It was so earnest it made my heart melt. “Okay.”

He smiled softly at me and kissed my forehead. Then he reached up and grabbed a throw blanket and pulled it over me, tucking it under my arms, and got up and put on his shirt.

I sat up on the sofa and clutched the blanket to my chest and I watched him as he went to let Tucker out of the laundry room. The dog bounded over to me and jumped into my lap, licking me.

Jason leaned down with a hand on the top of the sofa and kissed me. “I’ll pick you up for the airport at five thirty. Get some sleep.” He smiled at me.

“Thank you for understanding.”

He shook his head. “You’re worth the wait. You’re worth everything.” He winked and let himself out, and Tucker followed him, close on his heels.

Chapter 19

Jason

? Misery Business | Paramore

Time to move. Lola Simone was sitting on the step of my trailer.

I slammed the door to my truck. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Tucker let out a low growl next to me.

She sat on the metal stair, lit by the lights of the pool, with her back against my door, smoking a joint. She wore a tiny silver dress and she spread her legs in answer to my question, balancing on the heels of her stilettos. She wasn’t wearing panties.

“Oh, Jesus, come on,” I said, looking away from her. “Enough of this shit, Lola. Get up.” I looked back at her.

She didn’t budge.

“Lola, now. Leave.”

“Already? I just got here.” She grinned up at me, her eyelids heavy. “Talk about a quickie,” she muttered.

“Who the fuck gave you this address? I don’t want you here. I’m done. Move or I’ll move you myself.”

Her eyes glinted and she shook her head.

Hot anger built inside me. I was so fucking sick of this. Sick of it.

I’d been more than patient up to this point. I’d been a damn saint while she harassed me for months on end and dragged my reputation and my privacy through the music charts—but this was something else. Now I had to consider Sloan.

What if she had come home with me? Or shown up like she did last night? How would I even explain this shit? We were too new for this.

And what would Lola have done if Sloan had been here…

My jaw clenched. “I want you out of here. Let’s go.” I took her by the elbow and pulled her to her feet. I just wanted to get her out of my way so I could go inside, but I could feel the wobble of her body from the grip I had, and I knew that if I let go, she’d fall. Jesus, she was a fucking mess.

I nodded to the Hummer I’d seen parked outside the gate. “Call your chaperone to come get you.”

She chuckled mirthlessly. “Awwwwww, are you mad at me?”

“You wrote a fucking song about me,” I snapped. “What were you thinking? Were you trying to ruin my damn career? I have an image to maintain and you wrote me naked and drunk on a fucking beach!”

She grinned lazily, drawing again on her joint with her eyes closed, her bracelets clinking down her wrist. “Well, you inspire me, Minnesota. Never had something so clean before…” she slurred.

I shook my head at her. “I don’t know what the fuck happened to you. I don’t know what your fascination is with me, what you’re on, or what your problem is, but I wish you’d figure it out and leave me the hell alone.”

She blew her smoke sideways and smiled like a cobra. “So we’re not doing this, huh?”

My nostrils flared. “No, we’re not.”

“You’re something else, Jaxon. You snapped your fingers and I came all the way over here…” She dragged her eyes down my body and stared at my dick. “At least let me do that thing you like.” She looked back up and sucked her bottom lip into her mouth.

I glared at her. “Don’t ever come here again. Do you understand me?”

She smirked and yanked her arm down. The second I let go of her she teetered in her heels like a baby deer. She lost her balance and tumbled backward onto the lawn, laughing. I could see her bodyguard making his way up the drive, right on cue. She was cackling and giving me the finger when I scaled the metal steps with Tucker and slammed the door behind me. Two loud thumps that I guessed were shoes hit the side of the trailer.

I called Ernie. He answered groggily on the third ring. “If you’re calling me with a cop car parked behind you, I’m going to need you to swallow the drugs,” he joked.

“Lola was just in the yard.”

He groaned. “Ah, shit. Give me five minutes.”

By the time Ernie met me outside, Lola was gone. Her stilettos sat abandoned on the grass.

“I checked the security cameras,” he said, meeting me by the pool in boxers and an open robe. “She used the gate code to get in. I don’t suppose you gave that to her.”

“No, I didn’t. I also didn’t tell her where I live,” I said, dragging a hand down my mouth.

He blew a breath through his nose and looked around the yard. “Well, I can reset the code. That’s not a big deal. But we have bigger problems. You’re not gonna be happy.” His eyes came back to me.

“What?”

He took a deep breath. “Due to the substantial financial commitment that your label is now making for your international tour, they would like to bring in another headliner. It’s pretty standard. I’ve seen this before. It’s not a lack of faith, it’s more of an insurance policy to make sure they don’t lose their fucking shirt.”