by Grace James
Connor’s hands started to roam over my body. He was clutching at my breasts, shaping my waist, cupping my ass, all while he kissed me fiercely. It was dizzying, like he was trying to possess me.
All of a sudden, he roughly lifted me up to perch on the edge of an air-conditioning unit set back a little way from the wall. He pushed between my legs and I instantly wrapped them around his waist, using them to pull him in closer.
He stopped kissing me abruptly; pulling his head back to look down at me, his breath coming fast. “Did he try anything?” he asked a little shortly.
I frowned in confusion. “What? Who?”
“Blake. Who else?”
I tensed at the implication that I would let Blake try anything. “No!” I scoffed. “Why would you think that?”
He shrugged, dropping his hands to my thighs. “Just seems weird him suddenly wanting you to come to practice.”
“He wants me there because I don’t know anything about music, he seems to think I represent clueless music fans or something,” I gave him a wry look. “Kind of insulting if you think about it.”
Connor’s mouth twitched into the ghost of a smile. “No change there then.”
“Nope,” I leant up and brushed my lips lightly against his. “Same old Blake.”
Only it WASN’T, my inner voice whispered. None of this afternoon was ‘same old’ anything.
I shoved the voice aside irritably, ignoring the weird sliver of unease that slinked through me. “Now, are you going to finish what you started?” I asked coyly, pressing my palms against his back and urging him closer to me.
He grinned. “Bet your ass I’ll finish you off right here.”
“Promises, promises…” I murmured before his lips met mine again in a hot kiss.
Then he was whipping off my shirt and unhooking my bra with a pinch of his skilled fingers before pulling it quickly away and landing his hot mouth on my nipples, sucking them into hardened nubs. A slight breeze played across my skin, sending goose bumps over my flesh as he started to alternate between using his mouth and rolling my nipples between his finger and thumb.
Soon I was panting and scrabbling at his belt buckle and the buttons of his jeans. I shoved my hand in his fly and felt the solid shaft in his boxers expanding, becoming harder. I started to stroke him through the fabric as he clutched me tighter, sucked me harder, tweaked my sensitive flesh more insistently.
Suddenly, he flipped up my skirt and dropped to his knees in front of me; then he was tugging my panties aside and his mouth was on me, his tongue sliding through my slick folds and curling around my clit. I gasped and slid my hands into his hair as he licked and sucked lightly, teasing me as desire coiled tighter inside of me. I rocked my hips forwards, trying to increase the pressure, but he moved with me, pulling back as I pushed forwards, keeping me on the edge, and never quite giving me enough.
“Connor,” I moaned, tugging on his hair, when I couldn’t stand his teasing anymore.
He pulled away from me, chuckling slyly as he stood between my legs and pulled a foil packet out of his pocket and tore it open with his teeth. I watched as he shoved his jeans and boxers down and curled a hand around the base of his cock, pumping it once, before positioning the condom at the top and rolling it down. I bit my lip and braced my hands on his shoulders as he positioned himself at my entrance.
Our eyes locked for a second before he shoved himself inside me, our flesh meeting with a slapping sound as he sheathed himself to the hilt. I felt myself contract around him and he grunted in response, his hands locking on my hips, holding me tight as he started to thrust forcefully. I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him into me, rocking into his strokes.
His mouth dropped to my neck and he kissed and nibbled along my collarbone. I let my head drop back, losing myself in the sensations, losing myself in him.
His pace quickened and he pulled his head back; my eyes flickered open in time to see him licking his thumb, slicking it with saliva before pressing it to my clit. He circled my sensitive nub a few times before he settled into a rhythm, rubbing me with steady strokes, sending contractions through my sex.
I gasped and moaned breathlessly, holding him tightly, wanting everything he had to give.
The touch of his thumb combined with the powerful strokes of his cock wound me tighter, pushing me quickly towards my release. Delicious waves of pleasure were crashing inside of me with every stroke.
I clung to him, pressing my mouth to his chest to stifle my cries as I came. When I started to relax against him, he grabbed my hips with both of his hands and redoubled his pace. His face was tense, his mouth set in a hard line as he thrust into me. Just a few furious strokes and he was coming too. I felt his cock spasm inside me, stroking my sensitive walls as he groaned his release into my hair.
We collapsed against each other, gasping, as the late afternoon came back into focus around us.
“What brought that on?” he asked as we pulled away from each other and started to get dressed.
I shot him a look. “Do I need a reason to have sex with my boyfriend?”
He grinned as he fastened his belt. “When he looks like this? Guess not. But I mean rooftop sex, not sex sex.”
“No reason,” I said lightly.
But for some reason it felt like a lie.
52
The following day, I went with Connor to band practice, as promised. Unusually, we were the first to arrive and, as Derren and Kane tuned up, Connor sent me to the vending machine to grab everyone some coffee – I guess I was still the refreshment mule after all.
I was pumping quarters into the machine when I heard the door at the end of the hallway clang open. I turned to see Blake striding towards me. “Morning, Princess! You’re early. Just couldn’t wait for me to sing to you again, huh?” He called to me.
“Just here for the coffee…” I gestured to the machine.
“Yeah, whatever.” He smirked.
“And you’re just in time to carry these for me.” I handed him two of the cups, before gathering up the other two. “Now you’re a mule like me.”
He cocked one eyebrow. “‘Mule’?”
“Coffee, sodas, snacks...every time I watch you guys practice I’m the errand girl.”
“Ah, I see, you’re used to other people doing shit for you, right Princess?”
“No! I’m kidding.”
“Yeah. It’s not like you’re spoiled or anything.” His smirk was still firmly in place.
I prickled. “I’m not spoiled, I was joking!”
He started chuckling. “Okay. Definitely not spoiled. Which of these is for you by the way?”
“None of them.”
“How come?” The gleeful expression on his face told me he knew exactly why.
“Shut up.”
“No, seriously, I wanna know. You loooove coffee. Why didn’t you get one?”
“I just didn’t want one.”
“Liar!” he crowed. “Wouldn’t be because that machine looks a little dirty would it? Maybe ‘cause it’s not up to your standards hygienically?”
He was right; only the machine was worse than he was making out, it looked like it had never been cleaned, with stains running down the front and scum floating in the overflow tray.
Blake grinned down at me, waiting for my reaction. I could see that he was trying to fluster me; he and Connor were so alike in that way, so instead I smiled sweetly. “We don’t all have standards as low as yours, Blake.” I said icily, before turning and walking back into the practice room.
He laughed loudly as he followed me inside. “Me and the mule brought your drinks, boys,” he said as we distributed the coffees.
“You’re late, man,” Derren commented with a glint in his eye. “Not like you to be late.”
“Was she worth it?” Kane asked.
That was when I figured out where the conversation was going: yet another Blake Maxwell Conquest Story. For some reason though, Blake didn’t look smug – he
actually looked a little irritated.
“Worth what?” Connor asked, joining us.
“He drove all the way to Richfield for a hook up,” Derren said.
Connor grinned. “No one left to bang here?”
“Yeah, he’s exhausted all the females this side of the state line.” Derren laughed.
Gross. I swallowed down my distaste, almost wishing I had gotten a coffee so that I could wash away the sour taste in my mouth.
“So, was she worth the four hour drive?” Kane prompted again.
Blake shrugged. “Eh, at least she paid for my gas.”
Derren guffawed. “Shit, man! She pretty much paid you for sex!”
Blake smacked him over the back of the head. “Gas, D. She paid for my gas.”
“Yeah, so you could go bang her,” Derren muttered as he backed away, rubbing his head.
“Let’s just get started,” Kane said, placing his coffee on the floor and picking out a riff on his bass.
Grateful for the abrupt subject change, I situated myself on a chair at the edge of the room, facing the band.
Then I watched, fascinated, as they put the new songs together.
Blake was like an architect or a painter, layering up the songs a piece at a time.
First, he showed Kane and Derren the melodies that he’d shown me yesterday and got them to arrange them on the guitar and bass until he was happy with them. Then they adapted and improved upon the basic tune until they had added their own personal twists and flourishes.
Then Blake kicked Connor off of the drums and showed him how he wanted certain parts of the percussion to sound, then stood back and switched between listening and instructing until they were both satisfied.
It was like watching a conductor at work. I hadn’t ever seen them put the songs together before – I had only ever heard the finished product. It was interesting to watch. Blake would go at them with an initial idea about how something had to sound and he would make the others replicate it exactly, but once they had it down, he allowed them to own it, improve it, and personalize it, until it was as much theirs as his. He was clearly incredibly possessive of his ideas, but once he had put them out there and shared them with the rest of the band, they became something that belonged to all of them.
“Okay, Princess, listen up!” Blake called across to me after about an hour and a half. “We’ll start with your favorite.”
He pointed to Kane and Derren who launched into a frantic riff. Connor steamed in with the percussion moments later. Blake looked right at me and nodded along with the beat for a few seconds before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, releasing it into the gravelly first line “I can’t work through this catch around my neck...”
With the full band behind it, the song sounded completely different to the way that it had sounded yesterday, when Blake had sang it with just an acoustic guitar. Although it was rough and raw, only a first run through, it was still full of frenzied energy. It sounded kind of epic really, like a song for the masses.
When it ended, all that was left was the echoing vibrations of the guitars and drums, filling the practice space, finally giving way to the heavy breathing of the guys.
I realized that my face was starting to ache with the huge grin that I had stretched across it.
They were all staring at me.
“This is the part where you tell us what you think,” Kane said.
“It’s...it’s different than I thought it was going to sound. It’s weird, when you sang it yesterday it sounded kind of sad, but this time it sounded angrier –”
“That’s all me,” grinned Derren.
Connor snorted. “Drums bring the mood.”
“That’s why you’re a moody fucker,” Derren quipped.
“Shut up,” growled Blake. Then he nodded to me. “Go on.”
“I like the chorus but I kind of wanted it to be heavier, like maybe kick in a bit harder, because I felt like I was waiting for it to really go off, if that makes sense?”
Blake nodded earnestly. “Yeah, we can do that.”
“I honestly think it’s the best song you’ve done. It’s my favorite,” I paused, considering. “For some reason, it kind of had a Pearl Jam vibe with those riffs Derren added, and the way you sang certain parts sort of reminded me of Eddie Vedder –”
“No shit?” Blake interrupted, raising a brow. “You just compared me to Eddie Vedder?”
“Um, yeah, your voice is deeper but you reminded me of him anyway… is that bad?”
“Bad? Are you fucking kidding me? Vedder’s, like, one of the best – seriously, no shit?”
I smiled at his reaction. “No shit.”
“She wouldn’t bullshit you, man,” Kane said. “She likes insulting you too much.”
“That’s true,” I agreed.
Blake grinned at me.
“Got a name for it?” Derren asked.
“I was just gonna call it Longing,” Blake said.
“How about –” I caught myself. “Never mind,” I said quickly.
“You have a better name than mine, Princess?” Blake asked sardonically.
“Um, no, probably not.”
“Wouldn’t take much to beat yours,” Connor piped up before battering the drums in a short, quick-fire beat.
Ignoring him, Blake stalked towards me a few paces and beckoned me with both hands. “C’mon, Princess. Lay it on me.” His voice was a smoky rumble as his sapphire eyes locked on mine.
53
THAT was the moment.
Right there, in the practice room, surrounded by the whole band – THAT was the moment that my body chose to clue me in on something that my sub, sub, SUBconscious had already figured out.
I was powerless to stop the flush that crept up my neck.
It was almost…suggestive, the way he’d said that…and his body language was so predatory…
Time for complete honesty now, even though I feel like the biggest slut in history for saying it: I got turned on.
By my boyfriend’s COUSIN, right in front of my boyfriend.
I felt like I had a huge neon sign above my head that read: Completely TURNED ON over here! Look at my FACE, for God’s sake, could I LOOK any more uncomfortable?!
But apparently, everyone else in the room was absolutely oblivious. If they noticed my red face, they must have just assumed that it was embarrassment over not wanting to share my idea for a song title.
But my world had just been flipped on its head.
54
Because of that revelation, it took a second for me to re-engage my brain. “Um, it’s – it’s stupid, actually, probably not what you’re going for at all.” I leant around Blake. “Connor, tell them I suck at anything creative.”
Connor wasn’t looking at me; he was focused on his kit. “She sucks at anything creative,” he parroted, before striking out a blast beat.
“See?” I looked back up at Blake. When our eyes met again, he cocked his head thoughtfully. “What?” I challenged sharply, my flush deepening – if that were possible.
“I want to know.”
“It’s silly.”
“I still want to know.”
I sighed in exasperation. “Forget it.”
“No. Tell me,” he commanded.
“He’s not gonna quit ‘til you tell him or one of us kills him.” Kane said, clearly bored.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I was going to suggest Bind of the Blue Collars, you know, because –”
“I get it,” Blake cut me off. He considered for a second. “It’s perfect, actually.”
I blinked. “Really?!”
“Yeah…” He smiled down at me, and for a long moment, he just looked at me. I felt myself flush deeper under his gaze.
“Now that’s decided, can we get on to the next one?” Connor’s voice cut across the room. He sounded impatient, but I could have sworn there was a hint of anger there too.
“Sure,” Blake said affably, before turning back to th
e band.
They ran through the other new song too, asking for my thoughts about that one as was well, before running through a few others for good measure. The whole time, I tried not to focus too much on Blake – which was kind of impossible considering he was singing right at me.
When they were done, Connor came over to me and took my hand. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, pulling me to my feet.
I almost sagged in relief as I linked my fingers with his. I felt like I needed to get away, my thoughts were a jumble.
“Hey, man, aren’t you coming for food?” Derren asked as he snapped his guitar case shut.
“Nah.” Connor shook his head. “Change of plans.”
“What plans?” I asked, a little confused. Connor and I had made a sum total of no plans for after practice.
“Hayley’s meeting us,” Derren said. “We were all gonna go to that Thai place on fifth.”
“Oh…” I raised my eyebrows at Connor questioningly.
“You should come,” Blake cut in.
I was positive that Connor’s hold on my hand tightened just the slightest bit as he looked at me, blatantly ignoring his cousin. “Or we could do dinner and a movie, just us.”
I didn’t need to think about that for longer than half a second. I needed to get away from Blake and the unwanted feelings that were spiraling through me. I squeezed Connor’s hand and leant up to kiss his cheek. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
55
After that day at practice, I didn’t start avoiding Blake exactly...oh, who am I kidding? I avoided him like the plague.
But that proved to be kind of impossible seeing as Connor was living with him, so I just tried to avoid being alone with him, which was pretty easy most of the time.
After all, we didn’t really have any reason to be alone together.
And when it did happen, it was purely by accident.
56
The glare of morning sunlight stained the inside of my eyelids red. I groaned and turned away, hiding my face from the too-bright light. I nestled my face into the warm body beside me and felt myself start to slip back towards sleep.