When they closed out the set with Runaway Dream, the crowd was jumping. Hearing them sing along with Mari made my heart flutter in my chest. I was close enough to see her eyes fill with tears at the sound, but she kept singing beautifully. I’d never tire of hearing the way her sultry voice settled over the lyrics of a song.
Mari stepped forward. “Thanks for having us.” She pointed to each band member. “This is Jackson, Monty, Heath, Sawyer, I’m Mari, and we’re Jaded Ivory.”
The sound in the place was deafening. Mari walked off the stage and right into my arms, our lips pressed tight. “You were phenomenal,” I said when I lifted my mouth from hers.
Her eyes sparkled. “That was absolutely unreal.”
“Time to celebrate?” I whispered, nipping the lobe of her ear.
“Don’t you know it.” She took my hand and led me to the stage door. The same guy from earlier stood there with his clipboard.
His gaze locked with mine. “Are you Cole Wallace?”
An uneasiness settled into the pit of my stomach. “Yeah, that’s me.” I’d been out of the spotlight for almost four years. It wasn’t often I was recognized anymore. Usually they didn’t remember my face, just the sad story of what could have been. Mari gave me a questioning look, but I shrugged it off and let her lead me into the hall.
She turned to me. “Let’s go celebrate back at your place. I’m pretty sure I promised you a night with no interruptions.” She winked and began walking down the hall, her ass swaying with every step she took.
A shove came from behind. “Wake up, dude,” Monty said. “The sooner you stop staring, the sooner you can start touching.”
“Great show tonight,” I called over my shoulder, all the guys except Sawyer giving me a knowing grin.
CHAPTER 26
Mari
I ignored the ringing and cuddled into Cole’s warmth, too comfortable to bother with the outside world. A few seconds after it stopped ringing, it went off again.
“What the fuck?” I sat up and reached for the bag I’d dropped on the floor the night before. Clothes were everywhere. In our defense, getting naked had been more important than where things landed.
Cole’s arm wrapped around my waist. “Where are you going? Come back to bed.” His voice was rough with sleep.
“Checking my phone real fast. Whoever keeps calling won’t give up.”
“Fine,” he mumbled. “I’ll be back.” He got up and pulled on a pair of boxers. It was hard not to appreciate the way his muscles rippled as he walked from the room. I heard the bathroom door shut and my phone buzzed in my hand again.
“Keep your pants on,” I said, opening the screen. Twenty-two missed calls and at least a dozen texts. What the fuck? I opened the first text thread to find a bunch from Sawyer.
Mari, pick up.
Where are you?
Answer your goddamn phone already.
For fuck’s sake, call me.
Read this.
Below the last message was a link to a gossip blog. The hair on the back of my neck rose. I didn’t bother listening to the messages or reading the other texts. Instead, throwing caution and good sense to the wind, I clicked on the link. What I saw made my heart drop.
Former NFL prospect sitting pretty with singer from up-and-coming Jaded Ivory.
Underneath that was a picture of Cole and me kissing. The caption had both our names with it.
“Oh fuck.”
“What’s wrong?” Cole stood in the doorway, running his hand over his very impressive abs, but even that wasn’t enough to distract me from my phone.
I held out my phone and he took it from my hand, his face taking on a range of emotions as he scanned the article.
“Cole Wallace, supposed first-round draft pick who disappeared four years ago after a career-ending injury to his knee, reemerged last night, found backstage with Mari Cosmann, the lead singer for Jaded Ivory. Jaded Ivory released their first single a few months ago. The two looked awfully cozy wrapped in each other’s arms after an incredible debut show. This writer is pretty sure hearts are breaking everywhere to see these two off the market.”
Cole looked up from my phone, amusement in his eyes.
Okay, not what I expected.
He dropped the phone on the end of the bed. “Think that’s true?”
“What’s true?” I asked, breathless at the look of determination in his eyes.
He crawled up from the end to hover over me. “That guys all over the world are jealous that I got you?”
His face was poised over mine and I was having a hard time forming words. “No, but the girls are probably hating me right now.”
He kissed me, his tongue darting into my mouth. “Oh, I think the guys are definitely jealous. But that’s their problem, because you’re mine.” His mouth came back down on mine.
The shrill ring of my phone made Cole pull his mouth away. “Sawyer’s not going to stop, is he?”
“Probably not.”
He groaned and dropped down next to me on the bed. “Cockblocked again.”
“Let me talk to him and we’ll pick up where we left off.”
I hit answer and held the phone to my ear.
“Where have you been?” Sawyer snapped the moment the phone connected.
Cole lay next to me, all miles of bronzed skin and almost naked glory. “In bed. Where else would I be?”
“I don’t want to know. Did you read the article?”
“I did.” Cole’s hand caressed up my thigh.
“And?”
His fingers continued upward, running along the crease where my thighs met my hip. A moan caught in my throat.
“Mari?”
“What? Umm . . . what did you say?” I batted Cole’s hand away.
“Tell Cole to keep his hands to himself for five minutes so we can talk.”
“Sawyer said—”
“I heard him,” Cole grumbled. He stood up, a frown marring his features as he pulled a pair of basketball shorts out of his drawer and yanked them over his boxers. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”
The bedroom door slammed behind him.
“Finally,” Sawyer said.
What was his problem? Cole didn’t seem to be bothered by the article. I wasn’t. The only damper on the morning was this call. “Don’t start. Now what’s so important?”
“Are you okay?” There was concern in his tone, but my irritation still bubbled to the surface.
“Cole’s annoyed now, all because you want to make sure I’m okay. I’m pretty sure I sounded that way when I answered.”
“He needs to get his panties out of his ass—”
“Sawyer,” I warned.
“Fine. I’m behaving. And I know you. You bury that kind of shit down deep.”
I sighed, some of my annoyance fading away. “I’m really good. Cole didn’t care about the article, why should I?”
“Because you hate people digging into your personal life?”
I dug around on the floor, finding my underwear from last night and one of Cole’s T-shirts. If I couldn’t be in bed with him anymore, I’d take the scent of him wrapped around me. “It’s bound to happen—to all of us. I know you don’t want to hear that, but the more we play to larger crowds, the more we’ll be at the mercy of the gossip blogs and paparazzi.”
The sound of a mug slamming against the counter came over the line. “Doesn’t mean we have to like it.”
I raked my fingers through my hair, catching sight of myself in the mirror. “No, but it also doesn’t mean we can stop it either. Not unless they post something completely outrageous. If I throw a fit about pictures of me kissing my boyfriend they’re only going to assume the worst.”
Did I like having my picture plastered all over the internet? No. Did I want the gossip blogs to think I was embarrassed about being with Cole by asking them to take it down? That was a big hell no. It was just something that I needed to deal with, whether I liked it or not.
“Heath
said the same thing,” Sawyer murmured.
“And he knows more about the media end of this business than any of us.”
I could hear his fingers drumming on the counter. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
“I’m positive. Now I’m gonna go and deal with Cole.”
“Don’t tell me he’s pissed about the article.” His voice took on a hard edge.
“I already told you he wasn’t pissed about the article. He’s the one who convinced me it didn’t matter. He’s annoyed at the interruption.” No need to mention more how Cole was attempting to convince me.
“Fair enough. Go talk to him.”
“I’ll be home later.”
I hung up and went to find Cole. He was sitting at the table, head bowed, a cup of coffee between his hands. I set my phone on the table and climbed over him to straddle his lap. “Why the glum face?”
He avoided my question. “What did Sawyer want?”
“He wanted to make sure I wasn’t bothered by the article. What concerns me more is why you’re upset.”
“I thought he was trying to convince you to get it taken down.”
I ducked my head, forcing him to make eye contact. “It doesn’t bother you, right?”
He curled an arm around my waist and pulled me closer. “No. I like the world knowing you’re mine.”
“Then it doesn’t bother me.” I leaned in for a kiss when my phone went off again. My eyes shot to it sitting on the table, waiting for it to bite like a venomous spider.
“Who’s that?”
“My mom,” I muttered.
“Oh.”
I climbed off his lap and pick up the phone. “I have to answer.”
“I bet you do. Good luck with that.” There was a gleam in his eyes when he stood and took another mug down from the cabinet.
I dropped into the seat he’d vacated and answered. “Hi, Mom.”
“You have a boyfriend and you don’t bother to tell me? I have to read about it on the internet?”
Cole set the steaming mug in front of me as I rolled my eyes. “Relax, Mom.”
“Relax? Cole grew up around the corner and you didn’t think to tell me you were seeing him?”
I dropped my head on the table. Warm hands curled over my shoulders, massaging out the tension the same way he’d done last night. I let my head fall forward to give him better access. “It’s not like I had much of a chance to talk to you last time. You passed me around the entire office.”
“And after that you couldn’t call, text, give me some sort of heads-up?”
“Sorry, Mom.”
“Well, are you going to give me any more details?”
And there it was. My mother had never been good at keeping her nose out. She was like a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out gossip. There was no way she was going to let this slide.
“You’re too much. Cole and I met up again last fall when he came to one of the shows. We started dating a couple of months ago.”
“He was such a cute boy in high school.”
I knew Cole heard when his hands froze on my shoulders momentarily.
“The picture was hard to see. Is he still good looking?”
I peeked over my shoulder at the man who’d captured my heart with a guitar and a sweet smile. I thought about all the long, ropey muscles in his arms. The way they held me tight. The miles of rock-hard abs, and hard, strong thighs. “Even better.”
“Are you happy?”
I sighed. “More than you could imagine.”
“You know that’s all that matters to me?”
“I do. Look, Mom, I just got up a little bit ago when Sawyer called me about the article, can—”
“Called you? You’re not home?”
Heat raced up my cheeks. Cole chuckled behind me and I wanted to crawl under the table. Shit. I hadn’t meant to give that away.
“Umm . . . not right now.”
“Okay, I don’t want to know anymore. Call me when you get a chance.”
“I will. Bye, Mom.”
A twenty-four-year-old woman shouldn’t be absolutely mortified by their mother knowing she stayed at her boyfriend’s place, but these weren’t exactly normal circumstances. I mean, a picture of me kissing him was plastered everywhere.
Cole kissed the top of my head. “That was an interesting conversation.”
I covered his hands with mine. “It’s been an interesting morning. Think we can go to bed and start the day over again?”
“I think we can figure out something to do.”
And with that, Cole bent over, flipping me over his shoulder and carried me down the hall.
***
A few weeks later things didn’t seem so easy.
Cameras followed us everywhere we went. Even something as simple as getting groceries became a chore. For some reason, we’d become this fairytale couple to people who a few months ago hadn’t even known my name. It was frustrating. Thankfully Cole took it all in stride. Not once did it bother him; at least, he never gave the impression that it did.
The band had been asked back to open another show and seeing as it was close by, I asked Cole to come with me again. I knew he wouldn’t always be able to be there so I planned on taking advantage of it when he could. We hadn’t spoken again about the possibility of being across the country from each other. If I was being honest, I’d actively avoided it. I wasn’t sure I was ready to make those kinds of decisions—not with everything else going on.
Flashbulbs went off as we pulled into the venue. It made me really appreciate the covered entrance in the back; the one reporters didn’t have any access to. It was disturbing to have my life and relationship dissected by the press, and I had started actively avoiding gossip sites and begged Sawyer to stop sending me links to different articles because I didn’t need to know what the media thought about my relationship with Cole. We were happy, and that was the only thing that mattered to me.
Cole leaned in close as we walked down the hall to the dressing room. “You know how sexy you look?”
“Yeah, hiding from the press is real sexy.”
“I love seeing your pictures on those pages. Reminds everyone that you’re mine.”
I opened the door to the dressing room. “And you’re not mine?”
“Sweetheart, I’ll be yours any way. . . any time you want me.”
I guided him over to the couch and shoved him down on it, wanting to teach my dirty-mouthed, smart-ass boyfriend a lesson. Before he could utter a word, I had his pants open and his dick free. I stuck my tongue out and licked around the head, watching his eyes roll back.
“God, Mari.”
I sat up on my knees and slid my mouth down over him. He dug his fingers into the leather of the couch and I gripped the base of his shaft, moving my head in time with each stroke.
Unintelligible noises left his throat. I knew he was close when he sunk his fingers into my hair, his hips beginning to piston into my mouth. I let him take control, my tongue sliding along the underside of his cock. His rhythm faltered. He held himself tight to my mouth as I swallowed down his release. He was panting, his eyes squeezed shut.
“Holy fuck, your mouth is good for more than singing.”
I smacked his chest, and laughed as he hauled me into his lap and kissed me until my head spun.
A knock sounded on the door. “Twenty minutes.”
“Every fucking time,” Cole complained, releasing me so I could get ready for the night.
Cole tried not to pout while I finished getting ready, but I did notice his eyes slammed shut when I started to change. My skin heated with the thought that I turned him on so bad he had to close his eyes to keep his hands to himself.
Like the last time, Cole came with me on stage, watching the show from the wings. The energy in the place was electric, my performance driven by their excitement. I never imagined a time when Monty’s words would ring true. The crowd strengthened my performance, but so did the man watching me from the sidel
ines.
I loved seeing Cole waiting for me backstage after each performance. Every time I walked off stage I went straight to his arms. What I didn’t expect was to see Tom standing there waiting with him.
“Tom, this is my boyfriend, Cole. Cole, Tom is our rep from the label.”
They shook hands, then Tom looked around at all of us. “I came by to talk to you guys. Why don’t we go sit in the green room?”
“Lead the way,” Jackson replied. Sawyer shot me a look and I shrugged my shoulders.
Tom led us to a door not far from the stage. He opened it up and gestured for us to go inside. We all found a seat throughout the room, but Tom stayed on his feet.
“I’ll get right to it. We’ve been watching your performances, and as an opening act you’re drawing decent crowds of your own. The band you opened for tonight has about eight weeks left on their tour and we’d like you to finish it with them as their opening act.
Monty leapt out of his seat. “Holy shit!”
“We’re in,” Heath said. He knew he didn’t need to ask the rest of us. Just like the initial release, this was another big break for us. Another shot.
I turned to Cole who immediately kissed me, stealing my breath. “This is an amazing opportunity for you.”
Tom continued talking. I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been, but I did hear something about having two days to get packed and everything set up to be on the road. Sawyer could fill me in on the details later. I was more worried about how this would affect my relationship with Cole.
After Tom left, the guys went to pack up our equipment, giving me and Cole a few minutes alone.
He rubbed his thumb along the crease in my brow. “Why the frown?”
“I’m excited, but I’m gonna miss you.”
He chuckled. “I knew this was probably coming. Things will be fine. This is what they make Skype for.”
I wrapped my hands around his waist, tucking my face against his chest. For the longest moment I couldn’t speak past the lump in my throat. “Will you come out and stay with me once the year is over?”
He lifted my face to his, his eyes tracking mine as he brushed his thumb over my lower lip. “Let’s play it by ear. You may find life is crazy on the road.”
Rock Me (Jaded Ivory Book 1) Page 22