Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
CALLUM/CASH
Then
Crimson Faultlines & The Hunger Beneath My Skin
It isn’t the truth that cracks me open…it’s the moment she does.
Mr. Hemings has my arm held tightly in his grip. “I asked you a question.”
“She called me a liar.” I step away with my blood pumping hard.
He drops his hold. “Cash, I realize you don’t have a father figure in your life other than your uncle, so I’m going to help you out this one time. You never put your hands on a woman out of anger.”
I race to bring in air. “But she—”
“No excuse will do, Cash. Touch her again and you won’t be welcome in our house anymore.” Greg glares deep into my eyes. “Understood?”
My stomach drops and my cheeks burn. “Yes, sir.”
I crossed a major line and know it.
Bren joins us. “I told you inside, it’s nothing but trouble if you go after my sister. Just look at you, bro. It’s been one night and you’re acting like a dick.”
Greg’s eyes slide to Bren. “What happened inside?”
He gestures between Livianna and me. “I caught him telling Livianna to wait for him until he can date her. We’re going on tour, and you know how that is. I told him I’ll kick his ass if he tries anything with her.”
Greg motions to the lounge chairs, then addresses Livianna. “Darling, it’s time you go practice your lines. I need to have a chat with the boys.”
“Yes, Daddy.” She peeks at me and lowers her head.
She joins Lorna, who’s been standing off to the side. Lorna slides her arm around Lily’s shoulders and pulls her into a hug.
I don’t think her parents like me much at the moment. I hang my head and sit where Greg instructed me to. Bren follows on my heels. We get comfortable on the lounge chair I was on earlier while Greg sits across from us where Lily was.
Greg takes a deep breath and runs his hand over his neck. “Look, boys. You’re both sixteen and I know how guys your age think and feel. It’s intense and can make you do irrational things.”
His gaze lands on me. The muscles over my ribs tighten and my stomach knots.
Bren shifts beside me. “I wouldn’t really kick Cash’s ass.”
Greg studies Bren. “You say that now, but when you’re out on tour, you’re bound to get sick of each other from time to time. You’ll be sharing rooms and small spaces for long periods. That can wear on the best of men.”
“You have my word, Mr. Hemings. We won’t fight. We both wanna be in a band, so we won’t do anything to ruin that.” I pat Bren on the back. “Besides, he’s my best mate.”
Bren shoots me a side smile. “Thanks, Cash. You’re my best friend, too.”
Greg nods. “You two need to remember that. If you want Ur Boyz to be successful, you’re going to need to stick together.”
Bren and I both groan. We hate the name the label gave us. Ur Boyz is a boy band, singing bubblegum pop. I want to be a rockstar singing rock with a special soulful twist.
“I get it. It’s a terrible name, but we all have to start somewhere.” Greg looks over us toward the house.
I follow his gaze. My uncle is talking on the phone while Livianna and her ma disappear into the house. I turn back to Greg.
He leans closer to Bren and me. “Now that the ladies are inside, we need to talk about girls.”
Bren nudges me. “This is when we get the safe sex talk.”
My chest and cheeks heat. I don’t wanna talk about this with his pops. I already had it with my ma.
She found out I lost my virginity a year ago with some random chick named Faith. I met her at a show in Long Beach, so I tune out the majority of the conversation.
A little while back, I was trying to make it on my own, so my uncle booked me to open for a couple of local rock bands. It was great exposure, but I didn’t make it out there long before my uncle found a more lucrative opportunity.
That’s how I got hooked up with Bren. Our mas are both models. They were talking and Lorna explained Bren wanted to start a band, but they needed a lead singer. My ma told my uncle about it.
After some research, they found boy bands do better at the start. They got us hooked up with some label executive my uncle knows. They signed us, but we won’t make much money until we prove ourselves.
The Hemingses are loaded and are willing to back the band financially until we hit it big. They’re basically investors who agreed to provide our advances for the label.
Some hip young guy who’s smart as hell and Greg does some business with helped them put the deal together. He even threw in some of his own money.
My uncle jumped at the chance to make it work. Under the agreement, my uncle will manage us, tour with us, and find ways to get us in front of the right people.
He’s also our chaperone because Lorna can’t tour with us due to Livianna’s responsibilities, and Greg is a cut-throat real estate investor and developer.
He works his ass off and doesn’t have time to put into Bren’s music career. Since Bren is older, they’re willing to let him go out on the road.
Greg taps my knee. “Did I make myself clear?”
I shake my head. “About what?”
He forces out a heavy sigh. “Livianna is not allowed to date for the foreseeable future. That means friends only. And while you’re out on tour, keep it wrapped.
I don’t care if the girl is the best-looking woman you’ve ever seen and swears she’s on birth control, you don’t have sex without a condom. Ever.”
“Understood.” I glance at Bren, who’s nodding in agreement.
“Now that’s settled, have a good time for the rest of the night.” Greg stands and adjusts the waistband of his pants. He pauses and peers down at me. “And never touch a woman in anger again.”
“I won’t. You have my word.” I hang my head.
Not only did my actions put me on watch with Lily’s parents, but she can’t be feeling too great about me either. I knew I was in trouble when it came to her.
All I have to do now is make it up to her and follow her parents’ wishes. Knowing how hard that’s gonna be, I’m glad we’re going out on tour in a month.
We’ve been touring the West Coast for two months and are on our way home. We’re lucky enough to have Wi-Fi on our bus. My uncle insisted on it.
I’m in the back room of the tour bus where he sleeps. It’s the only space with a bigger bed. My bandmates and I crash in single slide-out bunks down the hall.
While I relax back here, I scroll through social media. I follow all of Livianna’s accounts. I don’t think she’s the one posting, but I like to keep up with what’s going on in her life. It’s interesting to know what she’s doing.
I’ve even watched a couple episodes of her show when we’re staying in a hotel room and Bren’s not around. The studio is aging her character, so she’s dressing in sexier clothing. It’s edgy and has a rocker vibe.
I fucking love it. She gets hotter every time I see her.
One of these days, I’ve gotta have her. I start to fantasize about her and get ready to rub one out, but Bren enters the area.
Another downfall of living in close quarters like this is there’s zero privacy. Considering what we do with chicks in beds next to each other, it shouldn’t matter.
We see and share everything with each other. That includes girls, and there’s never a shortage of pussy.
He plops down beside me. “I heard you passed your GED.”
I put my computer away and sit up. “Yeah. I’m done with school.”
“I wish my parents would let me do that.” He slaps my arm with the back of his hand. “You should get John to tell my parents my tutoring is taking away from our practice time and our band is suffering because of it.”
I consider it for a moment. This could work out in my favor.
“I’ll make you a deal, Guns. If you help me, I’ll help you.”
He scoots back and rests against the wall. “Tell me what you want.”
“Your sister.” I don’t move a muscle. I just stare at him. “Help me get your parents to agree to ask her out and I’ll help you get them on board with getting your GED.”
He half rolls his eyes as he glances off to the side. “Fuck, bro. You can’t still be into her. You haven’t even seen her for a while, and she’s fourteen.”
“She’s fifteen now.” I point to the computer. “And I have seen her. She’s on social media and from what I can tell, she’s growing up damn fast.”
“Fuck.” His shoulders drop. “I know what you’ve done with other chicks. You can’t do that to her.”
“I wouldn’t. She’s not some groupie. She’s…someone I like.”
“Get my parents off my back and you’ve got yourself a deal.” He glares at me. “But if you dare fucking hurt her, we’re gonna have problems.”
“I won’t.”
“Famous last words.”
We’ve been back in LA for a month and are in Bren’s basement talking with two new friends who wanna form a rock band. Neil Cooper is a bassist, and Kevin Hawke is a drummer.
They’re both eighteen, so we’re all close in age. If we mesh and riff well together, this could be the start of a dream coming true.
We’re kicking back on four black beanbags that are off to the side of our practice area at the bottom of the stairs, trying to figure out how we can get out of our contract with Ur Boyz.
Hawke pushes his dark hair with red tips on the end away from his face. “We’ve never been on tour, but we know what we’re up against and can handle the pressure.”
Cooper crosses his extended legs at his ankles and laughs. “Yeah, we can take all the pussy that’s out there.”
We all bust a gut. He’s clad in jeans and leather with rockstar vibes and doesn’t seem to give a fuck about authority. His buzz-cut brown hair is bleached platinum. It’s nearly shaved to his scalp, showing off a couple of tattoos he has on his skull.
I already like him. We need someone who can teach us all how to stand up for ourselves.
Bren bends forward and hits my thigh. “We should tell them about that one night we were fucking those two girls in our hotel room.”
I release a puff of air. “Which time?”
“The time I had the one riding me and you were fucking her ass while you made the other chick kneel at your side so you could fuck her with a beer bottle.” Bren tips his head to Hawke and Cooper with a lopsided grin. “It was sick as hell.”