My head tilted, and I stared open-mouthed at him. Tattoos? Over my scars? The idea had never occurred to me. I’d researched every way to minimize their appearance. It never occurred to me I could cover them up. The idea of putting art over the pain sounded amazing. I looked over to Skyler, who shrugged his shoulders as if to say whatever you wanna do, I’m down.
“I’d like that, Dex. Thank you. A lot of people get that type of thing done?”
Dex was mixing colors and prepping his needle gun as he talked. “Oh yeah. I even do chest pieces for women who’ve had mastectomies for free. Shit like that is hard to deal with, ya know? Scars are like tattoos. They tell a story. Got a knife wound? That’s a great story. Gunshot wound? Even better. I bet whatever happened here…” he ran his hands over my mottled skin, “also has a story. Question is, is it the story you want to tell? Tattoos will help you tell something new. It’s good for the soul, ya know?”
Amazed, I stared at the beefy man while he set the stencil aside and began to freestyle my idea directly onto my skin with a marker. He used the natural twists and turns of my shape to fit the elegance of the guitar and work the music notes into the flow of my scarred skin. And just when I thought he’d reached a spot where the scarring would be impossible to cover, he created a banner and put my mother’s name in it. My jaw quite literally dropped at the sheer beauty and genius of the piece. Who knew he’d be such an introspective artist. I could see why Skyler came to him.
Looking at it had me thinking about my mom, how proud she’d be. Here I was, out in the world, with a man I loved getting a tattoo. I remembered the first song we ever sang together and I couldn’t wait to get home to my guitar where I could play it again while her symbol watched me.
“This your first tattoo?” His question jerked me out of the melody that was playing in my head.
“Yes. Does it hurt?” It suddenly occurred to me he’d be scraping my skin with a needle. I looked at Skyler in alarm. Oh God, it couldn’t be worse than reconstructive surgery could it?
“Nah,” Skyler assured me, his hand came up and gave me a reassuring squeeze on my knee. “After a little bit, it actually feels good. People get addicted to them.”
“He’s right, as you can see.” Dex swept his hand up and down his body, confirming his tattoo addiction. “I’ll put some numbing cream on your skin, just in case. Sometimes scarring can be more sensitive.”
I nodded, grateful at his consideration. I watched as he applied the cream and loaded his gun, looking to see if I was ready.
Be brave…be bold…be badass.
“Alright, let’s do this.”
Riding With the Wind
Skyler
Elsie and I zoomed down the winding trail of the Pacific Coast Highway. The road looped through the hills around LA, near the water on the way to Santa Barbara. I loved this drive. It was the nicest part of the area to me.
It was hard to notice the road, though, with Elsie’s sweet body pressed into my back. I could feel her plump breasts against me sending sparks through my body. I was in heaven.
On my motorcycle.
New tattoo on my arm.
Elsie’s arms around me.
Heaven.
After we passed Santa Barbara, I pulled the bike up to a small public park on the beach. Because it was Thursday, it wasn’t crowded with weekend vacationers yet. Just a few locals bumming around.
Getting off the bike, we pulled out a blanket and some provisions we’d picked up before leaving the city. Sushi and cut fruit; we were going with a finger food theme. I laid down the blanket on the sand near the water and sat down. I pulled Elsie down in front of me so her back was to my front, letting me put my arms around her. She giggled and snuggled her nose into my neck.
I sat there with her, breathing in the salty air mixed with the scent of her shampoo, feeling her soft body against me.
“I’ve never felt so good in my life,” I whispered against her ear.
She turned her head, questions in her eyes. “Not even on stage?”
“Not even on stage, baby.” I reached out and ran a finger down her cheek; I just had to touch her. “Don’t get me wrong, I live for the stage. I love performing, feeling the crowd experience my music. But this is different. Being on stage is this major rush that goes up real fast and then crashes. This is more like a steady, peaceful satisfaction.”
She swiveled and kissed me; I leaned down and pressed my forehead to hers.
“I haven’t spent as much time on stage as you, but I agree…this feels really amazing. Being with you feels so natural and easy. Other things that bother me slip away and I’m just here…with you.”
I knew what she was talking about. The troubles of the world slipped away. The pressure she was under to perform from her family. Grief over her mother. Fear of people staring at her. It gave me a lot of satisfaction, knowing that I could help free her from her burdens.
I’d never seen myself in a relationship before, but with Elsie, I couldn’t see myself any other way.
A wisp of hair came out of Elsie’s ponytail and I whisked it behind her ear, reaching down and kissing her right underneath the gentle curve, making her shiver. She began to gently sing Under the Boardwalk by the Drifters and I let her voice sink into me.
I never wanted the moment to end. The thought confirmed what I already knew. I loved this woman. A warm and relieved feeling settled in my chest as I tightened my arms around her, letting her soft voice soothe my soul.
Beleventure Room 1245
Elsie
Skyler pulled his motorcycle into the private garage at his condo. The ride to Malibu wasn’t as nice as the Pacific Coast Highway, but I still enjoyed the feeling of the wind against my skin and Skyler’s hard back pressed against my chest.
“We have arrived,” Skyler said as I got off the bike and removed my helmet. “I had our stuff brought over from the hotel, so everything we need is here.”
“Someone’s got connections,” I laughed, teasing him.
He grinned and gave me a flirtatious wink. “Being rich and famous has its perks sometimes.”
“The only price you pay is your privacy, right?” I raised my eyebrows and smirked.
Skyler looked at me with a frown and nodded his head. “Yeah.”
“Sorry,” I shook my head at the reminder. “I didn’t mean to be a Debbie Downer.”
He took me in his arms and leaned his forehead against mine. I reached up and held him around his neck, running my hands through his hair. He smelled like wind and rain. I wanted to bottle up his scent and pour it into my shampoo bottle.
“Being with you makes everything better, Elsie.” He lowered his head and kissed me. We didn’t get hot and heavy, just a small meeting of the lips connecting us.
I melted.
“Come on. Show me your digs.” I pecked his lips one more time before taking his hand and pulling him toward the door.
“Follow me, madam,” he said, opening the door.
The condo wasn’t huge, but it was right on the beach and the deck was lined with comfortable couches surrounding a fire bowl. I immediately saw myself curled up here watching the waves and writing music with Skyler in our free time. His kitchen was average, nothing like the monstrosity in my house, but it was cozy and looked like a great place to host a casual brunch with friends. The living room had deep couches made for cuddling and a giant wide-screen TV. Everything was beach-themed. Definitely professionally decorated; I couldn’t see Skyler doing this all on his own.
I opened the screen door and went out on the deck, watching the sun slip down behind the ocean. Skyler walked behind me, pulling me into his arms, leaning his chin on my shoulder.
“What do you think of my abode? It’s not much, but I’m not home a lot with touring and everything.”
“It’s amazing. I expected you to have something more extravagant and over the top, being a big shot and everything,” I teased him. He nibbled on my neck in revenge.
“I don
’t enjoy having gigantic parties and entertaining. Benny had a big place. One of those fancy mansions over in Bel Air. I used to tease him we were gonna have a reality show and call it Rockstars of Bel Air.”
“What’s awful is people would watch the shit out of that. Face it, Dalton, you’re too boring for a reality TV show.”
“Yeah, I am. But Benny wasn’t. Man, he knew how to party. It was exhausting.”
I remembered seeing the tabloids describing Benny Copeland and his antics. Getting drunk and crashing a drag show; walking naked through Times Square; multiple sex tapes were ‘leaked.’ He was the definition of a rager.
“You weren’t much better for a while. I seem to recall a rather notorious hotel room trashing during your first tour, Mr. Dalton,” I admonished, lifting one eyebrow, feigning haughtiness.
Skyler groaned, closing his eyes and tilting his head back so he wouldn’t have to meet my eyes.
“What happened there? Did they forget to remove all the brown M&Ms?” I gave him a silly pout.
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” he sighed and pulled me closer to him. “The evening of the notorious thrashing of Beleventure’s room 1245,” he gave it a title? “Was a dark moment for Benny and me.”
Skyler’s voice got serious, and I perked up, paying attention.
“Tell me,” I begged him.
Taking me to one of the chairs on the patio we sat, my back against his chest. He leaned into the chair, his head resting against the back of it, his eyes staring at the sky.
“Benny got a call from his mother. Which, in itself, would have been enough to drive anyone crazy. She was a fuckin’ cunt.”
I’d seen interviews of Benny’s parents. They loved talking about their son and how he defied the will of God, but wasn’t hard to read between the lines. The bitch cut Benny out of their lives when he came out of the closet, only reaching out to him for money when he finally hit it big. How horrible. What was it like to crave and want a mother’s love for so long just to have her slam the door in your face?
“His mother called for money again. That wasn’t a surprise. It happened at least once every two or three months. But this time, they needed the money for his younger sister, Nancy. The weekend before, she’d been swimming at the community pool; I guess it was overcapacity, and the lifeguards were having a hard time keeping track of people. Either way, Nancy got sucked under in the deep end and didn’t come up for over ten minutes.”
My head jerked back. What?
“Did she live?”
“If you can call it that. The lifeguards got her out, started performing mouth to mouth, and tried resuscitating her. By the time the ambulance got there and the EMTs got her breathing again, she’d been out for at least eighteen minutes.”
“But she’s alive? They saved her?” I was on pins and needles, needing to know how this story ended. Benny’s family never publicly claimed their son outside of lambasting his sexuality, and Benny never spoke about them; this was new information to me.
“In a way. She was in a coma for six months and when she came to, she had severe brain trauma. She was never the same again.” Tears streamed down Skyler’s cheeks; reaching up, I gently wiped them away and kissed him where they’d fallen.
“Benny must have been devastated.”
“Yeah. She was only twelve, and they were very close. He talked to her on the phone all the time and sent her presents. We met up with her a few times before going on that first tour and took her around LA—Disneyland, Universal, and all the things kids her age wanted to do. She looked at Benny like he was ten feet tall and could do anything.”
My heart kept breaking for Benny. And Skyler. Watching his best friend go through that must have been torture. To know you can’t say or do anything to help.
“Anyway, his mom called because her medical bills were out of control. By that time, she’d been in a coma for five days. Benny was just finding out about the incident and he went into a rage. Thus…the demise of room 1245.”
“But the news reports said it was you who did all the damage.”
“Yeah, I took the rap because we didn’t need them going after Benny, trying to find out what motivated it. So, I made up a story about too much Jack Daniels and got really dramatic. I never received an Oscar nomination for that performance. I was quite put off,” Skyler’s eyes sparkled as they met mine.
“You’re a good friend, Skyler Dalton.” I turned and gently kissed his lips. It wasn’t long before our tongues were completely tangled and I’d positioned myself over his lap. I could feel his hardness under my jeans, and I couldn’t control my hips from grinding into him.
Skyler moaned and cupped my ass, pulling me further down to him. I pressed my breasts against his chest, my hips moving of their own volition. The heat boiled between my thighs; I couldn’t get enough of him.
“Skyler, I need…” My sentence was stopped by the clamp of his lips on my nipple through the fabric of my shirt.
“Tell me what you need, Elsie. Tell me and it’s yours,” he punctuated his words with his palms on my ass.
“I need you to fill me, Skyler. I need you inside me,” I panted, my voice coming out in short staccato beats.
“Yes.” Skyler’s hands ripped off my shirt and bra while I undid my jeans, lifting a leg to pull them off me. He undid the belt at his waist and pulled his jeans far enough down to release his hardness.
I took his length in my hand and stroked, watching the pleasure and pain wash over his face in waves.
“Oh, Elsie…only you baby…”
Gripping him, I slid myself down his cock and lodged my hips against his, pressing my hands against his chest to balance myself. Other than his waist, he was fully clothed where I was fully naked as we sat there in the fading sun on his deck. It was the most erotic moment of my life.
He filled me completely, like a missing puzzle piece I’d been looking for my whole life.
“You need to move, El…lift your hips for me.” Skyler gripped my sides and inched them up. When he’d slipped out halfway, he pulled me back down and thrust into me, making me cry out. His abdomen pressed against my clit, massaging me into a fervor.
“Yes!” That was what I wanted. What I needed.
“That’s right…keep doing that. God, you feel amazing. Your breasts are so gorgeous, so soft, so ripe for my mouth.” His lips found my nipples, and he sucked on them one at a time, his hands never leaving my hips, encouraging my movements.
My hands gripped his hair. I lost control of my hips. My body now had a mind of its own and it knew what to do, so I let it. In moments, I shattered on top of him, crying out, my juices covering him.
“El…El…El…” Skyler called out my name when he came, releasing himself into me, his head buried between my breasts, my hands holding him there.
I didn’t know how long it was before I came back to my senses. Leaning down, I kissed his temple and caressed his dark hair.
This man made me feel things I’d never imagined. When I was with him like this the feelings came in like giant waves. They didn’t stop and fester inside me like they normally did. It was almost as if making love with Skyler gave me the same emotional release as making music. When I was with him I didn’t need to hide and find a guitar to sing myself through the feelings; I could just touch him and they sorted out naturally.
I’d worshiped Skyler Dalton from afar for so long. From when I was a child into adulthood, the myth of the man mesmerized me. But the reality was so much more. He was kind and introspective; he was an artist. He was more than everything I’d ever wanted…
And I was in love with him.
Benny’s Legacy
Elsie
We pulled into a small apartment building in Riverside. It was newer with a lot of senior citizens walking around, giving us dirty looks as Skyler slipped his loud motorcycle into a parking spot.
“I don’t think you’re going to win any popularity contests here,” I laughed.
He chuckled, “Yeah, but they’re used to me showing up. Nice thing about the people here, they’re too old to appreciate my music. I impress them absolutely zero.”
“Huh. Maybe we should go to bingo.”
“Brat!” He poked me in the stomach and I jumped back, giggling.
We stowed our helmets and headed inside, hand in hand. Just that bit of connection brought me such joy and peace. It was amazing.
“Thanks for coming with me. I haven’t been able to see her as much as I’ve wanted to.”
I smiled and squeezed his hand, offering him my silent support.
“We’re here to see Nancy Copeland,” Skyler said to the woman at the front desk. She wasn’t as old as her clients, which explained her eyes bugging out of her head as she stared at him. Skyler signed in and pulled me down a hallway.
“Do you ever have trouble with paparazzi around here?”
“No. The paps don’t know about her. The workers all have to sign NDAs when they get hired. I’m not the only famous person visiting someone they care about in an assisted living facility. Besides, for what I pay, I better damn well not see the press.”
“You pay for this?” I asked, with shock in my voice. I thought Nancy’s parents were alive.
“Of course. After the accident, Benny’s parents basically sloughed her off onto him. And when Benny died, I took over. Nancy actually pays for this herself. I just manage her trust; Benny left everything to her. I try to come by when I’m not on tour. I’m basically all the family she has left.”
“That’s so sad.” How could any parent just abandon their child like that? It made no sense to me.
“Just wait until you meet her, though. Sad is the last thing you’ll be.” Skyler smiled, leading me to a door at the end of the hall. The outside was adorned with flowers and tiny skulls hanging from strings. The decorations definitely stood out amongst the rest of the building’s interior.
Scarred Melody: A Rockstar Romance: Bold Melodies Book One Page 20