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“Should have fallen on my dick after all,” Draven teases me as he takes a sip of his coffee and grimaces. Glancing at Tyler, he shrugs with a smile, giving a happy sigh when he takes another sip of his coffee.
Mav and Atlas also look down annoyed at their coffees, and I realize my uncle is playing dirty. Good for him. Fucking with people’s caffeine injections should be a federal offense.
“I brought breakfast,” Uncle Jordan says, sitting at the small table in the kitchenette and gesturing for us to join him. Tyler sits down and pulls me into his lap, where I relax against him. Nothing too terrible can happen to me while I’m with him.
“Layla, here’s a breakfast sandwich for you and Tyler, and chia seed pudding and fruit for the rest of you lot.”
Yes, my uncle is being petty and mean and it’s glorious. Grabbing the two sandwiches, I hand one to my boyfriend and unwrap mine. The other guys make faces as they pull out their food, looking longingly at me when I take a bite of my sandwich and moan.
“Okay, I can see the point of this all, Jordan, but I saved her from the damn roof,” Draven sighs as he grabs a spoon and begins to eat the pudding. Chewing, he makes a face but continues to eat it.
“I didn’t know about the roof until now.” My uncle shrugs. “Tyler, can you pull the security tapes from the hotel and send them to me? Their system is child’s play.”
Turning, Tyler snags the strap of his computer bag and nods. “Do you mind if I work and listen?” he asks. Jordan shakes his head, and I shift to move, only to have Tyler band his arm around my waist and rock me against his still hard cock. Hiding my shiver is difficult, and I sneak a glance at him. “Please stay where you are. I don’t feel like making you get up.”
“I won’t until I’m in the way,” I promise him.
“Okay, let’s get down to brass tacks,” Mav says, pushing away the food and coffee with a scowl. “Are you really here because we weren’t nice enough to Layla? This business isn’t all roses and sunshine, and you pretty much threw her at us without notice. What did you expect?”
Draven tries to get Mav’s attention with no avail and Atlas looks as if he’s counting down in his head with his eyes closed.
“Things I did not expect from grown ass men,” Uncle Jordan says, head tilting. “I didn’t expect you to take her to a sketchy bar for an open mic night where she’d have to cover up a murder. I also didn’t expect you all to be so awful to her that she’d attempt to sleep on the roof when it was forty degrees out?—”
Tyler has been working with one hand to hack into the system, and mutters to himself when he finds the footage, turning it toward my uncle.
“Why would you sleep on the roof?” Mav asks. “I heard Jordan say that, but I still don’t understand it. What’s up there?”
“Couches, a view of the city, and hypothermia,” Draven snarks, glaring at me. “She decided sleeping up there and catching her death was better than this room after you two serenaded her with your fucking.”
“Ah,” Jordan says in a dead tone. He watches the footage at an accelerated pace as I write up on the roof for an hour beforefalling asleep in Tyler’s arms, and then the footage where Draven came upstairs and hauled me back down like a caveman.
My uncle’s eyes are cold, his anger banked as he turns to Mav and Atlas. “You see, this is why you were asked to leaveThe Darkest Nights, because you’re bad for the continued mental health of my niece. You are replaceable, and I have invested interest in her wellbeing. I felt bad that you’re without a lead singer and Layla was the perfect option because you’ve worked together. However, that’s also the problem. My niece is much too good for you. The three of you.”
Deflating, I let him lay into them. Mav and Atlas hurt me, and I don’t owe them any kind of loyalty. Draven? My feelings about him are up in the air. I do, however, want to be able to continue to play.
“Jordan, I can figure my way through this, but this hotel situation isn’t going to work,” I say softly. “I can put my big girl pants on if it means I can start touring next week.”
“Next week?” Atlas asks.
“Mmhmm. It’s why we’re looking for new band members. I have a fully booked tour,” I tell him, my eyes on the table. Reaching out, I lift my coffee cup and take a sip, finally looking up to meet his gaze. “You’re not going to scare me away, Atlas. Mav can call you his whore and make you scream, but it also damn well won’t be happening on my goddamn tour bus.”
Draven’s breath hitches as I watch him shift his weight. I’m sure he wasn’t expecting my little speech. Well, neither was I.
“It’s my bus, I’m sleeping in my own bed,” I continue. “Comments about my boyfriend staying on the bus aren’t acceptable because he is also employed by the label. He’s our tech, social media manager, and my person. I’m not here to make friends, and don’t expect to. I do, however, expect band members who aren’t complete assholes and can be professionals.”
My uncle lets me say my piece, his tattooed forearms on display as he crosses his arms in front of him. He rolled up his sleeves, which I’ve noticed means he’s going to make someone cry or drop some truth bombs.
Either could still happen.
“Anything you’d like to add, Uncle Jordan?” I ask him. Atlas scoffs, and my uncle’s eyes move back to him.
“What’s your problem with what Lay said? I think you should be thanking her, because I really wanted to send you packing,” he growls. “Her safety is my priority, and while I appreciate her love of music and not wanting to rock the boat, I refuse to let her sacrifice any part of herself for this tour. Lennon and you all did that for too long. It will not happen again. Is that understood?”
Draven looks around the table, trying to figure out the dynamics and history. Laying my head on Tyler’s shoulder, I decide to throw him a bone.
“My sister and her band were roped into a contract that didn’t benefit them,” I explain. “My uncle wasn’t there when she changed the contract because he wasn’t her manager at the time. Lennon andThe Darkest Nightsworked back to back shows, did a ton of interviews and photo shoots, and I was her opening act when she almost passed out from exhaustion.”
“You just came at us like a pitbull over Layla. Why wouldn’t you do the same for your other niece? Playing favorites there, old man?” Draven jokes, but he looks confused.
