Page 4

Jareth

T hree Months Later

"Nadia!" Zoya Mikhail cries, her sweet voice echoing across the stage like an aria from on high.

Nadia spins, her eyes locking on her baby sister. "Zoya! You're here!"

"Goddamn," I mutter under my breath, my eyes locked on Zoya as she rushes up the steps with her arms flung out wide. She isn't rushing toward me, though. Unfortunately. Her eyes are locked on her sister.

The two of them collide in the center of the stage in an excited ball of laughter and squeals.

Nadia is glowing with happiness. And Zoya?

Fucking hell, I've never seen anything prettier.

The bright smile plastered across her gorgeous face lights her up like the sun.

Her hazel eyes actually sparkle as happy laughter spills from her lips.

I discretely adjust my cock, trying not to think about the way those curves felt beneath my hands three months ago.

It's a useless attempt. I've thought of nothing but her since she ripped the goddamn rug out from beneath me in the middle of that nightclub and then skipped town like she couldn't wait to get as far away from me as possible.

I should be mad as hell that she kissed me back that night. That's the rational thing to feel, right? She kissed me like she was fucking starving for a taste of me, and it was all a lie. She's seeing someone else.

But that's not what's had me all fucked up in the head, oh no. I'm mad as hell that she isn't mine. That she kisses some other prick the same way she kissed me.

He's the one who gets to put his hands all over her perfect body.

He's the one she thinks about.

It's bullshit. She should be in my bed, wearing my ring.

"Stare any harder and your eyes are going to fall out like some fucking cartoon," Lemmy says, slapping me on the back.

"Fuck off," I mutter, turning a dark scowl on him. "I'm not staring."

"Right." He draws the word out, an amused smirk painted across his face. "And I wasn't balls deep in a pretty little blonde last night, either."

"Jesus Christ." My lip curls in disgust. "Knock it off with that shit, man. No one wants to hear about it." The last thing I need to know is who he's fucking or what they do together. The man is determined to sleep his way through every fan we've got.

That shit isn't me, as much as some people wish it were. I want what my parents have, something real. Something that lasts. I want Zoya Mikhail.

"I'm just saying. You're a piss poor liar." Lemmy holds his hands up, chortling to himself. "You were staring at her the same goddamn way back in Los Angeles a few months ago."

"You don't know what you're talking about," I mutter, my eyes locked on Zoya again. We both know I'm full of shit, though. He was there. He saw me kissing her at the bar. He hasn't stopped giving me shit about it since.

"Mmhmm." Lemmy shakes his head, strolling over to his drums.

I lift my guitar strap over my head and set it on the stand. For a long moment, I just watch Nadia and Zoya whisper back and forth. They look so much alike with their dark hair and hazel eyes, but they're night and day different. Zoya is fiery and full of life. Nadia is sweet and gentle.

My eyes narrow when Zoya shoots me a furtive look over her shoulder and then quickly positions herself with her back to me.

What the hell? Is she trying to ignore me?

Yeah, fuck that noise.

I stomp across the stage toward her, chuckling to myself when she casts another look over her shoulder and sees me coming. She squeaks the same way she did back in Los Angeles, her pretty eyes growing comically wide.

"Jareth, you remember my baby sister, Zoya," Nadia says as soon as she spots me. "She's hanging out with me while we're in town for the show."

"Cool," I say like I wasn't fully aware that Zoya goes to school in Knoxville weeks before our bus rolled into town.

Like I haven't been counting down the days to this show.

My gaze runs over Zoya again. She's still trying like hell to ignore me, looking everywhere but right at me.

Her cheeks are bright pink. Christ, she's beautiful. "What's up, princess?"

"Princess?" Nadia mouths, her eyes wide.

Zoya whips her head in my direction so fast she damn near topples over. The stubborn tilt to her jaw only makes my dick harder.

"Don't call me that," she says.

"Would you prefer queen?" My gaze tangles with hers. "I did tell you that you deserved to be treated like one, didn't I? I mean, after I got you wet and everything." I bet her little prick of a boyfriend doesn't treat her like a queen. He probably doesn't even know what to do with a girl like her.

"Oh my," Nadia whispers, her wide-eyed gaze bouncing between us.

Zoya growls at me—the cutest sound I've ever heard—and then grabs my arm. "He means after he spilled his beer on me . We'll be right back," she says to her sister before trying to haul me away.

I let her do it. Why the fuck not? Seeing her all fired up is doing a number on my cock. Might as well go with it, especially if it means getting five minutes alone with her.

Lemmy barely manages to stifle his laughter as she marches me past him, bristling like a little kitten. The rest of the band just watches the show with wide eyes.

Zoya releases my arm as soon as we're backstage, spinning to face me. "Have you lost your mind?" she hisses. "You can't say things like that!"

"Why the fuck not?"

"Because…because I have a boyfriend!"

"Is that so?" I make a show of glancing around. "Odd how your sister doesn't even know anything about this boyfriend of yours, isn't it?"

Zoya narrows her eyes. "You asked Nadia about my boyfriend?"

"Mmhmm," I hum, crowding her up against a post. Maybe it's a dick move, but it's been months since we were in the same room together. I want my fucking hands on her.

Judging by the way she whimpers when I'm pressed up against her, she wants the same damn thing. For some reason, though, she's determined to pretend she doesn't.

I tip her head back with a finger beneath her chin, forcing her to meet my gaze. "You look beautiful today, princess."

"Jareth," she whimpers. "Stop talking to my sister about me. And stop telling people that you got me wet."

"Tell you what. I'll lie about getting you wet in Los Angeles if you tell me why you lied about having a boyfriend.

" I'm not honestly sure if she is lying about the boyfriend or not, but I like the way she's glaring at me like she wants to set me on fire.

And I really fucking like the way she's trembling against me like she's two seconds from climbing my body.

I dip my head, running my lips up the side of her throat. Christ, she tastes like cherries and sin. The pulse in her throat pounds like a jackhammer when I touch my tongue to it.

"I didn't ask you to lie. I asked you to tell the truth. I was only wet because you spilled beer on me. And I didn't lie to you." Her voice shakes. "I just…haven't told Nadia about him yet."

We both know the beer isn't the only reason she was wet that night, but I let her think that. For now.

"Why haven't you told her about him? Aren't you two close?"

"She was going through things."

"Her and Teo are good now," I remind her, flicking my tongue against her skin again just to get another taste. Her sister and Teo got together or back together shortly after I kissed Zoya at the nightclub. Hell, he's proposed to her already. They're getting married a few days before Christmas.

"So?" Zoya scowls at me. "It's my decision when to tell her about my boyfriend, not yours."

"If he even exists."

She huffs like I'm pissing her off and then plants her hands against my chest, pushing as hard as she can. She only manages to move me because I take a step back so she doesn't hurt herself. The sexy little minx hardly even reaches my chest. She's fucking tiny.

I watch in barely concealed amusement as she fishes around in her pocket before ripping her phone out of it like she intends to launch it at my head. Surprisingly, she doesn't. She stabs at the screen hard enough to break the glass and then turns it around to show me.

My heart twists in a knot when I see her background. It's her…cuddled up to some asshole with blue eyes in a baseball uniform who has his arm around her and a shit-eating grin on his face. He looks like a dick.

"See?" she says triumphantly. "My boyfriend."

Well…fuck.

Why do I feel like she just ripped the goddamn rug out from beneath me again?

"You're happy with him?"

"Why?" she asks suspiciously.

"Just answer the question, Zoya."

"Fine." She rolls her eyes. "Yes, I'm happy."

"He treats you right?"

"I…yes."

I jerk my chin in a nod, my throat tight as I reach for her phone. I hit the button to switch the screen off and then lean forward, slipping it back into her pocket. My lips brush her cheek.

"If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me, princess," I murmur against her skin.

"Jareth…"

"Behave." I turn and stroll away before I do something she'll regret…like fuck her up against the post. As much as I want to do exactly that, I won't make a cheater out of her.

Instead, it's time to come up with a different plan. One that ends with her breaking up with the prick before I fuck my kid into her. Because, make no mistake about it, that will be happening. Soon.

" I need a favor," I say, pacing my hotel room early the next morning. The sounds of traffic drift up from the street below as half the city fights to get to work on time.

"Hello to you, too," Bastian says, his tone wry.

"Fuck off, Bastian. I'm serious."

"Clearly," my twin says with a soft laugh. "What kind of favor?"

"Nadia Mikhail and Teo Kirby are getting married."

"I heard. It's all over the news."

"I need them to get married at the vineyard."

"Don't they already have a venue?" he asks.

"That's beside the point," I growl. They're planning to get married at an estate in Beverly Hills, but they've been keeping the location under wraps to keep the paparazzi from descending en masse.

Convincing Nadia to change it won't be a problem.

She's already stressing about uninvited guests crashing the festivities, especially since her family is flying in for the two-week break we have from the tour.

She's pregnant. The last thing she needs is more stress right now.

"I need them to get married at the vineyard. "

"It's not exactly wedding season here, man."

"I'm aware of that," I grit out, my grip tightening on the phone. "But the vineyards are beautiful any time of year." Oliver and Lucy got married at Christmas last year, so it's not like it's unheard of for us to host a wedding in the dead of winter.

"When are they getting married?"

"Two days before Christmas."

Bastian's sigh sends static down the line. "Christmas is six weeks away, Jareth. Do you know how much work it's going to take to pull off a wedding in six weeks?"

"All you do is fucking work. You can make it happen.

Besides, you've got Ridley, Haven, Trystan, Jace, and Oliver there to help.

Not to mention, the rest of our cousins.

They can pull it off." There's a whole fucking army of our cousins working at the vineyard.

Honestly, I'm not even sure what half of them do anymore.

But whatever it is clearly works. The family business has become its own wine dynasty over the last few years.

Bastian is quiet for a long moment.

"The vineyard is as much mine as it is anyone's," I remind him.

When Mom and Dad decided to retire, Mom divided her share among all four of us kids.

Hermione is still in college. Arwen is currently living her best life with Granger and their little girl.

Bastian and I are the only two with any interest in running the place.

"And yet, I'm the one here while you're living your rockstar fantasies," Bastian says.

I scowl at the wall. "You know damn well that I spend most of my time there helping do what needs to be done. It's not like you're complaining about being in charge, anyway. We both know you fucking love getting to call the shots." It's the truth. If Bastian isn't in control, he isn't happy.

He's my twin, and I love him, but the man can be a nightmare sometimes. He's a cranky pain in the ass on a good day. Most days, he's a tyrant.

Oliver and Trystan handle his moods a helluva lot better than I do…which is to say they haven't come to blows yet. Thank God Ridley is back from Italy. He's the only one who really knows how to handle my brother.

"I know," Bastian relents with another sigh. "I just don't understand why this needs to happen here if they already have a venue."

"The paparazzi won't be a problem at the vineyard.

It's half a state away from Hollywood." And having the wedding there means getting Zoya in my space for two weeks.

I don't tell Bastian that part, though. He'll never fucking agree if he knows that I haven't even run any of this by Nadia and Teo yet. But desperate times and all that.

I need time to convince Zoya that I'm the man she wants, not her little boyfriend. I can't do that in Los Angeles with paparazzi breathing down our necks.

"The whole goddamn world is curious about Nadia and Teo right now. Just imagine what having the wedding there will do for business," I say, dangling the carrot I know he won't be able to resist.

"Fine. I'll make it happen." He pauses. "But you owe me."

"Name your price."

"Not likely, you dick," he says with a grunt. "You'll know when I'm ready to call in the massive favor you now owe me."

I grin, not really surprised. No one negotiates like Bastian.

It's the only reason no one really complains about him being in charge even when he's a pain in the ass.

He knows his shit. The vineyard is thriving under his care, just like it did when our parents and uncles ran it.

It'll be a multi-billion-dollar business soon.

I haven't told him yet that this is the last time I plan to tour.

If it weren't Nadia, I wouldn't be doing it at all.

I'd be back home doing what I promised to do when we took over for our parents.

But Knox Mikhail asked me to look after his baby girl, and I intend to keep my word to the man.

As soon as Zoya realizes that it's me she wants, I'll be looking after her for him, too.

He won't have a goddamn thing to worry about.

Six weeks , I tell myself. You'll have her right where you want her in six weeks.

Christ, it can't come soon enough.