Savaged Vows: Savaged Illusions Trilogy Book 2

by Jennifer Lyon

  “I… You can’t kill him.” The only one who’d killed for her was her mother, and Amber paid for that with every breath she took in prison. Was Liza ruining Justice? “Please, don’t go after him. I don’t want to turn you into a killer. They’ll take you away, lock you up.” Like her mom.

  “I can’t, he’s hiding like the rat he is. Yet he gets to do this, hurt my wife and my band.”

  She shuddered, so overwhelmed she didn’t know how to handle this. Justice’s love was terrifying and gratifying. Powerful. He hadn’t doubted her, he’d been angry. “I feel the same way. Gene Hayes is my reaper, but I don’t know how to fight him. I’m so scared he’s going to win by tearing us apart. I don’t know what he’ll do to our child.”

  He wrapped his arms around her, tugging her against him. His heart thumped next to her face. “He won’t. No one can tear us apart.”

  She lifted her face to his. “Swear it.”

  “It’s our vow, remember? No one comes between us.”

  Liza desperately wanted to believe him.

  Chapter 18

  “Chicken.” Justice leaned against a pile of pillows, his wife tucked between his legs with her computer on her lap. Right now, it was just the two them in Beth’s book—the place where she brought him into her secret world.

  They both needed the escape, a way to channel their raw passion and feelings.

  Beth tilted her head back, looking up at him. “I’m thinking.”

  He grinned. “Do you always cluck when you think?”

  She shot her hand out and pulled the hair on his leg.

  He caught her fingers. “The scene is damned good, Beth. The hero walking in on her when she and the bassist are doing it the second time. Don’t delete it. Go further. Up the stakes. Make the singer realize he loves her, and he has to be enraged at the bassist. He feels betrayed by both of them.”

  “But they’re best friends,” she protested. “And they’ve always shared groupies.”

  The risk was scaring her, but this was one worth taking. “Don’t delete it. Use it. Make them all fall apart.”

  Resting her head against him, she brushed her fingers over his thigh. “I’ve never written a story like this. My characters are out of control. I create these worlds so I can make everything come out right.”

  Tingles raced up his leg to his engorged dick pressed between their bodies. But he focused on her. “Think of it another way.”

  “Such as?”

  “This is your safe place to take risks. Any risk you want. Who’s going to see it except you and me? Embrace the risk and the challenge. She’s going to be pregnant. The father is one of the two former friends who hate each other because of her.” He dropped a kiss on her head, loving the brush of her hair against his face. “Keep the scene and amp it up.”

  “You believe in me that much?”

  This was what he loved—that look of awe and love shimmering in her eyes. He felt like her hero, but she did the same for him. She believed in his dreams as much as he believed in hers.

  “Believe?” He shook his head. “I know you can do it. Reach for the stars, baby. You’ve got this.” He stroked a lock of her hair and added, “I’d grow fucking wings and fly you into the sky if I could. But the truth is, you don’t need a ride to your dream. You just need to quit worrying and write.”

  She reached up, laying her hand along his jaw. “I need you. You’re my courage, Justice.”

  He looked down at her. “Another lie. You were brave long before you met me. You were surrounded by cowards trying to hold you back. Now quit stalling and write.”

  She hit save, then closed her computer and set it aside. Her lower back rubbed against his engorged dick. “You want me to write sex scenes.”

  Ah, now she was ready. His cock had been hard since he’d pulled her between his legs a half hour ago, but he’d savored it instead of rushing, letting Beth come down from her battle with her demons, and the two of them to relax. They didn’t have enough time together, and he was greedy for more of her than a quick fuck. “Hell yeah. And fight scenes too, but mostly sex scenes. This one was really hot, especially when the bassist pushed her over the bed, yanked up her dress, and ripped her panties off.” Justice slid his hand under her little tank, cupping her breast. She’d gotten bigger and more sensitive with the pregnancy. “It makes you hot to write the scenes. When I’m reading those in my bunk on the bus, I think about you writing and squirming as your pussy gets wet and swollen.” He dragged his hand down her stomach and into her panties.

  Beth spread her thighs for him.

  “Wet.” He rumbled the word out, hot hunger pounding. He needed her. “Admit it, writing that scene made you horny.”

  She pulled his hand out and twisted around until she straddled him. “Yes,” she answered, and plucked off her shirt.

  Justice lost his train of thought as her tits bounced free, swaying right in front of his face.

  “And you know what I was thinking when I wrote it?”

  Beth was changing the game on him, but he wasn’t fighting it. His mouth dried. Clamping his hands around her hips, he tugged her forward.

  “What?” He got the word out an instant before he latched on to her rigid nipple.

  Beth arched, a moan breaking from her. Then she bent her head close to his ear. “That I can get you, my biggest fan, so excited you’ll rip my panties off. I can make you do that.”

  A jolt of wicked-hot lust shot straight to his cock. He loved it when she told him what she wanted. Fulfilling his wife’s fantasies was a huge turn-on. “You want it, get on your hands and knees.” His voice lowered into a thick growl. His excitement wiped out any shred of caution. Beth knew her limits, and if she wanted this, he’d give it to her.

  She did it, her sweet ass encased in those shell-pink panties. Tempting as fuck. Grabbing the material, he yanked, ripping the fragile cotton and tearing them off.

  Bared. Beth was naked and her ass his. He drew a finger down her crack. “You like teasing your biggest fan? Writing dirty scenes to make me burn for you?”

  Her fingers clutched the sheets. “I love it. Sometimes I touch myself, thinking about how you’ll react. How big your cock will get.”

  Jesus. Hot chills lanced his spine. He reared up, gripping her hips. “You’re going to find out how big I am.” He pressed his dick to her.

  The creamy, satin feel of her gloved him. Drove him insane. Unable to stop, he jerked her back as he surged in. He’d never taken Beth this way. His eyes rolled back. He bared his teeth as her pussy clamped around him. Sweat beaded.

  Careful, a tiny voice of sanity whispered. She’s pregnant. And this could be a trigger for her too.

  “That all you got, groupie?” Her words tumbled out in pants. “I can write it harder. Wilder.”

  “Beth,” he snarled in warning. All damned night he’d been in control. But this, his woman on her hands and knees, taking his cock and taunting him, frayed the last remnants of his control and sanity.

  “Maybe I’ll write you out of the scene.”

  That did it. He smacked her ass. “The hell you will. You’re mine, every goddamned scene, every word is mine.” He seized hold of her, snapping his hips, and going balls-deep while pulling her back at the same time, making her take every inch of his cock, his everything.

  She threw back her head, a cry breaking from her as she came.

  Justice lost his mind beneath the power of the blazing-hot pleasure ripping him apart. Minutes or days passed before he could catch his breath and unlock his muscles.

  Beth had managed to stay up on her arms and knees, her back bowed and head dropped. He gathered her hair, turning her head to see her face. Her skin was flushed, eyes unnaturally bright. No glasses.

  He glanced at the bed a few inches from her, and there they were. “I fucked your glasses right off your face.” He smiled at her bemused expression. He knew she’d come hard. Easing from her, he put her glasses on the table. After using her torn panties to clean
Beth and him up, he tucked her back to his chest. She was limp and sated.

  “Looks like I fucked the wicked-writer attitude out of you too.” Male pride damn near choked him. Okay maybe that was love. Because this girl? She was exactly what he needed. Only with her could he lose himself like that. But it was more—her trust. She’d been rendered powerless and hurt by a man before, yet she’d trusted Justice to take her from behind.

  “Ha. I made you. I’m the writer.”

  He barely had the energy to laugh. “You threatened to write me out of the scene. That’s a low blow.” The thought dug in, burrowing into his fears. “You can’t delete me like you wanted to delete that scene tonight.”

  She turned her head, looking at him in the sweep of light coming in from the partially opened bathroom door. “Never. I mean, I might delete the scene, but never you. You’re my life.”

  * * *

  Liza rode the elevator down, her stomach fluttering with nerves. She and Justice had had a late breakfast together on the little balcony of their room after checking to see that “Expired Hero” was holding on the charts. Hayes and the protesters hadn’t done too much damage.

  Once they were done eating, Justice had gone down to talk with his band while she showered and attempted to tame her hair.

  And her anxiety. Everyone had been tense on the trip home last night. This morning the media was all over Liza, rehashing and speculating. Trying to get comments from Dillion and Stacy Jo. Those two idiots got a taste of her world, and she’d bet Dillion wasn’t so in love with Liza now. Dillion’s father probably had a few things to say to his son about that video too.

  The elevator stopped, bouncing her from her spinning thoughts. Stepping out, she didn’t see anyone in the cavernous living room to her left or massive kitchen straight ahead. It was around 1:00 p.m., so surely others were up by now. She and Justice were planning to explore the grounds and maybe go out on the boat before dinner tonight. Pulling out her phone, she was ready to text Justice when she heard Lynx’s voice.

  “You have to talk to her, man.”

  She jerked her head up. Her? Far as she knew, she was the only female aside from staff at the manor. Everyone had been too preoccupied when they came home last night to be in the mood for partying with groupies. Returning her phone to her pocket, she headed to the open sliding doors. The patio had a big outdoor kitchen that led to a sparkling blue pool and beyond that, a dock stretched out over the bay. The afternoon sun, even in February, was warm and brilliant. Her attention honed in on her husband pacing, while the other four band members stared.

  “What am I supposed to say to her?” Justice turned around, his face tight. “She’s my wife, not one of your groupie chicks you bang and forget.”

  Lynx was bare-chested, his tats colorful against his skin. “It’s all kinds of fucked up, but the four of us agreed. It’s nothing against Liza personally.”

  “Fuck,” Justice snarled. “The tour isn’t even half over yet.”

  She held her breath, staying utterly still. They were only a dozen feet from her, but all of them were so focused on their conversation, they weren’t aware of her standing there.

  “The media only wants to talk about Liza.” Simon unfolded from a chair, a coffee cup in his hand. “She, and your marriage, are becoming the story, not our music. And our numbers didn’t climb with the concert last night, but Jagged Sin’s did. They’ve passed us up. We should have gotten a bump after the concert, but people are taking sides, calling her Lyin’ Liza, and it’s getting ugly.”

  “Like Court of Rock all over again,” River added.

  Gray nodded. “Do you want her hurt? Not only that, Christine got a call from one of our venues saying that if we bring Liza, we have to pop for additional security.”

  Justice folded his arms, straining the seams of his blue T-shirt that highlighted the curves and dips of his muscles. Frustrated anger lined every inch of his rigid stance. “You’re giving me an ultimatum to ban my wife from the tour. You’re supposed to have my back.”

  Simon stared him down. “And you’re supposed to have ours. Have you talked to her about the postnuptial agreement protecting our record company? You said you would this weekend.”

  Justice turned away, the angle of his jaw unforgiving. “I’ll get to it.”

  Liza pressed her hand on her belly. Postnuptial agreement. Protect the company? Ban her from their concerts? They wanted Justice to keep her hidden and neutralized. This felt all too familiar and so damned lonely.

  “Not good enough. You have to handle this,” Simon said. “Hayes has threatened to destroy her, and if he can find a way to get to our company through your wife—”

  “I get it,” Justice snapped.

  “So what’s it going to be?” Simon stared back at him. “Are you going to honor your commitment? Or turn Liza into a Yoko.”

  Liza slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp. In the eight months since that fight in the greenroom, she hadn’t heard Simon or any of them call her that.

  Now it was starting all over again.

  Justice turned at a sound and froze for one endless second before he broke free. Striding past Simon, he took her hand. “Beth, you heard that?”

  With all five of them staring at her, she refused to get emotional. Pulling herself together just like she did when she handled explosive situations at work, she lifted her chin. “Enough to get the gist. I’m banned from the tour and need to sign a postnuptial. Did I miss anything?” Her words were low and sharp enough to cut glass. “Do you all require a DNA test to prove the baby is Justice’s once he or she is born?” She honed in on Justice. “Or is that covered in this mysterious postnuptial that your band knows about but I don’t?”

  “Hell.” Simon rubbed the back of his neck. “We’re not saying that Justice isn’t the father. It’s not personal, this is just business.”

  Yeah? Because it felt real damn personal. She pulled her fingers from Justice’s hand and eyed him. “Well?”

  He shot a death glare at the others, then recaptured her hand, his fingers firm. “Let’s go for a walk.” He tugged her out.

  She followed to get answers and to escape the four men who clearly saw her as an obstacle that had be removed.

  Justice ignored the pool and bay, turning right to head down some steps and out onto a trail. On one side the bay stretched out, and on the other were palm trees and pretty tropical plants. A cool breeze ruffled the hem of her tunic over cropped jeans. It was a serene, beautiful place.

  Unlike her mind, which was filled with slime-coated trails of hurt and betrayal.

  Minutes passed before she finally said, “Are you going to talk? Or are you looking for a place to dump my body to get rid of me permanently?”

  “Not funny,” he snapped.

  She yanked her hand from his grip and crossed her arms. “What is the postnuptial for?”

  He shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “To specify that S.I. Records is not a part of our marital assets. But, of course, any income I make paid out by S.I. Records is. That way if Hayes gets that verdict overturned and sues you, he won’t be able to touch the company’s assets.”

  “I see.”

  “It’s not just my company, Beth. I have to protect my business partners.”

  What could she say? “Christine said she tried to talk you into having me sign a prenup. Why didn’t you do it then?”

  He jammed his fingers through his hair. “Because I didn’t want to.” Settling his palms on her biceps, he added, “I’m not protecting S.I. Records from you, I’m protecting it from Hayes.”

  The warmth of his touch and his reassurance flowed into her muscles, calming her enough to think. “I’ll sign the postnup.”

  Shock widened his eyes. “You will?”

  “Yes.” She tried to sort out the threads of her upset.

  He rubbed her arms. “So you’re not mad?”

  “Not about that.” She turned out of his hold and walked along the pat
h. Palm trees swayed gently in the breeze, creating a tranquility that contrasted sharply with her churning feelings.

  Justice fell into step next to her.

  “Last Friday on the phone, when you told me you missed me so much and wanted an extra day—it was to convince me to sign the postnup, wasn’t it?”

  Justice caught her arm, swinging her around to see the fire burning in his eyes. “No. I missed the fuck out of you and wanted you here so we could be together. You’re pregnant with our child, and I’m not taking care of you. I feel that every damn day. Instead you’re working, paying most of our bills, taking care of the house and my dad. So I wanted you here, and I wanted just once to give you a break, a chance to relax and be a little spoiled. But fucking Gene Hayes ruins every goddamned thing, and what I am is furious.”

  The hairs on her arms jacked up with the enraged energy pouring off him. Yet his fingers wrapped around her biceps were gentle. She swallowed, trying to control that sudden surge of relief in her throat. Justice did care. “Then why didn’t you just tell me you needed the postnup instead of waiting? Because hearing it like that sucked. So did hearing your band has the power to ban me from your tour.”

  He winced and took her hand, resuming their walk. “Hayes is a serious trigger for you, Beth. Look what happened last night. You were close to cutting. But at least I was here with you. When you’re home and I’m out on the road, I’m fucking helpless. You’re out of my reach, and that scares me.”

  “You were scared I’d take the postnuptial as rejection?” Yeah, it hurt a little bit, but she understood the necessity.

  His fingers tightened around hers. “I just didn’t want to add to your stress. Plus you were dealing with Douchebag Dillion and my dad showing up. I don’t know. It made sense at the time. But then I saw your face and realized I fucked up.”