I laugh hard. “That’s what we’re doing now.”
“Yeah, but I have you and I don’t think you want me to let you go.”
“You seem to think pretty highly of yourself,” I tease him.
“Maybe I just know you a lot better than you think I do,” he teases in return.
“Answer my next question,” I press. “Do you feel trapped?”
He shakes his head no. “All I’ve ever wanted is a secure relationship like my parents. I’ve never met anyone I thought I could have it with.” He leans in until he’s close enough to brush my hair out of my face. “Until I met you. I know this isn’t easy, we both have a lot of fucking baggage, but there’s no one else I’d rather try and wade through the hard stuff with. There’s no way I feel trapped. What I do feel is fucking lucky. When we woke up together, it could’ve been game over for me as a man in this industry, but you’re someone I’ve admired from afar for a long time. You’re more incredible than I thought you’d be, and my expectations were pretty damn high. People could have said I put you in a bad situation and took advantage of you. I was worried, nothing could have prepared me for what we’ve built.”
Heat travels up my neck at his praise.
“But I have the same questions for you. Do you feel trapped? Is this where you want to be?”
Telling him the truth is hard, but we have to be honest in this marriage if we want it to work. “I never really thought about it. All I knew were what my parents were to each other and how they treated us as children. It was scary.” I stop for a second, taking a bite of the melted stickiness and a drink of my lemonade. “I didn’t know how real marriages were supposed to work. I’ve been winging it this entire time, and just watching what your parents do with one another.”
He laughs deep in his throat. “They’re good at being an example. I realize more and more every day how lucky I am they’re here. How blessed I was to have them around while I was growing up. I look at other relationships – whether they be marriages or friendships – and I wonder what the fuck these people were taught.”
“They may have been taught like me,” I remind him. “I’m learning, but it’s hard.”
“You’re right, I shouldn’t judge.”
I tip my bottle to him. “You are who you are.”
He chuckles before taking a drink from his bottle. “Damn right. What else do you need me to set right for you, babe? There’s nothing I won’t.”
“Were you in a relationship when we met? Did you have someone who was waiting for you at home?” This thought has been bouncing around in the recesses of my mind for a while now, and it would kill me if stepped in between him and someone else.
“I was single as a pringle.”
“Now’s not the time to joke.” I try to bite back my giggle. “Seriously Everett – was there someone else?”
“No.” He holds his hands up in surrender. “Before I married you, it’d been at least a year since my last relationship. Over three from my last serious relationship, and I mean you know Kristen.” He rolls his eyes.
“I thought you went to prom with her,” I interject.
“I did, I’m just messing with you. Since you and before you, there was really no one else but you.”
And as hard as it is for me, I believe him. More than I ever have anyone else.
Reaching in front of us, I grab a deck of cards that’s been sitting there.
“What are those?”
“Rapid fire questions,” I give him a look, daring him to say no. “You answer the question on the card, you don’t think about it at all. Then the other person answers. This is how we’re going to learn stuff about one another.”
A sheepish look crosses his face. “This should be fun.”
“Oh don’t worry, it will be.”
“Well, you go first,” he points to the cards.
Nervousness bubbles in my stomach. This whole time we’ve been together, there’s been a blind spot always around that we can blame things on. With this, we’re opening ourselves up to communication.
Will we always get it right?
Probably not.
But hopefully we’ll try.
“How old were you when you had your first kiss? Ummm,” I tap my chin. “I think five. Some kid kissed me on the playground. As far as first real kiss. Thirteen.”
“Five? Damn!” He laughs. “Early bloomer huh?”
“He gave me a frog and the kissed me. It was totally unexpected! I was grossed out because of the frog and he just snuck on in there,” I shiver, still remember how slimy the amphibian felt.
“I was thirteen too. My first real girlfriend.”
“Was she your first everything?” I’m curious enough to ask.
“Like as far as experimenting with sex, but not actually having it, yes. At that point my Dad was on the road a lot. That particular summer, Mom and RJ went with him. I asked to stay at home with my grandparents in Nashville. They were much easier to fool,” he winks at me.
“So you’ve always been a bad boy?”
“Oh you could say that.”
I roll my eyes thrusting the cards at him.
“What is something illegal you’ve done?” He asks before dropping the card and rubbing his hands together. “Do we have time here? RJ and I stole Jared’s car and went joyriding with Montgomery when I was fourteen. We got pulled over by the Tennessee Highway Patrol when I was seventeen, and we’d been smoking weed. They recognized us and let us go.”
“My God, Everett. I stole a bottle of nail polish when I was twelve! It made me so nervous, I’ll never do anything like that again.”
“Wuss,” he reaches over, grabbing at my stomach to pinch it.
“I admit it, I don’t have the rebellious gene.”
“Lucky for you, I have enough for both of us,” instead of pinching he pulls me into his arms, laying my head over where he has my initial and our wedding date tattooed on him. His hands rub up and down where my tattoo is, caressing it gently.
“Promise me,” I whisper. “Promise me that no matter how crazy our lives get, we’ll make time for this.”
“I promise.”
But in the back of my mind, I know promises are intentions, and even though intentions are good, sometimes they can backfire.
Chapter Twenty-Three
EJ
“You sure you’re up for another run?” I smile at my wife as the two of us stand at the end of the trail we’ve just come down.
All day we’ve been on the slopes and because we’re covered from head to toe in gear, no one knows we’re here. There’s not been one person to ask for an autograph, no selfie requests. We’ve been a normal married couple taking a ski vacation together. It’s been eye-opening and honestly everything we needed. My only regret is that I wished I had realized it sooner.
“Yeah.” She nods, a huge grin on her face. “Maybe this time I can beat you.”
“Ha! Keep dreaming, we’ve been coming to the slopes for years. It was always one of the three vacations we took every year as a family.”
“You took three vacations as a family?”
We’re trudging our way back up to the chairlift, I reach out to grab her board so she can make it a little easier. “Yeah. We always did this in the winter, the beach in the spring, and then we’d do Utah in the summer. The one in Utah typically we’d invite a ton of people. It was more than a family vacation. There’d be four boats and over fifty people. We didn’t do it last year because we were in Italy, but Lake Powell holds a special place in my heart. We should plan on doing it next year. I can introduce you to the craziness that is the Lake Powell trip. There’s no cell service out there, and we spend the entire time disconnected. It’s honestly the best trip ever. We have family dinners with everyone, spend the day on the Lake, and the nights on the houseboats, or on shore.”
“That sounds like an amazing time.”
“Then we’ll definitely plan on doing it next year. It’ll be fun being out there with
you.”
“Aww listen to you getting all sentimental.”
If I didn’t have two snowboards in my arms, I’d wrap her up in them. “The sentimental thing about it will be that it’s your first year there and I’ll get to experience it through your eyes.”
“Let’s go ahead and mark it down on the calendar. Once we make preparations for the album, things will go quickly and if we haven’t gotten time taken for ourselves, we won’t get it.”
“That’s not the case anymore. We’re running our own record label. We’ll be able to say yes or no, depending on what we want to do, and time will be something we can spend together. It’s the most important objective for me.”
I know the longer we’re in this relationship together, the more we’re going to want to do all the things that normal couples do. At some point we’ll want to have children, and it’s my greatest wish she feels that she doesn’t have to give up touring and her career the way my mom did. I haven’t told her this, but when the time comes, I want her to have an option. I don’t want someone to tell her what she has to do.
We make it to where we can hop on the ski lift, and together we have a seat. The wind is whipping up here, but it’s nice to be here with her by ourselves, it feels as if we’re the only two people in the world.
“When I was little, I was scared to ride one of these.” Her voice is loud to be heard over the elements, but I listen intently, waiting to hear what it is she might say. “I always wanted my dad to tell me it was going to be okay, there was no reason to be scared, but he never did. Each time I’d get on one I was terrified. I was so afraid it was going to crash and I’d break every bone as it went down the mountain. The first couple of times I got on one, I cried until we got to the other end.”
I grip her hand in mine, sorry that she had to go through that, wishing I could take her parents out back and show them what assholes they are. That’s one thing I’ve never had to worry about – how much my parents loved and cared for me. In so many ways RJ and I have been luckier than most.
“But with you, all I can think about is how beautiful the scenery is.” She looks around.
Even though I can’t see it because we’re completely covered up, I know she wears a smile on her face. I can hear it in the way she speaks.
“It doesn’t even seem nearly as far down as it once did. I know if we were to fall, you’d do your best to protect me. If I know you, you’d land on your feet and wait to catch me.”
The belief this woman has in me is indescribable. Every day I wonder what I’ve done to deserve her. What made me the person she decided to pick to spend the rest of her life with?
“I would, ya know?” I hope I’m speaking loud enough.
When she nods in agreement, I know I have.
“This is our last run,” I warn her. The sun has gone down and the lights have started coming on. While it’s fun to continue this at night, we have an early flight back in the morning. Neither one of us need to make it on very little sleep. “You better make it count. After this we have to go back to the house and pack for our flight home in the morning.”
“Does that mean I better try to find a way to beat you? Is that what you’re getting at?”
We’ve had a friendly competition going the entire time we’ve been here, but she has yet to beat me down the slope. “You know you’re not going to do that.”
“So cocky.”
“In more ways than one, babe.”
Bri
Everett’s fingers lazily stroke against my stomach. His arm is encircled around my waist, warm breath is making my hair flutter at the nape of my neck. It’s quiet in the room, some of the most relaxing moments we’ve ever had with one another. I’m aware we’re going home today, and I hate it.
We’ve had the best time here, not worrying about anyone but ourselves. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this laidback, and I know for a fact, I’ve never had this opportunity.
“Thank you for bringing me here,” I whisper into the darkness.
“Thank you for agreeing to come. I know I kind of sprung it on you, but it was fun to do.”
“It’s been one of the best times I’ve ever had. I’m almost scared to go back to the real world. They’ll be so many decisions to make, award shows to prepare for, and meetings to attend. The day after we get back, we make the final decisions about the record label. It’s nerve-wracking right now, I can only imagine how it will be then. By the end of the year, we’ll be announcing what we’ve been working on, and then things will get even busier.”
He kisses my neck slightly. “But we’ll always be able to make time for each other. That’s why we’re doing it this way. We are each other’s number one priority.”
There’s a tingling at the base of my spine. “Do you think the guys in the band will get sick of us being each other’s number one? Like will they grow to resent me?”
“No,” he’s quick to say. “They know how I feel about you.”
But that doesn’t mean they have to feel the same way. I never want to be in the middle of an argument between them. “Just know that I understand there will be moments you have to take their wants and considerations ahead of mine. I never want to get in the way of the friendship you have with them.”
“Babe, that’s not even an issue.”
Laying here with him, I can imagine there will never be an issue that either of us have to deal with again, but I know that isn’t reality. “I’m just saying, if it ever is, promise you’ll come to me.”
“I promise.” He rolls me over so that we face one another. “Same to you though, make sure you tell me if you’re having issues. I can’t help unless I know. I never want you to have to go through something on your own.”
In the back of my mind, I know I shouldn’t promise. I know myself better than anyone else, and one of the things I’m aware of, is that I retreat and don’t let people help me, even when I need it. But I tell him what he wants to hear. “I promise.”
Leaning forward, he takes my lips in one kiss, then another, and another. The last kiss though, he lets linger, probably longer than he should. Once I have a taste, it’s hard not to take more. He turns over onto his back, situating me on top of him, sliding his hands down to the cheeks of my ass, pressing my body into his. It’s slow and lazy, nothing like we normally do. Almost as if we’re in some sort of dream-like state.
We went to bed with each other last night naked, and he uses it to his advantage when he grabs me by the ass cheeks and pulls me up his body, settling his face directly between my thighs. Moaning, I grip the edge of the headboard between my fingers, goosebumps popping out on my body when his tongue straightens to rub against my clit.
Throwing my head back against the feelings he evokes, I let him take me beyond the stars.
Chapter Twenty-Four
EJ
My band, along with Bri and Madison sit in the conference room of our lawyers office. We all look like we’re about to blow chunks.
We’ve put our heart, soul, and money into what we’re about to do.
“Dude, what if this sucks?” RJ whispers from where he sits next to me.
“This is going to be amazing,” I reassure him, although I’m having the same sort of doubts. “Besides, we own our houses outright. At least we’ll be able to have a roof over our heads if this goes belly-up.”
The glare he gives doesn’t do anything to spoil my mood. I’m ready to be in charge of what we’re doing, have a say so in not only the creative, but the business side of our lives.
Reaching over, I grab Bri’s hand as our team of lawyers come into the conference room.
“How’s everybody doing today?”
There’s a round of hello’s and pleasantries before we get down to do what we came here for.
“What you see before you is the agreement that you are all equal partners. With that being said, majority will win if there’s a disagreement. That’s how you wanted it, correct?”
“That’s ri
ght,” RJ says as he takes a look at the contract in front of him.
I’m thumbing through mine while the other members of the band and Bri do the same.
“Once you do this, there’s no turning back.”
“I don’t think any of us want to back out,” Bri answers. “I think we’re all just excited to get started. It feels like we’ve been waiting on this for years.”
“Then if you’re all in agreement on the terms. Sign your names and hand the contracts back over to us. We’ll get them filed, and then Nashvegas records will be a go.”
My hand shakes as I sign my name.
This is both the scariest and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life, and as I look around at the people next to me, I know I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.
Chapter Twenty-Five
EJ
“What do you think of this?” I grin as I hold up the shirt for Bri to see it. “You think this will match the dress you’re wearing?” We go to our first award show of the season in three days, and I’m just now asking of what I’m going to wear will match what she’s decided to wear. “Everett, I told you to get this taken care of over a week ago. Why do you do this to me?”
“Because I love to see that little wrinkle in your forehead when you realize I haven’t done what you’ve asked me to.”
She makes a noise in the back of her throat. Definitely a growl, totally pissed at me. Can’t say it doesn’t go straight to my cock, because it does. Especially after the vacation we’ve just had where we fucked like rabbits and worried about no one but ourselves. “It’ll do, but it would be so much better if you had time to get it tailored.”
“I do.” I wink. “Kristen loves me, and she’s going to take care of it.”
“You’re lucky she loves you and not in the way I do, because that would be a little too much for me to take.”
Breach of Contract: A Rocker Romance (The Nashvegas Series Book 2) Page 12