Page 15 of Snared

Jax laughed. “Oh man, how drunk were you? Charlie’s ex. Total douche canoe if ever there was one, insulting our Spidey like that. I mean, I was tempted to knock the prick out flat but figured you would’ve been pissed if I’d hit anyone. And then you come out of nowhere and clock him. I swear, I didn’t know you had it in you, CH.”

I pressed my fingers against my temples, trying to process all the words Jax threw at me.

My head killed.

“You got Charlie back to her room okay, right?”

“Ah, yeah.” I refused to glance at the bedroom door behind me.

“Sweet. Knew you wouldn’t mind me ditching you two after running into Melody.” He wiggled his brow. “We made sweet melodies together.”

I gagged. “Please stop. I’m already nauseous enough.”

“Don’t hate, CH. Don’t hate. It’s truly a burden being a rock god,” he said with false humility, his hand on his chest.

“Again. Nausea.”

“Still can’t believe that douche said Charlie slept her way into the band. I’m done with that narrative. Be original, asshats. Charlie fucking rocks and that’s all that matters. But it was nice to see you stick up for her. I know you guys don’t always rub each other the right way.”

I needed to not think about rubbing and Charlie in the same sentence.

“Yeah. What a prick.” My voice raised at the end of the sentence, and I cleared my throat. For the life of me, I couldn’t stop myself from sounding like I was asking a question. He was a dick, right? It sounded like it, at least.

“I’m starved. Let’s get some grease,” Jax said, looping his arm over my shoulder.

“I haven’t even showered.” I paused. “Why exactly did you come to my room, anyway?”

“Because you were bombed last night, and I knew you’d wake up with an epic hangover and regrets about last night. Didn’t want to miss the fun,” he said with a laugh.

“Nowyou’rea prick,” I muttered.

“Yeah, but you love me. Now, get your ass in there, shower off the booze, and join us downstairs for breakfast.” He chuckled as he walked out of the room.

Once the door clicked behind him, I rolled my shoulders and stared at the bedroom door again. We’d dodged being discovered by Jax. By the media. Hopefully, by randoms on social media. My phone would be insane if someone had caught us. My throat had tightened the few times it’d chimed already since I’d woken up, but luckily, we were still in the clear.

“He’s gone,” I said.

The door swung open, and Charlie stood at the threshold, fully dressed. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun, and I clenched my fingers to keep them from stupidly tugging it free and running through the strands.

“I have to get out of here,” she said, irritation in her tone. She thrust one index finger at me. “And you have to fix this.”

She was exasperating. “I told you I would. I’ll call my attorney now. Mypersonalattorney.”

“Fine. Tell me when and where to sign, and we can pretend this was an awful nightmare.”

“You really know how to make a guy feel good about himself, Charlie.”

“Cut the shit, Josh. This was an epic mistake, obviously. There’s no way in hell anything is ever going to happen between us that isn’t professional and band-related.”

“Of course I know that,” I said, annoyed that we were even having this conversation. “I’ll call him now.”

Her arms crossed tight in front of her chest. “Great. I hope he’ll be discreet.”

I got where she was coming from, but she was getting on my damn nerves.

“Look, I get that you’re pissed and you don’t totally trust me, but I’ve got this handled. The last thing either of us wants is to be married to each other or have anyone else find out about last night.”

“Good to know we’re on the same page,” she said, walking toward the suite’s door.

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