by James, Vicki
With a smile on my face, I picked her up and carried her into the bathroom. The bath was full to the brim with bubbles everywhere, a tower of the white suds climbing the walls, which only made Jules hoot with laughter.
“Shit, what the fuck?”
After dropping her to her feet, Julia continued to mock me as I let some water out of the tub and tried to scoop some bubbles out to dump them in the sink. By the time the bath was sorted, we were laughing together, and we sank down into the water on opposite sides, letting our legs tangle together in the middle.
Once settled, Jules tilted her head to the side. “What do you think the others would say if they could see us like this?”
“Do you care?”
“I don’t want to change anything for them. You said so yourself… the band needs to focus on the music. I’m worried I’ll be a distraction.”
“How can you be a distraction? You’re a part of the success. If anyone can keep me focused—all of us focused, actually—it’s you.”
“I just want things to stay the same.”
“Bit late for that.”
“It doesn’t have to be. We’re letting it be.”
Her brown eyes searched mine, and I ran a hand through my messy hair. “I’m not fighting about this, Jules. I’m not fighting about the fact that, somehow, this has happened, and I happen to really fucking enjoy it.”
“I don’t want to fight either, but every time I think about talking it through with you, the thought just makes my insides shrivel up. I know it’ll end in fighting no matter what we do because apparently that’s all we can do. Fight or fuck.”
“Well, I know which I prefer.”
“I’m serious, Rhett.”
“About what? What are you serious about? Us…?” I briefly looked up at the ceiling and blew out a breath. “Just tell me. Tell me what you want.”
“I want to come back to the band. I want to finish what I started with Youth Gone Wild.”
“You should never have quit in the first place.”
“I want to be the one to make you guys the biggest band since The Beatles.”
“You’re the only one capable.”
“And, yeah, I want to keep doing this… with you.”
I raised a brow. “And this is...?”
“Sleeping together. Being intimate. Having fun.” She nodded once, showing no shame.
“Okay.”
She rubbed her lips together. “And I want to keep it between us.”
“You want to keep us a secret?” I scowled.
She held up a hand. “Yes, but before you jump to conclusions… no, I’m not ashamed of you. No, I don’t care what anyone else thinks. Not really, anyway. Okay, so maybe a little bit, but that’s not the reason I want to keep it a secret.”
“Then what is the reason?”
“I want you to myself for a while.” Jules shuffled closer, sliding along the bath and lifting her legs over me until they hung by my waist. She rested her hands on my thighs and squeezed them tightly. “I don’t want everyone having an opinion on us, Rhett, until we’ve figured shit out for ourselves. We barely know each other.”
“We’ve worked together for over three years.”
“I know Rhett the rock star, not this intimate guy in front of me. I know the fiery fighter, the soulful singer, and the guy who knows where to put his mouth. I want to know more,” she said softly, her eyes warm and inviting. “I know you’ve got secrets, and I’ve got them, too. I’m not saying you have to tell me everything. All I am saying is that before anyone knows what’s gone on between us, and before we fuck everything up, let’s just be clever about this. Let’s take our time. There’s obviously chemistry here.”
“You think?”
She raised a brow at me, which only made my lips twitch in appreciation. She was never hotter than when she was irked with me.
“I like you, Rhett, but this has the potential to ruin both our careers, and I know which one of us will survive, and which one of us won’t when the bus comes to run us over.”
“I wouldn’t throw you under any fucking bus, Jules,” I assured her firmly.
“Wouldn’t you?”
I leaned forward, bringing us together until she was straddling my lap in the water, and I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to me. She held onto my shoulders, looking unsure.
“You either want me, or you don’t. I’m not going to beg. I’m not going to sit here and convince you of what I could be over time. I don’t even know myself what I’m capable of. All I know is that if you were to get out of this bath now and tell me we were never going to sleep together again, I’d panic. I’d feel like we could have done more, experienced more together. I’d think Shit, I could have done that better. I should have remembered every moment. I’d feel fucking gutted, Jules.” I pressed my palms into her back and pulled her closer. “And I don’t know what that means,” I whispered. “So, I’m asking you to help me figure it out. If keeping it a secret is what you want, then fine. That’s what we’ll do. But you have to promise me one thing…”
“What?”
“You really meant it when you said you weren’t ashamed of me just now. Because if you wanting to keep this secret is because you don’t like who you’re falling for, then that’s a problem.”
“Who said I’m falling for you?”
“C’mon, baby. C’mon.” I smirked.
“Why are you such an idiot?” She smiled.
“Promise me.”
“I’m not ashamed of you. I’m—”
“That’ll do.” I cut her off. “Now kiss me before you spoil the moment by droning on.”
She rolled her eyes, sighed dreamily, and then she kissed me. The two of us sank back into the water, and we kissed and kissed and kissed and kissed, and, honestly…
It was a brand-new kind of fucking Heaven.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
For the first time in a long time, I slept through the night like a baby.
She was tangled up in me. Arms around my body, her legs entwined with mine. I’d lay there staring at the ceiling for a while after she’d drifted to sleep with her head on my tattooed chest.
I couldn’t hurt her now. If I did, everything was fucked. I also knew I couldn’t quit her, either. The thought of never burying myself inside her again made me break out in hives. My heart raced, and my throat closed up. Screwing Jules was magic, but what was even better was the fact that I didn’t want her to leave afterwards. I enjoyed holding her like this.
The next morning, I woke to the sound of her voice drifting through the hotel room. It took me a moment to realise where I was and who the voice belonged to, but when I pushed up to rest on my elbows, and I saw her through tired, narrowed eyes, the smile came to my face immediately, and all those worries were forgotten. Jules had the phone pressed to her ear, and a single finger pressed to her mouth, warning me to stay quiet.
I somehow did as she asked, falling back onto the bed with a thud as I reached under the duvet and found my morning glory. If she was going to make me wait, I was going to make it uncomfortable for her.
She blew out a long breath, and I tilted my head on the bed so I could watch her, watching me as I stroked myself slowly. Her chest bounced, and she pushed a hand through the longer lengths of her hair.
“Sorry, yeah, I’m still here,” she said to whoever she was on the phone to, a slight pant tainting her voice. She cleared her throat discreetly.
I raised a brow at her, but her eyes had drifted down again, and she was now focused on the movement going on around my dick.
“I know, and it won’t happen again. Yeah,” she croaked before she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the call. It made a soft, early morning laugh rumble in my chest. “I’m committed, Dicky. I promise. I won’t let you or them down again.”
I froze, stopping what I was doing as I sat upright again and moved closer to her. She let her eyes open, and she stared right into mine.
&nbs
p; “I’ll phone each of the guys and apologise—see if they’ll have me back.” Dicky must have said something that struck with her because her lips lifted into a breath-taking, mischievous smile. “Don’t worry about Rhett. I’ll handle him. He’s not as angry as he always makes out.”
I bared my teeth and pretended to growl like a lion. She laughed silently.
After a few more pleasantries, Jules ended the call and dropped the phone on the bed. I was resting on one arm, the other hand holding her naked thigh as she sat there wearing nothing but my grey T-shirt, which she’d brought with her from her home.
“Sorry if I woke you. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to tell Dicky I was retracting my resignation.”
“That’s a damn good way for us to start the day.”
“He said you were angry.”
“Oh. Pft. Fuming.”
“Panicked, even.”
“One hundred percent hysterical.”
“Like a mad man.”
“Raving. Lunatic.”
“He said you told him you wanted me back.”
“Yup.” I just grinned at her, toothy and bright.
“You’re changing, Reckless Rhett.” She beamed back at me. “I may have to take full credit for this growth.”
I smirked and glanced down at my obvious erection poking through the thin hotel duvet. “You can take full credit for another growth first.”
With a laugh, she pushed against my chest and knocked me back until she was able to straddle my waist and press her hands upon my chest.
I ran my rough palms over her smooth thighs and stared up at her. “No more shirking your responsibilities. I.e. Me. No more leaving those who matter. I.e. Me. No more—”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m back. Back and ready to show you who’s boss.”
My hips rose and fell beneath her. “Oh, I know who’s boss. I just happen to have her dick-whipped already, so technically, I’m in charge. This boss of mine should really catch up.”
“If you weren’t so handsome and adorable, I’d fight back, but I like what I’m looking at right now and feel like my energy should be poured into that.”
“Give me all you’ve got, baby,” I said with a grin. “I’m ready for it.”
“Are you sure? It isn’t going to be easy keeping this from the others.”
“Stick with me. You’ll be surprised what secrets I can keep to myself.”
“Feels weird being so secretive, though. Makes me feel like a rebel.”
“Does being bad turn you on?”
“More than you can imagine.” She wiggled her brows.
“Then let’s be really, really, really bad together.”
“We’ll be the worst.”
“So awful.” I scrunched my face up and began to push her against my erection, giving us both a sense of friction that wasn’t nearly close to being enough. “Maybe you should go find yourself a good guy instead. Stay away from the devil.”
“I like the devil. He and I dance well together.”
* * *
Julia and I spent two days in that hotel room, doing everything and nothing. Do you know how intoxicating it is to do everything and nothing with someone you trust and admire? Someone you respect. Someone you actually fucking care about.
Sex seemed to reach a higher level with someone who mattered. Food tasted better. Laying around was no longer boring but a thrill. Not knowing when she was going to wake me to be intimate, or when she was going to let me sleep—really sleep—and enjoy this utterly foreign feeling of peace. Room service, which I used to hate because it made me feel trapped, was suddenly the best thing on the damn planet because it meant we didn’t have to get dressed or leave the four walls we’d locked ourselves inside of.
This was a prison sentence I could handle.
While Julia built herself up to make phone calls to the other guys, I busied myself by writing out lyrics and creating new songs as much as I could. I’d never flowed as much as I did while sitting around wearing only boxer shorts, while she walked around the place in my T-shirts—the grey being her favourite. Her little arse cheeks peeking out from under the edge. Her toned thighs on display.
Apparently, Jules was into yoga and would busy herself with something called the downward dog or some crazy bollocks like that, while I sat back and watched her mould herself into all sorts of poses. She could bend herself backwards, do a handstand that would last for an age, and she never once broke a sweat while she worked those perfect muscles of hers.
All that time we’d spent together over the years…
How little I’d truly seen her.
She spoilt me with her kisses. She ran her hands over my abs constantly. She told me off for smoking too much. She rubbed my shoulders as she sat behind me in the chairs, letting me write and write and write and write. I’d sing her the lyrics along with a melody I had in mind, and she’d listen with no judgement, telling me where she thought Presley, Hawk, Big D, and Coops would fit in.
It was like someone had injected my veins with inspiration, and I couldn’t stop.
Not even when it was time for us to hit the rehearsal studios and get back with the band. The cocoon we had created for ourselves was about to be broken open, and something about the real world meeting our hotel world made me nervous.
I wasn’t sure I could hide what I felt for her among our friends.
I wasn’t sure I could hide it from anyone.
Not even strangers in the street.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
We decided to turn up to the rehearsal studios separately.
I went ahead of Jules, arriving there an entire three hours before she would make her grand entrance. She left me to go back to her home on Mersea Island to pack properly. To make herself look like the publicist she needed to be, instead of the woman who’d been rolling around in my bedsheets.
Midnight Ultra Studios were situated in Camden. I arrived on time, waltzing into the place like it wasn’t a surprise to everyone that I was doing what I’d been told to do by Dicky.
I had a spring in my step.
I also had a wad of lyrics in my black rucksack that hung loosely off my shoulder as I wedged an unlit cigarette in my lips and greeted the boys. I walked over to Presley who was sitting on a well-used, black leather couch, one leg propped over the other knee as he looked up at me smugly.
With a chuck of my chin, I gave him a smile of greeting and held out my hand. “Pretty boy, I’ve missed you.”
He took it, slapping his palm to mine, and with a grunt, I helped him stand until he had me in some kind of man hug. A few slaps to my back, and he pushed his hand through his long, loose blonde hair.
“Who’d have thought a week away from you would be hard work, huh, Rhett?” He smirked, folding his muscly arms over his white T-shirt. He was like a living Ken Doll. A Kerrang! special edition model. “Missed your ugly face.”
“I always knew you loved me.”
Presley scanned me from head to toe, a look of suspicion in his eyes. Before he could say anything, I looked around the room.
“No Tess?”
“She’s busy.”
“Becoming an Instagram sensation.”
“Nope,” he said, his grin growing smugger. “She’s house hunting.”
“So, it’s serious then, this thing between you both?”
“The marriage proposal not give that away at all, buddy?”
“Oh, shit, yeah. Forgot about that.”
“Nice to know it matters.”
“Honestly couldn’t give a shit, mate,” I said, laughing and slapping him on the arm.
Presley took it in good humour for the most part until he leaned closer so the other guys in the room couldn’t hear him, and he whispered in my ear, “Don’t let Tess hear you say that. She’s got big plans for you. Despite what you think, you mean a lot to her. Let’s pretend you do give a shit when she asks a favour of you.”
He straightened himself up and headed towards Coops, D, and Hawk
who were all tuning up their equipment, a bottle of beer not far from each of them already.
I had no idea what Presley meant, so I dumped my bag on the coffee table between the two black sofas, tucked my unused cigarette behind my ear, and I got involved in life among the band again. Big D had spent his time at a spa resort with some old friends of his, while Coops and Hawk decided to spend their week off hanging out together on some country fucking retreat where they got to shoot clay birds, wear wellies, and smoke pipes. Boring bastards.
Big D turned to me as we stood in a circle, gesturing my way with a lazy finger.
“You’re quiet,” he said in that deep voice of his.
“And sober.” Coops frowned, leaning closer to get a better look at me. “Have you… shaved?”
“Fuck me, I think he has,” Big D gasped.
“Look at his jeans,” Hawk piped up, pointing at my pants.
“Have I got a boner on for you already?” I asked, making each of them huff out a rough round of laughter before Hawk shook his head, catching my eyes and holding them accusingly.
“They’re clean. No spills. No smokes. No stains.”
“I’m always clean!”
“Not that clean,” Coops agreed with Hawk as he pinched the T-shirt I was wearing. He ran his finger down the edge of it. “Is this fucking ironed?”
I thought of Julia standing in my hotel room that morning wearing nothing but a G-string and a lace bra as she used the hotel’s iron and ran over her shirt on the board. She’d glanced up at me as I tugged a load of crinkled stuff out of my bag, and she’d shaken her head and simply held her hand out for me to pass them to her. I’d given her my things before I’d dropped a kiss of gratitude to her soft, swollen lips, and then I’d sang Fleetwood Mac’s Gold Dust Woman to her.
“Fuck. Me… what is that smile?” Hawk asked sharply, pulling my back to the present.
“What?” I laughed.
“Did you go to rehab while we were apart?” Coops asked, serious.
“You got me. Rehab. It was a crash course. Pay triple the price, spend a week sweating and shaking, then boom! You no longer want to drink Peroni for breakfast or neck Smirnoff with dinner. I thought you boys would be happy.”