Play Fair (The Devil's Share Book 3)(45)

“Yeah, of course.”

“Do you think I ever cared about hurting anyone but Dylan? I didn’t. She was the first girl in my entire life who I cared about. Who I wanted to take care of. And I doubt one heartless f*ck from a rock star is what caused Landry’s mom to be a shitty parent. Trust me, that kind of behavior takes years of conditioning.”

I nodded, swallowing the whiskey in my mouth. “It just keeps coming, you know? It’s like, I have these amazing moments with Bryan, and then something happens to make me remember what an * I’ve been.” I shook my head. “And it’s double. Because it’s not just Bryan, it’s Landry too.” I took another sip. “Those chicks we treated like that? They have dads out there, lying awake at night hoping and praying that no one ever hurts their little girls.”

Smith grabbed the bottle back. “You and Dash are truly and utterly f*cked.”

I put my head in my hands. “No. Shit.” I grinned. “It’s karma. We’ll probably all have nothing but girls.” I stretched my legs out in front of me, feeling slightly better after unloading my guilt on Smith. “Your turn.”

“I was actually waiting up for Luke.” He sighed. “He’s going down a bad road, man.”

“I know.” I pointed to the second set of drums in the corner. “He’s giving Landry music lessons though.”

“Last week he overheard Dash tell me and Dylan that he was going to ask Lexi to marry him.”

“Holy shit.” No wonder Luke was going off the deep end.

“It can’t be easy for him, especially now that Bryan is here, to be around all of us.” Smith stood up, checking his phone for the time.

“We’ve all been pretty occupied, I guess.” Other than studio time the only person who ever really spent any time with Luke the past couple of days was Landry.

“You think he’s in love with her?”

“With Lex? I don’t know. I think he thinks he is.” I snorted. “Does that make sense?”

“Perfect sense.” Smith sat down on the couch. “You think he’s hitting the hard stuff?”

I thought about the times I’d seen him stumble in over the past couple of weeks, the way he’d looked before crashing and the times he’d asked me for downers. “Nah, coke and booze, in my opinion. You?”

“I figured about the same.” He held the whiskey bottle out to me; when I shook my head, he put the cap back on. “You think we need to put a stop to it?”

I pursed my lips. “Wouldn’t we just be the pot calling the kettle black? It’s not affecting his job, or the band. He’s here in the studio every day and he’s nice and pleasant around Landry and the girls. Who are we to tell him how to cope? At this point at least.”

Smith nodded. “Okay. We’ll just keep watching him, right?”

“Yeah, man. Let’s just give him to room to deal.” I stood, stretching my arms over my head. “Has Dash said anything about it?”

“Not to me.” Smith headed toward the stairs. “I doubt he thinks it’s his place, you know? He doesn’t like to get in between Luke and Lexi unless absolutely necessary.”

I followed Smith into the house. “Thanks. For tonight.”

“We’ve all been there, bro.” He pulled me in for a very manly hug. “You’re doing good though, with both your girls.”

“Oh for the love of everything holy. Do you guys ever stop hugging each other?”

Smith and I both winced at the sound of Lexi’s voice. We pulled apart and headed into the dark kitchen to find her sitting on the island eating leftover fried chicken. I chuckled. “Cravings?”

She shrugged, rubbing her belly. “Couldn’t sleep. This little girl is nocturnal.”

Smith pried the chicken leg from her grip and then handed her an apple instead. “Join the club.”

Lexi calmly sat the apple back in the bowl on the counter and snatched the chicken from Smith. “If you attempt to take this meat from my hands one more time, I will lose my shit. Your girlfriend has me eating the grossest crap, and I. Am. HUNGRY.”

Smith held his hands up and slowly backed away. “Sorry, Lex.”

She took a big bite and talked around the food. “Why are you two up? Late-night tryst?”

I pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge, the light blinding us before I shut the door. “I have spent the past ten years treating women like garbage.”

Smith leaned against the counter, farthest from Lexi. “I was waiting up to talk to your boy.”

Lexi pointed at me with her chicken. “You were an *. You were all *s. But everyone loves a bad boy who ends up being a good man. So you guys will be okay. You’ll all be cursed with daughters, but you’ll be okay.” She turned to Smith. “If you want to talk to Luke, you’ll have to wait for a few more hours. He usually gets in around seven.”

I cocked my head, studying her. I thought he’d been able to hide his early morning homecomings. “You knew?”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Of course I knew, it’s Luke. He’s my best friend.” She smiled, almost sinister. “There isn’t anything that goes on in this house that we don’t know about.”

Smith pursed his lips. “We? As in you and Dash?”