Her breaths are coming out ragged and she’s letting some moans escape as she leans back, giving me access to her body. Still holding her in my lap with one arm, I let my other hand roam all over her. It comes up to cup a breast, before gliding around to her back to run across the bare skin there. I kiss up her throat, as my hand comes back around the front of her to slide up under the bottom of her dress. I push it between her legs, letting my fingers rub against the lacy material of her panties. Her hands squeeze my shoulders in response as I continue to rub her. The sounds she makes while she clenches her thighs against me are almost my undoing, but still, I rein it in. When I feel her panties dampen even more, I move them to the side so that my fingers can glide against the slick velvet of her clit.
“Oh God…” Her words come out in a moan tangled with a gasp. I push two fingers inside her and she starts to ride my hand. It’s getting harder and harder to keep my control, and it doesn’t take long for her to lose hers as I pump my fingers into her. “Jack,” she pants, “I’m going to…”
“Let go baby,” I say, encouraging her as I kiss up her chest to her neck, occasionally letting my tongue dart out to taste her sweet skin. I push into her a little harder and that does it. She cries out, clenching around my hand. I almost can’t stand it as she writhes in my lap, riding it out. The site of her blissed out by my doing makes me want to go off. The squeeze of her muscles gradually weakens and her breathing slows as she drops her forehead against mine. I press my lips against hers as I wrap both arms around her, standing and turning to lay her on the bed. I kneel over her and bring my face down close to hers. I take in the look in her grey eyes that seems to have gotten some of its sparkle back as she gazes up at me. “Do you want more?” I ask gently.
“Yes,” She says quietly, nodding her head. “Please, baby. Give me you.” She grabs at my shirt, pulling it up, and I sit up to yank it all the way off before coming back down to hover over her again.
“You always have me, sweetheart.” I say against her lips, as her hands glide all over my stomach and up to my chest. I take a moment to enjoy the feel of her touch, letting my body react. “Always,” I repeat, before kissing her, giving her my weight as I lay down completely on top of her. Her arms come around me, and her hands move all over my back, alternating between massaging and caressing as we get lost in our kiss. Her touch always makes me lose my mind. My tongue strokes hers, and after a while, our bodies start to move against each other like they just don’t have any control. I reach behind her with one hand to unsnap her bra, and lean back just enough for her to pull the straps off her shoulders and away from her chest. I lay back down on her, feeling the bare skin of her breasts pressed against my chest, giving me the feeling of coming home. I kiss her for another minute before standing up to finish the job she started earlier, of undoing my pants. I watch her raise her hips to push her dress down her legs as I step out of my jeans. I lean forward to pull the dress the rest of the way off. Once I’ve shucked my boxer briefs, I lay back down on top of her, immersing us both in the ecstasy that comes with our skin caressing together. I work her panties down each hip, pulling them down and throwing them off to the side. She’s kissing my neck and touching me everywhere she can and it’s making it so much harder to hold back. I close my eyes and try to get a grip as she reaches down and strokes me. I’m worried I’ll go off the second I’m inside her. Once I feel like I’ve got my control back, I press my mouth against hers, and push inside her in one long, slow thrust. She’s wrapped around me, tight and warm, and I still as she whimpers into my mouth. After a moment, I start to move, thrusting my hips into hers.
“How’s that feel?” I ask her between kisses.
“So amazing,” she gasps, arching her back and thrusting herself down onto me. I’m so mesmerized by her right now. After everything that went down tonight, she’s still Mayzie. Nothing took that away. She’s still my girl and she is one hundred percent in this moment with me; and while I’m aroused beyond my wildest dreams, a wave of gratitude for this woman knocks me down and crashes over me. The power of my thrusting picks up and I kiss her with more of a hunger, our lovemaking becoming intense. We move faster and harder against each other, and I feel her getting tighter. She’s close to losing control, and her muscles squeeze me, like they’re urging me to join her. I swear, our hotel room disappears, and there’s nothing but shooting stars and galaxies exploding around us.
“Jack, baby, I’m going to come.” Her words come out brokenly between gasps, as she grips my back tightly.
“I’m right behind you, baby. Go ahead and let go,” I say, bucking into her harder. She tosses her head back and cries out as her orgasm takes over. She’s throbbing around me, and I groan out loud as I get closer, my climax chasing hers.
“I love you Jack,” she says on a strained exhale, like she’s desperate for me to hear that.
“I love you. Oh my God, I love you.” I say back to her, as I thrust into her hard, over and over, grunting and moaning into her neck. I love everything about her. How brave she is, how strong; how she wouldn’t let that piece of shit ruin the band or break her spirit. I explode inside her, unable to contain the roaring and cursing coming out of me. Everything I have shoots into her. I collapse on top of her, breathing so hard I’m afraid I might hyperventilate. My heart is about to explode out of my chest. After a few seconds, she gently presses her hands to my chest, rolling us so that she’s lying on top of me. She plants kisses on my cheek and down my neck. Her hands caress up and down my chest, and I realize our roles have reversed. Now she’s the one trying to calm me down. There’s a sheen of sweat covering both of our bodies, and once I’m sure I’m not going to have a heart attack, I pull her up my body to thread both my hands in her hair and kiss the hell out of her. When I release her, we stay close, our foreheads touching and looking in each other’s eyes for a moment before we both break out in a smile, like neither of us can fathom what just happened. After giving her one more kiss, I wrap both my arms around her and she settles her head against me with her cheek on my chest. I’m reminded again of the first time we ever made love, which ended with us in this very position.
27
Jack
As nice as it would’ve been to fall asleep with the weight of Maze on my chest, that doesn’t happen. Only a few minutes pass before we fall back into it again… and again. Hours go by before we break away, but still stay close enough to hang on to our connection, facing each other with our foreheads touching and hands joined between us. She seems to finally drift off easily, and after a while, so do I, although I wake up way too soon in the darkened hotel room. I lay still, waiting for sleep to come back to me, but it doesn’t happen. I look over at Mayzie, thankful that she’s not only sleeping, but sleeping hardcore. Her face is completely relaxed, her body unmoving. The sight of her beautiful body lying next to me in the darkness, finally getting the rest the asshole has been depriving her of, makes a feeling of immense relief settle over me, and I suddenly don’t care that I’m not sleeping.
It’s mere moments of lying there quietly before words start floating around and connecting to each other in my head. I stay relaxed, and let them come before I start to hear a melody in the background, the lyrics rapidly flooding in, overtaking my mind, and I can’t keep up with it all. I have to write it down, and since sleep is nowhere in sight, the comfort of my guitar sounds good right now.
I climb out of bed and head over to my bag, finding a pair of pajama pants and pulling them on commando, before loosely tying the drawstring and swiftly walking out to the sitting area. I grab my guitar case from beside the couch and lay it down on the cushions to unsnap the clasps. From the inside pocket, I snatch my notebook and pen, sit down, and scribble down the lyrics that are swirling in my head. Once I feel I have them all scratched down on paper, almost filling a page, I head over to the kitchenette to fix myself a cup of coffee and grab my phone off its charger. While the coffee is dripping into my mug, I check my messages. I only have a cou
ple from the other guys and one from Ron, which I open first, knowing it’s about a matter that needs to be addressed.
Ron: Total media circus. Rachel is at the ready with statements. Say the word.
I know he’s referring to the spectacle that was probably Eli being led out of the hotel in cuffs last night. I tap out a quick response.
Jack: Tell her to go ahead and release the band’s statement. Hold off on mine until we talk to family.
Ron: Done.
Satisfied with that for now, I walk back over to the living area with my coffee and sit down, eager to see if I can do anything with the words and chords that are ambushing my brain. After pulling my guitar across my lap and tuning it up, I get to work, strumming out some notes and experimenting with the words.
You did your best to do your worst,
Tried to dominate
Tried to shake
Our foundation
But you can’t take
My salvation…
MAYZIE
My mind becomes alert before my eyes even open, already recognizing the softness of the bed’s sheets surrounding my naked body. I slowly blink my eyes open to a mostly dark room and give myself a moment to regain my bearings. On my stomach, I shift my head to face the direction of the alarm clock on the bedside table and see that it‘s not even seven in the morning. Being that it’s early December explains why it’s still so dark.
I slept amazing, not waking up once or having a single dream. Despite everything that happened yesterday, I feel completely recharged, reset, and light. I continue to familiarize myself with my surroundings. The sheet is wrapped around me, but the rest of the bed is completely destroyed: pillows scattered everywhere and the bedspread hanging off of one corner. I can still feel the satisfying ache of Jack between my legs, and though he’s not in bed with me, I can hear the strumming of his guitar coming from the other room, accompanied by the croon of his low, velvety voice. Sometimes he plays around with his guitar just because he’s in the mood, but I can tell by the frequent pauses and chord changes that he’s writing.
I sit up and scooch the side of the bed, wrapping the sheet around me. I walk to the bedroom door and stand in the doorway where I have a good view of the living area. I see my gorgeous husband, sitting on the wide ottoman and facing the window with his black acoustic draped across his lap. I stand there a moment, taking him in. He’s staring out the window into space, his eyes half lidded, looking as if he’s giving serious thought to the words coming out of him. He’s singing quietly, I assume because he thinks I’m still sleeping, but his voice in no way lacks the passion of his words.
Since the first time he ever sang something to me, Jack has never been shy about writing and creating in front of me, so I don’t feel like I’m invading. I just bask in my own private show, enjoying every note and every movement. Watching Jack write is like being given a vivid glimpse into the inside of his mind and it’s… surreal and beautiful to see the wheels turning as he puts together a masterpiece.
I notice the look of satisfaction on his face when he finds the rhythm he wants and starts to play a continuous tune. It’s not quite as edgy as most of the band’s songs, but it has energy for sure, and the emotion lying beneath it definitely hits me. Jack’s feelings can clearly be heard in his voice. It’s what makes him such an amazing performer. I pad slowly across the room, coming up behind him, as the most beautiful chorus falls from his lips.
But she’s still her…
Still her,
Still fine,
Still whole,
Still mine
You gave it your best try,
But you can’t steal the sun from my sky,
Ohh, whoa…
I close in and curl up behind him on the ottoman, pressing my body against his and resting my cheek against his back. His strumming doesn’t even falter as he keeps playing and singing. He leans back into me slightly, acknowledging and welcoming my presence. I can feel the vibrations of this voice through his back, and I close my eyes and let them lull me. After a few more seconds, his words fade out, followed by his playing. I feel the reverberations of the strings for several seconds after he stops, and I turn my head to press a kiss to the smooth skin between his shoulder blades. He turns his head in my direction as much as he can, greeting me with one of the most peaceful expressions he’s worn in months. I open my sheet and press my skin against his warm back, leading him to slowly close his eyes. He pulls away, only to set his guitar down in the nearby arm chair and shifts his body, reaching for me. He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me around into this lap, facing him. We don’t say a word as I smile up into his sleepy bedroom eyes. Gripping my hips, he pulls me forward to kiss me, his lips melding against mine. It’s sweet and sensual at the same time, and I feel my breath leave my body. It gets deeper and heavier, and just as Jack starts tugging at the drawstring on his pants, we’re startled by a sharp, hard knock at the door. It jolts us from our reverie. I gasp and yelp at the same time Jack’s arms tighten around me, both of our heads turned in the direction of the door.
“Who is it?!” Jack yells, in a tone much like the one I heard last night.
“It’s Morris,” the rude detective answers gruffly through the door.
“The fuck does he want…” Jack mutters aloud as I shift off his lap and stand. Jack adjusts himself outside of his pants and starts walking in the direction of the door as I head to the bedroom to throw on whatever clothes I can find. “Whatever happened to calling before coming by?” I hear Jack growl in the other room. The detective definitely brings out his ornery side. I grab a pair of lounge shorts from my bag, and Jack’s shirt from last night off the floor. I pull them on and head back out to the main area to find Jack looking irritated as all hell, and Morris standing in the kitchenette holding a camera. Uh…
“What are you doing here?” I ask. I thought we’d seen the last of him. The sting is done and he got my statement already.
“I came by to get a couple pictures of your bruises for the evidence file. They always look different the next day.” He starts fiddling around with the camera’s settings as I move past him to the Keurig. I need coffee to deal with this. “I also wanted to remind you guys that if you have a statement for the press, you should release it here pretty soon,” he says, nonchalantly, not looking up from his camera. “The media is going insane over this and we can only sit on it for so long. The chief is set to give a press conference in two hours. He can leave your names out, but it won’t take long for the masses to put two and two together.”
“We got it, Morris,” Jack says, sounding annoyed. “We just got up and we have loved ones that deserve to be filled in first.” As Jack walks in the direction of the bedroom, his comment makes me realize that I really need to call Annie. She’s going to shit kittens if she finds out what’s been going on through the media instead of me.
When Jack is out of sight, Morris pulls a large Ziploc bag out of the camera case and steps forward to hand it to me.
“I’m going need the dress you had on last night,” he murmurs quietly, and I realize it’s in the interest of not getting Jack amped up. He already saw my dress hanging open when he got to me last night but he definitely doesn’t need to be reminded that Eli had his hands on me. I nod, and put the bag aside. My plans were to ceremoniously burn the damn thing, but this works too, so long as it’s out of my sight.
As I hold my hair back, and turn my head every which way so that Morris can get the shots he needs of my jawline. I can’t help but notice the relaxed lines of his usually hardened expression. He even looks like he’s got a ghost of a smile that he’s trying like all hell to hold back.
“You know, you can let the tough, professional act slide a little,” I say, amused as I let my hair drop and he turns the camera off. He glances up briefly and then back down as he zips it back into its case, shaking his head like he has no idea what I’m talking about. “You’re happy, aren’t you?” I snicker as I pick up my coffee mu
g with both hands and bring it to my mouth for a sip. He sets the camera case on the counter and puts a hand on his hip, determined not to give himself away. “Go on, say it,” I challenge him as Jack returns from the bedroom, pulling a black t-shirt down around himself. He walks over to where I’m leaning against the counter and pulls me into his chest with both arms. The two of us pin the detective with a knowing glare until he cracks.
“Fine,” he concedes, letting a smirk pull up one side of his mouth. “I’m happy. We caught the scumbag and I’m ecstatic. Happy now?”
“Yes.” I take another sip of my coffee as Jack chuckles, still holding me. “So is he still locked up?” I ask, my mood going only slightly leery.
“No,” he answers, slipping back into business mode. My jaw drops and Jack and I look at each other and then back to him before he continues. “One of his big-shot elite lawyers came to the rescue and posted bail before the sun was up.” My shoulders slump. “Don’t worry,” he rushes to reassure us. “I filed a restraining order, as well as a no contact order for both you Mayzie, and the band. Which reminds me,” he reaches inside his jacket and pulls out some folded white papers. “I’ll need you to sign them and I’ll take them back to the courthouse when I leave, though it’s just a precaution. His lawyers are definitely advising him to stay away from you.” He places them on the counter and pulls out a pen to lie down beside them. He stands by quietly as Jack and I lean over to scan the documents. After I’ve signed my name, I hand the pen to Jack and grab the Ziploc bag and dash into the bedroom. I find the black dress rumpled on the floor and quickly fold it, not worried about neatness, and stuff it in the bag. I walk back into the main room as I seal the bag and thrust it out to Morris. Jack looks up and I see him registering what I’ve just handed the detective. I move swiftly over to him and put my arms around his waist, as an immediate effort to both comfort and distract him. His arms go around my shoulders and he lets out a deep breath, much to my relief.
Still Her (Turn it Up Book 2) Page 24