I felt her eyes on me, but it took her a few minutes to say anything. “How long we been friends, Mike?”

“A long fucking ass time, Mols. Six, seven years? Long before I joined the guys.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “If I have to spend the next few months celibate, living with someone in small spaces, and stuck with that person twenty-four hours a day, at least it’s you.”

I nodded in agreement. Molly was a great friend—a kid who needed some guidance, sure, but at least I enjoyed being around her. There weren’t many women I could say that about. “Completely agree, brat.”

“So”—she settled back into her seat, propping her now bare feet on the dash—“how did Jake take the news of you leaving?”

I smiled. “Better than I did.” And he had.

When I’d gone to pick him up on Thursday afternoon, he’d known immediately something was wrong. I couldn’t hide anything from my kid; probably because he was just like me, down to his very last mannerism.

He’d come running over to me, concern etched on his face. A face that had started to lose every inch of the youthful glow it had once contained. Now it had widened slightly, the way all boys’ features do as they hit puberty: a strong jaw, wide nose, well-defined cheekbones would dominate in just a few years. He was growing up, but I missed my little boy.

“What’s wrong?” His voice held no note of fear, but his eyes betrayed him. One day, he’d get so he could conceal his feelings, probably even from me. I liked that he wasn’t there yet.

I’d shaken my head, pulling him in for a hug and ruffling his hair, because I knew how much he hated it. “I need to talk to you about something, bud.”

He pulled back quickly, his eyes searching mine as I saw his body stiffen in preparation for bad news. When in the hell had he grown up?

“Uncle Nate and Aunt Lia have asked me to come back on tour with them. I’ll still keep my apartment, and I’ll come see you every time we have a break, even if it’s a short one” I added in a rush, trying to show him that I wasn’t leaving him again. I was already to tell him that I’d cancel, that I would tell Lee to go fuck herself, if he wanted me to stay home when his face split into a giant, too-big-for-his-mouth toothy grin.

“That is so freakin’ cool!” he shouted. “Are you gonna be doing the same thing?”

That could mean so many things, but I knew he was asking if I’d have the same job I’d had for years. I shook my head. “Not this time. Sam took over for me, remember? But this time, I’m going to be watching out for Mols. Making sure she’s safe.”

His eyes practically bugged out of his head. “Does that mean you’re gonna live with her?”

I nodded, confused by his reaction.

“Holy shit!” He said the word slowly, following it with a whistle.

“Hey!” I snapped, stepping closer to him. “Watch your mouth.”

Jake, being one hundred percent my child, ignored my tone. Instead, he pumped a fist in the air. “I’m so freakin’ jealous! Not only do you get to live with Courtney, now you get to spend all day, every day with Molly Ray.” His eyes filled with excitement when they met mine. “No other dad in the world is as lucky as you, you know that, right? I wanna be you when I grow up.”

It took me a second, a long second, to understand why he was so giddy about my new job. I shook my head, questioning my sanity. Jake wasn’t interested in girls yet. He loved sports and action movies and his little sister. Right? I replayed random conversations that we’d had over the summer, relieved when none of them were about girls.

So, it was an utter shock when he said the next words, causing me to take a step away from him in surprise. “I read that she might pose for Playboy. If she does, do you get to go to the shoot, too? Can you get me a signed copy?”

No way in hell my twelve-year-old son had asked me if I could get him a copy of a centerfold. No way in hell asking me to see a woman naked. Not just any woman, mind you, but one that he’d known half his life. I was so not old enough, or mature enough, to deal with that shit yet.

So I just shook my head. “Not gonna happen, Jacob.”

Thinking of the disappointment on his face made me smile. I could understand why he was bummed out, but it was still a shock to me that he had a crush on my friend. The friend that was sitting next to me right now, staring at me, waiting for me to elaborate.

Fuck. I glanced at her quickly. Did she have plans to pose? I’d meant to ask Lee about it, but with everything else going on, it’d slipped my mind. Lee would never let her do it. At least, I hoped Red had more sense than that.

Yeah, if Molly put back on some of the curves she’d lost, she’d be playmate material. She always had a banging, tight little body with curves in all the right places, making men stare after her wherever she went. Add that to the sexy as fuck tats she had everywhere the eye could see, and I do mean everywhere, the piercings she had when she wasn’t on tour, and the crazy hair, and Mols became the bad girl fantasy every man had. She’d sell more copies than any other model ever had.

I doubted that she would ever do it. She was crazy, and did stupid shit all the time, though. I’d been hired to protect Molly from herself for a reason. The thought of having pictures like that, Mols bared for the world to see, out in cyberspace where anyone could see them, where we’d never get them back, pissed me off.

No. It wasn’t gonna happen. I would haul her over my knee and spank her like the naughty child she was if she even thought about posing for any magazine that paid her to take off her clothes. Fucking hell.

Chapter Five

~ Molly~

The best part about riding in a car to the hotel was who I got to ride with. Being off the bus was great, don’t get me wrong. There really was only so much of the boys bickering a girl could handle without losing her mind. Plus, riding on the bus is more like traveling in a studio apartment—there isn’t any space to have even five seconds of privacy. Sometimes, you want to be in a car, turn up the tunes, stare at the pavement through the windshield, and watch the miles get eaten. But sitting beside Mike, talking about nothing like two normal friends was the highlight of my day. Hell, it was the best part of the tour so far.

When Tim and I had done things alone, it had made me uncomfortable. Not because he creeped me out, or I didn’t trust him—because he didn’t and I did—but it was because our time was filled with the awkward silence that typically surrounds first dates. We didn’t know each other, and there is only so much small talk you can have with a person who makes you feel like a pain in the ass for wanting to have a conversation. It had been his job to be my shadow, to watch out for me, but that was Mike’s job, too. Yet he had absolutely no problem filling the silence with stories and chit chat.

The ride was supposed to take hours, but when we pulled up to the ritzy-looking five-story resort, I was surprised. It barely felt like an hour had passed. I unbuckled, stretched my arms above my head, and reached for my shoes.

Mike left the car running as he opened his door. “I’ll go get us checked in. You stay here. I’ll be back as soon I know where our room is.” He shut his door and made it halfway around the front of the hood before he paused, glancing back at me through the window. Shaking his head, he came over to my door, twirling his finger around, telling me to roll down my window. “Lock the doors,” he said, his voice low as if he didn’t want anyone to hear him. “I’ll be right back.” He reached in, tapping a finger on my nose twice, and then strode over to the revolving lobby door.