Finding the Rhythm

by Leigh Louden

“Have you?”

  “Ah! Ah! Ah! I asked you first.” She stumbled and poked me in the chest. Instinctively, my arms reached out and grabbed her.

  “No,” I said softly, feeling how her body was melting into mine. It’s a good thing she was drunk because she would be able to feel how hard my cock was for her behind my jeans. Fortunately for me, she wasn’t paying attention. Again, I wanted to breech that small distance between us and connect our mouths, but in the time it took me to consider the consequences, the moment was ruined by the opening of the lift door.

  We stumbled out together and headed down the corridor towards the rooms. Ally’s was first, then mine. We stopped by Ally’s door and she fumbled with the key card, not managing to get the lock to release.

  I covered her hand with mine and took the card from her. She giggled at me and moved out of the way, resting her back against the wall just beside her room door. I put the key in the slot, pulled it free, and opened the door as the green light flashed on the panel. I opened the door for her and went in to put the key card in the slot on the wall to make sure she had lights.

  Stumbling drunk or not, she moved fast, and when I turned to see that she was okay, she pounced, her arms around my neck. She jumped to hook her legs around me and crushed her lips against mine. Jesus fucking Christ, her mouth was amazing. Instinct took over me, and my hands went to her arse to keep her wrapped around me. I returned her kiss, deepening it with more passion and intensity than I’ve ever felt in a kiss in my life.

  I allowed myself those few moments of utter bliss, until she started to grind her hips against mine, slapping me in the face and bringing reality crashing down on me. I was kissing my bandmate. I was breaking my deal with my friends, my brothers, and worse still, I was taking advantage of a drunk woman. I was a fucking douchebag.

  I moved her to set her back down on the floor. She looked up at me with that same almost hurt look.

  “Oh, Allycat. I want you needing me like this when you’re stone cold sober, not trying to get over your ex, and not in my band,” I reasoned.

  “Shit.” She realised what I was getting at. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…” I couldn’t let her finish that. I leaned in and seized her mouth with mine again, kissing her tenderly.

  “Don’t ever apologise for being an amazing woman I can’t resist.” I smiled. “But I really should go.”

  “I know.” She nodded, giving me a glum smile.

  I turned without saying anything else and left. When I got safely inside my room, I punched the wall. I was crazy about her. I was utterly fucked.

  I felt like the worst death metal thrash band were playing in my head, my mouth felt like the Sahara and I was in bed in yesterday’s clothes. I went to sit up and the room spun too much, so I decided that lying the fuck down was the best way forward.

  Jesus Christ, what did I do last night? I remembered being very pissed off at cuntface himself, Devon. I remembered that I went to the bar. Vinny had been a sweetheart about it all. Vinny? I lay there, thinking about what had happened the night before. I had vague little snippets of memory. I remembered the rage I had; Devon had hit my brother! I picked up the phone and sent him a text to make sure he was okay.

  I remembered Vinny had offered to check me in while I went to the bar and drowned my sorrows. I remembered pizza and fries and wiping ketchup from his perfect mouth. His mouth around my fingers. Oh, sweet Jesus, I kissed him. I kissed Vinny Richards, and what’s more, he kissed me back. I pulled the pillow over my head and cursed myself. The kiss was fucking amazing. His lips had been soft yet powerful, his tongue probing, and, God, it felt like I’d never felt in… well, ever. But he was my fucking bandmate. I was attempting to mix business with pleasure. I was fucking stupid.

  I tentatively rose from the bed a second time, wondering if a shower would be enough to wash away my shame. Not shame at kissing him. Fuck, that was perfection, but the shame of knowing I wouldn’t be able to repeat it. The shame of knowing I had come so close already to screwing up something amazing in my life.

  Yip, not even a shower would sort that shit out, but at least I could pretend to try.

  I stepped out of the lift and glanced around the hotel lobby, none of the lads were in sight yet. Part of me was a little disappointed that Vinny wasn't around, and the majority of me was delighted I would be avoiding the embarrassment for a little while longer.

  I turned to my right and my eyes fell instantly onto him. Vinny, standing taking in all his glorious splendour. My eyes raked over his frame, taking it all in. My eyes feasted, and my body responded. Shit. This wasn't going to be the cake walk I had fooled myself into thinking it would be. I was so attracted to Vinny that it was going to drive me insane.

  He glanced over his shoulder at me walking towards him, and his eyes darkened, with the cheekiest glint to them. I felt undressed with just that one look, and my clit tingled.

  "Hey," I murmured when I arrived beside him.

  He pulled me against him. "Morning, Allycat. How's the head?"

  I blushed at how willingly my body melded against his without me even thinking about it. "I'm feeling just a little bit fragile, to be honest." I smiled. Vinny grinned back. "Listen, about last night, I..."

  Vinny's hand gripped my arse and stopped me talking as he pulled me tighter to him again. "We're good. Chill." His lips hit my forehead, and he dipped his mouth to my ear. "Some other lifetime, and you would be walking like John Wayne this morning. Now, the others are here so behave yourself." He winked, and his hand slipped from my arse.

  Ethan arrived first, and from the dark look on his face, I'm pretty sure he’d noticed Vinny's movements against me. His thunderous look was zoned in on me, and the moment of lust and excitement I had felt with Vinny was lost in a heartbeat. I felt like Ethan could tell everything that had happened last night and was looking at me like a disappointed parent.

  "Ready to get going?" he asked, glaring at Vinny.

  "Don't growl." Vinny laughed. "Ally's feeling a little delicate this morning. Too much of the great Scottish fire water last night."

  I glared at him. "Thanks, Vinny. Tell everyone I can't hold my whiskey."

  Smith appeared beside Ethan as I rolled my eyes at Vinny. He held out his hand to me, giving me something, and I held mine under his. He dropped three tablets into my hand; two round ones and one capsule. "You'll need these, little drummer girl, if you want to survive today." He grinned, slapped Ethan on the shoulder, and told us all to get moving. I pulled the bottle of water from my bag, popped the pills in my mouth and took a long drink of the cool liquid then headed out to the bus.

  I watched them all interacting before I walked over and distracted them. I knew the look on Vinny's face, and yet there was something different about it too. He liked Allison, but there was something more to it than that. There was a gallon of lust in the look he poured over her, with his hand on her arse, but there was something deeper within it too. I saw the genuine affection in his kiss on her forehead.

  Ethan's small smirk faded when he saw Vinny wrapped around her, and he had to have noticed how well her body seemed to melt against his. There was certainly something between them. If I had to put money on it, I would say that they had come close to something happening between them, but as to how close, I wasn't actually sure.

  Interesting. Very interesting. I wasn't the only one who had noticed our new bandmate. I watched her face drop when she realised Ethan's thunderous look meant that he knew something had occurred. I saw guilt on her features. She read his disappointment and it saddened her. There was something lost in that look too. Well, damn. If I didn’t already know our little drummer girl had had a shit time with her ex, the look on her face now only proved it.

  I was a people watcher, and as much as I was finding the little scene in front of me fascinating, it was time to kill the tension. I walked over to the group of three, held out my hand to Ally to hand her the tablets I brought for her, and patted Ethan on the shoulder to encourage him
to shake his foul mood.

  When we arrived at the Edinburgh Playhouse, the impending awkwardness had lifted. We had all listened in when Allison's brother had called her to let her know the latest about the pathetic display Devon had put on in her house the day before, and the sucker punch he had landed on him.

  Ethan's fist clenched when Ally's anger rose, and Vinny's body stiffened. My band brothers were ready to pounce for our new drummer’s honour. I had to admit, there was something in me that wanted to come to her rescue just as much. She was lovely, and she had fitted in with us all so damn well. Devon was a grade A asshole, and he needed to learn a lesson; the thought of schooling him appealed to me a little more than it should have. Mutual hatred of that twat seemed to make us all a little more comfortable with each other, and a little more settled into the work we had ahead of us.

  We rehearsed late into the afternoon then went back to the hotel for a little chill out time before heading back to the Playhouse, for our first sell out gig with Ally as our drummer.

  I glanced over my shoulder at the end of the first set and saw Ally was in full flow. Her face was lit up, sweat beaded on her skin, and she was thoroughly enjoying herself. The crowd was hyping up the atmosphere, and the adrenaline was coursing through all of us. Everything was perfection.

  At the end of the second set, we drew the song out and allowed each of us to showcase ourselves. I took great pleasure in introducing Ally to the crowd. The crowd roared their approval of her, and all three of her bandmates stood looking at her with pride. She glanced in my direction with a big grin, and I couldn't help but notice that, when her eyes made it over to Vinny, he gave her a cheeky wink. If I didn’t know better, I would say that my band mate had a bit of interest in our new drummer.

  Every venue we played at the crowd just lapped up the fact that Ally was with us. We had played nine gigs in the last twenty days, and now we had just played to a sell-out crowd in Sheffield's City Hall.

  We had all been getting along nicely, and I'll admit, despite my initial lust, I was settling into a pattern of flirty yet platonic banter with Allison. Yes, she was gorgeous. I happened to like her even more than I originally thought possible, but that didn't seem to really matter to me. She belonged in the band; she belonged with all of us. It was just where she was meant to be, and I wasn’t about to mess that up for her or us.

  The venue wasn't that far from our hotel, the Leopold, so we all walked the couple of hundred yards, being stopped a few times for autographs and selfies with fans. Smith and Ethan walked on ahead, and Ally and I were bringing up the rear.

  Someone stopped Ally for a selfie and some drumming tips, and I let myself get a little farther ahead. The guys had already made it into the hotel when I heard the immortal words from a fan behind me. "Oh my God! It's Devon Montgomery!" I spun on my heels and looked back to Allison to find her face to face with her hideous ex.

  I felt my blood boil as he touched her, holding on to her by her upper arm.

  "Let go of me!" she snapped at him and tried to yank her arm from his grip.

  "I just want to talk to you, Allison," he said, attempting to sound reasonable. His grip on her didn't loosen.

  I was on him in a second, my hand on his shoulder. "I do believe the lady politely told you to fuck off." I growled in his face.

  He let go of Ally's arm in shock. He turned to me, squaring up to me like a lunatic. "I will thank you not to interfere when I'm talking to my girlfriend, mate."

  "Your girlfriend? I'm your fucking ex, you nutcase. What the hell do you even want, Devon? You're a bad smell that I just can't get rid of," she shouted at him.

  I glanced around us and noticed we were starting to draw attention, including that of one of our roadies who just happened to follow along behind us to make sure everything was okay. I grabbed Devon by the arm and pushed him through the arches between the hotel and Wagamama, and into the courtyard behind.

  Big Jim, the roadie, intervened between us and the people trying to follow us and watch what was going on.

  "Montgomery, what the actual fuck is your problem?" I snarled him. "We all know what you did. Why are you even here? Allison has made it clear on a few occasions now that she doesn't want you around, and yet here you are like a fucking stalker!"

  "I'm just trying to make Ally understand it from my point of view," he whined.

  "Your point of view?" I scoffed. "You stuck your tiny prick in a girl you had been around since she was thirteen like some fucking creepy grooming paedo, or was there something about that that we all got wrong?"

  Devon turned a funny shade of red and I knew I had him. His temper was flaring, and if he really thought he was in any position to take me on, he was about to find out just how wrong he was.

  "Vinny," Ally pleaded. She knew that look on his pathetic face too, and it made me wonder just how many times she had seen that look before, and if he had ever turned that temper on her.

  "Fuck off, Jimmy, and let me talk to my woman," he spat, making a grab for Allison's arm again. This time, I grabbed him.

  "It’s Vinny, like you don’t fucking know, and you have about four seconds to get the fuck out of here. Got it?" I snarled at him. He swung at me, and I almost ducked back out of his way, but not quite, and his pinkie ring caught me on the cheekbone. I pulled back my right hand and swung, smacking him square in the nose with a sickening crack.

  "Ahhh!" he screamed, clutching his face. "You broke my fucking nose, you cunt!"

  One of the other roadies walked into the courtyard at that moment, pulled Devon away from me, and walked him out back through the arches again and on to the street.

  "You're bleeding." Ally whimpered beside me. "God, Vinny. I'm so sorry." She was starting to cry, and if I didn't stop it, she would break my heart into a million pieces for the pain he was causing her. I pulled her in against me.

  "Shhh. I'm a big lad, I'll survive." I laughed and kissed the top of her head.

  "At least let me sort that cut for you," she said softly against my chest as she looked up at my face.

  I felt a tingle in every damn inch of me when I looked down and saw her face looking up at me. She was hurt, and I wanted to protect her. She was angry, and I wanted to soothe her. She was beautiful, and I wanted to kiss her. She stared at me, and I wanted to keep my arms around her, pull her to my lips, and anything else I felt like doing after that would just have to be done too.

  And just like that, she blinked, pulled herself out of my arms, and the spell was broken. "Let me take care of that cut," she insisted, putting her hand in mine and pulling me to the rear entrance of the hotel.

  Rather than making our way through the hotel, Ally stopped a member of the reception team and got permission to use their back office. They delivered a first aid kit and ice to her. She set me on the chair in front of her and started to sort the cut on my face.

  She stood in the space between my legs and held my face between her hands. "It's started to swell.”

  Her hands were soft on my skin, and I held my breath as she touched me. She removed her hands and moved to the first aid kit, straddling my left leg, pressing herself against me to reach the kit on the table behind me. Now, that I felt everywhere, including in my cock which was getting hard behind my jeans.

  She ripped open the packet and touched the antiseptic wipe across my cheek. I hissed at the sting from the wipe, and she blew across the cut to help ease the irritation. That was about the only thing it eased. My cock was throbbing, and I had to sit on my hands to keep myself from reaching out and touching her. She leaned behind me again, and I almost groaned at the contact of her against me. This was fucking torture.

  "This might sting again," she warned, and started to paint the liquid plaster over my cut.

  "Jesus!" I grumbled when the cut began to burn under the fluid on my face. Again, Ally's breath graced my cheek as she once again blew over my face to take the sting off and to set the gel she'd painted on. I caught her gaze as she held my face still and
worked her magic. The whole thing became hugely erotic. Her breath on my face, her hands on me, her legs straddling my leg. I wanted to pull her down to sit on my lap. I wanted to pull her face to mine. I wanted to crush my lips to hers. And in the split-second that it took me to consider it all, Ally did it.

  Her soft lips pressed hard against mine and her tongue slid over my lips, seeking entry to my mouth. Her pussy connected with my thigh, and I didn't need any more invitation to pull her hard against me and return her kiss full force.

  Her thigh pressed against my cock, and I moaned against her mouth. I ran my hands down over her back and grabbed handfuls of her gorgeous round arse. Her hands moved from my face to my shoulders, her fingers digging into me as raw lust took over. I slid my hand from her arse to the leg she had between mine and encouraged her to move it and have her completely in my lap; I needed her to truly feel the effect she was having on me. She let me, and I pulled her hard against me when she was perched properly astride me.

  I kept one hand on her arse and moved one up her back, under her t-shirt, caressing her back, side, and moving to the front, allowing me to cup her breast in my hand. I could feel the hardness of her nipple against my palm, and I pried my mouth from hers, letting my kisses rain down across her jaw and onto her neck. The soft, seductive sigh that bubbled out of her when my lips met the soft skin at the crease of her neck had me wanting to mark her. She was mine, and I wanted everyone to know it. I nibbled gently on her shoulder and she moaned and squirmed in my lap. It was the only encouragement I needed to nip her harder. I was going to leave my mark on her skin and stake my claim.

  Ally's fingers wrapped around my ponytail, tangling herself in my hair. She cupped the back of my head, holding me against her shoulder, encouraging me, her other hand still holding herself steady with my frame.

  "Ohh, fuck, yes!" She sighed against my ear, grinding herself against my cock. I bit down harder on her shoulder and she sank her nails into my biceps. She was perfection. I had never needed anyone the way I needed this woman.