Page 75 of Rock Bottom

“I want you to go back and finish your degree,” I said after a moment. “If you decide the magazine isn’t something you want to pursue after that, it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other. But I inadvertently kept you from graduating and that’s not fair.”

“I have other priorities right now,” she said, moving closer to me and winding her arms around my neck. “You and Aunt Meg and the baby are all I need. I finished college. The only thing missing is that piece of paper, and I don’t know how important it is.”

“If it’s important to you, then it’s important to me.” I lifted her chin so she would look at me.

“It was.”

“Then you should go back and make it happen. Find out what you have to do to re-take that final class or whatever it was, and let’s get it done.”

She smiled. “You’re being awfully sweet for a guy who isn’t getting laid.”

I laughed. “Oral sex is still sex.”

“If you say so.” She reached out and ran a hand back and forth over my crotch, watching as I hardened at her touch.

“You’re playing with fire, sweetheart.”

“Uh huh. I know.” She squeezed lightly and I had to take a deep breath to stay in control.

“There are condoms in the bathroom,” I growled. “Say the word and I’ll fuck you long and hard.”

“Not now,” she whispered, sucking on my earlobe. “Maybe later.”

“You know what happens to bad girls who tease me?”

She arched her brows. “Nope.”

“They get tied to the bed and fucked hard.”

“Once I’m on birth control, you can do anything you want to me.”

Sweet Jesus.

I didn’t think she had any idea what she’d just set herself up for.

* * *

Now that I had Presley and Jeremy in L.A., it was easier to concentrate on music. For some reason knowing they’d be there when I got home grounded me, and I was in a good mood when I got to the studio. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long-lived because Kingston was out in the parking lot waiting for me.

“What’s up?” I asked, pushing my Ray Ban’s up on my head.

“Fucking Carter.”

My heart sank. “Not again.”

“Not H, but he’s wasted. Apparently, he stayed here late last night and invited some friends to play music. They wound up getting drunk. Far as I can tell, it’s just alcohol, but what the fuck?” He threw up his hands. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“Fuck.” I followed him inside where Tommy and Kellan appeared to be force-feeding Carter coffee.

“Z, man, get these fuckers off me,” Carter mumbled to me.

“Why’d you fall off the wagon?” I demanded. “You were doing so damn good.”

“It was just a few drinks. I’ve been stone cold sober for so long it didn’t take much for me to get fucked up. It was like three shots of Jack. That’s it.”

I gritted my teeth in frustration. Did he truly not understand that he was an addict? That one sip was all it took sometimes. God, this was hard. I wasn’t his parent or his lover. It shouldn’t have been my job to babysit him, but we ran a multi-million-dollar business together. If he couldn’t play today, we’d fall even further behind schedule. If he couldn’t play on tour, we’d lose millions. Literally. This was a lot more complicated than simply washing my hands of him, and that took out the fact that I cared about him.

“I need you to grow the fuck up,” I said in a steely voice. “We have an extremely lucrative business with Onyx Knight. This isn’t some half-assed garage band anymore. We have bills, employees, and families that count on us. Not to mention the fans. Are you really going to throw it away over Jack Daniels?”

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