Play Fair (The Devil's Share Book 3)(26)

I looked up when I heard the front door open, and then quietly click close. Luke was wearing the clothes he had on last night and his sunglasses. He stumbled into the kitchen and laid his head on the granite island. “Tough night, Lukey?”

He let out an unintelligible groan.

“Yeah. I’ve been there.” And I had. I spent ninety-nine percent of my time on tour drinking, banging, and partying. I was wasted every night and hung over every morning. This past month was the longest I’d ever gone sober. Or celibate. I walked to the fridge and got him a bottle of water, handing it to him. “Go to bed, dude. You look like roadkill and if Lexi sees you coming home like this again? She’s going to go pregnancy postal.”

He stood then grabbed the island to steady himself. “You have any bars?”

I shrugged. “I might. Go look in the medicine cabinet in my bathroom.” He turned toward the stairs. “But be quiet. Landry and Bryan are still sleeping.” He waved his hand over his head, dismissing me. Letting Luke take my Xanax was probably not the best decision I’d made today. But he needed to come down from whatever high he was experiencing and sleep it off. I didn’t want Landry seeing him walk around like a wasted zombie.

Dash came into the kitchen just as Luke cleared the turn at the top of the stairs. “Hey, man, what are you doing up so early?”

“Honestly? I have no idea.”

He chuckled and gestured to the stack of papers resting in front of me. “What are those?”

“Songs.” I took a sip of my coffee. “The label overnighted them.”

Dash picked up the stack and leafed through it. “They are really starting to piss me off.” He shook his head. “We write our own stuff. Or we do collaborations. That’s the way it’s always been. Why are they trying to change it now?”

“We both know why, man.” I watched as Dash took the creamer out of the fridge and doctored up his java before adding, “The label wants the hard-core bad boys of rock and roll. They want smashed guitars and lyrics about hollow sex and cocaine. It’s insane. You’d think they’d be happy that we are on the straight and narrow.”

“Nah. Straight and narrow doesn’t sell out stadiums or incite riots.”

Dash stirred his coffee and then sat his spoon in the sink. “I’m getting tired of selling out stadiums, bro.”

If we were being honest? I was too. “I’ve been thinking about that, since Landry showed up.” On tour with a rock band wasn’t the place for a little girl. And she’d been left alone enough in her short life. Dash had a daughter on the way, Smith’s sobriety wouldn’t survive being away from Dylan, and Luke was on the highway to hell. “Maybe it’s time we made some changes.”

“Slow down a little? Don’t pack the dates in so tight? Play smaller venues?”

I nodded.

He let his head hang a little, clearly tired. “We’re on the same page, man.”

“So what do we do?”

Dash eyed the pages of lyrics and notes. “We send them a demo of one of our songs, maybe the one we worked on yesterday. And if they don’t like it? They can f*ck off.”

“And what about these?” I gestured to the stack of papers with my cup.

Dash picked up the stack and tossed them in the trash.

***

We spent all day down in the studio, fine-tuning the demo we were sending the label and coming up with a new and calmer game plan. The Devil’s Share had been going ninety to nothing for ten years straight. It was starting to catch up with all of us. I’d gone upstairs long enough to eat lunch with Bryan and Landry. They’d spent the morning coloring and playing board games and had plans for the park after lunch. I was so damn lucky to have B here to help me with my kid. My kid. Holy hell. If someone would have told me four days ago that I was going to be a dad? I would have grabbed a bottle of whiskey and locked myself in my closet. But loving Landry, wanting what was best for her? It just came natural. I’d called my parents and left them a voicemail asking them to call me as soon as they got home. They had a granddaughter they needed to meet.

“Okay, Buttercup, it’s time for lights out.” Bryan had read her a few more chapters in their book and was now in our bathroom getting ready for our night out, and I was tucking Landry into bed. I wanted to do something nice for Bryan, something to show her how grateful I was to have her support. Of course Dylan had finagled her way into our plans. She said she hadn’t gotten to spend any time with her sister since she’d been here. So Dylan and Smith were tagging along.

“Are you and B leaving?” Landry was surrounded by pillows and stuffed animals with her beautiful dark hair in a pile on the top of her head. She looked so much like Bryan and Dylan with her hair like that. Our mini hot mess, that’s what Smith called her tonight at dinner.

“We are going to go out for a little bit, but Lex and Dash are right downstairs. Okay?” I was nervous to leave her. I didn’t want her to feel alone or scared.

“You’re coming back, right?”

Yep. That’s what I was afraid of. “Of course we’re coming back, we’ll always, always come back.” I tapped the end of her nose. “I told you, it’s you and me now.”

“And B.”

I smiled. “And B.”