Across the Music (Across the Ocean Book 2) (26 page)

I also feel a bit strange thinking about the reasons I did it. Was it because I felt I owed him for the tattoo? A kiss would have been simple enough. Of course I care very much about Loki, but in the aftermath of going down on him, I feel guilty. Is this because of the feelings I have for Gunnar, and know that he has for me? I'm an idiot, regardless.

"
Jæja
, shall we go grab a beer and a bite to eat?" Loki asks as he finishes cleaning up and is ready to go.

"Yeah, let's do it." I'm very ready to get out of this room, and move on with my day. As much as I care and adore Loki, I think I might have made a mistake.

I step into the building we will be performing in tonight, taking in the stage at the far wall and planning how it will be set up. I know we don't have a huge amount of equipment that we use when we perform, so it won't be difficult.

Walking up to the bar where a woman is wiping down the counter, I smile at her pleasantly.

"I'm Gunnar and I'm performing this evening. May I have a beer?" She nods, smiles flirtatiously and pours a beer from the draft, sliding it over to me. It's commonplace for the performers of the evening to get free drinks, and I always enjoy that part very much.

Grabbing the glass, I turn to see if anybody is in the bar already, and only see 2 people sitting at one table in the corner, conversing with each other and a couple other people at a table near the window in the front. I know the building will be filled and buzzing with people in the next few hours, and I glance at the clock on my phone to see that it's now ten thirty in the evening. We're scheduled to play in and hour and a half, and I know Loki and Sophie will be here soon.

I make my way down to the back room that is reserved for the performers for the evening, and sit on the couch. I brought our gear and equipment in through the back before I got the beer, so now I sit back and enjoy the peace and quiet before I need to put the equipment on the stage.

I'm excited that Sophie will be here tonight to see Loki and I in our element, and I really hope she comes up and sings with us. We've practiced and nearly finished one song that she wrote the lyrics too, and I think if we were to play it, she would sing. The crowd would love her, she's so talented.

Speaking of Sophie, I can't wait to see her. I hope she's thought about what I said to her earlier today, and I hope even more that she'll perhaps give me some sort of a positive response. My thoughts are interrupted by the door to the room I'm in opening noisily and Loki and Sophie coming in full of laughs and smiles. I can't control the twinge of jealousy that snakes through me, hot as a brand. I just try to swallow it down and smile at them, standing up from the couch I'd sat down on.

"Gunnar, there you are you handsome son of a bitch!" I'm engulfed in a Sophie hug before I know what's going on, and I love it. I can smell her delicious pecan scent, and an underlying alcohol scent. She must be intoxicated, if the fact that her kiwi accent is even more pronounced than usual and the loud pitch of her voice says anything. I wrap both my arms around her and kiss the top of her head. She's adorable.

"When are you beginning your set?" She asks as she pulls back from me, her voice still louder than normal and accompanied by a wide-eyed expression.

"Midnight." I say with a grin as I look down at her.

"
Shake a leg
already! Let's get this show on the road!" I exchange humored glances with Loki who is leaning against the now closed door to the room while Sophie claps her hands together to hurry things along, apparently.

"Have you had much to drink?" I make sure to keep my tone light so she doesn't think I'm complaining or judging her for it. She shrugs obnoxiously, scrunching her face up at me in a silly fashion.

"Just a
smidgen
," she's whispering to me now; holding up two fingers close together in illustration of just how little she's had to drink. "But I'm not piss drunk or anything. I do need to piss and that requires finding the loo." She looks anxiously around the small room in hopes of finding a hidden bathroom somewhere, and I can't help but chuckle at her silliness as I open the door and point down the hall to where the restrooms are. She runs down the hall a little unsteadily and with the awkwardness one does when they've waited too long to use the bathroom, but makes it there alright.

I turn to Loki, who seems just as amused as I am over Sophie. "Is this your doing?" I ask him conversationally. He shrugs.

"She's the one who drank." Is his only defense.

"And you haven't consumed any alcohol?" I sound dubious.

"Well, we weren't talking about me, were we? Of course I've had my share. Don't worry, she was in good hands."He's right of course, and I try to back off even though my voice had held none of the concern that I was feeling inside. The night life in Reykjavík can be complicated, especially when it comes to foreign women. Or to be all encompassing, foreign men who come to this country love the Icelandic women, while the Icelandic men go crazy for foreign women. I'm sure it's like that everywhere in the world, but sometimes it doesn't end the best here in the city.

"Let's bring all of our gear up and run a sound check." Loki answers by turning to grab a few of the cases I had set carefully down in the room. I join him in grabbing the remaining cases and we head upstairs, hoping that Sophie will figure out where we've gone once she's finished her business in the bathroom.

I emerge from the bathroom, wiping my wet hands on my pants since there was no paper towels to dry them off with after washing. I make it back to the band room, and try turning the knob and knocking before I realize they aren't any in there anymore. I climb the stairs to the main area where the small stage is and am pleased to find them getting their gear ready for tonight.

I take a seat at one of the empty tables in front of the stage to watch them work, and contemplate how this whole strange relationship is with these two incredible men. The obvious answer is that I like both of them and wish that I could have it in me to keep both men all to myself.

Another truth in all of this is that I can't. I can't keep them both. As much fun as it's been to play around sexually with both of them, I'm just not the type of woman who can have two men in a relationship long term. I need the stability of only one person, and while I dream that I could handle Gunnar and Loki as my men for the rest of my life, I know I can't.

"Sophie!" Gunnar calls to me from the stage.

"Yeah?" I call back, my voice slurred and lazy from how much I drank at dinner with Loki.

"You're part of the band, so you're welcome to get a few free beers if you like." Part of the band. Me. I stand up from my chair and salute Gunnar with my apparent gratitude and go to grab a beer from the bar with the claims of being part of the band.

Once I return to my seat with my beverage, I give the room a look over, noticing that the tables are slowly being filled, and there is still plenty of time before the show. I wonder how big these guys are in Reykjavík, and I'm rather glad that it's me who gets to sing for them. I'm excited to see them perform, and I think I might even perform with them!

With the set about to start in ten minutes, both Loki and Gunnar have been a bit too busy to mingle with me too much, but I was most fortunate to have Baldvin and Helgi show up and recognize me. They both came to sit with me since they are apparently big supporters of Loki and Gunnar; always attending every show they have performed at. I'm way touched for them that all of these guys are so close together, and I'm even happier for myself that I am a part of it all.

Gunnar walks up to the microphone front and center on the stage, and clears his throat before speaking into it. He begins by speaking to the audience in Icelandic, and then with a sweet wink at me, says it all again in English.

"Thank you for coming, my name is Gunnar, and this guy here is Loki. We're called Equal and we're going to play music for you tonight," he then points at me and everybody around looks at me, "this here is Sophie, and if we're extra sweet to her tonight, she might bestow upon us her vocal talents." There's a round of applause and some whistles from a few men in the audience. I can't see everyone so easily with the lights shining on the stage in many different colors, with the lights of the audience turned down. I raise my own arms to clap and yell enthusiastically with everybody else, even though he's talking about me.

"You most definitely should sing," Baldvin says close to my ear, "It's the icing on the cake!" I blush at this and smile broadly to Gunnar with a wink and a nod. Maybe he'll think that's me agreeing to sing. As the crowd settles down, Gunnar takes the few steps back to where his equipment is set up and begins to play a deep and dark pumping beat.

My feet can't help but tap to it, and I can feel the throb of it in my blood as they seemingly begin to pump in time together. Another layer is added by Gunnar; a base line and more, filling the song up as something that I feel would be really nice to fuck to. Loki comes in with his guitar, filling the melody with the high notes and expert finger plucking on the strings, carrying us into a world full of thumping and sensual vibes. Gunnar and Loki both look up on several different occasions and give me the eye fucks of my life.

The song comes to a climax, as one always wants to do when involved with sexy times. All of the elements swirl and build together until it has to release all of the tension in one powerful moment that reminds me of an orgasm; the shot into the heavens after the burst from rapture with the bliss that follows as you try to catch your breath.

By the time the song comes to an end, I feel breathless as though I was on that sensual ride myself; excitement flowing through my body as though both of the men on stage just fucked me something fierce. I can feel the exquisite throbbing between my legs as I watch them, licking my dry lips in wanton lust.

The next few songs don't calm my libido by much, and I'm so pleased to see several people standing up and dancing to the awesome music being played by my two main men. My chest is filled with pride in them, and my determination to sing with them only grows as each song ends. By the end of the third song, Gunnar rushes to me with a folded piece of paper in his hands as he gives me a little wink before turning quickly back to the stage.

I glance down curiously at the paper in my hands, and I see Gunnar's familiar scribble.

Read this after we play the next song. I wrote it with you in mind. The lyrics inside are translated from Icelandic.

Enjoy,

Gunnar.

Well, that's quite exciting. I tuck the paper into my pocket so I can look at it when the song is done as Gunnar comes up to the microphone; smiling to the crowd.

"I have a very special song for you now," he speaks to us in English, obviously for my benefit. "I wrote this song very recently, and it's about this absolutely incredible woman I've met recently. I hope she likes it." The crowd claps enthusiastically as he moves back towards his mixers.

They begin to play the song, a sultry number that immediately brings dark, romantic bedrooms with flickering candles that allow for the perfect seduction. My throat is dry with anticipation, and I know it's going to be good. The guitar in Loki's hands sings sweet twangy notes; caressing my nerves just as a finger would slide enticingly down my arm.

Gunnar pulls the microphone on the stand over to where he is standing off-center on the stage. My eyebrows shoot straight into my hairline when he opens his mouth and begins to deliver a perfectly timed flow of words along with the melody. I would even say he was rapping. I had no idea he was able to flow so smoothly and with so much sex in his voice. His eyes look to me and stay locked onto me as he seduces me with his words. Knowing what he is saying isn't relevant, but the flow of the words off his tongue tell me he's describing something erotic and sensual to me; telling me what he wants to do to me in the future, perhaps.

My pulse is rapid and thumping along with the rhythm of the song, and my foot can't help but tap along. My clit is no better; pounding away with the mental visions of Gunnar's quick tongue between my legs.

Það fer allt að verða klárt, á bakvið læstar dyr. Við erum ekki heima, ef að einhver spyr.

stelpan upp í rúmmi, í eingu nema skyrtu.

Ég að kveikja á kertum, til að skapa rétta byrtu, Falleg stinn brjóst, og æðislega leggi.

Allt sem skiptir máli, er fyrir innan þessa veggi.

Ég lít yfir til hennar, augu okkar mætast.

við vitum bæði, að þetta er kvöld þar sem viltir draumar rætast.

Ég er komin upp í rúm, ekkert fyrir mér vefst. Ríf af henni skyrtuna, og leikurinn hefst.

koss hér, koss þar, hvar kemur koss næst. við til-hugsunina eina, stelpan verður frekar æst.

já æst, hún verður sjóðandi heit. Ef ég held henni ekki heitri, fer ég á byrjunarreit.