Always Rock Hard

by Melissa Devenport

  Always Rock Hard

  Written by Melissa Devenport

  ♥

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter 01

  Chapter 02

  Chapter 03

  Chapter 04

  Chapter 05

  Chapter 06

  Chapter 07

  Chapter 08

  Chapter 09

  Always Rock Hard

  Written by Melissa Devenport

  Published by Perfect Harmony Publications

  © 2017 Perfect Harmony Publications

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission in writing from the publisher.

  Chapter 1

  “What will it be tonight Sarah? Waffles with whipped cream and cherry topping as usual or are you going to change it up on me?”

  Sarah Bast smiled widely up at Sally Pickering. The middle aged woman with the kindest set of blue eyes waited expectantly, pen poised over a notepad she seldom used. It was like a comfort to Sally, having that little white, blue lined pad of paper.

  Sarah folded up her menu and slid it across the table. “Waffles as always. Am I really so predictable?”

  Sally laughed. The wrinkles at the corners of her eyes creased but it had the effect of only making her look that much more beautiful. Her dark hair was liberally streaked with gray and done up in a messy bun. Though she was likely well into her fifties, Sally was still trim and had a body most thirty-year-olds envied.

  “Not predictable. I just know a favorite when I see one.”

  “You can’t beat your whipped cream and homemade cherries,” Sarah agreed.

  “And I’ll have the blueberry pancakes with the famous whipped cream I’ve been hearing so much about and the hot blueberry topping.” Annie Jackson folded her menu as well and passed it over. Her eyes glinted with humorous sarcasm at being all but forgotten for the moment.

  “Sure thing. Be up in fifteen minutes.” Sally took the menus and hurried off.

  Sarah leaned in across the table, facing her best friend. “Sally owns this place. It’s a pretty high honor that she comes around to serve us instead of another waitress.”

  “Oh. Well, it is nearly midnight and the place is almost empty… why do you haunt it anyway? I thought this used to be yours and Sean’s place.”

  Sarah laughed to cover up her discomfort at Annie’s point blank reference to her ex-boyfriend. “So what if Sean was the one who first brought me here? You can’t beat all day breakfast.”

  “I guess I’m not a breakfast person. I’ve lived here for ten years and I’ve never stepped foot inside this place.”

  “Pity. Sally’s is the best. Anyway, you won’t be able to stay away after you try the food.”

  Annie wrinkled her nose. “I hope so. I’m starved. I never should have let you convince me to go out to that club. It was horrible. I need a good meal after that heady dose of rejection.”

  Sarah smiled softly at her friend. Annie really did have the worst luck with men. After a recent breakup, Sarah though she’d try and help cheer up her best friend by taking her out. It hadn’t worked. If anything, it had the exact opposite effect. She decided to ditch the club and come to her favorite haunt, the little fifties style diner in one of the roughest parts of town.

  As Annie had tactlessly pointed it, it had been Sean Fillman who introduced her to this place. After late night jam sessions with his dead beat band mates and shows that never attracted anyone, he would drag her out with him, claiming over and over that he was going to make it big. It just took time.

  Time and getting away from a small city with zero opportunity. Tallah, Kansas, population twenty thousand, wasn’t exactly a musical hot spot. People didn’t appreciate what Sean and his bandmates were trying to do with music. Some hardly called it music. Sarah always thought they weren’t half bad but after three years of tagging along to shows, being the supportive girlfriend, selling t-shirts and merch, making flyers and recording demos, she was out.

  She could only take paying the rent in their one bedroom apartment, working hard at a job to support Sean and hoping for that big break for so long. Finally, for her own sanity, she had to call it quits. Sean vowed that one day he would prove her wrong. That one day he was going to make it big and show everyone, including her, who ever doubted him.

  It wasn’t that she really doubted. She’d never told him that she didn’t believe his dreams wouldn’t come true. She was just tired. Tired of it all. Tired of the wasted nights, the useless parties, the shows that always fell flat and failed to attract anyone but a few stragglers. Tired of musicians and even music. She actually hated music for months after she’d dumped Sean.

  She was better off. She always told herself that. She didn’t like to dwell on the fact that in three years she’d only been on two dates and they’d both been train wrecks. She’d never even found so much as another person attractive.

  “Earth to Sarah… where did you go?” Annie stared at her expectantly. “We are supposed to be having a pity party for me and by the look on your face you seem to be the one in need of comfort food.”

  “What?” Sarah shook her head. “Sorry. I was just thinking about- never mind. Nothing.” She gazed expectantly at Annie’s beautiful face.

  Annie was the kind of girl whose beauty never failed to attract the wrong kind of man. Dark haired, slim, ample curves and lush breasts, flawless skin, huge doe eyes- she had a heart of gold to top it off and people liked to take advantage.

  “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

  “No. Sorry.”

  “You said that already. Sorry. You don’t have to be sorry. I want to know what’s up with you. We used to be best friends. We used to see each other every single day. Now we’re lucky if a week goes by and we even remember to text.”

  “I’ve been busy with work. But we used to live together. It used to be easy to see each other every day.”

  Annie finally smiled and eventually she started laughing. She laughed so hard her shoulders shook and she wiped tears from her eyes. Sarah laughed as well, relieved at how good it felt to just be carefree for a couple seconds.

  The door at the front chimed, announcing a new customer. The noisy crowd swept into the diner, filling it with loud cheers, shouted comments, hoots and whistles.

  Sarah spun around on the bench seat, trying to see what the obnoxious, obviously drunk, party was about. God, if she knew the club was going to come to them, she never would have made Annie leave.

  Her eyes locked on a familiar form. Tall build, broad shoulders, muscular chest, legs that looked like they were made of steel, blonde hair and ice blue eyes. He was wearing leather pants and a black t-shirt. Even that was familiar.

  Sarah’s world closed in around her as her breath hitched painfully in her lungs. Her head swam and her vision got black on the sides. She thought for a second she was going to faint.

  She blinked hard, hoping the apparition from her past was just that, a ghost in their old haunt but when her vision cleared she realized it truly was him, standing there like he’d never left in the first place.

  Chapter 2

  Sarah couldn’t take her eyes off of him. She couldn’t look away. Her heart hammered painfully in her chest. Blood rushed through her veins so hard it was probably audible. The diner seemed to close in around her.

  Sean Fillman.

  He noticed her then, before she could tear her eyes away and time stopped. The world shifted and tilted crazily.

  He broke away from his bandmates and the gaggle of obvious g
roupies that hung all over them and walked confidently over to Sarah’s table. Annie eyed him warily as though he was a virus she didn’t want to catch.

  “Sean,” she whispered. Her voice was breathless and strangled sounding. She forced herself to swallow past a throat that had suddenly gone bone dry.

  “Sarah. It’s been a long time.” His own tone was smooth and welcoming like a soft, favorite blanket in the cold of winter. Warm and far too comforting.

  Too long. Not long enough. Sarah wasn’t sure which it was. The only thing she did know for sure was that she didn’t like the way her body reacted to seeing Sean again. She felt strange, lit up, like a lightbulb that had been shut off for far too long.

  “Yes,” she said shakily. She tucked her trembling hands under the table, out of Sean’s view.

  “We’re back in town playing a show tomorrow night. We finally made it big. Our first record just went platinum so we’re out celebrating. We thought it would be appropriate to do an impromptu stop here and give our home town fans a chance to celebrate with us. We’re playing the old brick warehouse tomorrow night. You know, the one we never could get anyone to come out to.”

  “First record?” Sarah felt like she couldn’t string two words together to save her life. She chose to ignore the second part of that statement because it made her feel like Sean knew she’d given up on him just as everyone else had.

  “Yah.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  Sean looked at her strangely. “We changed the band name. We’re called The Mystic Keys now. We’ve been selling out shows for the past year. Our album was a huge success.”

  Sarah swallowed hard again. Jesus, she had heard of The Mystic Keys. Who hadn’t? Everyone was talking about their edgy new sound and that fucking song, Lost Soul. She could never get out of her head.

  “Let me buy you a drink. Catch up. What do you say?”

  “No. Thanks. I’m here having waffles with Annie. I don’t need a drink.”

  “Suit yourself. I was going to suggest cherry milkshakes since I know that it’s your favorite…”

  Sarah blushed. God, she really was predictable. Well, not this time. She wasn’t going to give in. Annie looked between her and Sean a hundred times, clearly trying to slaughter Sean with her eyes. She obviously wished he would just disappear. That made two of them. Didn’t it?

  “Anyway. I can tell you want to get back to whatever it is you were doing. Good to see you though.” Sean turned. He was about to leave. His long blonde hair was pulled back in the same style of pony tail that he always wore, low at the nape of his neck. Blue eyes cut straight to Sarah’s soul. He saw her in a way that on one else ever had.

  “Yah,” she mumbled.

  He turned again and her heart gave a ridiculous leap. “Come to my show tomorrow night. I’ll text you the details.”

  “You don’t know my number.”

  “I do. It’s still the same, I would wager.” He leaned in; his chiseled, handsome features far too close for comfort. “You know Sarah, everything else might have changed but some things always stay the same.”

  He turned and left then. Sarah didn’t watch him rejoin the group. She didn’t have to. Their shouts of celebration welcomed him back into a fold she no longer belonged to.

  “What the hell?” Annie hissed. “What the fuck did that mean? Some things stay the same? He’s pretty full of himself if you ask me. Always was.”

  Sarah nodded. “There’s no way I’m going to his show.” She stared at the table, trying hard to make herself believe her lie. The worst part was, she knew the truth. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to stay away. Sean would draw her in, his magnetic pull too strong for her to resist. It always had been. She knew he was right.

  Some things never changed, including her heart.

  Chapter 3

  The roar of the crowd, the bright lights, the bursts of fire, the big screens, special effects, the swaying, reacting, singing, adoring fans that found meaning through his music. It was the reason Sean had worked so hard to get where he was.

  He’d never given up. He craved that feeling, the feeling of connection with the world through lyric and song. That had always been the way he understood life best. Music was his soul. Without it he was lost.

  There was a time when he thought he was going to have to finally give up. Give up and just be like everyone else working a nine to five soul sucking job that he hated. Give up his soul in favor of earning enough money to eat and afford rent on a place that wasn’t some hole in the wall dive. Even that he couldn’t always afford. He’d lived out of a van before, a bus, off a friend’s couch.

  Everyone told him that was it. They gave up on him and the band. Every single person.

  Here he was now, packing the same warehouse that used to be empty. He and his bandmates took the stage of The Warehouse, a huge club in the industrial area of the city designated for music and concerts. The crowd went wild. People cheered, tightly packed together and pushing hard towards the stage as they started playing.

  As always, he lost himself in the music. His soul was free and connected easily with the audience.

  Tonight was a special night. This was his hometown. He’d always imagined playing here, to a packed crowd with more waiting outside, to the swells of his lyrics drifting over the swaying assembled.

  His eyes searched the crowd. The only thing missing was the one person he’d imagined sharing this with. Sarah.

  She had been his everything. Even at times when music failed him, she was there. She was his constant, his rock, until she wasn’t. Like a fool, he’d let her slip away.

  His hand faltered on his guitar strings as his eyes flitted to and landed on a shadowy figure standing near the exit. The red light of the sign illuminated her face. It was the only reason he saw her.

  She’d come.

  His heart hammered the same way it had when he’d seen her in Sally’s the night before. God, that had been their place. He’d imagined her as they pulled up to that parking lot after a night of celebration. It had been his idea, to go there. That place was haunted with memories for him. He’d walked in and seen her and thought she was a ghost of the past before he finally realized she was real.

  Sean’s eyes never left Sarah. She stayed where she was, tucked up against the exit as though she wanted to bolt at any second. She stayed that way through every single song he played. All fifteen of them.

  When he finally had to leave the stage he almost felt fear. He wanted to stay there, rooted to the spot. It was so tempting to use the microphone to call out to her, to tell her that he hadn’t forgotten her. That through all the years, the trials, hardships and celebrations, his heart was still the same.

  He forced himself to leave. He left the stage and changed out of his sweat soaked clothes backstage. He and his bandmates, wanting to give the home town crowd a real treat, went out to mingle and sign merch.

  Sean watched for Sarah the entire time. His eyes flew to the exit area but she was no longer there.

  A blonde woman wearing a band t-shirt stretched over breasts that were far too huge and perfect to be real, clad in a skirt so short he wasn’t sure it wasn’t fancy underwear, approached him. She smiled broadly and puckered her pink, juicy, sticky lips in a huge pouty smile.

  Blue eyes scanned his face in a way that left no uncertainty as to the fact of what she truly wanted. She toyed with a strand of blonde hair and thrust her chest out, as though her tits couldn’t get any more obvious.

  “Will you sign my shirt for me?” She asked in a sugary sweet tone. A group of women was already congregating behind her.

  “Where would you like me to sign?” Sean asked. He was sure he already knew the answer.

  “Right here.” The blonde stretched out the shirt across her tits.

  Fuck. Just as he thought. Sean purposely looked away while he signed the blonde’s shirt. She let it fall just at the last second, so that his hand grazed her
hard breast. He shuddered and moved on to the next woman. She looked as eager as the blonde had.

  Finally Sean was able to break away. He’d signed more t-shirts than he could count and one adoring fan’s back. At least he’d been male. He was more than relieved when people presented a record or a shirt that wasn’t currently on their body for an autograph.

  Normally he enjoyed the fans. They were the reason he was here. This had been his dream and they were a part of it. Tonight everything was different.

  He had to find Sarah.

  Sean rushed through the crowd, looking frantically while he tried to pretend he wasn’t. He searched unfamiliar faces, hoping to chance on a heart shaped face with a set of blue eyes, tiny nose with the slight curve at the end, flawless pink lips and flaxen curls.

  He couldn’t find her. His desperation grew with every passing second. He felt like if he didn’t find her tonight he might never see her again. He never thought she’d come, but the fact that she had told him there might be some thin, sliver of hope.

  He was about to give up, head back towards the stage and leave to join the guys in the waiting tour bus when he caught a glimpse of a red dress and a waterfall of honeyed hair. The slim figure turned as soon as he spotted her. He watched her slip out of the club. The door banged shut behind her. The sound seemed to echo through the club like the finality of a gunshot.

  Chapter 4

  Sean couldn’t let her go. He couldn’t let her disappear out of his life again. Not when she’d so suddenly reappeared as though she belonged in his future, not just his past.

  As he burst from the club he spotted the lone figure walking quickly down the sidewalk. The cool night air of early fall assaulted him.

  “Sarah!”

  She didn’t turn around and he wondered if he had been mistaken. Perhaps it wasn’t her at all. He halted in the sidewalk, feeling ridiculous. He blinked. He had to try again. Just one more time.