Die In California

33

Devyn's POV:

The guys had really delivered their promise, giving me the best birthday I'd ever had - even before shit went down the drain. They taught me how to let myself loose, how to live in the moment without fear of the past or future, and they taught me how to safely get wasted - drunk enough so that I couldn't remember how I got back to the hotel, but not enough that I was blacked out in a random parking lot like I frequently found myself in my darkest moments. They taught me how to live my life again, and that was probably the best birthday present they could have ever given to me.

I woke up the morning after my 22nd birthday in a bed that definitely wasn't mine, the strong scent of cologne giving it away. But it was a distinctive cologne, and one that I knew for a fact belonged to JP. How the fuck had I ended up naked in his bed again? Oh, right, the stolen glances across the karaoke lounge, the brushing of electrified skin every time we squeezed past each other, the god forsaken smirk on his face that only got wider the more he drank...

We told ourselves that it was a one-night thing after the surprise party they'd thrown me, but then I found myself once again pressed against the icy glass of the mirrors in the elevator as JP's lips sucked a trail along my neck. He'd fumbled with the hotel room door again, then pinned me to the bed, the whole thing seemed to be routine. And it unintentionally became a routine.

One of the downfalls of touring is that you're stuck with the same people in a cramped bus for the majority of your time. We were on the bus for more nights than we were in hotel rooms, meaning there was less opportunity for the guys to fully enjoy themselves within their own privacy. It didn't exactly bother me, but then again I wasn't a horn dog like Kells and JP seemed to be.

But those nights spent between the sheets with JP seemed to change my whole outlook, and all I wanted was him. After he left to start his career with Kells, I tended to distract myself with random guys, then tried a relationship, but it didn't work out. I put it down to everything that was going on in my life, but my recent birthday confirmed the suspicions I'd been trying to suppress. They weren't JP.

It started about a week after my birthday. We were in Florida, and managed to get a room in a hotel for the night before the day of the show. The day was spent sight-seeing, all of us being tourists as usual, then we decided to meet up for dinner at a restaurant near the venue. The guys had decided that they were going to go out drinking afterwards, so Ash and I tagged along, but stuck to drinking sodas. Every now and then we needed a night off from getting wasted.

On the way back to the hotel, JP and I sat beside each other in the cab, his hand was back on my thigh, and his fingertips were back to tracing little patters on the exposed skin of my thighs through the rips in my jeans. I don't think either one of us planned for it to go further, but as we crammed next to each other in the elevator, a silent agreement was made that we'd end up in the same hotel room.

We spent the night in my hotel room this time, since Kells was already passed out on the bed he and JP had to share. But that didn't seem to bother JP, as he pushed me into the room as if it were his own, already stripping his leather jacket off and dropping it to the floor. His lips were already on mine, and I could taste the hint of whiskey he'd been drinking, along with the coke he'd ended up downing to sober up a bit more.

"Let me repay you for my birthday." I mumbled against his lips, before pulling away to tug his grey t-shirt off, his hands doing the same with my hoodie. But then his tattooed hands roamed over my body to firmly hold the back of my neck, pulling me back towards him as our lips reconnected.

"No, it was your birthday, don't be stupid." He chuckled against my lips, his hands sliding down my back and to my ass, gently squeezing.
"Fuck off." I mumbled with a laugh, before pulling away with a grin. My hands were on his tattooed chest, gently guiding him back to my bed before pushing him down, and watching as he shuffled up to the headboard, a glint in his eyes as he anticipated my next move.