by Marlowe Fox
"Sorry about him. He’s a misogynist." I give her my most innocent look, laughing when she shakes her head, like she already knows I haven't been innocent a day in my life.
"Okay children, can we get back on point?" Finn laughs and gets up to get a beer from the fridge.
"So the person I am talking about is Gemma Oswald. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in photography. She minored in videography. She is flying into Portland Saturday evening and will be backstage before the show. I was thinking the band could talk about it and meet her. Then let me know what you think. I was thinking, even if you choose to say no, that she should shoot the show on Saturday. It's a hometown show, and the fans are going to be insane. She has to fly out the next morning but she will leave whatever she shoots behind for the band to look over and decide or just keep, so you have it as a keep sake of your glory days. You’re not going to be young forever you know." She jokes.
I look around making eye contact with each person, silently they give me their opinion. I finally face her and nod, saying, "We will give it a shot but a contract will need to be written up and a gag order implemented."
"Of course. We can get the labels lawyers on it right away." A huge smile breaks out on her face. “Now the second idea, when I was 14, I was at a Green Day concert,”
“Green Day, really?” Finn groans, “There is no hope for you.”
“Don’t be a dick, I was 14 and at least it wasn’t Backstreet Boys or N’Sync.” She laughs before continuing, “Anyway, they are one of the greatest shows I have ever been to” A collective scoffing sounds around the room and she just rolls her eyes continuing. “At one point they turned the house lights on and asked the crowd if there were any guitar players in the audience that knew how to play ‘Basket Case.’ Several people raised their hands and they pulled this kid that was about 17 up on the stage. They proceeded to do this with drums, bass, and then a singer. Those four people, mostly kids, proceeded to perform ‘Basket Case’ in front of 10,000 screaming fan alongside three legends in the music world.” She stops, her arms are open wide a huge smile on her face, like she just delivered gold at our feet.
“Annnnd?” Finn asks.
“And!? Really, now who is hopeless? It was fucking incredible! The greatest moment for those four peoples that they will never forget and neither will those 10,000 fans that were a part of it.”
“Annnd you want us to do this?” asks Ryker completely confused.
“I think it’s an epic idea.” Ashton says with a big grin. ”How fucking awesome would that have been for one of us when we were young? I would love to do that for our fans.” She turns to me, hope written all over her face. Once again I look to Finn and Ryker for their opinion, they both look unsure, so I know I will need to add my weight.
“I think it’s a great idea, too. It’s something for the fans, something they don’t have to pay extra for because the label wants their cut, something just for them, from us.” This gets the two of them grinning and nodding.
“Okay, we are in, Beauty, start making plans with the sound tech and get it added to the set list. Great idea.” I say sending her a wink and her cheeks flush before she turns to escape.
She starts to head back towards the bunks when Ryker opened his fucking mouth, "Hey Nell, do you have plans for tomorrow night? Jaden and I are going to go hang out, you're more than welcome to join us." Ryker visibly flinches in pain as I kick him under the table.
She smiles sweetly at Ryker, "Oh, I’d love to." Then spins around and walks away. My head slams down on the table, my hands running through my hair pulling hard, and Ryker laughs.
"Don't act so distraught. If you really didn't want her to come, you wouldn’t have told her where we were going." Fuck, I have no come back for that, so leaving my head still resting on the table, I just flip him off with both hands.
Chapter 9
Nell
We pulled into Portland just after 10:30pm and the band all piled off to head to their family’s houses. Jaden tries hard to get me to go with him and Ryker to his parents’ house, but I tell them I have a lot of work that I need to do. Really, I know I won’t be getting alone time for the next 88 days and I just want them out of my hair.
I spend the evening curled up with a beer and my favorite men from the Death Dwellers MC, a series written by my favorite author, Kathryn Kelly. The men in the series are sexy, dirty talking, alphas; who spend the next few hours filling my head with romance and love only found in love stories. But I fall asleep dreaming of Jaden.
His rough scruff brushes below my jaw sending shivers through me and a moan escapes past my lips. The soft tip of his nose sweeps up just below my ear where he lays a soft kiss. His plump lips brushing the bottom lobe before opening to nibble gently. I gasp when his spicy scent fills my head, I awaken with a jump, realizing that I am cradled in his arms being lifted into my bunk. Looking down at myself, I notice I am only in my underwear,
“Where are my clothes?” I mumble. Was I dreaming all that or was he really nuzzling my neck? I want to ask, but then if I do, and he wasn’t, I will be admitting to dreaming about him and I can’t do that.
“I wanted you to be comfortable, so I helped you out of them before laying you down.” Jaden says.
“Jaden, I was comfortable, I was wearing my pajama pants and a tank top.”
“Oh well you looked uncomfortable and warm, so I helped.” He says with a winning smile and I can’t help but laugh.
“You are such a creeper. It’s a good thing you’re hot.” Says my sleepy self.
“You think I’m hot, huh?” There’s that smirk that makes me want to bite him all over, fuck I am tired and need to go to sleep.
“You’re built like fucking Hercules and I am pretty sure we have established that I am neither blind nor stupid. Now, your ego has been thoroughly stroked and you got to perv out, getting to undress me and stare at me in my underwear for the last ten minutes, so are you good, can we go to sleep?”
“We can if you would scoot your hot ass over.”
“What? I am not scooting over, this is my bunk! Yours is over there.” I screech, stretching out trying to take up as much room as possible.
“Fine.” But instead of turning and going to his bunk, he hops up into mine, laying himself directly on top of me. He nuzzles his face into my neck, one hand curls up in my hair, while the other starts to drift down along my rib cage. His body is heavy but it’s not crushing and even if he was I wouldn’t want him to move. My mind is yelling at me to push him away. He was an asshole and now is trying to get in my pants but he feels so right laying on me like this. He smells so damn good, too, like cider, tobacco, oranges, and sage. The notes blending together to make up a manly spicy scent that makes my body ache.
“Are you okay? You’re very quiet, I expected you to fight me or something. Frankly, I was hoping you would, so I could accidentally grab your boobs.” He says into my neck with a chuckle.
“Why does it need to be an accident?” I purr into his ear, my mouth thinking faster than my brain, its clearly in cahoots with the rest of my body. His head pops up so fast, he smacks it on the ceiling of the bus. Using the distraction, I arch my body and shove him, attempting to knock him out of my bunk. But he latches onto me and we both careen to the floor. Jaden keeps his arms tight around me and lands on his back absorbing the impact and protecting me, but effectively knocking the wind out of himself.
“Oh my god, are you okay?” I ask as he gasps and wheezes, gulping for air like he is dying. “What do I do? How do I help?” I’m freaking out thinking I just killed him. He points to his mouth, then to mine. “You need mouth to mouth?” I ask skeptically, player thinks he’s smooth. Sitting up I plant both of my knees on the floor straddling his stomach. I lean over him, watching as he still gasps for air but his hands slithers up my bare legs.
“If you wanted to kiss me, you didn’t have to be so dramatic about it.” I say softly and he lets out a bark of a laugh.
“
I’m not supposed to want you.” He says reaching his hand up and pulling out my hair tie, making my long hair fall down creating a curtain around us.
“That was a rule you set.”
“It’s a rule that will protect you. I like you, I want you, and because I like you, I don’t want to hurt you.” He says gently brushing his hand along my cheek.
“Then don’t hurt me.” I whisper sinking closer, his hand slides into my hair, where it tangles and grips tight; causing a small gasping moan to escape my throat.
“Fuck, Beauty, I can’t” he says sitting up and I slide down him landing in his lap. I can feel his hardened length through his jeans, I know he wants me.
“I appreciate you trying to protect me, but you seem to think I am going to fall in love with you the second your dick is inside of me. I can feel that it’s impressive but I’m pretty sure my heart is safe from his powers.” I look at him in horror as a thought hits me. “Unless, GASP! Do you cum a love potion!?!” I giggle, then full on laugh as he frowns at me.
“You’re a dick.” He grumbles.
“No, you haaave a dick. I huge one at that. Can I see it?” I ask cracking up, now with the mood obliterated I stand up, reaching a hand out to help Jaden off the floor.
“Maybe another time. You know you’re still in your underwear?” he says, taking my hand but not assisting much as I fight to pull his heavy ass off the floor. His eyes glued to my body, while I wiggle and strain.
“What, like you haven’t seen all this already, I bet you coped a feel, too, Creeper. Will you fucking help!?” I yell at him finally causing him to laugh and stand up.
“Fuck yeah I did, your tits are goddamn stunning. I had to make sure they were real.” He says grinning. I just roll my eyes and snort.
“Of course they are real.” I take my hand and place them on my breast, “All of this is real.” I slowly slide them down my body as I roll my hips. Jaden’s pupils dilate instantly and he reaches out to grab me but I step back. “I’m hungry.” I say turning on my heel grabbing my clothes from my bunk, and heading to the kitchen.
I throw on my pajamas and start digging in the refrigerator, deciding a sandwich sounds good. “Are you hungry?”
“Starving.” His rough voice comes from right behind me making me jump, and he laughs.
“I’m going to have a turkey sandwich, do you want one?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” He replies, while digging around in a side cupboard.
“Did you always live in Portland?” I ask while gathering everything for our sandwiches.
“Born and raised. Have you ever been before now?” he asks still digging in cupboards.
“Nope. I haven’t been many places outside of California.”
“Really? Doesn’t your Dad own a whole fleet of jets?”
“He does, but when my Mother was alive, they wanted to travel alone, leaving me with my nanny. After she died, my Dad wanted as little to do with me as possible.” I say nonchalantly, years of therapy have left me with ambivalent feelings about my relationship with my parents.
“They never took you anywhere?” Jaden asks pausing his rifling to look over at me with concern.
“My mother would often take me to symphonies but that was mostly to encourage me.”
“Encourage you to play the violin?” He questions, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the cabinets.
Letting out a snort, I shake my head, “No, she would have hated that I started playing the violin. She started me on piano when I was three.”
“Three! Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Nope, crazy right? I was homeschooled and most of my day was centered on playing. When my parents decided to take off on a vaca for a week or more, my nanny was expected to uphold my schedule to the T. If they didn’t, and my Mother would always find out, they would be fired.” I finish making the sandwiches and put them on plates before handing Jaden his and making my way over to sit in the booth.
“Where are the Snickers bars?” He asks setting his plate down.
“Fridge.”
“In the…” he mumbles at a loss but he shakes his head and goes to get one. “So your parents sound like assholes. Why aren’t you living their dreams and playing in symphonies?” He asks taking the seat across from me.
“Ahh…To my mother’s greatest disappointment, I was never a performer. She died of breast cancer when I was 16. I stopped playing the piano and picked up the violin. I have a love and passion for all the music I play, I have talent in creating my own but the second I step up to perform, my heart starts rocking in my chest, my breath becomes short pants, my knees knock, and I completely freeze. But despite my anxiety about playing in front of an audience, I really did love to play from the very beginning. It calms me and allows my mind to escape the suffocating confines of my Mother’s expectations.” I explain then take a big bite of my sandwich. Jaden sits watching me as we both eat in silence.
“I take it that your parents didn’t put you in singing lessons at the age of 3?” I joke making him laugh.
“Oh fuck no. They did buy me my first guitar though at the age of 12. Finn, Ryker, and I had just become friends and were all about music, so for that Christmas, my parents got both Ryker and me electric guitars. Finn’s parents got him a drum set and they let us set up in their garage. God, we were terrible. When we continued not to lose interest after a month, Finn’s parents and mine broke down and got us lessons. When Ashton came along we got really lucky because her Dad plays bass and taught her.”
“Were you always the lead singer?” I ask wanting him to keep talking, his deep rough voice is spell binding.
“No, puberty wasn’t good to me,” he chuckles. “Ashton was our singer throughout high school. Ryker and I would sing back-up and when my voice finally calmed down, Ashton admitted that she didn’t want to sing lead.” He opens the Snickers bar as he finishes but just looks at it. ”Fridge?”
“Yup, so they don’t melt and they taste better. Puberty huh, maybe I should have gone with you to your parents. I’d love to see pre-pubescent Jaden. Oh and baby Jaden, I bet he was tremendously cute.” I send him my most adorable grin before grabbing his wrist and pulling the candy towards me, taking a big bite. “Mmm…See, better.” Jaden shakes his head laughing before stuffing the rest of the bar in his mouth.
*****************************************
Friday night, I am ready for a night of fun. I’d luckily brought my little black Roberto Cavalli dress that was immorally short and had a plunging V-neck, which I had to use tape to keep my tits from falling out. My shoes are L.A.M.B. Payton’s that covered my foot in delicate black straps and boosted me up nearly 5 inches. I'd tamed my naturally curly hair into soft beach waves and made my eyes pop using a blue smoky grey. My whole goal being to make Jaden swallow his tongue.
I spray Armani Code on all my pulse points and a couple shots in the cleavage with some wishful thinking. Opening the bathroom door, I nearly crash into Ryker. He looks me up and down, and grins as he steps closer to me, leans into my cleavage, and inhales.
"Mmm, good choice." He beams up at me and I reach out to shove him back. When suddenly there is a primal growl and he is picked up and slammed against the opposite wall. I gasp but he must be fine since he starts laughing up at a half-naked Jaden.
Holy shit, I've never seen such an incredible male before. Standing there in all his rock god glory, wrapped in just a white towel, is Jaden James. Suddenly it’s me that swallows my tongue, or more like a huge pool of spit, which goes down the wrong tube and I end up choking. Jaden’s look of anger turns to concern. He steps towards me placing a big warm hand on my back to rub soothing circles, while I bend forward at the waist, hacking and coughing like I am dying. Having him this close touching me isn’t helping me one bit because my body begins to hum with awareness.
“Beauty, are you okay?” he asks still rubbing my back. I turn my head to answer, and fuck me do I get an eye full.
The
dick print behind his towel and I are eye to eye, I can make out a perfect growing outline. The coughing has stopped, so has his hand movement, but we both just stand there, me staring at his cock with his hand on my back.
The clearing of a throat behind us snaps me out of my hypnoses and I snap back up.
“Not that this isn’t suuuper hot, but if you both are just going to stand there awkwardly, could you move over, I’ve still got to piss.”
Jaden chuckles, grabbing my shoulders to move us out of the way. My face is beet red and I can’t look at him, but I am not sure looking down is a good idea either, as it’s only making me crave him more. He has that deep V, the V you only see on TV and movies. This God like man has them cut so deep, they create “hang on for dear life handles because this man is built to fuck you raw” grips, that run down making a delicious pathway right to the bulge. And stretched between reads “Veni Vidi Vici” in a swirling cursive font. I would bet any female that’s had him buried inside her, feels thoroughly conquered afterward.