Saved by the Music (Saints & Sinners Book 2)

by Kaithlin Shepherd

  The steady beat of his heart calmed her nerves and when she felt his hand on her lower back, it was like she was home. “I feel safe with you, Sam.”

  “I know the feeling, honey.” Before more could be said, the door opened and Derek, the band’s tour manager, appeared. He had a huge-ass grin on his face, reminding Ashlee of the position they were in and how it must look, but he didn’t bring it up.

  He looked at Sam and jabbed at his watch with one of his fingers. “Hey, man, five minutes till showtime. Let’s do this.”

  Sam helped her move then grabbed a shirt from the pile of clothes on the table, and she held back her disappointment when he covered his chest. He smiled at her, taking her hand as they walked to the stage together.

  Two hours later, she watched the rest of the guys step off the stage and head straight for Trish, who had Emma in her arms. But Sam came straight for her, and she felt a tug in her heart. Trish looked at them, and if Ashlee feared resentment from her friend, she was way off. Trish seemed beyond happy to see Sam heading for Ashlee.

  He was all sweaty, his T-shirt glued to his body, and to her, he was the hottest man in the world. “You’re looking at me like that again.”

  “Can’t help myself,” she told him, while her hands traced the muscles on his chest over his wet shirt. She heard him gasp when she pressed her lips over his neck, finally tasting him. God, he tasted so good; she knew she would never get enough. His hands were on her hips and when she nipped his neck with her teeth, he pushed her against one of the speakers.

  “Ashlee, what are you doing?” He grabbed her ass and lifted her off the floor. She could feel his erection against her core and she rocked her hips, desperate for the connection. His mouth was on her neck in a matter of seconds, and she moaned at the sensations he was sending through her body.

  He moved her hips back and forth against his erection, and she knew she would come if he kept it up. She could feel her orgasm building from somewhere deep inside her. “Oh, God, Sam,” she moaned, not caring that anyone could see them right now.

  He stopped moving, took her bottom lip between his teeth, and pulled hard. “Hell no. We are not doing this here for the first time. Fuck, Ashlee….” He slowly lowered her to the floor and pressed his head next to hers on the speaker, his mouth beside her ear. “The first time you come for me, honey, it’ll be on my tongue, and I won’t be satisfied until you’ve come so many times that my name is all you can think to say.” With that, he pushed himself off the speaker and walked toward his dressing room.

  She took a few seconds to find her composure before heading out to the bus. What the hell was that?

  If someone had told her a dirty mouth would set her skin on fire, she would’ve laughed in their face. Now she would give anything to hear Sam’s dirty talk as he fucked her into oblivion. Knowing that once they went there, she would never come back from it. She was so lost in a cloud of lust that she didn’t see Tyler as she walked down the hallway. The next thing she knew, she was pressed against a warm, hard body that wasn’t Sam’s. “Distracted much, Miss Daniels?”

  “Something like that,” she told him, trying to sound as normal as possible. But judging by the grin on his face, she wasn’t succeeding.

  “You two remind me of Jar and Trish, always circling around each other but never giving in. A piece of advice, darling? Give in to him because he’s a stubborn one. He won’t let you go.” As Tyler finished, she heard women’s voices coming from the end of the hall. Looking up, she saw Sam being circled by at least ten women who were pulling at him.

  Security was struggling to keep them off him, and something snapped inside her when one of the women ripped Sam’s shirt from his body. She had never been the jealous type, and she knew he had told her the truth about the groupies, but seeing her man being mauled by crazy women was not okay with her.

  “Go stake your claim, darling.” She could barely hear Tyler’s voice over the pounding in her head.

  She power walked to the end of the hallway, not paying attention to the guys’ eyes on her as she headed straight for Sam. She was a foot away from the chaos when she caught one of the security guards telling her to stay away. Well, if he thought she was just going to stand there, he’d better think again.

  She made her way through the circle of women around Sam, getting pushed and shoved in the midst of her crazy plan. When he saw her, he motioned to the security guards to get her the hell out of there, but she took two steps toward him, pressed her hands to his chest, and whispered in his ear, “Lift me up.”

  He looked at her like she was speaking another language but when one of the other women pushed her, bringing her flush against Sam’s body, she heard him groan. She knew it was now or never to send these relentless women a message, so she grabbed his hands and guided them to her ass. The instant he touched her, he squeezed so hard she knew she was going to have marks. Rising on tiptoes, she whispered again, “Lift me up.”

  He did so and she wrapped her legs around his waist, her heels digging into his ass. He pushed her against him, and she was pretty sure he lost track of where they were. She didn’t care as she wrapped her arms around his neck and lowered her head toward his, stopping inches away from his mouth. If he wanted this, he was going to have to do the rest.

  “Ashlee.” He whispered her name like a silent prayer and closed the distance between the two of them.

  His lips weren’t soft and gentle, not that she expected that; they were rough, marking her just as much as she was marking him. She nipped his lower lip, urging him to keep kissing her, and boy, did he ever. He brushed his tongue over her lips, urging her to let him in and when she did, she felt his groan all the way down to her toes. Her hands were in his hair, and he was pushing her against his hard cock. She was moaning, begging for more when she heard someone whistle. He must have heard it too, because he slowly pulled away from her.

  The passion and need in his eyes no doubt matched hers. When he slowly lowered her, he grabbed her hair, tilting her head to the side. “You ever do that again, you better be ready for me to fuck you against the wall, honey, because I won’t stop till you’re begging me to make you come.”

  Chapter Eight

  ASHLEE

  The last of couple days had been pretty chaotic; being on the road was not for the faint of heart. She had always considered herself a pretty strong person, but after seven days, she desperately needed to refocus and recharge. The only way she knew how to do that was by doing something that always made her feel grounded—volunteer work. After checking in at the hotel that morning, she and Trish decided to take some time to visit a battered women’s shelter one of her friends operated.

  As much as she wanted to stay at the hotel and be with Sam, she needed to be away from him to give herself some thinking time. They were moving so fast, and she knew that by making the first move she set things in motion that couldn’t be stopped. That didn’t mean she knew how to handle the emotions swimming inside her. She was still keeping something from him, something big. She knew she needed to tell him, but the fear of losing him was overwhelming. He had become such a big part of herself in such a short amount of time; she didn’t know how she would handle losing him.

  “Do you mind if we make a stop at the store before we head to the shelter?” Ashlee asked Trish, who was in the passenger seat of the band’s rental SUV.

  “Lead the way. What do you need?”

  She had to admit that spending time with one of her closest friends without anyone else around was something she missed. On the road, quiet time barely existed; privacy wasn’t a luxury they had.

  She knew Trish would have a million questions with what she was about to say, but she was ready for them. “Oh, I want to grab some blankets, and maybe some clothes and non-perishable foods to bring with us.” It was the one thing she always found money to do. Sure, things were more than tight with her mom’s bills, but these people needed it more than she did.

  “Did you tell Sam about
this?” Trish sounded more confused than surprised, which threw her off her game a little; that wasn’t at all the question she was expecting. But in reality, it didn’t shock her.

  “No, why?” she asked, suffering a heavy dose of confusion as well.

  “Are you paying for all this, Ashlee?” And there it was, the question she knew would come sooner rather than later. The last thing she needed was a speech about how she spent her money or about how she should’ve asked the band to help out with a donation.

  She squeezed the steering wheel and took a deep breath before answering. “Yes. They need this a lot more than I need the hundred dollars it’s gonna cost, Trish.”

  “You should’ve told Sam about this, honey. He would’ve come with you.”

  She knew he would have, but this was something she had to do for herself. Maybe one day, it could be something they did together, but for now, this was for her.

  “I don’t want him to think I’m after his money, Trish.” Now it was out in the open; she couldn’t take it back even if she wanted to.

  She hated the thought that Sam would see her as just another woman after his money. She cared about him too much to take that chance. Hell, she was so in love with him, she would give her life to protect him from any harm she could prevent.

  Trish turned in her seat and Ashlee sensed her friend’s eyes on her face. She knew she was about to get it. “Is that what you think? That if you ask him for money to buy things for homeless people that he’s going to assume you’re after his money? Wait, please don’t tell me that’s why you’re not asking me or Sam for the money to help cover your mom’s hospital bills.”

  She wanted to scream “YES!” at the top of her lungs, but she could barely swallow down her pride. She knew how badly she needed the money, but she couldn’t force herself to ask her very wealthy friends, because what did that make her? Someone who would use a personal situation to take advantage of her friends, and she couldn’t do it—she wouldn’t. “You know the answer to that, Trish.”

  She took a moment while they were stopped at a red light to turn toward Trish, and the hurt she saw on her friend’s face almost unleashed the waterworks. “Oh, Ashlee, honey… none of us could ever think that about you, and especially not Sam.”

  It didn’t matter because she wouldn’t do it, no matter how much she needed to. “I like him a lot. I know I shouldn’t because I work for him, but I do and I don’t want him to think I want his money. I just want him.”

  “You need to talk to him about this.”

  She knew Trish was right; she did need to talk to Sam, not only about this but about everything else. If they were going to have a chance to build a solid relationship, they needed to put everything in the open and leave nothing untouched, no matter how scary that might be for both of them. “I will do,” she finally answered.

  After stopping by the story and buying provisions, Ashlee turned into the parking lot of the shelter and smiled at Trish before putting the car in park. “Right, how about we cheer some people up?”

  As Ashlee and Trish walked through the shelter, both of them stopped to talk to the women and children sitting around in the open space, each story touching them deeper than they could’ve ever imagined. By the time they reached the back of the room where the offices were, Ashlee was emotionally drained from listening to the women’s stories.

  She softly knocked on the office door and smiled when a beautiful woman in her early forties opened the door. “Ashlee Daniels, I am so happy to see you, sweetheart. When you called to tell me you were in town, I couldn’t believe it. How are you?”

  Ashlee hugged her with every bit of strength she had. Sylvia had been one of the first clients she’d worked with when her firm was starting out, and they had grown extremely close over the years. “I’m fine, Sylvia. It’s so good to see you. This is my friend, Patricia Banks. Trish, this is Sylvia Rodriguez. She runs the shelter and is one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met.”

  As the two women hugged each other, Ashlee realized this was exactly what she needed to clear her head.

  Trish looked at the two of them. “I’m gonna unload the car while you two catch up.” Ashlee watched her friend head back to the front of the shelter before she took a seat in Sylvia’s office.

  “How much did you spend, Ashlee?” Leave it to Sylvia to go straight to the point; it was one of the things she respected most about her. She never sugar-coated anything, and if you didn’t want to hear what she had to say that was too bad for you, because you were going to hear it anyway.

  “A couple hundred dollars. It’s not much, but we got some clothes and some essential stuff.” She wished she could’ve afforded more, but had already pushed her budget from a hundred bucks, but she knew every little thing mattered.

  “You always were the compassionate one, Ashlee. So tell me, what’s new with you? How’s your mom?” When Sylvia looked at her with those kind eyes, she realized how raw she was feeling.

  She didn’t have it in her to hide anything or to force a smile when the one thing that weighed on her mind more than anything was the one thing she didn’t want to think about because it made her feel like a failure. “She’s had a rough couple of days. I haven’t been able to see her in a little while because of work, but she’s strong. We talk every day.” And every day she’d told her mom she’d head back if she needed her, but with every conversation, her stubborn mom urged her to stay away and focus on work. It was hard knowing what was the right thing to do.

  “If you need anything, sweetheart, you let me know. Now, there’s something different about you. What’s his name?”

  She was going to start thinking she had Sam’s name tattooed on her forehead if people kept asking her that question. “Is it that obvious?”

  Sylvia laughed with her head thrown back and her arms around her belly. When her laughter had finally subdued, she looked at her. “Only to the ones who truly know you.”

  “Sam… his name is Sam.” Should I feel embarrassed about how proud I am to say it aloud, because I don’t.

  Sylvia tilted her head to the side as if trying to gauge Ashlee’s feelings. “Is this Sam a good man?”

  She wanted to say that he wasn’t just a good man, that he was incredible, sweet, compassionate, strong, demanding, and that she loved him, but she settled for something a little less over the top. “Yes, ma’am, he is.”

  “But you’re scared?”

  Now it was Ashlee’s turn to laugh at how intuitive Sylvia was. She was scared of how intense her feelings for Sam were, about asking for help with her mother’s bills, that she would give Sam her heart and he would break it in a million pieces. She was scared of everything and scared of nothing at the same time. “He doesn’t know everything yet. What if he runs when I tell him?”

  Sylvia reached for her hands across her desk, and the next words she spoke gave Ashlee strength to tell Sam everything. “Then he wasn’t worth giving your heart to, Ashlee.”

  SAM

  Sam couldn’t believe how fast he’d become addicted to having Ashlee around. He had hoped they would be able to spend the day together, that he would actually have the chance to take her on a date and get to know her better, but she was out with Trish and he was alone in his hotel room feeling like a sad puppy. He respected that she needed the time away from him, but he wished she would just tell him what was going on in her head instead of running and hiding. He wasn’t immune to his share of secrets, but he was ready to tell her everything. Would she do the same?

  His thoughts were cut short when his cell phone rang from the nightstand of his hotel room. He walked over to grab it and smiled when he saw his mother’s face on the screen. “Hey, Mom, how are you?”

  “Hey, honey. I’m doing all right. What about you?” Right there, he knew something was wrong.

  His mom always sounded light and fun, but today she sounded burdened. He didn’t like it one bit, because there was only one person who made her that way. “Things are good, Mom.
You sound a little off. What’s going on?”

  “I got a call from the parole board today.” His whole body stiffened, fists clenched at his thighs, anger building inside him.

  “What did they want?” he asked, dreading her answer.

  His mom started crying and he knew. He just knew. He slammed his fist into the wall so hard he made a hole in it, but he didn’t give a shit.

  “Oh, Sam, they wanted to inform me that the parole board granted your father an early release for good behavior. He’s out, Sam. He’s been out for two days.”

  Forty-eight hours. The man who should have died that night had been out in the world for forty-eight hours, planning God knows what. How could they let him out? Good behavior? The man didn’t have an ounce of good in him.

  Sam’s fist connected with the wall again, blood streaming from his knuckles. “Mom, did he try to contact you?”

  “No, baby, he didn’t.” She didn’t even sound concerned, and that pissed him off even more. He knew what his dad was capable of and how revenge had fueled his anger for years already. Given the chance, that man would do everything he could to make them both pay for sending him away.

  “If you hear from him, you have to tell me, Mom.”

  “Baby, don’t let him get to you. He doesn’t deserve it.” It was too late for that; the man had a hold on him since the night Sam put a bullet in him and he wasn’t letting go. He wouldn’t let go. The memories still haunted him; they were like an anchor weighing him down.

  “What he deserved was me not missing that shot that night. I have to go, Mom.” What kind of man did saying that make him? It sure as hell didn’t make him one worthy of having the kind of light Ashlee brought into his life. He didn’t deserve her, and she didn’t deserve a man capable of murder. Every time he came close to being happy, his dad still managed to fuck it up.

  “I love you, baby.” He knew his mom was trying to ease him down from the ledge, but nothing could stop him from taking that plunge.