Holiday Hookup Read online

  S.A. Clayton

  Holiday Hookup

  Copyright © 2020 by S.A. Clayton

  All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyright materials in violation of author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect is appreciated. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Cover Design: Outlined with Love Designs

  Editing: Lyssa Dawn

  Proofreading: My Brother’s Editor

  Formatting: Alt 19 Creative

  Contents

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Dane

  Nellie

  Nellie

  Note From the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Other Books by S.A. Clayton

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  “Mommy! I need help!” my son, Jaxon, screams from down the hall.

  If I didn’t love him so freaking much, I’d strangle him. I don’t know how many times I told him to get dressed and I don’t know how many times I walked into his room only to find him playing with his spaceship. So, as I walk down the hall, I curse the universe for giving me a son who has no concept of time.

  “Mommy! Help!” His little voice sounds so panicked that I start to walk a little faster because maybe this time he’s actually hurt.

  Yet when I open the door, I can’t help but laugh at the sight before me. My five-year-old has put his sweater on all by himself but has gotten his little head stuck in the sleeve. I contemplate running into the living room and grabbing my phone off the coffee table, knowing my mother would love this moment, but instead I decided to help my poor boy.

  “What did you do, sweetie?” I tease, sitting on the side of his small bed, which is covered in astronauts and spaceships, and gently turn him toward me.

  “Mommy, I’m stuck!”

  I smile, loving the way he’s laughing as he struggles to get out of his sweater.

  “Jaxon, sweetie, you need to stand still.”

  He does as I ask, and when I finally untangle him from his cotton prison, he graces me with his biggest grin, which reminds me so much of his father. That smile gets him more than it should, especially since he lost his second tooth, giving his smile that extra charm. When did he grow up? It seems like yesterday I was holding him in that hospital blanket after twenty-hours of labor, wishing my husband wasn’t too busy to realize his wife called to tell him he was becoming a father.

  “That better?” I ask and he nods as his blond hair that I can never seem to tame stands on end. He holds up his arms above his head, knowing I’ll help him get dressed.

  Sweater on, he proceeds to head down the hallway and into the kitchen where I placed his bowl of cereal.

  “Mommy, is Daddy picking me up after school today?” he asks, a mouthful of cereal spilling out of his little mouth with each word.

  “Jaxon James, what have I told you about talking with your mouth full?” My voice is stern as I get a cloth from the sink, wiping up the mess and thanking God he didn’t get any on his clothes this time.

  “Sorry.” His head lowers, and that guilt I feel every time I raise my voice creeps up my spine and I wish for the millionth time I had someone here to tell me I’m doing okay and not ruining everything.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. I just want you to remember not to do it. It’s rude and messy!” I say, tickling his sides as he bursts into a fit of laughter, causing all that guilt to wash away with every small giggle that leaves his mouth.

  “Mommy, please!” he pleads as I concede, kissing his forehead and place the bowl back in front of him.

  “Finish your breakfast so we can get going. I don’t want you to be late for school… again.”

  Is it my fault my alarm goes off and I don’t hear it? Or that my son doesn’t know how to get dressed by himself yet? Maybe. But some days are just better than others and I hope to God today is a good day.

  “So, is he picking me up?” Jaxon repeats as I nod my head.

  “Yes, he will pick you up today.”

  He pumps his fist in the air as I smile. As much as Brian and I don’t get along, I do appreciate how much he loves our son. If only I could have convinced him to love me as much, but that’s beside the point.

  “I’m not going,” I mutter as Jenn, my best friend, sits down on my bed and wraps her arms around one of my throw pillows that are surrounding her.

  “Nellie, seriously? What do you mean you’re not going? It’s your night off, go out and have fun.”

  I roll my eyes because as much as I love Jenn, she lives in a fantasy world where children don’t exist and neither do responsibilities.

  I got pregnant young, fresh-out-of-college young, and not ready for the burden of caring for another human being. Brian and I tried to make a relationship work, we even got married right before Jaxon was born, but that didn’t last. Especially when he decided that monogamy wasn’t for him.

  “Jenn, I’m exhausted. I just want to go to bed at nine and sleep for a thousand years. Okay?” I’m pleading with her, but from the look on her face, I know I won’t win this fight. I never do.

  “No, I don’t accept that. You are going to get into that shower of yours and shave every part of your body that hasn’t been touched since Brian left, put on the slutty outfit I brought for you, and come to the bar with me.”

  I sigh, getting up from the chair in the corner where I sat when she entered the room and make my way into the bathroom.

  “I hate you,” I mutter.

  “I heard that!” she yells as I shut the bathroom door.

  “I didn’t whisper it!” I yell back, a smile on my face knowing this night could turn into something amazing or could end in disaster.

  God, I hope this doesn’t end in a police station like last time.

  Chapter 2

  I hate this.

  All of it.

  And as I sit at this table, looking at my bandmates Brent and Frankie, I wonder if I’m about to make the biggest mistake of my life and if either of them will ever forgive me.

  “I’m done,” I say, watching their eyes narrow in confusion. When they don’t immediately say something I lean forward, placing my elbows on the table, preparing myself for the worst.

  “What do you mean you’re done?” Brent asks with an edge to his voice, the wariness in his eyes clear as day.

  “Just that. I’m done. I can’t do this anymore… the touring, the recording, the writing. I can’t…” I trail off, watching as Frankie leans back into his chair with a snide smile on his lips.

  “He says this after every album cycle, I don’t believe him.” Brent looks at each of us, wavering between believing me and believing Frankie.

  Creating a band was always my dream, and after high school, we made that dream a reality and created Blanked Edge. It took ten long years for us to gain success and all our hard work paid off, but at what cost?

 
“I know I say it all the time, but this time I mean it. The music isn’t coming to me like it used to, and I’m tired all the damn time. I’m just not happy anymore.”

  Frankie sits up straight before getting up out of his chair and pacing the hotel room. “This is bullshit! We’re just ending our best tour yet, and you’re deciding that the band is done? Just like that?” I start to say something, but he continues, “We’ve been at this for ten years and we’re finally getting the payoff we deserve and now you want out?”

  I nod, knowing my words will only cause more anger and frustration. I don’t blame him. I’m leaving them high and dry, but I don’t have a choice because if I don’t do this now, I’ll regret it.

  “You can’t do this to us… to me!” He picks up a glass off the desk and throws it against the wall, causing Brent and I to flinch on impact.

  “Frank, man, you need to calm down,” Brent says, trying to ease the tension in the room, but it’s too late. The damage is done.

  “You know what? You want to leave? Fine. But don’t expect to come back and everything be okay.”

  “Come on,” I start, my eyes pleading with both of them to understand. “Can’t you see this from my perspective?”

  Brent’s eyes lower as Frankie shakes his head.

  “Oh, I see it from your perspective all right,” Frankie grates through his teeth. “You’re an egotistical bastard who only thinks about himself and seems to forget that there are three people in this group. Just because you’re the lead singer doesn’t mean you’re the fucking boss.”

  “I just need to figure out what’s going on in my head,” I admit, sitting on the side of the bed with my head in my hands. “Do I want to quit? Of course not, but right now I don’t see another option. I can’t do this anymore.” My voice is barely above a whisper, and before I have a chance to say anything else, Frankie barges out of the room, slamming the door on his way out. When my eyes peer over to Brent who is still sitting in the same chair, he’s shaking his head.

  “Did you have to bring this up today?” he asks, getting up and making his way over to where I’m sitting. “We just ended our tour last night.” When the bed dips from his weight, my head tilts toward him. “What’s really going on, Dane? You’ve always joked about being done, but you always come back. Why is this time different?”

  I don’t know, and that’s the biggest weight that sits on my chest. Everything just seems like a big game of Groundhog Day, with no end in sight, and it is crushing me.

  “Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in a loop that never ends?” Our eyes meet, and his confused features tell me he knows nothing about what I’m talking about. “Of course, you don’t. But I do. Every day is the same. I wake up, have breakfast, try to write a song on our way to the studio. We record a song then rehearse for a show, we perform that show and then I go back to my room and try to write more songs. And repeat. It never ends and for the first time in my life I’m not looking forward to creating new music.”

  Brent’s eyes widen as I let out a loud groan, lying back on the bed.

  “I want a break from this lifestyle. I need to clear my head, actively stop making music, and hope that the spark returns.”

  We’re silent for what feels like hours but can’t be more than a few minutes. Brent’s hand grasps the top of my knee as I open my eyes to see him looking at me.

  “Okay.” That’s all he says, but in that one word, he tells me everything I need to know.

  He’ll be here once I figure my shit out, and he’ll try to talk to Frankie, calm him down, and hopefully get all of this behind us. The sense of relief that comes from that one word lifts the burden I’ve been carrying on my shoulders for the last few months.

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper, closing my eyes, hoping to God I haven’t fucked up royally, losing two of my best friends along with my career.

  “You’ll make it up to me somehow.” He arches a brow and I start to laugh as he stands, holding out his hand for me to take. Once I’m up and we’re eye to eye, he clasps my shoulders, “You need anything, you call me, okay?”

  I give him a slight nod before he walks toward the door.

  “Where are you going to go anyway? I’m guessing you won’t be going back to LA?”

  God no. That place sucks the life out of you on a good day. I need to get out of that world and try being a normal human being for a while.

  “I might just stay here,” I admit, not realizing how much that idea loosens my anxiety. “I’ve never actually stayed in one of the places we’ve played, and since this is the farthest thing from LA, it’s perfect.”

  Brent chuckles as he opens the door, looking back one more time. “I hope you find what you’re looking for, just don’t go getting some groupie pregnant or get some kind of STD or something.”

  A laugh bubbles out of me as he walks down the hall, causing a deafening silence to remain. And for the first time in ten years, I have no idea what comes next.

  And it’s fucking amazing.

  Chapter 3

  “Why did you bring me here?” I ask Jenn as she downs another shot of Jager like it’s her job. “You know I hate places like this.” My eyes scan the room and for the life of me I can’t figure out what this place is supposed to be… is it a bar? A club? A combination of both? I have no freaking clue.

  “Come on, Nel, you need to loosen up, have a few drinks, and forget everything for a few hours.”

  I roll my eyes because she’s pretty much telling me I should forget I have a son for a few hours, and I can’t say I blame her. I do need to loosen up, which is the only explanation I have for why I take the shot in front of me and down it as if I don’t have a care in the world.

  “There she is!” Jenn screams over the pounding music and before I know it, there are two more shots in front of me and I drink them as fast as I can before I think better of it.

  “If I were you, I’d slow down a bit.” The deep voice from behind me causes ripples of arousal to course throughout my entire body as I close my eyes and picture what he might look like. When I turn, our eyes lock, my mouth dries as it opens in awe, because the man in front of me is the most beautiful human being I have ever seen in my entire life, and that includes seeing Ryan Gosling in person once.

  His shaggy jet-black hair is in direct contrast to his green eyes that connect with mine with such intensity that before long, I have to look anywhere but in his direction. The dark scruff that dons his defined jaw leaves me wondering what it would feel like between my thighs… between my breasts…

  Stop it, Nellie. Do not picture this Ian Somerhalder look-alike naked… even if it could load your spank bank reserve for the next few years.

  “Excuse me?” I ask, remembering the words he uttered just a second before. The smirk cresting could send most women to their knees, and if I’m not careful, I’ll become one of them.

  “I said you might want to slow down. Too many of those”—he points to the three empty shot glasses in front of me—“and I’ll be picking you up off the floor.” I try not to picture what that might look like, his strong arms wrapped around my body as he carries me out the front door. “And from what I heard your friend say, you probably can’t handle too many more.”

  Now that gets my attention.

  “How nice of you to warn me.”

  The sarcasm is not lost on him as his smirk turns into a full-blown smile that lights up his entire face, causing parts of my body that I long ago thought perished to come back to life.

  “And from now on, please refrain from telling me how to live my life. I don’t need a supervisor,” I say, turning away and grabbing Jenn’s hand, pulling her toward the dance floor. I regret the words the second I walk away, knowing that he was just trying to be nice and yet that little voice in the back of my head keeps putting those walls higher and higher.

  As we dance, Jenn showc
asing how much better she is the longer we’re there; I try not to feel the eyes of a certain gorgeous man as they follow me. I try not to imagine what it would be like to have his body molded to mine as we move to the music and forget about our lives for a few short minutes. Yet, when I finally get the courage to look back, hoping to catch his eyes, he’s gone. Shoot.

  “You’re seriously ditching me right now?” I ask as Jenn fixes her hair in the bathroom mirror, then takes out her lipstick and fixes that while she stares at her reflection.

  She just shrugs at my question, smacking her lips together and smiling.

  “Matt wants to go back to his place, and I’m not going to turn him down… have you seen the man?”

  Of course, I have. He’s a stereotypical jock with blond hair, blue eyes, and a body to match. Very much Jenn’s type and the exact opposite of mine.

  “You’re being a crappy friend right now.” I’m guilt-tripping her, and from the smile on her face, she knows it. This is just Jenn, and I don’t know why I expect anything more from her since she’s been like this since we hit college.

  “Yeah, yeah. It’s not my fault you didn’t dance with any of the men that offered.”

  I avert my eyes, knowing she’s right, but it’s not my fault I kept thinking about a certain guy with green eyes and a smile I wish I could see one more time.

  “Okay, fine. Go and get laid for both of us. I’ll just go home and wait for the only man in my life to get home.”

  She quirks an eyebrow questioningly, and I chuckle.

  “Jaxon, you idiot.”

  Her eyes widen as laughter infects both of us. She gives me a sympathetic look before kissing me on the cheek.

  “I love you. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  I don’t even have time to say something sarcastic like, don’t forget to be safe, condoms save lives! Before she’s out the door and I’m left alone once more.

  As I walk out of the bathroom, headed back to the bar to pay for both our tabs, I catch myself looking around, hoping to see one last glimpse of the man that has invaded all my thoughts. Resigning myself to the fact that tonight was a bust, I pay our bills and head out the front door.