Page 132 of Share Me

“Sugar,” Marshall moved to stand.

“Stay there. Let me take care of you all and then maybe we can watch a movie and snuggle… Dawson?”

“I can snuggle for you.” He smiled.

“Thank you. I’ll be right back.”

Chapter 37

Dawson

“Okay,okay,myturn.”

“Fuck off, you’ve been hogging it all day.”

“Well, that’s because you suck, and I am the greatest.”

“Charlie, you’re an annoying dick.”

“Oh, my God. It’s bad enough that I’m surrounded by the three of you at work. Now you have to follow me home, too.”

Fox looked up from the sofa, where he, Charlie, and Archer were playing some annoyingly loud video game while I was making lunch, and gave me a smile that went someway to dissolving my frustration.

“Sorry,Daddy,” Charlie mocked, and Fox punched him in the arm,

“You good, Daw?”

“Hmmmm,” I mumbled as I smeared mustard onto the bread and topped off the sandwiches. “Lunch is ready.”

Remotes were thrown and the three of them ran toward the kitchen island like they hadn’t eaten for a week. Archer and Charlie filled their plates, while Fox appeared behind me, wrapping his arm around my waist and nuzzling into me. “What’s up?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

He kissed up my neck, making me want to groan, but I was aware we had an audience. “Liar,” he whispered.

“Just some work stuff,” I told him honestly.

“Your work stuff means it’s about us, so spill.” Turning me, he wrapped his arms around my neck, leaning our foreheads together.

When I didn’t answer, he cupped my cheek and pulled me in. His lips found mine as he kissed me hard and deep, just the way he knew I liked it, until Archer and Charlie started heckling us to get a room.

I pulled back reluctantly, turning to face them all. “It looks like your album will hit the UK and the US charts this weekend at number one. It will be the first time any British rock band in history has achieved that.”

Charlie and Archer cheered, high-fiving and hugging excitedly.

I turned to Fox, who was beaming. “That’s because we have excellent management,” he replied.

“Fuck off, that’s because we worked our asses off and created some killer music,” Charlie argued. “No offense, Dawson.”

“None taken. It’s an amazing album and you should all be really proud of yourselves.”

“Yeah, I bet Neo is kicking himself that he nearly ended our contract.” No one spoke while he realized what he’d said. “Shit, I didn’t mean… fuck, I wasn’t making fun of his current situation. It was a slip of the tongue. And his back is on the mend, right, so then he will be able to kick himself… I’ll shut up.”

“Yeah man, Neo is only having surgery because his back is so screwed after he got on that plane to come and rescue us,” Archer mumbled guiltily.

“Anyway, let’s listen to Dawson,” Charlie muttered, looking like a naughty schoolboy.

“There’s a lot of press interest and the label thinks it would be better to fly you out to America and do an intensive five days of PR… talk shows, radio, photoshoots, the works. It would be crazy, but it makes more sense than trying to do it remotely and you’ll get more PR for hitting the US number one than you will get for the UK one.” I paused. “I’ve spoken to Fern about it and they would want you there for when the chart is announced. We would do LA, New York and then because you wrote it when we were doing the Miami/New Orleans trip, they want you to do some press there as well before we fly home.”

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