Chapter 6 #2
He exhales through his nose, sharp and annoyed, like he’s been robbed.
“What.” The word is a growl.
“Silas needs you back at the bus.”
He doesn’t move right away.
His gaze stays locked on me, dark and heavy, while his thumb brushes once across the base of my throat. A promise.
Then he steps back. No apology or regret in his eyes.
My knees wobble. My chest is a mess of panic and craving, like I can’t decide if I want to scrub him off me or pull him back. It wasn’t just a moment—it was a warning. He doesn’t play fair, doesn’t play safe, and if I’m not careful, I’ll mistake the danger for devotion.
But, he feels different. Something about him feels honest.
“What. The. Fuck. Was. That, Sawyer?” I mutter under my breath as I force myself to follow him down the backstage ramp.
The crowd outside is louder now. Hotter. Thirstier.
Jasper walks ahead of me like he owns the damn world. And the second we hit the open lot— They swarm.
Girls. All makeup, crop tops, and desperation.
They scream his name like its scripture, like every syllable saves them.
One of them holds out a vinyl for him to sign, another leans in too close, giggling, fingers pressing against his chest like she’s testing if he’s flesh and blood or something carved out of sin.
And he lets them. And I feel it—low and ugly. That dark twist in my gut, I don’t want to name.
Jealousy.
One girl blows him a kiss. Another scans me up and down, her brows knitting like I’m some glitch in the matrix.
A fangirl with no wristband? A roadie? A mistake?
I roll my shoulders and keep my face locked in a neutral expression. But inside, I’m burning. Boiling.
And the worst part?
He turns just enough to catch my eye, and he winks like he knows. Like he wants me to see.
My teeth sink into my bottom lip to keep from saying something stupid. I stay professional. Detached. But the longer he stands there, letting that girl’s hand trail over the exact spot on his chest where his skin still radiates the heat of me, the more I want to lose it.
Breathe, Sawyer. You’re not his anything.
One of them leans in, whispers something in his ear, and he laughs.
That’s it. I stalk forward, brushing my shoulder hard against his as I pass. I don’t stop or look back. Not even when I feel his gaze burning a hole in my spine.
JASPER
I find her inside, tucked near the edge of the bus kitchen with her laptop open and her camera beside her, lens cap on. She’s pretending to work, but her jaw’s locked tight, and her fingers hover too still over the keyboard.
I step in slowly, letting the silence stretch.
“Trouble.”
No answer.
“Little Sin.”
Still nothing, but I catch the faint twitch in her hand, the slight hitch in her breath.
I drop into the seat across from her, all confidence and deliberate calm. I’m still shirtless, skin damp from the heat of the day.
“You jealous?”
Her gaze stays fixed on the screen. “I’m busy,” she says, flat and clipped.
“That wasn’t a no.”
I lean forward, forearms braced on my knees, eyes locked on her like I’m peeling away every defense she’s trying to throw up. Her lips part like she’s about to snap something sharp at me, but I cut in first.
“You really think I give a damn what girls like that want?”
She finally looks at me—blue eyes sharp and cold enough to bite.
“No,” she says. “I think you like that they want it.”
That one hits. She’s not wrong. I do like the power. The control. But it’s not the same. Not with her.
“They’re noise,” I tell her, voice dropping to a slow burn. “You’re a song.”
Her brow arches, the brief glint of her piercing catching the light. “Wow, is that line number five, or are you out of rehearsed ones?”
I can’t help the smirk that cuts across my face.
“I don’t rehearse with you,” I say, rising to my feet. “I react.”
I step around her chair, slow enough for my shadow to fall over her. My hand brushes the top of the chair as I lean in from behind, close enough for her hair to touch against my bare chest.
“But go ahead,” I murmur. “Be mad. But the next time you walk away like that…” I dip my head closer, my breath skimming the curve of her ear. “…I’ll bend you over my knee and spank that pretty ass raw.”
She immediately freezes. “Like hell you—”
I lean in faster than she can finish telling me off.
“The only girl I give a fuck about screaming my name—” I pause, savoring the way her breath hitches. “—is you.”
She doesn’t move. Doesn’t even breathe. But I see the way her spine straightens and her thighs press together as if she’s trying to trap the heat I’ve just lit under her skin.
Good fucking luck with that.
A slow, crooked smirk pulls at my mouth as I straighten, rising to my full height, watching the way her knuckles grip the edge of the table like it might save her.
“Yeah,” I murmur, stepping back one deliberate pace, letting the air cool between us but never releasing the tension. “That’s what I thought.”
I turn casual, like I’m done with her. One step. Two.
Then I hear it—
Her exhale. A sound that tells me she’s losing the war she’s pretending to fight.
My blood thrums.
I glance back over my shoulder, voice sharp enough to cut. “Say my name, Sin.” I let the words drip sinfully. “When you’re alone in your bunk…trying not to moan too loud.”
Her chair scrapes across the floor—sudden, harsh. Whether she’s about to slap me, throw something, or follow me… I don’t care. I’m already walking away.
Leaving her exactly where I wanted her.
Mind spinning.
Nerves frayed.
And my name burned raw on her tongue.