While Drake and the other two men watched the performer, several other people were moving around on the sidelines. I saw the producer, a big-bellied man who had disliked me from the very first time he had met me. I still didn’t know his name and didn’t care enough to learn it, the dislike was definitely not one sided. Beside him stood his executive assistant and unconsciously my hands fisted at my sides.
Bethany was hot in a smart chick kind of way. She wore her hair in a simple ponytail more often than not and she had big brown eyes behind her dark-rimmed glasses. She was slender with curves in all the right places that she showcased in tight jeans and tops that always revealed just how much of a woman she really was. Seriously, those fake tits were about to pop out of that little top she had on today.
Of course her eyes were burning into the back of my husband’s head. Any time that skank was in the same room with Drake she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. It had always irritated me, but in the last few months it had started bothering me more and more until I nearly couldn’t stand it. It made me irrationally jealous and messed with my head… Could Drake ever want this chick?
While I was busy measuring up the woman who had been trying to seduce my husband, Kurtis’s song ended and Axton’s voice forced my attention away from Bethany. I waited five more minutes while Drake and Cole gave their two cents before stepping out of the shadows and approaching the table where the three rockers sat.
“I thought you were here.” Drake stood and pulled me in for a kiss that never failed to steal my breath. I smiled against his lips as his hand went immediately to my stomach, caressing the flesh through my top as if he were touching our child. “My dick got hard as soon as you walked in,” he whispered against my ear.
My nipples instantly hardened and I snuggled against him. “I wish you didn’t have a meeting tonight. I was really looking forward to our date night.”
“I’ll make it up to you,” he promised, kissing me again. Damn, now my panties were wet and my knees were starting to tremble. I wanted nothing more than to pull him into the closest bathroom and spread my legs for him. “You look beautiful. What have you been doing?”
“Dallas and I had lunch.” I lifted my hand to push his hair back from his face. I loved his hair. Long hair on most men didn’t look right at all, but on Drake it only enhanced his sex appeal. Blue-gray eyes darkened. He loved it when I ran my fingers through his hair. “I couldn’t go home until I saw you, though.”
“Hey there, darlin’.” I reluctantly forced my gaze from Drake to find Cole walking toward us. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the sight of him: skinny jeans with holes everywhere and a Steel Entrapment T-shirt tight across his chest. His hair was longer than normal for a man his age but it looked good on him. Years of drug use and too much booze had kept him lean, but had taken its toll on his face, causing wrinkles at his eyes and mouth, but he still looked good. “How’s that baby treating you?” His hands went to my stomach as soon as he was within touching range.
Normally I tore the head off of anyone who touched my stomach other than Drake. Touching a woman’s pregnant belly was something extremely intimate to me. With Cole, it was different. It melted my heart more than a little to have my father so lovingly touch his grandchild growing inside of me. “She’s been kicking up a storm today. I hoped some Greek would calm her down, but it just got her dancing even more.”
“She just wanted to see her grandpa, that’s all.” Cole hugged me then stepped back, grinning like the proud grandfather he was. “It’s good to see you. How’re your sisters? Lucy okay?”
“They’re dealing. Lucy is still having nightmares, though. Jesse and Layla are talking about getting her a counselor, but Lucy has refused to go so far.” Drake stepped closer behind me and even though I was standing there talking to my father, my entire body seemed to catch fire. It wasn’t pregnancy hormones that were doing it to me, either. I was always in this condition whenever Drake was that close to me.
“Poor kid. Stupid bastard needs to be shot for doing that to her. Have the cops caught him? Or are they even trying?”
Now that was a hard question to answer. Emmie had only given us the bare details on what had happened to Grady after Jesse and Nik had gotten Lucy back the night of the kidnapping. Jesse had left the man bloody and barely breathing but Seller, the head of the security team that Emmie worked with was supposed to pick Grady up and turn him over to the police later that night. That hadn’t happened because Seller was sure that Jesse and Nik would have gotten into some serious trouble with the condition that Grady had been left in. Seller had taken the bastard to Canada and gotten him patched up before turning him over to his parole officer two days later for violating the conditions of his parole. As far as I knew, Grady was back in prison serving out the rest of his original sentence. And the two million that Grady had asked for the ransom? Back in Jesse’s bank account. Seller had handed the money over to Emmie—minus his fee.
“He’s in San Quintin,” Drake told Cole. “He violated parole and has to finish out his original sentence. He’s got at least ten more years.”
“Did I hear you say you had lunch with Dallas?”
I turned my head to find Axton had joined us. Anger on my friend’s behalf filled me and I had to take a deep breath to calm down before I punched him in the throat. “What’s it to you?”
He didn’t even blink at my bitchy tone. “I need to talk to her. She hasn’t been answering my texts or phone calls. And every time I stop by the apartment Natalie and Linc say she’s at work.”
“She works a lot.”
Axton sighed. “Lana, I don’t know what she’s told you, but I didn’t leave the wedding to go chasing after Gabriella. At least not in the way she thinks.”
I raised a brow at him. “The fact that you left her there and went to Gabriella’s is all she needed to know.” Drake’s hand tightened on my waist, reminding me that this wasn’t any of my business. I grimaced, because I couldn’t get in the middle without picking sides, which would leave Drake in a tricky position. He loved me too much to not show Dallas the loyalty I would demand, but Axton was as much a part of his family as his band brothers were.
Axton’s shoulders seemed to slump for a second, but then he straightened and that cocky ‘I’m a rock god, nothing else matters’ smile crossed his face. I had realized long ago that this was his mask to keep his real feelings locked inside. “Maybe she knows where Liam is, then. Dev said she left the reception with him and no one has seen him since. Marissa said he’s in rehab somewhere, but she won’t tell anyone where he is. We need to find him, Lana.”