Alexis: In love with a rockstar (The Hamptons Series Book 2)

by Drucie Anne Taylor

  Alexis lets go of me and presses a kiss to my cheek. “Don’t let him hit on you, okay?”

  “Me? Never,” I reply with a grin.

  “I promise I will screw you gently, darling,” Azer murmurs playfully, which elicits a deep scowl from Alexis.

  “Don’t you dare, Aze.”

  “No, no … I would never,” he imitates my sarcastic tone before bursting out laughing. “Let’s meet the band, Honor.”

  “Alright.” Azer and I walk down the stairs and enter the studio.

  The guys are sitting in the recording cubicle, strumming their guitars. Gavin is at the piano, playing For Elise.

  “Guys, look what I stole from Lex!” Azer says cheerfully as he leads me into the room.

  “Hey, guys,” I greet them all with a wave of my hand.

  “Honor, hey, what a nice surprise,” Mike says, beaming at me. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m nursing a little hangover, but apart from that, great.”

  The others greet me. The mood seems pretty upbeat.

  “Did Alexis get you drunk?”

  I shake my head. “I did that on my own.”

  “I just served as her living towel when she showered herself in tequila,” Alexis pipes up as he enters the room.

  “Interesting. I didn’t know you were such a naughty girl, Honor,” Mike grins.

  I shrug my shoulders and try to look innocent. “Well, I had enough tequila on me for at least two people, and Alexis didn’t object to me rubbing myself against him.”

  “That’s true, I might even have enjoyed it,” Alexis confirms.

  “Sure you did. I wouldn’t object to a pretty woman rubbing herself against me,” Azer chimes in with a grin.

  “You wouldn’t object to anything that is even remotely sexual,” Mike counters.

  “So what are you doing?” I cut off the discussion.

  Linden raises his eyes. “We’re just jamming a little, warming up the guitars.”

  “Okay.”

  Alexis picks up the bass guitar and sits down.

  “Do you do that often, just jam?” I want to know.

  “Yeah, when we’re in the mood,” Gavin says.

  Azer sits down behind the drums and waves me over. “Do you want to help me out here?”

  “Like what?”

  “Lex, is it okay if I teach your girlfriend how to play the drums?”

  “If you don’t grope her,” he replies.

  Azer leers at me. “You’ll have to sit on my lap.”

  “I heard that,” Alexis growls and gives me a raised eyebrow.

  I sit down on Azer’s lap. “What now?”

  He hands me the drum sticks. “Just bang on them and set the beat.”

  “What beat?”

  “Any. You set it.”

  “Okay.” I start to bang the central drum, but I’m too cautious with the sticks.

  “No, no, no … you need to really hit them, as if you want to punish them, Honor.” He laughs and wraps his large hands around mine. Then he shows me how to do it, with a force that makes the drum heads vibrate. “That’s the way to do it.” He keeps steering my hands with his, moving from toms to cymbals and back.

  “Jesus, that is more complicated than it looks.”

  He chuckles. “It’s not, but it takes a while to get the hang of it.”

  “But you’re squashing my hands,” I reply and make a face.

  Azer loosens his grip immediately. “Oh. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “It’s a habit; I need to grip the sticks like that so they don’t fly from my hands,” he admits with a grin.

  “I don’t think my girlfriend will fly from your hands so easily,” Alexis points out, laughing.

  “Are you saying I’m too heavy for that? Are you saying I’m fat?” I cry in mock outrage.

  “Oops, dude, bad move,” Gavin teases Alexis.

  “No, of course that’s not what I’m saying,” he growls, and then mumbles something about women taking everything the wrong way.

  We all burst out laughing.

  I hand Azer the drum sticks back before slipping out from behind the set. “Alright, no more danger of me ending up as a human cannonball, guys,” I announce. “Gavin, can you tell me where Lane is?”

  “She’s over at the other house with Amira and Quinn.”

  “Okay then, I’ll go over and say hi. I’ll leave you to your jam session.” I kiss Alexis on the cheek, but he turns his head and kisses me on the lips.

  “See you later,” he murmurs.

  “See you.” I leave the room and head for the house next door. Fortunately, there is no fence between the two properties, because that would mean a detour up and down the respective driveways. You could almost take the car to do that, because it feels like a mile.

  When I reach the front door, I ring the door bell and wait.

  A man with strawberry blond hair opens the door. “Oh hey, Honor. Came to say hi to the ladies?”

  “Yep. Hi, Cedric.”

  He lets me pass. “I’ll take you to them.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Who was that, Ced?” a voice calls.

  “It’s Honor. She came to see the girls, Callum.”

  “Hey, Honor.”

  “Hi, Callum,” I call back, before following Cedric into the living room.

  “Honor!” Lane voices her surprise and gets up to hug me. “What are you doing here?”

  “Oh, the guys are having a jam session, and I didn’t feel like sitting there doing nothing.” I smile at Amira and Quinn. “Hi, ladies.”

  “Hey, Honor,” Quinn says cheerfully.

  Amira greets me as well, and I sit down with them. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything here.”

  Quinn shakes her head. “Not at all. We’re planning our strategy for tonight.”

  I tilt my head and look at her. “What is happening tonight?”

  Lane sighs, looking vaguely annoyed. “The guys want to have a large campfire barbecue in the garden. Draven and Porter are digging a hole so they don’t start a wildfire. Colt and Reese are getting us tree logs to sit on.”

  “And why don’t you sound enthusiastic about that?” I smirk.

  “Well, we’re in charge of the food, so we need to go to the grocery store again. Mrs. Cunnings forgot half of what we need, so we’re writing a new list to make sure that this time we have everything.”

  “I still want marshmallows,” Amira says.

  “I already put those on the list, because you only mentioned them fifteen times.”

  “I’m sorry, but I want to make sure we don’t forget them,” she smirks.

  “So, what do you have in the house now?” I ask, trying to help.

  They list the food items with the help of the sales slip, and I nod a few times.

  “If I’m not delusional, there are marshmallows on this list,” I conclude, puzzled.

  “Really?” Amira asks, taking the slip out of Lane’s hand. “Oh. Right. We have them.”

  “So we only need the meat for the barbecue, right? Gavin wants to be tonight’s arsonist.”

  “You mean, ‘head chef of doom’?” Quinn jokes.

  We write another short grocery list. Then Amira and Lane head out to get the stuff.

  “Alright, now it’s only you and me,” Quinn sighs as she gets up from the couch. “Care to help me prep the food?”

  “Sure, let’s get cooking.” I jump to my feet and follow her into the kitchen.

  Alexis brought his guitar and is strumming it softly, while Callum is beating a laid-back rhythm on an upturned bucket. Amira plays the ukulele. Someone’s always singing, the mood is joyous and peaceful, and I feel very grateful that I’ve been accepted into their circle. I’m even more grateful for the fact that Alexis and I managed to bridge the distance between us.

  We’ve only just started our relationship journey, but I know we’re not going to put it on the line for a few negligible sins. Nobody is perfect, nob
ody does the right thing all the time, but in the end, it’s the mutual attraction and love that counts, not the perfection of one partner or the other.

  “A lot of us have gone through hell, but you know what? We came back; we came back stronger than we ever were. You know why? Because we’re warriors, and warriors fight,” they sing.

  I suppose it’s their new song, the one I’ve heard on the radio a few times over the last few days. I like it a lot. I nod along with the beat, and then I raise my voice to sing the next chorus with them. The mood is really amazing; I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a night quite like this. It’s awesome.

  “Alright, enough with the singing. You can do that when you’re working,” Quinn wraps it up and takes the bucket away from Callum. Then she holds out her hands for Amira’s ukulele and Alexis’s guitar.

  I laugh.

  “This is why I get up every morning. Because she makes me,” Callum explains with a grin. “Oh, wait, or maybe I get up because I have to work.”

  We all burst out laughing.

  “Watch out, or I’ll crown you with this guitar.”

  “Quinn, you can do whatever you want, but leave my guitar out of it. If you hurt her, she’ll cry,” Alexis protests with an amused shake of his head.

  “Don’t even think about using my ukulele,” Amira chimes in.

  “I could bring you my baseball bat if you wanted that,” Draven offers with a smirk.

  “Aluminum or wood?” she wants to know.

  “Aluminum.”

  “Cool. I’ll take that.”

  “Hey!” Callum protests. “I don’t want to be beaten up.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t provoke your girlfriend,” I laugh.

  “I didn’t. I’m just being … charming.”

  Porter clears his throat. “I think you mean honest.”

  He and Cedric high-five each other.

  “No, I don’t,” Callum grumbles.

  “Whatever, I’m putting away the instruments and turning on the stereo. I want to hear something else for a change, so don’t tell me to put on an album of one of your bands,” Quinn admonishes us and disappears.

  “Wow, she’s in a great mood, isn’t she,” Alexis comments with a raised eyebrow.

  “It’s because of the pastry shop she’s trying to open up,” Callum explains. “She’s under a lot of pressure, because nothing works out as planned. I understand her. It’s her big dream about to come true, and then the machines and equipment haven’t been delivered on time.”

  “Oh, that would annoy me, too,” I say commiseratively. “If she needs any help, let me know. I don’t have a lot to do right now.”

  Alexis’s head whips around, and he looks at me with a surprised expression. “You want to work for Quinn’s bakery?”

  “If she needs my help, why not?”

  “She doesn’t. She found two great employees, but they cannot help her with the issues she’s having with the express company,” Callum says. “I think she’ll be much more relaxed again once that has been sorted out.”

  “I thought she was cheerful enough earlier,” I pipe up. “When I helped her prepare the food, she seemed fine.”

  Callum nods. “Then she’s just annoyed that we’re always singing the same songs.”

  I laugh softly. “That’s possible.”

  We hear music from the house; good, old-fashioned pop music.

  “She didn’t just put that on,” Cedric groans.

  “Who is that?”

  “Some obscure 90s band she keeps playing.”

  “It doesn’t have to be rock music all the time,” I counter with a grin.

  Lane slaps her thigh. “Much better dance music than anything you wrote.”

  “It’s all about balance. You were singing and playing your stuff for the last hour and a half, so it’s only fair to put on something different now,” I agree with her. “I’m in the mood to flounder around anyway.”

  “That’s a very fitting word for the way you dance,” Azer laughs.

  I cock my head and smile at him before giving him the finger, and then I wrap it up by blowing him a kiss. “I haven’t seen you dance, asshat.”

  He acts as if he catches the kiss in mid-air and puts it in the back pocket of his jeans. “I’m going to keep that for later.” He winks at me.

  “Watch out that it doesn’t slip out.”

  “Nah, it’ll keep well in my pocket,” he counters.

  “Dude, just don’t fart like a bear again, or I’ll throw you into the fire,” Draven says dryly.

  “Yeah, don’t fart on my kiss, or your ass is going to burn,” I agree with a giggle. I feel silly and free. “Who’s ready to dance?”

  “I’m always ready,” Lane cries, and then Quinn comes back and gives Callum an expectant look.

  “Oh no, I’m not dancing. You know what happened to your feet last time, darling,” he tries to cop out.

  “I can live with that, come on.” She leans down and grabs his hand, pulling him to his feet.

  I look at Alexis. “What about you, Hero?”

  He sighs. “I don’t think I can get around it, can I?” He stands up and takes my hand.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Let’s dance, milady,” he says haughtily.

  I curtsy and giggle, before leaning against him as we leave the circle of light that the campfire provides.

  Alexis leads me into the back of the yard, away from the rest of the gang. “I don’t want to make a fool of myself in front of them.”

  “Okay.” It’s getting darker and darker, but my eyes adjust quickly, and I see the shapes of trees and bushes.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not a sex offender in the woods.” Alexis laughs softly.

  “I don’t know whether that’s a relief or a disappointment.”

  “Twinkie!” he calls out, outraged, obviously missing my kidding.

  I laugh out loud. “Gotcha.”

  He snorts, not even amused by it. “You’ll end up giving me a heart attack one of these days. Stop it with your crazy jokes.”

  “Aww, but I can’t. I’ll take a chance.”

  Alexis pokes me in the ribs. “You’re a real bitch sometimes.”

  “I know.”

  “Alright, we’re alone.” Alexis lets go of me and walks over to a square shape on the ground. It’s a fuse box, and when he pushes a button, the lights in the back part of the large garden come on.

  “And here I thought you were only a part-time romantic,” I breathe, impressed.

  He presses another button, and the music from the house stereo comes from some invisible speakers, but only very softly. “I think I took on some extra shifts to become a full-time romantic.” He comes back and pulls me close. “Or maybe three-quarters, because I need a little time off for my other job,” he murmurs with a smile.

  I put my hand on his shoulder. “I was too harsh, wasn’t I?”

  He studies me, toffee-colored eyes locking with light blue ones. “What do you mean?”

  “When I … when I pushed you away. I think I was too harsh with you.” I lower my eyes, because I feel ashamed that I held it against him that he chose to have fun with someone else.

  “Hey.” He lifts up my chin with his fingers. “We’re only human and we make mistakes, and sometimes it takes a while to realize where we went wrong. I don’t blame you for anything you did, and I’m the one who deserves a lot of blame. To tell you the truth, I’m the one that hurt you, so I couldn’t hold anything you did against you.” He leans down and kisses me. “I love you, and that is the most important thing.”

  “I love you, too, Lex.”

  He kisses me again with more passion. “True love isn’t built on romantic gestures, candlelight dinners, or long walks on the beach. It is built on mutual respect, compromise, taking care of each other, and trust. I trust you with my life. I respect you, and I want to take care of you. And if you ask me, I’m ready for each and any compromise necessary to have you by my side, Twinkie
.”

  My lips curve into a smile.

  “There are seven billion smiles on this earth, but yours is my favorite one,” he murmurs, before kissing me again.

  I put my arms around his neck. I’m so glad that I followed my heart because if I hadn’t gone out on a limp, I would have spent the rest of my life wishing that I had.

  My heart led me to Alexis, a man who loves me with every fiber of his being, a man who would do anything for me. The most amazing man I have ever met.

  And in the end, it is very simple: Three words, ten letters, not hard to prove. He is Alexis.

  What woman wouldn’t have fallen in love with him?

  The End

  Rights and other boring stuff

  The rights for all songs that are named or quoted in this book belong to the respective songwriters, bands, or record companies.

  Brands that are mentioned are also the property of the respective companies.

  The rockband „Downstair Alley“ is purely a product of my imagination.

  Acknowledgments

  Dear readers,

  This is the second book of my „Hamptons series“ and I loved the story of Alexis and Honor, I really hope that you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing this book.

  Thanks for reading this novel!

  I have to thank some persons.

  Lee, thanks for making such a great cover for Alexis, I really love it.

  Mom, thanks for everything, I know that you’re feeling better in heaven. I still miss you and would give everything for one single hug of yours. I’ll never forget you and love you till the end of time.

  To my hubby and my sons, thanks for giving me time to write my stories. I love all of you three, you’re my light and the reason I love every day of my life.

  XOXO

  Drucie

  About the Author

  Drucie Anne Taylor was born 1987 in Cologne, Germany. She completed a degree in retail, which she later ignored due to the birth of her first child. She still lives with her family, a cat and a pygmy rabbit in the city on the Rhine River. She discovered her love of writing in her teenage years, which is why many manuscripts are still hidden in dark, unopened drawers. When she’s not writing, she likes to go to musicals or watch movies of musicals. To the dismay of her family, she often listens to and sings along with the soundtracks for days on end. She just needs a few simple things in order to write: latte macchiato and music or noise, because she finds it impossible to concentrate when it’s absolutely silent.