jasper
Two and a half years earlier
I’d never seen a woman more intriguing.
My eyes tracked her as she followed along behind my crazy-ass best mate as he lugged the girl he’d had his eye on across the dancefloor.
Charlotte – the chick that had turned Parker into an absolute sociopath, had said she was waiting for her friend Hannah.
Hannah…
I tossed the name around in my brain before deciding I liked the sound of it.
To look at her now, she wasn’t exactly what you’d describe as beautiful.
She had a shit load of makeup covering what I was willing to bet was a seriously pretty face… and you couldn’t exactly miss the fact that she was dressed like a stripper.
But that wasn’t what I saw.
I saw the vulnerable look in her eye when she walked in the door.
I saw the fake confidence she was rocking.
I saw the uncertainty in the way she walked.
She wanted the world to think of her a particular way, when really, she was something else entirely underneath it all.
I didn’t know for sure, obviously, but if someone were to make a bet, I would have gone all in.
Whoever she was – I wanted to know everything about her.
I’m going to find out more.
Parker was back over here now, making an ass of himself yet again, but I wasn’t paying enough attention to hear what soul-destroying nonsense he was spouting this time.
This Charlotte chick could handle herself; that much was clear.
I chuckled at the thought of her shutting him down.
His ego could do with taking down a peg or two anyway.
Hannah stepped forward in what I guessed was an attempt to intervene in the fiasco that was happening before our eyes.
I leant in, catching her arm gently and spoke to her before she got the chance to move.
“I wouldn’t just now.”
She froze, and her eyes widened in shock as she slowly raked her gaze up my body until she got to my face. If I had to guess, I would say that she hadn’t even noticed me standing right here.
She had been so focused on the little to-and-fro happening between Parker and her friend.
The absolute shell-shocked look on her face when she looked at Parker assured me that she was a fan of my main man.
Who the hell wasn’t…
“He’s not himself right now, and if there’s one thing I know about rock stars, it’s that they’re unpredictable when they’re trying to mate,” I joked.
Her mouth dropped open.
“You’re Hannah?” I asked her gently.
She nodded, dumbfounded, her mouth opening and shutting as she looked between me and Park.
She knows who I am too.
I gave myself an internal high five.
Lotte reached around blindly for Hannah’s hand, but she was so busy looking into my eyes that she didn’t even notice.
“I think you’re being summoned… Hannah.” Her name rolled off my tongue like honey and I knew I was going to have to find a way to make it happen again.
* * *
I didn’t have to wait long.
“Hannah,” I called to her. “I need you to come with me, okay?”
“Oh my god, this is awesome,” she replied excitedly.
I had another word in mind for describing what had just gone down.
I could have kicked Parker’s ass.
He’d apparently lost his mind and decided that it was a good idea to steal this Charlotte chick’s phone… then come all the way back here to return it to her… and then finally, kiss the poor girl senseless in front of a tonne of photographers, fans and paparazzi…
So now I had a totally unnecessary drama to handle.
“Kelv!” I called to Parker’s driver. “Get him the fuck out of here.”
“On it.” He shoved some idiot with a camera out of the way and tried to barge his way through to where Parker had Charlotte held hostage.
I looked back over at Hannah and suddenly she looked like she didn’t think it was so awesome after all. She looked worried.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her flush against me. “I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”
Her eyes were wide again as she nodded.
I swept one of my arms under her knees and hoisted her off the ground, carrying her in my arms.
“Holy shit,” she breathed.
“Tuck in close, Hannah, okay?”
She curled into me, one of her arms was wrapped around my neck and her other hand was pressed against my chest.
This might have been turning dangerous real friggin’ quickly, but all I could think about in that moment was the feel of her hands on my body and the smell of her hair in my nose.
“Jasper! Who’s the red head with Sloan?” some twat yelled out to me, destroying the little fantasy I was creating in my head.
“Her name is… oh what was it again? Oh that’s right… FUCK OFF!” I hollered back as I shouldered my way through the mass of people that were gathering around, in an attempt to keep Hannah safe.
“Mr. Jones, can you comment on the girl?” Some pain-in-the-ass reporter appeared in front of me.
“Sure.” I flipped her the bird. “And you can put that on record.”
She sneered at me and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I knew I wasn’t exactly doing my job like a professional, but I was sick of this shit.
These assholes all needed to learn that there was a time and a place. Parker gave a shit load of interviews, he had a lot of time for fans, but this, right now, wasn’t cool.
There were two innocent girls involved that probably knew nothing about this life and now they were being dragged right into the middle of the circus.
If something happened to the woman in my arms because my best friend happened to be a rock star, I was going to lose my shit good and proper and sue every last one of these bastards.
I need a bloody cigarette.
“Get out of the fuckin’ way!” I roared.
There must have been an edge to my voice that let the men standing in my way know that I meant business because the path cleared enough that I could finally see the limo.
“Nearly there, baby,” I murmured in Hannah’s ear.
I hadn’t meant to call her ‘baby’, the term of endearment had slipped out of my mouth without me even thinking.
I got the door open and slid her into the back seat without too much trouble.
“Don’t open the door unless you hear my voice, okay? I sat her down on one of the bench seats. “You’re safe in here, just wait for me to come back, alright?”
She nodded and looked up at me with her big green eyes.
I turned to climb out – Parker and Charlotte still weren’t here, and I knew I was going to have to retrieve them myself.
“Jasper?” Hannah’s hand landed on my forearm.
“Yeah?” I turned back to look at her and she gave me a dazzling smile.
“Thank you for taking care of me.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded once at her.
One smile…
If I hadn’t already been completely and utterly done for, I was now.
I took a deep breath as I got out of the car, my hands were shaking, and my heart was racing.
Maybe Parker isn’t the only one who lost his mind tonight.