by Lisa Lace
He looks up at me, smiling as he licks his lips.
“So fucking sexy,” he says, making me feel completely amazing.
He crawls up to me and kisses my lips, the taste of my own juices spreading across my tongue. I feel his hand slide between us as he unzips and pulls his pants down enough to free himself from his clothing. The fire inside me returns.
“Make love to me,” I whisper. “I want you inside me, Lucas.”
“How badly?”
“Bad. More than I have ever wanted anything before.”
“Tell me, Ivy.”
I know what he’s trying to do. He likes sexy talk but not smutty, I think. I take a breath and try to figure out how to give him what he desires.
“I want it bad, baby.” I feel so silly as the words come out of my mouth. I want to take them back, but it’s too late.
He leans up and looks at me, perplexed and smirking.
“Sorry,” I chuckle.
He kisses me hard then, his hands burying themselves underneath me and massaging my bottom. He feeds my legs up around him and pushes against me, not entering me, only teasing me with his cock. He moves back and forth on my clit as his tongue traces my lips before pushing back into my mouth. He knows exactly what to do to get to me, and everything he does works like a charm.
I feel the heat as it radiates through me, my body aching for him to take me. I try to move to give him access to what he wants, but he continues to play with me, teasing me and stopping when I begin to moan or move in sync with what he does to me.
“You’re killing me,” I tell him, throwing my arms over my head to the mattress.
“Tell me what you want, Ivy.”
His mouth sucks on the side of my neck as his fingers push into me. I feel his teeth graze my skin, biting down enough to make me feel pain. I gasp and jerk my head sideways, exposing the other side to him. He takes advantage of it and bites the other side, his hands sliding up my arms and pinning my hands to the bed.
“Tell me,” he growls.
I feel my lower lip tremble with a desire I have never felt before. He lifts his body off me so that I still feel the heat from him, but he’s not touching me anywhere except for his hands on my wrists. His mouth lowers to mine and he bites my lower lip.
“Tell me,” he repeats, kissing my jawline. “What do you want me to do to you, Ivy?”
He kisses my neck, and I turn my face the other way to give him more, but he stops.
I can feel my heart beating furiously in my chest.
“I want you,” I whisper.
He kisses my mouth. “Tell me.”
“I want you.” My breath catches in my throat. “I want you to fuck me.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“How badly do you want it?”
“Please, don’t tease me like this. You’re making me crazy. My body aches for you.”
He lowers himself onto me and pushes my legs open. He looks into my eyes, and I can see his desire for me as I feel it for him. He opens me up and enters me, slowly pushing into me. He stops, and I can feel his cock pulse inside me.
I breathe through it as he slowly fucks me, increasing my adrenaline and heart rate and feeding my sexual appetite. He fucks me, moves against me, and kisses me until my body floats on the edge of ecstasy, spilling over the edge with the emotion that carries me back down to reality. He fucks me until he pushes hard and fills me with his own love and desires, his arms encircling me and pulling me into him.
I look at the clock on my bedside table as I feel his breathing slow behind me. My fingers stroke his arms, which still hold me tight.
“I love you,” I whisper. He doesn’t move, he doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t even squeeze me tighter. Did he hear me? I close my eyes and drift off to sleep.
Lucas
I wake up with Ivy in my arms and feel a surge of contentment. I heard her father come in last night, and I know eventually I’ll have to show my face, but right now, Ivy and I are safe behind closed doors.
I snuggle up closer to her, wrapping my arms tightly around her slender waist and kissing her behind her ear. She smiles, squirming because it tickles. She lets out a little giggle and curls up into a ball in my arms.
“You’re still here,” she says.
“Where else would I be?”
She laughs. “I thought you might have run away from my dad.”
“The more time I spend with you, Ivy Evans, the more I want you. Jane and my father are going to do their thing; let’s do ours. Enough tiptoeing around everyone else. I want you.”
Ivy rolls over so her face is inches from mine. She smiles then softly kisses me. “I want you, too.”
After weeks of back-and-forth, we’re finally here, in each other’s arms. I’m ready to brave anything, anyone, for her.
“We’ll have to face him soon,” Ivy says softly.
“What are you going to say?”
She nuzzles into me. “That record deal or no record deal, I’m happy with Lucas Fox.”
After another forty minutes of spooning, we both know we’re going to have to get out of bed. We get dressed and head to the bedroom door.
Ivy stands with her fingers on the handle and takes in a deep breath. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
She opens the door and steps into the living area with me a step behind. Her father, Gregory Evans, is sitting in his armchair in front of the TV. I’ve never met him, but as soon as I lay eyes on him, I understand why he’s held so much anger against my father.
Greg doesn’t look to be in good health. His gray hair is coarse and wild. He’s wearing an old brown robe, his feet propped up on a footstool in front of him in a pair of worn slippers. A cane rests against the arm of his chair. Greg runs his thumb over the handle as he watches the television.
He hears the door open. “Good afternoon, Ivy,” he says. “I was starting to wonder if you came home last night.”
“I’m home.”
When she speaks, Greg looks up. His eyes narrow when he sees me. “Who’s this?”
“This is Lucas.”
“Fox?”
“Yes.”
“And he’s been here all night?”
Ivy grips my hand defiantly, holding her head high, and staring at her father. “Yes. He has.”
Greg shakes his head. A look of disappointment crosses his features. He furrows his brow, frowns, and shakes his head. “Why, Ivy? You didn’t need to sleep your way to a record deal. I’m ashamed of you.”
I can’t let him talk to Ivy that way. I step in front of her, lifting a finger to point at Greg. “No, sir. You should be ashamed of yourself. You’ve been putting your own bitterness and rivalry ahead of your daughter’s success, using some grudge from decades ago as an excuse to hold her back.”
Ivy tugs on my sleeve, but I can’t stop.
“You should know Ivy well enough to know she would never compromise her principles and sleep with someone for a deal. And what’s more, she doesn’t need to. This woman could make records in her sleep. She’s the greatest talent I’ve ever known.”
“You think I don’t know she’s talented?” Greg struggles to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane. “That’s why I’m disgusted she chose Fox Records. She can do better than scum like your father.”
“Yes, she can.”
That surprises Greg. He’s lost for words for a moment. He straightens up as best he can, staring at me curiously. “What exactly are you doing with my daughter?”
“I care about her.”
“If you cared about her, you’d get her far, far away from your father. He’s a snake.”
“That’s not the way he tells it, but then, I’ve only heard his side of the story.”
“Hmm.” Greg’s sour laugh turns into a cough, and he covers his mouth with a fist. “Harvey always had a way of spinning a story to make himself look like the hero. Whatever you’ve heard will be complete bullshit.” He turns to
Ivy. “See him out, will you? You and I need to have a serious discussion.”
Ivy walks past him and settles down on the sofa. She crosses one leg over the other and leans back, defiantly planting herself there. “I don’t think so. This is my apartment, too, and I say Lucas is welcome.”
“Then I’ll leave.” Greg hobbles into the bedroom to search for his clothes.
Ivy follows him, standing in the doorway to his bedroom with her hands on her hips. “You’re being ridiculous. When are you going to recognize I’m a grown woman? You need to learn to respect me and my choices.”
Greg raises his voice. “It’s not about you, Ivy! It’s about those people.” He steps out of the bedroom and points an accusing finger my way. “They’re poison.”
He gets more riled up as he hobbles around the living room in a rage, waving his hands around in anger. He meets my eye. “Your father and I started our label together, but it was me who sank the money into a studio and airtime. It was me who found our first three artists. I invested everything I had in that dream, trusting your father was on my side. He had the networking skills I needed to make the label a success.
“When I invited Harvey to join me as my partner, I was helping him out. He didn’t have a cent to his name. It was only after his father died that he had anything to call his own. He used that inheritance to screw me over after all I’d done for him.”
He pauses when a hacking cough interrupts his monologue. After a few minutes, he picks right up where he’d left off.
“Instead of working with me, he stole the talent I’d found and started his own label the second he had the means. He used me for my money until he had funds of his own, then he pulled the rug out from under me, and he didn’t feel a shred of guilt doing it, either. He left me in the gutter.”
“He said you were drinking the company into the ground.”
Greg’s eyes go wide, and his face grows so red I think he’s going to have a stroke. He picks up an empty bottle from a side table and holds it up to me in a shaking fist. “I didn’t touch a drop of drink until I lost my business, my house, and my wife. All because of Harvey bloody Fox.”
“It’s true,” Ivy says. “Dad never touched the stuff until Mom left. I remember.”
His anger spent, Greg sinks back down into his chair. His rage has turned to sorrow. “I wanted better for my daughter.” He looks up at Ivy. “I want you to go further than I did. I want more for you.”
Cautiously, I take a seat near Ivy’s dad. He tenses up but doesn’t move away.
“I believe you,” I say. It’s hard for me to admit, but I do. My father’s always been a cold bastard. “I know what my father’s capable of, and I believe he did you wrong.” I look across at Ivy and smile sadly. “That doesn’t change the fact I love your daughter.”
Ivy’s eyes widen. “Love?”
“Love.” I turn back to Greg. “I would never treat her badly.”
“I wish I could believe you. I really do.” Greg looks over at Ivy, who’s taken a seat on the sofa beside me. “What does Jane make of all this? Does she trust them?”
Ivy purses her lips. “Jane and I aren’t on the best terms right now.”
He shakes his head slowly. “There you have it. You girls have always been as close as anything. I shouldn’t be surprised you’re drifting apart. That’s what Fox Records does.”
“Jane’s been stepping over Ivy to get ahead,” I say. “It’s got nothing to do with Fox Records. Everything was under control until Jane started playing games.”
“Any decent company wouldn’t make you play games in the first place.”
I bow my head. “You’re right.”
Greg looks from me to Ivy. “What is this, then? Are you a couple?”
Ivy catches my eye. I smile. “I think so.”
Ivy
I don’t want to record anything today, but I don’t know what else to do. After insisting my father was bitter and holding me back and arguing with him all these weeks, the last thing I can do is admit he was right. Until I can figure out something else, I have to keep going. At least Lucas and I are finally an item.
I get happy little shivers when I think about it. And it makes me smile. Something good has come from all of this.
When I arrive at the studio, I give myself a second outside the building to take in a few deep breaths before I step inside. I have to force myself to put one foot in front of the other to go to the recording room.
As soon as I open the door into the mixing room, I can tell something is wrong. Harvey is standing with a smug smile on the far side of the room. Next to him stands Jane, looking just as self-satisfied. Lucas sits at the board. He’s red-faced and looks furious. There’s a woman I’ve never seen before sitting in the corner.
I look around the room, slowly placing my purse down onto the floor, trying to figure out what’s going on. “Good morning.”
Harvey smiles widely, flashing his teeth like a shark. “Ah, Ivy. You’re here. We’ve been waiting for you. We’re trying something new today.”
We’re trying something new. I shudder. Every time Harvey wants to “try something new,” he ends up making some horrible change to our act. I wonder what today’s disaster will be.
He gestures toward the stranger in the corner. The woman is young—younger than Jane or me—and gorgeous. She’s dark-skinned and has beautiful tight ringlets in her hair. She must have been doing this a while because she doesn’t seem too interested in what’s going on around her. She’s sitting like she could care less, typing away on her cell, ignoring everyone in the room. She has one leg crossed over the other and is chewing gun, rolling it around in her mouth loudly.
“This is Amy,” Harvey explains. “She’s the new member of your group.”
My eyes widen, and I can’t hold back the incredulous laugh that rises in my throat. I scoff loudly. “Are you kidding me?”
Harvey frowns. “You don’t sound too pleased.”
“No shit.” This is it. I’ve finally lost my temper. “First you take our songs, then you dress us like cheap hookers. You sleep with Jane, and the next thing I know, I’m basically humming in the background, and now you’re bringing in some woman I’ve never met. Why? No offense”—I turn to the stranger, who still isn’t paying much attention—“but we don’t need a third singer.”
“Of course you do.” Harvey’ lips curl into a cold, predatory smile. “A single backup singer makes no sense.”
“Backup singer?”
He nods. “Jane and I have had a little chat, and we both think the songs pack more punch when sung by a single voice. Too many cooks spoil the broth, after all.”
Lucas shakes his head, slamming a fist down on the console. “This is bullshit.”
I turn to Jane. I lift up my hands in disbelief. She looks completely unshaken, like nothing is on the line here, least of all our friendship. She’s happily wearing a skimpy little outfit she wouldn’t have worn in a million years before Fox Records and examines her fingernails to avoid my eyes.
“Are you really on board with this? You’re demoting me to backup singer?” My eyes fill with tears. “I wrote the songs we’ve been singing for years.”
She shrugs. “And now we’re singing different songs.”
“Who are you?” My voice rises in anger until I’m practically screaming. “I don’t know you anymore. You’re stabbing me in the back. It’s not even like this is something out of your control you’re letting happen. You slept with this sleazy old man to orchestrate it all.” I point a shaking finger at Harvey.
He snarls, “This ‘sleazy old man’ is your last chance at making it in this business, sweetheart.”
“Making it as what? One of those backup singers who are world famous for their oohs and aahs?”
“You’re free to leave. You either do things my way, or you can get the hell out of my studios. I’m not a charity. You don’t like it? Try your luck elsewhere.”
I look at Jane. I’m still expecti
ng her to stand up for me. She does nothing. If anything, she looks pleased to see me losing my shit. I feel like she’s been waiting for the tables to turn for a long time. This is a plan she’s had, coming to fruition.
Lucas rises from his chair. He takes a step toward Harvey, holding up a finger in his face. “You’ve done some pretty contemptible things to get where you are, but this is one of the lowest. You’re throwing away true talent to stroke the ego of some jealous little backstabber with a pair of long legs. Do you give any kind of fuck about the music? Does what we do here mean anything to you, or is it all just an opportunity to play God? You must be a small man to need this kind of attention to make you feel big.”
Harvey’ eyes flash with anger. He looks mad enough to throw a punch. Instead, he maintains his cool and simply meets Lucas’s eyes with an unshakeable stare. “You’re free to leave, too.”
I give Jane one last chance to show a change of heart. I catch her eye and soften my voice. “We can walk away together right now, Jane. We never even had a cross word before we started with this label. I should have trusted my gut and never come here in the first place. Let’s start fresh, get back to our roots. It’s this place. That’s what’s poisoned us. We’re better than this.” I take a step toward her. “We’re more than singing partners. We’re friends. Forget all this. Come with me.”
There are tears hanging in her eyes, but she doesn’t falter. She turns her head away and clears her throat. “My place is here.”
“That’s it, then? You’re going to stab me in the back to get to the top?”
“I’m only getting there first, Ivy. You would have done the same to me.”
I blink and tears roll down my cheeks. I shake my head. “You’re wrong. I was given the chance to do the same to you. I’d never hurt a friend this way.” I feel all the anger leave me. I slump in defeat and pick up my purse. “Fine. I’ll go. Have a good life, Jane. We’re done.”
Harvey chuckles. “Good riddance. You’d never have made it in this industry. You’re too thin-skinned.”