Hard Rock Crush

by Athena Wright

  So what if gossip mongers speculated about my personal life? They talked trash about every celebrity. Their opinions didn't matter. All that mattered were our fans — and deep inside I knew that.

  I pressed myself against him. Liam's eyes narrowed.

  So what if he was on tour with us? Like he kept saying, it was temporary. We wouldn't be working together forever.

  I ran both hands through the hair at the back of Liam's head, thick and damp. He made a sound, low in his throat.

  All my excuses for pushing him away were just that — excuses. There was another reason I'd pushed him away. A reason I hadn't wanted to admit to myself.

  I leaned into Liam. He brought his hands to my hips.

  I'd been afraid of opening up. Of letting someone in. I'd been afraid of being hurt again. Afraid of experiencing the loss, the utter devastation I'd felt when Harper died. I'd been weak. I'd fallen apart. I'd barely managed to pull myself together afterward. I'd never wanted to feel that way again. And the easiest way to make sure that happened was to never open myself up. Ever. To anyone. But with Liam—

  I lifted my chin. He lowered his head. Our lips were a hairsbreadth away from each other.

  I didn't feel weak around Liam. I felt strong. He turned me inside out and muddled my head, but I never felt lesser when I was around him. I never felt like I was anything other than myself. Vulnerable but with a strong will. Unsure and yet still capable of being bold. I was myself around Liam. I was Cerise.

  The real Cerise.

  "What happened on that stage—" Liam tried to say. I cut him off.

  "Do you really want to talk?" I asked.

  "I know you felt what I felt up there."

  "Or do you want to kiss me?"

  His gaze flicked to my mouth, pupils dilating, fixated. "I've been thinking of those lips of yours for weeks."

  "Still talking," I murmured, inching closer.

  "Fuck it," he growled.

  Liam closed the distance and captured my mouth with his.

  18

  The first touch of skin to skin was exhilarating. Although it had only been a few weeks, it felt like I'd been waiting for this forever. Yet somehow it also felt like we'd been doing this for years. I inhaled deeply, taking in his scent as I took in air. The sensations, the taste, the smell — all of it was so foreign, but so familiar.

  His tongue swiped for entrance. Clenching his hair in my fist, I opened up to him. Our tongues battled, hot and slick. He gripped me tighter, clutching me to him as if afraid I would float away with the slightest nudge.

  I couldn't say I blamed him. Our entire relationship up until now had been all push and pull, all hot and cold. No wonder he was afraid I'd back out.

  But that wasn't going to happen this time. I was all in.

  The only problem was, Liam didn't know that.

  He pulled back with a huff of air. I whined, following him. He held me at arms length and shook his head.

  "I was serious when I said we needed to talk." His lips were shiny and wet, his eyes dark with lust. And yet, he had stopped.

  "What's wrong?" I asked.

  "Doesn't this seem a little familiar?" he asked.

  My heart, that little part of me that wanted to open myself up and let Liam in, wriggled with glee. Liam felt the same way I did. It felt like we'd done this so many times before. Like we'd kissed a dozen, a thousand times. Like we were meant to be—

  "The last time this happened," he said, "you compared our relationship to a black hole."

  The words weren't accusing, or upset. He said them matter-of-factly.

  Now it was my turn to pull away. I left the circle of his arms completely.

  "Why does that matter?" I asked.

  "I don't want this to just be a moment of lust," he said. "I don't want you regretting this."

  "I won't—" I said, before quieting.

  How could I explain to Liam my change of heart? That I was worried being with him would make me weak? It had done anything but that. It had made me strong. How could I explain to him that I wasn't scared anymore?

  "I told you before," he said to break the silence. "You're a star. You're a supernova. You're going to do amazing things, and I want to be by your side when that happens." Liam shook his head. "But we're not going to do something you'll regret."

  "Do you know," I began, slowing making my way back to him, "what happens when stars collide?"

  "No… What?" he asked carefully, as if he were defusing a bomb.

  "When two stars collide, the force of it is powerful enough to forge gold and platinum." I bought my lips to his, just barely brushing them with mine. His pupils dilated, going dark and heated. "The force of it is so powerful it warps time and space."

  Heat flashed in those green eyes.

  "When two stars collide," I whispered into his mouth, "they burn with the fire of a billion suns."

  His jaw tensed. His nostrils flared. With a deep growl, his lips came crashing down on mine.

  The kiss was hungry. It was greedy. It was possessive.

  It scorched me from the inside out.

  I moaned into Liam's mouth and grasped at his firm, inked arms for balance. He pulled me closer with one hand and buried the other in my hair. He tugged on the strands almost roughly, tilting my back head. With this better angle, he thoroughly devoured my mouth, leaving me panting and gasping for air.

  He nipped at my lips with his teeth before soothing the sting with his tongue. I whimpered and sighed at both the hint of pain and the rush of pleasure that followed. A pulsing heat settled between my thighs. It was similar to what I'd felt on stage, leaving a sweetly throbbing ache.

  I felt Liam hardening in his jeans and I knew he was feeling it, too. I ground my hips against his, seeking friction, trying to relieve that ache. He let out a grunt.

  "You better stop squirming," he murmured into my lips.

  "Or what?" I challenged him, breathless.

  "Or I'm going to fuck you right here and now."

  I whimpered at the thought and rubbed against him even harder.

  Liam's eyes flashed. "You trying to call my bluff?"

  "I thought it was a promise."

  He growled. "You're going to be the fucking death of me."

  "You want to keep talking again?" I asked. "Or do you want to throw me down on that sofa and make good on that promise?"

  That was all the teasing he could take. His fingers dug into my hips as he did just that, hauling me halfway across the room and tossing me onto the cushions on my back. I propped myself on my elbows and watched him follow. He crawled up my body, spreading my thighs open so he could settle his hips between them.

  The heavy weight of him between my legs sent another throb shooting through me. My inner muscles were clenching and pulsing. I was swollen and wet with desire.

  I couldn't wait any longer. I attacked his studded belt, unbuckling it with haste. He went straight for my panties, pushing my leather skirt up and out of the way. He hooked his fingers underneath the elastic and tugged, nearly ripping them with the force of it. He untangled the black fabric from around my ankles and threw them to the floor.

  I pulled down the zipper and pushed his jeans down around his thighs, just low enough for his hard cock to spring out. I marveled at it, taking in the girth, the slight curve, the weeping tip.

  His hands slid up my legs, his fingertips leaving a blistering hot trail along my skin, spreading me wider. His eyes were fixated as I was revealed to him.

  He pressed two fingers inside me just as I took him in my hand.

  We groaned in unison, bodies tensing, then relaxing. I ran my hand up and down, exploring the shape of him, the texture. He pumped his fingers in and out, the rough callouses of his fingers a delicious friction against my inner walls.

  I guided his length until the head was nestled between my lower lips. His whole body jerked. He fumbled in his jeans pocket, pulling out a foil wrapper and quickly rolling on protection. I tilted my hips to get th
e right angle.

  Our eyes locked.

  "You sure?" he breathed.

  "Fuck me," I demanded.

  With one slow thrust, he entered me. We trembled together, both of us overwhelmed with pleasure, overwhelmed by need. Overwhelmed by the intimate moment we were sharing.

  He pulled out. I whimpered. He pushed in. I moaned.

  His hands went to my hips, digging into skin. My legs wrapped around his waist, clinging to him. I was still wearing my leather corset. He was still wearing his t-shirt.

  We found the perfect rhythm, rocking back and forth, until we finally found our peaks. I cried out, my inner walls clamped down around him, squeezing. He let out a choked grunt, his cock twitching and pulsing inside me.

  We didn't break eye contact the entire time.

  His hips stilled. My now weak legs fell to the cushions, splayed on either side of him. We panted together with shuddering gasps of air, until our breathing evened out.

  We were still staring at each other. A slow, satisfied smile crossed Liam's face

  "Fuck," he said with a shaky laugh. "I can't believe we just fucking did that."

  "I'm not usually one for public sex, but—" My mouth spread wide with a no doubt besotted smile.

  We stayed on the sofa with our limbs locked together, not making any movements to get up, just enjoying the afterglow.

  My gaze focused on his face. I ran a thumb across his bottom lip. It came away red. "My lipstick is all over you."

  His face fell. "Shit, really?"

  "You look like a clown."

  He grimaced. I laughed.

  "I've got some makeup remover cloths," I told him.

  We finally got off the sofa and took a moment to clean up. I scrubbed at Liam's face with the dampened cloth.

  "Maybe you should wear makeup after all," I teased. "Really go all out with that glam-rock look."

  He whisked me into his arms and swung me around. I shrieked, enjoying myself like I hadn't in ages.

  "I thought you didn't have a thing for guys in eyeliner?" he asked.

  "I don't." I swatted at his shoulder until he put me down. He did, but kept his arms around my waist. "Gael's going to wonder what's keeping us."

  "Maybe I should make up some excuse," Liam said. "There was a dire emergency."

  "Like what?"

  "Your life was in danger."

  I raised an eyebrow. "Was it?"

  "Yeah. You were dying for my cock."

  I made a face at him. "Don't you dare say that or I really will kick you in the nuts with my boots. I don't care how great the sex was."

  Liam laughed and squeezed me. "Come on, Cherry Lips. Let's go clubbing with your boys."

  19

  "So how exactly does this work?" Liam asked.

  We'd arrived at the club to find a drinking game already in full swing. The guys, minus Nathan, had secured a private room. Gael and Julian were halfway to being trashed, but Seth was driving us home after this so he was still sober.

  Liam and I were in agreement about not telling the guys right away. This was still new to us. We were supposed to be concentrating on the tour. Gael was overprotective and might beat the shit out of Liam for touching his little sister. All were good reasons to keep it to ourselves, at least for now.

  As we joined the others sitting around the table in the middle of the lounge, Liam questioned them when they told him what game they were playing.

  "I've never heard of a game called Poker Face," he said. "Only the song."

  "Don't worry, we're not going to make you sing it," Seth said. "The point of the game is to keep your face as expressionless as possible while each person takes their turn saying something to make you react. Anyone who so much as twitches a muscle has to take a shot."

  "That's not too hard," Liam said.

  "You think?" I asked, amused. "The drunker you get, the harder it is to keep a straight face."

  "And we like to up the ante," Seth continued. "It's too easy if you're just taking a shot of vodka or rum. I like to create my own concoctions."

  "Sounds interesting," Liam said.

  "You have no idea what kind of shots Seth comes up with," I warned. "It's enough to sear the flesh from your tongue and make you puke all over the floor."

  "Are you game?" Gael asked.

  "I'm game," Liam replied. "I'm sure I can take whatever Seth throws at me."

  "You say that now," I muttered.

  "Wait," Gael said. "We can't start without Nate."

  "He's probably busy dry-humping some chick on the dance floor," Seth said.

  "And miss a chance to see the new guy keel over?" Nathan said as he walked up to us. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

  "So what you mean is, you already got your rocks off in a dark corner somewhere?" Gael asked.

  A self-satisfied smirk crept across Nathan's face.

  We took our places sitting around the table in a circle. Seth finished setting up dozens of shot glasses filled with whatever disgusting mix he'd instructed the bartenders to come up with this time, along with some non-alcoholic ones for himself since he was DD.

  "Alright, let's start," Seth said once everything was ready. "Liam can go last so he can see how the game goes for the first round." He nodded to me. "That means you start and we go in a circle."

  I didn't have to think for long. Last time we'd played this game, I'd been completely demolished. I'd spent the last several weeks coming up with some good ones I could use next time. I was determined to stay sober tonight.

  "It was kind of hard concentrating on tonight's concert, since I'm on my period and bleeding out of my snatch—"

  "Stop!" Nathan cut in as all the guys blanched. "Fuck, why do you always go for the gross female stuff?"

  "Take your shot," was all I said in response.

  The guys grumbled but each took up a shot glass.

  "Here goes," Julian murmured.

  They all knocked them back at the same time. Liam immediately started gagging.

  "Shit," he choked out. "And you guys play this voluntarily?"

  "This isn't even my worst," Seth said. "I'm going easy on you because it's your first time."

  "What's in here?" Liam coughed.

  "Alcohol," Seth said.

  "I mean, aside from that?" Liam made a face. "It's like… raw eggs. And pickle juice. And what's that crunchy bit?" He shuddered. "This is godawful."

  "Good," Seth said. "That's your incentive to win." He turned to Julian. "Your turn."

  "Pineapples," Julian said flatly.

  My eyebrow almost twitched, but I suppressed the urge. Liam's face was blank, although there was a hint of confusion in his eyes. He didn't know what Julian was talking about.

  Seth, Gael and Nathan, however, all made various sounds of laughter, from a quick exhale through the nose, to a snorted chuckle at the back of the throat.

  "You've been saving this one, haven't you?" Nathan accused as they knocked back their shots. "You knew it would get us and you want to make us look weak in front of the new guy."

  "How long are you going to keep calling me new guy?" Liam asked.

  "Until I come up with a better nickname," Nathan drawled. He took his time glancing at each one of us.

  "I was hitting on this one groupie out on the dance floor," he started to say. "She was totally into me, but she was also one of those fangirls, you know?"

  I wondered where Nate was going with this, knowing it couldn't be good.

  He continued. "As much as she wanted to jump my bones, she also wanted to know more about the band. When I mentioned the new guy she said, Oh yeah, from that old band Forever Night? Isn't he some kind of washed up loser now?"

  Liam's eyebrows immediately drew down into a frown with a grunt. Nathan snickered. Liam groaned.

  "No fair," he said. "You targeted me on purpose."

  "You need thicker skin," Nathan said as he handed Liam another shot glass.

  Liam grimaced, but didn't choke or sputter.

&
nbsp; "It goes down smoother the second time," he croaked.

  "I'll need to make the next round even worse," Seth said.

  "Great," Gael said. "You had to go and challenge him."

  Seth rubbed his hands together with wicked glee, contemplating what he would come up with next. I didn't like the evil glint in his eyes. Thank god we still had another handful of shots to go with the current batch.

  "My turn," Seth said. "I was just thinking yesterday that we should rename the band Hairy Tits."

  None of us reacted. His face fell.

  "Aw, come on," he said. "Nothing? Not even a single twitch?"

  "Sorry kid," Gael said. "You'll have to try better next time." Gael looked to Liam. "He's great at coming up with drinks, but he's absolute shit when it comes to playing the game."

  "Hey!" Seth protested.

  Gael grinned. "You reacted. Take a shot."

  "You didn't announce it was your turn yet," Seth retorted.

  "Fine," Gael shrugged. "Now it's my turn and I think Seth's going to die a virgin."

  Seth squawked. "I'm not a fucking virgin!"

  Gael handed him a non-alcoholic shot glass. Seth continued glaring as he took his own shot. He sputtered, sending liquid splashing from his lips.

  "He's also complete shit at taking his own medicine," Gael added.

  "You guys suck," Seth complained as he wiped his chin with his hand.

  "Liam's turn now," Nathan said. "Let's see what you got."

  Liam went silent. He seemed to be studying the shot glasses intently. Without lifting his eyes, he spoke the next words in a hushed voice.

  "Do you guys know what happens when two stars collide?"

  I couldn't stop the sappy smile from sneaking across my face. The others looked confused. Liam shot me a look, an equally warm smile playing on his lips. That had been meant for me alone.

  "I don't get it," Gael said, looking between the two of us.

  "Inside joke," I said.

  "You two already have inside jokes?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.

  I mumbled something indistinct, not trying to explain. I took the shot glass, ready to toss it back.

  Liam put a hand on mine, stopping me.

  "What do you say we skip out?" he asked.