From the dark look on his face, the man had been waiting for Dash to get home.
Dash should have been prepared for this and been ready to explain, but he’d been so wrapped up in Cassidy, he’d forgotten about her brother. His new bandmate.
“I take it you slept in the city,” Axel said before Dash could speak.
Dash pulled out a chair and joined him. “It was a long ride back. I figured I’d stay at my apartment.”
Axel nodded, rubbing his thumb along the paper on the bottle. “You mean we, don’t you? You and Cass? Because my sister wasn’t home today and she didn’t answer her cell.”
Dash decided to tread cautiously and remember that he, too, had sisters he loved and felt protective over. He opened his mouth and Axel cut him off.
“And don’t tell me you two were just acting like you’re in a relationship … unless she slept in the guest room?” As Axel pinned him with green eyes similar to Cassidy’s, Dash made a decision then and there not to lie.
Cassidy might be pissed, but if he laid it out for her brother, wouldn’t it help convince her of his sincerity? Not to mention he couldn’t afford to piss off the new guy in the band and fuck up the future for everyone.
He would, however, for Cassidy’s sake, tiptoe around how he explained. “She wasn’t in the guest room, but I am not using your sister,” he said at the same time Axel shoved his chair back and rose, fists clenched at his sides.
Dash nodded to the chair. “Sit down and let’s discuss this like rational human beings.”
A second passed, then two. Finally, jaw set, Axel repositioned the chair and sat down. “My sister acts like nothing hurts her but that’s bullshit. She just told herself she and that douchebag Adam had drifted apart. That his breaking up with her by text was no big deal. But she was hurt. Badly. Since our parents died, she stuffs her emotions way down and pretends she’s fine.”
Dash winced. “I didn’t know the asshole did that to her.” Looks like Cassidy had some revealing of her own to do, Dash thought.
“He did. Only reason I didn’t go after him was because I know she’s better off.” Axel met his gaze. “As for you–” He began to tick off points on his fingers. “Your reputation with women precedes you. You’re barely off a baby scare with a groupie. And you did agree to pretend to be in a relationship with my sister.”
“All true,” Dash admitted. “But the only reason I agreed with Naomi’s idea was because I wanted a chance with Cassidy. She wouldn’t let me near her otherwise.”
“Why not?”
His question told Dash what he’d already assumed. Cassidy hadn’t told her brother about their first night together.
Resigned, he met Axel’s stormy gaze. “I fucked up with her once already, and before you haul off and hit me, if your sister wanted you to know anything about our relationship, she’d have told you.”
The other man’s scowl was deep, and he was muscular enough to make it a fair fight. Dash waited for him to blow, but so far Axel sat in tense silence.
So Dash took advantage and went on. “I’ve opened up to you the little I have because I respect you and I want the band to work with you in it.” He leaned one elbow on the granite tabletop. “But Cassidy is an adult. I’ve told you I’m not using her, and I’ll take it one step further and admit that I’m trying to build something real. So I’m asking you to back off and let us figure it out for ourselves.”
Dash waited a few beats, letting Axel process the situation before holding out a hand, hoping they’d come to an understanding. That Axel would accept and call a truce.
Enough time passed that Dash wondered if he’d lost another drummer. Finally, Axel extended his arm and shook Dash’s hand, squeezing hard when he spoke. “Hurt her and I won’t give a shit about the band. You’ll pay.”
“Fair enough.” Dash would feel the same about Chloe or Aurora. Relieved, he expelled a long breath.
Both men stood.
“Where are the guys?” Dash asked.
“They both left the after-party with some chicks and haven’t been home.” Axel picked up the beer bottle and poured what must be flat by now into the sink.
“What about you?” Dash asked.
Axel lifted a shoulder. “Not in the mood, I guess.” He paused and glanced at Dash. “You’re feeling it, aren’t you? The groupies and shit? It’s getting old.”
“You wouldn’t think twenty-eight is old but yeah, I do. It’s been too many years of the same old.” He shook his head. “That baby scare shook me up. Ending up parenting with someone I don’t know and barely remember?” He shuddered at the reminder of what he’d escaped. “Then I look at Xander and Sasha and my sister and Beck, and I want more.”