by Wood, Vivian
He openly checked her out as they walked toward each other in the crowded club. Finally meeting in the middle, he pulled her into his arms as if he didn’t intend on ever letting her go again and whispered against her ear, “Definitely very sexeee!”
She leaned into him and shivers ran up and down her spine at feeling his hot breath on her ear. She liked this, she liked this a lot. Was it possible that he did, too? It felt like it, from the way he was hanging on to her, but...
Her thoughts completely stopped when the first flash went off. Followed by what felt like a million more. Reporters? she thought in her daze. Who had invited reporters?
She thought back to his words this afternoon. I’m planning something, he had said. He had invited them. This was all still part of the act. The delicious shivers she had felt running up and down her spine just seconds ago had settled in her stomach like a block of ice. Fuck.
When he finally let her go, a flock of scantily-clad girls descended on him and he let them hang all over him. Right in front of her. With the reporters now scattered, he looked like he had not a care in the world. She grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing server and poured the entirety of its contents down her throat in one go. Happily, another server passed and she accepted another glass from him.
She turned to see the other four members of Misery huddled at a table nearby. Yes, all four. What was Luc doing here? And why was Anders in a club so soon after being discharged from the hospital?
Milo waved her over and they all hugged her warmly, except for Anders. He just nodded in her direction.
“Luc! This is a surprise! What’re you doing here?”
“Came home earlier this week. I was so over that place. It’s boring. And I’m fine. Besides, from the looks of things I came home just in time. We’ve been on fire this week with all of Rhysie’s new stuff. Looks like the magic’s back for us!”
Rhys had written new songs this week? Well, color her intrigued.
“It’s good to see you. How’re you holding up?”
“I’m okay, really. I owe you an apology, Serena. My behavior the night we met was appalling. I’m really sorry. Forgive me?”
The Misery boys were just oozing with apologies today. Still, he looked appropriately sincere, so she nodded in agreement as Milo and Jett cheered.
“One more down, only about two million to go,” Jett joked as he tapped Luc’s back. At least, she thought he was joking. Luc couldn’t really owe two million more apologies, could he?
“We’ve got to go up in about a minute, guys,” Anders spoke up.
“You’re performing tonight?” she asked. When did that happen?
“Yup, impromptu gig to get a feel for the fans' reactions to the new stuff. We used to do it all the time but we stopped ‘cause we were always on the road last few years. Didn’t have the time. Rhys suggested we do it, and we all agreed. Haven’t been on a stage for over a month now, can’t have that!” Milo explained, his voice brimming with excitement, eyes lit up.
“Time, gentlemen. See you later, Serena. Enjoy the show,” Luc said, winking at her. What was that about? These had to be the most confusing men on the planet! None of them had spoken to her in almost a week, yet now they were all friendly and winking at her and pretending like they were old friends… Even the ones she had never been friends with!
Jett caught Rhys’ eye and nodded toward the stage. Rhys seed to understand and immediately disentangled himself from the girls still falling all over him.
As soon as they took the stage, the music died down and every eye in the club turned toward them. She now knew that they had played sold-out stadiums worldwide, so a couple of hundred people in a club should have been easy, but she felt nervous for them anyway.
Jett stepped into a circle of light center stage and it was really hard for her to believe he was the sa guy who had been joking with her minutes ago. A thunderous roar went up from the crowd as soon as he stepped up to the microphone.
This close to the stage, she could see each of them even though only Jett was lit up right now. He gave the crowd a few moments to die down, and she took the ti to really take them in.
Misery, in all their glory up on the stage that they would undoubtedly dominate in a few minutes, was really quite a beautiful thing to behold. She suddenly wished Mary or Katie were here to share in this moment.
It was easy for her to see now why they became international gods of rock. Even though she knew that she was joking with them just a couple of minutes ago, her brain couldn’t wrap itself around the fact that those guys up on stage were the same guys.
Rhys had the red Gibson guitar she had watched him play at home strapped to him, smoldering eyes gazing out into the crowd and even though she was sure he couldn’t actually see her, it felt like his blazing gaze had rested right on her. Gone was the easy, yet complicated fun-loving guy she had spent countless hours watching movies and playing house with. The one that she had co to know and dare she even think it, love. He was drop dead gorgeous and his stance was powerful, determined and he oozed confidence and sex appeal.
Luc stood diagonally across the stage from Rhys, holding his own guitar almost gently as he waited for the lead singer to do his thing. He looked more at peace than she had ever seen him, staring intently out at the crowd. His eyes were focused, not watery and darting as they had been at their first meeting.
Milo stood behind the keyboards, blond hair shining, his face set and his eyes narrowed. He seemed to radiate supremacy from his stance behind his chosen instrument, as if its closeness gave him strength.
Anders had picked up his drumsticks with a small smile and seemed almost relieved as he settled in behind his kit. Her father had worn a similar expression when she was young and he had arrived home to find his family waiting for him, all smiles. Strange that Anders would be wearing it now, like he had arrived home.
“We’ve been working on a couple of new songs and we invited you all here tonight ‘cause we want you to be the first to hear them.” Jett’s smooth voice ca over the microphone.
With no further ado, Rhys stepped forward into a pool of light that had appeared in front of him, head bowed and eyes closed as he picked at the strings with his right hand, left holding down chords on the fretboard that his fingers found effortlessly. It took her breath away, watching him stand there, confident and powerful and too gorgeous to express in words.
A few seconds later, all the guys had joined in and Jett started belting out the first lines of their new song.
The crowd, herself included, listened to them play, completely enthralled by them.
About halfway through the song, a thought that she couldn’t quite grasp at yet was being ford in the back of her mind. This song seemed personal, somehow. She might not have had much, okay any, songwriting experience, but she had read somewhere over the course of the last few weeks that people used their own experiences when they were writing a song.
She thought back to what Luc had said earlier about these being songs Rhys had come up with, though she had no idea if he had written them entirely by himself or how that process had worked.
As she looked up at him, he had turned ever so slightly and seemed to meet her eyes just as Jett started singing about a girl who had surprised him and who he has real feelings for that he’d never had before.
That’s when it hit her, was it at all possible that this song was about her? No way! Her heart skipped more beats as this thought hit her harder than what could possibly be healthy and the air was sucked clear out of her lungs. Shit. She really needed to talk to her mom about genetic heart conditions in their family. She was pretty sure she needed to see a doctor.
16
Misery played three new songs in all before walking off stage to earsplitting cheers. Jett, Milo and Anders had lost their shirts somewhere along the way, to the extreme and loud appreciation of the female members of the crowd, and Jett had remarked that the string jockeys were being uptight tonight, which had caused R
hys to tease his shirt up just a little before shaking his head and giving a small smile that had left her dizzy and wanting. Along with every other female and most males as well probably in the crowd.
Rhys walked straight to her from the stage and pulled her into a tight embrace. He was seriously sweaty, but she didn’t mind. She’d take these moments with him any way she could get them, these moments where it felt real. She breathed him in, sweat and bourbon and that thing that was just completely and uniquely Rhys.
“You like them?” he asked into her ear, still not letting her go.
She let him go then so that she could look him in the eyes, but she put her hands on his hips so as not to break off all physical contact when she said, “I love them. They’re wonderful, Rhys! You’re wonderful!”
At this he pulled her back into his arms and started jumping around a bit. A jump hug? Okay then…
The jump hug didn’t last much longer, as someone cleared his throat behind her and she turned to look into Milo’s amused smile. Jett, Luc and Anders stood behind him, all carrying bottles of water and all fully clothed again. They tossed a bottle of water to Rhys, who caught it in one hand and drank it all in one go, his other arm still firmly around her waist.
She followed them to a corner table and slid into a chair next to Rhys. Rhys, Jett and Milo ordered a bourbon each from a server who looked like she was about to faint because they were talking to her. Rhys ordered a glass of wine for her while Luc and Anders stuck to their water.
She sat back in her chair at Rhys’ side, listening to them banter back and forth, sipping her wine and actually really enjoying their company. She'd grown used to them, she felt more comfortable here with them than she had felt in her own house with her parents for years. There was a scary thought.
Although it was made scarier by the fact that while she felt like part of their family, she wasn't. At any point, Rhys could end this game he was playing with her and she’d never see any of them again. She’d had a taste of that these past few days, and it had sucked!
Damnit, she could feel the sting of tears in her eyes. No one seemed to notice though and she tried to plaster a smile back on her face before anyone noticed, swallowing hard. At least, she had thought no one had noticed, but Rhys was looking at her with a strange look in his eyes, so maybe he had noticed. He smiled at her and fixed her blue eyes with his piercing green ones, causing her stomach to bottom out. She really was never going to get used to that smile.
“Come on princess, let’s go dance!” He jumped up and pulled her onto the dance floor with him. For the next few hours, that’s what they did, they drank and danced a lot and her earlier depressing thoughts had all but disappeared from her head. Today she still had him. She was just going to let herself enjoy it while it lasted.
He led her off the dance floor after a particularly exhausting song, given the amount of jumping around it had inspired, and back to their table. It was empty now, the guys must have all been out there somewhere, though she couldn’t see any of them.
“Be right back, princess. I’m gonna go get us another drink.” He disappeared into the crowd and she smiled at his retreating back. He was being so sweet tonight…
She relaxed into her chair and looked around her, taking in the varied feather and sequin and bead covered dresses. Now that she had been surrounded by them for a few hours and had had so wine to help with deal with how skimpy they were, there was a certain beauty to them that she was starting to appreciate.
What she didn’t appreciate, however, was the person, or people, who had just caught her eye and were now walking toward her. Her heart dropped, and her ears rang. Bryan. Bryan and the raven-haired woman he had been fucking when she had surprised him at his apartment that night.
Why was he even coming over here with her? Still, he walked straight up to her, and she rose from her chair to avoid being looked down on, physically, at least.
“What are you doing here, Serena? And why are you dressed like a whore? You waiting tables now that you’re not getting along with your parents? Oh, you remember Andrea? You almost met that night at my apartment.” His hand was placed firmly on Andrea’s ass as he practically hissed this at her.
She felt, rather than saw, Rhys returning to the table and like magic he appeared right at her side at the exact moment Bryan finished his sentence. She turned toward him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she leaned in to kiss him deeply.
If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. Instead, he put on one hell of a show, pulling her against him so tight that she didn’t think you could fit a sheet of paper between them and leaving her completely and utterly breathless, all thoughts she had been having jumbled, and then evaporated.
He broke the kiss gently, but didn’t let go of her. She turned toward Bryan in the circle of Rhys’ arms. “Uh no, actually, not waiting tables. This is my new boyfriend, Rhys. Rhys, meet Bryan and Andrea,” she said sweetly.
Bryan’s face fell as he realized who Rhys was, and he paled when Rhys extended his hand to him. “Nice to meet you. Any friend of my princess is a friend of mine,” he said easily.
Without a word, Bryan turned on his heel and stalked off in a huff, dragging a reluctant Andrea behind him.
Rhys still didn’t let her go as they watched Bryan and Andrea’s backs disappear into the crowd. “You know,” he whispered to her, still in the circle of his arms, “I wasn’t really ready to be done with that kiss and what it was doing to me. Want to go somewhere?”
She turned to face him again. “Absolutely, lead the way.” She was pretty sure she would follow this man into hell, as long as he kept touching her.
17
Rhys led her to a private area of the club on the second level that she hadn’t realized was there, completely deserted but for them.
He pulled her into a cushioned booth and picked up where he left off, setting her body on fire with his kisses, sliding his tongue against hers and pulling her into his lap, heat pooling between her legs. As if with a life of their own, her hips ground against him and she could feel his hard length pushing against her.
He slid one hand along her thigh, stroking slowly, building up an impossible pressure between her legs. His other hand pulled the dress down and immediately started rubbing her left nipple.
The hand on her thigh slid over the seam of her sex, the fact that it was over her panties did nothing to curb the stars she was already seeing, or the moans that escaped from her lips.
He was breathing heavily too, and seemed to be as wrapped up in this as she was. He pushed her panties aside and started making slow circles around her clit.
Forget what she said earlier about following him into hell, this was definitely heaven. She moaned louder into his mouth and arched her back, breaking their kiss but exposing her breasts to him. He sucked in a breath as he took a moment to stare at them, pupils dilated and mouth slightly open, before he put those delicious lips to her aching nipples.
He alternated his hand and mouth between them, as his other hand slowly slid a finger inside her, still circling her clit with his thumb.
He may have been a musician, but the man certainly knew his way around the female body. All those jokes and comments she had read about how great he was with his hands given how he handled his guitar momentarily popped into her head. She tried not to think of how he had come to learn all of this and focused only on the effect he was having on her.
She had never had an orgasm induced by anything other than her own hand. Bryan had certainly never made the effort, but the feelings Rhys was stirring up were unlike anything she could ever have imagined. The pressure building in her was almost painful, but she was climbing toward a peak unlike anything before it.
Rhys kept stroking and circling and sucking and before she knew it, her body shattered into a million different pieces as she found her release.
He stilled for only a second, letting her savor the feeling before he claimed her mouth with his again, and flipped her over on
to her back in the booth with a low sound at the back of his throat.
He reached for his belt buckle, pupils still dilated, eyes wide with lust and looking at her as though he wanted to devour her.
The next thing she knew, his cock was positioned at the entrance to her sex again, but she didn’t want to stop him this time. She wanted this.
“Are you on birth control?” His voice was low and thick with desire.
“I started taking the pill a while ago, so it should be fine by now. Just be gentle, okay Rhys? Please? I’ve never done this before.”
He stopped cold. “Are you serious? You’re a virgin?”
“Uhm... yeah, I am… but I really want to do this with you, so just be gentle, okay?”
“Shit,” he made a low, frustrated sound. “We’re not doing this here like this. You deserve better for your first time than a booth in some club after we’ve both been drinking, princess.”
He pulled his pants back on and helped her adjust her dress. He kissed her deeply again, more gently now.
“I really want to do this with you, Rhys,” she whispered, looking straight into his green eyes, their faces not an inch apart. “I get that you don’t want to do it now, here, but promise me you will you still be my first? Please?”
“Princess, I want to. Fucking trust me on that. But you deserve more, better. And I’d better be your first. No one else, you’re mine, okay? You hear me? Nothing would make me happier than to be your first. But right now, we’re going back to the party.” He pierced her with his gaze, holding her face in his hand and kissing her gently again before taking her hand and leading her back into the club.
18
She woke up in Rhys’ bed the next morning. Not her bed in his house in her own room. In his room, in his bed, his tattooed, muscled arm draped around her. She had never been in his room before, but she could see now it looked a lot like hers. It was bigger, with more floor to ceiling windows and pictures of him and the guys on the walls. Clothes were strewn everywhere and there was a collection of guitars over by the window.