“So . . .” Terry ran his hand through his dark hair with a smirk on his face. “He’s kind of a dick still.”

E laughed.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “He’s just stressed. We all are.”

“I’ll drink to that,” E said, and Donna laughed, laying her head on his shoulder.

“Maybe I should go back to the room. I’m not really feeling up to this.”

“You’re a rock star. Partying is in your blood,” Terry yelled.

“I’m just the boobs of this operation,” I joked, and rolled my eyes. E’s deep laugh shook his whole body against my side and he turned, flashing me a smile, revealing a deep dimple in his cheek. I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

“Why don’t we dance?” Donna grinned up at E, her bottom lip between her teeth.

My heart sank a little when he nodded in agreement. I didn’t want to be left in the booth alone. Terry slid out of the seat, and Donna and E followed him. As they began to walk off, E turned back to me and held out his hand.

“You coming?”

I looked around for any sight of Derek and Chris, but they were nowhere to be found.

“What have you got to lose?” E asked.

“My street cred,” I joked as I slid out of my seat and put my hand in his before I could second-guess my decision.

I thought he would drop my hand as I rose to my feet, but instead he curled his fingers around mine and pulled me in the direction that Donna and Terry had gone. His thumb ran softly over my knuckles as we navigated through the dancers.

Donna was dancing in front of Terry, who was already receiving attention from other women. I began to sway my hips to the beat of the booming base.

“I couldn’t find you!” Derek called from behind me, and E’s head snapped in that direction as his fingers slipped from mine. Derek lifted a cup over my shoulder for me to take.

“Thanks,” I yelled back as he put his free hand on my hip and pressed his body against me from behind. His hips began to move with mine as I quickly downed my shot.

Chris handed out the shots to the others, and they yelled cheers as they all tipped their heads back and drank. E only glanced over at Derek and me for a second before he pulled Donna against him and began to dance. She smiled as she looped her arms around his neck, her right leg between his legs as they moved against each other. E’s hands moved down her back as he whispered something in her ear, and she shook her head as her fingers went into his hair and she gazed up into his eyes. The moment suddenly seemed intimate and private, so I quickly looked away, feeling invasive.

Derek’s hands ran over my hip bones as he held me against him. “I’m sorry I was such an asshole.” His lips found my neck and I let my eyes flutter closed as I melted against his rock-solid chest. I knew he was trying, and that was all I could ask for from him. He had always dreamed of being a star, and having a girlfriend on your hip definitely wasn’t a part of that plan, but we’d fallen quickly and we’d fallen hard. The rest was rock-and-roll history.

“I forgive you,” I sighed as he nipped the base of my neck with his teeth.

“You’re too good to me.”

Chapter Five

ERIC

I DON’T KNOW WHAT I was thinking by inviting her out to dance. I knew I would never be able to get close enough to even touch her, but as she’d put her hand in mine, I couldn’t bring myself to let go. I would have been happy standing there all night surrounded by hundreds of strangers if she would stand with me.

Of course, like death and taxes, Derek was unavoidable.

As I saw him come up behind her, I had to fight the urge to pull her against me. Instead, I let her fingers slide from mine as he pressed his body into hers.

A smile spread across her face as she whirled around and her body melted into his on the dance floor. His hand drifted down to her ass, but instead of swatting it away, she let it linger there, clearly just losing herself in the music, in the moment, in him.

During the tour, Sarah and I had spent hours together, just talking and talking, revealing so many of our secrets . . . but I never had the guts to tell her how I really felt about her. But now I’m glad I held that truth back because Derek is the one who gets to hold her in his arms.

She made her choice.

The words vibrated throughout my soul and I wanted to call him out on everything. What she knew about his bad behavior paled in comparison to what I had seen him do. None of it mattered because she clearly loved him enough to put up with it. I tried to tell myself that if this made her happy, I had no right to tell her what I was feeling. It wasn’t fair for her . . . but this wasn’t fair to me either.

Part of me wanted to leave so I could spend the evening alone with the pain in my chest and a bottle of Jack, but I looked to Donna, her hair falling lose and hanging wildly around her face. Her skin was glistening with sweat from all of the people in such a small space. She looked incredible . . . but more important, she looked like the perfect distraction.

I reached out and grabbed her wrists, pulling her body against mine. Her hands landed on my chest as we began to move against each other. She smiled up at me, her lips parted as her arms looped around my neck. My hand began to slide down her back as my body reacted to her touch.

“If you want me to stop . . . ,” I whispered in her ear, and she shook her head as her fingers slid into my hair. The pressure in my chest began to ease as I let go and focused on Donna. When we were on tour, she could be so guarded. I knew she had a rough past, that her “all-business” attitude was just a front, protection, and I’d only just begun to get a sense of the real Donna. But when she had a few drinks in her, she relaxed and showed a side of her few got to see. This was one of the reasons we had become such close friends over the past few months. The fear of commitment that had kept her at arm’s length melted away.

“You know what I love about you?” She was smiling, fears forgotten.

“What?” I couldn’t help but grin at her now-playful forwardness. I loved when she let this side of her show.

“Everything. I know I’m not the easiest person to get along with. Thank you for giving me a chance.” Her smile fell and my breath caught at her admission. My own grin faded as I looked into her eyes, the truth reflecting back at me. She put on a front to keep people away, but I knew she needed someone just like the rest of us. Her eyes fell and I put my fingers under her chin to tilt her head back up so her eyes could meet mine.

“You can talk to me, Donna.”

“Just dance with me.”

We danced through half a dozen songs as the twins continued to grab rounds from the bar. By the seventh shot my vision had blurred enough that I no longer needed to glance over at Sarah, because I couldn’t see her.

Donna grinding her ass against me definitely helped. She smelled like expensive perfume that you find samples of in those chick magazines. I wondered briefly if she tasted as good as she smelled.

My hands ran up her sides, pulling and tugging at the delicate fabric of her dress. She turned back around to face me, her breasts pressed against my chest, and I knew she could feel how much I enjoyed it as I held her waist against mine. Her forehead was against mine as our noses touched, and my gaze fell from her eyes to her lips. Suddenly, I heard Sarah laugh, and my eyes darted over to her and Derek. Even with Donna in my arms, my mind flooded with images of Sarah. What would it be like to take Sarah in my arms and run my hands over her, to have her nails drag through my hair, to drag my tongue over her soft lips?

In that moment I knew I was going to do something I would later regret. I needed to push Sarah further out of my mind, and Donna suddenly felt like the only way to do that. She needed me as an escape just as much as I needed her.

Donna’s tongue ran out over her lips, and every rational thought I had disappeared as my mouth crushed against hers. She moaned quietly against my kiss as I sucked her lower lip between mine, grazing it with my teeth. My hands slipped onto her ass as I ran my tongue over the seam of her lips. She let them fall open, inviting me in.

She tasted even better than I had imagined. Her lips tasted like strawberries from her gloss and the ghost of the last shot she had drunk. Her hands slid down the sides of my neck and her nails bit into my shoulders as we struggled to get even closer to each other.

The bass of the music faded in and out, and I could only hear my own heartbeat thudding in my ears as her tongue pushed back against mine. In the distance I heard someone yell, but I blocked it out as my hand ran over Donna’s ribs, my thumb grazing the bottom of her breast.

I know I’ll regret this later on. I know that anything involving Donna is complicated given her role in the band. I know I am not thinking clearly, but in this moment, all I want is for someone else to want me. No, I want someone else to crave me. I’m tired of sitting on the sideline while the asshole gets the girl. I want the girl.

“E,” Donna moaned into my mouth, and melted my remaining willpower.

Suddenly, someone crashed into us and I stumbled, clinging to Donna to keep her on her feet. I glanced around at the crowd with hazy vision, struggling to focus on the swarm of bodies around us. A man with full sleeves of dark ink was yelling at another guy for groping his girlfriend, who was nowhere in sight, and the crowd grew hot and cracked with palpable tension. You could taste it in the air. Alcohol and lowered inhibitions craved something more—chaos was about to break out.