Beats of Life (Perception Book 5)

by Shandi Boyes

  My plan only falters when Kylie exits the limousine first and becomes blinded by the paparazzi lights. Her hands instantly fly up to shield her eyes but the flashing lights have already affected her vision that she stumbles and nearly falls onto the concrete path. I quickly move towards her, shielding my eyes with one arm and wrapping the other one around her tiny waist. She stiffens when she is suddenly grabbed from the side.

  “It’s okay, it’s me,” I declare loudly, trying to project my voice over the paparazzi that are screaming out a range of different questions.

  After I take a few steps forward, the flashing of the lights lessen as the paparazzi moves behind us to ensure they capture Noah, Marcus and Nick entering the club. When I walk into the club, I move to the side of the door, before my eyes slowly roam over Kylie’s face.

  “If you are looking at me I can’t see you, there is nothing but white blobs in front of me,” she informs giggling, causing me to chuckle loudly.

  “Oh my god, where is Melanie?” she questions quickly, her voice sounding panicked and scared.

  Oh shit, I had completely forgotten about her friend. My eyes quickly look outside to discover Melanie being ushered into the club by Marcus. She practically clings to his chest as he moves through the swarm of paparazzi. The beaming smile plastered on her face clearly showing her enjoyment.

  “She is okay. She is with Marcus,” I inform with a slight chuckle.

  Kylie smiles brightly before her eyes flick between mine, indicating that she can once again see. I hold up my index finger and her eyes follow the movement my finger makes as requested. When I lower my finger, her eyes lift to look into mine. We are standing so close the soft pants of her breath can be felt on my lips. Another inch closer and I would be able to taste her delicious lips again. All noise ceases to exist as I lower my mouth down towards hers. Her lust filled eyes dart between mine, her tongue quickly darting out to moisten her lips in preparation for our kiss.

  “Oh my god, that was fucking crazy,” screams Melanie loudly next to us. She screamed so loud, Kylie head butted me when she jumped in surprise and my lips narrowly missed hers and landed on the side of her mouth. Melanie looks curiously between us and a small smirk morphs on her face when she notices Kylie rubbing her head.

  “Did I interrupt something?” she questions playfully, her thin eyebrows raising high into the air. When neither of us answer, she smiles brightly before wrapping her arm around Kylie.

  “We are not at a concert, in a limo or in the shower,” she says giggling, dragging Kylie away from me and walking towards the dance floor. I’m left standing at the side of the club looking like a freak with a raging hard on trying to work out what the fuck just happened. Melanie has been practically throwing Kylie towards me the past three days and now she is dragging her away from me.

  “Don’t try and work them out, you will only end up even more confused,” Marcus says, moving to stand next to me.

  He wraps his arm around my shoulders and pushes me towards the VIP section of the club. This club tonight is huge compared to the last one we visited. This club has three levels and we have either the choice of a VIP booth, a VIP room or an entire floor dedicated to only VIP clientele that has its own dance floor. We decide on the VIP booth when we discover it has the best view on the dance floor one level below. I order a double shot of whiskey from the waitress before moving to the edge of the balcony to peer down at the mass of people dancing on the dance floor. It doesn’t take long to spot Kylie and Melanie dancing in the middle of the packed floor. If Kylie’s smile on her face isn’t obvious enough, the fire red dress Melanie is wearing stands out even more.

  “Thanks,” I say, accepting the glass of whiskey from the waiter’s tray.

  Tonight the waitresses are wearing bright yellow fluorescent shorts with hot pink crop tops. At first glance, I thought their outfits were painted onto their bodies as they leave nothing to the imagination. Unfortunately, the male version of the outfit isn’t much better than the girls, the only difference is they have muscle shirts instead of crop tops. I’m going to have to remain standing all night just to ensure I don’t have a fluoro covered male crutch shoved into my peripheral vision against my fucking wishes. Noah’s loud chuckle is easily audible when he notices my gagging reaction to the male waiter’s outfit.

  “They’re killing me,” he says, once he joins me near the balcony. “Fluoro yellow was my favorite color. I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to look at it the same again now,” he continues, making me laugh loudly.

  Noah is that obsessed with the color he even coordinated it into his wedding with Emily. Thankfully, it was only wrapped around the girl’s bouquet stems and the groomsmen weren’t subjected to wearing it. I still have fond memories of the night Emily and Noah got married. I had gotten out of rehab the week before and spent my night making sure Noah’s best friend Jacob got rip roaring drunk. I had never seen that guy drunk before and I made it my mission that night to unravel the mystery of a drunken Jacob. I didn’t discover much more about him other than what I already knew. He is a giant with the biggest fucking heart you would ever find. His heart matches his size, but it doesn’t match his career choice. Out of all the careers in the world you would never guess that Jacob is a UFC fighter. Brutal too. I’ve watched him fight a few times the last few months. He was banned for over two years for beating a guy nearly to death with his bare hands. Can’t say that I blame him though, if anyone ever touched any of the girls I dated they wouldn’t still be breathing like Callum is.

  “Have you heard from Jacob lately?” I question Noah. He smiles his beaming white smile before his dark eyes turn to face me.

  “Yeah, I was talking to him earlier,” he replies smiling. “He is doing good, has a few tricks up his sleeve,” he says, waggling his eyebrows excitedly.

  Jacob is dating Emily’s sister Lola. I thought Kylie and I were opposites when we were dating, but we were nothing compared to Lola and Jacob. That girl is small and feisty and she has a very firm grasp on Jacob’s balls. The even funnier part is he seems to be loving every fucking moment of it.

  “He and Lola will be at Maddie’s birthday next month,” Noah advises, accepting a bottle of beer from the waitress. Her fluttering eyes excitedly roaming over his face and body, but he doesn’t pay her any attention. If I have learnt anything the past three years is that Noah’s attention never diverts from Emily, whether she is in the room or not.

  “You can invite Kylie if you want,” he offers, his eyes darting from the beer bottle to stare into mine.

  “Yeah, maybe,” I reply, downing the entire double nip of whiskey. “Do you know what the go is between Emily and Kylie, things seem tense between them?” I question, signalling to the waitress for another whiskey.

  Noah freezes with the seam of his beer bottle resting against his lips. His eyes flick from mine to the dance floor down below. He takes a swig of his beer and smiles his big beaming smile. “They seem okay to me,” he replies cheekily, motioning his head to the dance floor where I spot Emily and Kylie dancing side by side, both with large smiles planted on their faces. In sync, their heads lift to look at us. Emily blows a kiss at Noah and Kylie waves hesitantly.

  “The better question would be what is going on between you and Kylie?” Noah asks, his voice sounding both concerned and happy.

  “Good question,” I respond. I can’t get her out of my fucking head. Not just the past few days, but the past two years. I gave Kylie my heart two years ago, fully, willing and able. When she left, she took my heart right along with her.

  Noah chuckles softly at the expression on my face, before he squeezes my shoulder in support.

  “I’m fucked, aren’t I?” I question, accepting the whiskey from the waitress, noticing that the napkin attached to the glass has her name and cell phone number scribbled across it.

  “I get off in ten minutes,” she purrs into my ear before prancing back to the bar.

  Noah’s dark eyes dart down to
the napkin before lifting to stare directly into mine.

  “That depends on you,” he responds, motioning to the napkin in my hand.

  Chapter 20

  Kylie

  With each step I take, my heart rate accelerates even more. ‘One step at a time,’ I silently chant to myself. Breathe and walk, breathe and walk, it really shouldn’t be that hard, but I am petrified. The last time I walked into the VIP section at a ‘Rise Up’ after party I found myself face to face with the new lifestyle Slater now lives. I had inconveniently decided to go to the bathroom and ended up separated from the rest of the girls, which means I am now entering the gates of hell alone.

  I hear his deep rumbling laughter before I spot him. He is sitting up high on a barstool at the end of the bar, talking to a beautiful brunette. Her long tan legs on full display in a short black sequin dress. My heart drops into my stomach and tears sting my eyes as the feeling of disappointment courses through my body. Ever since our drunken kiss, Slater has ramped up his effort in wooing me back into his bedroom. I tried to keep our ‘relationship’ in the friend’s zone. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be with him, believe me, I want him more than anything in the world, but nothing had changed from two years ago and the reason I left him was still in the forefront of my mind every time I looked into his eyes. But my defences weakened with every smile, wink or playful comment he made and as each day passed my excuses for not being with him grew less and less. When he invited me to the after party tonight, I decided that I can no longer deny what my heart wants, and it wants him. Except now it looks like I left it too late. At least I can take a small amount of comfort in the fact that this time around he is fully clothed and she isn’t on her knees.

  My disappointed eyes quickly scan the room in an attempt to locate Melanie. Emily and Noah are sitting close together in a black booth, talking in hushed whispers. Jenni and Nick are making out like teenagers at a prom in another and behind them is Melanie. She appears to be actively participating in a deep and meaningful conversation with Marcus. I quickly make my way towards them, triggering Melanie’s eyes to dart up, her head slightly shakes, the look on her face warning me to stay away. I narrow my eyes and huff angrily. She can’t leave me stranded looking like the odd man out since everyone else is paired up. She rolls her eyes dramatically and gestures her head towards Slater. I quickly shake my head, mortified. I am not interrupting him while he is talking to a lady that looks like she belongs in the centrefolds of Sports Illustrated.

  I silently beg her from across the room, my bottom lip drops and my face morphs into sadness. She smiles softly before shaking her head, her attention focusing back on Marcus. I stomp my feet, doing my best impersonation of her famous tantrums. She smiles largely and rolls her eyes, but I notice she missed the head shake. It’s time to bring in the big guns. I drop my bottom lip again and blink my eyes rapidly, forcing tears to form in them. When she spots my tears, her face constricts and the corners of her mouth slowly droops before she raises her manicured finger into the air, requesting a minute. I quickly nod my head. My inner vixen screams in excitement as I do a little jig of victory. Today is the first time I have ever won a standoff against Melanie and the victory feels euphoric.

  “It was the stomping that won her over.”

  My immature dance moves stop and my heart flutters faster. I bite painfully on my lip before slowly spinning around. Slater’s face appears amused. His eyes dart down to my lips, before he raises his hand and gently removes my bottom lip for my menacing teeth, his smile getting larger with every movement he makes. My eyes quickly dart back to the bar to discover the brunette is watching us. When she smiles, I can’t help the extravagant gasp that comes out of my lips. No one should be that beautiful. Slater chuckles at my reaction, making me realize that I had gasped loud enough for him to hear it over the loud music blaring around the club. I really shouldn’t have had all those shots Melanie kept handing me left right and centre earlier tonight, but I was nervous and I thought a little buzz would help settle the butterflies that were fluttering in my stomach. The buzz was great at the start, but now that it is fading, all of my confidence is being drained right along with it.

  Slater wraps his hand around mine, his touch feels warm and comforting. I only stumble slightly when he walks us towards the beautiful brunette. As we get closer, I realize I have seen her before. She is the bassist of ‘Big Halo’ but her name has slipped my mind. Her smile gets larger with every step we take. Her eyes roam over my face, before wandering leisurely over my body. My step slightly falters when her eyes lift back to mine and the undeniable sparkle of lust is beaming from them.

  “Miranda, this is Kylie. Kylie, this Miranda,” Slater introduces, his eyebrow slightly cocked when he notices the expression on Miranda’s face. “This one is off limits,” he states sternly, triggering Miranda’s eyebrows to shoot up high into her hairline and my excited eyes to dart to his.

  “No dibs Slater, you know the rules,” she says playfully, her voice sounding as seductive as she looks. Miranda’s eyes leisurely roam over my face before they return to Slater’s. She gives him a cheeky wink, triggering him to smile largely. My eyes bounce between them both, trying to work out what the hell is going on.

  “Fuck the rules,” Slater says chuckling loudly, pulling me in close to his side, making my heart rate soar in excitement.

  Miranda hollers unexpectedly, startling me. She smiles brightly as she leans over and rings a gold bell on the side of the bar. Suddenly, a handful of bar staff swiftly cover the entire length of the wooden bar with a long line of shot glasses. In sync, they lift crystal bottles high into the air and the clear liquid inside them flows out freely, filling the shot glasses in one quick motion. Miranda gathers three of the sticky overflowing shot glasses, handing one each to Slater and I. She grabs my spare hand and raises it to her mouth, her tongue darting out to lick the section of skin between my thumb and index finger. My eyes flick up to Slater, his face is unreadable as he watches Miranda grab a canister of salt to shake onto my hand, her smile practically beaming out of her.

  “To girls worth breaking the rules for,” she says loudly, the words purring out of her mouth. She raises my hand to her mouth to slowly lick off a portion of the salt with her long tongue, before downing her entire nip of tequila in one hit. A loud deep moan vibrates from her throat. She winks cheekily at Slater before sucking on a cut of lemon she removed from a bowl the waiter had just placed on the bar.

  My mouth waters and my pussy tingles when Slater’s tongue darts out and licks the left over salt off my hand. His tequila is downed in one swift movement, before he pops a large wedge of lemon into his mouth. He returns Miranda’s cheeky wink before his eyes turn to stare seductively into mine.

  “Your turn,” he says roughly, his voice sounding so deep and rugged.

  I swallow harshly from the intense gaze they are both directing at me. My tongue darts out to moisten my skin again to replace the salt they had licked off. In one quick motion, I lick and sip. My eyes close and my face scrunches up from the disgusting liquid that is sliding down my throat, I’ve always hated the taste of tequila. I grab for a wedge of lemon when suddenly, without warning, a pair of warm lips are pressed against mine. Their skilful tongue, that is laced with lemon, soothes the tequila burn. I can’t tell if it is the alcohol that is creating that buzzing sensation dancing around my body or the steaming hot kiss. When my knees buckle, I’m fairly certain it’s the kiss. When a deep moan vibrates from my throat, I am one hundred percent certain it is the kiss.

  “Alright, alright, you win,” declares Miranda, her playful tug on my shoulders effectively pulling me away from Slater’s deliciously fruity mouth. “But you cheated,” she continues, her eyebrows lifting high into the air, poking her sharp nail into Slater’s chest.

  “She is supposed to pick the mouth, not you choose it for her,” she informs laughing, doing another tequila shot, this time using her own salted hand.

  “Your ch
ances of getting close to her is nearly as good as Sonny’s,” Slater replies cheekily.

  “Neither of you have a fucking chance,” he adds more sternly, forcing Miranda to laugh loudly, gaining her the attention of several males in the room. I stand there completely silent, since Slater’s kiss has rendered my speechless.

  “One night with me will be all she needs to jump that fence,” Miranda responds playfully. My eyes instantly dart to hers. When she winks at me seductively, the penny finally drops. Miranda likes girls.

  “No fucking chance,” Slater replies, taking a swig out of his bottle of beer.

  “We could share,” Miranda suggests, her shoulders slightly shrugging like she was willing to discuss a compromise. My eyebrows shoot up high into my hairline. Is sharing something they do often?

  “No. Fucking. Chance,” Slater repeats sternly, his eyes narrowing at Miranda.