Beats of Life (Perception Book 5)

by Shandi Boyes

  “I was only fifteen at the time,”

  “That’s no excuse,” she interrupts, lifting the well-used paper off the desk. “Number twenty-four, kiss a guy with tongue,” she reads, her face looking mortified that I hadn’t already achieved that by the time I was fifteen.

  “Number thirty-three, cut one class at school,” she continues, her over dramatic eye roll and gagging noises forces a small smile on my face. Her tone alters from playful to disgusted as she continues to read items off my list.

  When her giggles bellow out of her so loudly that her whole body shakes, I storm over to her and snatch the paper out of her hand. My heart ripped when I heard the sound of paper tearing. My eyes instantly fill with tears and a small sob escapes my mouth when I notice half of the list is in my hand and the other half is in Melanie’s. I have had this list for years and this is its first ever tear. Melanie’s eyes dart between the two pieces of torn paper, before she quickly jumps up from the chair she is sitting in and starts pulling out all of the drawers that are under the black desk. She groans and mumbles something about the hotel being useless for not having any scotch tape in a desk drawer before she goes rushing into her room.

  Within a matter of seconds, she returns with a roll of scotch tape in her hand. She carefully removes the paper from my tight grip and places the two torn pieces’ side by side on the black marble desktop. With her nose scrunched up and sweat on her brow, she manages to evenly match up the rips so it nearly looks like one piece of paper again.

  “It’s going to get worse if you get it wet.” she informs softly, trying to encourage me to stop crying so my tears won’t drip onto the paper. I use the towel wrapped around my body to wipe away my tears before I carefully hold the two pieces of paper together as requested by Melanie. Once they are methodically joined together, she places a large piece of scotch tape right down the seam of the tear.

  “There you go, just like new,” she declares excitedly with a big smile on her face.

  I gently lift the paper to inspect it. Other than the shininess of the scotch tape, it looks like my well-worn and much loved bucket list again. I know it is only a list, but that piece of paper means the world to me. Once my heart rate settles down and my tears dry, I turn the paper around to read the items Melanie has added to my list.

  153. Fuck a drummer backstage at a concert.

  154. Fuck a drummer in the shower.

  155. Fuck a drummer in a stretch limo.

  156. Thank your best friend when you cross the above three items off your list!

  “You’re welcome,” she says sarcastically when she hears my small giggle erupt from my mouth without warning. “And just for future reference, I said drummer. You can pick any drummer you like,” she adds with a cheeky wink.

  Before I had met Slater I had only managed to cross a few minor items off my list. Well, I probably shouldn’t say minor. Losing your virginity isn’t that minor of a task, but it wasn’t that eventful either. But now my list is nearly three quarters done, even the scary items like skydiving and bungee jumping are crossed off. I’ve always wondered what I was going to do with myself once my list was finished, but after quickly running my eyes over the items I have yet to cross off, I realize that there are some things I will never get to achieve in my life.

  “Oh and by the way, when did you cross number fifty-three off the list?” Melanie questions, her eyebrows waggling. I turn the page to double check what I had at number fifty-three.

  53. Make love under the stars with the guy I love………

  I hadn’t meant to tell Slater that I had fallen in love with him. I was just thinking it in my head and it all come flooding out of my mouth without warning. It was only when I saw the smile on his face after I said it was I glad that I had no control over my own mouth. After he told me that he liked me too, I roughly pushed him off me for the second time that night. After he finished chuckling, his brown eyes stared deeply into mine before he cheekily declared, “I think there is another item on your list we can cross off,”

  When his head turned to look at the star filled night, I knew the exact number he was referring to. Because of Slater’s lack of confidence on Charlie it had taken us double the amount of time to reach the barn than normal. So we had already missed the dinner deadline my dad informed earlier, so what was another hour or two going to hurt? His chuckles died down and his pupils dilated when I straddled myself on his lap and slowly unbuttoned my plaid shirt. He leaned back against the blanket covered hay and placed his hands behind his head, his eyes roaming over my body, his dick stiffening underneath me.

  Once I had the final button undone, I slowly opened my shirt to show him the new purple lace bra I had purchased earlier that week. Purple was my new favourite color after Slater brought me a purple helmet the week before for when he takes me on his bike. My bra was nearly the exact same color of my helmet. I teasingly let my shirt slip off one shoulder, exposing a large portion of my beige skin. Slater groaned, before he bucked his hips and flicked his eyes to my other shoulder that was still covered, silently requesting for me to remove my whole shirt. I leisurely licked my lips, before running my hands up my stomach, over my breasts and through my hair, while feeling his dick twitching underneath me.

  Then suddenly, without giving him a chance to react, I rolled off him and commenced doing up the buttons of my shirt. Slater was always impatient and he hated being teased. Before I even had the first button done up, the weight of his body was on top of mine, causing a small giggle to erupt from my chest. The roughness of his chin stubble caused a scratching sensation against my neckline. His erection, that was rubbing the seam of my jeans, created a warm pool of desire to form between my legs.

  “I know what you’re doing,” he whispered seductively into my ear, before biting down and sucking on my neckline below my left ear, forcing an involuntary moan to escape my lips.

  “But your list said ‘make love under the stars with the guy I love’ not make love with a guy who loves me,” he continued, causing a small ping of pain to form in the middle of my chest. I was only trying to tease him, but his statement made me want to reconsider crossing that item off my list.

  His tongue darted out to lavish the bite mark on my neck and once the sting had eased, he leaned up on his elbows and his eyes leisurely roamed over my face. My rejected eyes peered past him to look at the sparkling night sky. I felt a little immature that I was allowing my lack of confidence to dampen our time together. But Slater was the first guy that I had ever loved and I had always thought when I would declare that, the guy would automatically say it back. When he noticed that I wasn’t looking at him, he rolled his hips, causing my inner vixen to scream in desire and my eyes to dart to his. Once he had my attention and saw the disappointment in my eyes, he breathed harshly out of his nose and knelt between my legs. He leaned back so his bottom rested against his bare feet and even though I felt rejected, my pussy instantly protested from the loss of his contact. He gently grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the blanket until I was kneeling in front of him, mirroring his exact position.

  “Feel this,” he requested softly, placing my left hand over his chest. His heart was racing so fast it felt like it is trying to break out of his chest cavity. I could also see his blood pulsing quickly through the veins that were bulging on his neck.

  “Now feel this,” he continued with a cheeky smile on his face. He slowly glided my right hand down his rock hard six pack to place it on top of his equally hard cock, causing my pulse to quicken.

  “You don’t need to hear the words to know what you do to me Kylie; the proof is right in front of you,” he stated, his brown eyes staring firmly into mine. “You can feel it and you can touch it, you don’t need to hear it,” he added, his voice sounding sincere and rough at the same time.

  My eyes flicked between his that were reflecting back torment, love and vulnerability. It was the first time I had ever seen him appear so vulnerable and I hated that I had made him feel that
way. So as much as I wanted to hear those three words escape his lips, I understood what he said. His actions had more than proved to me that I had meant something to him, so I decided at that time that it would have to be enough.

  I moved my hand from his heart and placed it against his cheek before moving my mouth to brush against his. He smiled against my lips, before leaning his crutch in harder to my hand that was still firmly planted on his erection. He spent the next forty-five minutes showing me exactly how much I meant to him, solely using his body instead of his words.

  ****

  Slater’s heart was racing even more than it was previously, or maybe it was because I had my ear pressed up against his bare chest that made it appear that way. I snuggled in close as his rough hands ran down my hair that was around three years overdue to be cut. His hands stopped their smoothing motion and he stiffened when the sound of a male voice was heard from outside the room.

  “She will be here, it’s where she always comes when she is home,” advised a male voice that got louder with each word spoken.

  The sound of the ladder creaking echoed in the silence of our panic. Slater and I quickly sprung to our feet and gathered our clothes from around the room. Before I even had all of my clothes gathered, the sound of the door opening caused me to freeze in panic. Slater quickly moved in front of me, sheltering my naked body with his just as the person entered the room without bothering to knock. Slater took a defensive stance and the room fell into complete silence that even a pin dropping would have easily been heard.

  “Yeah, she is in here dad, we will be down in a minute,” the angry male voice I instantly recognized bellowed down the ladder.

  My cheeks heated and my heart rate rapidly increased as I stood on my tiptoes to peer past Slater’s shoulder to have my suspicions confirmed. There staring back at me were the furious green eyes of Dominic Tucker. The one man that would happily tell me he loved me, even though he knew I would never say it back.

  After his eyes burned into mine for several seconds, his gaze roamed over Slater before his face morphed into pure rage. When his eyes darted down, I suddenly realized that Slater had his arms crossed angrily across his chest, not bothering to cover himself from Dominic’s infuriating glare. I quickly lowered down both of my hands to cover Slater’s groin.

  “You’re not helping,” said Slater, his voice a cross between cheeky and stern. My eyebrows pulled together tight in confusion, my eyes darting back to look at Dominic. The ticking of his jaw was nearly in sync with the twitching that Slater’s dick was doing from having my hand touching it. I muffled my slight giggle in Slater’s back. The vibrating of his body clearly showed that he was also having trouble holding in his laughter.

  “Get dressed, I’ll be in my truck and I’ll drive you home,” Dominic stated angrily, not even slightly amused as he made his way to the door. Just as I was about to protest that I had to take Misty and Charlie back, he continued, “Dad will take care of Misty and Charlie,”

  The instant Dominic left, Slater’s loud chuckle echoed around the room. I slapped his bicep playfully before I quickly shimmied into my jeans. My eyes scanned the room, trying to locate my bra Slater had removed earlier.

  “Are you looking for this?” he questioned, swinging my bra around his index finger. I moved towards him and attempted to snatch my bra out of his hand, but he was too fast and moved it out of my reach.

  “I might need to add this to my collection,” he said cockily, his eyes roaming over my naked torso. I crossed my arms in front of my chest, effectively covering most of my breasts from his perving eyes. He pouted playfully before he handed my bra back to me.

  “Maybe next time,” he said cheekily with a wink.

  “I thought rock stars collected panties?” I questioned sarcastically, making him laugh even louder than before.

  “Not drummers baby, we are all about the beat,” he responded seductively. He strolled over towards me and used both of his hands to gently tap on the top of my breasts, mimicking the movements a person would make on a small drum while making drumming noises out of his mouth.

  “Perfect rhythm,” I replied playfully, silently wishing that Dominic wasn’t outside waiting for us so I could have enjoyed even more of Slater’s sexual rhythms.

  Once we were both presentable and clothed, we walked hand in hand to Dominic’s large white truck. I hopped in first and slide across the red bench seat, keeping my gaze lowered so I didn’t catch Dominic’s furious eyes. Slater moved in next to me and placed his hand on my thigh. My eyes only lifted when we were halfway home as I felt something being tapped on my leg. When I noticed that it was the red pencil I had used earlier that night, I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face.

  “You have to use this pencil every item I help you cross an item off your list,” Slater requested quietly. I eagerly nodded my head as a small gathering of tears formed in my eyes. He handed me the pencil and placed a kiss on the top of my head before pulling me in close to his chest.

  I quickly make my way to my suitcase located in the corner of the room in my hotel suite. It takes pulling out every article of clothing I own before I remember that I had placed the pencil in the front pocket of my carry-on baggage. It hasn’t been sharpened or used in years, but I always carry it with me everywhere I go with a hope that one day I may be able to use my trusty red pencil again.

  Chapter 19

  Slater

  “Do you want me to go and get them?” questions Marcus, triggering me to instantly shake my head.

  We are once again sitting in the stretch limousine waiting for the rest of our band members to show up to take us to the after party since our concert tour has just kicked off in San Francisco, but this time I don’t mind waiting. Why you ask? Because the beautiful specimen of Kylie is sitting directly across from me. I haven’t been able to get her out of my head since our kiss and if she isn’t in my thoughts, she is in my dreams every fucking night. I’ve been putting all my best moves on her and tonight I intend to collet my reward. We have been flirting pretty heavily the past few days that I constantly need to adjust my crutch. I think some of the stage crew are getting worried that I might have crabs or something. I just can’t get Kylie alone to push our flirting to the next level. If I’m not with Marcus, she is with Melanie or Emily. I couldn’t help but chuckle and my chest puffed out when she sidestepped Sonny and walked right by him like he didn’t even exist earlier tonight.

  I could feel her eyes watching me the entire two hours of our performance tonight and when the lights on the stage dimmed I could also see her. She was smiling brightly and was covering her ears from the deafening chants the crowd was making while requesting an encore. Her fall to your knees smile plastered all over her adorable face. The first thing I did when I walked off stage was invite her and Melanie to the after party. Melanie squealed when I asked them to meet me in the limo in an hour, where Kylie just gently nodded her head and smiled softly.

  The instant Kylie enters the limo I once again have the urgent need to adjust myself. She is wearing a dark purple strapless dress that had the middle section cut out in a crisscross design, exposing inches of her soft and smooth skin on her stomach and a cropped black suede jacket. The color of her dress matches the purple streak in her straightened hair perfectly. Her make-up is a little heavier than I like, but I do notice that her lips are only covered with a slight sheen of lip gloss.

  When Jenni enters the limo, her eyes dart between Kylie and I. A shy smile forms on her face before her cheeks go a pink hue. She moves over and sits down next to me, nudging me playfully with her shoulder. I reluctantly tear my gaze away from Kylie to look into Jenni’s amused eyes.

  “Did you invite them?” she questions quietly, ensuring that Kylie and Melanie won’t be able to overhear our conversation. Her smile enlarges and her eyes sparkle even more when I nod my head in confirmation.

  “I like her,” she whispers.

  “I know,” I reply, my eyes rolling. She h
as told me that exact same statement on many occasions the past few days that I am seriously considering recording her just to save her some breath.

  “And so do you,” she continues softly with a small giggle.

  This time it is me that playfully barges her with my shoulder while my eyes slightly beg for Nick to save me from his loved up fiancé. His eyes flick between Kylie, Jenni and I and when his gaze returns to mine, he smirks and shakes his head, triggering me to flip him the bird. Jenni giggles loudly, before she slides across the bench seat to snuggle in close to Nick’s side.

  When Emily and Noah enter, Emily’s eyes also dart between Kylie and I, but she doesn’t smile like Jenni did. Her eyebrows pull together tight and eyes become filled with small tears, making me curious as to why she would react in such a way. I turn my gaze to Jenni and she has also noticed Emily’s reaction.

  “I don’t know,” she mouths silently to my questioning eyes. Her shoulders slightly shrug and a confused look forms on her face.

  I spend the twenty-minute trip to the club with my eyes darting between Emily and Kylie. Anytime Kylie would look at Emily, she would offer her a small smile. Emily would return her smile but it wasn’t her normal large heart-warming smile she normally gives people. By the time we make it to the club, my curiosity is peaked enough that I plan on staying in the limo to ask Emily what is going on between her and Kylie.