Insider (Exodus End #1)(40)
Author: Olivia Cunning

Logan went still when his gaze landed on their sassy little guitarist. Reagan was standing against the wall chatting very animatedly with Steve and the same woman who’d tried to talk Logan into joining her in the dressing room not ten minutes ago. When he’d refused, the brunette decided to hang out with Steve. Logan really didn’t want to have to interact with the pushy woman again, but if Reagan was back from the interview, then Toni should be as well.

Attempting nonchalance, Logan approached Reagan and waited for her to look at him before asking, “So how did the interview with Toni go? Should we be worried about all the terrible things you said about us?” If pretending indifference didn’t work, he was all about demanding to know where Toni was and when Reagan had last seen her. He didn’t care if the knowing smirk on Steve’s face spread from here to Nebraska.

Reagan’s slim brows drew together over her grayish-blue eyes. “What interview? She took a shower in my dressing room a couple of hours ago, but we didn’t talk much. I wouldn’t call it an interview.”

Logan’s stomach dropped. “She said she was going to your dressing room to interview you about twenty minutes ago.”

Reagan grinned. “I bet she was the one who knocked when I was busy with, uh, my makeup. I haven’t seen her.”

“I saw her down by the dressing room¸” Steve said, his smirk at least halfway to Colorado at this point.

“That nerdy girl?” asked the dark-haired beauty who was plastered to Steve’s side. “With the glasses?”

Logan didn’t particularly appreciate such a lackluster description of the woman who had him completely out of his head, but he nodded.

“She was with Dare. They were headed into the dressing room for a little alone time.”

Logan’s heart dropped to join his stomach in his shoes. Another scan of the room told him exactly what he feared: the other conspicuous absence in the room was Dare. And Dare was on a mission to get back at him for hitting him in the nose. Sweet, sweet Toni didn’t stand a chance against the guy’s libido if he set his sights on her. And if the guitarist was seducing the innocent young woman that Logan had taken advantage of the night before—as well as most of today—Dare was about to suffer injuries a lot more severe than a bloody nose.

Fourteen

Toni turned to face Dare, a little thrill of panic spiking though her heart. He smiled reassuringly, but she didn’t feel reassured. She wasn’t accustomed to being locked in rooms with men she scarcely knew.

“Why did you lock the door?” she asked.

“So we wouldn’t be bothered.”

“I’d feel better if it wasn’t locked.” She didn’t really think Dare was the type of man who would harm a woman, but she wasn’t the first woman to think that about a deranged lunatic, a serial killer, or a throat-slitting rapist.

He didn’t unlock the door, but instead crossed the room to pour a drink. “Would you like something?”

“I’d like to unlock the door.”

He filled a lowball glass with amber whiskey and set the bottle aside. “If it makes you that uncomfortable to be alone with me, please unlock it. I didn’t mean to alarm you. I just figured Logan will interrupt us before we even get started and you’ll never get any work done.”

She wasn’t exactly alarmed. She felt no malice from the mysterious guitarist. She just thought it was weird that he’d lock the door in the first place. She studied him. She was starting to think Dare’s behavior had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Logan. “Why would Logan interrupt?”

The door handle jiggled and there was a loud knock on the door.

“Right on cue,” Dare said, one corner of his mouth lifting sardonically. “He’s entirely predictable.”

“Toni?” Logan called from the corridor. “Open this goddamned door.” The jiggling became incessant rattling. The knocking became pounding. “Toni!”

“Should I open it? He sounds mad.” Toni said.

“Of course he’s mad. He thinks I’m fucking you. That’s because he never uses his head and always jumps to conclusions. Then he acts on his false impulses and punches people in the nose.” Dare pointed to his swollen face. “Case in point.”

“Toni!”

Toni frowned at him. “So you lured me in here to get back at Logan?”

“Maybe,” Dare said, taking a swig from the tumbler in his hand.

“Toni, please,” Logan cried, sounding desperate now.

“He punishes himself. It’s not like I’m a big enough ass to actually make a move on the woman of one of my friends,” Dare said. He sat casually in a club chair, crossed his long legs at the ankle, and took another sip of his drink. “But I am enough of an ass to make him believe that I would. He’ll think twice before sucker punching me in the face again.”

“I’m going to let him in,” Toni said. She understood that Dare was pissed at Logan. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to teach Logan a lesson, but she couldn’t stand the thought of Logan thinking she’d toss her skirt up at the first sign of interest from an attractive man. Oh wait, she had done that. With Logan. He knew firsthand that she was capable of unleashing her inner slut.

Toni unlocked the door with trembling fingers and it flew inward, almost banging her in the face. Logan looked from Toni, fully clothed and obviously not violated, to Dare, who was sitting across the room completely apathetic and looking rather bored.

“What’s going on in here?” Logan demanded.

“She was going to interview me for the book when you so rudely interrupted,” Dare said.

“Is that so?” Logan said, his eyes narrowed.

Toni nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. What did you think was going on?”

“I thought,” he said. “I thought . . .” He looked down at Toni and swallowed hard. “Ah hell,” he grumbled and stormed off, slamming the door behind him.

“You sure you want to deal with that?” Dare said. “The guy runs on instinct. He doesn’t know how to be rational.”

And that was half his allure.

“I’m sure,” she said as she flung open the door to go after him. She glanced toward the common area, but saw no sign of him. She looked in the opposite direction, toward the exit, and caught a brief glimpse of blue T-shirt turning the corner. Her boot heels clicked on the tiles as she raced down the hall after him. She caught up with him only because he had to wait for a roadie pushing a giant black case before he could get through a door.