The grin didn’t dim. “Give me another kiss and I’ll let you have it,” he bargained.
I rolled my eyes at him. “Really? You’re going to extort kisses out of me right now?”
“Be glad it’s only kisses and not the quickie I really want.” He lowered his arm, but didn’t relinquish the clipboard. Wrapping his arms around me again he pulled me against him and lowered his head until his lips were a mere inch from mine. “Kiss me and I’ll let you get back to work.”
His warm breath brushed over my lips like a butterfly kiss and I melted against him. With a satisfied growl Devlin kissed me, but it was a softer kiss than I’d been expecting—a gentle caress of his lips over mine that left me more breathless than if he’d devoured my lips. When he stepped back, holding out my clipboard, I was trembling with a need that I doubted would ever be completely fulfilled.
“See you later, Nat.” He winked before walking away.
For long minutes—minutes I really didn’t have to spare—I just stood there, gaping after him. He’d never teased me like that in the past. So tenderly, so affectionately. When someone bumped into me I was finally able to snap out of my trance and jolted back to the here and now. Muttering a curse under my breath, I got back to work.
When Demon’s Wings left the stage it was to the sound of the fans chanting their names. I was standing backstage watching as my brothers exited. Drake was laughing at something Jesse must have said. The big bald drummer twirled a drumstick with his fingers in a way that boggled my mind at how effortless it looked. The sound of Drake’s laugh always touched something in my heart, especially now that I knew that it had been such a rare commodity in the past.
When my oldest brother spotted me he stopped long enough to drape an arm around my shoulders in a one-armed hug. “You look tired, Nat.”
I gave him a small smile. “I am. It’s been a busy night, and it isn’t over yet.”
“Is Emmie overworking you?” Shane asked as he stopped beside us. “We can talk to her.”
I shook my head quickly, just in case they got it in their heads that they needed to have a talk with Emmie about me working too hard. I didn’t want my boss thinking I had gone whining to my brothers because I couldn’t handle the workload she gave me. It wasn’t that I had too much to do—even though, yeah, I really did have too much on my plate at times. I actually loved my job. I just needed to get some things straight in my head so that I could function a little more clearly.
“Don’t you dare talk to Emmie,” I told the younger of my two brothers. “I will kick you in your favorite man parts if you open your mouth. I’m fine, Shane. I’ve just got a headache. Okay?”
Shane’s hands covered his groin, probably scared I would kick him there anyway. “Okay, okay. Chill out. No wonder you have a headache. Your blood pressure must be through the roof.” He grinned. “I’ll see you later.”
Drake and I watched him walk away, no doubt in search of Harper. When Shane was gone I looked up at Drake. “You’d better get going too. Neveah will be wanting her daddy to tuck her in or she won’t go to sleep.”
My brother’s handsome face softened, just like it always did when he thought of his daughter. “Yeah, I’d better go back to the bus.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Come over and spend some time with us soon. Okay? Neveah loves her Aunt Nat.”
I had to blink to keep the sudden tears that burned my eyes from falling. I really should thank Jenna for running away four years ago to find our brothers. If she hadn’t I might still be stupidly hating them for something that wasn’t even their fault. I wouldn’t have them in my life, or my beautiful little niece whom I loved just as much as she loved me.
“I’ll make time in the next few days,” I promised and gave him a little squeeze before pushing him in the direction Shane had just gone. “Give Neveah a kiss for me.”
“Love you, Nat,” Drake called over his shoulder.
“Love you too, Drake.”
For the next fifteen minutes I helped as much as I could with the switchover for OtherWorld’s equipment. I couldn’t do much, but I did know how to set up the drums, and knew that if they weren’t just right Devlin would be off-the-walls pissed. When we were nearly done, Zander came out to do the sound check since it was his turn to do it.
After he was satisfied with everything, he followed me off stage. The others were walking toward us, coming from the dressing rooms. My gaze went past Wroth, Liam, and Axton straight to Devlin. He saw me watching him and his lips started to tilt until his eyes moved behind me.
I shook my head at him in annoyance until I felt a hand on my arm. Surprised, I turned to face Zander. “What?”
Zander had a grim look on his face. “I just wanted to tell you…” He sighed and raked a hand through his shaggy hair. It was on the curly side and a few of the curls fell into his eyes. “Look, Nat. I’m sorry about that whole fucking bet thing, okay? I never should have made it in the first place. We were friends until all of that went down, and I was a dick. I miss hanging out with you. Can’t we go back to being friends like we were before I turned into such an ass?”
My mouth fell open. I’d never been so shocked in my life. Zander was an arrogant asshole most of the time. He wanted to goof off more often than be serious, but I’d really loved hanging out with him before everything had turned sour. Losing his friendship had hurt bad, not nearly as bad as when I’d lost Devlin, but it had still been a blow on top of everything else.
Zander’s apology, his asking if we could be friends again, that wasn’t something that he would normally do. He didn’t apologize for anything. Ever. But I knew that he didn’t have many true friends. He had a lot of followers, but none that really counted. When he’d lost my friendship he’d also lost that of his very best friend. He must have been lonely now without either Devlin or me in his life, I realized.
“Zander…” I honestly didn’t know how to respond. “I…” I broke off again. I wanted to be his friend again, but I didn’t trust him any more than I trusted Devlin to not hurt me again.
His hold on my arm tightened. “Just think about it, okay? I miss you, Nat.” After only a small hesitation I nodded my head. Zander gave me a tight smile and released my arm. “Thanks, Natalie.”
“Everything ready?” Axton asked as he stopped behind me.