by Lisa Gillis
“What do you mean? What was happening?”
“He got behind on his student loan. A check bounced and he didn’t know it. And then when he tried to pay, they said it was too late. He was going to be deported and have to apply all over—and because of the late payment, probably not get approved.” Her next words were a quiet utterance. “So the easiest thing seemed for him to get married.”
“Why didn’t you say this? Why didn’t you tell me? You just let me leave!”
“Because it made me mad when you looked at me like I was a stranger—a bitch, even. Before I even explained, you were already looking at me like you hated me!” Her arms cross over her chest as if shielding herself. “I couldn’t believe you could hate me that easy.”
“Hate? I was hurt. It hurt so bad. That’s what you saw. Anything you saw was because my guts were ripping out!”
“I called you right after you left. Tried to catch you before you got too far. It was making me crazy you wouldn’t answer. So I left the voicemail to tell you. A few days later, I saw the charger plugged in behind the table.”
A pizza box holds my attention as I digest what she’s said.
“I almost bought a new charger so many times.” I move a couple of steps closer. “Damn, Sash…” It’s a lot to take in. As quickly as the crushing weight of her words that day in her bedroom dissipate, a new feeling weights me down. A fear almost. But again she’s assessing my reaction and the vulnerability in her stance has me reaching for her. “I didn’t hate you. I can’t hate you.” I can only love you. But the wound is still too deep to say the words. Even if I feel them, she’s still married…
My hands settle on either side of her face, and I drop my lips to hers. What she’s done is risky and wrong, even if it was for all the right reasons. Her mouth is soft and sweet. I wonder if that douche Mark even understands the hazards of what they’ve done.
“What are you doing?” Her question melds into the kiss, and I feel her fist slip from my hair to rest on my shoulder.
“Kissing you… I think?” I lick her lip and open my eyes enough to stare into hers as I tease.
“It’s not your normal kiss… It’s…”
“It’s what?” I touch my tongue to hers. Protective? Savoring? Because that’s what I feel. Like I want to pull her out of this mess. And not for my own selfish reasons of wanting to be with her. Because I’m scared for her.
Her hands glide from my shoulders, down the front of my tee shirt, tunnel beneath the hem, and slip around my waist to my back. When the brush of her fingertips drops beneath the waistband of my jeans, pulling me even closer, I lose myself in the kiss. The sweet feelings give way to a raging desire. Our tongues glide together and crash together. I’ve already noticed she’s braless, and I fill my hands with the soft weighty goodness I remember so well.
Her phone intrudes into the moment, and although she ignores it, it’s enough for me to regain my faculties. Extracting my tongue from hers, I drop my hands to rest on her waist. “What’re we going to do?”
I read the one word answer in her eyes. Fuck. And I perceive the moment she bites the provocative answer back because of what she sees in my visage. There’s nothing more I want to do than back her to the bed, push her down and do just that. Yet this new ugly cloud hangs over everything.
“You’re not going to get past this, are you?” Her fingers curve into the skin just above my jeans.
“I’m worried.”
“In another year he can apply for citizenship.”
“A year! I’m not going a year without you.”
“You don’t have to. We don’t have to go public with us.”
“Maybe he doesn’t care what you’re risking. But I do. I won’t be the reason something goes wrong with this thing. I won’t be the reason you…” Sash in an orange jumpsuit sitting in front of a judge’s bench awaiting her fate is not something I can think about, much less say.
She glares at me for my bash at Mark and pulls back a step.
I reach for her hand to hold her near.
“You’re acting like I’m a criminal.”
“No, I promise. I know why you did it.” Sash taking hot tea and tacos to the homeless and jobless who show up outside the restaurant is a memory flash. Sash bringing the stray cats into the garage with warm milk on the coldest nights. The girl is as sweet as she is sassy. “And I admire you. But this is serious stuff. We have to get you out of the middle of it.”
“It’s done all the time.” She pushes her hair back from her forehead. “Hell, mail-order brides are so common that no one thinks anything of it. It’s the same thing!”
“Immigration doesn’t see it that way. It’s a different procedure. This is fraud.” Her eyes jerk to mine, and I can’t tell if my words scare her or insult her. So I gently add, “At least, that’s how they see it.”
Now it’s definite worry I see fogging her gaze, and I curse myself for putting it there.
“I swear to you I didn’t think it was a big deal. It’s been just a bunch of forms to fill out and an interview or two. The worst our caseworker has done is ask for our keys to see if they match. You know—if they fit the same house. After that, it’s been nothing, really.”
“I can’t stop worrying about you until it is nothing. Until we get that figured out… how to fix his shit and get you an annulment…” I turn her around to face away from me. “You need to not be so tempting. Wear a bag over your head or something. And over your body… And your sexy ass…” Unable to help myself, I’ve moved against her without even thinking about it as I speak.
Her head falls back to rest against my shoulder. “Trey, you’re not seriously saying we stay apart until…”
She sighs letting the sentence dwindle, and I finish it firmly.
“Until you’re not married, yeah.”
My mistake was in thinking her backside would be any less resistible than her front. Again, I blame the inventor of yoga pants. Of their own violation, my hands traverse the front of her body as I smash my hard-on against the curve of her lower back. My fingers slip beneath the elastic fabric, savoring the heat of her skin. The layered tips of her hair brush my lips, and the trail of my fingers stops for a moment at the tantalizing brush against my fingertips. No blue streaks here…
“Trey…” She moans the protest because I’ve paused just before breaching.
“I guess we’ve got some makeup sex coming… We deserve it right?” Her fingers capture my wrist, holding it in place while I’m talking myself into what we’re both wanting. “The last month has been hell…” Inching my touch down, I curve my fingers into her, savoring the sounds she makes.
I rouse to the lamp lit room. We’d never bothered with the lights, messing around until our bodies rebelled, and we fell asleep from exhaustion. Disentangling my limbs from Sash, I slide stealthily from the bed and pad to the bathroom. On my way back to the main room, I bend, picking up my jeans and slide my phone from the pocket to check the time. The digits displayed are not the ones I want to see, and drawing a sad breath, I look at the window to see if any light shines through the drapes yet.
I’m dressing as quietly as I can when Sash rolls over and blinks open her eyes. “Trey? Where are you going?”
Abandoning the fly of my jeans after a tug of the zipper, I cross the room to sit beside her. I stroke my fingers through her hair as the memories of the last several hours rush me in a heady high. “You going to keep calling me Trey?”
She hooks a finger into my belt loop and with her thumb caresses the skin above the waistband of my jeans. “Does it bother you?”
Trey. It echoes in my head in shrieks, groans, and sweet gold syllables.
“I could try and remember to say Tristan…” Her eyes sink into mine. “I guess I would get used to it…”
I love you Trey. Trey-be. Oh… mmh… Trey!
“No. I would never get used to you not saying Trey.”
“Good.” Her smile is immediate. “Besides. It works, you kno
w. Trey. Three. Aren’t you like a third generation rock star?”
“Not yet. I’m counting on you to make me one.”
“You will be. You’ll see. You were born to be a Trey.”
Only time will tell if I was born to be a rock star. But I know right now, this minute, no time needed, that I was fated to be hers. Whatever she wants to call me.
We’ll get through the obstacles. One day at a time. Together.
She’s my Sweet soul mate. I’m her Trey-be.
Hope that doesn’t sound too lame.
Because ‘Sash Sweet’ and ‘Trey Duplei’ are the artists, and that song will go platinum one day!
THE END
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Chapter 57
Six Silver Strings Series
G Strings Set
Includes:
Jack Who?
Jack Storm is more than a tour bus bang. He’s a secret to keep at all costs--except one.
Marissa is a craps dealer, and in one quick second she never wants to remember, her life turns to crap. Her best friend convinces her the cure for a breakup is a hookup, and reluctantly, she heeds this advice.
However, Jack (what was his name again?) is not the average girl’s revenge fling.
Women throw themselves at Jack, toss their lingerie on the stage, and scream his name. Marissa has no idea of his public identity, and while she doesn’t initially throw herself at him, she does go on to toss aside her lingerie and ultimately scream his name.
Five minutes after parting, she holds no illusions about seeing him again, but does vow a new outlook on her life and herself.
Five months later, Jack astounds her with an invitation to Los Angeles. Although Jack is now a star in her very non rock star fantasies, Marissa is concealing a huge secret that prevents her from accepting.
Five years later, the secret comes out, and despite the conflicting emotions each feels toward the other, they must bridge their two worlds together.
Jack Who? is a one night stand gone awry, and a couple who work together years later for a fix.
“Jack Who?” is the first in the Silver Strings Series (G String Set). “Weathering Jack Storm” is second, and “Snow Storms” is third. The Silver Strings Series will contain trilogies for each string on a guitar, and is kicked off with this G String Set.
Weathering Jack Storm
Falling in love with Jack was easy, but there is nothing easy about staying in love with this arrogant rock star while settling into a new life in Los Angeles.
The epic story of Jack and Marissa continues.
Marissa and Tristan in his life changed his outlook. Jack felt needed. He welcomed the responsibility of a family. He embraced the love and companionship. Quickly, he whisked his son and the intriguing woman he had never forgotten to his home in LA.
To Marissa, her future seemed as mysterious as dusk’s shimmering shadows beneath the surface of the luxurious guitar shaped pool. There was no doubt this could be her dream house, her dream life with the man she loved. Not so dreamy was all that she was beginning to see packaged with him.
The crazy hours of a very active life. The garbage behind the glam. Mostly, a moody and presumptuous rock star whose public persona is opposite of the sweet celebrity she fell for.
“Weathering Jack Storm” is book 2 of the G Strings Set, a spin off from the well loved rock and roll band romance Silver Strings Series. This full sized novel can stand alone, but is greatly enhanced by reading Book 1, “Jack Who?”
It all begins with one wrong wish on a star—a ROCK STAR.
Jackal has retired but their fan base lives on. Jack and Marissa are still a super couple who see very little peace in public. Ready to live incog, they contemplate a move to Dallas—roots of the Loren family tree, and home of the family label.
Christmas is coming, and Jack Junior is not the only one with a wish list. The Jackal fan site once had a Holiday tradition of indulging five lucky fans with a Christmas wish. This year, a fan manages to contact Jack with a very special wish.
A wish that unearths a scandal Jack tried to leave in his past.
When history begins repeating itself, he finds that the past is always a part of the present. But with one brightly wrapped present, will this particular part of his past forever change his future?
To complicate matters, this Holiday Season, Marissa is hiding more than Christmas presents. For starters, her complicated relationship with Jack’s sister reaches a new level of craziness. Also, simmering beneath a Christmas colored surface is a psycho situation she cannot see coming.
Jack and Marissa have always had a rocky relationship. Yet again, they must stand strong. LA may be hot, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of snow.
G Strings Omnibus
All 3 books in one set!
D String Set
An epic trilogy about enduring friendships, the loyalty of family, and everlasting love.
The band, created by rebellious teen Jules Breaux began as something to fill the summer days, but through the next couple of years begins to fill the lapse in her life. Will the rise to fame of this band, that quickly became a fix for everything that felt wrong, begin to unravel the blanket of content that she finally feels?
Rising Sun
If money could buy happiness Jules would not need a bottle to navigate her relationship. If a perfectionist were perfect Matt would not fail at the one thing he wants most. They are friends with extraordinary benefits in a band never meant to be. But what happens when future rock god, Matt Loren, wants bandmate, Jules Breaux, as more than a bedroom plaything? When it all comes down to love, is it more than a four letter word?
Half Moon
A glob of surfboard glue fixed the broken bed, but when it comes to emotional relationships-is the band the glue that holds personal relationships together? Will love, family, and friendship survive when the band begins to fall apart? When balsawood and rosewood collide in a very real fear of fate, which will reign?
Rock Stars
As teenagers, Jules Breaux and Matt Loren had taken their band from the clubs of LA, to arenas and stadiums all around the world. The sudden fame brought them together, pulled them closer, until their own emotional problems ultimately tore them apart.
Rock Stars picks up four years later. Once reunited they are faced with new problems that have sprung from their time apart, and the people they have become. Will a love, that continued to brightly burn through the years, be strong enough to withstand a new onslaught of trials?
The D String SET begins in Los Angeles and spans a decade when rock music spawned legends, families lived the after effects of the draft, surfing primed, and a drought dried up the state. Time matures a rebellious teen into a talented young woman. Live a vinyl journey through the 70’s, a period of political unrest and memorable events. Watch as surfing and skateboarding become a culture. Listen as music changes, and rock and roll is reshaped. Walk the Boulevard of Broken Dreams-or fall face down.
E Strings Set
A privileged life has come at a price for Tristan aka Jack Junior. Living up to legend parents and grandparents is not easy. For some time he’s kept an alternate online identity and often retreats behind this facade to feel normal. After graduating high school, he decides to carry that normalcy to the next level—offline.
Can Tristan Storm Loren successfully disappear and resurface under an alias?
It’s not easily done when your parents have all the tracking resources money can buy at their disposal.
Mirror G Strings Set
The original first person POV editions of Jack Who? and Weathering Jack, including steamier scenes and Jack POV scenes previously cut.
This set was released on the one year anniversary of Jack Who? and Weathering Jack Storm and because fans have requested it, is back!
&nb
sp; Storm Cells Novelettes
A collection of Jack and Marissa shorts.
Addicted to Jack and Marissa? These extra scenes are for you. A Valentine’s Day that falls on a Jackal tour. Jack and Marissa’s baby journey. And Jack and Marissa’s honeymoon. These novelettes were put out in appreciation of fan support and each new one is always free to subscribers.
Connect
Acknowledgements
My family for putting up with my many hours of hiding away.
LaDonna Pigg and Corinna Reilly for all of your help and input with this book; Teresa Jensen for an extra set of eyes.
Debbie Williams/The Pedantic Punctuator for proofing and editing expertise.
Deena for invaluable advice on all things e-book and more.
Zyng Books for being so amazing to work with and letting me in on the ground floor of this new innovation.
People Reads a great place to find ebooks
Laura Taylor, Dan Garcia, and Alys Arden dear author friends for honest input on any crazy questions I ask.
Catherine Ryan for your diabetes and medical expertise.
Rhonda Lamey Goodreads Librarian and dear online friend. Thank you for keeping Jack in order on Goodreads, for proofing the original Jacks, and many great suggestions and encouraging words.
The many blog sites who are there for indie authors. I would love to name you all, but at last look I had over a hundred regulars listed. Your support is incredible, your work for the authors and the books we all love is tireless. And I can never thank you enough for taking a chance on a new author learning the ropes. Special shoutout to Three Chicks and Their Books, Rebel MC Rockers-Romance Readers, Novel Grounds, LaDonna’s Book Nook, Reading By The Book, Rocker and Biker Romance, Book Bangs