Page 46 of Snared

I couldn’t sleep. I shifted in my bunk, hating the cramped quarters and missing a real bed. Even a shitty hotel bed was better than this. And now I was thinking about Charlie in that hotel bed in Vegas. My cock hardened. I swear I constantly had a semi when she was around. Or I was thinking about her. Or someone mentioned her.

Fucking hell.

This lust was ridiculous and there was nothing I could do about it. The guys would string me up if I went out and hooked up with someone else before this charade of a marriage ended. Maybe I could convince Charlie to be married with benefits until this was all over. As much as she denied it, her kiss didn’t lie. She wanted me as much as I wanted her. It was only logical that we assuage our itches until the sham was over. After all, it’s not like we would be able to get an annulment at this stage. No one would believe that nothing ever happened after Jax’s glowing announcement and that kiss. A kiss that, based on the pings coming out of my phone, was already everywhere on social media.

I guessed I should be grateful that I owned my own company and didn’t have to report to anyone who would fire my ass for getting into this situation. Well, aside from Steelwolf. I still had hope that we’d get through this with them not despising me when the tour ended.

I nodded to Glen as I headed toward the dressing room. Steelwolf had finished performing their Seattle show, and we were headed straight to Portland. Charlie looked amazing tonight.

Not that she didn’t every night, but she’d been slightly stiff during the Salt Lake show. The fans hadn’t seemed to notice, and no one would have blamed her after the shitstorm we were going through, but I was glad to see her shake that off.

Thinking about how she’d performed, I didn’t notice Molly until I walked right into her.

“Shit. Sorry,” I said, gripping her arm in reflex.

“We keep bumping into each other, Josh. Literally,” she said with a soft laugh.

“Yeah, we should work on that,” I answered. “Everything good?”

“Oh yeah. Just the normal insanity of keeping everything in order on tour.” She clutched her tablet to her chest.

I bit out a quick laugh. “Yeah, it’s been years since I was a tour manager. These bastards are fucking needy.”

“So needy.”

Were her cheeks pink? Was sheflirting?

She leaned in. “Well, since it’s been a while for you, I’ll let you in on a secret. Don’t let them walk all over you.” Then she patted my sleeve, her lips quirking up in a smile.

We continued to chat about the tour since Molly had some questions about the upcoming shows in LA. Savage Night was staying on as Steelwolf’s opening band a bit longer than normal because I knew these guys could make it, and I wanted them to get more exposure. However, that meant some logistics had changed since the start of this run.

When we finished, she took a step back. “Thanks again for everything, Josh.”

“Excuse me.” Charlie’s voice from behind me took me by surprise.

“Oh hey, Charlie. Killer show tonight,” Molly said, flashing a smile as her eyes moved to look over my shoulder.

Okay, so maybe she hadn’t been flirting with me. Maybe she was just friendly. And maybe I was so tense about Charlie that I couldn’t get a read on Molly. She’d never been super flirtatious at the office if I remembered correctly. Dammit. Charlie had me all twisted up.

“Thanks, Molly. Caught the end of Savage’s show. The guys look great,” Charlie said. “I should get in there,” she said, her shoulder hitting my back as she tried to move past me.

I stepped aside, but not before catching her gaze.

That is, her glare as she quickly lifted her brow toward Molly.

What the hell was that about?

“Yeah, I’m checking on a few final things, then I’ll swing by to collect my guys,” Molly said. “See you later, Charlie, Josh.”

When Molly was out of earshot, I quickened my strides and stopped Charlie right outside of the guys’ dressing room door.

“What?” she asked, spinning to face me.

“What was that look for?” I asked.

“I thought we agreed to no hookups.” She spoke through a clenched jaw.

I stopped short. “What? I’m not hooking up with Molly.”

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