She considered that. “He bought it because you wanted it? So you could come up here?”
“Well, technically, anyone could come up here. But yes, he bought it, partly, because I was so in love with it. That love kinda rubbed off, I guess. Now he’s here every chance he gets. Even sold off his house in L.A.. But there’s not exactly an armed gate on the property. People do come up here, sometimes. Fucking tourists, usually. You always know, because the locals will tell you, out of respect, if they come on your property, or leave you a gift or something. Tourists leave their fucking cigarette butts and food wrappers.”
“Here? That’s so… gross.”
“Yeah. Takes all kinds, right?”
Danica shook her head. “I really can’t understand anyone who would come to a place like this to enjoy the natural beauty and then… leave garbage.”
“Yeah. It happens, though. Just not often. The island has a tiny population and not much tourism. People who come here in the summer are usually here for the marina and the one little beach on the south end. So this is pretty much my private paradise.”
I took off my backpack and pulled out our water bottles, handing one to her. We drank deep, then I pulled out the flask of blackberry vodka. It was a home-brew, made by Jude’s girlfriend, Roni. She’d given it to me as a gift the night of my breakup party.
The night I met Danica.
“Toast?” I asked her, handing it over.
She smiled and gave it a curious little sniff. “Yum.” She held it up and said, “To your private paradise. Thank you for sharing it with me.” She took a swig, her eyes widening. “Ash… that’s delicious.”
Ash.
I was pretty fucking sure that was the first time she’d ever called me Ash and not Ashley.
Most people called me Ash. At least, people who knew me personally. It definitely turned me on when a gorgeous girl like Danica called me Ashley, though, so I was never gonna ask her to do different.
But something about her calling me Ash, just now, told me we’d reached some new level in our relationship.
She was getting less and less formal with me, which meant more comfortable, and I liked that.
“Roni made it,” I told her, as she handed the vodka back to me. “Jude’s girlfriend. You’ll meet them sometime.” I held the flask up and added, “I’m glad you’re here with me, birthday girl.” She gave me a big, bright smile. Then I took a swig. It was delicious. Thick, tangy and sweet.
“Jude…” she said. “That’s the security guy, right?”
“Yeah. Dirty’s head of security. Good guy. Really tight with the band. He’s the one who hooked me up with Haz.”
“Right. I’ll have it all memorized soon, I promise. You’ve got a lot of friends.”
“No worries. I wouldn’t expect you to remember. You haven’t even meant them yet.”
“Well, I’ve met Xander. And I’d love to meet the rest,” she added tentatively, sitting down on a ledge on the uneven rock, a few feet away from me.
“You will,” I told her. Because I was sure of that.
I really didn’t know if she was gonna be my girlfriend for any length of time, because who could know a thing like that? I’d banked on certain people being in my life in certain ways in the past, and I’d definitely been wrong before.
But for whatever reason, I was sure Danica would be around to meet more of my friends.
“I can’t say I have as many friends as you, from the sound of things,” she said. “But the ones I do have are special. I’m pretty choosy about friends. Like I prefer having a few deep relationships than a bunch of casual acquaintances, you know? My best friend, Taylor…” She looked up at me hopefully. “I’d love for you to meet her.”
“Wanna make sure I pass the best friend test, huh?”
She laughed. “I mean, maybe that’s part of it. I always like to get her take on things. But I would genuinely like for you to meet her. I think you two would get along.”
“If she’s anything like you, it won’t be a problem.”
“Actually,” she mused, “she’s not a lot like me.”
“Yeah, I can’t say my best friend is a lot like me either. You’ll have to meet him, and you can tell me what you think.”
“I’d love that, Ashley.”
Yeah, I would too. I liked the idea of introducing her to Dylan.
Dylan wasn’t usually all that impressed with the women I brought around. He was usually pretty neutral about them, actually.
Even the ones we’d taken to bed together.
Maybe because he knew they wouldn’t be around long.
But I knew he’d be impressed with Danica Vola.
I took another deep swig of the blackberry vodka. And manned up to do the thing I’d been thinking I might do, ever since she asked me to teach her to sing Panic! At the Disco.
“Hey, Danica. I’m gonna sing a song for you now.”
Danica blinked at me, then glanced around, like she was expecting some band and a microphone to materialize out of the woods. “Now?”
“Right now.”
“A cappella?”
“Yup. This is the only Panic! At the Disco song I know front to back, so. Hope you like it.”
Her eyes went wide. “Uh… I’m sure…”
I passed her the flask, then hopped up onto the highest point of the rock, which rose a couple feet above her seat, like it was my stage. “Ready?” I cleared my throat and stood looking down at her.
“Okay. Just one sec.” She took a sip, then set the flask aside. Her gaze wandered down my body, slowly. “I just want to absorb this image for the memory banks.”
I laughed, then looked down at myself.
I was wearing black Hellcat Pro mountain bike shoes, black cargos rolled up under the knee, and probably the only white T-shirt I owned. It had scripty black lettering across the chest that said Polite As Fuck.
“Am I sweating?” I asked her.
“Mmm. I don’t think so.” She finished her perusal, then closed her eyes.
When she did that, I committed her to memory, too.
Sitting on the rock ledge below me, leaned back on her hands in her peach-colored dress, the breeze fluttering the front so I could see part of her left breast. It was bunched up on her thighs so I could see her curvy legs, the bandage on her knee. And the athletic sandals of Amber’s that she said were a bit too tight for her but I made her wear, because her sandals had no grip and would’ve been dangerous on the trails.
Her long butterscotch hair in a pretty ponytail, a few strands drifting down around her cheeks. That soft smile on her face. The sun shining down on her.
I loved how at-home she looked on my rock. How she’d rolled with it all. Not having fresh clothes or the right clothes, not being prepared to get on a bike and ride through the woods. Falling and getting right back up again.
She’d done it all without complaint, just cool to be with me.
“Okay, got it.” She opened her eyes again and smiled at me. “Memorized. Sing away.”
“Okay. Here goes…”
I sung “Death of a Bachelor” for her. I’d probably sung it better before, when I wasn’t going in cold, but my voice warmed up as the song rolled out, and Danica didn’t complain. I knew I sung it well, though I sung it my way, which meant a little grittier than the original.
And I gave it my all, belting it out as loudly as I could.
When I was done, Danica just stared at me for a long moment, her lips parted like she meant to speak.
Then she clapped, slowly. “Holy shit. I feel like there’s no response I could give to that that would be sufficient.” She looked dazed and confused, in a good way. “How do you even know a song like that? It’s not really your style. Is it…?”
“Did I sing it well?”
“Um. Yeah.” She got to her feet as I hopped down to where she was. She pulled me to her just as I pulled her to me, gripping my shoulders as I gripped her waist.
“Summer made
me learn it for this show she did a couple years ago. I joined her onstage for this song, and—” Danica cut me off with her mouth. I let her take the lead, driving the kiss… just feeling everything she put into it. When she pulled away, I felt myself smirk.
“Wow,” she breathed.
“You liked it?”
“I fucking loved it. Are you kidding me?”
I kissed her again, softer this time.
Then I just looked at her and she looked up at me. Her hands had slid all the way down my arms and into mine.
“It’s really not fair, though,” she said, softly, gripping my hands. “You shouldn’t do that to a girl.”
“What? Why?”
“Because doing what you just did will make a girl fall in love with you, Ashley. And you made me promise not to.”
I just stared at her.
Okay. Did it make me greedy—or totally fucking selfish—that I really, really wanted her to fall in love with me? Even when I’d told her I wouldn’t fall in love with her…?
I kissed her again, and I just kept kissing her so we wouldn’t talk about it anymore.
But as we kissed, the world kinda caught fire… and soon her hands were in my clothes and mine were in hers. Then she was dropping to her knees, right on the rock, which could not have been comfortable, and she was undoing my pants.
“Babe, it’s your birthday…” I reminded her.
“Almost,” she said, yanking my pants down, taking my underwear with them.
“Get up off your knees,” I said, halfheartedly.
“Ashley, don’t tell me there’s anything you’d rather do on this mountaintop right now than have sex.”
She pushed me back onto the rock where she’d been sitting—and then pushed at me so I lay back. Not all that comfortable, but who the fuck cared. Then she arranged herself between my legs and shoved my shirt up to my armpits, baring me from chest to knee.
“Are you doing shit for me again…?”
“Yeah,” she breathed, her pupils dilating in the sun as she smoothed her hands up my thighs like a crack addict about to take a hit. “Feels so good…” Then she started running her hands up and down my dick, and aimed her blue eyes up at me. “You want to make me happy on my almost-birthday, don’t you?”
I sighed. Not really a fair question, since her lips were now an inch from my dick. “Yes…”
She wrapped her lips around the head of my cock, sucking me into her mouth. I groaned as she sank her mouth down, taking me deep. She did it again, swirling her tongue around as she went… and again.
And the fact that this was making her happy, that this was what she wanted from me on her birthday? Major fucking turn-on. She loved it when I went down on her; I knew that. But the girl was so far from selfish, it was refreshing.
She gave so much… It made me want to give back.
“Let me fuck you,” I choked out.
She didn’t, at first. She just kept working my dick with her mouth and her hands, until I almost had to stop her.
I really wanted to fuck her before she made me lose it.
Then she reached up under her dress and slipped her panties down. She let go of my dick long enough to stand up and take the panties off.
“Condom?” she said, smiling down at me as I just lay here in awe.
“Shit.” I jolted into action, digging awkwardly through the pockets of my pants, which were around my ankles, until I found what I needed. I rolled it on as she lifted her dress.
Then she climbed over my lap. She straddled me, sinking herself down onto me. I filled her sweet pussy again and again as she started riding me, slowly.
Her mouth fell open, and I drifted the straps of her dress down off her shoulders, baring her to the waist as the breeze fluttered her hair.
Fucking beautiful.
Outdoor sex, in my books? One of the best kinds of sex.
And sex with Danica Vola, any-fucking-where? Quickly becoming my favorite.
Dream girl…
“Happy almost-birthday…” I gasped as she rode me, because I didn’t know what the fuck else to say.
She laughed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Ash
The next night, I met Danica and her friends at the Back Door.
When she told me she was planning to celebrate her birthday here, I was definitely surprised. But I’d called ahead to Snake to make sure her group could get in, and had a few tables saved for them.
Seemed like the least a rock star could do in such circumstances.
Danica had told me to bring some friends with me, if I wanted to. I brought Haz, of course, and I brought Summer—who brought a small entourage, because she rarely went anywhere without one. We headed through the packed crowd toward the back of the bar, where I knew Danica would be.
It was Friday night, and for a while now the Back Door had been doing this Top 40/dance night thing on Fridays that probably wasn’t going over so well with the hardcore regulars. Apparently, it was going over incredibly well with the assorted hipsters and college kids who’d filled the place, though, and all the drunk chicks on the dance floor. The place was packed like I’d never really seen it outside a Dirty show.
I spotted Danica and her sister and a bunch of other girls crowded around some tables in the back. They even had a bunch of silver balloons floating over the tables. There was no such thing as a VIP area at the Back Door, so it wasn’t like they had a velvet rope around them, but I’d noticed Snake had a few more bouncers on than usual, with two of them flanking the girls’ tables.
Wondered if Danica realized she was now a VIP.
Snake greeted me, and I paused to talk to him a bit while Summer talked to his dad, Bear, who owned the place with him. Bear looked just like his name sounded, and though he was happily married, he was definitely sweet on Summer. She knew it, and she always took the time to be sweet as pie to the man.
When I shook hands with Snake’s head bouncer, I slipped him some cash. I liked to tip Snake because he always treated us so well, and because I wanted to support the bar and everything they did for local bands—like mine, back when we were getting our start. But Snake would never directly take my money. Rarely even let me pay for my own drinks. And that shit just had a way of coming back around.
I’d probably personally chain myself to the door in protest if they were ever gonna bulldoze this place to put up condos.
By the time I reached Danica’s group, I’d lost Summer and her girls somewhere along the way. I noticed there were a few guys with Danica’s friends, assorted boyfriends, maybe, but no one getting cozy with my girl. I scoped that out as I approached, right before I wrapped myself around her from behind.
She spun around in my arms.
“Ash!” she gushed, her cheeks all flushed from drinking. Then she laid one on me.
She tasted amazing. Like sweet cider and sweet Danica.
After I gave her a lingering birthday kiss, I leaned back to get a good look at her. Her long hair all down and wavy around her face. Short, tight dress in a peachy-pink color that clung to her curves. It had a low scoop neck in front, and the swell of her tits looked totally lickable.
I would’ve licked them right now, honestly, if half her friends weren’t already staring.
“You look fucking gorgeous.”
“No, you looking fucking gorgeous,” she said, poking me in the chest, a big, goofy grin on her face. Which was when I realized how drunk she was.
Birthday drunk.
“Introduce us to your friends,” I said, since they were staring anyway. At Haz and me both.
Danica introduced us around a bit, but then got sidetracked when we got to her best friend. I knew this girl had to be Taylor, because Danica stopped dead and dramatically turned to me. “Oh. My. God. You haven’t met my best friend yet.” Then she grabbed the girl’s arm and hauled her closer. “This is my best friend in the whole world. The whole, whole world. So you guys better like each other. Or I’m gonna be really
sad.”
“Nice to meet you,” Taylor said, offering her hand. She gave me a steady look that said she’d consider liking me, for sure, so long as I didn’t fuck over her best friend.
Fair enough.
I shook her hand. Pretty girl. She had shoulder length dirty-blonde hair and a round face with puffy lips. She looked me straight in the eye but didn’t smile too much. Good handshake, too. Nice curves in her black dress, had a tat on her wrist. Definitely knew a few guys who might be interested.
Have to be careful about that, though. No way was I letting one of my dickhead friends screw around with Danica’s bestie and fuck things up for me.
“I’m Ashley,” I told her, since Danica kinda forgot that part. “Taylor, right?”
“Yes, I’m Taylor,” she said, throwing Danica an amused look. “And she’s drunk already.”
Danica laughed. “You guys are the best.” She hugged me again and kissed me, and while Haz and Taylor shook hands, I managed to steer the birthday girl behind the tables, up against the back wall, where I pinned her and kissed her for a while.
“Your best friend’s pretty,” I told her.
“Pervert.” She grinned. “And yes, she’s gorgeous.”
“Don’t let Xander fuck with her.”
She frowned.
“He’s on his way here,” I said.
“Okay…”
“I brought you a gift. But it’s in my pocket, so you’ll have to dig for it.”
She grinned again. “Such a pervert.” Then she pretend-frowned. “And you promised no gifts.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll like this one.”
She sighed dramatically. “Fine.”
Then she reached around and started digging in one of the back pockets of my jeans like she was being clever.
I gave her a nasty smile. “Front pocket.”
She rolled her eyes and grinned bigger, delving her hands into my front pockets—both of them at once.
“Sorry it’s not wrapped…”
“Whatever. This is more fun.” She dug around, slowly and thoroughly. Unnecessarily, since I was pretty sure she found what was in there right away. But she took her time, feeling up the goods until my dick was rigid.
Hot Mess: A Players Rockstar Romance (Players #1) Page 43