Beats of Life (Perception Book 5)

by Shandi Boyes

  Well I shouldn’t really say in line, I just want someone to keep an eye on her while I am on stage performing. I know the games the roadies play every time we commence a set and I don’t want to be worried about them ploughing Kylie with drinks, or anything else. Just the thought of anyone touching her makes the veins in my neck bulge and my jaw to tick. The only gratification I get is the fact that my name is still prominently marked on her skin. No guy she has slept with since me would have been able to miss it. It kind of makes me glad she didn’t get it covered.

  I knew the instant her confused eyes turned up to look at me that she was worried about seeing me with a whole heap of groupies. Her eyes immediately darted away when I said ‘I don’t bring groupies into my room.’ I probably should have said ‘I will no longer bring groupies into my room’ and she may have believed me. I didn’t get us interconnecting rooms to just to keep my eye on her though, I also wanted to have her close to me, since I can’t get her out of my fucking head.

  Once I hear the second lot of glass smashing next door, I can no longer stop my curiosity at going and seeing what Kylie and Melanie are up to. When I open the interconnecting door, the sound of music blasts through my eardrums and the smell of smoke filters through my nostrils, and I’m not talking about the cigarette type of smoke. I run my eyes over the room trying to spot Kylie. Fuck me, I swear half of San Francisco is in their room right now. The place is packed with people. The sofas have been moved out of the living area and are pushed up against the outside wall of the suite and there are several couples sitting on them in various stages of making out. I walk around the entire living area of the suite and don’t spot Kylie anywhere, just as I’m about to walk into one of the bedrooms Melanie walks out. Her hair is ruffled and her lips are swollen.

  “Where is Kylie?” I question loudly, trying to project my voice over the blaring music. My eyes dart behind Melanie to make sure Kylie isn’t in the bedroom. I swear if I find her making out within some random guy, I will lose my shit.

  “She’s in the kitchen,” Melanie replies. “Where she always is during our parties,” she continues, sarcastically rolling her eyes before walking past me.

  I spot Kylie the instant I walk into the kitchen. She is stretching up trying to reach a bowl that is sitting on the top of the overhead cupboards. Her top lifts up high enough that I can see the two little dimples that adorn her lower back. If her jeans were any lower, I would have been able to see the top of her panties. I move towards her to assist her in getting down the bowl when I am suddenly cut off. Sonny leans over the back of Kylie and grabs the bowl she was attempting to reach. She darts under his arm and moves to the island bench where there are several unopen bags of crisps and pretzels. Her face morphs into a large smile when she notices me standing in the doorway of the kitchen, giving me that urge to fall to my knees.

  “Hey,” she greets kindly before emptying some of the crisps packets in the empty bowls. She grabs two full bowls of crisps and walks past me, her breasts slightly rubbing against my forearm as she slides by. Even in the middle of the city she stills smells like hay and wildflowers.

  I move towards the large stainless steel fridge and help myself to a bottle of beer, cracking it open on the expensive black marble bench top. My clean-up bill for this hotel suite is already going to cost me a fucking fortune, so what’s another little chip? I wink at Sonny before I go search for Kylie.

  “Game on mother fucker,” I murmur to myself. Kylie had plenty of space to move past me without needing to touch me, but she still made sure she brushed up against me. Whereas when Sonny got close to her, she instantly darted away from him.

  Upon entering the living room, I notice that there is a handful of people sitting in a circle in the middle of the room. When I spot the empty bottle of beer spinning in the middle of the group, I can’t help the chuckle that escapes my lips, especially considering most of the people playing would easily be over the age of twenty-one.

  “And you thought she would keep me in line,” whispers Kylie behind me. She is standing that close her breath tickles my earlobe.

  I take a swig of my beer and turn around to face her to discover she is nowhere in sight. Where the fuck did she go? I only just catch the back end of her as she makes her way back into the kitchen. This time when I walk into the kitchen, Kylie is the only one inside.

  “So how often do you play spin the bottle?” I question cheekily. She smiles brightly as she continues to replenish the snack bowls.

  “As often as possible,” she answers, forcing my cheeky smile to form into a frown. “When I was in grade five,” she adds on, her eyes flicking up from the snacks she is preparing. Her eyes roam leisurely over my face before she gives me a cheeky wink. She is in a very playful mood tonight.

  “Do you want to play?” she questions seductively, instantly making my dick stiffen.

  “Are we still talking about spin the bottle?” I question cheekily, cocking my eyebrow high into the air. She seductively prances her way over to me and when she stands in front of me, I smell the strong scent of cranberries.

  “How many drinks have you had?” I question, suddenly realizing that I will not have the ability of smelling vodka on her breath. I managed to hold myself back three nights ago when she was drunk, but with how she is looking at me right now, I don’t know if I can do it a second time.

  “A few,” she replies, clasping my hand within hers to drag me towards the living room.

  “A few as in a handful or a few as in you’ve lost count?” I question as we approach the group of around twenty plus people playing spin the bottle.

  When she doesn’t answer me, I stop walking, effectively halting her hasty strides to the living area. Her glossed over eyes look up at me and I ask, “Are you drunk?”

  She smiles brightly while waggling her eyebrows. “I’m just a little bit tipsy,” she says, before strolling into the sunken living area and plopping down on the ground, pulling her legs underneath herself. That means Kylie is drunk. Anytime she ever tells you she is a little bit tipsy means she is full on drunk.

  Her head nods towards the only spare space left on the light grey carpet. When her tongue darts out to lick her top lip and she winks cheekily, I know I’m not going anywhere. If she wants to play, I’m going to fucking play. I move to take my seat, my eyes roaming over the other people playing. The only face I can put a name to is Melanie and she is sitting three spaces up from me. I chuckle at the shocked expression on her face when she notices that Kylie has just joined the game. One of the road crew, I think his name is Scott, takes his turn and I release the breath I am holding in when his spin narrowly misses Kylie and lands on the girl next to her. Kylie’s eyes dart up to mine and she dramatically wipes her brow, causing me to chuckle softly against the rim of my beer. Yep, she is definitely drunk!

  A blonde girl sitting next to Scott has the next go and the instant the neck of the bottle lands on me, my eyes dart up to Kylie. Her eyebrows pull together closely and her narrowed eyes dart between the blonde and I. She then quickly leans over and adjusts the bottle so it now faces the guy sitting next to me.

  “Hey, that’s cheating,” the blonde angrily declares. Kylie arrogantly shrugs her shoulders at her, plops back down on her backside and returns her glossed over eyes to me.

  “She can’t do that, I’m kissing the drummer,” the blonde declares sternly, crossing her arms angrily across her chest. The whole time she makes her dramatic statement, Kylie’s eyes stay firmly planted on mine with a look of hunger in her eyes.

  “Kiss him or get out,” Melanie declares sternly, pointing to the guy sitting next to me. The blonde huffs angrily, before she does as instructed without any further protesting.

  The next three turns go without any incident, neither Kylie or I get picked by the spinning bottle. Now, it’s Kylie’s turn. She stares into my eyes and licks her red painted lips before she spins the bottle. Both of our eyes dart down to watch the bottle as it twirls around and around. My
heart rate increases and my palms sweat when the bottle slows down to a snail pace. I sigh loudly when it narrowly misses stopping on me and lands on the guy sitting next to me, the same guy that had to kiss the blonde earlier. Kylie looks at me and her bottom lip playfully drops, before she commences seductively crawling over towards the guy who the bottle landed on. Without any hesitation, I grab him by the scruff of his shirt and yank him across my body, so he is now sitting on the opposite side of me. Ignoring his arrogant rant, I move into his position, causing Melanie to giggle loudly and Kylie to smile largely.

  Once she is close enough that I can reach her, I hold my index finger against her lips, effectively stopping her from moving in any closer. Her eyebrows slightly pull together and a small spark of rejection forms in her eyes. I lick my thumb and run it along her lips, attempting to remove her heavy coating of lipstick. I want to have her bare lips against mine like they were the first time I kissed them. She smiles before she rubs her lips with the back of her hand, removing all traces of her lipstick.

  “Just kiss him already,” Melanie yells loudly. The hollering chants of the others playing the game echoes around us.

  The instant her lips touch mine, I know I made the right decision in enforcing my one and only groupie rule.

  I am forever ruined by her lips.

  Chapter 16

  Kylie

  “Holy shit, that party was crazy,” Melanie declares, walking into the main bedroom of our hotel suite. She is wearing a baby pink silk chemise nightie and fluffy pink slippers. I giggle softly when she dives onto the bed and sends the morning newspapers flying into the air.

  Part of my job is to gather all of the printed articles about the band in print and online and present it to Emily in a brief dot point format. Today, the news is pretty quiet on the front of the band. Noah and Emily had dinner at Michael Mina and Marcus was spotted driving a convertible over the Golden Gate Bridge. Other than that, there are no huge new stories regarding the band.

  My eyebrows pull together tight and I look at Melanie curiously when I notice her sniffing the white sheets on my hotel bed.

  “What are you doing?” I eventually question when she pulls my spare pillow to her face and takes in a large inhale of breath through her nose.

  She cocks her eyebrow and her lips pout before she replies, “I thought this room would have been reeking of hot smelly sex.” She practically purred when she said the part about hot smelly sex. I pick up one of the spare throw pillows and throw it at her head, causing her to giggle softly.

  “That kiss was hot,” she advises, throwing the pillow back at me. “Even my panties got moist watching it,” she continues, making my face scrunch up in disgust and a small bit of bile to form in my throat. That is the last image I want in my mind right now. She rolls her eyes dramatically when she notices the expression on my face. “Don’t deny it, that kiss made you all wet and horny,” she declares confidently.

  I’m not denying it. My kiss with Slater last night was heart stopping, knee wobbling, pussy clenching good. It was one of the highest rating kisses I’ve ever had. He tasted clean and fresh with a slight hint of beer. I had nearly forgotten that we were in a house full of strangers, until their excited cheers and screams projected around us. When I reluctantly pulled away from his delicious lips, I couldn’t miss the look of lust in his eyes. It was like the last two years had never happened and I would have given anything to go back two years ago and fix everything I did wrong to him, but I couldn’t. So instead of letting the past haunt me, I quickly jumped to my feet, declaring that the snacks table needed to be replenished.

  Normally, that is the only task I ever do when Melanie throws one of her famous parties. I make sure the snacks are constantly refreshed and that we don’t run out of alcohol. Last night was the first time I ever participated in any of the little games she organises. I’m glad I managed to down a few glasses of liquid courage before Slater arrived. Otherwise I may have never had the chance of experiencing one of his heart stopping kisses again.

  I could feel his eyes on me the rest of the night but he kept his distance. It was only when I informed Melanie at three am that I was going to bed as I had to work the next day did he walk back towards the interconnecting door. He stopped halfway upon entering and our gaze met and held for several moments. If he had nodded his head, requesting for me to join him, I would have, but he didn’t. Instead he offered me a small smile before he darted into his room.

  “What that’s saying?” Melanie questions, staring into space. “You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl,” she continues, her eyes flicking back to look at me.

  “That saying applies to you. Two years and you still smell country,” she informs with a hint of disgust in her voice.

  It’s actually been two years and three months since I’ve been back to the ranch. The last time I was there was the first time Slater met my family…….

  Slater walked into the spare room at my parent’s house and placed his small duffle bag down onto the single wrought iron bed. His confused and slightly amused face slowly turned around to face me.

  “You’re on top,” he said cheekily, motioning his head towards the single bed.

  “Actually…I’ll be sleeping in my room,” I replied softly. His eyebrow cocked and a small smirk formed on his face. His gaze leisurely roamed over my body and when he took a step towards me, I took a step backwards, triggering him to smile largely.

  “My parents are old fashioned and they don’t allow anyone to sleep in the same room until they are married,” I advised quietly, crossing my legs in an attempt to help lessen the tingling sensation that had rapidly formed there from his lust filled eyes roaming over my body.

  When he took another step closer to me, I stepped back and ended up crashing into the set of drawers that were sitting next to the open bedroom door. My breath came out in ragged pants and my eyes flicked between Slater and the open door. He took another step closer to me, leaving only a small inch of air between our bodies.

  “I haven’t had you in a week,” he whispered, his warm minty breath fanning my hungry lips. “Do you think I can wait another night?” he questioned, his lust filled eyes roaming over my face before stopping to stare at my lips.

  A small smile formed on my face. I leaned in closer to him, so close that our noses were nearly touching. “Well maybe we should get married then?” I suggested.

  Slater’s face instantly morphed into panic. His eyes darted between mine and his pupils dilated. The longer I maintained my composure, the more his panic settled in. I darted under his arm that was leaning against the wall and walked out into the hallway.

  When his panicked eyes eventually lifted to mine, I gave him a seductive wink before suggesting, “Or we could just have sex in the barn later?” I then turned on my heels and quickly made my way back down the stairs, not missing the frustrated groan of Slater that sounded down the hall.

  My parents couldn’t have been any more different than Slater’s parents. My dad was raised on that very ranch and my mom lived next door. They had been together nearly as long as Slater’s parents, except I wasn’t conceived until after my parents got married at the local church. Five years after I was born, I was followed by my little brother Teddy. His real name is Theodore, but we all call him Teddy.

  When Slater made his way back down the stairs, I introduced him to my mom and dad. They both stood frozen in the doorway, my mom’s mouth was slightly open, her eyes slowly roaming over Slater’s body. Dad’s eyes zoomed straight in on the tattoo’s covering his arms and narrowed angrily. Even Slater offering his hand to my dad to shake didn’t register with my dad. It was only when Teddy walked into the entranceway declaring that Slater’s tattoos “Are totally sick,” did my parents hypnotic state finally come to an end.

  Teddy moved straight to Slater and accepted his hand that was left hanging by my dad. When his eyes turned to mine, I offered him my thanks with a smile. T
eddy was only sixteen and he was normally too absorbed with his own teenage problems to bother with anyone else, but even he couldn’t miss the awkwardness in the room.

  “You have to come and meet Misty,” I informed Slater, grabbing a hold of his hand and dragging him out the front door. Eager to be anywhere but in that entranceway.

  “Dinner is in an hour, Kylie,” Dad informed sternly when I reached the front porch.

  Once I was at the front of the house, my eyes slowly lifted to look at Slater. “I’m sorry about my parents,” I apologized softly. I had never realized my parents were judgemental people until just then.