Page 2 of Fractured Trust

The way they eventually had eleven years ago.

On autopilot, Noah followed his friends into the dressing room. A shower and a beer or two sounded pretty good right about now.

* * *

An hour later, Noah found himself sitting on a couch in the VIP section of some flashy L.A. club their manager, Drew, had arranged for them to make an appearance at. His knee was jiggling restlessly as he took a pull of his beer and looked around, scanning the crowd distractedly. He was sandwiched between Connor and Tex. Not exactly his favorite place to be, considering they both had their woman on their laps. And one of those women was his sister.

He met Zac’s gaze across the table and rolled his eyes when his friend smirked at him. But when Zac drained the rest of his beer and nodded at the bar, Noah dragged himself out from between his two other bandmates with relief, leaving his empty bottle on the table and following the bass player over there. One of the band’s security detail trailed discreetly behind them.

“Thanks for the rescue,” Noah said as he slid onto a vacant stool and rested his elbow on the bar.

“Not sure I’d be too happy sitting next to my friend and my sister while they’re making out.”

Noah shuddered. “Yeah, not exactly the highlight of my night.”

His attention was caught by two women standing behind Zac, a blonde and a brunette, who were giggling and staring at the two of them with wide, nervously excited eyes. They were both hot, and obviously out to impress in their tiny, painted-on dresses. But Noah wasn’t in the mood to deal with the kind of flirtation that would be involved if he gave them any indication he was interested. The last thing he felt like right then was having to coddle a woman who was too star-struck and self-conscious to have a good time in bed. What he really wanted was someone who didn’t give a damn who he was—just how good he could make her feel.

Strawberry blonde hair and pale green eyes flashed through his mind, and he quickly gestured to the man serving behind the bar for a shot; he needed to get Summer out of his head. When the bartender put the glass down in front of him, Noah picked it up and downed it, gesturing immediately for another.

Zac watched him; his darkly lashed hazel eyes assessing. “How are things, man?”

Noah threw the second shot back before turning to his friend and smiling. “Fine.” Then, feeling the weight of Zac’s gaze, he grinned and gestured around him. “I mean, what’s to complain about? Life is good.”

Zac grunted, then changed the topic. “Ready for another Crossfire tour?”

Noah nodded, the fingers of one hand tapping out a beat on the bar. “Yeah, it’ll be good to get out on the road again. I’ve been restless the last few weeks.”

Crossfire was the side project band he and Zac headed up. What had started out being a way to fill their time while Fractured was on hiatus—and for Zac to fulfill his desire to give being frontman a go—had taken on a life of its own. Crossfire was successful. Very successful. Not to the same level as Fractured, of course—although having two members of one of the biggest bands in the world making up half the lineup certainly hadn’t hurt their popularity—but their debut album had rocketed up the charts. Their first mini-tour, eight months ago—the one which had resulted in him bumping into Summer—had been a sell-out. And in a couple of weeks, they and the other two members of Crossfire, cousins Beau and Devon, would be heading out again.

“We won’t be back that long before the Fractured tour starts. It’s a pretty intense schedule. Are you going to be okay with that?” Zac asked him.

Noah made sure to keep his expression unconcerned. He wondered if the bassist was questioning his ability to keep up with the demands of being in two successful bands. Or maybe it was Noah’s distraction over the last few months that was worrying him.

Being part of Crossfire over the last couple of years had been exactly what Noah needed—he hated having too much downtime. But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have some concerns about how things were going to change now that Fractured was back from hiatus and ramping up to begin touring again. As much fun as developing Crossfire had been, there was no doubt in Noah’s mind Fractured was his number one priority. He just wasn’t sure if Zac felt the same. Or what it might mean for the future if he didn’t.

But rather than burdening Zac with his worries, Noah only shrugged and smiled. “Keeps me busy. You know I don’t like sitting still for too long.”

A large presence at his back and a big hand on his shoulder told him Tex had joined them at the bar. “No, really? You don’t like sitting still? I never would have guessed,” Tex said, a smirk tugging up the corners of his mouth.

“Taking a break from sticking your tongue down my sister’s throat, are you?” Noah narrowed his eyes at him.

“Just until I can give her something else to—”

“Do you mind!” Noah barked, causing both Zac and Tex to burst into laughter.

“I don’t know what you thought I was gonna say,” Tex said, his amber eyes glinting with amusement as he ordered a glass of water and a whiskey from the bartender. “I’m just getting my girl something to wet her throat.”

Noah scowled at Tex. “Why does everything you say when you’re talking about my sister sound inappropriate?” he grumbled, making Zac and Tex chuckle again.

“I can’t help it if you have a dirty mind,” Tex said. He eyed the empty shot glass the bartender scooped up after placing the drinks he’d ordered down in front of him. Concern sharpened his amber eyes as he met Noah’s gaze. “I thought you were going to do something about the Summer situation.”

Noah’s foot started to tap against the leg of his stool. Tex had figured out a few months ago that his recent erratic behavior had something to do with Summer and had confronted him about it. But considering how things had gone down with Eden not long after that, he hadn’t raised the issue with Noah again. Until now.

“Have you thought any more about talking to her?” Tex asked.

Zac’s brows rose as he listened in. “You have Summer’s phone number?”

Noah shook his head. “I’m not going to call her.” He didn’t mention that he’d asked Drew, their manager, to track down Summer’s number and address. He wasn’t sure if getting Drew to do it made it more or less stalkerish. But he’d just needed to know that if he wanted to, he could do something about the tension that seemed almost permanently embedded in his neck and shoulders these days.

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