Page 10 of Bulletproof
“Really?” Felix had that knowing look in his eyes – the same look Derek’s mom always had when he was stone-cold busted and trying to talk his way out of trouble when he was a teen. Felix foldedhis arms across his chest and pursed his lips together. “I heard you dodged a police helicopter the first night Reckless joined the tour.”
Of course the driver of the SUV reported back to Felix. Everyone reported back to Felix. “It was no big deal.”
“It would have been if you had been arrested and missed last night’s show. I’m only looking out for the best interests ofthe band. I’m not trying to squash your good time. Fuck whoever the hell you want to fuck. Bulletproof is my main priority. You know that. I don’t want bad publicity to rain on you, and I don’t want the tour jeopardized with reckless behavior.”
The irony at the use of the name of Travis’ band made Derek emit a small chuckle.
When Felix realized the double meaning, helightened up and gave a small shake of his head. “Just use your better judgement. You’re very smart. You know the difference between right and wrong, but alcohol clouds your senses.”
“But I like alcohol.” Derek flashed a cocky smile.
Felix huffed and rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why I bother. Go. Enjoy yourself. Just don’t get arrested.”
Derek spun around,ready to return to Travis, and ran right into Alan, who spilled beer down the front of Derek’s T-shirt. “Oh man.” Derek wiped at the wet spot on his chest. “My new shirt.” He had picked it up from Metallica’s WorldWired Tour, when Bulletproof had a day off and caught the show in Dallas.
Alan looked at the bottle in his hand, inspecting the contents. “You’ll just have to get me anotherbeer.” As Alan pulled Derek toward the bar, he asked, “Where were you running off to?”
Derek looked over his shoulder to where Travis had been standing near the speakers, but Travis was gone. “I was just trying to get away from Felix.”
Alan clapped Derek on the back. “I hear ya.”
After replacing Alan’s beer and grabbing one for himself, they did a quick roundof shots before Derek moved through the throngs of people in search of Travis. The party was jumping and the crowd had thickened, allowing Travis to disappear. Every few feet, someone stopped Derek in order to talk to him. In his peripheral vision, he caught sight of the groupie from earlier and dove onto the sofa to hide from view, falling right into someone’s lap.
“Hello.” The guygave Derek a seductive onceover with his eyes. “Nice of you to drop in.”
“Sorry. Just passing through.” Derek jumped off the guy’s lap and resumed his search for Travis. There were too many people though, and he needed to do something to get Travis’ attention, otherwise he’d spend half the night just trying to get across the room. “It’s time to liven up this party!” Although the generalundertone still maintained the uninhibited good time that Bulletproof’s afterparties were known for, things had tamed since his bandmates were all in committed relationships.
Derek took a bottle of tequila from the bar, along with a shot glass, a wedge of lime, and the saltshaker, and then jumped onto the coffee table. “Body shots!” he yelled, raising the bottle above his head. Inneed of a partner, he looked for Travis. A volunteer by way of a dark-haired hottie quickly stepped onto the coffee table with him, filling the vacancy.
“Let me give you a hand with that.” The guy took the lime wedge and held it between his teeth, then leaned his head to the side and sprinkled a generous amount of salt on the area where his neck met his shoulder.
“You’rea pro,” Derek said, as he filled his shot glass, still scanning the crowd for Travis. He tossed back the tequila, licked the salt from the guy’s neck, and sucked the lime wedge from the guy’s mouth. “Woo hoo!” Derek raised his arm in victory, and stared down at the cheering crowd. Finally, he caught sight of a sexy head of platinum blond hair.
Travis moved through the crowd towardthe bar and tossed back two quick shots of tequila. He did a little happy dance all by himself, swinging his hips, stomping his feet, and shaking his ass, as if the alcohol fueled a fire in his pants.
Derek laughed. Travis was having a good fucking time, just like him. They were the same. Young, wild, uninhibited, ready for anything.
A pair of chicks that had been makingout earlier by the buffet table came up on either side of Travis, each sliding an arm around his waist. The spark in Travis’ eyes as he looked from one to the other was clear from across the room, and it wiped the smile off Derek’s face. He watched Travis lower his gaze to one girl’s cleavage, her fake breasts spilling over the low cut top. She pushed her shoulders back and practically shovedher tits in Travis’ face. The other girl giggled, flashing perfectly straight white teeth, and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
Derek’s gut tightened. He watched Travis do a body shot with each of the girls, while his stomach did a queasy flip-flop. He watched Travis’ glistening tongue slowly run up the girl’s throat as she stretched her neck to the side, elongating the slenderarc of her throat to create a longer runway for Travis’ soft, pink tongue – the same tongue that had sent shivers through Derek’s body the other night. She removed the lime from her pouty mouth and captured Travis’ tongue in a deep, wet kiss when he went to suck on the fruit. The other girl ran her hands up Travis’ back, and he turned around and kissed her. There was no hesitation, no words, justmouth on mouth, man on woman in a heterosexual two-on-one make out session. Eyes twinkling, brows raised, and cheeks clowned with a ridiculous smile, Travis stood with an arm around each of the chicks.
Derek was a fucking idiot. He should have made sure Travis was next to him before he started this stupid game of body shots. Travis should have been licking Derek’s neck instead ofthat girl’s. He knew he had no right to be jealous. He had no claim over Travis. He had no business interrupting them and pulling Travis away from those girls, but logic wasn’t inside Derek’s head right now. A crazy, irrational thought about claiming Travis took over his brain.
He stepped down from the coffee table and marched across the room with too much purpose in his step. Heslowed and reined in the growing jealousy inside of him as he came within a few feet of Travis. “Hey, man.” He managed to sound casual and cool, although his heart was percolating.
Travis gave Derek a crooked smile. “Awesome fucking party.”
“It’s alright.” Derek made sure he kept the edge out of his voice, and added a sultry purr. “You look like you’re having a good time.”The hidden sarcasm couldn’t even be detected.
“I was just heading back to my room with these two ladies. Wanna join us?”
One of the girls took a step forward, which made Derek back up, and she froze, realizing he wasn’t interested.
The smile on Travis’ face waned as he recognized Derek’s hesitation right away, and he leaned in to put his mouth to Derek’sear. “I’m sorry. I wanted to spend the night with you, but these two came along, and I kinda promised them a trip around the world. Or rather, they promisedmea trip around the world.” A smile coated Travis’ words. “If you’d join us, it’d be like hitting the jackpot.” Travis raised an inviting eyebrow at Derek, obviously a last ditch effort to change his mind.
Derek shook his headquickly from side to side. “That’s not happening. Me and you? Yeah. But with them two? Not a chance.” He silently cursed Felix for pulling him away and ruining the night with Travis.
“Another time, I guess.” Travis glanced back at the girls for a second. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”
