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11
CANNON
Icould read the indecision in her eyes. Even though my cock was already leaking into my jeans, I jumped up off the couch and then offered her my hand. Until she was sure of what she wanted, I wasn’t going to push her for more than she was ready to give.
Confusion and hurt flashed in her dark gaze as she stared up at me, but I pulled her to her feet. “I’m sure I can find a YouTube video on how to make soup and grilled cheese that won’t risk either of us spending time in an emergency room.”
Her bottom lip pouted out, but she followed me into the kitchenette, where I pulled out a can of tomato soup from the small pantry. YouTube did, in fact, have a “How To…” video on grilled cheese, and I didn’t burn it too badly. The little moan she made when she took a bite of it after dipping it into the soup put a grin on my face that didn’t fade until long after the show later that night.
While the crew changed the stage around for Jagger and me, I walked Piper and Hymn back to their bus. As we neared the bus, the door opened and David stepped off. It was dark, but the parking lot lights were right over the bus entrance. When he saw me with the girls, he quickly stuffed his left hand into his pants pocket and blanked his face.
Unease settled in my gut, and I instinctively tucked Piper behind me. She didn’t want to go, but I gently nudged Hymn aside, which had Piper following her friend while giving me a glare.
“Was there a security issue on my girl’s bus?” I asked, trying and mostly succeeding in keeping my voice casual.
“Heard the dog barking,” he said with a shrug.
“Bullshit,” Hymn said, brushing against me as she tried to step forward. I put my arm out, blocking her from moving past me.
Maybe I was biased against David because of the way he looked at Piper’s ass, but right then, I was getting all kinds of bad vibes from him. I didn’t know why he’d been on the bus, but like Hymn, I was calling bullshit about Nala barking. I’d never met a more well-behaved dog. The only time I’d ever heard her bark loud enough to alert that something was off was when she thought someone she didn’t know was getting too close to her human.
“What did you put in your pocket?” I nodded to where his fingers were still stuffed in the opening. Whatever he’d put in there, it wasn’t bulky, but I could see the outline of something, and it sure as fuck wasn’t his phone.
“Cannon, I’m sure David had a reason to be on the bus,” Piper tried to reason.
“Pipes.” I didn’t look at her as I spoke. My gaze was trained on David, because my gut was telling me to keep it there. “Take Hymn back to my sister’s bus. Shaw should be there. Stay with her until I come get you.”
“Why? I’m tired, and I just want a shower before I go to bed. We have a long drive tonight before we get to the next city.” She attempted to walk around me, but I caught her wrist and locked her in place. She was still wearing that damn transparent skirt and top. I’d been on edge before she’d taken the stage earlier, dreading the jealousy that would burn through me as thousands of motherfuckers saw her. But surprisingly, I’d been able to turn that off for a little while and had been able to concentrate on what I was supposed to be doing. Watching her float around stage in that sexy-as-fuck outfit had kept me hard the entire time, however.
Now, though, I wasn’t distracted by having to play, and I would be damned if I let David leer at her and have something to fantasize about while he fapped at night.
“Cannon!” she half cried, half growled when I didn’t allow her to pass.
“Do as I said, Piper,” I snapped. “Now.”
“No,” she argued, getting angrier and more fed up with me by the second. “This is ridiculous. He’s our head of security, dumbass. He had a perfectly reasonable excuse to be on our bus. Right, David?”
“Of course,” he said, but his ears were turning red, and I could practically taste the lie in the air.
“So explain to Cannon why you were on the bus,” she commanded. From the corner of my eye, I saw her slap her hands on her hips. She was so damn sexy like that, but I didn’t have time to take in all of her fiery glory. “I don’t have all night.”
“I…” He pressed his lips together when a believable excuse didn’t readily come to him. “The dog was barking,” he repeated.
I could feel Piper’s unease settle in before she took a step closer to me. “What’s in your pocket, David?”
He laughed it off. “Keys. Wallet. My phone.”
“Let me see,” she demanded, holding out one hand.
“Cannon!” Trinity’s voice snapped David’s head in her direction, but I kept my gaze on the head of security. “Jagger is ready to take the stage. Why aren’t you over there with him?”
“We found David coming out of your bus, Trin,” I informed her. “When he saw me, he stuffed something into his pocket. I’m not leaving until I know what it is.”
“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered. “David, I don’t know what’s going on, but just empty your damn pockets. I have a stadium full of fans that will revolt if Cannon doesn’t take the stage in the next five minutes.”
“I have rights,” David said mutinously, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t have to show him shit.”
But he didn’t need to show me, because I could see a little of it sticking out of the top of his pocket. It must have come up when he’d pulled his fingers completely out of his pocket, and I could make out what it was as clear as day. The silky baby-blue material of a pair of panties. I didn’t know whose they were—Piper’s, Trinity’s, or Hymn’s—but it didn’t matter. Rage rolled over me like an avalanche, powerful and out of control.
One second, I was standing there looking at that little scrap of silk. The next, David was on the ground, and I was on top of him. I didn’t even realize I was punching him until a throb shot through my fist all the way up my arm.
“Cannon!” Trinity shouted, but it was as if she was coming from inside a tunnel.
All I could see was David, the blood rolling down his face, the pain in his eyes. The guy worked for one of the biggest personal security companies in the country. He should have been able to throw me off or at least counter my attack. He was struggling, but I had him trapped. Either he was too stunned from my assault, or he wasn’t nearly as good at his job as he’d made people believe he was.
“What the fuck?” I thought I heard my sister shout, but still, I couldn’t stop.
This bastard had been inside my girl’s bus. If he had someone’s panties in his pocket, it was easy to assume that he’d touched all of their things. His hands had been on Piper’s sexy little underwear and bras. Things that were for my eyes and hands only. He’d violated her privacy.
He’d violated her—all of them.
My arm felt heavy, but I only swung harder, and for a moment, David’s face morphed. Right before my eyes, I saw my own face, reminding me that I’d once violated someone I loved. I’d taken something that didn’t belong to me. The way I’d kissed Violet, the violence that I’d touched her with that night, would haunt me to my dying day. Even though she’d told me she forgave me years ago, I would never be able to forgive myself.
Soft fingers wrapped around my arm, and I felt a jolt flash through my entire body. The blow I’d been about to land on David stopped inches from his face, and I turned my head. Piper stood there, her eyes pleading with me to stop, even as they filled with understanding.
They should have been flooded with disgust and fear, but that was absent as she stroked her other hand over my jaw. “Let him go,” she said softly. “I think he’s learned his lesson now.”
I had to tear my eyes from her to look down at the man beneath me. David’s face was covered in blood, his lips already cracked, his nose at a new angle. Gashes were along his cheekbones and above his left eye from where my knuckles had opened him up. He looked up at me through slitted eyes because they simply couldn’t open any farther. Soon, they would be completely swollen shut.
Breathing hard, I grabbed him by the shirt with my free hand and lifted him up a few inches. “You come near these girls again, and I’ll fucking kill you.”
Piper tugged on my shirt, urging me up and away from him just as Shaw pulled the panties from the head of security’s pocket. Holding them between the tips of her index finger and thumb, she waved them back and forth. “Who do these belong to?”
“Me,” Trinity choked out. “They’re mine. I wore them yesterday.”
“Oh shit,” Piper and Hymn squeaked out at the same time.
“That’s so fucked up,” my sister said with a disgusted shake of her head. Her blue gaze fell on the man still on the ground. He was moaning like he was dying. “Shut up, pussy,” she snarled at him as she kicked him in the side with her wedge sandal. “When I tell Barrick about this, you’ll wish you were dead.”
Trinity took the panties from her and quickly stuffed them into her jeans pocket. It was obvious she was shaken from the whole incident, but she put on a brave face and pulled out her phone. “I guess I should have the trash taken out.” As she typed one-handed, she shot me a glare. “Clean up your hand and then get onstage. Jagger can do one of his solo songs, but then you need to get to work.”
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked with concern.
She stopped typing and slowly lifted her gaze from her phone. “I have to be, don’t I?”
Before I could tell her she didn’t have to be, that she could take a minute to comprehend what had just happened, she turned and stomped away. “Hurry up!” she snapped over her shoulder.
My sister and I shared a look. After a moment, Shaw shrugged. “I’ll try to talk to her. But right now, I need to get back to the bus. Grier was sleeping, and I ran over when I heard shouting.” She pulled the baby monitor from her back pocket. “The security is great on the buses and all, but apparently that doesn’t mean jack shit when the person who is supposed to be keeping us safe has been creeping around our buses.”
