Play Me (Jaded Ivory Book 5) Read online

  Play Me

  Rebecca Brooke

  Contents

  Play Me

  1. Jackson

  2. Jackson

  3. Jackson

  4. Jackson

  5. Jackson

  6. Megan

  7. Jackson

  8. Jackson

  9. Jackson

  10. Megan

  11. Jackson

  12. Megan

  13. Jackson

  14. Megan

  15. Megan

  16. Jackson

  17. Megan

  18. Megan

  19. Megan

  20. Jackson

  21. Megan

  22. Jackson

  23. Megan

  24. Jackson

  25. Megan

  26. Jackson

  27. Jackson

  28. Megan

  29. Jackson

  30. Megan

  31. Jackson

  32. Megan

  33. Jackson

  34. Jackson

  35. Megan

  36. Jackson

  37. Jackson

  38. Megan

  Epilogue

  Also By Rebecca Brooke

  About the Author

  Play Me

  rebecca brooke

  Copyright © 2019 by Rebecca Brooke

  Cover Design by Sommer Stein of Perfect Pear Creative

  Editing by Emily A. Lawrence

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously, and any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.

  All rights reserved.

  Created with Vellum

  To My Daddy. I miss you.

  1

  Jackson

  Eyes seemed to follow me everywhere.

  It was hard not to notice the way heads turned and people watched us as we walked to the ticket booth. Normal for any night of the week, but still something I hadn’t gotten completely used to yet. Being the lead guitarist for Jaded Ivory had its perks, except when you wanted one night to be normal and see a movie with your friends.

  “Three tickets for Monsters Made in Manhattan.”

  I glanced up from my phone at where Monty stood at the ticket window. “What the fuck did you just say?”

  I should’ve known better than to trust him to get the tickets. Monty, the wild one of the band, always wanted to do something different than everyone else.

  He smirked over his shoulder and handed the cashier the money. I glanced to my left and elbowed Sawyer in the side.

  “Asshole lied again.”

  Sawyer’s brows lifted. “About what this time?”

  “About the movie he dragged us out here to see.”

  Sawyer shoved his phone into his pocket. “I thought we were seeing the new Fast and Furious movie.”

  “Nope,” I said, shaking my head. “Dick just bought tickets to Monsters Made in Manhattan.”

  “Jesus, Monty. Talk about a bait and switch.”

  He shrugged and handed us the tickets. “Would you expect any less?”

  I snatched the ticket out of his hand. “We hoped Allana would have reformed you by now.”

  “Nope. As long as she didn’t have to see it, she didn’t care.”

  Sawyer laughed and took the ticket from him. “I should have known better than to trust you without Allana here.”

  Monty had gotten married seven months ago and Allana had been good for him. None of us had seen it at first, but now we knew better. Allana seemed to be the only one who could keep Monty under control. At least most of the time.

  They found a place of their own and moved in two weeks ago. But Monty had sworn that even with being married and living in their own place, he would never head down the same path everyone else had for a little while. He refused to ignore the band while the rest of them raced home to their significant others every night.

  It had been a mistake, one we learned from the hard way. We finally started to find the balance we needed. Jaded Ivory had been a family of its own before anyone else had come along and we needed to hold onto that.

  Not that they had to worry about me finding anyone. I’d sworn off women years ago. In my experience, they fucked with your head, then up and disappeared when things got too serious. I knew not all women were like that, but no way in hell would I be a human experiment to find one of the good ones.

  Besides, who needed them? I had my friends in the band and that was enough.

  “All right, since we’re stuck seeing Monsters Made in Manhattan, let’s get some popcorn and get in there.” I pulled open the front door.

  Monty threw his arm around my shoulder. “You’re gonna love it.”

  I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. “I wouldn’t bet on that. Just remember, you owe me for this.”

  “Me too,” Sawyer chimed in from behind us. “And next time, I’m not letting you buy the tickets.”

  Monty laughed. “You said that last time.”

  Sawyer side-eyed me. “How do we always forget that?”

  Monty threw his other arm around Sawyer and tugged us in closer. “’Cause I’m the master of distraction.”

  I rubbed a finger and thumb over my eyes. “Jesus.”

  We walked up to the concession stand. The girl working behind the counter almost dropped the soda in her hand when she saw us standing there.

  Something I still hadn’t gotten used to. People everywhere constantly falling all over themselves when they saw us. Not like a ton of other celebrities didn’t live in area. You’d think they’d be over it by now.

  Her hand shook as she lifted it and pointed it at us. “You’re the guys from Jaded Ivory.”

  Sawyer took pity on her and placed his hand on top of hers, lowering it to the counter. “That’s us.” She looked back and forth between her hand and his. “Do you think we could get some snacks before the movie starts?”

  She continued to stare for a few moments before giving her head a slight shake.

  “Um…yeah, sure. What can I get you?”

  We placed our order. The second she walked away, a chuckle left Monty’s lips. “You know, it’s almost like they forget you’re gay.”

  Sawyer rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure that’s hard to forget.”

  “Nope,” Monty sputtered, quickly losing control of himself. “That girl looked like she’d take you into a back room and do all kinds of dirty things to you if you let her.”

  I smacked Monty on the back of the head. “Shut it, dumbass.”

  He rubbed his head, but it didn’t stop the shit-eating grin that crossed his face. When the poor girl returned with our food and drinks, I pushed money across the counter, afraid of what might slip past Monty’s lips, especially with the mood he was in tonight. I gathered our food and shoved Monty toward the correct theater.

  And we thought Allana had settled him down. How quickly we forget, I thought as a memory of the way he’d convinced her to dance on top of the restaurant table popped up in my head.

  “Damn, Allana really hasn’t calmed you down at all.” I shook my head as we handed our tickets to the usher.
<
br />   “Only sometimes, and usually when I’d get into a lot of trouble. Being observant isn’t one of them.” He winked.

  We found seats near the back of the theater, my favorites, and sat down.

  “Who has the straws?” Sawyer asked.

  “Shit, I forgot to grab them when trying to get him away from the poor girl behind the counter. I’ll go get some.”

  And before Sawyer could protest and volunteer, I was out of my seat and walking back to the main lobby. Not like I’d miss much in the movie. I reached the little table that held condiments, straws, napkins, and picked up three straws.

  I spun around to head back into the theater when I ran directly into another body. I glanced down at the long blond hair cascading partway down her back.

  “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking—”

  She turned around and I got caught in the gaze of familiar green eyes. Ones that had been there one day and disappeared the next. Now those eyes watched me with a mixture of disbelief and hope all twirled into one.

  “Jackson,” Megan whispered.

  I wanted to dart around her, pretend like I hadn’t seen her, but my feet were rooted to the floor. Megan placed her hand on my arm and the heat from her touch snapped me out of my daze. I yanked my arm away and took a step back.

  “When I moved here, I hoped I’d run into you, but after all this time I figured the city was too big for that to happen.”

  “It’s a shame this little meet and greet wasn’t postponed indefinitely.” I clenched my hand around the straws and moved to step past her with every intention of heading back into the theater. But she placed her hand on my arm again, stopping me.

  “Jackson, please talk to me.”

  I scoffed. “You gave up the right to ask anything of me the day you disappeared.”

  Before she could respond or someone could pull out their phone and snap a few pictures if they hadn’t already, I spun on my heel and walked back to the theater where Monty and Sawyer were waiting.

  The trailers had already started, so I snuck up the side stairs in the dark and dropped into my seat, staring blankly at the screen.

  What the fuck was Megan Randall doing here?

  A hand shoved at my shoulder. “Did you get the straws, or did you get sidetracked by concession hottie?”

  “Straws?” I glanced down at my hand to see the three paper wrappers sitting there. “Um, yeah…here.” I handed one to each of them.

  Monty narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  Maybe, just maybe I had.

  For all the complaining I’d done about the movie, I couldn’t have told you a single thing about it. The entire time, my mind kept wandering, trying to figure out how after seven years, Megan Randall found me again. Although judging by the look on her face, she didn’t expect to see me.

  I thought about the last time I saw her, when we left school for winter break. Her family was on the East Coast, mine on the West. When I got back to school, she was gone. Memories of those years paraded through my mind on a loop, constantly coming back to the first time I saw her.

  “I don’t know why you bother,” Monty said as we crossed the quad to one of the outdoor cafés on campus.

  “Learning other instruments? Why wouldn’t I?”

  He scoffed. “’Cause you got a killer set of pipes. You and a guitar are all you need.”

  “Maybe.” I shrugged. “I just don’t want to miss something that helps push me to the next level. What if someone likes my voice but wants a piano in the background? I can’t play that for shit. There’s more jobs for a singer who can play both.”

  Monty rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I hear what you’re saying.”

  Monty had been a handful to live with our first semester, but I quickly figured him out. The guy was as wild as he was musically talented. Plus, he was a lot of fun to be around, pushing me to be better at every turn.

  “This is coming from the guy who can play guitar, bass, and the piano.”

  “You can thank my mother for the piano. Had it been up to me I would’ve stuck with the bass and guitar. And the guitar only to write music.”

  We stepped into line at the café for our morning coffee fix before class. The place was packed. With the break in the weather I honestly wasn’t surprised. It had gotten a little too cool for my taste this winter. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a girl in shorts and a T-shirt. Only normal if you weren’t from around here. The locals were too cold for anything but jeans and a long-sleeved shirt.

  The line moved forward. The breeze whipped the girl’s long blond hair around. For some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Creamy smooth skin and high cheekbones, beautiful didn’t do anything to describe her.

  Her bag looked to be weighing her down as she walked through the tables. She stopped at as small table and set everything down before pulling out a book and laptop then taking a seat. We stepped forward, but I kept my eyes on her long fingers as they raced across the keys.

  Finally, it was our turn at the window.

  “I’ll have a large black with sugar.”

  The sound of a commotion to my left hit my ears and I looked over to see that a woman, one of the professors, I thought, and another guy had accidentally run into each other. Papers, books, and coffee had flown everywhere. I tossed my money at Monty.

  “Get that for me.”

  I walked over to help them clean up. The papers were starting to blow away in the breeze, so I grabbed those first. I’d collected what I thought was the last one when I stood and came face-to-face with the girl I’d been watching.

  “Hi,” I said, losing my ability to speak as I got lost in her deep emerald green eyes.

  “I think you missed some.” She held up the papers, a smile on her lips.

  God, since when was I such an idiot around girls? With barely a look, I took the papers from her hand and added them to the pile.

  “My name’s Megan.”

  I glanced back up to see her still standing there watching me.

  Get it together, I told myself.

  “Jackson,” I said, flashing her a smile of my own. “I noticed you studying over there. What classes are you taking?”

  “So, you were watching me.” She smirked.

  I wanted to smash my head into the wall of the café. This could go one of two ways. Either I fessed up and was honest, hopefully convincing her to have coffee with me, or I lied and sounded like a complete asshole. Time to man up.

  “I was. Can you blame me?”

  “No, I guess I can’t.”

  I held up the papers. “Why don’t I give these back and you and I can sit and have coffee, if you’re not too busy?”

  “Not too busy, but won’t your friend mind?”

  My friend? Oh… “I guess I wasn’t the only one watching people.”

  A blush hit her cheeks as she glanced away. “Can you blame me?”

  I winked. “I’ll be right back.”

  She tilted her head to the table she’d been at. “You know where to find me.”

  I walked over to the people still picking up their things and handed over the papers. “I’m not sure what belongs to who.”

  “It’s okay,” the guy said, taking them from me. “Thanks for picking them up.”

  “Yes, thank you,” the professor agreed.

  “You’re welcome.”

  Monty stood with his shoulder against the building, both coffees in his hands and a smirk on his face. He handed mine over as soon as I reached him.

  “That’s one way to get a date.”

  “You don’t mind if I sit down and have coffee with her?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. Doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re a sucker.” He nodded toward Megan. “She’s not one-night stand material. She’s dating material.”

  I took a sip of my coffee and walked backward a few steps. “That’s only a problem if you’re afraid of dating.” I winked. “I’ll see you in Theory.
”

  The minute I turned to face her table, I got lost in her smile. Nothing wrong with dating, especially with someone like her.

  A large hand shoved my shoulder. When I glanced up, Monty and Sawyer were standing next to me, watching me like I’d lost my mind.

  “Are you gonna sit there all night after bitching about my choice of movie?”

  I noticed the credits rolling on the screen. Had I really missed the whole thing?

  “Sorry, my mind was somewhere else.”

  “For the entire movie?” Sawyer’s brow rose.

  I stood. “Yeah, sorry, let’s go.”

  Monty dropped a hand on my shoulder. “What’s up with you?”

  And this was the new Monty I was slowly getting used to. One who could turn on his serious side even when he wasn’t pissed off. During all the time together in college, it wasn’t a side I saw often, but now it had become much more prevalent.

  I glanced around, unsure of what theater Megan might be in. Most likely one of the action movies playing. It always surprised most of her friends to know she’d rather watch those than a romantic comedy. The only one playing happened to be on the other side of the theater.

  “Can we talk about it when we get in the car?”

  Monty narrowed his eyes at me. After a moment, he nodded and turned toward the exit. Sawyer waited a second before following Monty out the door. I couldn’t stop my eyes from darting around the place, looking for any sign of her.

  By the time we reached the exit, I hadn’t spotted her anywhere, although I caught Sawyer and Monty looking back at me every once in a while.