Jasper

"You want to share with the class why you look like you are about Hulk-smash your phone?"

My cousin, River, wakes up from his afternoon nap with a usual dose of sarcasm.

Instead of explaining my predicament to him, I put a stop to his questions. "No, I'm not in a sharing mood." Besides, he'd never believe I'm all twisted up inside over a woman. A beautiful, smart, funny, brave woman, who after years of chasing me, has decided to push me away.

A young nurse saves me from explaining further when she enters the room carrying a tray of food. The poor girl can't contain herself around rock star royalty. She giggles and bats her eyelashes while River, the lead singer for our band, Dark Rain, and the guy on June's cover of Rolling Stone Magazine, undresses her with his eyes.

"I was hoping your shift wasn't over yet, beautiful."

Her face flushes and her hands shake as she sets up his tray. When she pulls the lid off the food, I stifle a laugh. The giant steak dinner hiding under the silver dome, definitely didn't come from the hospital cafeteria. With a wink she explains, "One of the nurses went on a food run after the doctor said it was okay for you to resume a normal diet."

River winks back at her and pushes the button on his bed to sit up. The nurse fidgets with the food, until River rises to eye level. He leans in and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "You girls are taking such good care of me I may never want to leave this hospital."

She turns twenty shades of red, fluffs his pillows, and checks his IV. When River runs his thumb across her wrist she gasps and parts her lips. If my cousin snapped his fingers, I bet he could make her drop to her knees.

After opening his napkin and placing it on his lap, the nurse makes an excuse to leave, promising to come right back.

"Jesus, River you've got these nurses bending over backwards for you. Next thing you know they'll be offering blow jobs."

As he's cutting through his steak, he raises his eyebrows. "I've already turned down two, little cousin."

"And how many have you accepted?"

"A gentleman never kisses and tells."

A snort, hiccup, laugh sound leaves my mouth. "A gentleman, that's funny." Although he does treat women with respect, he'd be more of a rake than a gentleman.

I erase the smile from my face when the nurse returns carrying another tray of food. She approaches me with caution. My reputation's much different than River's. Unlike my cousin I don't flirt with every girl that walks by. Nor do I fuck every one that offers. The press labels me as the silent, brooding type. Unless they are a fan of our band, most people won't even speak to me. They see the tattoos and piercings on my body and automatically think I'm a criminal or a loser.

"Mr. Rain, we wanted to make sure you had some dinner too."

"Thank you." I accept the tray and set it on the table next to the generic hospital recliner that has been my second home since my cousin was shot by a psycho stalker. If you ask me, he was well enough to go home two days ago, but the staff insists otherwise.

River goes with the flow and let's life lead the way. He gets that from his mother, she's Native American and believes the Great Spirit will guide you in all things. With a beautiful soul like hers I can't believe she ended up with my Uncle. Thankfully, he skipped town when River was six, likely saving him from a lifetime of abuse.

My phone finally dings with a text. I hide the disappointment from my face when I see it isn't from Callie. It's Rhys, our bass player, asking me to let River know he's on his way.

"Rhys will be here in ten."

I'm texting him back when my best friend, and the drummer for our band walks through the door. I'm a little shocked that he came alone. But there's no sign of his girlfriend, Emerald. River beats me to asking Grayson, "Where's Em?"

After being kidnapped by a crazy stalker—the same stalker that shot River—none of us thought he would ever let her leave his side again.

"She's with Kason shopping or some shit. They teamed up against me and kicked me out of the house. She doesn't even like shopping." The last words are said with a pout as he plops down on the end of River's bed.

"Damn, I'm sad I missed seeing that." Watching his girlfriend and Marine brother team up against him would have been my amusement for the day. And I could really use some amusement right now.

River and Grayson spend a few minutes catching up on Dark Rain's upcoming schedule and his eventual release from the hospital, while I stare at my phone. Callie sent me a vague text hours ago saying that she was going to be away for a few days and that we needed to talk when she returned. I asked her if everything was okay and offered to talk now, but she has yet to respond. For the past week she has been acting strange.

If it was any other girl, I would be happy to lose her attention, but it's Calliope. The hellcat, sex-kitten who for the past four years has pursued me every chance she got. Begging me for just one night. At every opportunity I told her sex between us was a bad idea. Now she's proving me right.

After an attack that left her hospitalized, my defenses slipped. The fear of losing her made me give into my long-suppressed desires. For a few weeks it was more than just sex, for me anyway. I have never had anything be about more than just sex. As a matter of fact, I have a list of rules I follow and sex with friends sits on the no side. Along with repeat sex, but that didn't stop me this time. The woman has something about her that I crave and can no longer resist.

Rhys arrives with a duffle bag full of stuff for River. "I got everything you asked for, and then some." He notices River's plate of food and immediately begins stealing from it. Rhys loves to eat and he never gets full, he's a bottomless pit.

River smacks his hand away, "Stop stealing my food, I'm injured. Go eat Jasper's food and put the bag in the bathroom. I'm going to have one of the nurses help me with a shower after dinner."

Grayson chimes in, "I hope you filled the bag with condoms. Either that or we'll all be camping out at the hospital again in nine months."

"Very funny douche, I'm always safe. Well, except that one time, but..."

River's sentence stays unfinished when another nurse taps on the door and then enters the room. The young exotic beauty exudes much more confidence than the last one. She literally looks at each one of us like she's building a harem and we're the winning candidates. If I thought it needed to be said, I'd tell her she probably has a chance of a Rhys and River sandwich. They've been known to get pretty wild in the past. From the looks they're both giving her she may have just figured it out.

"I just wanted to check and make sure you boys have everything you need." She eyes us all again, "And if I can get you anything, doesn't matter what it is, you let me know."

Surprisingly, Rhys speaks up, "We need about fifteen minutes to catch up on some business, but River was hoping to take a shower after dinner."

"I'll make sure to come back in about twenty minutes."

After she leaves Rhys practically attacks me. "Where's your food?"

I point to the table where I left the tray. Grayson doesn't get the "we need to talk about the next leg of our tour," words out of his mouth before Rhys is scarfing down my steak and fries.

"I have an idea I want to run by you guys. As always if you aren't on board, I'm open to hear different ideas, but this is something I really need to happen."

"We aren't set to tour for another four months." River reminds Grayson.

"I know, but I need to put this in motion now if it's going to work out."

"Well let's hear it brother, you have our attention," Rhys says.

I haven't said anything yet, but I don't need to. My best friend knows that no matter what he needs or wants I have his back. It has and always will be that way. Gray and I bonded as kids in elementary school when he stood up for me. No one has ever been in my corner the way he has. I even lived with his family as a teen. Whatever he wants permission to do, he's asking River and Rhys, not me.

After releasing a long breath, he blurts it out, "I want to do something different with this tour. The song that River and Emerald recorded will be our first single. Early campaigns for the song are showing rave results."

"Bro, we all know it's gonna be a huge hit. Tell them what you want." At this point I've figured it out, and River might've too, but Rhys can sometimes be late to the party.

"I want to tour with The Lane Gang as our opening act. Before any of you give me an answer, I have thought about it and I know rock and country acts don't usually tour together. I've thought about all the negatives, but we set the standards in music plenty of times before, and we can do it again."

Gray looks down at the bed while he waits for a response, picking at something on the blanket. I can't believe how nervous he seems about this.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see River wink at Rhys before he asks, "And what if we say no?"

"Then I guess I will have to sit this one out. You guys can hire a fill in drummer until I can figure out a way to keep Em safe and not go insane."

Every one of our jaws hit the floor. He may be the drummer, but in Dark Rain, Grayson has always been our fearless leader. We made a pact when we were teens—practicing in the shed in his backyard— that the band came before everything. The fact that he would miss a tour for Emerald shows how much he loves her. Hell, he has probably loved her since he was nineteen. It just took them forever to figure it out.

River must not be able to stand the look of sadness on his face because he lets him off the hook. "Bro, how could you think we wouldn't want to tour with your hot girlfriend and her band?"

I don't know if Gray feels relieved, or pissed at the hot girlfriend remark. "If you weren't hurt, I'd punch you for that."

"In all seriousness though, I would love to tour with The Lane Gang. Their sound is fresh and I'm always up for being a trendsetter," Rhys adds.

"Let's take a vote then, all those in favor of touring with The Lane Gang, say Grayson is pussy-whipped."

Rhys and River happily repeat my jab. Gray laughs and punches me on the arm.

"That's funny now dipshit, but let's see how you like it in two months when Callie has you eating out of her palms. Or does she already?"

To save myself from having a discussion with my best friend about this topic I excuse myself.

"Well guys, it's been fun, but I'm not sticking around to see what River and Rhys have in store for that poor nurse."

"Hey, just because I got shot doesn't mean I can't still party like a rock star."

Grayson stands up, "How about we head to the gym?"

That's exactly what I need. Sparring with Gray will help me get rid of this building frustration. "I'm down."

"See you two later."

Rhys grunts goodbye through a mouthful of my food.

When we open the door to leave, two nurses are waiting to walk inside. "We got out just in time."

Gray laughs and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Come on, since you won't talk to me, I'll let you hit me a few good times and you'll feel much better."