by S. Ann Cole
Off her
ROCKERS
by
S. Ann Cole
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Copyright © 2015 by S. Ann Cole
All rights reserved.
Cover Design: S. Ann Cole
Formatting: S. Ann Cole
Editor: Cherie Macenka
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Without limiting the rights under copyright(s) reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Making or distributing copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability.
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Visit my website at www.AnnCole.net
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Do Not Hesitate to Contact Me!
CHAPTER ONE
“ARE YOU HAPPY?”
“Babe, got your cum in my beard. What’d you think?”
I laughed, combing my fingers through his hair.
We were lying indolent on a bare mattress on the floor in one of the rooms at his blues bar, his cheek pressed to my pelvis, his torso between my legs, his fingers toying with my nipples.
Together, we decided to boycott the world for a few careless days in favor of some “Xavina Time”—yes, I totally just made that up—before stepping out into the shitstorm that was most likely waiting for us.
For the past six days, we’ve been crashing at his blues bar, eating junk food, and overseeing the refurbishing in progress, along with having rough, punishing, heart-palpitating sex on the floor every chance we got.
Xavier took calls from Xena only, and I only made calls to San Francisco to video-chat with my son.
Not one of the last six days passed by without Xavier insisting I tell Davian about Jacob so I could move him to L.A. to live with me. I wholeheartedly and excitedly agreed on moving Jacob to L.A. but made no comment on telling Davian the truth. Because, where do I even begin with that?
For one, the mere thought of facing Davian again gave me mini panic attacks. How do I face him after choosing Xavier? I literally forced him to break off his engagement, forced him to choose me, and then I turned my back on him. How did I even begin to explain that? Then to throw in an “Oh, I forgot to tell you, we have a son” on top of it?
Sounds a lot like a death wish to me. I could see Davian growing as red as bell peppers, wrapping his fingers around my throat and squeezing the life out of me. Sorry, but I did not want to die of strangulation…or anything, really.
On a more interesting note, I received a scathing email from Jessica the night I chose Xavier:
Dear Home-wrecker,
You won’t answer my calls, but you will read this.
You haven’t won. You might be able to control Davi, but you can’t control Xavi.
Why? Because I control him. Xavi is and always has been, in love with me.
He brought you to L.A to make me jealous. To make me leave Davi because he can’t stand to see me with anyone else.
He will never love you. You will never have what I have: his heart.
If you want to keep Xavi, leave Davi alone, and I’ll whisper nothing but sweet things about you in Xavi’s ear.
Otherwise, I will ruin Davian Hamilton, and he will in return resent you for it. Then, I will, very easily, take Xavier Xander back, and you will be left with no one.
P.S You never should have taken my kindness for weakness.
I never told Xavier about the email. Just mulling her words over in my head, wondering what to make of them. Wondering if she was delusional, or if I was oblivious. I wasn’t convinced that she ruled Xavier. How could she when he’s been holed up with me and hasn’t been taking calls from anyone but Xena?
She was pissed, bitter, and resentful. That had to be it. So I resolved on giving it some time before broaching the subject with Xavier. Now, while he was sated and on the verge of sleep, was the perfect time. Moments like these, I could get Xavier to tell me his bank account password, social security number, and credit card details he was so content.
“So…” I began, “back in France you said if I chose you, you would come clean with me?”
Xavier groaned. “Now?”
“Yes. Now.” I fumbled under the pillow for my cell phone, powered it on and navigated to Jessica’s email, then shoved the screen in his face.
A few seconds of silence ticked off as he read the screen. With a snort, he shoved the screen away. “She sent that when?”
“Six nights ago.”
Raising his head, he propped his chin on my pelvis and peered up my naked body to find me peering down at him. “And you’re just telling me?”
“I didn’t want to ruin our Xavina Time.”
His lips twitched. “Xavina Time?”
Oh, shoot. Did I really just say that aloud? “Sorry. The giddy little girl in me got carried away and I kinda joined our names and…yeah.”
He bit his lip, clearly fighting back a smile. Lowering his head, he pressed a kiss in my navel. “Cute, but don’t say that shit out in public. Got a rep to protect.”
Didn’t he know by now that when someone tells me not to do something I did the complete opposite to prove my autonomy?
I arched a brow. “In that case, I’m gonna leak that Xavina is back together. Bitch about your street cred then.”
Locking his eyes on mine, he sobered up and swore to me, “Not in love with her.”
“Then why does she think you are?”
“’Cause she wants it to be true. Everything I do for her, she over-analyzes.”
“So, are you denying that you sought me out and started dating me for reasons about Davi and Jess?” I prodded. “Because Davi thinks so, too. He thinks you stole some images of me that he printed, and then you found out who I was and came after me as some kind of sick revenge.”
“Not denying it.” With a sigh, he rolled off me and onto his back, rubbing his hands down his face. “Truth. Saw the images at Eye Spy one afternoon. Took them. Was tryna get Jess to see reason, to stop her from making a mistake. She wouldn’t listen. Loved him too much. So, fi
gured if I got you there, he’d slip up, and she’d see…”
I pushed up on my elbows. “I don’t understand.”
Shifting up on the bed so he was stretched out beside me, he turned on his side and wrapped an arm around my middle, dragging me to him. “Relax,” he whispered, touching a kiss to my lips. “Lemme start from the beginning. We signed with Benny when we were little shits—seventeen, eighteen. Benny made it clear, his daughter was off-limits. But Jess was always around. She grew up with us. And she didn’t hide it that she had a crush on me.
“We were in Miami. She, seventeen. Me, twenty-one. She snuck into my hotel room, into my bed. Knew I shouldn’t have. But did it anyway. Took her virginity. Never planned on starting a relationship or anything like that. Just gave her what she came for. I stabbed a groupie the next night, and Jess flipped out. Threatened to tell Benny and get me locked up and kicked outta the band if I didn’t continue stabbing her. So I did. For years. Hid it from everyone. Eventually grew to care about her, not love her. She believes otherwise.”
Indolently, his palm smoothed over my ass and back again.
“Two years back when Ice Steam joined us on tour, she came to see me for her fix. She met Davi. Wanted him. Seduced him. Took him. Told her not to fall in love with him. She did.”
“Hang on,” I interjected, “if you’re not in love with her, why does it matter if she falls in love with someone else?”
He shook his head as if I wasn’t getting it. “Not someone else. Davi. She fell in love with Davi.”
“Huh?”
“Chino, when Davi came on tour, dude was a mess. All about this chick—you. Everything was about this chick he loved and wanted to go back home to. Didn’t wanna be on tour, and was just doing it for his band-mates. One night he disappeared. For a whole week. When he came back, he was worse off than before. Beaten to a pulp. Caught him bitch-bawling once. Inquired: More sad stories about this chick. Actually started feeling sorry for the guy. Told him if his heart wasn’t into the tour then he should go back to where his heart was.
“After witnessing that, when I saw Jess falling for him, I tried to warn her, not out of jealousy, but out of concern. Said she didn’t care. But I cared. Felt responsible for her, guilty most of all for taking her V-card and never committing. Swore to myself that whoever she chose to settle down with, I’d make sure they could give her what I couldn’t. And Davi, even though he claims he loves her, wants to marry her, I knew he’d never love her the way she deserves to be loved. That’s why I was against it.”
“And how do I play into all that?”
Xavier sighed in a way that said I should be able to put two and two together by now. “Thought if I got you to L.A., and he saw you, with me, he’d leave her to get you back, and she’d see what I was tryna tell her all along. Especially once you told him about the kid…” An emotional pause. “Never banked on falling for you along the way. Plan botched. Utterly and completely. That night I broke up with you, it wasn’t ‘cause you lied about your trust fund. I could give a shit. It was because I realized—looking at the bracelet you bought me and thinking how no one has ever given me anything with no strings attached, always the other way around—that I was falling, and the plan was going south, fast.
“Wanted you for myself. Got jealous over you. Punched Markie in the face ‘cause he said you gave him a boner. Wasn’t acting like myself. Scared the shit outta me. So the first chance I got to pick a fight with you, I did. By the time I got to the club, I realized I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t go through with the plan. Wanted you for me. Not Davi. No way was he getting you back.”
“Wow…um…” I searched for the right words but came up with straws. “That’s some pretty convoluted stuff.”
Even my emotions were stomped. Not quite sure how to feel about all he just told me. On the one hand, it rubbed me the wrong way that I’d been a complete game to him in the beginning. On the other hand, I had to remind myself that I wasn’t innocent in the beginning either because I’d one hundred percent been using him to get to Davi. We’d both been using each other. And just like he hadn’t banked on falling for me, I hadn’t banked on falling for him. All this made it hard to figure whether I should be mad at him or not. At the moment, I could feel nothing but love for him, and I had absolutely no problem with that. As long as Jess had no control over him, I was good.
“Yeah,” he agreed, still lazily caressing my ass. “Nothing you read in that email is true.”
“So, she can’t make you leave me like she promised?”
“Chino?”
“Hmm?”
His gray stare penetrated my desolate soul. “Nothing or no one can make me give you up.”
“And you’re absolutely sure about that?”
“Want me to show you how sure I am?”
Biting my lip in anticipation of what showing me would entail, I nodded.
Rolling over on top of me, a blood-hot hardness digging into my pelvis, his mouth touched mine, and he, with all soft, hard, and wet body parts, showed me just how sure he was.
TWO nights later, Xavier was driving me home in my convertible when his phone rang. Sliding me a side-glance, he took care to ignore it. He knew and respected my aversion to drivers handling a cell phone while at the wheel. Huge pet peeve of mine.
The ringing didn’t stop, though. It kept going. Nonstop. I could see Xavier was curious and itching to answer it. He didn’t, though, and that’s why I chose this man. He was too good.
It stopped ringing. A full minute of silence. Then my phone started blaring.
I glanced down at the screen.
“Xena,” I said aloud.
“Figured,” Xavier muttered. “She’s this insistent, means it’s important. Answer.”
Putting the phone on speaker, I answered, “Hey, Xen—”
“Turn on your TV,” she ordered without preamble.
“I’m not near one. What’s going on?”
“I’ll have to DVR this shit for you then. You guys need to get to the villa. Now. Jess is on Late Nights with Gildene, promising to ‘open up’ about why she broke off their engagement.”
“What?”
“Get here. Pronto!” She hung up.
My head slowly swiveled to Xavier, who was already doing a U-turn in the direction of the villa. “She wouldn’t, would she?”
“She’s sweet, Chino, but Jess is also sweetly cruel,” he said. “Told you she blackmailed me in the past, didn’t I?”
“Oh God,” I groaned, dropping my face in my hands. “This is how he’s gonna find out?”
“You had a lotta chances to tell him. Nobody’s fault he’s gonna find out like this but yours.”
“Shut up,” I snapped.
“’Kay.”
I kept my face buried in my hands for the entire journey to Ninety Miles Villa.
The second Xavier swung into a parking space outside Beach Rock, I was out of the convertible and running toward the house. But Xavier caught up with me, tagged me around the waist and hauled me to him. “Hey, you need to calm down. Freaking out won’t make a difference.”
“Easy for you to say,” I snapped out. “Do you have any idea how horrible I feel? I made him leave her! Then I chose you! And now…”
Xavier’s arms abruptly dropped from around me as if my skin had strands of blazing flames instead of hairs. “Tryna tell me something, Chino? You regret it? You regret choosing me?”
“What? Listen, I can’t do this with you right now. You had all week to pick a fight with me. Now is not the time. Shit’s about to hit the fan and I’ve got to brace myself for it. I don’t even know how to face Davi after this.”
Spinning on my heels, I raced up the steps and into the house.
Upstairs, in the entertainment lounge, were both bands—Ice Steam and Ninety Miles—including Benny, the manager and Jessica’s father.
Davi was missing, and Xena was pacing back and forth with a remote in her hand. In the midst of everyone, was a shattered
vase and an overturned sofa chair.
As I approached, Xavier behind me—I could always feel him, his heat at my back—all heads whipped to us, eyes following us as if we were strangers. No one said a word, and I felt Xavier move away from me to the opposite direction.
He was mad. I could always tell when he was unhappy with me. His whole energy, attitude, changed in the most palpable way. In a way that made me want to give him all my attention, all my focus, kiss him, touch him, and make things good again between us.
But at the moment, I couldn’t pay attention to his feelings. He needed to get over it, because the fact was, I had a child with another man, I hid it from him, then I forced him to leave his fiancée, and then I left him out in the cold. Whether Xavier wanted to acknowledge it or not, this wasn’t all me. He played a giant part in it when he sought me out and lured me here. He knew the truth, the whole truth, from day one, and he continued the game.
The thing with games, though, is that there can only be one winner. And just because he won the game did it mean I was going to spit and shit on the loser, who, to some extent, had no idea he was even in a game to begin with?
Ignoring Benny’s blatant glower, I jerked my head at Xena.
She pointed the remote at the flat-screen on the wall and it came to life, starting smack in the middle of an interview with Jessica and Gildene Matthews.
For the first couple of minutes, they merely spoke about what was new and upcoming with Jessica Stucco, what we should look out for, yada yada.
Then Gildene sobered and got down to the nitty-gritty:
“So, the broken engagement…I can honestly say this news knocked me off my feet. I—and I daresay Hollywood as a whole—did not see that one coming. We have all witnessed how much Davian Hamilton adores you. Some might have even envied you—I know I have!” She laughed here. “We have all been waiting with bated breath for the juicy wedding details, photos, honeymoon…now this, this is both shocking and disheartening, to say the least.”