Matt’s POV

Maya moaned lightly as I pinned her to the back of the bathroom door. My lips were hungrily moving against hers, making my head spin with a wild rush. I couldn’t get enough of this woman and her demanding tongue was making it difficult to want anything but her. Maya eagerly kissed me back as my hands moved down her sides, playing with the waistline of her cut off shorts. If we kept this up, there was no way she was going to make it to her meeting with Ave. We’d be in this bed all day and I was perfectly okay with that idea.

“Mmm…I’ve got to get going, babe,” she murmured against my lips as she tired to pull away. I grunted and tightened my grip around her waist, trying to persuade her to stay. She couldn’t leave me like this, not when we hadn’t had much alone time together.

It seemed like every time we were alone, one of our friends or her irritating brother barged in, ruining our moment. I still hadn’t been able to convince Maya of Trevor’s sneaky actions, but it was only a matter of time before she saw the truth. I just hoped I could get her to see his true colors before it was too late. He was a fucking snake and he would have been gone already if Maya would have just listened to reason. I just needed to find some evidence to prove it too her. He wouldn’t get away with any of this, that was for damn sure. I just had to make sure there were eyes on him at all times.

“I’m already…mmm…late.” Why did she taste so good? It had to be a crime to taste this good! “Ave’s gonna freak out… if…mmm… I don’t help her with these final touches….”

“Ave and Gates… are probably doing… the same thing…. It will be okay,” I rasped between kisses as I grabbed the hem of her tank top and tried to pull it over her head. Maya couldn’t deny this feeling between us, and stopping now would be cruel and unusual punishment. I could tell she wanted me just as badly.

Maya giggled and grabbed my hands as she pulled away from me, forcing me to look into her stunning eyes. Damn those amazing eyes made my heart race, and this time wasn’t any different. There was no denying the love in them and I couldn’t wait to see what was hiding in them tomorrow night when I proposed.

“I really have to go babe,” she said, pulling away from me and moving over to the bed to get her phone.

My eyes fixated on Maya’s ass in the tight denim shorts she was wearing as she moved across the room. The damn things were ridding high and I swear if she moved just right her ass would be hanging out. What I would give to throw her down on the bed and take a nice bite. Damn she was killing me, if the boner I was trying to hide in my jeans was any indicator. I swear she was purposely trying to torment me, her hips swinging with each step in those high heels. I didn’t know how much longer I could maintain my self-control. I let out a groan and ran my hands over my face, trying to fight the urge to tackle her on the bed.

“I wont be long, Big Guy,” Maya chuckled, those beautiful brown eyes looking up at me as she stopped back at the door. I couldn’t help but smile down at her and cup her face with my hand. I loved her so damn much and in about twenty-four hours, she would officially be mine.

“Then you better fucking hurry…” I practically growled, pulling her hips into mine to let her feel my need. “You know I don’t do well with waiting.”

A light moan escaped her lips as she looked up at me with hungry eyes. “I’ll be back soon,” she whispered before she pressed her lips to mine. The kiss quickly intensified but after a moment, I felt her small hands pushing against my chest and I mentally cursed. This was cruel and unusual punishment.

Maya wrapped her arms around my waist and looked up at me with a small smile. “Relax, Big Guy…we’ll be together all night. And I don’t know about you,” she teased, starting to walk her fingers up my chest. I sucked in a breath as my dick throbbed painfully in my pants. “But I could think of a couple of things I’d like to do when I get back...” And there was that mischievous smile that I loved so much. Damn she was the perfect girl for me.

“You little devil…” I said before placing a hungry kiss upon her lips and I wrapping my arms around her, pulling her close to my body.

“Maya Come on!” Ave’s voice suddenly called through the door as she knocked. “I’ve got the phone appointment in five minutes and Jess keeps calling. I guess there is a problem with the new inventory numbers.”

“Coming,” Maya giggled, causing me to hang my head with a sigh.

“You better text me as soon as you’re done. You’re really killing me here, babe,” I grumbled, putting my head on her shoulder and looking down at her delicious cleavage.

“I’ll be back soon,” Maya promised before kissing me one last time and opening the door.

“Good morning, Ave,” I called with a wave as Maya rushed out the door, pulling out her phone.

Ave gave me a small wave and smile. “Morning? It’s one in the afternoon,” she teased and I rolled my eyes. What? Like Gates hadn’t tried to keep her in the room all morning.

“Eh, same thing. Have fun,” I said, watching both girls now talk on their phones and head down the hallway.

With I sigh I went back into the room, shut the door, and ordered room service. The only good thing about Maya going with Ave was that I could double-check my reservations for tomorrow night. You see, I had booked us a private little cottage on Lake Minnetonka as well as reservations at best Italian restaurant. I couldn’t wait to see her face when I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me on the dock at the end of the night. It was going to be fucking perfect!

My heart raced wildly as I called and double-checked each reservation, praying that everything was going according to plan. Thankfully both Gates and I had been meticulous with the planning and everything was set. Now all I had to do was find someone to distract Maya for the day while I went to the cottage to set up things for the night.

“Maybe Haner and Ave can have Maya help with something for the wedding,” I mused aloud, looking down at my computer screen. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, considering that Brian and Ave’s wedding was in two weeks. There were still a lot of preparations and Ave seemed to be stealing Maya every day to work on something anyway. It would be the perfect cover, and I sure Haner could get Ave to get plan something else if need be.

With a nod I pulled out my phone and shot Gates a quick text, asking for his assistance in distracting Maya tomorrow for part of the day while I set up. I would need his help for the set up too, but I just needed him to plant an idea in Ave’s head about a new plan that Maya could help with.

I need you to think of something to distract Maya tomorrow while I set up for the big night. I typed, just imagining the dramatic eye roll from Gates as he read the text.

Me? I thought this was your big plan, the douche replied. Well I guess I should have seen that one coming.

I rolled my eyes and quickly typed out a reply before turning back to the computer to order some of Maya’s favorite flowers from the small florist in town. Just think of something you could have Ave do for the wedding and don’t be a dick. I’m counting on you.

Like what? You know I’m useless at this wedding planning shit. Ask Ave… I’ll be glad when I have her back to normal. This planning is making her nuts. I rolled my eyes at his response. Why did he have to pick today of all days to be a whinny prick about a simple task? Must be Ave shut him down this morning just like Maya did to me? The man was basically a sex addict and we could always tell when Gates wasn’t getting his required dose of action, as he tended to turn into the world’s biggest dick.

Just tell her you want to add some pictures or some shit like that. Just something she will need Maya to help with. Fuck, maybe even finding you that special kind of whiskey from Scotland that you always rave about, or even say the tux guy called and canceled our fitting? Just fucking figure something out.

I was about tired of Brian’s shit. He was being an ass on purpose just to get a rise out of me, and I wasn’t in the mood for it. I just wanted everything to run smoothly, not deal with his shitty attitude this morning.

“It’s got to be perfect,” I said to myself as I finish my floral order, my heart starting to beat wildly in my chest. I had to make sure everything was perfect and to approach the situation just right. The last thing I wanted was for Maya to freak out and go running for the hills.

A few hours later, everything was set and I had a plan set in motion. If everything worked out according to plan, Avery would unknowingly distract Maya for the morning with a day on the lake while Gates and I set up the cabin and restaurant for my special proposal. We knew we couldn’t tell Avery what was really going on because she was the worst liar known to man, and Maya would undoubtedly get the secret out of her before I could pop the question. Now all we had to do was keep my cool for the next twenty for hours and act like the biggest moment of my life wasn’t right around the corner. She had to say… she just had to…

And speaking of Maya, she and Ave should have been back by now. Maya said it would only take about an hour, and it had been three. I quickly shut down my computer and stored it back in my bag before grabbing the room key and my wallet and heading out the door. I always got restless when I was way from Maya for too long, especially when I had been thinking about all the nasty little things I wanted to do to her when she got back. If you asked me, making a man wait this long was cruel and unusual punishment.

“Hey, I was looking for Maya, have you seen—” I asked Gates as we nearly collided in the lobby. Only to see the girls sitting in the bar talking and laughing with MB and Jason. Why the hell was she down her socializing when she knew we had ‘plans’ for later? Was she trying to kill me?

“I just saw Trevor walking away too, I think something is up,” Gates informed me in a hushed tone as we made our way toward the bar.


“Shit,” I muttered back, mentally strangling Maya’s brother. I swear if he messed with one more thing in our personal life or tour, I would personally beat the shit out of him—Maya’s brother or not. Maya couldn’t shut down the topic then, not once she saw the truth. I just needed more evidence to his sabotage.

“Come on M, come out on the town with us. You haven’t hung out with us in weeks now,” I heard Matt say as I quietly approached them.

“I’m sorry MB, but I’ve already got plans,” Maya replied, brushing him off. I couldn’t help but notice how she looked away from MB and down at her drink. What was going on there? Weren’t they friends?

MB scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I get it, you were told you’re not allowed to hang out with us… or rather me anymore…”

Was he fucking serious right now? I mean, sure we had our hard times a few weeks ago with the misunderstanding, but I thought we were good. Well, at least Maya and I were. I should have never let that fuck-tard Trevor let me think that something was going on between her and MB; they were just good friends and I was an idiot to think otherwise. How could MB think I told Maya not to talk or hang out with him? He was one of my best friends and I trust him with my life every night on tour. I guess I still owed him an apology for over reacting…

“Trevor said that you were being kept on a tight leash, but I didn’t want to believe it… but I see the evidence right here—” MB continued.

As soon as I heard Trevor’s name, I felt my blood start to boil. Of course! Fucking Trevor got into his head and was telling him shit… that had to be the explanation here because I never told Maya she couldn’t hang out with her friend. Sure we had that little argument but we were past that, at least I thought we were. But maybe spending hours of doing roadie work with the bastard he was starting to get in the Berry’s heads. This bullshit was enough. It was time to set the record straight.

“What are you talking about?” Maya asked, looking confused and hurt just as I stepped in. “I’m not on a leash!”

“MB and JB… I think we need to talk,” I said, stepping in and turning to Brian, who looked like he was about ready to go out on the town with Ave. “I know you guys wanna leave. But Brian, do you have a second to talk?” The Berry brother’s nodded and headed toward the back room and I turned to Maya, seeing the questioning look in her eyes.

“We will be right back, and you will be all mine then, babe,” I said to Maya as I passed. I gave her a kiss a little bit longer than necessary before continuing on for our much needed discussion.

As soon as the doo shut behind Brian, I felt an unsettling tension in the room. Something didn’t feel right here and I didn’t like that. The Berries were like family to us—no, they were are fucking brothers—so for them to stand across the room and look back at us with such distain felt like a slap in the face. What the fuck was going on here?

“So what’s this about? Are we getting scolded again for talking to the girls?” MB asked, crossing his arms across his chest and sharing an annoyed look with his twin.

I raised a brow and looked at Brian, who seemed just as thrown off by the whole situation as I was. It wasn’t like the Berries to be so guarded and defensive. Hell, usually we all joked around and had a good time, but then again, we hadn’t seen them much lately. Not since my fight with MB… I guess I still owed him an apology.

“No, I actually wanted to clear the air a little,” I sighed, running my hands over my face. I hated this—hated being at war with people I cared about for no reason. Well, there was a reason and his name Trevor fucking Brandon, but I’d bridge that topic later.

MB scoffed as Jason took a step forward. “Clear the air? As in tell us why you two have been such big pricks lately? Or why we are suddenly just your fucking lackeys? I thought we were friends, dude, not just on the payroll.”

“You are,” I said, feeling like I’d been slapped in the face. “Look guys, I’m sorry for how we’ve been acting lately. We’ve just been a bit… on edge.” I sighed, trying to figure out how to start.

“On edge? That’s your excuse for all this?” MB laughed humorlessly.

“For all what? What the hell is going on with you?” Gates asked, throwing his hands up in the air as the tension in the room seemed to grow a little thicker.

“What the hell is going on with me? I should be asking what the hell is going on with you two?” MB started, his voice rising with temper as his eyes turned on me. “First you two are two ‘busy’ to do anything that we used to do, leaving both your friends and your girls guessing as to what shit you are up to. Then when I stepped in to talk to Maya about why she was upset, I get fucking accused of sneaking around with her? Are you fucking kidding me, Matt?” MB raged, his hands flying as he spoke.

“I used to think we were brothers but now? Fuck, I feel like just the hired help and I’m fucking sick of it! Especially since Maya apparently isn’t allowed to talk to me any more, but I guess that’s the new normal, since you’re not talking to anyone besides Haner!” MB finished, his face bright red.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to control my rising temper. “Look, I’m sorry for the outburst last week on the bus. I was out of line and I should have known you wouldn’t have done anything with Maya,” I replied. “But I never once told Maya to stay away from you or tried to break up your friendship,” I tried to explain but MB just scoffed.

“Right, so that’s why she will barely talk to me and keeps brushing me off. Why don’t you go sell your line of shit to someone else Sanders,” MB scoffed, waving me off and heading towards the door. “Trevor was right, you’ve gotten really good at twisting everyone to get just what you want. Well, if you want me gone, just say so!”

“That’s not what we want,” Brian said, stopping him from going out the door. “Look, I don’t know how all this shit got so twisted but we need to lay it rest right here, right now. Enough of this bullshit when the reality is that we are being fucking pitted against each other.”

“By who?” Jason asked incredulously. “Who would want to pit us against each other?”

“No, they just don’t want to take ownership for being dickwads, it’s nothing new,” MB grumbled before Brian or I could reply and shook my head, my blood boiling now.

“You know that’s not fucking true!” I snapped, turning to MB. “You know I am the first one to admit when I’m wrong and I just fucking apologized to you for the other day. I was wrong and a complete dick! I admit it and I’m fucking sorry okay!” I snapped and MB let out a sigh and ran his hands over his face, knowing I was being sincere.

“I honestly don’t know why Maya wont talk to you, but just know that directive didn’t come from me. You have my word as my brother,” I continued, looking him directly in the eye. He gave me small nod and knew from that point on we were good. Now I just had to get them on our side for the Trevor situation. “But the more important thing here is that we are all being fucking manipulated like pawns and turned against each other.”

“What the hell are you guys talking about?” Jason asked again and I looked at Gates, earning a small nod. I guess now was the time to rip off the Band-Aid.

I sighed and looked between the Berrys before I started. “It seems Trevor has been actively trying to twist and manipulate all of us to turn against each other,” I explained, clenching my fists together.

“Trevor? That’s a joke, right? That guy’s done nothing but help us out for the past few weeks,” Jason said in disbelief as he shook his head.

“I know, it was hard for us to believe at first,” Brian continued. “But all the fucking pieces fit… every weird thing that’s happened between us, you guys, and the girls fits in with things Trevor has done.”

“Does this have to do with the Rock on the Range festival?” MB asked, crossing his arms over his chest again. And just when I thought he was starting to come back to our side. “Because if that’s were this is coming from, I think you guys were way out of line.”

“Out of line?” I laughed humorlessly before Gates put his hand on my shoulder to take over. It was probably better that way because just mentioning Trevor’s name had me ready to fucking strangle someone. Fuck that guy made my blood boil with how much he had manipulated everyone. I wish I could go back and never allow him into our lives, it would have been so much easier!

“What did Trevor tell you?” Brian asked, looking between the Berry brothers with a raised brow.

The Berry brothers then continued to tell us a Trevor’s bullshit story from the festival. That bastard even had the nerve to so tell them that the girls had to protect him because were on some kind of witch-hunt get rid of him. Oh, if Trevor wanted a witch-hunt, he was going to get one. It would make what happened at Rock on the Range a walk in the park. He was going to get what was fucking coming to him, mark my words! Trevor Brandon would pay for this, we just had to be careful of how we handled the situation, and it started with getting our crew back on our side.

“That lying son of a bitch!” Gates hissed, clenching his fists when Jason and MB were done telling his side of the story. “That’s not what fucking happened!” he raged. “I swear when I get my hands of that piece of shit I’ll—”

“This is exactly what he was talking about,” Jason interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head. “Trev said you guys were pissed because the girls spent time with the Asking guys and wanted someone to blame it on, that you were jealous because they got to spend time with them. Though that makes sense for us too, that’s why you were pissed today, am I right?”

I ran my hands over my face as I tried to calm myself down. I could feel the anger coursing through my veins with each vile lie they fed us. “We weren’t pissed today, we were just looking for the girls because we had plans tonight,” I explained, trying to keep my voice even. “We are pissed that Trev has turned you against us. Look at what he is fucking doing here! When was the last time we lied to you guys? You are like our fucking brothers!”

We told them our version of the story and the brothers looked at each other and then back at us with frowns falling over their faces. You could see a glimpse of realization cross their faces followed by confusion. “But why would he do that? It doesn’t make sense…” MB said with a deep frown crease in his forehead.

“That’s what we don’t understand either,” Gates said with a light shrug. “But one thing is true—the girls don’t want to hear anything about it. They don’t think it’s possible.”

“I don’t know if I believe it either,” Jason said, slowly shaking his head back and forth. “I mean, how could he have done all that? There must have been some kind of misunderstand there… right?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know, but I don’t trust him. Not for a second. I think someone needs to have an eye on him at all times… and I don’t like him around the girls by himself…” I admitted, earning a nod of agreement from Brian. “The last thing we need is for him to try to destroy our relationships again…” I said, thinking about my proposal tomorrow night.

“I still can’t see him being that manipulative,” MB added too, looking the most confused I had ever seen him.

“Oh he is a fucking snake,” Gates scoffed, putting his hand in front of his face and narrowing his eyes like he was envisioning something. “Just keep an eye out for him…”

“Especially tomorrow,” I added, unable to keep the smile from my face. I guess if I was going to pull off this proposal thing, I needed all hands on deck. It was time to start reading the troops to help with the huge tasks I needed to accomplish tomorrow before the big moment. Maybe it would help sway the Berrys back to our side too.

Both Berrys turned to look at me with raised brow. “What’s tomorrow?” they asked in unison.

“Tomorrow I’m going to propose to Maya… and I need your help.”

Notes

Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy the new chapter!