by Frank, Ella
“Yeah.” Killian lowered his voice. “Not sleeping. Not fucking. Writing lyrics titled ‘Hard.’” Killian glanced over his shoulder to where Halo was sitting on a couch with the lyrics and a pen in his hand. “I’m not blind, V.”
“You don’t say.” I shut my guitar case and picked it up.
“Look, the song’s killer. But don’t think for a minute I don’t know who it’s about.” Killian ran a hand through his hair. “Tread carefully there. Give him a chance to get it right. He’s good, but this is…a lot of song.”
“Got it,” I said. “Can I go now, sir?”
“Fuck you.”
“If only you were my type.”
I stepped around Killian and headed out of the rehearsal room, saying my goodbyes to everyone as I went for the front door. As I made my way to the elevator and pushed the button, I heard someone call out my name, and was more than a little shocked to see that Halo had stepped out into the hallway with his jacket and backpack in place.
“Yeah? What is it, Angel?”
As he walked down the hall, I noticed he still clutched the lyrics in his fist like he was afraid he might lose them. “Are you angry with me?”
Angry? Why would I—
“Because I’m not getting this?” he said, holding up the paper.
“You’re getting it. It’s just taking a moment.”
Halo looked down to the words and shook his head, and when all that blond hair shifted around his face, the scent of his shampoo filled my head and lungs. Fucking delicious.
“I’m not. I can’t put my finger on why this is so hard for me.”
When Halo raised his eyes to mine, a smirk crossed my lips. “Pun intended?”
“Wh— Oh,” Halo said. “I guess. But something’s not working, and I know you’re disappointed. Do you think…” Halo chewed his lower lip. “Look, I don’t want to be the reason this doesn’t work out. Do you think you could maybe help me? Show me what you want?”
I eyed him for a beat, wondering if he even realized what he’d just said, and when the elevator door opened, I said, “I can show you exactly what I want, Angel. Let’s go.”
Twenty-Three
Halo
AS SOON AS the doors of the private elevator that led into Viper’s condo opened, I realized my mistake.
When I’d asked for Viper’s help in working out where I was going wrong with the song, it didn’t occur to me that we’d end up at his place…alone. But as my eyes caught the floor-to-ceiling view of Central Park covered in a golden haze from the setting sun, I froze. With that view straight ahead, the lyrics in my hand, and Viper’s close proximity, I was so screwed.
“I know the elevator has killer acoustics, but if you want my help, you should come inside,” Viper said over his shoulder.
As the doors began to close, I stopped them with my arm and then stepped inside Viper’s place.
Oh, this was bad. This was very, very bad. Viper strolled ahead of me, shrugging out of his jacket and throwing it over the back of his couch, and then he turned to face me as he pushed up the sleeves of his shirt.
He doesn’t know about what you did last night. Just work on the song and get out. No big deal.
Viper crooked his finger for me to come closer, and I pushed aside my hesitation and walked forward into the living room—though as I looked around, I saw that, like Killian, he had an open floor plan, with a bar separating his living and dining areas. The walls on the side were glass, and the thought popped into my head that maybe his bedroom was too.
What the hell? I don’t care about his bedroom. I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to think about it. Now I was lying to myself.
“Would you like a tour?” Viper asked, once again like he could read my damn mind.
I held up the lyric sheet. “I think we should work on this.”
“Gotcha.” He crossed to an electric-blue armchair and lounged back onto it. “Go on, then.”
And now I had to sing these fucking words. Great idea, Halo. Really. Brilliant.
I cleared my throat and looked down at the lines Viper had written. It’d been hard enough getting through the song in front of the other guys, but now? With only Viper as my audience? Something about it felt too intimate, or maybe it was the fact that every time I looked at him, I could still feel the epic orgasm that had come from watching him.
“Make yourself comfortable,” Viper said. “Sit if you want to.”
Comfortable? Fat chance of that happening. I didn’t need to get comfortable at Viper’s place—I needed to fix my part of this song and get the hell out, so I stayed standing.
Viper shrugged. “Or not.”
Cutting the small talk short, I began to sing, but I’d only gotten as far as the second line before Viper interrupted.
“You’re starting it wrong. Yeah, you need that frustration later, but you’ve gotta build to that. Really think about the words here. You’re turned on as fuck, and you’re not about to apologize for it.”
I swallowed and dropped my gaze back down. I heard what he was saying, but it was impossible not to think about Viper writing these lines. Blocking it out completely was the only way I could get through the song, but it wasn’t giving Viper what he wanted. When I tried again, I closed my eyes, but he didn’t let me get through the first verse before stopping me.
“Halo, I’ve seen you onstage practically fucking the mic stand, so what’s the problem here?”
“I…don’t know.” Another lie, but what was I supposed to tell him? The truth?
“That’s bullshit. You know how to bring it, but you’re holding back. Why?”
I ran a hand over my face and sighed. “It’s just not coming.”
Viper sucked his lower lip into his mouth as he studied me, and then he pushed up off the chair. “Okay, we need to try something different. Tell me about your last fuck.”
I coughed in surprise. “What?”
“Let me clarify: the last hot fuck.”
“And that’s important why?”
“Because that’s what this song is about. A hot fuck. Or at least the promise of one.”
Fucking was the last thing we needed to talk about, especially since the last hot one on my mind involved my fist and the man in front of me.
Viper let out a low whistle. “Damn. No hot fucks recently. That’s a shame.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to, Angel.” He began to walk a slow circle around me. “Okay, what about this. I want you to close your eyes. Go on, do it.”
I hesitated for a moment before doing as he asked.
“Good,” he said. “Now think about what turns you on. If you were at home right now, what would get you off? Porn? Maybe a picture you keep in your bedside drawer? Or someone forbidden…someone you shouldn’t want, but you can’t help yourself.”
Closing my eyes from having to look at Viper should’ve been enough to block him out, but with the way I could feel his breath on the back of my neck, and with the image he’d asked me to conjure in my mind, it was impossible to think of anything but him. Think of someone forbidden? There was nothing more off-limits in my world than getting myself off to Viper, for several reasons.
“Whatever you’re thinking right now, go with it,” Viper said. “Now try again.”
Something in my expression must’ve given me away, but it was a good thing Viper couldn’t see anything beyond that. Keeping my eyes closed, I thought back to last night when I’d lain in bed, stiff cock in my hand, and even now, I could feel the deep ache, the hunger I’d felt about someone I’d never expected.
The lyrics left my tongue, punctuated by soft moans that told the listener exactly how far gone my desire for the forbidden one went.
When I finished the verse, without interruption this time, I opened my eyes to see Viper staring at me with that same lust-addled expression I’d seen at the bar last night, but it flickered out, and he gave me a nod.
“Better. Much better. K
eep going.”
I hadn’t memorized the chorus yet, so I looked down and kept on the same way, since Viper hadn’t seemed to find fault with it, but three lines in and he waved his hands to get my attention.
“No. No, no. That’s all wrong again. You did the verse right, but that hard edge you had earlier was what we need here. Like I said, you need to build it throughout the song.”
I tried again, but even I could feel the way I shied away from owning the words. For fuck’s sake, the chorus included the words “blue balls.”
“Again. Harder this time.”
But no matter how many variations I gave, Viper shot them all down, until finally he growled in frustration.
“No, it’s just not right—”
“What the fuck do you want from me, then?” He wasn’t the only one getting annoyed as shit.
Viper spun to face me and pointed. “That. That right there. Get pissed.”
“Not hard to do around you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “No?” He reached for the back of his shirt and pulled it up over his head, and as he dropped it to the floor, I took a step back.
“What are you doing?”
With a shrug, Viper stepped toward me. “It’s hot in here.”
“No, it’s not. Put your shirt back on.”
“No.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen Viper half-naked—he ripped off his shirt during almost every show—but it was only the two of us here, and I didn’t need any more images of Viper to add to the erotic slideshow in my head.
“Viper. Put it back on.”
With a walk so cocky it could only be described as a strut, he said, “Why? Is it bothering you? Annoying you? Do you feel frustrated that I’m not doing what you want me to?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Because with this song, you’ve gotta make every single person in the stadium want to fuck you.” He moved in even closer, his body only inches from mine and radiating heat I could feel through my shirt. “Can you do that?”
Twenty-Four
Viper
AS MY WORDS lingered between the inches separating us, I was close enough to see Halo’s eyes darken a fraction, and his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed in a gulp of air. I wasn’t sure if it was my nearness, my nakedness, or the entire situation that had him all deer in headlights right then, but when he didn’t immediately answer, I said, “Angel?”
“What?” The guilty response and the look that crossed his face made my cock punch against the zipper of my jeans.
“Can you do that?”
Halo nodded.
“Good.” I turned away from him and made my way to the wall of windows that overlooked Central Park, then leaned my ass up against it and crossed my arms over my chest. “Show me.”
Halo ran a hand back through his tangle of hair and took in a deep breath, and when he brought his eyes back to mine, there was a look of determination in them before he let them fall shut and he began to sing from the top.
With a safe distance now separating us, I took a moment to really look at the man who was moaning and groaning his way through the song I’d penned about him.
There was something incredibly hot about hearing that smooth, husky voice of Halo’s lamenting over the idea of fucking someone out of his system, and that was exactly what I needed him to bring to this song.
The need. The want. The ache that went with wanting someone you couldn’t have. And if Halo opened his eyes right then, I knew he’d see all those things on my face.
Christ, he was sexy, and as he finally let go of whatever had been holding him back, Halo’s body began to move along with the words falling from his lips. Yesss, he had it now, judging by the way my cock was reacting. I was hard as hell inside my jeans and couldn’t have hidden it even if I wanted to.
Shoving away from the window, I made my way closer to him as the tone of his voice shifted, as it moved from a throb-worthy tease to my dick, to a throaty kind of purr that tugged nice and hard, and let me know he was working up to something that was going to make my eyes roll to the back of my head.
Fuck me. Whatever Halo was thinking about right now, whatever was running through the angel’s head…I needed him thinking about that whenever he sang this song.
“Take your jacket off.”
Halo’s eyes opened and focused on me, and holy shit, he almost brought me to my knees.
Those light eyes were all but swallowed up by his blown pupils. The arousal from whatever he’d been thinking was stamped all over that flawless face of his, and as he shrugged out of his jacket, he continued to sing.
Halo tossed his jacket onto the couch, but kept his eyes locked on mine as I drew even closer, and I nodded slowly to let him know I was pleased by what he was doing, when really all he had to do was lower his gaze and he’d know I was super fucking happy with this new direction.
“Keep going,” I said, and moved behind him, not wanting to break his concentration as he came to the chorus. I stepped in close, until I could feel the heat from his body against mine, as he dove headfirst into the chorus, this time with a raspy growl that was like strong fingers clawing at my back.
’Cause you make it so hard
To think of anything but you
You make it so hard my balls are fucking blue
I want to get inside you, and show you exactly what you do
Whenever your eyes invite me to fuck you like I want to
“Fuck.” The word left my lips before I could bite it back, and Halo’s head whipped to the side, a slightly wild look in his eyes, as though he’d been completely caught up in the song and the lyrics and whatever had gotten him so—Halo’s eyes dropped to my lips—wound up.
Hmm. Now what have we got here…
Narrowing my eyes, I slowly stepped closer. Close enough that I could feel Halo’s shirt brush up against my naked abdomen, and when our faces were but a breath away from one another, I said, “Second verse, Angel. You got it?”
Halo scraped his teeth over his lower lip, his breathing coming a little faster. “The words, I, uh…”
Jesus. The arousal swirling in his eyes was too much to resist, and with it all aimed in my direction, there was no way I wasn’t going to take a goddamn taste. “How about I give you the lines, and you sing them back to me?”
Again, Halo’s eyes fell to my mouth, and fuck it, I licked my lower lip to see what this supposedly straight guy was gonna do. When a low moan left his throat, that was enough for me. I threw any decorum I possessed out the window and planted a hand on Halo’s hip.
When he didn’t tell me to back up or move away, I leaned in close until our lips just about touched. “Feel my hands all over you as I slide inside your soul. Let me hear you scream for me when I’m deep inside that hole. I’m gonna put my mark on you, so you smell me when I’m gone. I’m gonna make your body ache as dusk turns into dawn.”
As I plastered myself against Halo’s back, a shudder ran through his body. I tightened my fingers at his waist, and before he could do another damn thing, I wrapped my other arm around him to take hold of his chin. “Careful, Angel. Your eyes are telling me all kinds of crazy shit right now.”
Halo’s breathing came heavy as I dragged my thumb along his lower lip, and I knew he had to be able to feel my stiff prick up against his back. “If you’re gonna say no…”
Halo’s jaw bunched, but there was no back off look in his eyes like there had been every other time we’d gotten close, and when I leaned in and flicked my tongue over the corner of his mouth, a ball-tingling groan left the back of his throat.
Not needing any more permission than that, I crushed my mouth down over the top of Halo’s, swallowing that sound when he made it again.
Christ. That sound was going to be imprinted in my mind for the rest of my damn life. It was frustrated, sexy, and needy, and when I tightened my fingers on his jaw, Halo turned his entire body into mine, and fuck, that was it.
I shoved my fingers into hi
s hair and twisted, getting a good, tight hold, and when he parted his lips, I didn’t wait around for an invitation. My tongue was in his mouth, tasting that sweet angel in a heartbeat, and when Halo grunted and grabbed for my waist, I slammed against him and walked him back to the wall of windows. When I had him where I wanted him, I shoved a leg between his thighs and bit at his lower lip.
“Shit.” Halo panted as I slid my tongue along his upper lip. “This is…”
“Exactly what you fucking want,” I said, and ground my erection against the very hard cock in Halo’s jeans. “Have to say, Angel. This would’ve been much easier if you’d just told me from the beginning you wanted to fuck me.”
“I—”
Halo’s words came to an abrupt halt when I licked a path up his cheek to his temple, and when I put my mouth against his ear, I finished off the song that had gotten us both in trouble in the first place. “You make me so hard, I want nothing but you. And tonight I’m gonna corrupt you, the way I want to…”
“Fuck, Viper.” Halo’s hips bucked against my thigh as he hooked his fingers through the belt loops of my jeans and tugged me closer.
I brought my mouth back to his, and bit and sucked at his lips until Halo moaned and shoved his tongue in deep. Then he began to rub himself along my body like it had been designed for one thing and one thing only—to get him off.
Fine by me, I thought, as I lowered a hand between us and unbuttoned my jeans, then I moved to his. I wanted to get my fingers around him. I wanted to feel that throbbing cock pulse in my hand as I destroyed every single brain cell Halo had. And once that was done, I wanted to do it all over again.
Flicking the button free, I growled against his mouth. “I wanted to do this to you last night so fucking bad. But you ran away…”
Halo’s frenzied eyes flashed at me, full of lust, full of a need it was clear he was still trying to understand. And I had no problem being the one to introduce him to this.
But when I unzipped his jeans, and glanced down at the hard dick trapped inside the denim, Halo reached for my hand and stilled me.