by Grace James
I smiled innocently and shrugged.
Then Blake tugged me over to meet Nick. He was short and stocky with a shock of thick, blond waves. He looked like a surfer, and he even had that cliché surfer ‘vibe’ – totally calm and chilled.
After the introductions, Blake pulled out the vacant chair next to his so that I could sit down. As I did so, he put his mouth to my ear and whispered, “I’m hard just looking at you in that dress.”
Before I could respond – other than to bite my lip as an image of him hard shot through my brain – the server arrived to take our drinks order.
“Red wine good with you, Princess?” Blake asked.
“Yeah, sounds great,” I agreed.
“We’ll have a bottle of your best,” Blake told him before he moved on around the table.
A few minutes later, a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon was presented to us. It was delicious, better than any other wine I’d ever tasted.
While we were perusing our menus, I couldn’t resist glancing over the wine list on the down low, wondering exactly how much a ‘bottle of your best’ cost in a place like that.
Turns out its $1500.
For a bottle of wine.
Not a truck load of wine. Not a crate. A freaking bottle.
I tried to figure out how much that was per mouthful, but before I could get that far the server re-appeared to take our food orders.
I hesitated, scanning the menu for something that didn’t cost more than my weekly grocery bill.
Blake noticed that something was up. “Hey, you okay?”
“Um, yeah, just not sure what to order.”
“The filet mignon is meant to be great, why don’t you get that?”
Because I could buy my dress, my shoes, AND my purse for less than that costs!
“Um…” I hesitated some more; I was actually starting to sweat a little by that point.
Blake asked the server to take everyone else’s orders first and then he put his arm around my shoulders. “Okay. Look at me,” he said quietly.
I did.
“Tell me what’s wrong.”
I glanced away.
“Princess.” Blake’s voice held a note of warning.
“Okay, it’s just that everything’s so expensive here,” I hissed, not wanting to be overheard.
He frowned. “Not really. And so what if it is?”
“Not really? Not really?” I squeaked. “Blake, this wine cost double what’s in my checking account right now!”
He just looked confused. “You know I’m buying, right?”
“That’s not the point!”
“Then what is the point?”
“I don’t want you to feel like you have to spend this much money on me!”
He stared at me for a moment, then grinned and shook his head. “Okay, first off, I don’t feel like I have to do anything. I asked you to come tonight ‘cause I wanted you here. And I’m paying for everyone – not just you. It’s like tradition. We always do this before we start recording or before we go on tour.
“And second, I know this shit’s expensive to most people, but honestly, I could do this a hundred times over tonight and still not make a dent in my fat stacks.” He smirked when he said that last part and I knew he was trying to come off as an ass to make me laugh – or rile me up. It could’ve been either one.
I smiled despite myself. “You’re –”
“Loaded?” he interrupted, raising a brow.
“I was going to say you’re a show off!”
“Nah, just honest.”
I rolled my eyes at him, but I was still smiling.
“So, we good now?” he asked. “You just gonna order what you want and say fuck the price tag?”
I bit my lip as I looked at him, still a little uncomfortable.
“Princess…” That warning again. Only this time his voice was lower, more tender, as he reached out and cupped my cheek in his hand. His thumb lightly stroked the edge of my lips, sending a little shiver through me.
Before I could think better of it, my mouth chased his thumb and I nipped the tip of it between my teeth playfully, causing a slow grin to spread across his face.
Of course, the waiter chose that moment to reappear, and I felt my blush coming on strong and heavy as I realized that he probably wasn’t the only one in the room looking our way as I got all suggestive with Blake’s hand.
I hid my face behind the menu and ordered the filet mignon.
When the server had gone, taking the menus with him, I finally looked back at Blake. His amusement was clear to see and I braced myself for his comment – but Danny beat him to it. “Shit, watching you two is enough to get me hard.” He looked at Blake, then added, “I bet she’s like that song, A lady in the street but a freak in the b– OWW! JESUS!”
Blake had jerked in his seat an instant before Danny’s yell, telling me that he had kicked him, hard, under the table.
Everyone else burst into laughter. Even I couldn’t help a little giggle. The only one not laughing was Blake, which was kind of ironic because four years ago, when I had first started dating Connor, Blake was the one making asshole comments all the time.
“You know he’s you, right?” I said, nudging Blake with my shoulder.
He frowned at me.
“What? I can’t be the only one who thinks that?”
“You’re not,” Kane spoke up. “Most of the time, it’s like they were separated at birth.”
“Yeah, he normally thinks I’m funny,” Danny said, sitting back in his chair and making a big show of eyeing me up and down playfully. “And he usually lets me get in on the action – doesn’t care if I fuck his girls, just so you know.”
For a beat, there was silence at the table.
I saw Danny’s eyes widen, like he knew he’d just dropped a bomb that he wasn’t authorized to release, but now it was too late and all he could do was watch it plunge towards the earth in horror.
I felt a little sorry for him. Or at least I would have if I wasn’t so busy trying not to throw up in my mouth.
“Not that kinda crowd, man,” Derren murmured from the other end of the table.
“Yeah, Amy’s not some groupie,” Hayley added, annoyed.
I sensed what Blake was about to do before he did it, but he moved so fast that I didn’t stand a chance of stopping him. Lunging across the table, he grabbed Danny by the front of his shirt and hauled him up. “You wanna shut the fuck up? Or do I need to make you?”
Danny’s face was full of regret. “Shit, mate, I didn’t think – it was just a joke.” He glanced at me and said, “I’m sorry, Amy.”
I believed him. Even though he’d just let slip something I’d rather not know, I didn’t think that he’d really meant any harm. “It’s okay,” I replied as I stood and wrapped my hand around Blake’s bicep. “Blake, stop.” I gave his arm a little tug. “Come outside with me? Please?”
Slowly, he released his hold on Danny, but the glower didn’t leave his face. If looks could kill, the drummer would’ve been bleeding out all over the floor.
I tugged on Blake’s arm again as I turned away from the table – and that was when I realized that the whole restaurant was silent. Everyone was looking our way, and there were at least a dozen cell phones pointing at us, too.
43
I led Blake out of the restaurant quickly, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Thankfully, outside there were less people staring at us.
“What the hell was that?” I whisper-yelled; I didn’t want to be overheard but I was unable to hide my irritation at him for reacting that way.
Blake squared his shoulders, straightening into a me-against-the-world-stance – and for a second, I glimpsed Connor. It was exactly what he would’ve done in the same situation. It was what he did whenever he felt threatened, or unsure. For some reason, that made my annoyance fade, even before Blake said, “I don’t want you to be upset, or second guessing what we have, ‘cause that motherfucker can’t keep his m
outh shut.”
“I’m not second guessing us,” I assured him – but he didn’t calm down.
“You can’t tell me hearing that shit doesn’t bother you.” He raised his arm while he spoke, jabbing a hand angrily back towards the entrance of the restaurant. “I’ll fucking kill the little bast–”
“Blake, stop,” I said, grabbing his hand in both of mine. “Of course it bothers me a little. But here’s a newsflash – I already knew you weren’t exactly a choir boy.”
He huffed a breath out through his nose, but he seemed a little more under control. I took hold of his other hand, too, and looped them both around my waist, stepping closer to him to rest my own hands against his chest as I looked up at him.
“You wanna talk about this now, don’t you?” he asked, after a moment.
“Well, is the alternative you sulking all night and trying to kill your drummer?”
He didn’t answer, but one corner of his mouth twitched at the question, showing the tiniest hint of amusement.
“Then yes,” I said decisively. “Let’s talk about this now.”
He nodded once, but he didn’t look convinced.
I forged ahead anyway. “So, when he said you let him…fuck your girls –” I couldn’t help a tiny wince as I spoke “– did he mean like a threesome or did you kind of…take turns?”
Ack.
His hands tightened around me. “Does it matter?”
“I don’t know. But I’m probably going to wonder about it. I’d prefer to just know for sure and cut out the wondering part.”
He studied me for a moment, letting out a heavy sigh before he said, “It was just a way to get off, Princess. It didn’t mean anything.”
“…okay…”
He continued to scrutinize me for a moment. I’m not sure what my expression was doing, probably hovering somewhere between morbid curiosity and nausea. He let out a slow breath before he started with, “Look, on tour – after you play a show – you just walk into a room and there are women everywhere, and you know every single one of them are just there to fuck, and anything goes, y’know? Girls like that – they’ll do anything just to be able to say they fucked someone from Sons of Sinners.”
Just to be able to say they fucked Blake Maxwell, I amended internally. All of the Sons guys were attractive in their own way, but there was a reason man-whoring had always been so easy for Blake. He stood out from the rest.
I wanted to ignore the barrage of mental images that assaulted my mind of all the wild sex that Blake had probably had over the years with willing women who were much more adventurous and experienced than me, but at the same time I was unable to stop myself pushing for more.
I had to know what I was competing with.
“So, when you say ‘anything’…?” I asked, letting the question hang in the air.
He licked his lips and looked away, and I realized that he was nervous. “I don’t wanna tell you,” he admitted.
Okay, now I had to know.
“And I don’t want to wonder,” I countered.
His jaw tightened and for a second I thought he was going to refuse, but then he said, “Fine, then yeah, both.”
“…both?”
“Me and Danny. We’ve fucked the same woman at the same time. But no DP in the same zone – opposite ends only.” My eyes bugged out as he talked so matter of fact about it. “One and done and pass her on? Yeah, we all used to do that – it’s better that way ‘cause then they don’t get clingy.”
“Kane too?” I blurted. I’d always thought of Kane as being more tame.
Blake’s face darkened. “Yeah, Kane too,” he answered a little sharply.
“Oh…and what about you and…other women?”
“How do you mean?”
“How many women have you had sex with at once?”
“Princess, I only have one dick, I can only put it in one place at a ti–”
“You know what I mean,” I cut in, not letting him get off that easily.
He just shrugged.
“Blake?” I pressed.
His jaw ticked. His eyes fixed on a point above my head. “A few.”
“Like…three at once?”
“More, probably.”
EW!
“‘Probably’ as in you don’t know?” I asked.
His eyes came back down to meet mine. “‘Probably’ as in I don’t care. Are we done now?”
“One more question.”
He let out another little sigh. “Go ahead.”
“Do you think you’ll miss all that action? Because there’s no way I could ever do anything like –”
“Jesus-fucking-NO!” he practically shouted; he looked like I’d just shot him. “There’s no way in hell I’d want you to be a part of that. And if I get to have you, I don’t want any part of it either.” His hand sank into the back of my hair as he lowered his head to look me straight in the eye. “Princess, I could have ten women spreading their legs for me and that wouldn’t even come close to comparing to you. Sex never meant anything to me unless it’s with you, and that’s the goddamn truth.”
I could see the sincerity in his face. I could feel it in the way he was holding me.
“Then let’s just forget about it,” I said firmly. “Danny said he’s sorry and I believe him. I think he ran his mouth without thinking it through and, like he said, he was just joking –”
Blake snorted scornfully. “You think he wouldn’t fuck you if he had the chance?”
There was that jealousy again.
“I think it doesn’t matter because he’s never going to get the chance.” I pushed my hands up to the back of his neck and slid my fingertips into his silky hair to massage his scalp soothingly. “The only person who gets to fuck me is you, so you need to let it go.”
He touched his forehead to mine. “How the fuck are you so understanding? If I had to hear about anything you’ve done with another guy, I know I’d lose my shit.”
I kept up the light head massage as I said, “I guess I’m just super amazing.”
I wasn’t going to admit that I was used to torturing myself over the thought of him with other women – and that the meaningless sex he’d described was actually a lot less threatening than the idea of him being with just one other woman the way he was with me. Somehow, knowing that all of his prior hookups had been just sex without strings was actually sort of comforting.
“You are,” he agreed even though I’d been kidding. Then he pulled me into a tight hug. “Don’t give up on me, Princess,” he murmured into my hair.
My cheek was against his chest, so he couldn’t see my frown of confusion, and before I could ask him what he meant, he kissed the top of my head and pulled back, taking my hand and pulling me with him back through the doors of the restaurant.
44
When we got back to the table, our meals had already arrived and everyone was digging in.
As soon as we sat down, Danny apologized again and, thankfully, that time Blake acknowledged it. Then Kane ordered a bottle of bourbon and the whole thing seemed pretty much forgotten.
By the time our meal was halfway done, the talk had shifted to music and Derren was deep into explaining the concept of one of the songs he and Blake had been working on together, which led into a discussion of what they were going to start with tomorrow in the studio. Aside from the fancy setting and the fact that their recording budget was huge, it was as if I had travelled back in time and was listening to them talk ‘band stuff’ in the living room of Kane and Blake’s old house.
Just like Connor before him, Danny didn’t contribute a whole lot to the discussion, and Kane made only the occasional comment. It was clear that Blake was still the driving force of the band, closely followed by Derren who I noticed was even more opinionated than he used to be – probably because it seemed like he was more involved in the songwriting now.
As he took the last bite of his steak, Danny got to his feet, drained the remainder of the amber li
quid in his glass, and announced loudly, “Gamblin’ time! Let’s get this addiction started!” Then he strode out of the restaurant, apparently uncaring if any of us were following.
We did, though, descending on the Craps table en masse where I spent an hour blowing on dice for luck before they were launched onto the green felt to win a grand total of…not a lot. After that we fanned out; I played Russian Roulette with Kane, watched Hayley sweep the table at Black Jack, and sat on Blake’s lap as he played poker.
The whole time, I was intensely aware of the double-takes and full-on, mouth-open gapes from the people around us.
It happened all night; people staring, coming over for autographs, and, the one that made me giggle every time – when they would tell the guys their own names, like “Hey, you’re Derren Jeffries!” or “Oh my God! You’re Kane Holt!” Even funnier was when people expected the guys to assure them that they really were Sons of Sinners: “There’s no way you’re really Blake Maxwell. Sing something, dude! Convince me!”
Before I knew it, it was 3AM and we were all saying our goodbyes under the multicolored ceiling in the lobby of the Bellagio. Danny and Nick were staying with Kane, so they all caught a cab together; Hayley and Derren got one right after.
As Blake and I walked to the elevator hand in hand, I asked, “How come you’re staying in a hotel when the others are crashing at Kane’s? And Derren and Hayley have, like, a dozen spare rooms?”
“I’m on the road with those guys most of my life. When we’re not travelling, I need my own space. Plus I always wanted to stay here – it was on my list of shit to do when I made it.”
“I remember that!” I exclaimed, smiling. “You once told me when your album went platinum you’d ‘go large’ in the Bellagio!”
He broke into a huge grin as he tapped the control panel to call the elevator. “Actually, I said we’d go large in the Bellagio, Princess…and here we are.”
As soon as the doors slid open, he pulled me into the elevator and immediately backed me into a corner. Luckily, we were the only people in there because his bourbon-flavored mouth covered mine a second later and his hands were everywhere, cupping my ass and squeezing my boobs through my dress.