Outlaw Country

by Davida Lynn

  Her first thought was that he was bigger than Shepard. The thought excited her, and then it scared her, but excitement won out. Gracie stroked her fingers up and down his shaft with a lightly feminine touch. He responded with groans that only made her even surer that she was making the right decision.

  She was done with the idea of passionate lovemaking. Gracie wanted it hard, and she wanted it from Colton.

  Colton forced Gracie forward and away from the headboard. His other hand slid down her back, effortlessly unsnapping her bra with a twist of his fingers. His hand kept traveling down until it slid beneath her underwear. When Colton gave her a squeeze, she couldn’t stop her hips from bucking towards him. Gracie’s gasp turned into a giggle.

  Colton kept leading Gracie towards the edge of the bed. Her tiny little fingers felt great, but he knew her juicy, pink lips would be out of this world. Colton liked how easily Gracie let him control her. She didn’t just lay there, like most of the groupies; she was eager and willing. Good God, this girl is going to drive me fuckin’ crazy

  Colton climbed down from the bed and stood upright. His erect member throbbed and twitched with each beat of his heart. He looked down at her, his hand still at the back of her neck. Colton knew Gracie wasn’t all that experienced, but he was still eager to find out just what experience she had. He led her forward, loving that her mouth opened as she got closer to his cock.

  Gracie loved Colton’s hand at the back of her neck. He led her like a dance partner would. That’s what we’re doing; dancing. She smiled at the thought and closed her eyes. With her tongue out, Gracie slid Colton’s large cock into her mouth. He was warm on her tongue, and she closed her mouth around him to feel that warmth on her lips.

  Gracie may not have had sex before, but she and Shepard had fooled around quite a bit, and she’d loved going down on him. She took all that experience and joy and turned it on Colton. Laying on her stomach on the bed, Gracie bobbed her head back and forth. She took Colton into her mouth again and again, listening to the sounds he made. She opened her eyes and looked up his strong body. Taking a finger up to his chest, she traced the tattoos that scattered over his muscles.

  Colton looked impressed. Gracie looked into his wide eyes. Hell, he looked shocked. Gracie thought of herself as a natural, and she could tell he couldn’t get enough of her lips.

  Gracie pushed forward, but Colton yanked her back before she could make his cock disappear between her lips again. She gave a pouty little whine that made him groan. His cock was soaking wet from her mouth, and she wondered just how rough Colton could be.

  She looked up at him with big eyes that could have melted a glacier. “Why’d you take away my fun?”

  Colton laughed and shook his head. “God damn, I thought you were a virgin.”

  Gracie smiled back. “My mouth isn’t.”

  She loved being able to tease and surprise Colton. She didn’t want to think about how many women he had been with, but she was going to do everything in her power to make him forget every single one of them.

  As Colton came around the bed, Gracie rolled onto her back again. She reached down to discard her panties, but he got there first. Colton slid them down her legs with reverence. When she was as naked as he was, Gracie parted her legs. Colton’s forehead wrinkled and he groaned as his eyes focused between her legs.

  “Sweet Jesus, ain’t that the prettiest…”

  After the surprise of the night before, Gracie had prepared by making sure there was nothing but a thin landing strip leading to her sweetness.

  She watched him with hungry eyes as he slid the condom over his massive tool. She was wet and ready. Gracie bit her bottom lip as Colton prepared himself for her. She didn’t know if it would hurt or not, but there wouldn’t be much longer until she found out.

  Gracie couldn’t pull her eyes from the muscles beneath Colton’s skin as he climbed on top of her. She was surprised when he bent down and kissed her. Shepard never kissed Gracie after she went down on him, and it always made her feel self-conscious. It blew Gracie’s mind, but nothing about Colton made her feel self-conscious.

  When he slipped inside, Gracie didn’t have a single thought in her head. Every fear vanished with that first incredible feeling. She sucked in a breath, and Colton held it there when he kissed her. She didn’t tense up. Instead, her whole body relaxed.

  Colton eased inside of her, his eyes never leaving hers. He wanted to make sure she wasn’t in pain. He didn’t see anything near pain in her eyes. She was enjoying every second of it, and Colton liked Gracie more and more for it. Some women felt pain their first time, and others felt pleasure like never before. Gracie fell into the latter category.

  It wasn’t long before Colton was thrusting and appeasing her cries for more. The two were one, their bodies combining to be more than just two lovers. Gracie was a fast learner, quickly climbing on top to take control.

  Colton was beside himself. Gracie didn’t act like some of the first-timers he’d been with before. She made sure that she worked Colton as hard as he worked her. The two came together, their arms wrapped around each other’s sweaty, depleted bodies.

  “Natural.” Colton’s rasped out the word as he fell back into the bed.

  Gracie turned to him. “What?”

  “You. You are a fuckin’ natural, babe.”

  Gracie rolled over and rested her head against Colton’s broad chest. His heart was still reeling, and he guessed that hers wasn’t any slower. As Colton recovered, a thought popped into his head. It was like a lyric, one that wouldn’t fade from his consciousness; That girl has wrecked me.

  “I want him gone. I want the band gone. I want his manager gone.” Kathleen screamed into her phone, a little spit flying. Her eyes were locked on the iPad in front of her. A TMZ article with Colton and some groupie slut was pulled up.

  Kathleen was angrier at herself than at the dumb backwater country boy. Time and time again, he had screwed up, and she had either forgiven him or let that damn manager of his smooth things over. Kathleen knew southern charm, and Roger didn’t have it. If there was something called New York City Charm, Roger didn’t have that, either. The only thing he had going was that he was convincing. Not anymore, she thought. There’s no convincing me to change my mind on this.

  Barely listening to the faceless voice from the label, Kathleen jumped in again, “This is nonnegotiable.” She hated getting the runaround. It was such a waste of time. “Look, put Arvin on the phone, or Gracie won’t show up in Memphis tonight. It’s a sellout, isn’t it? Nobody is going to be happy about refunding 30,000 tickets. Get him on the phone. Now.”

  She knew what it meant to be a woman in a male-dominated world. Keeping that in mind on a day-to-day basis, Kathleen did everything she could to give powerful women a good name. Even under the circumstances, it hurt when she heard the faceless voice mutter, ”Bitch,” before putting the call on hold.

  Of course. It’s just one thing after another. Kathleen rolled her eyes at the cruel irony as one of Colton’s songs played as the hold music. Her finger flicked at the iPad, sending the tabloid article flying. When she stopped it, the picture of Colton and Gracie outside Muscle Shoals was front and center. Every instinct that Kathleen had about Colton had been proven right. Time and time again, she had given him chances only to see them blow up in her face. There were no more chances left for Colton Wade.

  The hold music clicked off, giving Kathleen a tiny bit of relief. After an overly kind greeting from the head of the record label, Kathleen started in. “If he stays, this tour is over. I’m not going to stand by and watch my daughter’s career get by that talentless, juvenile, flash in the pan.”

  “Kathleen, you have to understand that Moonshine Records has both artists’ careers in mind here. We can assure you that—“

  “I don’t give a good goddamn about his career. If you want to get right down to it, I don’t even care about Gracie’s career. I care about Gracie, and I mean that. If you don’t believe m
e, do nothing. See what’s waiting for you in Memphis.” She was in no mood to hear what Arvin had to say. She respected the man, but Kathleen was in mom-mode instead of manager-mode.

  His voice was calm, but the pitch was higher than his usual smooth baritone, “Kathleen, I’ll agree that Colton is no stranger to bad press. We are working on the situation from our end, and Roger has been informed. Despite all of that, we still believe that the tour is the best idea.”

  Letting the artist and repertoire agent speak, Kathleen pulled up her email, specifically the newest one from her personal assistant. Link after link about Gracie, about Colton, about Gracie and Colton. Just clicking through the first three, Kathleen was astounded by all the rumors presented as facts. The two were dating, Colton had cheated, and they were already on the outs. If it hadn’t been so tragic, Kathleen would’ve found it funny.

  She knew how the media worked. The real stories didn’t sell nearly as well as the lies. Most of the time, Kathleen and Gracie could shrug it off. Rumors were easy to dispel, but not in this case. Between the unfortunate picture of Colton and Gracie outside Muscle Shoals, the fact that the two were touring together, and the undeniable chemistry on stage, it was a perfect storm. No amount of tweeting or distancing could undo the firestorm.

  Time was the only solution. With Colton off the tour, things would go back to normal in a month or two. Any new breakup song that Gracie wrote would be read into, but the same thing it happened after she and Shepard split up. Kathleen knew that Gracie got inspiration from movies like Gone with the Wind just as easily as her teenage romance. That didn’t matter to the media, though. They were sharks in bloody waters.

  “Here’s the bottom line: Colton or Gracie. I’m sorry, but you can’t have both, Arvin. I’m not asking you to drop him from the label, but I am asking you to keep him as far away from my daughter as possible.”

  “You know the duet is racing up the charts? Number one on Country and it’s damn high on the Hot 100. It’s beating projections across the map.”

  He tried to jump in with some positive news, but Kathleen wasn’t having any of it. “I don’t care if it’s number one on the Hot 100 list. I don’t care if it becomes the highest selling single of all time, Arvin. It’s a flash in the pan, one off track that’s going to end up on both of their greatest hits. It’s nothing more, and I mean that. Think it over and call me back.”

  She hung up, half expecting him to utilize the B-word as well. Kathleen would rather be a bitch than stand idly by any day of the week.

  For a few minutes, Kathleen leaned against the counter in the bathroom. There was no counting to ten. Her runner’s high from that morning was long gone, and she found herself wanting to crawl back in bed.

  The sharp rap on the door snapped her out of her meditation. “Jesus.” Turning to check her face in the mirror, Kathleen was glad she hadn’t been driven to tears.

  Expecting Gracie, she prepared to tell her daughter the news, and opened the door. Roger was the last person she was expecting, and the last person she wanted to see. The beaming grin on his face felt like a sucker punch.

  “Just what do you want?” Kathleen was half prepared to slam the door in his face.

  Roger held up his own iPad, a Billboard music article up. “Have you seen the news?” His mood was the exact opposite of hers and the exact opposite of what she needed in that moment.

  The headline stuck out to her; salt in her wounds: Fiery New Duet Debuts at Country #1. A very different headline had been plaguing Kathleen all morning. Of course Roger had seen the TMZ article, or maybe he didn’t. Maybe he was so used to Colton’s antics that he barely even notice anymore.

  She gave Roger a hard scowl, hoping it might scare him off. It didn’t, but she could see his mood deflate. “Is this not good news?” He stuttered, trying to figure out what was wrong. The night before had been something of a breakthrough between the two managers, but Kathleen couldn’t take any more of the rollercoaster. There had been a mutual respect, and maybe if the two of them worked in a different industry, but they didn’t.

  “No, that is not good news. It means I’m going to have to try extra hard to get rid of you two.” Knowing Roger wouldn’t leave without an explanation, Kathleen walked away from the door, allowing him to enter. It was barely nine in the morning, and she was ready for a drink.

  Roger stepped into the room, then closed the door. “What are you talking about?”

  She didn’t turn around as he spoke. Kathleen couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a drink, let alone one first thing in the morning. Shuffling through the bottles at the wet bar, she decided on Johnny Black. Her voice was as steady and cold as the surface of a frozen lake, making every word that much harsher.

  “Apparently, you only get the good articles sent to you. Apparently, I only get the bad ones. TMZ just post a picture of Colton drunk, with his tongue halfway down some groupie’s mouth. That wouldn’t be so bad if the article had also claimed that he and Gracie were dating; something that will never be true.

  “Even if we ignore all the rumors and lies in the article, Colton is a despicable, disgusting human being, and I want nothing to do with the two of you anymore. I’ve been on the phone with Arvin Greenburg, and I gave him an ultimatum. If Colton Wade shows up in Memphis, Gracie and I do not.”

  Kathleen turned, the ice in her glass clinking against the sides. “There is such a thing as bad press. Maybe not for a man, but for a woman? Definitely. Colton is a playboy, but what would Gracie be if she lived life that?”

  Roger stood at the end of the hallway, his fingers tapping against his thigh. His mood was shattered, but he couldn’t fault Kathleen. She was ruggedly defensive of her daughter. He remembered what it had been like with Raylene. It was as close as he had come to being a father; the fear, the worry, the men. He let out a sigh as his gaze fell to the ground. So many times, Roger had wished that he knew a little more about the business with Raylene. She might be a star today if he had.

  “I know what they would say.” His voice was nothing but defeat. “After Raylene, Colton was a breath of fresh air for me. It was nice not having to defend his character and his ‘purity’. It’s infinitely easier to defend someone for smashing the windshield of a cop car, as hard as that might be to believe.”

  After his interactions with Kathleen backstage, she had been on his mind all night. Roger thought that the news of Colton and Gracie’s single debuting at number one could be the start of something powerful between him and Kathleen. She was demanding and even overbearing sometimes, but Roger knew it came from a great place.

  His eyes darted back and forth on the Oriental rug as he tried to find the right words. He suspected that there weren’t any, but he had to try. It wasn’t for business; it was for him. “Don’t go.”

  His words were so quiet, but Kathleen’s eyes darted back up to his. “What?”

  Roger forced himself to meet her look. “Colton is more than a handful; I know that. I’m not try to make excuses for him, but please don’t go. I’m not talking about Gracie right now; I’m not talking about Colton right now. I’m talking about you and me.”

  Kathleen shook her head. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I don’t even know what you’re saying, Roger.”

  He stepped into the large living space, heading straight for Kathleen. His mind was reeling. Roger hated taking chances, but he had to risk something to gain it all. “I’m not making any sense; I know that much. Maybe I’m crazy, but I felt something. I still feel something. It doesn’t have a damn thing to do with business. If you don’t think there’s anything there, just let me know. I’ll do what I have to get Colton and the band pulled from the tour.” Roger stared at Kathleen, waiting for her to speak.

  It was in no way how he expected his morning to go. Roger was expecting to share the good news with Kathleen, and maybe the two of them would get to know each other over breakfast. Instead, he was rolling the dice and pouring his heart out to of her.

 
Kathleen wished she was still out on her run. With her headphones in, the world was gone. She could be alone with her thoughts, and everything was her decision. As she sat in a hotel room, it felt like everything was out of her control. Roger confessing his feelings for her was baffling. He was a hard man to read. Even when Kathleen could read him, there wasn’t much happiness there. She was a cutthroat manager and mother, and she knew it wasn’t the friendliest combination. At the very least, she owed Roger an apology. It was more than that, though.

  Ever since he had told her about Raylene Evans, Kathleen saw Roger a little differently. At least to some extent, he understood the pressures on women in the music business. He could do more than understand; he could sympathize.

  She’d be lying to herself if Kathleen didn’t admit that Roger was something of a mystery. He wasn’t the typical bad-boy that she had been drawn to in her earlier years, but he wasn’t far from it. He had his own brand of bad-boy; one she hadn’t tried.

  The choice before her was clear. Be a manager and a mother, or be a woman. Both could have disastrous consequences. Kathleen wasn’t that old, despite what she told herself. At thirty-eight, she could still get knocked up and abandoned. Even with all the success surrounding her and Gracie, Kathleen was still afraid.

  She set the glass down, no longer in the mood for the drink. “It’s like you do the exact opposite of what I expect or need at any given moment. It’s endlessly frustrating.” Looking out the window, Kathleen heard Roger step closer to her.

  “What do you mean?”

  “When I’m angry I like to be angry. It helps me work, but then you come in and smooth things over, and before I know it, the anger is gone. When I’m sitting here thinking that I’m alone and it’s time to build walls to keep people out, you convince me to knock any kind of barrier down.” Emotion was creeping into Kathleen’s voice. “Damnit, Roger.”