not seen the news?
“This is for you,” I say, handing Vanessa the bottle of wine.
“You didn’t have to do that, but thank you,” she says, taking the bottle from my hands. “Please come on in and join the rest of the crew.”
“Um … before we go in, there’s something we need to tell you.”
Vanessa pauses. “If you’re talking about Alice, I already know. I’ve dealt with it. She won’t be a problem,” she says tightly.
Oh. That wasn’t at all what I was expecting to hear.
“I knew she’d be trouble the day she left the office, so I’ve handled it. Now, let’s forget about that bitch and have a good day.”
Wow. Vanessa is one serious badass. We all look at each other and shrug as we follow Vanessa through the foyer, down the grand staircase, and then out through the open doors to the pool area. It’s a mix between a kid’s birthday party and a rock star hall of fame with the people milling around.
“Chris, look who turned up,” Vanessa interrupts her husband, who is drying off a kid.
The rock legend looks up upon hearing his wife’s voice, and his eyes fall on the three of us standing before him. “Better late than never,” he says with a grin as he stands up and shakes our hands.
“I’ll take this little one,” an older lady says, grabbing the squirming child from between Christian’s legs. The little girl’s giggles filter through the air as the woman tickles her exposed belly.
Is this what family life is supposed to look like? Honestly, it’s like a scene from a wholesome sitcom from the eighties.
“You guys look like you could use a beer,” Christian states and walks to where an outside bar is set up. He steps around, opens one of the tall bar refrigerators filled with bottles of beer, and hands us one. We thank him and crack open the bottle, and I take a large gulp, feeling out of place.
“I’m glad you boys came today,” Christian states before taking another drink of his beer. “We should be doing these group barbecues more often than we have been. The label has grown so quickly, surprising all of us, and I guess we’re still playing catch-up,” he explains.
“Not sure if we would have come. We’re not used to all this,” I tell him honestly.
“All what?” he questions with a frown.
“All this … ah, family.”
Christian’s eyes widen in surprise at my answer before nodding in understanding. “If I’m honest, boys, it’s a genuine regret we didn’t pull you into the Dirty Texas family sooner. We feel like we’ve fucked up there, that maybe if we had done things a little differently …” Christian trails off, and I can see the anguish on his face as his features are pulled tight.
Do they blame themselves for what happened to Brodie?
“Don’t think family barbecues would have saved Brodie,” Eli says sadly while fidgeting with the label on his beer bottle.
“Maybe not, but we would have noticed something had changed, and maybe we could have helped,” Christian states, his voice cracking with emotion.
“You would never have been able to save Brodie,” I tell him honestly. He shouldn’t have to walk around bearing that guilt, and I am surprised he is even taking any of the blame when there is none.
“Hey, fellas, good to see you turned up,” Jackson says, breaking up the tense moment. Christian looks relieved seeing his friend and hands him a beer. “Staying out of trouble?” he questions as he looks over at us.
I slink under his penetrative stare—I know this man could kill me in a blink of an eye. He probably killed people when he was in the military. I also know he could easily swipe my entire existence away via his security company. We need to stay on his good side. Otherwise, we could be in a world of pain.
“All good here. Thanks to you, I’m sure,” Zeke replies, implying we know Jackson probably took care of Alice and not in a swim-with-the-fishes kind of way but something more aboveboard when dealing with a blackmailer.
“And don’t you forget it.” Jackson nods, his eyes narrowing on Zeke as if he is scanning his brain for the lies. “Have you heard from Alice?”
We all shake our heads.
Thank fuck we haven’t because I’m not sure I could stop myself from telling her exactly what a low-life bitch she is.
“Let me know if you do. I’ll deal with her … again,” Jackson adds.
I do not want to be on Jackson Connolly’s radar, thanks.
“Good to see you guys came. Great first step in the right direction,” Evan Wyld says, clapping Eli on the shoulder as he joins us at the bar with Finn Connolly right behind him, who is Jackson’s brother.