“Just thinking about the interview.” Doing it wasn’t nearly as stressful as I’d thought it would be, not nearly as emotional as my conversation with the twins. “Thank you for staying beside me.”
“You’re here. Where you are is where I most want to be.” Gale returned my smile and gestured to the view. “And where else could I go to see something this beautiful?”
Limitless blue sky stretched over our heads. Red, white, and gray rock formations were carved out of the earth below us. Linear furrowing inside the gorge from movement. Surface weathering from time. Deep, fathomless, and seamless.
“It’s pretty awe inspiring,” I said.
“I think you’re pretty inspiring too, Jo. You didn’t shy away from any of Sasha’s questions, and you put all your emotions out there. I’m proud of you.” His eyes warmed with sincerity.
“She gave you some tough questions about our relationship.”
“Nothing to shy away from. I want everyone to know we’re together.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. But some will judge you because of what I did.”
“They might, but we’re past that. It’s me and you going forward. The rest of the world will just have to catch up or not. I don’t really care how they react anymore, except how their reactions affect you.”
“I love you.” I leaned toward him, his lips tempting me beyond resisting anymore, even though the film crew was still banging around as they collected their equipment behind us.
“Ahem, excuse me,” Sasha said, her shadow falling over us, and I turned toward her. “Sorry to interrupt, Jo. But we’re getting ready to leave, and I wondered if I could speak with you for a moment privately.”
“Sure.” I shot Gale an apologetic look and stood up. “Where should we go?” I asked her, brushing dirt off the back pockets of my jeans. We’d had chairs for the interview, but Gale and I just sat on the ground afterward.
“How about over there?” She gestured to Gale’s motorcycle, a couple of spaces over from the vans for her show.
“Sure.” I nodded.
“He’s a great guy.” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder as we walked.
I didn’t have to ask who, and I didn’t have to glance back to know his gaze was on me. I could feel him. “He’s the best.”
“In my experience, guys don’t usually stick around when inconvenient details come out that don’t fit their ideals of perfection.”
“Gale Lafleur isn’t most guys.” I cocked my head. “But why—”
“I had a boyfriend like the one that crapped out on you after the car accident.” She shook her head. “I made excuses for him at first. Told myself I was fortunate he stayed with me once he knew my background. I took on too much of the blame for the problems we had as a couple related to it. But I’m trying not to do that anymore. I’m trying to move forward, like you and Gale seem to be doing. Only I’m doing my walking alone these days.”
Her jade-green eyes bright, Sasha tucked a strand of her bleached-blond hair behind her ear. She was very pretty, but would look much more striking with the black hair color I could see at her roots. I didn’t know why she dyed her hair, except maybe being a blonde was a California requirement or something.
“You seem to be doing well,” I said carefully. I liked her. She’d been gentle with her questions, when she could have been harsh. But she was media, and I didn’t know her well enough to let down my guard.
“What I’m trying to say,” Sasha said, then blew out a breath. “I admire your strength. I was sexually assaulted when I was young by someone older. Someone I trusted. I had a boyfriend back then too, but he deserted me when I needed him most, like your first one did.”
“I’m so sorry.” I reached out and touched her arm.
Her expression somber, she nodded. “The stuff you shared resonated with me. I want you to know, I’m going to do everything I can do to get your interview edited and aired soon. I think it will mean something to a lot of viewers to hear your story. And I told you about me because I wanted you to know that you’re not alone. It’s helped me to know there are others going through similar struggles. I thought it might help you to know too.”
“It does help.” I nodded, my thoughts turning inward.
Lark’s words returned to me, about how I was no longer alone, and Gale’s too. I’d been on my own a long time, in some dark and lonely places. Nothing and no one around but books and music for company. No one to rescue me. No one to save me but myself.
My fingertips twitched with the urge to turn those thoughts into lyrics. I longed to type them into my notepad app.
“Thank you, Sasha,” I said, refocusing on the sweet woman in front of me. “I think you’re the truly strong one. It’s very brave and kind of you to share. You’ve helped me a lot.”
• • •
“What were you and Sasha talking about?” Gale asked me over the helmet headset connection.
It was hours after the interview, and we were many miles away from the Grand Canyon. In fact, we were almost to Albuquerque, our stopping place for the night.
“She has a history of abuse. She wanted me to know so I wouldn’t feel so alone,” I said, without lifting my head from where it rested against his strong shoulder.
The scenery was beautiful along the highway. Soaring red rock formations, mesas, plateaus, striking canyons too, though none as awe inspiring as the Grand Canyon. But I was too exhausted, emotionally and physically, to appreciate them, and I knew Gale had to be too, after doing all the driving on top of everything else.
“That was brave of her.”
“It was. I like her. She emailed me a copy of the edited interview. I got a ping when we were filling up at the last gas station. I just haven’t had time to look at it.”
“You made another friend.”
“I believe so.”
“Not everyone will react badly to the truth, Jo,” he said low, squeezing my hands to reassure me where they lay against his abs.
I registered warmth from his touch and took comfort from his words. “She didn’t. That’s encouraging, and what she said made me see some things more clearly.”
“What things?” he asked.
“That I’m worthy of love, and that letting people share that love with me doesn’t make me vulnerable or weak. In fact, it makes me worlds stronger.”
“You’re a good friend, and you have good ones because of that. They love you because you’re you.”
“That’s beginning to sink in.”
My feelings of self-worth had gotten skewed during my childhood, then they’d taken a nosedive into oblivion after Joey and all the rest. But then along came Dolly, and the twins, and now Gale.
“I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did today if it weren’t for you.”
He laid his hand over mine where they were linked around his waist. “I would still be running from my past if not for you.”
I didn’t argue with him. I accepted his words and gave him more truth of my own. “Well, I’m not hiding anymore from mine because of you. And because of you, I’m beginning to think about love the right way for a change.”
“And what is the right way?” he asked softly.
“That it’s everything. Worth dying and worth living for.”
Josephine
“I’M STARVED.” INSIDE THE restaurant with colorful construction-paper garlands, I slid into one side of our booth and watched Gale settle in on the other.
“Sorry they didn’t have room service.” Frowning, he picked up the menu the hostess had left on the table.
“I know.” I picked up mine and perused the offerings. “What kind of five-star hotel is this anyway?” I said, giving him a teasing look over the top of my menu.
“Not a very good one, or Albuquerque standards aren’t very discerning,” he grumbled, looking adorably put out as the twinkling lights draped over the indoor cactus behind him reflected like dewdrops in his thick hair.
“It has an eleva
tor and a cantina with Mexican food downstairs. It’s five stars in my book. I like it.”
“You would. It ticks your criteria.”
“What criteria is that?” I arched a brow.
“The I must have Mexican food of any type criteria.” His half grin appeared. “After traveling across several states, and visiting truck stops in each of them with you, I’ve decided burrito is your middle name.”
“Yeah, not a lot of oysters on the half shell to be had where we’ve been.”
His expression turned wry. “I guess I’ve gotten accustomed to certain standards over the years with the band’s success. I like nice hotels and fine dining, and I’m not going to apologize for that. But I don’t require those things.”
“I know you don’t. You eat a hamburger if you have to, and sleep just as well in a tent in the desert as you did in our suite in Vegas.”
“The tent is a very good memory.” His lids lowering, he gave me a smoldering look.
“Before I told you the truth and ruined everything.”
“You didn’t ruin anything.” He gestured back and forth between us. “We’re here together, aren’t we?” Reaching for my hand, he squeezed and then released it. “It’s part of our story.”
I nodded. “Being with you inside a tent is cozy. Someday I want to sleep naked with you, zipped up in a single sleeping bag with me, when it’s cold enough outside for us to have a fire.”
“I can make that happen.”
“Counting on it. You have a way of not only fulfilling my wishes, but exceeding them. But for tonight,” I said with a sigh, “I’m grateful to be off the road for a while, and looking forward to sleeping in that big comfy bed in our room.”
His eyes darkened. “I’m looking forward to testing the limits of that bed with you tonight, before any sleeping.”
“Me too.” A pleasurable shiver swept through me. Glancing down at my menu., I said in a low voice, “So, what looks good to you?”
“You. You look good to me, Jo.”
I looked up and smiled. “You look good to me too.” My mouth tilted upward like it often tended to do since he’d come into my life. “But what piques your interest on the menu?”
“I don’t know.” He scoffed. “I’m from Canada. The items listed seem like they’re written in a foreign language to me.”
“Duh, Spanish, maybe?” Laughing, I glanced over the menu and the descriptions again. “How about I order for a change? The chile relleno sounds good.”
“A pepper stuffed with cheese?” His brows lifted. “Sounds spicy.”
“It’s a poblano pepper. It shouldn’t be too hot.”
“I’ll try it.” He gave me a nod. “I trust you.”
“Thank you.” My smile widened. “That means a lot to me.”
“You can show me how much later, in our room, when you’re naked.”
The waitress appeared before I could comment. Wearing a huge fake flower over one ear and a colorful, intricately embroidered dress, she took our order and disappeared. In her absence, a mariachi trio that had been playing at another table approached ours.
“Would you like us to play a song for the lovely señorita?” a man wearing a black sombrero and carrying a Spanish guitar asked Gale.
“Yes, how about Mi Reina y Mi Tesora?”
“Sí, señor. Gracias.” The man pocketed the bill Gale gave him.
“You don’t know Mexican food.” I shook my head at the handsome man across the table from me. “But you know that song?”
“I know music, and I would like to dance with my favorite songstress.”
Gale slid out of his side of the booth and offered me his hand. I took it readily, allowing him to pull me into him as soon as I stood. Placing my hands on his solid chest, I gazed up at him, telling him with my eyes all that I felt for him.
Surprising me, he began to sing along with the performers, only he translated the lyrics. His low voice mesmerizing, he twirled us into a secluded alcove beside a bubbling fountain.
My hands came up around his neck, and his settled low on my back. His warm breath in my ear kindled a fire that didn’t go out when we returned to our table, and it continued to smolder throughout dinner and later when we were on our way back to our room.
“You’re a good dancer,” I said, watching him insert the keycard into the reader.
“You’re not too bad yourself.” He glanced at me over his shoulder, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Light on your feet, despite the weight of those Doc Martens.”
“Don’t be a hater of the best footwear ever invented.” Rolling my eyes, I followed him inside and inhaled sharply when I noticed all the flickering battery-operated candles and colorful paper flowers scattered throughout the room. “Wow. When did you arrange this?”
“While you were eating flan, and I was supposedly only paying our dinner bill.”
“Amazing and sneaky.” I squinted at him. “But you don’t have to do romantic things like this everywhere we go.” Eliminating the space separating us, I twined my arms around his neck like I had when we’d been dancing.
He drew me closer, gliding his hands down the contours of my spine until he reached my ass. “I know I don’t. But every moment I’m with you feels romantic. Plus, I enjoy doing it, enjoy surprising you, and I love making you smile.”
“Thank you.” My lips curved. “I’m addicted to your sexy smiles too. So, the question is . . .” I dropped my gaze and started working on the buttons on his shirt. “Will it be the bed, or will you give me your cock right here against the wall?”
“Do I have to choose only one?” he asked, his head already lowering.
My stomach fluttered as his mouth came closer. I licked my lips, warmth sliding through me. “Fast fuck here, then slow lovemaking in the bed afterward?”
“The agenda for the evening planned.” His humid breath bathed my lips, a moment before he pressed his decadent mouth to mine.
“Gale,” I whispered against his firm lips, his name both praise and a plea for more as I undid the last button of his shirt.
He urged my mouth to open, and I complied, placing my eager hands on his warm skin. When his tongue penetrated my lips, desire pooled hot and heavy inside my pussy, and he grabbed my ass and squeezed each globe while rubbing his tongue against mine. The kiss turned hot and urgent like our hands did.
I reached for his buckle and unlatched it. He found the button on my jeans, undid it, and lowered the zipper. I was still working to get at his cock when he turned me around and dove his hands into the front of my jeans, right inside my panties.
Moaning, I dropped my head back to his shoulder as he found that perfect spot with his fingers.
“So wet.” His lips followed the line of my jaw, then the side of my neck. “So slippery and needy.”
I mewed as he swiped his fingers back and forth over my swollen clit.
“Watching you touch yourself gave me lots of ideas,” he said into that sensitive curve between my neck and shoulder, making me shiver.
“Oh yeah?” Spinning back around, I grabbed the placket of his jeans and yanked the fly open. “I have some ideas too.”
I plunged my hand inside his boxers, and he groaned as I grabbed his hot cock. Recapturing my lips, he tongued my mouth while I pumped his cock. Too turned on within moments, I broke the kiss, gasping for air.
“You’re so hot like this.” He framed my face, his gaze drifting over me.
“Wild hair, burning gaze, gagging for it?”
“No.” The stark seriousness of his expression made my pussy spasm. “Just you being perfect.”
“Gale, I can’t.” My voice shook. He was so good, so much, it overwhelmed me.
“I know, babe. Each time I get this close to being inside you, I feel the same way.”
“How?” Standing in front of him with my jeans open, I knew my panties were drenched. My pussy ached to be filled with his hot cock, and my clit throbbed.
“Desperate. Like if I can’t have
you, I’ll die.”
“Have me then.” I lifted my chin to press my lips to his. His soft whiskers tickled my kiss-swollen mouth.
His expression determined, he dropped his hands from my face, grabbed me by my shoulders, and turned me. “Hands on the wall.” He didn’t wait for me to process the order. He lifted my hands and put them there, warning me, “Going to be rough.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see him drop his jeans and his cock spring free. It was thick, hard, and as deliciously dangerous as Gale looked as he yanked my jeans down to my knees and covered my body with his.
“Oh, Gale.” A shot of pure lust struck my clit and vibrated inside my pussy as he cupped my tits in his large hands.
“So sexy, babe. He squeezed my tits, pressed a warm, wet open-mouthed kiss into the hollow of my shoulder, and pinched my tight nipples.
“Yes.” I trembled as he rolled and then pinched them again, only harder. The shimmery burn traveled straight down the center of my body, igniting a pulsating fire inside my pussy. “Please put your cock inside me.”
Rather than answer, he licked the side of my neck and squeezed my tits once more. My pussy spasmed as my cropped top fluttered back into place against my breasts. The cotton scored the hardened tips as his hand went low. His fingers found and swiped through my swollen folds. I pulsed, every part of me focused on him as he aligned himself. The broad head of his cock nudging my entrance, I moaned when he drove it inside me.
“So good,” I said low, his length filling me. “You feel so good.” I pushed my ass back, taking him deeper.
“Wicked girl.”
He grabbed my hips, lowered his head, and nipped my shoulder with his teeth. Wet heat rushed southward to drench him. My pulse pounded around his cock as he began to move. His grip hard at my hips, he pumped out and in. Short and shallow strokes, then long and deep ones.
My pussy tightened around his cock. Wanting to hold him inside. Wanting him to go faster. Wanting him to take me there.
And he did. He fucked me faster. Our flesh slapped together, and my hands slid against the wall from the force of his possession.
ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars Book 6) Page 16