The first text was from my brother last night.
Dave: Feel better brat!
Then there were the texts from Evan that I skipped over to get to the one from Everly.
Everly: I didn’t realize you were so sick. Dave told me. I have a replacement for you tonight. Take off. Get better. That’s an order.
I marveled at her ability to still be so down to business today considering her world blew up in social media the day before.
Travis: Feel better soon, Chelle
Drew: Let us know if you need anything, we’ll have it sent over.
Chris: Get well soon! We need you!
My heart swelled a bit to see that all the guys from Fourth Down had sent me a message. That was sweet of them. It felt good to know that I had made actual friends with them. Then, with dread filling my belly, I got around to opening the messages Evan sent.
Evan: Chelle, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see your messages until we were already on the bus and moving.
Evan: Chelle, please answer love; I need to know you’re okay.
Evan: Damn it, I’m sorry!
Evan: I came by to check on you, but Smithy turned me away said you were sleeping. I hope that’s all it was. Please, don’t shut me out.
Evan: At least let me know that you’re okay.
Evan: I saw the picture of me hugging Masy. If that’s why you aren’t returning my messages, I swear it was just a friendly hug to say hello. That’s it.
Evan: This sucks! All I wanted to do was come hold you last night and I got stuck babysitting the Stone brothers. Please, talk to me.
I couldn’t tell you how long I looked at those messages waiting for some inspiration to hit or the right words to express how I felt. I missed him. I had been so excited about going out with him, so ready to be open and together and now everything was jumbled up in my head again. I was worried and somewhat confused. I believed him about the girl he was pictured with only being a friend and it only being a hug. It wasn’t that at all. It was everything Everly was going through that I didn’t want for myself. It was the fact that babysitting his drunken band members was more important than checking on his sick… I didn’t even know what I was… girlfriend, exclusive piece of ass; whatever I was, they were more important. A part of me knew his band members should be more important considering he knew them better, longer, and they were basically family to him while I was the new girl. It didn’t stop me from wishing I had been the priority.
In the end I just tossed my phone aside and decided I needed time to think about everything. I needed to know for the both of us if I would be capable of handling the shit storm that was currently brewing for Everly. If I was being honest, I wasn’t so sure I’d be able to handle it with the same level of grace she seemed capable of. She came from a good family, had a quiet background as a studious college girl and they were saying horrible things about her. I was pretty sure the crap they’d make up about me would be far worse considering I was from the streets. Where that tidbit of information would just give my rocker brother street cred it would be used to tear me down and paint me as a gold-digging whore.
Chapter 10
~ Chelle ~
I still hadn’t spoken to Evan. He didn’t leave me any more messages and, as far as I knew, he hadn’t come looking for me again. Everly had left to go attend her graduation, but there seemed to be some other drama surrounding her quick departure that I wasn’t aware of. With her gone the band had been beyond busy keeping up with their own schedules and having to train someone new to step into Ev’s shoes. Now, most of them were involved with trying to come up with some sort of plan to get Everly back to the tour since they were worried she wouldn’t come back on her own. I worried that the media, the band’s fans, and then the rest of the world too had painted her to be the villain trying to tear both Fourth Down and The Infinite Everything apart. Since she had previously been with Clay, Fourth Down’s bassist they felt they had a leg to stand on to run with that story. Clay, for his part, had come forward and set the record straight. He had cheated on Everly, not the other way around. Good for him. I hoped it went a long way toward his redemption, because I caught glimpses of the good guy he could be underneath the lost little boy who had been acting out on tour. I still had hope that he would bounce back. Not with Fourth Down, because I didn’t care how well he bounced back, I didn’t want my brother losing his spot. My altruism only went so far.
We were in Florida gearing up for the big festival event the guys from The Infinite Everything were scheduled to play. I was just coming off Fourth Down’s bus where we had a meeting about the new merch I’d be selling for them when we went overseas. I was super excited, because selling the merch meant that I actually got some of it for myself too so that I could wear it while selling and their new shirts were killer. They were so amazing that I came right off the bus wearing one of them.
“What’s it going to take to get you to wear my shirt with that bright smile?”
I turned to see Evan standing there leaning back against the side of the bus. I glanced around to see if anyone else was around or if they’d heard him. He rolled his eyes at me. “When are you going to give up the secret side of our relationship?”
“I was ready to the night I got sick,” I admitted.
“So what changed then?” He shook his head and looked down at the loose gravel at his feet. “Everly,” he answered his own question.
“Can you blame me for being worried? They’ve made her out to be pure evil, and she comes from a picture perfect background. Imagine what they’d say about someone like me.”
“Someone like you?” He asked, puzzled.
“I stowed away on tour posing as a guy, remember? I come from nothing. I’m just a little orphan street girl. I can already see the gold digger memes that would pop up.”
“You’re not like that at all!” The vehemence in his voice made me smile.
“Everly’s not like they’re making her out to be either, and I have to tell you, it doesn’t help to see that Jay hasn’t made a single public statement to refute their claims. What if that was me? Would you step up?”
“Of course I would. Jay is working with label to figure out what he can do and say without having it backfire and make the situation worse. It’s not as cut and dry as everyone thinks it is.”
“You didn’t come to me when I was sick.” The words came out half-ass mumbled as I tried to pull them back in and failed.
Evan’s pained look hit me like a punch to the gut.
“And that’s a regret I will have to live with, because there was nowhere else I would have rather been, certainly not off babysitting my bandmates who are closing in on their thirties and still haven’t figured out how to behave yet.” He kicked off the side of the bus and moved toward me, stopping just short and glanced around. “Can we go somewhere quiet and private to talk?” I just nodded my head and followed him when he turned to walk away. We owed each other a talk at the very least to see if this could be more, if we could work out waiting to go public, or if we should just call it quits now.
It turned out that we didn’t have far to go for privacy. Evan led me right on up to his band’s bus and it was dead silent when we got on. “Where is everyone?”
“They’re all off doing their own thing today. Jay’s working with Declan to get Everly back here and to clear her name so she isn’t being shit on by everyone in the entire fucking world. Mags is off doing shit with the photographer again, I think.”
“Are they a couple?” I allowed curiosity to get the better of me, but I knew my brother had a crush on Mags so I thought it would be better to know.
Evan shrugged. “Who knows? Mags has been a bit distant from the rest of us lately.”
“Is she still mad about the groupies on the bus?”
“That and some other shit, I’m guessing. I don’t know exactly. I do know that I didn’t come here to discuss Mags, her crush on your brother and the photographer, or their crushes on her.”
I winced. “That’s what I was afraid of, the triangle there.”
“I know it’s your brother, but I’m more worried about us right now, and the fact that you haven’t spoken to me in days.”
“I just needed some time to think things through.”
“I get that,” he told me as he sat down on the leather couch and pulled me down with him so our sides touched. He interlocked out fingers together and then just sat there for a moment gathering his thoughts. “I know that being with someone in the business isn’t easy on the person they’re with. You’ll see all sorts of pictures; some of them are going to be fabrications and tricks photographers use to make an innocent situation seem suspicious. A shot from the wrong angle could show you arguing with someone from another angle it looks like you’re making out. I’ve seen it all over the years, especially with my uncle’s band. So, believe me, I get that you needed to take a minute to think about whether or not you could handle everything. It probably also didn’t help that I was unreachable when you were sick. I’m so sorry about that, Chelle.”
“I understand. They’re your band, and whether you like it or not, they’re used to behaving a certain way with you. It’s not like it was out in the open that we were together, so they didn’t know and you didn’t tell them you had somewhere else to be.” I huffed out a breath, but then continued. “I thought long and hard about that. At first I was mad, because I thought your band would always come first, but keeping us a secret means that you can’t exactly tell them that you just want to go be with someone.”
He nodded his head. “I wanted to be with you, Chelle. I can’t tell you how much. I could kill that damn caterer, because if not for you getting sick we wouldn’t still be keeping our relationship a secret right now.” He looked away for a moment and then locked eyes with me. There was so much emotion swirling through the layers of green there. “I’m assuming you still want to keep us quiet for now?”
I felt bad about it, but I still nodded my head. “Just a bit longer. I’m sorry. I just don’t want to be lumped in this situation in the press with Everly.”
“There’s no need to explain that, honey. I already understand.”
He leaned into me and kissed the top of my head, and then he wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. “I was so worried about you when you were sick. I nearly took Smithy out when he kept me from seeing you.”
“You were going to hit an old man?”
“Whatever it took, baby.” I chuckled at that.
“Well, thanks for not doing that. Smithy has been good to me.”
“That’s the only reason I left the old bastard alone. He was your guard dog. He kept the other jackasses away too, made them be quiet so they didn’t wake you. They all grumbled and bitched too, because they’d been sick but no one was babying them.” That made me smile. “From what I heard Smithy gave them all a good ass-chewing and lessons on manners. He told them that if they didn’t learn to take care of women they’d never be happy in life, because the only thing worth living for on this planet was the love a good woman, and the only way you get to keep that is to know how to give back.”
“Aww, if he wasn’t old enough to be my dad, or granddad, I’d totally go date him right now!”
“So, you’d leave me for the old guy?”
“Did you hear that speech? I think women would be lining up around the block - more than the number that show up for your concerts - in an effort to land a man that thought that way.”
Evan leaned back. “Damn, I’ll go let Smithy know he won. I can’t compete with his pretty words. I think it should count that I remembered them and took them to heart though,” he offered with a pout as he stood as if prepared to leave to go do just that.
I grabbed Evan’s hand and yanked him back down causing him to tumble into my lap and then our lips met and I forgot everything we were just talking about. In fact, I forgot where we were and that there was a possibility that someone could get on the bus. Nothing mattered but feeling him on me, his lips on mine, the familiar scent of him surrounding me.
~ Evan ~
It was almost as if I were dreaming again. For a brief moment I thought I might wake up to find that she was still hiding from me. Then she moved beneath me and I knew it was no dream. My fingers splayed out through her thick reddish-brown hair and I leaned in to take her mouth once more. “I missed you,” I whispered over her lips before devouring them. Our clothes started flying off as if we’d willed them to do so. I don’t even remember the act of removing them- just the glorious reveal of her perfect, creamy skin beneath my fingers, my mouth, and my body. I did at least remember to be safe about things and produced a condom that I’d found lying on the kitchen counter earlier. Once it was secured on me I slipped inside of her and it was like coming home, that feeling of being completely undone and put back together all at once. She was the home my body had been looking for and I didn’t think my heart would be too far behind in that assessment.
I almost felt bad for just slamming home without any warm up, but she was slick, and judging from the nails digging into my back and my forearm no warm-up was necessary. She moved beneath me in the best of ways. I ran my fingers from her hair down her neck and swept gently across the flesh over her collarbone making gooseflesh ripple in the wake of my touch. Then I ran them down her breasts, drifting the tips of my fingers lazily across her nipples as I listened to the breathy moans elicited by the gesture in combination with our bodies thrusting together.
“Evan,” her silky voice undid me and I leaned in to use my mouth on hers as I continued the rhythmic push and pull of movement sending our bodies colliding one moment and releasing the next. “Harder,” she called out as I tugged on her left nipple with my teeth. I bit down harder; surprised she wanted that kind of pain with her pleasure. “Ouch!” She yelped out and slapped my chest. “I didn’t mean bite harder,” she laughed out. “I meant,” she thrust her hips up toward mine forcefully. “HARDER!”
I grinned down at her and let her wish be my command. I started pumping in and out of her for all I was worth. The only sounds on the bus were our bodies slapping together, the fevered pitch of her chanting my name, the rushing beat of my heart as it worked frantically in my chest to keep up with the pace I set.
I felt her clamping down onto me at about the same time I heard the bus door open, but I couldn’t stop. The squeezing of her inner muscles around my cock sent me over the edge, shooting my load off with a grunt and another wicked thrust that set Chelle off again and had her screaming out my name. I glanced over my shoulder quickly to see Micah’s jaw on the floor just before he turned around and walked to the edge of the bus with his back facing us, but making sure no one else boarded the bus until we’d gotten ourselves together. I’d thank him for that later. Right after I got over the fact that he’d just watched my woman coming.
I leaned in close to Chelle’s ear and kissed just beneath it before whispering to her. “We’re not alone,” I told her and immediately felt her body tense up underneath mine. “Shh,” I cooed to relax her. “It’s just Micah. He didn’t know, baby. He’s watching the door so no one else comes on, but we need to get up and get dressed. I wasn’t thinking, taking you out here like this.”
She laughed then, the tension in her muscles releasing their hold on her and on me. “We both got a bit carried away. Nothing to apologize for.” She kissed me on the nose and then wiggled a little to let me know she wasn’t going anywhere or getting dressed with my half-hard cock still inside of her. “Shit, sorry,” I called out and then pulled out of her only to look down and see that the condom was quite a bit messier than it should have been. At first I thought maybe she’d just had a super explosive orgasm, but then when I turned to take the thing off and drop it in the trash I noticed that there was a steady drip coming from the damn thing. I glanced around thinking about where I had found the condom and then I shook the thought off. Surely, this wasn’t on purpose. Obviously, it hadn’t been Chelle’s doin
g, and probably wasn’t meant for me either. Someone, somewhere was trying to get knocked up though. I glanced back at Chelle who was nearly completely dressed already. I didn’t have the heart to tell her. We’d only just started working on figuring out where we were going with our relationship. She didn’t need an added worry. Besides, she was on the pill. I knew because I’d seen her taking it the last time we spent the night together in a hotel.
“Yo! If you could get dressed sometime today, that’d be great. The rest of the band should be headed back this way soon, man, we have rehearsals in a bit,” Micah called out, pulling me from my internal debate. I jumped up and got my clothes on before pulling Chelle with me down to the end of the bus where the door was.
“You have rehearsal soon?” She asked.
I tipped my head at Micah as we got closer. “Yeah, love, you wanna come watch?” To my surprise she almost jumped up and down with gleeful excitement. When I looked at her expecting an answer for the question I never asked she just started rambling.
“Oh my God, yes! I never get to you see guys perform. I’ve been working on this tour the entire time and still haven’t once seen you guys play. It’s ridiculous.”
“What the hell?”
“I agree with Micah, what the hell?”
She shrugged her slender shoulders causing the top she was wearing to slide down and reveal her pink bra strap. I quickly leaned in and pulled the fabric back while ignoring Micah’s laughter. “I’ve always been working during your set.”
“Well, you’re definitely coming with us now,” I told her.
“Yeah, then Chelle can see what a shit drummer you are and she’ll realize that bass players keep rhythm better,” he offered up with a sleazy waggle of his eyebrows. To her credit, Chelle looked sickened by the thought.
“Ew, Micah. My brother plays bass.” That’s when I laughed at Micah’s expense and he stomped off in a mock tizzy.
The Infinite Beat (T.I.E. Book 2) Page 10