Page 50 of Show biz

“What?” I whisper, holding out a hand to catch myself on the wall. My cum covered hand is still around my dick, and I feel as if I’ve fallen into an alternate universe.

“You heard me,” he murmurs, kissing Layla’s neck. “She likes you, you know.”

“I didn’t actually know that,” I grunt, feeling awkward as my endorphins start to drift away. “It shouldn’t matter because you two are together. You should be really pissed off at me right now.”

“Don’t tell me how to feel, and I won’t give you shit about jerking off while we’re sleeping,” he admonishes.

Maybe he didn’t see everything.Feeling a little better, I try to process what he said.

“So you don’t care that I like her? I can be obsessive and possessive…”

“All I care about is if you’ll be good to her,” Tyler sighs. “She has a lot of hang ups about her worth because of your friends. Show her she’s amazing. Be willing to push back when shepushes you away. And for fuck’s sakes, don’t be a dick. Lay was worried about you today.”

Wincing, I flush with shame. Today was not my finest moment, even outside of shoving my cock in a sleeping girl’s mouth. I feel much worse about how I treated her earlier though.

“I didn’t want to bring my bullshit to the room, so I made myself scarce,” I mutter. Turning, I grab a towel and start cleaning myself off. “I figured that would be better than being a growly asshole.”

“I’m a growly asshole and she likes me just fine,” Tyler says. I swear he hides his smirk from me as he talks to me.

“Yeah, but you’re fucking perfect for her too. You always do or say the right thing. I would fuck it all up if she were mine. I usually do,” I sigh. There goes all of my insecurities, laid out to him. I’m not going to be able to know what she needs or how to give it to her. But damn do I want to.

“I’ve known her a lot longer than you. We just clicked the first time we met. She doesn’t always understand where I’m coming from, and that’s what you heard. We had a little misunderstanding, and my penance was her orgasms,” he chuckles. “It’s a hard life, let me tell you.”

“I could hear,” I say in a strangled voice. “I don’t know how this will work, but I want to try. It’s been a long time since anyone has intrigued me like this.”

“Layla isn’t a toy unless it’s in the bedroom, and we’re playing with her. Remember that,” he says, and it sounds like a warning I’m more than willing to heed. Fuck, I’m not one to feel embarrassment usually, but the curl of heat floods my veins.

Nodding curtly, I walk away, snagging my pants on the way out. As I stand in the shower, once I’m back in my own room, letting the water wash off my drying cum that I didn’t completely clean off, I think about Tyler’s words. I don’t think it’s aboutwhether or not Layla can handle me. I think it’s about finding out if she even wants to.

As I stare at the water as it swirls around the drain, I promise myself that things have to change. It may not be all at once, but I want to start by showing her that I want her. No more cloak and dagger shit. I don’t care if it pisses off Atlas or Mav either, they need to figure out where they stand, because I know I want to be at Layla’s side.

ATLAS

“What’s on the agenda for today?” Mav groans, burying his face into my neck and inhaling deeply. Smirking, I let my fingers play in his straight black hair.

“I don’t have the slightest clue, but I’m starving, Baby. Let’s get breakfast,” I murmur, turning my head to yawn. Yesterday was a roller coaster of ups and downs, and it was a long damn day.

“Mmmm, I can almost hear your stomach growling, so I won’t try to tempt you to stay in bed awhile longer,” Mav rumbles with a chuckle.

Smirking, I kiss his forehead before pushing him away. My cock is already perking up, and I really am hungry.

“Let’s get dressed and I’ll make it up to you,” I tease him with a chuckle as I sit up. “Will you text Draven to see if he wants to come with us?”

“Did you see his face when he was watching Layla?” Mav asks as he picks up the phone. “He doesn’t need to obsess over her. She’s…”

“Yeah,” I sigh. “I think we’re going to find new excuses, Mav. She’s almost tentative and careful in how she talks to us, but theway she took control of that interview was bad ass. Do you ever get the feeling like there’s two different people inside of her?”

Mav taps out a message, his brow furrowed. “Two people how? I don’t understand.”

“There’s the girl who will tell the world to fuck off in the nicest way possible, with balls of steel,” I explain, pulling on a T-shirt and jeans. Mav and I showered last night after fucking, so I’m not worried about grabbing a shower this morning. “But there’s also the girl who is afraid to share her lyrics with us, who doesn’t like to rock the boat and make waves. Which is the real Layla? Which one is fake?”

Mav sits up, shaking his head. “I think the better question is what makes her feel like she has to act two different ways? We haven’t exactly made things easy for her.”

“I don’t know how to sugarcoat shit anymore,” I sigh. “I’ll push and push and push until people give me what I want. I expect people to shove back, but Layla doesn’t. I can’t respect someone who lets me walk all over them, and I think that’s one of the things that pisses me off about her. She wasn’t like this five years ago. So what the hell made her change?”

“I hate to say this, but do you think we did this?” Mav asks, getting up. “We left so we could forget her and she could move on. More and more I’m starting to wonder if we made the wrong choice when we left. I’ve seriously started thinking about reaching back out to Lenny.”

The sound of her name makes me wince. “We fucked up really badly with her,” I rasp. “I don’t know if we can fix that one, big guy.”

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