Page 22 of Worth the Trouble

“All right. Well, that’s all I’ve got for today.” Adrian plants a hand over his laptop. “El and I are going to touch base with Noah once he and Merry get back tomorrow, but things are looking good.”

I nod, standing up. When did my life start feeling so fucking domestic? Not too long ago my responsibilities consisted of sweating onstage for thousands of screaming fans and fucking them to keep them happy. Here in Adrian and Eloise’s kitchen, we’re building an actual business.

“I heard Sage and Jude were in town,” Sebastian says, following me around the kitchen island.

“You heard right,” I say, looking over at Eloise. “Coffee?”

She nods, so I grab a mug and pour myself a cup. I’m pretty sure I haven’t had a full night’s sleep since the tour ended. While most people find the long nights traveling the globe difficult, it’s calming for me. I love the motion of the road and how it puts my nightmares to sleep.

But when I get back home, the quiet of my house sinks in. The voices kick up in my head. And I can’t seem to keep my eyes shut without facing the reason I let my music take me away.

“You went out with them, and you didn’t get arrested?” Sebastian leans his hip against the counter and smirks at me.

Adrian circles into the room and takes the pot of coffee from me as I bring my mug to my lips.

“One time.” I take a sip. “And I’ll never live it down.”

Sebastian shakes his head. “Twice—”

“That you know about.” Adrian crosses his arms over his chest and lifts an eyebrow at me.

Fucking Adrian, knowing all my shit because he’s the one who cleans up all my messes.

“That I know about?” Sebastian tips his head back and laughs. “And here I thought getting caught with those hookers would have taught you something.”

I shrug a shoulder. “That was a misunderstanding, and you know it. I don’t pay to get my dick sucked when there are more than enough lips willing to do it for free.”

“Lovely.” Eloise rolls her eyes, leaning into Adrian’s side when he wraps an arm around her.

She looks up at him and he kisses her on the forehead. It’s simple, boring, unimportant… but I get a tight feeling in my chest.

“I want the dirt,” Sebastian says, looking between me and Adrian. “When else have you been arrested?”

“Fuck off.” I laugh, not telling him because it’s more entertaining to annoy him.

It’s not really that interesting anyway. While my buddies from LA have done time for real shit, I mostly just get myself into trouble. Fucking where I shouldn’t, snorting what I shouldn’t, being where I shouldn’t.

Can’t help myself.

“Fuck you, man.” Sebastian waves me off. “If you and the guys didn’t get locked up, what did you do? Bingo night at the senior center?”

“Jealous?” I smirk. “And no, we checked out the Velvet Room.”

“Heard it’s nice.”

I nod my head.

The Velvet Room is everything you’d expect from a high-end strip club in Denver. Classy tits and nice booze, the perfect place to entertain. So when Sage and Jude rolled through town on business and made time to finish up a tattoo on my thigh in the process, I treated them to the city’s best pussy.

And the Velvet Room was crawling with the perfect distractions to finally get me out of my head.

It should have worked.

The VIP room. Prettiest chicks in the state—maybe even the country.

Ass.

Alcohol.

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