by Thia Finn
I knew his teasing was all in fun but damn, this was not going to play out well when the real news flashed for everyone in this entourage.
Cash jumped in at that point. “Please tell me you aren’t going to fuel his damn ego. It’s already so big we’ve considered buying another fucking tour bus for it.”
“You have nothing to worry about in that department guys. Why would he give a shit what I think when he’s got the pick of the ladies every night? They’re willing and waiting for the nod to security.”
“Yeah, but you know dipshit bass players. They’re only in line in front of the drummers for getting women. Their wildassness is usually directed straight at KeeMac and Ryan when it comes to hot panties flying through the air. You might be on to something, though, with KeeMac and Ryan officially off the market. Maybe those two bastards should offer Carter up centerstage instead.” Hayden started laughing and Cash joined him. “Like that’s ever gonna happen.”
“Like what’s gonna happen?” his voice cut through the laughter. The gravelly tone I recognized immediately slid through the air and straight to my heart. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up and goosebumps went down my arms. How could he affect me this way after all these years? I’d been kidding myself if I thought he wouldn’t.
I peeked through the strands to see Hayden watching me. What was he expecting me to do, jump up and throw myself at Carter? Start screaming like the girls hanging on the front of the stage? Faint at the sight of him? This wasn’t a 1966 Beatles’ concert. This was a man from my past. I could do this.
I sucked in a deep breath and let it out before turning and looking at Carter. He dug in the fridge for his morning beverage not paying any attention to the fact we’d never met.
“Carter, I don’t believe you’ve met Victory.” Cash took the lead on introductions.
He turned his dark gray eyes to me, and I met them straight on.
“Son-of-a-bitch!” he said in a tone I didn’t quite understand.
“That’s a helluva way to greet someone, Carter,” Cash admonished him.
“That’s a helluva thing to spring on a man first thing in the morning, Cash,” he replied still staring at me.
“What’s going on?” Cash asked him.
“What the fuck, Halo?” Carter threw out.
“Hello, Carter. Long time no see.” Very original, Halo.
“Wait, you know each other?” Cash asked another obvious question.
“Yeah, we do. She’s a blast from the past,” he said it, picked up his bottle, and went back to the bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
“Well, it went better than I expected,” I told the two remaining men.
Hayden walked to the front of the bus where I sat and kneeled beside my chair. “Who’s Halo?”
“Me. My name is Halo Victoria Masters. Everyone offstage calls me Halo.” My voice sounded monotone even to me. I couldn’t muster the energy to have emotions since his acknowledgment took it all out of me. Why would I think he would be happy to see me? He made himself perfectly clear when we parted that he never wanted to see me again.
“Why are you just now telling us you knew him? We could have done some ground work before you met up with him again,” Cash asked from his seat at the table. His tone loud and clear and filled with anger.
“When you first asked me to sing with Hayden, you never said anything about touring with Assured Distraction. If you’ll recall, I hesitated to agree to sing with Hayden. I knew they had some connection, but I never dreamed I would end up traveling with the band until that day in your office. I made up my mind to be all in on this idea of working with Hayden before I came to you. Carter could suck it up. I told myself I’d give this music thing two years of my life, and I intend to. Two years is nothing in the music world so I figured if I made something happen in that short of time, then it was meant to be, and here I am.”
“This could be a problem.” Cash started to pace up and down the aisle. “Carter could put a halt to this before it ever gets started. You had to know that, Victory. Or is it Halo?”
“Doesn’t matter if I’m not staying does it?” I snapped back at him.
“Now wait. No one said anything about you leaving yet.” I could see the wheels turning in Cash’s head. “We’ll need to see what he says.”
“I didn’t realize 13 Recordings had Carter Sheridan as CEO.” I continued to snap out comments that probably didn’t help my case.
“No, he doesn’t, but AD is one of our biggest investments so naturally, we tend to cater to them more than others.”
I couldn’t gather my thoughts fast enough for another comeback. I should’ve known it would be this way. They made the studio millions of dollars. I made them nothing. Hell, I was collateral at this point. Who was I to think they would consider giving me this chance if he said no? Clearly, he would be saying no.
Chapter Twelve
The fucking shock I felt hurt all over me. I didn’t need to wake up that way after the night I’d had. Hell, to be on the bus fucking strange women with Halo lying in the bunk twenty feet away made it even worse. How could this happen?
She did this. She plotted this from the beginning starting with changing her name. She never used Victoria; she hated the name. And Victory, that’s just wrong. Who the hell chose a name like Victory for the stage? Yeah, my ex did, that’s who.
It could’ve been avoided if she’d allowed me in Cash’s office the first day. Nice how she hid from me all this time, too. Everyone’s met her but me. Wasn’t that convenient for her the morning in the hotel? Shit. The hotel. She stayed in the next room in the fucking hotel, too. Did she plan to cockblock me in all of these places or something? I showed her, though. We had a kickass good time that night.
Serves her right. She should’ve come clean to everyone from the beginning. She deserves all the heartache this is going to cause her. She’s not staying on this bus or opening for AD. That shit’s not going to happen. The label will bend on this one. Cash’ll understand and make the cut before I have to take it to the label. This is my fucking label, and she sure as hell is not welcome here.
I spent too long feeling guilty over how we parted. It took me months to be able to look at another woman and not feel like a damn dog for cheating, even though I wasn’t. Now, she’s waltzed in here and established herself with a spot right under my nose. Nope, not gonna happen. She’s gone at the first possible exit. Until then, I’d stay on the other bus. Damn, my fucking head pounded worse than my heart did. I covered my eyes with the night blinders and put the pillow over my head.
When I woke, the bus no longer rolled. After tossing and turning, I finally drifted off into a fitful sleep. Sleeping proved to be a bad idea because seeing her sitting there did nothing but conjure up dreams. I knew in my heart I did the right thing by ending it before I left, but it almost killed me. Temptation on the road for a kid my age back then would’ve destroyed us, and I didn’t want to be that guy. My dream of one of our last nights together replayed in my mind.
Eight Years Ago
I took her out on the little bit of money I’d made from the gig the weekend before. I’d saved all of it so it could be a special night for her. After eating pizza at our favorite place, I took her to the pond on the back of our neighbor’s property. The spot held magic for us both. We went there to be alone since most kids knew nothing of it.
“Come on, I want to show you something.” I dragged her out of the front seat of my truck.
“It’s still too cold to swim, and I’m dressed up.”
“We aren’t going swimming, crazy girl. You look too beautiful to mess up.” I tucked her into my side, and we moved toward the tree line by the pond. The trees blocked the moonlight from the half moon shining down, but the glow from the flashlight I brought captured her sandaled feet and tanned legs from the bottom of her flowered sundress. Tanning in the hot Texas sun at all the fun places around Austin left her with a golden brown hue on her skin.
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nbsp; We reached the spot I’d set up for us earlier in the day. I reached down and flipped on the little camp light she’d given me earlier in the year. I hung it on the nail I’d put in the tree slightly above our heads. It lit the area of the blanket with a soft hue. Her stunning face had a warm glow capturing my attention.
I set this same scene before on the night she decided she wanted to gift me her virginity. It still stood out in my mind as the best night of my life. I hoped tonight would be equally great, but the guilt in the back of my mind of what I planned to do in a few days held me back.
“Feeling the need to get lucky, Carter?” She laughed as she ditched her sandals and sat down.
“I’m already lucky, Halo. I have you.” I laid down on my back beside her.
“Awe, cheesy much?” She poked me in the chest.
“No, babe. It’s the truth. You’ve been one of the best things to come into my life.”
“One of the best?” She laid down on her side and turned to look at me propping up on one elbow. The vanilla fragrance floated softly toward me. I’d know Halo without opening my eyes from that scent.
I took her free hand and pulled it to my mouth kissing her palm. “Yeah, you and the band.”
“The band? Uh huh? I see where I rate.” I knew she liked fucking with me about the band. It was my life and had been since before her. We never fought over it because it was a given when we started dating. The band came first until we made it big.
“You always rate with me, little darling.” I pulled her over and kissed her softly. “You know that.”
“I know,” she said as she crawled on top and laid her head on my chest. “I know.”
“And you also know that you’re making me horny lying on me like this, right?”
“You mean hornier ‘cause when are you not? I’m feeling it loud and clear down there.” Her light laugh and comment made me smile.
“Hey, what can I say, I’m a normal teenage guy.” I wrapped my hands around her ass cheeks and ground her into my boner that my zipper left a permanent pattern on.
She sat up, straddling me and pulled the hem of her sundress over her head. A frilly bra with no straps kept my hands off her beautiful tits. “Girl, why’d you even bother with this damn thing?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because it’s pretty, and I like feeling pretty. I also know it drives you wild wondering what you’re going to find.”
“That’s for damn sure. You always surprise me when I get your clothes off.”
“Isn’t that the point? Keep you guessing?” She winked at me. Winked! The little minx.
I pulled her down and kissed her hard. She opened her mouth, and my tongue dueled for control over hers. She sucked mine deep in her warm mouth when I ran my fingers around the top of the bra but didn’t undo as she expected. I slowly ran my index fingers from the back hooks all the way around her until I got to the swell of each luscious mound. I teased her skin while I continued to kiss her causing her skin to react and spread goosebumps of anticipation. I dipped two fingers down inside the cups. I knew those sweet pink nipples would be standing at attention. I squeezed the stiff peaks between my index and middle finger just hard enough to hear her moan. I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I reached around and popped the hooks apart with one hand and threw the lacy garment aside.
Her perky tits laid out for the taking, so I raised up and circled one nipple with a stiff tongue until it was wet and then blew a warm breath on it. She did the grinding this time.
“That’s not all that’s stiff, babe.” This caused her to thrust her hips so she would move up and down the length of my suffering cock a few times before she rotated those hips around and around on me.
“I think someone’s ready to come out and play, Carter.” I slid her forward, and I sucked the other peak in my mouth softly biting it, keeping just enough pressure with my teeth for her to feel a slight amount of pain.
Her pain turned to pleasure as she undid the button of my shorts and lowered the zipper. It felt so good to get that tight pressure off me. She pushed at the sides trying to free me of them so I lifted my hips and let her have her way, kicking them off my bare feet. The warm night air caused a sheen of sweat to form on our skin everywhere we touched.
“Still got a problem here, Halo.” I tugged at the sides of her minuscule panties.
“Don’t tear these off like you did the last ones. They’re too…” the sides popped.
“Too late. Sorry, I’ll pay for them.” I slid the remainder of the silky material from her body.
“No, you’re not sorry one bit! I think you take great pride in tearing my undies off me.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, you’re right. I do. But, I think you secretly like it, too.” I laid back down taking her with me kissing her before she could continue her little tirade of pretending anger.
I rolled over placing her under me and looked down at her. “You’re so beautiful, Halo. Your face.” I kissed her. “Your body.” I raised off her and looked down. I kissed her. “Your mind.” I kissed her forehead. “Your heart.” I kissed the area on her chest above her heart. “I love everything about you, babe.”
She wrapped her legs around my waist digging her heels into my ass and pulled me tightly into her core. “Then make love to me, Carter.”
I sucked her bottom lip into my mouth wrapping an arm around her leg and finding paradise. Her special honey waited patiently for me as I traced my finger along the crease. Dragging it up to find a swollen nub demanding my attention, my finger circled it before giving it a couple of light taps. Her thighs clinched tighter around my waist, and I knew she was already close. Damn, I loved this girl. Her response always ready to give me more than I deserved, especially tonight.
I forced my mind away from the slippery slope it headed for. I never wanted to discuss leaving. Knowing it would probably be our last time together, I needed this moment to be perfect before we had the talk. She deserved no less than the best. Her only mistake, falling for a guy like me. Our time together learning, exploring, and falling into a special love head first, meant our parting would be even more difficult than I ever imagined.
I pulled her pebbled nipple into my mouth as my steel cock slid up and down from where her crease began and ended. Running it over her back entrance, I teased her by rubbing some precum around it. This always got a loud no, but I only did it to excite her. She wasn’t ready for that, and sadness hit my heart realizing I wouldn’t be the one to have her there.
As my lips circled the other stiff peak, I slowly worked into the heated entrance that begged for the taking. Only the head breached her tight pussy as she sucked in a breath. Her taut body harbored tight muscles everywhere, and this spot was no exception. The feeling for me started out as my heaven but it took some work to get her to that point, too.
With her on the pill and us being exclusive for a year now, we let the condoms go after a couple of months. I wouldn’t dream of jeopardizing her trust in me by cheating with another girl, even if having sex didn’t exist.
“Damn, Halo. I swear each time it feels tighter. I fucking love it.” I pushed in further, and she bit down on the skin of my collarbone. The sting made me want to drive in her, but I held back. Her thoughts were different from mine, and she grabbed my ass and pulled me into the hilt in one move.
“Babe, I don’t want to hurt you. Why’d you do that?” I looked into intoxicating violet eyes for her reaction.
“I need you, Carter. I want to feel you. All of you. Now.”
Who was I to question her motives? If she wanted it hard, even after asking me to make love to her, I was more than happy to go there.
“Hard, huh?”
She nodded with a seductive grin. That’s all the encouragement I needed. I raised up and sat back on my calves pulling her body up to meet me as I began to move in and out of her in a forceful rapid movement. I wrapped my hands around her hips and watched as my cock set a rhythm with a pounding motion as I raised
and lowered her to me. Her muscles began to spasm around me, so I moved one hand to her clit to add to the friction.
“Oh, God, Carter. Yes, just like that. Just like that. Don’t stop. Don’t stop.” A rush of fresh liquid came from her as she gripped my cock in a vice hold. I didn’t want this to end, but I couldn’t help myself. It felt so good and so right. I exploded before she came down from her own release obviously extending hers if the noises and cries were an indication.
Several hard thrusts later I stopped the onslaught of thrusts, our bodies spent from the eruption of our pleasure. I laid over on her and enjoyed the comfort of her softness for a few minutes. Raising up on one elbow, I looked down at her and watched the tears slid down the sides from her closed eyes.
She knew our plans. I hadn’t kept the preparations from her. We never spoke of what would happen, only that the band planned on hitting the road. Her tears broke me to pieces on the few times I caused them over our time together. Tonight I hated being the son-of-a-bitch causing it.
I rolled off her finally losing the close connection from being inside her. “Please don’t cry, babe. Please?”
“Sorry, I know I’m being stupid about this. I’ve known all along what was coming.” She grabbed her dress and pulled it over her head, then wiped the remainder of the tears away. I watched as the shield she built around her heart erected itself. She held her head up and looked at me. “Guess we better get back to town before my dad gets the sheriff out looking for us. His baby out with a rock and roll bad boy might lead to trouble.” She picked up the remainder of her panties and laughed. “He’s too late, huh?”
I couldn’t take on her faked happiness. “Sure, if that’s what you want to do.”
“It’s not what I want, Carter.” She turned and her face said everything I never wanted to hear.