Lick (stage Dive, #1)

The first installment in the Stage Dive series, the novel follows twenty-one-year-old Evelyn "Ev" Thomas, a college student studying architecture in Portland, Oregon, who wakes up on a Las Vegas hotel bathroom floor the morning after her birthday with no memory of the previous night. A heavily tattooed stranger tends to her hangover. She notices an enormous diamond ring on her finger and learns they got married. She vomits in shock. The man agrees it was a mistake and says his lawyers will handle it, but refuses to take the ring back. Ev then discovers a tattoo of the name "David" on her body.

Flying home with her best friend Lauren, Ev is ambushed by paparazzi. Lauren identifies the groom as David Ferris, lead guitarist of Stage Dive, a hugely popular rock band. Back at her parents' house, the media circus costs Ev her architectural internship. David calls via Sam, a member of his security team, and offers to fly Ev to LA to sign divorce papers and escape the chaos. Despite her father's objections, Ev leaves.

In LA, David lives in a grand mansion in Laurel Canyon with his bandmates. Mal, Stage Dive's drummer and David's oldest friend, guides Ev to David, who coldly shows her to a guest room. From her window, Ev watches David lead a groupie toward the pool house, and jealousy overwhelms her. Downstairs, Jimmy, David's older brother and the band's lead singer, corners Ev while clearly high and insults her. David intervenes, nearly fighting Jimmy, then drags Ev upstairs and accuses her of flirting with his brother.

The next morning, David's legal team presents Ev with annulment papers and a large financial settlement, treating her with contempt. Ev throws the ring onto the papers, declares she wants none of David's money, and storms out. Mal takes her to his beach house, explaining that David has never been interested in marriage, so Ev must be worth helping. When a compromising photo of Ev getting her tattoo surfaces online, David comforts her and suggests they drive somewhere to escape.

They travel to David's house in Monterey. Along the way, he recounts how they met: Ev stood up for a cocktail waitress being bullied by his entourage, and he left his friends because she treated him like a normal person. At the Monterey house, they kiss on the ocean rocks and talk openly. Ev admits she is unsure architecture is truly her calling, and David confides that touring has worn on him.

Over the following days, they grow closer. David tells Ev he has written two new songs, his first in over two years, and they are about her. He asks her not to sign the annulment papers, and she agrees. Tyler, a veteran producer, and his wife Pam become Ev's first genuine allies in David's world. David and Ev consummate their marriage; during their lovemaking, David re-enacts their wedding vows and places the ring back on her finger.

A bar fight and a heated argument test the marriage, but they reconcile, and David asks Ev to return to LA with him. She agrees. Lauren reveals on the phone that David's high school sweetheart cheated on him and the Monterey house was originally bought for that relationship. Ev tells David she loves him. An urgent call forces them back to LA.

At a charity show, Ev watches David perform. Afterward, Ben, the band's bass player and Martha's brother, reveals that Martha, David's personal assistant, is the ex-girlfriend. Ev kicks open the dressing room door and finds Martha kissing David. David insists it means nothing but refuses to explain why they both wear matching earrings or why he kept the Monterey house. When Ev steps back, David threatens that if she walks out, it is over. She removes her shoes and leaves. As Ev departs, Jimmy collapses from an apparent overdose. Sam flies Ev back to Portland, where she breaks down in Lauren's arms.

Twenty-eight days pass. Ev throws herself into work at Ruby's café, losing weight and barely sleeping. David reappears in Portland, disguised with short hair and a beard, and tracks Ev to a club. They argue in a back alley, which collapses into desperate sex. Ev calls it goodbye; David refuses to accept that. The next day he walks Ev home and brings her pizza, but Ev's brother Nathan punches David in the face, and David makes no move to defend himself. When Martha's name appears on David's phone, Ev demands he leave. He insists he has fired Martha, but Ev cannot believe him.

David does not leave Portland. He appears outside the café every afternoon, silently following Ev home. On the fourth day, she walks with him to an Irish bar, where he reveals the full truth: Martha was his childhood sweetheart who cheated on him with Jimmy while the band toured Europe. He kept her around out of obligation, not love. He tells Ev he loves her. She panics and rushes out. That night, David texts revelations about his family: His mother had an addiction and abandoned them, and Jimmy had been paying her to stay quiet for years. David falls asleep in Ev's bed and leaves a note: "I'm still not leaving Portland" (257).

Martha then visits Portland, prompted by Jimmy's rehab process, and tells Ev that David has sold the Monterey house, bought a condo in Portland, and moved the band's recording to a local studio. She says David never reorganized his life for anyone the way he has for Ev. Stunned, Ev runs to the studio and tells David she still loves him. They agree to have dinner at her parents' house.

At dinner, Ev's parents ignore David and lecture her about her studies. Ev stands up, announces she does not want to be an architect, and declares it was always her father's dream, not hers. She calls herself the "luckiest fucking girl in the entire world" (271) for being with David. Nathan backs her up. At David's new condo, they make love, and Ev presents him with a platinum wedding band bought with her car savings. He tells her he will never take it off.

Ev puts her studies on hold, works full-time at the café, and accepts a second job as David's personal assistant. The full band relocates to Portland to record; Jimmy is sober; Ev's relationships with all the band members stabilize. At a local bar, David commandeers the stage and plays a new song for Ev about never letting go. In the limousine afterward, she tells him the song is a ten, the opposite end of the scale from the misery of being apart. David wipes her tears, and they kiss as the car carries them home.