Come Undone

by Madelynne Ellis

  ‘What?’ Dani asked, eyeing him warily. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

  ‘Like what?’ Xane took hold of her hand and brought her fingertips to his lips.

  ‘Like you’re about to eat me.’

  ‘Don’t you like the way I eat you?’ He ticked his tongue against his upper lip and she flushed scarlet.

  She blushed ridiculously prettily. He didn’t think he’d ever made Elspeth blush.

  ‘I liked it,’ Dani admitted. Yet she stiffened as he trailed his fingers over her cheek and down the side of her neck.

  ‘I think we’ve some unfinished business to see to, don’t you?’

  ‘I shouldn’t waste any more of your time.’

  ‘You haven’t wasted a moment of it.’ He drew his caress down over her shoulders, then across to embrace the swell of her breasts. He remembered now how she’d been so insistent about staying covered up, which only made him all more determined to unwrap her.

  Dani scrambled away from him. She sat up on her haunches and clasped her hands together in her lap. ‘You need to meet with your band this morning.’

  Fuck! Alcohol had nothing on this girl for smashing his skull to pieces. That shocker made him wince.

  ‘I don’t want to talk to them.’ Bunch of inconsiderate leeches that they were. He wasn’t in any hurry to see any of them, not just the pair who’d so thoroughly betrayed him. In their own ways, they’d all of them screwed him and been disloyal.

  ‘Shouldn’t you at least call them and attempt to patch things up?

  There wasn’t a big enough Band-Aid in the universe to mend this tear. Some betrayals you could forgive, others cut too deep. What Steve and Elspeth had done struck right at his heart, and was made worse by the fact they knew it would hurt him and went along and did it anyway. As for the rest of the band, they’d proved exactly how little regard they had for him by comprehensively failing to see there was even a problem with what Elspeth and Steve had done.

  No, last night had been the last of the superficial, disingenuous, using behaviour that he was prepared to accept. He was not going to let them fuck him over any more.

  ‘Nothing’s changed since last night,’ he explained. Nothing anyone said or did would heal the wound. He hadn’t split the band out of whimsy. He’d taken the only sensible, viable course of action.

  ‘But why –’

  He covered her mouth with his fingers to silence her questions. ‘Shh!’ he insisted. ‘Let it go.’

  ‘I –’

  ‘Save it.’ This time he silenced her with a kiss, rising up onto his knees in order to reach her. Her eyes widened at the sight of his arousal. Speedily, she jerked her vision upwards. Aghast, she groaned at the sight of his neck. Xane ran his fingers over the mark she’d made. He couldn’t see it, but the skin beneath his touch felt tender. The memory of her sealed against him immediately transformed his semi into full tilt. Maybe if he played his cards right she’d give him a matching one for the other side. But, first up, they needed to get more comfortable. Or rather he needed to get her naked.

  Naked was sexy, and Xane liked to feel the slide of skin against skin. It was one of his favourite things.

  Dani’s clothes, a composite of black cotton and lace, while hot, weren’t nearly as nice as the soft curves he knew she was hiding.

  ‘I’m sorry I’ve made such a mess of your –’

  Xane kissed her again, silencing the apology. ‘How about you let me run upstairs and get something, and while I’m gone you could maybe take these off.’ He tugged at her clothes. She’d made a thorough study of his body last night; his exploration had been somewhat curtailed, and this wasn’t simply about sight. Xane liked to explore using the whole of his being. He’d never understood those who restricted their sense of touch to the ten oval spots on the end of their fingers.

  Dani eased herself an inch away from him. She pressed one hand to his chest. Her other rested against his inner thigh. It was as though she intended to simultaneously tempt him and push him away.

  ‘Or maybe I could go upstairs in a moment,’ he said revising his plans.

  When he tugged at her top, she didn’t immediately raise her arms. Xane let it be a moment, happy to concentrate on making love to her mouth, but, when he tried again and she still resisted, he angled his kiss towards her earlobe. ‘Why won’t you let me see you?’

  ‘You might not like what you see.’

  ‘I already know I will.’ He stroked a line down her front, sought the swell of her breast nestled within the confines of her bra. ‘You feel perfect.’

  ‘I don’t like to be naked.’

  ‘Then maybe we can play peekaboo?’

  Xane stopped trying to undress her and dipped his head down to the level of her waistband. He flicked the hem of her shirt upwards before planting a lingering kiss on her stomach, right in the spot she’d chosen to torment him the night before. Something in her shiver told him she’d made the connection. Good, because then she’d probably have an inkling of what came next too. She could keep her clothes on. Well, some of them, but he was going to explore every tiny bit of her.

  She was tense right through her hips and shoulders. Even as he explored her waist and the soft swell of her stomach, he felt the ache in her muscles. Dani was slim but definitely rounded for pleasure, her curves making him all the more eager to get her naked.

  ‘Come down here a bit.’ He coaxed her down to the foot of the bed, going so far as to slither onto the floor himself. He rose on his knees between her parted thighs, knowing exactly how to relax her. It involved the one bit of her he knew was already bare.

  The scent of her arousal further stiffened his cock. Xane didn’t mind admitting he was a visual kind of guy. It surprised him that people didn’t automatically recognise it, given how much effort he ploughed into Black Halo’s image.

  ‘Don’t,’ she said, as he inched up the hem of her skirt.

  ‘Why not?’ If her scent stimulated him, then the intimate glimpse of her downy thatch drove him insane.

  ‘It’s too light. It’s not nice … nakedness, in daylight. My nakedness,’ she corrected herself. ‘You’re beautiful whatever time of day or night.’

  ‘And so are you.’ He smothered her thighs in kisses, using his tongue to wet her skin.

  ‘Xane, um …’ She clutched at his shoulders, seemingly cowed by his intensity. She had nothing to fear from him. His only intention was to give her pleasure. Well, and to finish what he hadn’t managed last night. With that in mind he licked right along the split of her pussy.

  Suddenly, her hand clasped tight in his hair.

  ‘It’s fine,’ he muttered into her skin, unwilling to move from his happy position. ‘I’ve seen this bit already.’ And tasted it. ‘I like how you look down here. How you’re all hot and pink, and your skin glistens.’

  From the muffled sound she made, he guessed she’d stuffed her fist into her mouth.

  Groan, he bade her silently. Make all the noise you want. Don’t try to hold it in.

  Xane dipped his tongue into her crack. She was so ripe for the taking, so open, her body compliant. As soon as he’d tasted his fill and rid her of this silly notion that she might somehow be less attractive to him with her clothes off, he intended to finally get right up inside her and give her something to really squeal about.

  He could already imagine the heat of her body hugging tight his aching cock.

  ‘Xane …’

  He ticked his tongue against her clit and she nearly leapt off the bed.

  ‘Too much?’ he asked.

  ‘Oh, no. It’s not too much.’ She sank back down into a blissful daze, a wide grin stretched across her cheeks. ‘I just never knew … I never imagined … Do that thing with your tongue again.’

  ‘Like this?’ He used the stud in his tongue to add a touch of extra pressure.

  ‘It makes me feel as if I’m about to explode.’

  That sounded like something he wanted to achieve.

/>   ‘Let me get that condom.’

  ‘Oh, no. No.’ She dragged him back to her sex. ‘Don’t go.’

  Xane continued to lavish her with kisses. ‘Honey, we’re neither of us ever going to be satisfied until we do this properly.’

  ‘This isn’t doing it properly?’

  ‘You know what I mean.’

  ‘But we can delay it a minute.’

  He had to laugh. She was holding onto his ears. Xane put his tongue into her. ‘How about a deal? You take your top off, and I’ll live with the ache in my balls a bit longer.’

  ‘How long?’

  ‘I’m not going to let you come,’ he said. ‘I’m going to keep you on edge. I want you to go over right when I finally push inside you, so that the first taste your pussy has of me is the best one.’

  ‘I’ve never come with a man inside me.’

  ‘Then all the more reason to do this right. Now, about that top.’

  She hesitated, then seemed to make up her mind and tugged it off over her head. Her skirt still covered the area between her waist and her sex, and the lacy cups of her bra masked the true beauty of her breasts, but it was enough for now. Xane stared at her. Then he touched her. He leaned her back against the mattress and kissed every inch of bared skin.

  ‘Go,’ she moaned into his ear as he rose from exploring her armpit.

  Xane grinned. He stood but stilled, the moment he turned towards the stairs. A pair of feet occupied the topmost of the visible steps.

  Marvellous! He let out a growl of frustration. Life seemed determined to plain old shit on him. Well, he didn’t care which of his former band mates had let themselves in – Ash, he knew that from the choice of footwear – he was finishing what he’d started.

  Beside him, Dani yelped. She grabbed hold of the duvet and used it to cover herself up. That so-o wasn’t what he wanted her to do right now. He wished she wasn’t so afraid of her own body, because she really was glorious. He’d like to see her prancing around completely nude.

  Xane wrestled the duvet out of her grasp and lavished a few hundred kisses on her breasts, making her squeal in protest over the public display and sigh in delight in equal measures. There was no cause for him to trek upstairs now.

  ‘Be a sport, Ash,’ he hollered to his former band mate. ‘Throw me a rubber.’

  Ash paused in his descent. He slouched against the banister, his face hidden behind a fringe of black hair that reached his jawline. Equally black jeans encased his legs. Xane could barely see the glitter of his eyes, but he saw the twisted grimace of his mouth.

  Ash reached into the inner pocket of his leather jacket, drew something out and chucked it. The object hit Xane in the head. It wasn’t the requested condom but a pound coin.

  ‘That’s how much you’re costing us per second while you’re banging her and not dealing with the crap you’ve created. Sort your fucking priorities out, Xane. You’ve two minutes to get your lily-white arse upstairs before I come over there and fuck you so hard you might actually grasp the concept of being screwed.’

  Xane knew enough about Ash’s sexual preferences to figure that was pure threat, no propositioning intended.

  Ash about-turned on the balls of his feet before glancing backwards. ‘Oh, hang on, that’s why we’re in this mess, because you already know –’

  Xane threw a shoe at him. Ash could just shut his big old mouth about what had started this, and he’d come upstairs in his own time. ‘Sorry,’ he apologised to Dani. ‘He’s always fucking obnoxious.’

  Dani quietened him with a kiss. Her brown eyes were thoughtful. ‘He’s right, you know. You do need to talk to him. Maybe you should. This –’ she made a gesture that encompassed the two of them and his rumpled bed ‘– can all wait.’ Decisively, she pushed him away.

  Xane made to embrace her again, but she put the flat of her hand on his chest and shoved him. ‘Go talk to your band. I don’t want things to be over for you guys.’

  Uh, why was it so hard for everyone to accept that they already were?

  ‘Please, Xane.’

  Oh, yes, he’d almost forgotten. He’d picked up a God’s honest, actual fan. Groaning with the realisation that Dani wasn’t going back down, Xane reluctantly mounted the stairs.

  Chapter 12

  At the top of the stairs, Xane shimmied into the pair of jeans he’d dragged out of a drawer on the way out of the bedroom. ‘What do you want, Ash?’ he growled, striding towards the kitchen area with his fly still unbuttoned.

  Ash had brought along backup. He stood nursing a freshly brewed mug of coffee that Spook Mortensen had just poured. Spook pushed the cup he’d made for himself towards Xane, who shook his head. Master Mortensen looked as if he needed the caffeine hit more. At the best of times Spook epitomised what Xane thought of as Scandinavian frost. Today he appeared even more whitewashed than normal. There were puffy red rings around his ocean-blue eyes, and his jaw stretched around repeated yawns. Looking at him made Xane feel tired, despite having enjoyed one of the better nights’ kip he’d had in years. ‘Late night, partying?’ he asked.

  ‘No. Some shithead broke up the band, which kind of put a damper on things,’ Spook replied. He settled his glacial glare on Xane.

  The glare Xane could handle. He was waiting for the string of Swedish expletives, or a fist in the face, or both.

  ‘None of us slept much,’ Ash remarked, although he didn’t elaborate, and Xane didn’t allude to the fact that it was probably because Ash had been too busy getting laid – while Spook took it upon himself to record his antics for posterity – rather than it being anything to do with the break-up, although no doubt Ash had used the group’s demise to elicit sympathy from the girlies. Not that he needed any reason to make women throw themselves at him. The guy was a sex god. Actual, serious consideration of what to do about the band probably hadn’t crossed his mind until this morning.

  ‘Get rid of the girl, Xane. And then we’ll talk.’

  ‘You’ve a girl downstairs?’ Spook asked. His eyes lit as though someone had thrust a surprise gift into his hands.

  ‘So what if I have?’ Xane retrieved his jacket from where he’d left it on the floor the night before. ‘It happens that I was enjoying her company before you two dorks ruined it. As for evicting her, I’ll kick you two out first. As I said last night, there’s nothing to discuss.’

  ‘Just because you said it doesn’t make it true, Xane,’ Ash remarked. ‘Founding-member status doesn’t mean jack in this situation.’

  ‘I say it does.’

  Since he was their lyricist and main composer, they’d have a hard time without him.

  With that in mind, Xane turned out his jacket pockets and found the treasured condom package wasn’t in his wallet after all but zipped into his jacket lining. Sod fanning the embers of his already dead band. He’d already said all he needed to on the subject. All that mattered now was what he could do with that lovely crinkly foil package. It wasn’t as if he owed any of them anything, not when they couldn’t even manage to ask him if he was OK.

  ‘Xane, I know you’re hurt, but don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?’

  Matter-of-fact, no, he didn’t. Elspeth wafting in and shoving a wedding ring in his face in a particularly heartless fashion wasn’t the sort of humiliation you bounced back from overnight. He tried not to pick over the scene, but it was there, in his head, on semi-permanent playback: her smiling gleefully as she told him he was surplus to requirement.

  Not only had she been cruel about it. She’d crowed like it was a personal victory over him to have bagged Steve.

  He preferred not to think about Steve’s actual role in all of this.

  ‘Did you actually let them explain?’

  Elspeth had made a particular point of filling him in on all the details. How they’d arranged it all behind his back and then ensured he was out of the way; what a glorious time they’d had on their wedding night. Frankly, he wasn’t interested in hearing any more. No
r was he going to be cowed by some statement about how much they loved each other, as if that made everything right. Loving someone didn’t excuse shitty, exploitative behaviour.

  ‘They’re hitched. End of,’ he said.

  ‘Steve and Elspeth got married,’ Spook blurted. ‘When? Why didn’t anyone say? I totally thought you and Els–’

  Ash hit him in the gob, shutting him up. ‘She dumped him. That’s why we’re in this mess.’

  Not entirely accurate, but the acknowledgement was a start at least.

  ‘Man, that sucks, man,’ Spook muttered, rubbing his lip. ‘No wonder you’re pissed.’

  OK, so maybe he could excuse Spook’s previous lack of sympathy; apparently he hadn’t known what was going on. He looked distinctly uncomfortable now.

  Surprisingly, Ash even managed to locate a small scrap of decency. ‘Yeah, it sucks,’ he agreed. The show of support lasted as long as it took him to wrinkle his nose. ‘But,’ he said, placing particular emphasis on the word, ‘the fact that your best mate stole your girlfriend isn’t a reason to punish the rest of us. I have not sweated my guts out for years to have you ruin everything now we’ve got it made. Why can’t you just fire them?’

  Because the situation was far more complex than that and symptomatic of a bigger problem.

  ‘We could hire some sessionals for tonight, and look into recruiting replacements to play on the new tracks when we hit the studio,’ Ash suggested.

  ‘That’s a bit harsh.’ Spook continued to rub his lips where Ash had hit him. ‘Rock Giant’s not going to like that idea. You know him and Elspeth go way back.’

  ‘Steve and I go way back,’ Xane remarked. The fact he and Steve had known one another so long – right through school and beyond – and had been so close made his betrayal doubly hard to stomach, and that was before he got into the nitty-gritty of the situation.

  ‘Actually, never mind Rock Giant, I don’t want to see them go,’ Spook elaborated.

  ‘Nor do I.’ Ash reassured him. ‘But if it’s a choice between them or all of us …’ His words petered out as his attention focused to the right of Xane’s shoulder.