Capture (Seaside Pictures 1)

"Dude," Demetri's eyes widened. "I've never actually met him in person before, but even I'm not stupid enough to leave an innocent underage girl with him!"

"Shit!" we all said in unison as we ran off set and into the parking lot. I jumped into my truck just as Demetri and Alec got in the front seat. Jaymeson barely made it into the truck bed before I was peeling out of the parking lot, and driving like hell was licking my heels all the way back to his beach house.

"If this ends badly, you end badly," Alec said in a deathly hollow voice.

Great. Angry Demetri I could deal with. Even an angry Jaymeson didn't seem half-bad — maybe that was the soft English accent? But Alec? Well, let's just say I didn't want to be on his bad side. There was something very dark about him. Let's just say it seemed like he had the potential to kick my ass. We were matched in height and strength, but definitely not matched in crazy.

I pulled up to the beach house, didn't even turn off the truck, and ran like hell up the few stairs and almost through the closed front door. At the last minute, I remembered that I'd need to turn the knob unless I wanted to just burst through it and make a Lincoln-sized body-print through the wood.

Once I was inside, I yelled her name.

Alec and Demetri collided into my body from behind.

Jaymeson's many bloody hells clued me into him being last.

"Shhh," Zane said as he slowly, languidly, got up from the couch and stretched his arms above his head in a catlike motion. He was shirtless, and I was going to kill him and bury the body in Demetri's house so he'd get blamed for the crime. "She's sleeping."

"Zane…" I croaked out his name with death on my mind. "… if you touched her…"

Zane's face broke out into an amused grin. "Does holding her hand while she cries over accidently grabbing a burnt popcorn kernel count?"

"Huh?" Demetri asked.

"Zane Andrews." Zane held out his hand to Demetri.

Demetri stared at it like it was diseased. That was one thing I liked about Demetri. He was friendly, once you earned his trust, and only then.

"I know your kind," he spat.

I held my laugh in while Alec walked around us and peered over the couch. A smile formed across his lips as he stepped back and surveyed the kitchen, then finally glanced back at us. "She's sleeping."

"I just said that." Zane yawned and then stretched again. I'd be lying if I said he wasn't a really built dude. No wonder girls threw underwear at him during his concerts. "I drugged her."

"You what?" Jay shouted, pushing through Alec and Demetri.

"Shhh!" we all said at once, waving our hands in the air.

"You what?" His whisper was more of a whisper-yell, but whatever.

"First, I lulled her in with talk of reality TV," Zane said in a bored voice as he made his way closer to us, "then I promised her popcorn, which was followed by ice cream, chocolate, and finally we made s'mores in the fireplace." He peered back toward the couch. "Poor little thing was exhausted after all that eating…"His eyes narrowed in my direction. "… and crying."

You could hear a freaking pin drop in that room as all eyes turned to me.

"What?" I threw up my hands. "Seriously? I kiss her back, and you're pissed, then I tell her we can't—" I stopped talking.

"Can't?" Demetri tapped his chin. "Make sushi?"

"Can't… you know." I scratched nervously at my arm then sat on one of the barstools. "The point is, I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. I'm trying to do what's best for her."

Dani made a little mewling noise in her sleep.

My heart clenched as I glanced over in her direction. It wasn't until I realized everyone was silent again that I looked at the guys.

They were… intrigued. As if they could read every damn emotion on my face, and see that being in the same room with her caused physical pain — especially since I couldn't pull her into my arms and apologize. Again.

"Don't you have a dinner meeting?" Demetri pointed out.

"Shit." I jumped off the stool. "Yes."

Awkwardly, I made my way toward the door as the guys continued talking about Dani as if she wasn't in the room sleeping. Damn it. I wanted to stay. To make sure she was okay, but most of all I wanted to double-check that Zane hadn't tried anything with her.

I wouldn't put it past him.

Then again, Zane really wasn't the type to poach on another man's territory. I groaned aloud. Was that how I viewed her? My territory?

A headache grew at my temples as I jumped into my running truck and made my way downtown.

It was only eight at night.

But it may as well have been midnight. I was exhausted and knew I needed more energy than I could muster, especially if I was going to have to deal with my publicist.

She never slept.

She rarely ate carbs, meaning she was always cranky.

And she had to whiten her teeth on a daily basis because of the amount of wine and coffee she drank to keep herself from falling asleep during the day, and force herself to fall into a drunken stupor at night.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I read the text at the stoplight.

Cameron: You're late.

Lincoln: Be right there.

I prayed for patience as I pulled into Seaside Brewery and parked the truck. All I needed to do was make sure to jump through her hoops, then I could go home and down some Nyquil to force myself into sleep.