“Stay away from me.”

“Sure,” Houston readily agreed. I knew better, though, and so did Braxton. Hooking his finger under her chin, Houston tilted her head back. “But can you stay away from me?” Too quickly for Braxton to dodge, he placed a kiss on her plump lips and walked away.

I watched her innocent brown eyes turn vengeful and then frantically search the ground. I didn’t catch on until she’d already snatched up the largest rock she could find.

“Stop kissing me, asshole!”

Shit.

I barely got my arms around her before she could chuck the rock at the back of Houston’s skull. Losing her grip, it fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

She would have knocked him out cold.

God forbid he’d end up with a concussion. It was too early in the tour to have to cancel a show. I could already hear Carl’s mouth, and it put me in a foul mood.

“Take it easy,” I snapped when she struggled against me.

“I’m going to kill him. Let me go.”

“All the more reason not to.” Hell, I believed her. Braxton’s temper was unmatched. When she kept fighting to get away, I gave up trying to detain her and hauled her over my shoulder.

“Put me down, Jericho!” Gripping my shirt with one hand, she pummeled my back with the other. I’d never let her fall, but I understood why she didn’t trust me. Houston and Loren had done a number on her, and it had only been a week. “Where are you taking me?”

Ignoring her, I boarded the bus Houston vacated for her. The driver didn’t blink an eye when I passed him. I carried her through the living and bunk area and into the bedroom where she’d slept alone the night before. After putting her to bed myself and forcing Loren back to our bus, I made sure of it. I could still hear that sweet sigh she released after I’d kissed her forehead.

It seemed like it happened a lifetime ago.

Setting her down on the bed, I turned to go.

“Wait.”

I paused at the door, but I couldn’t face her. I didn’t want her to see my anger when I had no right to be.

“Don’t go.”

“We’re leaving soon,” I announced as if it explained why I was so eager to go. Every second I spent with her was like barbed wire around my heart. She was bleeding me dry, and she didn’t even notice.

“It’s still a few hours to Denver.” She paused, and I knew she was weighing the chance of me saying yes to the question on her mind. “Keep me company?”

I could no longer hold my thoughts in when I whirled around to face her. I’d have plenty of time to be disappointed in myself later. “Why would I do that?”

Twenty-four hours ago, I would have never told her no.

Braxton paused as if realizing this before drawing her knees to her chest and hugging her legs. “You’re mad at me.”

What was your first clue?

“No,” I lied and shook my head as if that would convince us both. “I have no reason to be.”

That part was true, at least. Braxton was free to fuck who she wanted. I just didn’t realize how deep it would cut when she didn’t choose me.

“Yes, you are,” she called me out. “Tell me why.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I turned to go, but my feet felt too heavy to carry me forward.

The mattress was memory foam, making movement impossible to hear. I didn’t know she’d stood from the bed until her soft hand was in mine.

“Stay with me, Jericho. You can still hate me. Just stay with me.”

“I don’t,” I said against my will. I swallowed hard, shoving the rest of the idiotic words down. Unfortunately, she pressed her tits against my arm in a move that seemed too calculated for Braxton not to have done it intentionally.

“You don’t what?”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Then why won’t you look at me?”

Because I was too busy staring at a spot on the wall as if it held the answers to why I kept fucking up my life. The more I became invested in Braxton, the deeper my hole grew. “Because you’re Houston’s now. That means I shouldn’t want the things I do when I look at you.”

She placed her hands on my chest, and I let her push my back against the door.

“I can be yours too.”

Rising to the tips of her toes, Braxton pressed her lips against mine. I didn’t kiss her back. I held out as long as it took her to flick her tongue against my lip ring and then the seam of my lips. I gave in then with the eagerness of a boy finally reaching first base and the skill of a man who’d been starving.

She tasted too good to be true.

I let her have her way to see what she’d do without anyone leading, and she didn’t disappoint. She was as insatiable as Houston claimed. We’d stop in between long enough to take a breath and then be back at it like we couldn’t survive being apart for too long. Her lips were softer and fuller than I imagined they’d feel against mine, and the little sounds she made had me thinking of other devious ways to use them.

I always knew Braxton was in my head.

She proved as much when she dropped to her knees in front of me.

I didn’t stop her when she unbuckled my belt and pulled the tab on my jeans free. Before she could unzip me, though, I grabbed her wrists. “You don’t have to do this,” I told her and immediately wished I could take it back. “I’ll stay.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” She pulled her hands away.

Fuck.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it through the night. I’d never been this hard. Instead of standing, however, she held my gaze.

Brown was the most common eye color, but on Braxton, her gaze felt like being caught in a cosmic storm.

No matter how much her eyes gave away, I was always left feeling more befuddled than before.

I was too caught up, wondering what was happening inside her head, to notice her undoing my zipper. I snapped out of it in time to push my jeans and boxers down enough to free my dick.

Braxton wasted no time licking the tip. I felt like I was fourteen again and about to receive my first blow job. Only this time, I was emotionally invested.

After teasing the head until her mouth was nice and wet, she slowly took more of me. I liked that she didn’t concentrate too hard on getting me off or think that looking away would somehow make sucking my dick less awkward. Braxton held my gaze, picking up on my cues whenever she gripped me too tight or didn’t apply enough pressure. When she found her rhythm, my eyes drifted close, and my head fell back against the door.

Fuck, Braxton.

I kept my eyes closed for maybe two seconds top—long enough to realize I wanted to watch every second. Her cheeks were hollow now as she tried to swallow more of me. She made it halfway before giving up and bobbing her head back and forth. Had she been a groupie, or I’d been Houston or Loren, I would have made her take all of me. Instead, I respected the rhythm she set for as long as I could. The wet sound of me fucking her mouth was curling my goddamn toes.

Eventually, the pleasure she offered trampled all over my good intentions. I was too far gone to think of anything else but dumping my cum down her throat. My fingers slid through her red hair before gripping the lush strands tight. I then did the most challenging part of reaching the orgasm I needed.

I pulled her mouth off my dick.

The lower half of her face was soaked in her effort to please me as she blinked her teary eyes at me in confusion. My dick was angry with me, too, for interrupting. Thick veins ran down my shaft coated in her saliva until reaching the purple head that hung mere inches above her lips.

“I’m going to fuck your mouth now, okay?”

Her brows dipped as I lowered my jeans around my thighs. “Wasn’t that what we were doing?” She looked like she wanted the ground to open and swallow her whole. “You didn’t like it?”

I smiled down at her before bending, grabbing her hands, and kissing each set of knuckles. “It was perfect.”

I didn’t know how to explain what I needed without scaring her, so I said nothing. Bringing her hands around to my ass for her to hold, I slipped my fingers through her red hair before getting a good grip.

Her lips were made for sucking cock, and I intended to help them reach their full potential. The day we met, I thought she’d been wearing a soft shade of red lipstick. And then I realized that everything about Braxton was natural—her red hair, swollen lips, perky tits, curvaceous ass, and her ability to captivate me by just being in the room.

Braxton’s lips parted when I teased them with my dick, and I was back in her mouth again with a groan.

This time I didn’t hold back.

I wasn’t Rich, and she wasn’t Braxton.

She was a warm mouth and nothing more.

I used her.