Dirty Secret: A Bad Boy Romance (Bluefield Bad Boys Book 3) by Tess Oliver Page B

fast that sometimes it’s hard to believe. Like a fairy tale, but one with a lot of twists and turns and not necessarily a happy ending.”
    “It happened fast for all of us like that, Len. Not just you.”
    “Yes, but you come from a nice Midwest family and a normal life. Rex has always been in this lifestyle with his dad being a famous drummer, and Brick is from a rich family back east. I didn’t have that normalcy . . . ever. I didn’t have anything but sorrow and hardship. Even though, family wise, I’m still alone, I know those awful days are long behind me now. Thankfully. I just want to find a spot between those two worlds where I can just be me.”
    “I’m sure we can all take some significant time off after this tour. And without hanging around each other in a beach house,” he added, before I could say it myself. “In the meantime, Lennie, pull yourself together. We’ve got six more shows to do.”
    I pushed to my feet angrily. “I don’t need your admonition or your reminder about our concert schedule. I can usually count on you as a shoulder to lean on, Duff.” I looked down at him. “Using your silly chair analogy, maybe this leg is broken because it seems to be holding up more weight than the other legs.”
    “It’s your out of this world voice. The band wouldn’t exist without it.”
    “No, the band wouldn’t exist without your songs.” I smiled. “And you redeemed yourself a smidgen with the out of this world voice comment.” I headed to the back door.
    “Then are you going to tell me where you’ve been.”
    “Nope.” I walked inside and closed the door behind me.

Chapter 16
    Dawson
    It was a text that woke me instead of Lenix’s sweet, small body curled next to mine. I glanced at the empty space next to me. The pillow still had a slight indent from her head, and her fragrance still lingered on the sheets. I knew she’d be gone before I woke, but expecting it still didn’t help the rock in the pit of my stomach. Every time she flitted into my life, like the incredible and beautiful sprite that she was, I wondered if it would be the last time I saw her. But this time was different. This time she’d vanished and she’d taken a good chunk of my heart with her. And I had no real say in any of it. It was all out of my control.
    I picked up the phone and read Aubrey’s text. “We’ve got egg sandwiches over here. But you’ve got to come to our cabin. I’m not a delivery service.”
    My appetite was shit, but my empty stomach was turning in on itself. I walked into the shower and let the warm water run over my head, trying to decide just how I was going to deal with the ache in my chest. I’d left myself open to this and probably deserved to feel like shit. It wasn’t as if I was going to end up with someone like Lenix. 
    I shut off the water, dried off and got dressed.
    I pressed my arm against the hollow growl in my gut. I was just hungry enough to put up with Megan and Wyatt for a few minutes.
    I stepped outside. A light haze still hovered over the sand, but the sun was warming things up fast.
    I stopped and stared down along the line of nice houses that were perched like colorful teeth along the coast. I didn’t even know which house she was staying at. Even if I did, it wasn’t like I could walk up to the door and ask for her. I was sure that her manager and bodyguard knew nothing about me, other than that I was the sketchy looking stranger sitting next to her on the plane. I had to push her from my mind and not dwell too much on seeing her again. Otherwise, this vacation was going to be even worse.
    I knocked. Aubrey motioned me inside and pointed to the bag of food on the counter. “Did you have a nice night?” she asked with a fake grin.
    “Best damn night I’ve had in a long time.”
    She put up her hand. “No details. Please.”
    I marched to the bag of food and pulled out the sandwich.
    “Sure you don’t want to go to the aquarium with us?” Aubrey shot me