by Megan Lowe
I smile at my sisters. “What about you, Kn?” Quinn asks.
“I’d like to get into producing. I loved doing it for No Place. It was an incredible experience to actually get to shape the music, not just play it how I’ve been told to play it. I think, for the first time, I actually felt like an artist, a true artist, not just a robot. I’d like to do more of that, and maybe if this one,”—I elbow Cole—“plays his cards right, a kid or two.”
“Really?” he asks, his eyes wide.
I nod. “A son for you to teach how to ride a bike.”
“A daughter you can sing to at night.”
“Just have one of each,” Blake says, and everyone laughs.
“So this is it?” I ask, looking at the girls I’ve been through everything with. “The end?”
“I don’t know if it’s the end. If we want to do something later on down the track and everyone agrees, then it’s a possibility,” Ashton says. “But for now we’re taking a break, learning how to be.” Everyone nods.
“And Mum?” I ask.
“She needs her own life,” Sloane says.
“Do we keep her as our manager?”
“I say no,” Blake says. “It might feel like we’re pulling the rug out from underneath her, but it’ll force her to let go. If she continues to manage our affairs, you know she’ll keep saying yes to stuff we can’t or don’t want to do. There’s no way she’ll accept us taking a break, but if she has no say, then she has to.” I look at my other sisters and they’re all nodding.
“Okay.”
“So who tells her?” Quinn asks, biting her lip.
“I will,” I say. “She’s already pissed at me. No use anyone else incurring her wrath.”
“Kn,” Cole starts.
I turn to him and cup his cheek. “No hiding, remember? I need to face her, to stand up to her, so I will.”
“I’ll be here,” he says, and turns his head to kiss my palm.
I smile. “I know you will.”
“And on that note,” Sloane says, getting up. The others follow and we all hug.
“I’m so proud of you, Knley,” Ashton says, and tears spring to my eyes.
“Thanks,” I croak.
She smiles. “I’ll see ya round. Bye, Cole.” She waves and is out the door. The others soon follow.
“Wow!” I say as I flop on the couch.
“That was...,” Cole begins.
“Insane, intense,” I supply.
“Surprising,” he finishes.
“You thought they’d flip too?”
“I don’t know what I thought, but whatever it was, it wasn’t anything close to what just happened.”
“I get what you mean. I hoped, but never in my wildest dreams did I think they’d be so okay with what I said.”
“Your mother has controlled your lives for a long time. Not just yours, but your sisters’ as well. If you were feeling stifled, it’s not such a leap to think they were feeling something similar too.”
“Hmm.” I move so I’m leaning against his shoulder. He moves so I’m in between his legs, my back to his front.
“So did you mean what you said?” he asks after a while.
“About what?”
“About us having kids.”
I turn to face him. His blue eyes are full of hope. I nod shyly.
“When?” he asks, and I know he can barely contain his excitement. I can feel it pressing against me.
I shrug. “Now seems like a good time.”
Cole raises an eyebrow.
“I mean,” I say as I kneel and run a finger along the neckline of his shirt, “it’s such a hardship for me to see you naked, what with the tattoos, the six-pack abs, corded muscles, and magical hands.”
“Just my hands?” he asks as I trail my finger down the centre of his chest to his belt buckle.
“Hmm.” I pretend to consider. “I suppose some of your other body parts are pretty special too.”
“Just special?” he asks as he grabs my hips and pulls me over his aforementioned excitement.
I moan as I grind down on him.
He stills my hips. “I was enjoying that,” I say, annoyed.
He smirks. “I know you were, love, but you didn’t answer my question.”
I try to move, but he’s got me tight. “Fine, they’re more than special.”
“What are, love?” The smirk is still on his face, so I know he’s enjoying this.
“Your body parts.”
“Which ones in particular?”
“All of them,” I huff.
“Be specific.” He thrusts his hips into me. I moan again.
“Your tongue.” He thrusts again.
“What else?”
“Cole,” I whine, beyond frustrated.
“Answer the question, love.”
“You’re such a savage.”
“I know, and guess what?”
“What?”
“You’re married to me. There’s no getting rid of me now.”
“I can still divorce your arse.”
“Ah, but then you’d be without my....” He trails off as he thrusts into me again, this time pulling down on my hips so I grind against him.
“Your cock! Okay, your magical, wonderful, extremely talented cock. Is that what you want to hear?”
His smirk turns victorious. “Yes it is, and it’s what you’re going to get.” He yanks my tank top over my head, pulling down the cups of my bra and taking a nipple into his mouth.
“Oh fuck!” I yelp as pleasure flows through my body.
Cole looks up at me, a cheesy grin on his face. He releases my breast with a pop. “I hear these’ll get bigger when you’re pregnant.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask. “Is that the only reason you want to knock me up?”
He shakes his head. “That’s just a very pleasant side effect.”
“Savage,” I mutter as he undoes my bra and goes back to my breast—the other one this time.
“Mmm,” I moan, my hips grinding so much it’s a wonder I don’t start a fire from the friction I’m creating.
My hands are on Cole’s shoulders, and when he sucks particularly hard, I scramble for purchase, but don’t find it because of his shirt. I reach for the hem and begin to pull it up his body. He releases me long enough to pull it over his head before going back to my breast.
“Cole,” I moan.
His hands travel down to my jeans and undo them, and we work to get them and my panties off. I manage to undo his and they, along with his boxers, join the pile of clothes on the floor. Cole strokes his erection, a bead of precum gathering at the tip. I lick my lips at the sight.
“You want this?” he asks.
I nod.
“You want to make a baby with me?”
I nod. “I—” It comes out as a croak, and I clear my throat. “I’d love to carry your child,” I tell him.
“You are so amazing, McKnley Matthews, and you’re going to be a terrific mum.”
I smile. “I love you, Cole Matthews,” I say before leaning over to kiss him. He returns the kiss with passion before grabbing my hips and positioning me over him.
“You ready for this, love?”
I nod and slide down on him.
“Oh fuck,” Cole curses, and I’m right there with him. It feels so good to be skin to skin with him.
We begin moving in a frenzy, each of us desperate for our release.
“Fuck, Kn,” Cole pants. He begins pounding into me with a vengeance, and it’s not long before I’m coming hard around him, triggering his own orgasm. I collapse on his chest.
“Damn,” Cole says, brushing my hair back off my face.
“Uh-huh,” I agree.
“I didn’t think it could get better.”
“If that’s what happens when you’re proven wrong….”
“I’m all for it,” he says, and I giggle.
“I like making babies with you.”
He pulls back to look at me. “Y
ou think it took?”
I shrug. “Who knows? But if it doesn’t, do you mind trying again?”
“Fuck no.” I giggle again. “In fact,” he says, thrusting his still hard cock deeper into me, “I think we should do it again, just in case.”
When Cole was sufficiently satisfied with our efforts for the night, he let us fall into an exhausted sleep. Unfortunately, it didn’t last nearly long enough.
I crack an eye open to check the time. The clock beside the bed reads 12:30. The banging that woke me up continues. I roll over to look at Cole and find him dead to the world, with an arm wrapped around my waist. He’s so beautiful when he’s asleep, so relaxed and carefree. The banging continues, and I know it can’t be ignored. I quickly give Cole a kiss and get up, throwing on my dressing gown as I sweep downstairs to the front door.
“It’s about time,” my mother hisses as I open it.
“Forgive me for keeping you waiting, but it’s twelve thirty in the fucking morning. My husband and I were asleep.”
“Don’t call him that,” she says as she pushes past me, heading to the kitchen.
“What? My husband? Because that’s what he is.” I hold up my hand to show the rings Cole put there. A black diamond solitaire engagement ring Cole gave me a few weeks after we got engaged and a diamond-studded wedding band.
“You’re a fool. You’ve thrown your life away.”
I shake my head. “I didn’t throw it away. I joined mine with his.”
“For what? A life in that backwards town he lives in? He’ll have you barefoot, pregnant, and stuck in the kitchen before you know it.”
“I don’t know about barefoot or stuck in the kitchen, but God willing we’re already pregnant.”
My mother gasps as if I’d hit her. “You’re already trying for a baby?”
“It’s what married couples do, isn’t it? They love each other so much they want to make a physical representation of their love?”
“But your career!”
“My career can survive a baby. Besides, the girls and I have decided we want to take a break from Places.”
She shakes her head. “No, I won’t allow it.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“I’m still your manager.”
“Not anymore. In addition to deciding to take a break, we decided new management is also necessary.” My mother stumbles and holds a hand to her chest.
“Come on.” I grab her and guide her to a seat at the table. “Look,” I say gently, “this isn’t the end of Places. We just want some time to do our own things for a while. We’ve been doing this for a long time, but we’re all grown women now. We want different things than we did when all of this started.”
“You’re all ungrateful, spoiled brats,” she hisses.
“We’re not ungrateful, quite the opposite actually. We’re all incredibly grateful for everything you’ve done for us, but it’s time we stepped out on our own. It’s time for you to do that too.”
“And just what exactly am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. What do you want to do? For thirty-two years you’ve been putting your daughters first. Surely there must be something you wanted to do just for you.”
“I didn’t have that luxury,” she snaps. “I met your father and within three months I found myself pregnant at sixteen! I didn’t get to have a life. I had a husband and a baby to take care of. That was my duty.”
“What would you have done if that hadn’t happened?”
“It doesn’t matter. That time is gone, and now all I’m left with is five ungrateful daughters who are dismantling everything I worked so hard to build.”
I sigh. “We’re not dismantling it. We’re just pressing Pause.”
“And leaving your hard-suffering mother in the dust.”
“You know what?” I say, my anger building. “Yeah, we are leaving you in the dust. Sure, you may have worked your arse off for us, and despite what you want to believe, we are grateful for that, but you’ve never, not once, asked us what we wanted. All of this was for you. This is what you wanted for us.”
“And you loved every minute of it. Where would you be without it?”
“You’re right, we did love it, to start, and then you kept pushing and pushing, forcing us to be people we weren’t, telling us we couldn’t record certain songs because it didn’t fit our sound, couldn’t hang around with different people because it didn’t fit our image. What initially was about five sisters making music became about what you wanted. We never figured into it. The only thing we’ve ever done for ourselves was this EP, and even then it was a shitfight.” I take a breath. “We love being in a band, but that’s not all we are. We’re more than Places. We’re five individuals with very different needs and desires.”
“I knew those bikers were no good for you. Look at what they’ve done. They started all of this.”
What? Who’s they? “What do you mean by they?”
“That piece of garbage you married, and Ashton’s boy, whatever his name is, Garden or something.”
“Park? You’re talking about Parker Ryan?”
“Whatever. I managed to unhook his claws. I obviously underestimated yours, though.”
“You broke up Parker and Ashton?” I’m in shock.
“I did what was necessary to keep my daughter’s focus. Do you think she ever would’ve gone along with this path if she were with him? He was a dead end for her, just like yours is for you.”
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“And I can’t believe my own daughter went on national television and humiliated me.”
I sigh. “That wasn’t my intention at all. All I, all we, as in Cole and I, were trying to do was get our side of the story out. For so long you’ve bashed him in the media, and with your stunt when you found out we were getting married,”—she goes to interrupt and I hold up my hand—“we know it was you and there is nothing you can say to justify your actions. We needed to do something. It was either an interview or a defamation suit. I’m sorry if you felt humiliated, but take a minute to consider how I felt. You sent a photographer you knew to be overly aggressive to photograph Cole and me on a night out. You knew he’d provoke Cole, and I ended up with a broken arm. Then you created a campaign against him, accusing him of domestic violence. What you said was defamatory. Cole could have your arse. You’re lucky he didn’t sue. Lord knows I would have. An interview is better, don’t you think?”
“I was right about that. He broke your arm!” she says, ignoring my question.
“No he didn’t!” I shout. “The photographer you hired pushed him and in turn me. If that wasn’t enough for you, look what happened when you leaked that Cole and I were getting married. I ended up in hospital again, this time with a bad concussion. All so you could say ‘poor me, my daughter hates me so much I wasn’t even invited to her wedding.’”
“So you admit you hate me.”
“I don’t hate you,” I say, my voice softening. “You’re my mother and I could never hate you, but I hate what you do, all the playing up to the media. It sucks. I have zero privacy, no freedom to live my life.”
“Your life is on tour, the same as your sisters.”
“No. My life is with Cole, it’s doing things I want to do, the girls too.”
My mother shakes her head. “No, I won’t allow it. This is not happening.”
“It’s too late,” I tell her. “It’s already happened.”
“Things can be undone.”
“Not these things. Come on, Mum, don’t you want your daughters to be happy?”
“You were happy.”
“I’ve just told you we weren’t. If you paid attention, you would’ve seen we tried to tell you long before now.”
“So that’s it, it’s over? Done?”
“As far as Places and you, yes, but in terms of mother and daughters? Never.”
“And that’s supposed to keep me warm at night?”
“Yes,
it is. I’m sorry if it’s not enough.”
She huffs and gets up. “Well, you got what you wanted. I hope you’re pleased with yourself.”
“It wasn’t like that,” I say, getting up too.
“Don’t fool yourself, McKnley, it was all for you. It’s always about you.” With that, she walks out the door.
“So that went well,” Cole says. I turn and see him sitting on the stairs.
I blow out a breath. “We knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.”
“You think she’s going to let this go?” he asks as he stands, walks to me, and engulfs me in his arms.
I cling to him and the sense of safety I have in his arms. “I don’t know. I’d like to think so, but realistically probably not.”
“I’m sorry, love.” He kisses the top of my head.
“I am, but I’m not. I’m sorry she can’t accept what we want to do and that we had to do it this way, but I’ll never be sorry that doing all this led me to this moment right now, with my husband wrapped around me and possibly our baby in my belly.”
He hugs me tighter. “It’ll be okay.”
Booker rocks again
It’s that time again, Mongers! The Rocking Racers gala is happening tonight and we’ll be there covering all the goss to keep you in the know.
Top of our interview list includes newlyweds (you can still call them that after two months, right?) Cole and McKnley Matthews, and quadruple Extreme Games gold medallist and our current Ryan Racing crush, Maverick Ryan.
What’s on the cards for the Matthewses now?
Will we be hearing the pitter-patter of little feet?
What about Places, is there new music in the works?
What’s life like trackside?
As for Mav, our chief concern is, of course, is he single?
What does he look for in a woman?
How does it feel to be a quadruple gold medallist?
Are they heavy?
Does he wear them around the house? Without a shirt? Can we see pictures?
We’ll have all this and more, Mongers. Stay tuned!
Chapter Thirty-Four
Knley
In the end, my mother didn’t go quietly. Did you really expect her to? She visited each of my sisters trying to guilt them into getting Places back together, with her as manager of course. When that didn’t work, she went to the media. She got some traction, but not as much as she could have had it not been for Cole and my interview and the subsequent hiring of Bria and Frank as Places’ managerial team. In the two months since then, my mother’s been quiet, busy working with a new project of her own, a reality TV show/competition thing. I think it’s supposed to be like a cross between Keeping up with the Kardashians and The X Factor.