ROCK F*CK CLUB (Girls Ranking the Rock Stars Book 5)

by Michelle Mankin

  I lowered my head, angling my head one way, and she tilted hers the other. Going up on her tiptoes to reach me, she moved her hands to frame my face while Gale watched us. Then she kissed me.

  It wasn’t a chaste kiss. There was demand by her, yielding by me, and a little bit of tongue. She was sweet tea. I was unsweet with a lot of lemon. Her lips were plusher than mine, but they fit, like a puzzle piece that was almost right, but not quite.

  “I love you,” I told her when she lifted her head.

  Holding my face, she stared deeply into my eyes, a forest of green adored by a sea of blue. “I love you more.” She ran the pad of her thumb across the lips she’d dampened by hers.

  “Gale,” she said, and he stepped forward to take her hand. “Your turn.”

  Keeping her hand, he dove his other one beneath the long French braid Carla had made with my hair. His hardened body to my soft curves, he cradled my head and kissed me. His lips were firm, his mouth urgent. He was a complete and perfect fit.

  I slid my arms around his lean waist. Warmth shimmered over me like the deepest magic, like linking together the exact right words. He deepened the kiss, his tongue penetrating my lips and swirling my desire.

  We were a tangled three. He and I were joined, our mouths, my arms around his waist and one of his hands at my nape. He held my best friend with the other. I felt it when he tugged on her hand, bringing her closer.

  She moved behind me as Gale kissed me. Both his hands went into my hair. His thumbs swept back and forth over my skin in the same urgent, undeniable rhythm of his tongue. Lost in the heated magic of him, I shivered when Dolly’s delicate hands found and caressed the sides of my breasts.

  I moaned when she squeezed my tits. Gale swallowed my pleasure and perfected it, sliding his slippery wet tongue across mine as she pinched my nipples. Even through the lace covering my tits, her pinch burned. A heated dart struck and vibrated my clit.

  “Gale.” I broke the kiss. “I need you.” My eyes were full of him, and his metallic gaze reflected all of me.

  “Josephine is yours, Gale,” Dolly said softly with only the faintest hint of regret. “She was never mine to keep. But as my best friend, she will always be mine to love.” Withdrawing, she allowed her fingers to skim my sides.

  I knew she was gone, and I felt the absence of her. But I couldn’t look away from the man who held me. I didn’t want to look away or let him go. He felt the same way, holding on to me every bit as tightly as I held him.

  Entwined, entangled . . . as two, we were one.

  “I love you, Jo,” Gale said solemnly, his gray eyes warm as if he’d absorbed all our love and was offering it back to me. “I love that you have shared all your life with me.”

  I felt ownership in the firmness of his fingertips as he glided them along the length of my spine. Skimming them over the lace of my bralette, he dipped them under the long braid of my hair.

  “I love you, Gale. Love that you accept all of me.”

  My hands diving low, I grabbed his ass. The globes were tight, and he flexed tighter as he lowered his head and kissed me again. This kiss was more than just a perfect fit. It was us. His lips, his strength, his courage melded to mine.

  My tongue yielded to each deep, wet, masterful stroke, and so did I. I was claimed. He was claimed. We belonged to each other without restrictions or restraints.

  “Gale.” I gasped for breath, squeezing his ass harder.

  He was what I needed. His cock was right there, hard and turgid against me. I was wet and aching, my clit swollen and throbbing.

  “Jo, you’re so sexy. I’m not going to be able to hold out much longer.” He turned his head slightly, the whiskers of his beard as soft as a feather against my skin.

  I heard noise, the sound of footsteps, and a door clicked. The film crew and my bestie leaving, apparently. But I saw nothing, felt nothing, except all of him.

  “Let me undo this first.” He turned me around gently by my shoulders. “Now that we’re finally alone, just the two of us.”

  “What are you undoing?” I asked as cool air gusted over my fevered skin, but I knew. The braid had been my idea.

  “Unraveling you like I told you I would at the beginning. Making you completely mine.” From behind me, he slid the elastic from the end of my braid.

  My tits tightened and my pussy throbbed. The urgent need thrumming through my body contrasted with the gentleness of his fingers. He gently loosened the woven braid, strand by strand, with consideration and care like he’d unraveled my secrets, until all of my hair hung loose around my shoulders. All that I was lay bare for only him to see.

  “Free. Just like we are,” he said, walking me backward toward the bed.

  His eyes dark, he grasped the bottom edge of my bralette. Removing it, he smoothed my hair around my shoulders and then hooked his thumbs into my lacy boy shorts to slide them down my legs. I stepped out, and he tossed them aside.

  Rising, he skimmed his hands along the outside of my calves, then my thighs. I ached and throbbed, wanting him, his to command. But he didn’t merely command, not Gale. He coaxed and seduced with soft appreciative sighs and his talented swirling thumbs.

  The ache between my legs grew insistent. My desire dripped between my thighs. He lowered his head, his cool satiny hair slipping across my skin before he licked a straight wet line from one tight aching nipple to the other.

  “Gale.” Shuddering, I grabbed fistfuls of his hair and brought his mouth up to mine. I kissed him, wet and urgently, and he kissed me back, wetter and harder.

  The back of my legs suddenly hit the bed. His hands on my shoulders, he pushed me back onto the mattress. Tugging and kicking off his boxers, he came to me, gripped my thighs, and separated them. He climbed over me, and I reached for him. Grabbing his cock, I stroked the velvet rod in my hand.

  He devoured my mouth, his kiss deep and wet, while I stroked him. Breaking the seal between our mouths, he reached down between our bodies and aligned himself. The blunt end of his cock prodded my entrance.

  Eager, I lifted my hips, and he thrust his cock inside me, every glorious inch. Giving me all, he knew I wanted all of him. He built it fast. Thrust by hard thrust. Stroke by wet stroke. The heat between us was the fire.

  I dug my fingernails into his ass, leaving crescents in his skin. His hands were fists at my sides, but he didn’t relent. He pumped into me over and over again.

  I took his desire and returned it. Giving and receiving, we stoked the fire into roaring flames.

  “Gale,” I cried. I was almost there. At the edge of all I knew.

  He hammered deep, stiffened, and groaned. Then we were both there, and together, we flew.

  Through the flames. Forged in the fire. Burning down the sky.

  Reborn into a new world that was solely ours.

  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Gale asked me, his front-man croon transcending the limitations of the speaker mode on my cell.

  “Getting ready to fall flat on my ass,” I replied while staring at my wide-eyed reflection in the dressing room mirror.

  My stomach clenched at the sudden roar of the crowd outside. The Monsters had finished their set, and we were next. As soon as the roadies changed over the equipment, the tour manager would come escort us to the stage.

  I curled my fingers into fists to try to stop the trembling of my arms.

  “Getting ready to soar, you mean.” There was chastisement in Gale’s tone. “Like we did inside the hotel room together, not so very long ago. We burned down the sky. Remember that, babe?”

  “How could I forget?” Heat rising to warm the coolness from my skin, I loosened my fingers.

  “You’re so beautiful when you come. Your lips part. Your eyelids flutter, and your cheeks flush.”

  “Yo, you two.”

  Dolly’s reflection appeared in the mirror as she stepped up behind me. Her blond hair was loose but for two long braids that hung to her tits. She wore a tight silver slip dress, matching thigh-high ga
rters and hose, and ridiculously high heels. As soon as she walked onto the stage, all the guys were going to go crazy.

  “Enough. I know you’re redirecting your woman, Gale. It worked. But she’s got you on speaker mode, okay? The rest of us don’t need to hear that shit.” She flicked her green gaze to the twins. They were behind us on the couch, looking equal parts sad and nervous.

  “Is your bus almost to the fairgrounds?” I asked him.

  “Pulling into the lot now.”

  “Did you get to check on Jagger and the Enthusiasts before you left Bakersfield?”

  “Yes, we all went. How about your crew?”

  “Yeah, us too.”

  I’d given Jagger and each of the Enthusiasts and Marsha a hug. So had Dolly, Lark, and Linnet. Some of us had given out longer embraces than others.

  I swiveled in my chair, facing the twins. They stood as I did. I could feel it, the energy level in the air rising.

  A loud knock on the door rattled my raw nerves.

  “Gotta go, Gale. It’s time.”

  “I’d better get off the phone and get ready,” he said. “I’m getting shit looks to move along from the crew on my side too.”

  “I’ll watch your set after mine.”

  “Counting on it. Kick ass, babe.”

  Ending the call, I stood and lifted my chin to my band. “We’re going to kick ass.” I curled my fingers, beckoning my family closer. “Huddle up.”

  In a circle of four, we twined our arms together, and I glanced around at each one in turn.

  “We’re doing this tonight for Joey and for Nicholas, but we’re also doing it because we love the music, and we love each other. Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” Dolly nodded. The arrow slash on her cheek pointed to the determination in her eyes.

  “Love you, Jo,” Linnet said softly. Her arrow slash was the same one Dolly and the rest of us had. Carla had drawn it onto all of our cheeks as a tribute to Nicholas.

  “Love you right back,” I said. “You too, Lark.”

  “Let’s do it.” Lark nodded. “Love all the way.” She gave each of us the same affectionate message with her copper eyes bright.

  We broke apart. Grabbing a tambourine, I led the line out the door, glancing at myself in the full-length mirror on the way out. Crisscrossed side seam on my silver-studded black jeans, cropped leather bustier, also in black. My hair was gleaming ebony, loose around my shoulders.

  I looked good, but better than that, I felt right.

  I yanked open the door with a little more force than necessary. The metal clanged against the cinderblock wall. I heard a laugh behind me as I stomped out into the hall.

  “Jazzed up, huh?” Dolly moved alongside me.

  “Absolutely.”

  I nodded, and the silver buckles on my black moto boots jangled as both of us fell into pace behind the tour manager, who waved at us to follow him. Headphones over his ears, iPad in hand, he parted the crowded corridor in front of us by the sheer force of his I can fire your ass authority. Road crew in Gods of Rock Tour T-shirts and other band members scurried to move out of his way.

  Turning a corner with my thoughts elsewhere, I nearly ran into Von Arnold, the guitarist of the Monsters.

  “Stage is yours, Jo.” His black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his white makeup was already wiped off. In boots way bigger than mine, he stomped to the side and gestured to the crowd. “It’s a great audience.”

  I gulped. It was a huge audience. My eyes rounded as I took in the sea of people.

  Near the stage, they sat on blankets. Farther back, they stood. On the sides, they overflowed the stadium-style bleachers. The entire length of the fairgrounds was filled.

  My entire body instantly tensed.

  “Jo.” Dolly moved alongside me. “You got this.” She gestured to herself and the twins. “And we got you.”

  “You’re right,” I said, not just taking the lead. It was time for me to be the leader. “Let me see the sticks.”

  “Here.” She held them out to me.

  I took them, kissed the wood with Joey’s name on it, and pointed the tips to the stars, where all rockers went. For surely, the mere earth couldn’t hold legends like him.

  “Let’s go.” Throwing one fist into the air, tapping my tambourine against my thigh, I walked onto the stage, leading my band out.

  With her ESP, Lark went left. Bass strapped on, Linnet moved to the right. With no instrument but the tambourine and my voice, I strode straight to center stage behind the mic. A quick glance behind confirmed my bestie stepping up the stairs onto the riser to settle behind her drums. As usual, even during a performance, she had my six.

  Shoulders back, spine straight, I turned to face the audience, remembering what Gale had said about connecting.

  “Yo. Hey, there, Napa, California,” I said with my mouth almost touching the microphone. “How y’all feeling tonight?”

  They roared their response.

  I smiled. “You guys rock. We’re Joey’s Band, and we’re here to rock out the love with you. For Joey.”

  I threw my left arm up, and Dolly was with me with a hard one-two-three drum strike. “For Arrow.”

  I threw my right arm up, shaking the tambourine. Dolly gave me another one-two-three drum strike. “For everyone who loves the music. This is for all of us.”

  I dropped my arms, wrapped one hand around the mic, and sang.

  I belted out the words, the phrases, and the rhymes that were my truth. Linnet grooved it on her bass. Lark blazed it in her chords. Dolly pounded out her love with Joey’s sticks.

  Our first song ended, receiving more than respectful applause. I thanked the audience, shook my tambourine, and launched right into the next.

  My eyes brightened as I watched a woman at the barricades swaying her hips to the rhythm. I smiled as a guy in a ball cap on the right lifted his hand in the air, devil horns pointed straight to the night sky. I hit the high note at the end of the bridge on “Love is a Joyless Ride,” and Lark met me at the center for our back-to-back choreographed finish.

  The crowd went nuts.

  We had what it took. We rocked it. We rocked it so hard.

  My band came forward with me for our bows. Dolly beside me, smiling not just with her mouth, but with happiness sparkling in her eyes. The twins on my left were more somber, but they were pleased.

  It was amazing to stand there with them. To connect with all those people with the words and the melodies that came from deep inside me.

  I did have a heart. It beat for the music. It beat for my brother. It beat for my bandmates. It beat for him.

  And I remembered something I’d forgotten. Something my brother had said when I’d asked him once why music was so important to him.

  “It’s the flow of the words, Josey. It’s having faith in yourself, and what you’re doing. It’s being somewhere you belong.”

  I was my best self when onstage. It was where I belonged, my brother’s spirit inside me and my man’s confidence in me flowing.

  Before I left, I spread my arms out wide, embracing the energy that merged my brother’s love of the music, his dream, and my own.

  Gale felt free on his bike. But this right here, center stage and singing, putting a voice and a melody to all the different parts of me, I found kindred spirits and meaning connecting to others.

  I was no longer hollow. I was full. This was me being free.

  My ears were ringing so hard when we exited the stage, I couldn’t even hear what Dolly was saying as we jumped up and down, celebrating together just offstage. Smiling, Linnet shook her head at us.

  Lark gave her guitar to a tech, stomped over to us in her platform boots, and popped out my earpiece, then Dolly’s. “Dorks,” she deadpanned. “Total and complete dorks.”

  “Oops,” Dolly said.

  “Dorks who rock.” I smiled.

  “You did well.” Mary Timmons appeared, impeccable in the navy business suit she’d been wearing earlier. “
You were a little rough on the transition points, but overall very good. I’d like to see all four of you up in Vancouver at Black Cat Records in the studio to record a demo as soon as possible. I believe the Enthusiasts are planning a remembrance ceremony for Nicholas soon, but directly after that.”

  She dipped her chin to me and walked a couple of feet away, joining a tall handsome man in a dark suit who had silver hair and piercing blue eyes.

  Suddenly, I felt the energy of the cosmos shift behind me.

  Turning, I saw Gale—my Gale, sure, but one who was more. A front man who not only took the lead, he epitomized it.

  Wide shoulders, no shirt, chiseled torso, he was pure sexiness served up straight and poured into a low-slung pair of formfitting black jeans with a wallet chain in a long loop over his muscular thigh for garnish. He held his bass by the neck in a tight grip. His veins stood out on the back of his hands like they had when he’d had them fisted and planted onto the mattress on either side of me. Ready to play or ready to fuck, apparently both activities required the same level of intensity.

  Heat rolled through me at the sight of him in rock superstar mode, and I swayed.

  “You okay?” he asked, steadying me with his free hand.

  “Sure.” I downplayed it, lifting my chin while blinking at him dreamily.

  “You were amazing, Jo. Blew me and the audience away. I barely had time to grab my Fender to get back out here.”

  “Thank you. I couldn’t have done it without your training.”

  “You’re probably right.” His eyes sparkled like the universe was adorned in diamonds tonight. The audience suddenly roared with laughter behind us. “Noah’s working the crowd. Stalling them so I could say hi and get something straight with you.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “It occurred to me that I gave you a concession by agreeing to be on the Rock Fuck Club, but you didn’t give me one in return.”

  “A concession?” My pierced brow rose.

  “Yes, Jo.” His mouth curved up on one side. “A concession: a thing that is granted, especially in response to demands; a thing conceded.”

  “What would you like?”