4. Campbell
1640 Words
4
CAMPBELL
My eyes shifted to Blaire and back to Piper. “Sure,” I ground out. “I remember him.”
I remembered coming home from tour, jet-lagged to hell and suffering through a wedding when all I wanted to do was sleep, only to find Blaire had an actual date. I’d been back for over a year, and she hadn’t had anyone else in her life. A five-month tour had f*****g ruined that for me.
I hadn’t actually met her date. I’d hated him on sight. But maybe that was bias? Or jealousy? The fact of the matter was that I didn’t care about him in the slightest. Only that he was standing in my way.
“He just started a viral video, using your song,” Piper continued. She pushed a phone into my hand, and I watched him essentially take his shirt off and smolder at the camera.
“Uh, great?”
“You think so?” Piper asked, and I could hear the first trace of sarcasm in her voice. I was happy for my brother because she matched him perfectly. But he was also such a s**t that I sometimes didn’t know if he was making fun of me or not.
I handed her back the phone back. “I didn’t realize that passed as entertainment.”
Hollin snickered. “Ass.”
“It’s a thirst trap,” Honey provided helpfully.
“Campbell doesn’t care,” Blaire said, snatching the phone out of Piper’s hand and all but throwing it at Honey.
I didn’t care. That was entirely accurate. But she looked embarrassed that the phone had gotten into my hands. And I couldn’t see why. She was the one dating the guy—the thirst trap—after all. Interestingly, she hadn’t mentioned him when she turned me down. Not that she was obligated to. We had enough issues without her dating someone else.
“Yeah, but it’s his song,” Honey continued.
“That it is,” I said, smoothly taking the seat next to Blaire. “I’m sure the record label will appreciate it being used.”
Blaire jumped to her feet. “I need to get another drink.”
“I could go with you,” I offered.
Her eyes widened fractionally. “No thanks. Honey will come with.”
“Uh, yeah. Sure,” Honey said, standing beside her boss. She looked down at me. “Did you want something?”
“Sure. I’m not picky. Whatever you’re having.”
“Okay,” she said with a wide smile.
Blaire rolled her eyes and tugged Honey away. They dipped their heads together and were speaking furiously. I could only guess at what.
Piper hopped off Hollin’s lap, patted him on the shoulder twice, and then walked around the table to chat with Annie and Jennifer. Hollin shot me a brotherly look that I knew all too well.
“What?” I asked.
“You asked out Blaire?”
I shrugged. “It was a joke.”
“Bullshit.”
Despite myself, I laughed. Leave it to my brother. “Fine. It wasn’t a f*****g joke.”
“She’s dating someone else.”
“Yeah, well, she didn’t mention that.”
Hollin shrugged. “Probably because it’s not serious. Or so Piper says.”
“So, why are you up my ass?”
“Look, I don’t give a f**k if you want to make an absolute fool of yourself. But Blaire is Piper’s best friend. I think she’d actually kill you if you hurt Blaire.” Hollin seemed to consider before adding, “Again.”
“You don’t know shit.”
Hollin smirked. “Don’t have to. I know your stupid ass.”
“Yeah,” I said with a chuckle. “Well, you’re not wrong anyway.”
“Of course I’m not wrong.”
“Shut up.”
Hollin crossed his arms over his chest and leaned backward. “I’m just saying that you’re a dipshit and you need to be on your best behavior with Blaire. I will not be held responsible for how my girlfriend responds otherwise.”
“Best behavior,” I grumbled. “Fine.”
“Good.”
“But can we talk about how that f*****g video was a piece of s**t?”
Hollin barked out a laugh. “It’s terrible. If I took my shirt off and leaned into the camera, I could get a few million views, too.”
I arched an eyebrow at him.
“Yeah, yeah, you’d probably get, like, fifty million views.”
“I don’t take my shirt off.”
“Fine. Twenty million views with your shirt on.”
“I’m offended,” I said with a smirk. “I think I could get fifty with my shirt on, too.”
“Whatever, dude. What did the infamous Bobby Rogers have to say?”
I blew out a breath. “He wants me back in LA to start recording the next album.”
“f**k. Already?”
“He said I could have another month, and then I needed to figure my s**t out. I don’t have any music though. The lyrics are all s**t. What the f**k am I going to do?”
“You’re a professional. You’ll figure it out in the next month,” Hollin assured me.
I nodded reluctantly as Blaire and Honey returned from the bar. Honey plunked a glass down in front of me. It was pinkish orange with a slice of orange attached to the rim. If I had to guess, based on those few s**t years of bartending to survive LA, the drink was a s*x on the Beach. Honey had one in her hand as well. While Blaire’s drink was entirely clear with a lime in it. Why hadn’t I gotten that?
Blaire arched an eyebrow at me. “You said you weren’t picky.”
Ah. Ah, okay. That was how she was going to play it.
Hollin’s words were still in my head. I needed to be on my best behavior. Not that Hollin had ever been on good behavior in his life. But I’d hurt Blaire even if he didn’t know what I’d done. I didn’t want to push her away.
I raised the drink to her. “I’m man enough for s*x on the Beach.”
Honey giggled. Blaire just rolled her eyes as I took a good, long sip of the sickly-sweet drink. Under normal circumstances, I would have sent the drink back and gotten a bourbon and Coke or a beer or something, but I couldn’t now. Even if this would bite me in the ass later.
Blaire had just plopped into the seat next to me and turned to talk to the girls. Honey looked torn on whether to talk to me or her boss but inevitably ended up hovering over Blaire. That was a relief to me. I loved my fans. I just hadn’t planned on dealing with any tonight. It took a good amount of mental energy to be on like that. I usually had to prep for it.
“What the f**k are you drinking?”
I turned back around and found my sister, Nora, striding toward me. She wore outrageously tall high heels everywhere she went. She was the event planner for Wright Vineyard and had orchestrated the entire evening. If she was back here already, that meant the night was coming to a close.
“s*x on the Beach. Want one?”
“That’s disgusting,” Nora said. “I thought you had taste.”
Hollin chortled. “Why would you think that?”
“Ass,” I grumbled.
Nora’s eyes darted around the backstage area. I thought on some level, she was looking around, still expecting to see August and Tamara—her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend. She’d dated August for three years and been friends with Tamara almost her entire life. But then she’d found them hooking up last month and lost everything in the blink of an eye. She’d had to move out of her apartment with Tamara and into Hollin’s guest bedroom.
I was slightly disappointed that I hadn’t seen August since then because Hollin busting August’s nose wasn’t enough for me. He deserved a few broken bones for what he’d done to my sister.
“Are you still good for helping me move tomorrow?” Nora asked.
I groaned. “Can’t we hire movers?”
Hollin smacked the back of my head. “That’s what pickup trucks are for.”
“Yeah. Stop being so pretentious,” Nora said with a grin. “I don’t have that much stuff, and I need to get the f**k out of Hollin’s house.”
“Hey, it’s not so bad!” Hollin said.
“The walls are thin,” Nora told me with wide eyes.
Which meant Hollin and Piper were not quiet.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll help move you out of the s*x house.”
Hollin just leaned back with a self-satisfied light in his eyes and a smile on his face. He was so f*****g happy. And I didn’t begrudge him for an instant.
“Bright and early,” Nora said, pointing at me. “Eight a.m. I want to get this done before it’s too hot.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Which means finish your girly drink and go home. I don’t want either of you hungover either.”
“It’d take a lot more than this,” I said, picking up the s*x on the Beach, “to get me drunk enough for a hangover.”
“That was not a challenge,” my little sister said.
I glanced at Hollin, and he nodded at me.
We raised our glasses together and said, “Challenge accepted.”
- Writer
