Goodbye is a Second Chance (Sons of Sin Book 1)

by Nola Marie

  “Are you jealous, Chica?” she teases me with a hip bump.

  “Absolutely,” I nod.

  “Are you beautiful ladies enjoying the show?” Blaze Erikson comes behind us, throwing his arms over our shoulders. “Wait until the real show starts.”

  I manage to slide away from him discreetly. I’m doing my best not to cause a scene, but Cami isn’t as subtle. She lifts his arm from her shoulder with a look of disgust. “Haven’t you ever heard of personal space?”

  “Are you always such a bitch?” he counters with a slimy grin on his too pretty face. His fragile ego has been wounded obviously, but it’s been wounded for days now. He has thrown a few tantrums over the Sons of Sin success.

  He turns his attention back to me with that pretty boy smile that almost worked a few weeks ago at Ryder’s party, but now, I see through his façade. “We’re cool though. Right, sexy?”

  “We barely know each other,” I tell him as politely as I can muster while managing to keep the fake smile plastered on my face. Especially since Angel is looking right at us like one wrong move and he’s coming off the stage. Come to think of it, all four of them keep looking this way like they are itching for a fight. Good thing they’re ending their set with one of their more aggressive songs or it might seem suspicious and strange that they look so angry.

  “We could totally remedy that,” he tells me running a finger under the strap of my shirt. “I’ll bet you do great things with that mouth of yours.”

  My smile is still firmly in place when I reach between us, grab his crotch, making him smirk in victory. That is until I squeeze. “You are drunk and obviously have no idea what you are saying,” I tell him in his ear, “so I am going to pretend you didn’t say any of that.”

  “Fucking bitch,” he wheezes which only makes me squeeze harder.

  I see the guys coming off the stage, so I release him before they get to us. Although, I’m fairly certain Angel and Maddox saw exactly what was going on.

  “I’ll make sure you lose your job,” he threatens with another wheeze.

  “Then I suppose it’s a good thing that I do not work for you,” I say sweetly as Angel comes to me, pulling me into his side and away from Blaze by my waist.

  “Everything okay here?” he asks with more than a hint of anger in his voice. I notice Dane and Ryder take each side of Cami while Maddox stands by me opposite of Angel.

  As strange as it seems, it feels like we’ve just been made members of the band.

  “Yep. Everything is good,” I say as I wrap my arms around Angel. He leans over to kiss the top of my head.

  “You sure, Josephine?” Dane asks. “Because from up there, it looked like some assholes don’t know how to keep their hands to themselves.”

  Blaze’s eyes narrow at all of us. The rest of his band come to go on stage. They stop in front of us, taking in the tension filled atmosphere. “Blaze what the fuck did you do now?” Tyler King, their guitarist asks.

  “Fuck all of you,” he hisses while keeping his eyes on me. “Let’s just get this damn show over with.” He begins stomping up the stairs to the stage. The band follows but they look frustrated and exasperated.

  “I’m really sorry about that,” Tyler tells us all then turns his focus onto Cami and me. “Really sorry.”

  I wave him off. “It is not your job to keep him in check or apologize for him,” I give him a bright smile. “I’m sorry if he doesn’t sing quite up to expectation for a few songs.”

  He drops his head to his chest with a shake. “He wouldn’t have anyway,” he mumbles his way to the stage.

  “You girls sure you’re okay?” Dane asks with a furrowed brow.

  “Just fine. I know how to handle guys that can’t keep their hands to themselves,” Cami laughs.

  We start walking toward the dressing room when they seem satisfied. Except Angel makes a turn down a dark corridor then down another until we’re away from everyone. He pushes me against the wall and pins my arms above my head. His lips are on mine like he’s trying to say so many, many things but can’t find the words.

  “Angel,” I gasp when he licks the sensitive skin behind my ear.

  His free hand moves under my shirt, gripping the soft flesh over my ribs. “Watching you handle Erikson was sexy as hell,” he growls, biting his way down my neck. “But when he touched you, all I could think was mine. Your lips are mine. This skin is mine. Your fucking awesome ass and tits are mine,” he tells me with each nip and suck, making me wetter with each declaration. He moves his hand lower until he’s grazing the hem of my skirt. He lingers there teasingly until he slides his hands between my legs. “And this pussy, Josie,” he growls as he shifts his fingers under the thin lacy fabric, “it’s mine. Everything, Baby. Everything. Is. Mine.”

  “Everything,” I breathe in agreement.

  “Fuck, Josie, I can’t think straight. I’ve never been able to think straight where you’re concerned. Right now, all I can think about is marking my territory. Getting inside you and claiming you.”

  I inhale sharply. Every inch of my body tingles at his words. I pull him away from me just a bit so he can see my face when I say, “then what are you waiting for?”

  Angel

  Josie has been tense since we made it to Vegas. She probably thinks she’s doing a good job of not showing it, but she’s not. Everyone has noticed. I’ve caught her more than once gnawing at her thumb.

  I’m watching her and Cami going through the clothes they just had delivered for us. Cami is talking at lightning speed, but Josie isn’t catching a word. Her brows furrow into a deep V while she cuts tags and place the shirts on hangers.

  I get up with the intention of taking her some place quiet for a minute, but my ringing phone halts my plan. “Hello,” I answer without looking, a habit I’ve been told to break by our publicist and Danny.

  Danny. We are still waiting on him to make a move on Josie. Considering he’s been sharing our bus he must know what’s going on.

  “Is this Angel Martin, my eldest son that can’t find the time to call his old man?” I hear my father’s voice come through.

  “Been busy,” I tell him, scratching through my head.

  “Too busy to let me know you’re going to be in town?”

  “It’s a job, Dad. I didn’t think it was important since we don’t play your style of music,” I answer with a slight edge to my tone.

  My parents’ and I don’t see eye to eye on my choice of careers. Before I left Los Angeles, I worked for a major music label. I started as an assistant’s, assistant’s, assistant. They didn’t get much more bottom rung than me even though with a phone call from my dad, I could’ve started with six figures and a corner office.

  I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to be an assistant either. I just wanted to be near music. A couple of years later, I was still an assistant but directly to a new upcoming producer. I’d also made a pretty good name for myself as a studio musician.

  It still wasn’t what I wanted. I just didn’t know how to get where I wanted to be, so I continued to trudge through the bullshit because it was a job. I was waiting for my chance. I just didn’t know, at the time, that chance was waiting across the country.

  My dad has been kicking himself in the ass since he bought me my first guitar. He wanted me to do something more ‘respectable’ but that was never going to be me. We had a pretty heated argument when I told him I was leaving LA. It was a few months before we spoke again.

  Then there was my mom. She’d seen firsthand what the entertainment industry could do to a person. Hell, she’d admitted, years after the fact, the first time she cheated on my dad was with the director of a movie she was working on. She’d seen many of her friends in and out of rehab, unable to handle the stress of the life. Even lost a few to drugs and suicide.

  Mom worried this love of mine and the industry would carry me down the same path. What she never realized was, when you live in Malibu and go to school with the children of excess
, you could find that path anyway.

  I started drinking and dabbling in drugs when I was fourteen. By the time high school ended, I was high more often than not. Josie was always the one thing that pulled me back from that spiraling fall. Even if she never knew it.

  I rub my hand over my face as I realize I haven’t done a line since she scared the living hell out of me as I held her in that cold fucking shower. I was high off my ass as I held her trying to bring her down from her own high.

  “Are you there, Angel?” my dad’s voice comes through, bringing me back to the present.

  “Yeah, Dad, I’m here. Just got a little lost for a minute.”

  He lets out a long sigh. “Angel, just because the career you’ve chosen isn’t the one I would’ve chosen for you doesn’t mean I’m not damn proud of you son. You’ve been lost for more than a minute, but it seems like you are finally finding your way.”

  I let out a short laugh. No. I’m not finding my way. The missing piece of me has just been found. He doesn’t know that though. I think my dad had an inkling of my substance abuse problem. He never said it, but he wasn’t blind. But the distance between us and now the band’s success, my dad thinks everything is falling into place. He has no idea how it’s more recent than even he imagined.

  “Shit, Dad. Aren’t these conversations better in person?” I ask trying to deflect the emotion that’s building in my chest.

  “Yeah,” he laughs as well. “That’s a little difficult when I only see you at holidays. That’s why I called. I know you’ll be here for shows but do you think you can squeeze in a few hours for your dad?”

  “Yeah, Dad,” I answer because I miss him. We haven’t always seen eye to eye, but my dad is a good one. He’s always had my back even when we disagree. Even when the only thing I do is fuck up. “What do you have in mind?”

  “Alyssa was hoping you and your friends would come over for an afternoon barbeque. Your sister and brothers want to meet everyone as well.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I assure him. I can’t imagine it will be difficult to get the other guys to go. I’m the brooding one. They are always ready for a party. Even if it’s just a backyard barbeque.

  “See if you can get Josephine to come,” he adds.

  “I – uh -,” I stammer a bit because I’m not sure what to say to his request, but he cuts me off.

  “I know you two avoid each other, but I’m hoping, since you’re working together, that you’ve put whatever happened aside.”

  “Dad, that -.”

  “And her parents really want to see her. I don’t blame her for being angry, and what Tim did, if it’s true, is despicable, but they miss her. They said Robert wants to see her and -.”

  I growl a bit at his mention of her ex-fiancé. “Dad!” I yell to stop his rambling which actually seems a little out of character for him. I don’t remember him being much of a rambler. Which could only mean that he has a bug buzzing in his ear putting pressure on him to make sure Josephine comes to his gathering.

  “What?” he asks.

  “I don’t think I will be able to get Josie there if Tim and Kristine are there and Robert can go fuck himself,” I say the last part a bit more roughly than I intend.

  “You won’t even try to get her to come?” he questions with disappointment.

  “I’ll try Dad,” I sigh, “but if she does agree, you better keep Robert the fuck away from her or it will get ugly.”

  “Is there something I’m missing son? I didn’t realize you knew Robert.”

  “I don’t need to,” I growl. I look over my shoulder to see Josie coming my way. “I’ve got to go Dad. I’ll let you know about the barbeque.”

  “And Josephine?”

  “And Josie,” I agree.

  She wraps her arms around me just as I end the call. I kiss the top of her head as I try to figure out how to approach the subject of her seeing her parents.

  “What about me?” she asks as those blue-green eyes sparkle with curiosity and happiness and of course that nervous tension. Happiness that I am about to erase and nervous tension I’m about to increase with just a simple request.

  “My dad wants the band to come over while we’re in Los Angeles,” I tell her.

  She gives me a look of concern. “Can Maddox and Ryder keep their noses clean long enough for that?”

  “Baby, until your birthday, I couldn’t keep my nose clean long enough for that,” I laugh. “I doubt they’ll be able to, but they know how to control themselves when they need to.”

  She pulls back to look at me. You can see the understanding light on her face along with surprise. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “Which part?” I ask.

  “You haven’t gotten high since my birthday?”

  I shake my head. “After you scared the shit out of me, I haven’t touched the stuff. I haven’t even drunk enough to catch a buzz,” I push her hair out of her surprised face. Honestly, I didn’t know if she noticed that I was doing any of that, but I guess I have my answer now. “Why so surprised?”

  “I – I don’t know. I knew what you were doing. It’s hard to miss the signs of all of you vanishing just before a show. I just don’t understand why you stopped. I’m glad you did but I don’t get it.”

  I cup each side of her face to stare into those pretty eyes of hers. “When I came to that room and found you practically OD’d, I nearly lost it, Josie, but I was pretty trashed. Fucking Ryder had to tell me what to do. I can’t watch out for you if I’m wasted.”

  “Wow,” she whispers, “we weren’t even -.”

  “Together?” I finish. She gives me a wide-eyed nod. “Josie when are you going to understand that I’ll always watch out for you? As long you let me that is. Can’t do much watching when you’re running away.”

  Her eyes become misty glass pools the color of the Pacific. A small gasp escapes her. “Shit. I forgot how stupidly sweet you are,” her voice cracks as she drops her head to my chest.

  “Only with you. Around everyone else I’m a brooding, moody asshole, but before you jump my bones -.”

  “Nope. I take it back. Not sweet at all,” she groaningly laughs.

  “Yeah, wait until you hear the rest of what Dad wanted,” I tell her, wrapping my arms around her when she tenses. “Dad wants you to come too.” It takes her about half a second to realize why. “I told him I would ask you.”

  “I don’t know if I’m ready to deal with them and their drama yet,” she tells me. “But I need to prove to them that I am not running.”

  I pull her close to me, holding her tight. As soon as the motor of the bus started, her entire body became a ball of tension. Times like this, she almost seems like the little girl from long ago – timid, nervous, and scared.

  “You don’t have to go,” I reassure her. “We don’t have to go.”

  “I need to get it over with,” she replies tiredly. “My mom is never going to stop harassing me with dozens of texts and voicemails everyday if I don’t do this in person, and everyone is going to think I’m just running away from the problems. I wasn’t running. I just picked the worst time to decide to do what I wanted.”

  “Not the worst time, Baby. I don’t think your timing could’ve been better. We might not be here right now if you’d chosen a different time. Besides, I’ll be right there with you the entire time,” I remind her as I run my fingers over her ribs. “I think I can take your mind off of all of it for a bit,” I tease and move her hair away from her shoulder, kissing that soft skin just behind her ear. I feel her ribs contract beneath my fingers as her breathing changes.

  “Are you forgetting that there are others on this bus?”

  I move my hand up, grazing the underside of her fantastic tits. Almost reflexively, she grinds her ass into my semi. “Are you forgetting that I don’t care,” I breathe into her ear, making her skin pebble beneath my fingertips.

  “Danny is right above us,” she tries to warn but it comes out raspy and lustful
instead.

  “Let’s show him just how much in breach of contract you are. Unless you’re telling me you aren’t turned on right now,” I move my hand into her panties, running a finger through her folds. She is drenched and ready. “Definitely don’t think that’s the problem.”

  She lets out a low, throaty moan as I dip two fingers inside of her welcoming heat. I move in and out a few times then drag her wetness to her hard little clit, circling it lightly. “I can stop if you want,” I tease as I lick the shell of her ear.

  “Don’t you dare,” she hisses as my fingers dip into slick pussy again while I use the heel of my hand to apply friction to her clit.

  I can’t help but chuckle as I bite into the soft flesh behind her ear again, knowing I’m leaving a mark. She writhes and moans against my hand while, at the same time, rubs that tight fucking ass against my cock.

  I feel her begin to spasm around my fingers. She’s on the verge of explosion, but I’m not ready for that. I pull my hand away and flip her to her back. Her eyes are glassy and hazy with the high of lust. I thrust the fingers that were just in her pussy into her mouth. Her eyes watch mine as she twirls that little pink tongue around them. I quickly replace my fingers with my mouth to get a taste of the intoxicating flavor that is Josie.

  After I’ve licked every taste of her sweet pussy from her mouth, I remove her shirt to feast on those perfect tits. They’re not too big or too small. They fit perfectly in my hands – soft, plump, and delicious.

  Her back arches as I roll her hard nipple between my teeth. I continue to bite harder and harder, waiting on her to make me stop. She surprises me when she pulls my head closer and grinds against the piece of steel between my legs.

  I lean back on my heels and pull her panties down those beautiful, long, toned legs then remove my own underwear. I go to roll on a condom that she takes from me. I’m not sure what I was hoping for, but I definitely didn’t expect her to put it on for me. With. Her. Mouth.

  When she pulls away and looks up at me from beneath her lashes, I nearly explode right there. I squeeze my dick hard, begging it not to embarrass me right now when that plump bottom lip is drawn between her teeth.