Serenade Me: A Rockstar Romance (Rock Chamber Boys Book 3)

by Daisy Allen

  It’s breathtaking.

  “Fuck.” I hear Hank, Sebastian’s assistant and nephew whisper next to me, almost reverently.

  “Yeah,” is all I can say in response. Fuck.

  “SING IT, BITCHESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I hear Jez’s voice wash over the crowd as they come to end of the song, and there’s a collective breath before everyone joins together to scream the lines of the well-known chorus as the band plays one final epic note.

  And it’s over.

  The stage falls instantly dark and the guys run off the stage to the sound of deafening cheers.

  I move back to let them through, and Marius passes me, giving me a sneaky wink. I feel a blush come over me, and I swallow the urge to grin like a giddy school girl back at him.

  The inevitable calls for an encore thunder and shudder every inch of the hall.

  The guys huddle as they have the same conversation they have every night – who’s going on for the encore and what are they going to play.

  Marius turns back towards me for a moment and his face transforms into a slow grin.

  Oh. No.

  I shake my head and mouth “Hell, no.”

  But he doesn’t listen.

  “Hey guys, how ‘bout Anca?” He utters the words I’m dreading.

  “You wanna do it, lil sis?” Jez turns to me, his face questioning.

  “Er, no.” I respond instantly, with a shake of my head.

  “Sure you do,” Marius insists, holding my gaze. There’s something in his face that’s so earnest, so believing in me that suddenly I’m not that sure I want to refuse. He gives me a small nod, encouraging me. And suddenly, all I want is to please him.

  “What would I play?”

  “Anything you want!” Marius exclaims, seeing my resolve crumbling as he comes over to give my arm a squeeze.

  “But…” I start, not sure if there is any protest left inside me.

  “You can play anything you want!” Sebastian joins in, his face drenched in sweat as he gulps down half a bottle of water.

  “But… I don’t want to go alone.” You can’t do it, the taunting voice whispers, and I shake my head, getting rid of it. Fuck you, I can.

  “Take Marius!” Sebastian offers.

  “W-will you…?” I ask him, suddenly shy.

  He nods before breaking out into a grin. “Of course. You take the lead, and I’ll follow. Just… you know. Nothing too obscure, I was raised on elementary Mozart and the Backstreet Boys.” He jokes, and I know it’s to calm my nerves.

  I hesitate for one last moment. What am I doing? This isn’t something we practiced. I’m not sure I can do off the cuff like they do, I just don’t have the experience. What if I freeze again? I can’t hide if it’s just the two of us. Then I feel a hand on my shoulder, and his eyes on me.

  Breathe, Marius mouths. And I do.

  Then the stomping and cheering and calls from the crowd for more get to me and I feel a grin spread over my face.

  “She’s going to do it,” I hear my brother whisper to Brad, nudging him with his elbow. “I know that look.”

  I throw Jez a grin and lean over and give him a kiss on the cheek.

  “Told ya,” he says smugly, and squeezes my hot cheek.

  “Let’s go!!” I grab Marius’s arm and pull him out onto the stage with me to the sound of whoops from the band trailing behind us, fading into the noise.

  It’s still completely dark and Marius leads me to my harp, still set up on stage.

  “Breathe, babe. You got this. Remember, just breathe.” His voice is suddenly right there in my ear, so close it feels like he’s in my brain.

  In the dark I push back, and my back meets his chest, warm, strong.

  He leans in and grazes his lips against the back of my neck and I shiver.

  And pray that I don’t give in to my strongest temptation right now – turning around and begging him to take me, right here, right now. I’ve never felt more alive than in this moment.

  “Hmmm, you smell so sweet,” he whispers into my ear and again, I forget that beyond the end of the stage, is a crowd waiting for us.

  “Shhhhhh, don’t get me started,” I whisper as I feel around for my harp stool and sink down onto it.

  “Oh baby, we’ve only just begun,” he retorts, just as the stage lights flicker back into life, showering us in a warm, orange hue.

  I run my fingertip over the smooth wood grain of my harp, as I always do, a quiet moment of communion with my instrument before I play.

  My fingers know what to do seconds before it even occurs to me.

  The first few notes ring out and Marius catches my eyes and gives me a look much like the one he gave me just a few hours ago, just before he slid inside me.

  I grin back at him. I thought he’d like my song choice.

  And on this stage with thousands of eyes watching us, he mouths the words along to our music, “Let’s get it on, sugahhhh, let’s get it on.”

  I throw my head back and laugh, unable to remember the last time I felt so free.

  ***

  “Fuck, that was hotttttttttt,” Brad comes over, holding his hand up for a high five as Marius ushers me off the stage at the end of our encore.

  I reach up and slap my hand against his, and he pulls it back, shaking it while making a hissing noise.

  “Yowww! Still smoldering!” he says and gives me a wink.

  All I can do is giggle in response, the adrenalin high from the show’s final performance lifting me off my feet and I feel like I’m hovering a few feet above the ground looking down at myself.

  “Yeah, I hope Butter was listening… save me having to put on my moves to seduce her tonight!’ he says, referring to his fiancée by her nickname.

  “I can hear her sigh of relief from here, fartbag,” Jez comes up behind him, slapping him across the head.

  “Hey, Emily loves my sexy man moves,” Brad protests and wiggles his butt back against Jez who gives out a cry of horror then winks at me as he reaches around and gives Brad’s chest a squeeze.

  “OI! HANDS OFF THE GOODS!” Brad screams, pushing Jez away, covering his chest protectively as he runs down the hall.

  Jez pats me on the back as I choke on my laughter.

  “Easy, sis. Easy now, can’t have our new star performer dying on us after that killer performance.”

  “Oh my god, Jez, did you hear me? I did it! It was so incredible. I mean this is my third concert with you guys, but being out there during that encore, taking the lead. Oh my god! THIS IS SO MUCH FUN! I wanna go out again!!” I grab my brother’s arm, babbling a mile a minute as he laughs at my excitement.

  “Yes, I did hear you AND see you, sis. I was standing right there. Proud as fucking punch.”

  “I did it!” I yell again, a reminder to myself. And to any doubts that insist on lingering.

  “Ha ha, yes, you did. I think you’ve kicked this stage fright thing for good.”

  The reminder of the fear, and the cause behind it, pokes at the edges of my brain, but I push it back, shaking my head at the darkness and it dissipates.

  “Yeah. I hope so. I can’t believe it was just… days ago, that the thought of being in front of all those people would have me frozen to the spot. And now…” I sigh, letting the feeling, the rush of the performance wash over me again. I feel the blood pound in my ears all over again and I jump up, squealing in my brother’s ear as loud as I can “SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

  “OW! Anca! You just set like three car alarms off in the parking lot!”

  “I can’t help it, I’m just…”

  “You did good, baby sis. You did good.” Jez wraps me up into one of his big brother hugs and I remember that this wouldn’t have been possible without him.

  “Thanks, big bro.”

  “No problem, Anca. No problem at all.”

  “Hey, is this group hug just for Romanian music prodigies or can anyone join in?” Seb’s voice pipes up behind us. Jez pulls away from me and grins at the r
est of the band coming up to us.

  “Yeah, it’s only for people who can’t kill buffalos with their cheese breath.”

  Sebastian’s face instantly falls and he holds his hand up to his mouth, puffing into it. Then he suddenly leaps forward and grab Jez’s face and lands a kiss right on him. Jez growls and drops to the ground and the other two guys jump on top of them, a giant dogpile of the best fusion classical rock string groups in the world.

  “Anca! Help me! Don’t let them take me or else you’ll be an orphan brother-less harpist!”

  His helplessness makes me laugh even harder. “Don’t worry. Jezzy! I’m coming for you, bro!” I yell as I take a running leap and land smack bang, right on top of the wriggling pile.

  ***

  “Is it always like that?” I pant through breaths, as I roll over and rest my head on Marius’s damp chest. Somehow, we’ve ended up here again. Naked in my bed, post-mindblowing orgasm.

  “I would hope it’s only going to get better, baby,” he whispers as he wraps his arms around me, still struggling for his own breath.

  “Not the sex! The performing.”

  He takes a moment, and it’s something I’m coming to admire about him. As good at the class clown as he can be, he always takes a moment to really consider my questions when he knows it’s important.

  “It’s pretty fucking awesome. It’s… it’s life giving,” he says. “But tonight was special.”

  “It was?”

  “Yes, you wriggling, naked wench.”

  “Why?” I want to hear him say it.

  “You know why…”

  “Say it.”

  “Because there was a gorgeous, sexy, beautiful siren right there…”

  “Aw, Mariu-…”

  “…in the front row, flashing her tits at me.”

  “BASTARD!” I yell at him, punching him on the arm before gathering up the sheet and rolling over to the end of the bed.

  He laughs and tugs on the end of the sheet as I try to scramble away, pulling me back into his arms. I pound on his chest with my fists, trying to ignore how his muscles ripple under my hands.

  “Hey, shhh shhh, you didn’t let me finish.”

  “Oh, I beg to differ, you seemed to enjoy your ‘finish’ quite well.”

  “Now who’s the sex addict.”

  I purr and settle back into his hold.

  “I was going to say that it was special, because playing for someone has always been thrilling, but creating with someone, having that person become a part of, intertwined with the music I’m creating, has given me a whole new perspective. We’re giving birth to a musical moment in time that can never be re-created, babe. There’s nothing like it. There’s no one like you.”

  I let his words penetrate every inch of my brain.

  Then I lift the bedsheet up over our heads.

  “What are you doing?” He turns to me under the muted light filtering through the sheet.

  “I’m flashing my tits at you, you romantic scro-bag.”

  “Oh my, well, it’s a little too dark under here, I’m going to need to get a better look,” he murmurs against my neck before sliding his way down my body, his tongue sliding its way between my breasts as his fingers gently find their way inside me, my moans filling the fort we’ve built under the sheet.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Marius

  I wasn’t lying when I told her how performing with her last night had changed me.

  Well, not completely lying.

  Withholding truth, maybe.

  Withholding just how much it had changed me.

  Withholding just how much my whole life had changed since she’d come (back) into it.

  Withholding just how much I knew it was wrong to be lusting after my bandmate and best friend’s sister.

  Withholding just how much I feared that I was going to go back to living the life I lived when she would inevitably have to leave it.

  ***

  “Anca,” I whisper her name a few hours later, my voice muffled against the mass of her curls brushing my lips.

  “Mmmgnightsleepsleeptimehmmmm,” she mumbles back.

  “Sleep sleep time later. Motorcycle ride time now.”

  Her steady breathing stops for a moment and her eyes flicker open.

  “Did you just say ‘motorcycle?’” she mumbles.

  I grin at her, knowing I’ve got her. Underneath that demure exterior is a daredevil.

  “Come on, snoring beauty,” I tease as I nibble on her ear.

  “I don’t snore!” She protests, pulling herself away from me. I grab her by the waist and pull her back against me.

  “Okay, okay. You were just breathing out Tchaikovsky’s 1812 cannon section with your nose.”

  “Bastard!” She growls at me as she wriggles away, grabbing my t-shirt from the foot of the bed and pulling it over her bare body. “So? You going to show me this motorbike or not?”

  ***

  The lake is like a mirror.

  So still, I daren’t even breathe in fear it will shatter the illusion, the cloudless, moonfilled sky reflected in the crystal clear water.

  But for all the beauty of the scenery surrounding me, all I can focus on is the warmth of Anca’s face against my back. Her hands grip the sides of my waist as she straddles the bike behind me, as her chest lays against me, her face turned to the side as she drinks in the sights of Lake Annecy by moonlight.

  I try not to think about what I’m bringing her out here to do. And why it needs to be done now.

  We don’t say a word as we round the empty road that curves around the lake. Further and further away from the town center as the lakeside homes turn from tourist resorts to weathered, alpine chalets.

  I know these houses by heart.

  They line up like memory tiles along this strip of road, all leading up to the empty plot of land about two miles from the bustle of the main street of the city center. I lead the bike off the road and up a path into the overgrown grass, turning it so we face out onto the water, and turn the ignition off.

  We don’t move for a moment, and I wonder if Anca’s fallen asleep. A deep sigh a minute later eventually answers my question and I feel her peel herself away from me.

  “Where are we?”

  “Still in Annecy.”

  “I mean… this spot. Where are we?”

  “Do you like it?”

  She slides off the bike and takes a few steps forward. We’re mere feet from the water. But it’s so still I hold my breath, as if scared she doesn’t realize that that the glass like reflection is an illusion. That it’s not the night sky she’ll be stepping into.

  “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

  I rock back on my heels, still straddling the bike, watching her skin turn an almost translucent quality, ethereal, in the hazy light.

  “Agreed.”

  She doesn’t hear me and takes a few more steps forward. Then, before I can stop her, she kicks off her sandals and runs into the water, up to her waist, before diving under, engulfed by the lake.

  “Anca!” I call out and run to the edge of the water, throwing my leather jacket off and reaching for my boots.

  She surfaces, her head emerging first from the water, breaking the seamless face of the lake, her arms rising to follow, splashing overhead, drawing an arc of crystal clear drops against the night.

  “Come in here. The water’s beautiful.”

  I know she must be crazy. This time of year, the water has only just thawed, trickling directly from the Swiss alps. I can see my breath against the cold air and yet she’s wading in the water like it’s a heated pool.

  “You’re crazy.” I shake my head.

  She ignores my words and dives under again, the shallow water hugging to the curve of her ass as she wades out further.

  “Anca!” I shout in a whisper, not wanting to disturb the inhabitants of the nearby houses. Not wanting to disturb the indescribable peacefulness in the air.


  She doesn’t answer and I can see her body draw ripples under the water as she swims even further out.

  “Fucking hell.” I murmur as I realize I have no choice.

  I kick off my boots and take a tentative step into the water.

  “Shiiiiiittt,” my breath hisses, as my body tenses from the cold. How is she swimming in this? “Seriously, will anyone even know if I leave her out here?” The image of Jez flashes instantly in my brain and I sigh and try to ignore the cold as I wade right in.

  She emerges from the water again, running her hands over her hair, pushing it away from her face. She grins at me and crooks a finger, urging me deeper.

  “This was NOT what I had in mind when I suggested the motorbike ride,” I murmur to myself as I wade out to her, feeling the cold water seep through my clothes and chill my bones.

  She watches me, her eyes never leaving mine. As I near her, within ten feet, I see her hand moving back and forth under the water, creating ripples that reach me, little circular waves that crash against my body before creeping to all corners of the lake. Then, before I can lift my arms in response, I watch her drag her hand from the water, and splash me.

  I catch a handful of stinging cold across my face, my mouth still open in surprise. Her laughter echoes across the water, and she grins as she lowers herself into the water, cupping her hands full of freezing lake water. I run to her, my legs stiff from the cold and dragging under the water, but I reach her just as she tries to launch her next attack at me, catching her arms by her side and holding her laughing, wriggling body against me.

  “You’re going to pay for that!” I promise her, and she squeals, trying to escape. I turn her to face me, and in an instant, her laughing mouth freezes, before she presses her lips against mine. The cold water turns into liquid silk. Warm and inviting in a second. Her arms come up around me, her hands in my hair, my hands cupping her ass, lifting her legs to wrap around my waist.