Page 8 of Ride or Dies

She tasted of sugar and fruit, with an edge of alcohol, and something else I couldn’t name, but I knew I wanted more. My teeth scraped her bottom lip and she made a soft mewling sound that had my dick ready to bust my zipper. Twisting her curls in my fist, I bit down on her lower lip. The little cry that escaped told me that innocent little Evie wasn’t quite as vanilla as she seemed.

“Levi!”

Jenna’s sharp voice pulled me out of a haze I’d never felt before with any woman. I’d completely forgotten myself. Pushing away all questions about what had just happened, I turned to Evie’s ex, who was gawking at us.

Avoiding Mason’s gaze, I spoke to the jackass who’d picked the wrong territory to trespass in.

“She’s moved on to a real man,” I said, squeezing her ass because I knew she would go along with it. “Get out of Bedford, and don’t come back. You won’t like what happens if you do.”

Chapter Five

Evie

Iwas dreaming.

That had to be it.

Or maybe I’d been sucked into a parallel universe.

Those were the only two explanations that could make any sense of the fact that Levi Bradshaw had just kissed me. And not like some little peck on the cheek, or even a fake kiss like Jenna did when she played Juliet in high school.

No, he’d given me a tongue-in-mouth, full body press, biting kiss that curled my toes and left me aching as well as breathless. Over the years, I’d had plenty of fantasies about all three brothers, and that one kiss blew them all out of the water.

I was still reeling when Levi squeezed my ass and told Randall to get lost. Vaguely, I was aware of Randall spewing threats and insults as Mason dragged my ex to his car and shoved him inside. As we watched Randall drive away, I pulled myself together because I knew the questions were coming. My breakup with Randall was public knowledge, but not even Jenna knew the full scope of things.

It was Tucker, however, who spoke first. “What the hell is going on, Evie?”

Everyone was looking at me now, their expressions mixtures of irritation and expectation. I sighed.

“Let’s go inside,” I suggested. “This isn’t the kind of conversation I want to have in the driveway.”

While we settled in the living room, Isabel played hostess and asked if we wanted anything to drink. Hoping to have a little more time to pull myself together, I asked for some water, but none of the Bradshaws were feeling particularly patient.

“All right, we’re inside and sitting down,” Jenna said. “Spill.”

“That was my ex, Randall Downs,” I began. “He was also my publicist. I fired him the same time I broke up with him. And before you ask, it was when I caught him in bed with his newest client.”

“Cheating bastard,” Mason muttered.

“So you ran home with your tail between your legs because that asshole cheated on you?” Levi asked.

I wasn’t sure if that was an insult or a compliment, but I doubted it would fluster me any less if I knew which it was. Looking down at my hands, I shook my head.

“He’s pissed that I fired him, and that I left Nashville when I was supposed to be negotiating for my next album.”

“I’m guessing that means he’s going to lose a lot of money,” Jenna said.

“I’ve been telling him and the label that I was getting burnt out,” I said, not bothering to hide any of the bitterness in my voice. “But nobody cared. They just wanted me to keep churning out hits until they couldn’t wring another note out of me.”

Jenna reached over and put her hand on mine.

“But that’s not the only reason I’m here,” I continued. “Anyone who’s in the public eye gets fan mail and hate mail, but most of the time, it goes to our label or our PR people. Unless someone asks for it, we never get the bad stuff.”

“But you got the bad stuff?” Isabel asked as she handed me my water and then sat on Jenna’s other side.

I nodded and then took a drink before explaining. “I got some threatening letters at my apartment in Nashville. And they were hand delivered, not mailed.”

“Shit.” Mason leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, expression intense. “How the hell did that happen? Don’t you have a doorman at your building or something?”

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