by Daisy Allen
“Oh my gosh!!!! Did you hear that honey, they’re MARRIED!” She yells, and I suddenly see the resemblance between the two.
I turn and just stare at Sebastian, who winks and goes back to his food, as if nothing has happened.
“How did it happen? Tell us, tell us, tell us!” The blonde jumps out of her seat with excitement, flinging her fork to the floor.
“Yes, Muffinbottom, why don’t you tell them?” Sebastian says to me, a look of innocence on his face.
I glare at him, and turn back to our breakfast partners.
“Well, actually, Sebastian has been in love with me FOR YEARS. But I was never interested in him at all. I didn’t find him very...how do I say this...able to satisfy me in bed, you know.” I wink at Linda conspiratorially, and her eyes grow wider as she leans in further across the table.
Sebastian elbows me and I turn and shoot him my brightest smile. He cocks his eyebrow and I can see the thoughts churning in his brain. This is going to get nasty.
“Now, now, don’t be telling lies, Pinkywinky, you know that you were the one who was chasing me. Sending me all sorts of suggestive notes and...let’s just say, undergarments that had not been through the wash yet.”
The bastard.
“Well, Thumbdoodle, that was only after we had gotten together, you know, after your operation.” I nod for emphasis.
“Operation?” Both Greg and Linda ask, forks forgotten, hovering halfway to their mouths.
“Well, yes, we don’t like to talk about it, but you guys won’t tell anyone, will you?”
They shake their heads even as the drool collects in the corner of their mouths.
“Well, my Applewafflekins here,” and I lean in, and pause, before whispering, “Had a third testicle.”
Next to me I hear Sebastian choke, spitting out his drink. I reach over and pat him gently on the back.
“Are you OK, Snickerpie?” I ask, my voice dripping with honey.
“Oh, um, yes, just fine. I just didn’t realize that this drink had alcohol in it. You know, you shouldn’t be drinking alcohol, Waffletoes.”
I shake my head, this has gone too far, abort, abort, I beg him with my eyes.
“Why can’t she have alcohol?” Greg asks, his ass barely touching his seat.
“Well, she’s pregnant, of course.”
“OHYMYGOD!!! CONGRATULATIONS!” Linda shrieks.
“Oh no, it’s not mine.” Sebastian waves his hands in front of us. And I brace myself for what’s coming. “It’s her cousin’s, I mean, her ex-lover’s. But he left her for his next door neighbor’s dog walker, so that’s why we got married. I’m gonna take care of this little lady and her three babies.”
And he reaches over and pat me, my stomach specifically, and my ex-lover cousin’s unborn triplet babies.
The two sets of eyes across the table finally blink after a few seconds and turn towards each other, jaws barely clearing the table.
We take this moment to run.
“Oohh, um, honey, I don’t feel so well,” I moan, kicking Sebastian under the table.
“Oh, her morning sickness has been terrible, I better take her back to her room. You two enjoy the breakfast now, it’s on me! Enjoy the rest of your trip.”
I jump out of my chair and try not to run out of the hotel restaurant, careful not to drop the imaginary fetuses, pushing open the entrance doors and turning the corner just in time to let out the giant guffaw I’d been holding in.
Sebastian catches up with me, his hands covering his mouth and I’m wondering how he can hold his laughter in. He’s shaking his head and he just keeps running back to our villa. He disappears down the walkway and about ten second later I hear a roar of laughter.
The sound of him laughing sets me off again and I bend over at the hip, trying to breathe between my laughter. It’s a good five minutes before I can just barely make my way back to our room.
SEBASTIAN
“Ready to go?” I nudge her with my toe.
“No.” She mumbles, her face still buried in the cushion.
“Well, we have no choice.” I remind her.
“Sure, we do. We can stay. We can go live with that kangaroo family. We can take turns sleeping in her front bag.”
I kneel down and gently stroke her hair. She purrs and it sends shivers through my body.
“It’s time to go, baby.”
“Don’t YOU want to stay?”
“More than you know. But not more than I want to go back to our lives...so I can show you off.”
She pauses and then sighs, heaving herself off the couch.
“Sweet talker.” She raises herself up on her tiptoes and presses a soft kiss to my lips. “We’re really going back to our lives together?”
“Yes, of course.” I tell her.
“I mean, going back together, as in, when we go back there, we’ll be together.”
“As opposed to...”
“Not being together.” She explains, but clarifying nothing.
“Right. What?”
“This is not...just for here?” She asks, her voice suddenly filled with insecurity.
I thread my fingers through hers and tell her with more conviction then I have ever said anything, “No, it’s for here, there, everywhere and in between.”
And I can see she likes the thought of that.
***
“Over here! Seb! Cadence!”
Over the bobbing heads all going in the direction of baggage claim, I can see Hank waving to us, and I wave back and lead Cadence over to him.
“Fucking hell! All hell is breaking loose! Quick, we better get you guys to the car!”
Cadence looks over at me, and I just shrug. I have as little idea about what’s going on as she has.
One of the SUVs is waiting for us at the pick-up point and I help Cadence get in first, and slide in after her. Hanks throws our bags into the trunk and climbs into the passenger seat.
“Take us back to the hotel, please.” He tells the driver and then turns to us.
“What’s going on?” We ask him.
“Come on! Like you don’t know.”
“We don’t. Hello, the only contact we’ve had with the outside world is my call to you to come pick us up.”
“So, you don’t have something to tell me? About you two?”
“Well, um, I mean...”
Cadence looks over at me. We’d agreed that we wouldn’t be making a big announcement. If one of the guys asked then we’d confirm that we were together, but for now, we’d hoped that we could fly under the radar. Of course, disappearing for three days together was going to get some tongues wagging.
“Just spit it out, Hank.”
“No way, this is Dennis’ territory, I’m just here to pick you up.” He turns and slides his earphones into his ears and tries to ignore us.
***
“What the hell have you done?” Dennis yells at us as soon as we walk through the rehearsal room door. His face is red and it looks like he’s spent the last three hours running his fingers through his hair trying not to pull it all out.
“It’s good to see you too, Dennis! We missed you!” I reply and turn to wink at Cadence.
“No, no, no, there will be none of that.” He points at me, “You! Sit there.” He points at the sofa. “And Cadence. You.” He turns and points to the recliner opposite the couch. “You sit there.”
“Yes, Dad.” We move to sit in our respective assigned seats.
“Now, answer me this time. What the hell have you done?”
“What are you talking about, Dennis?”
“You disappear for three days...TOGETHER! And this morning, I get a Google alert to say that, and I QUOTE, “Sebastian Dupont from Grammy Winner Band Elopes with Oz High School Music Teacher!” He turns to us, his mouth dropping open.
Cadence drops her head, her hair falling in front of her face, a move I’ve become accustomed to now, when she wants to hide her expression. Her shaking shoulders however are
giving her away.
“Oh.” I shrug, “That. That’s nothing.” I get up from my seat, “Anyone want a coffee?”
Dennis roars, “Sit your fucking ass down!”
I sink back down into my seat and bite the inside of my cheek trying not to laugh. “Chill, man.”
“I will chill, when you tell me what the hell’s going on! Are you two married?”
“No, of course not, you psycho!” I yell back at him. “We just went away for a few days!”
Dennis takes a deep breath, almost dizzy with relief and sits down in the empty seat next to me. “Then where did the rumor come from?”
“Dude, are you NEW? How many times have they come up with all sorts of shit?”
“Yeah, but this one...I mean, they mentioned Cadence. Not some random celebrity.”
“Um, yeah, well, lucky guess.” I shrug, biting the inside of my cheek. If Dennis knew I was the source of the rumor, he’d castrate me with a rusty knife.
“So...you’re not married?” He confirms.
“No.”
“OK. Yeah, OK, great.”
“Wait, hang on why? What if we WERE married? It’s going to happen to one of us at some point, ya know.”
“Then I’d want the story broken my way.”
“Fine. But you should know, while we’re not married, we are...together.”
“Well, yeah,” his face utters the silent ‘duh’.
“What do you mean, ‘well, yeah’?”
“I mean, well, we had a freaking pool going, for fuck’s sake, to see how long it would take you two to get your acts together.”
“Who won?” Cadence finally speaks up.
“None of your business.”
“So, what are we going to do about these marriage rumors then?”
“What we always do, ignore them.” He gets up and goes over to his laptop, his shoulders relaxed.
“You sure?”
“I guess, there was some other weird shit in the article as well, some stuff about you having some operation and just marrying Cadence to take care of her unborn babies.”
“Er, yeah, that is bloody weird.” I say as I get up and sit down next to Cadence, throwing my arm around her shoulders.
The door flings open and the band walks in, carrying take-out and drinks.
“MR. and MRS. Dupont! You are back!!” Marius bellows, walking into the room with his arms outstretched. “Can’t wait to babysit your bastard kids!”
“Oh, for god’s sake. I’m outta here.” Dennis moves towards the doorway, then stops, “Guys, what do you think, our concert next Friday, if we get Cadence up on stage for a song? I mean, the concert is mainly to launch the new band name and to test out some of the new songs, but a teaser for the piano pieces might be good.”
Brad shrugs and balances his bow on top of his head, “Fine by me, get the audience excited for our new album.”
“Guys, I don’t want to be stepping on any toes. You, um, hired me for the album, not any concerts. Maybe you want to keep performances for yourselves and just put me on playback or something.” Cadence offers thoughtfully.
“Are you kidding? You’re going to be a hit.” Marius smiles at her, and I’m grateful that they love her almost as much as I do.
“What should we play?” Jez throws out for discussion.
“I’ve got just the song.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
CADENCE
I don’t ever want this moment to end.
I can’t breathe deep and fast enough, I need more and more oxygen to fuel my eyes, my ears, my brain, to process it all, to imprint it in my memory forever.
The noise is deafening. Literally. I feel like it’s overloaded my eardrums and everything is just white noise now, or silence, I can’t differentiate it. I’m too busy looking out into the crowd and feeling the vibrations of their applause hum through every cell of my body.
The lights lash over my eyes and I’m turning to my left. Sebastian is grinning at me, his face glistening with sweat as he winks at me, holding out an upturned thumb.
“Yay, Cadence!” I can just make out a voice screaming, and I think it’s Marius to my right.
And then the crowd starts to chant, “Cadence! Cadence! Cadence!” and it’s taking me some time before I realize that’s my name.
“I think we can convince our guest to stay for one more song, what do you think, guys?” I hear Sebastian yell into the microphone, his voice slightly distorted.
The chants explode and suddenly, I hear the opening notes to The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony”. I turn back to the piano and let the music sing through me.
The song comes to a close and the audience drowns out the epic ending with their screaming.
I stand up, wanting to feel the power of their applause wash over me. I see Sebastian put down his cello and walk over to me. He stops for a moment and holds out his hands in the sign of a love heart to the audience. Then he turns to me, he pulls me into his arms and bends me over into a deep, deep kiss.
I don’t ever want this moment to end.
***
“You were sensational,” Sebastian, whispers into my ear as we go backstage, the sound of the crowd trailing us as the lights come up. His arms come up behind me as he grazes his lips against my neck. I shiver under his touch even though my body is burning from the heat of the spotlights and the adrenaline of performing.
“YOU were phenomenal,” I turn in his arms and kiss him hard, tasting the gentle saltiness of the sweat on his lips.
“What about us?” Marius and Jez butt in, wrapping their arms around us in a big group hug, pressing me even harder against Sebastian.
“Eh, so-so,” I shrug nonchalantly and wink at Sebastian.
“Titbitchums!” Marius curses at me and pokes me in the side, making me yelp. “I was the star.”
I giggle and wriggle out of Sebastian’s hold to give Marius a big hug. “Yes, you were. You were bloody brilliant.”
Marius huffs, “You’re just saying that because...I was.”
I laugh and give him a kiss on the cheek.
“Oi,” I feel myself pulled back against Sebastian’s chest. “Get off my woman,” he growls at Marius.
“Oh, relax. I’ve been trying to get YOU on your woman for weeks now. Made me lose the damn pool.” Marius grumbles and wanders off down the hall to the catering area. The rest follow him and the hallway starts to empty as the crew gets to work packing up the stage.
“Back to you. My angel muse,” Sebastian murmurs low and dark against my ear. The hairs on the back of my neck prickle and my nipples twinge. He grinds against me and I can feel he’s hard. I push back against him, and he growls. “Do you think the crowd would like it more or less if next time in the middle of a song, I just bend you right over the piano and take you then and there?”
The image instantly plays out in my mind, and I pull his arms tighter around me, as I can’t help but notice a pulsing between my legs.
“Well, I guess that all depends on whether it affects our playing or not?” I rasp, his teeth grazing against my shoulder.
“It might, but it would give them something else to focus on.”
“I’m not sure I want 10,000 women focusing on your cock,” I turn and whisper into his ear. His hips instantly thrust against me.
“Say it again, that last word.”
“You mean, you like it when I say ‘cock’?”
“Fuck. You are going to kill me.”
He grabs my hand and drags me down the hallway.
“What are you doing?”
“Trust me, in a minute you’re not going to have to ask.”
He stops at a door, an empty room we used as the greenroom before the concert.
Yanking the door open, he peeks inside, and asks, “Anyone in here?”
The light’s on but it looks empty. Grinning to me, he pushes me in and flicks off the light as he closes the door. There’s a soft hue from the adjoining bathroom’s mirror light and my
eyes are just starting adjust as he presses me up against the closed door.
“Say it again.”
“What, baby?” I run my fingernails over his scalp and feel him shiver.
“You know.”
I pull his head down to mine, kissing him hard, as his hands come around to slide under my skirt, his fingers hooking into my panties and pulling them down my legs. Tearing my mouth off his, I give him what he wants.
“I. Want. Your. Cock.” I growl the words into his ear, one by one. He hisses and in one movement tucks his hands under my ass and lifts me up, wrapping my legs around him and pinning me against the door.
“Again,” he commands me.
“Your cock belongs inside me.” I obey. My legs squeeze, pulling him closer, and I feel him reach in to slide his zipper down.
“Yes, yes, it does, babygirl.” He snarls against my throat, his voice thick with want.
I can already feel how my body is getting ready for him, the slickness between my legs growing with every second. I want him so much I can barely breathe.
“One more time,” he struggles to say and I almost bite my tongue as I feel his hardness press against me.
“Give me your cock, Sebastian!” I beg him, pushing my hips away from the door, trying to push down on him.
“Your wish is my command.” He growls and pins my body hard against the door, thrusting his hips and sliding his entire, thick, hard length inside me.
I’m burning, his thickness stretching me as I drag some air into my lungs.
I’m completely lost, I can feel his body against me, rocking back and forth, and him entering me over and over. I give myself completely to him. And let him take everything from me.
“Yes, yes, yes, God fucking yes, Sebastian. I’ll say ‘cock’ a hundred times a day if you’ll keep fucking me like this.”
I can just make out a soft chuckle in between his heavy breaths. “I’m so close, baby, I’ve been dying to be inside you all night.”
I’m teetering on the edge, each time he slams into me, I inch a bit closer. His hardness growing even now, more and more with every time he drives himself deeper into me, grazing against the slick, pulsing walls of my sex. My mind and body are screaming for release.