Rough Rhythm: A Made in Jersey Novella (1001 Dark Nights) (14 page)

As Lita wailed on the drums, leaning forward during the chorus to lend her vocals, she felt him inside every downward movement of her arms, every vibration of the bass in her stomach. Toward the end, her throat started to ache. Swallowing became difficult. She could feel James watching, watching, as always. His confidence surrounded her, lifting her off the ground.
You’re the best drummer I’ve ever seen.
He’d never said that to her before. Others had, but she’d only ever wanted to hear it from him. Because he never said anything he didn’t mean. Just like he’d meant everything he’d said in the car.

That reminder came just as the song ended. Lita let the sticks drop to her sides, winded, gaze locked on James through the glass. Her instincts screamed at her to run to him, jump into his arms and ask questions later. That was why he was here, right? Looking at her as if he might expire if they didn’t touch soon? But she stayed put. Waiting for what? She didn’t know. Only knew it better be fucking good.

James leaned forward, mouth hovering over the microphone a second before he spoke. “Lita, I don’t know how much time I have. But I need you to know…” he shook his head. “I
live
for you. You’re not just in my thoughts, you
are
my thoughts. Every single one. And somehow, I lived for you all wrong. I should have been living
with
you. Not only
for
.” His hand gripped the microphone. “I should have seen how capable you were and known we were always in this together. I’m sorry. I’m…sorry doesn’t really cover it. Because you’re crying and I wish I was dead seeing that. Fuck, I really do. But I already died when you left.”

Lita swiped the back of her hand across her cheeks, dashing away the rolling moisture. His explanation was necessary, but God help her, as soon as he’d said
I live for you
, any remaining resolve had broken. But her legs weren’t moving, weren’t allowing her to travel his direction. Relief and love and surprise had weakened her knees. “What do you m-mean, you don’t know how much time you have?”

James threw a glance at the door but didn’t answer her question. “I love you, Lita. Even if my mistakes made it so you can’t take me back, I’ll always be somewhere, loving you with every single thought. Every memory I have stored up.” Even though everyone in the studio could hear him, it felt as if only she and James were present. “My first memory of you is that brave, determined girl in the bar. I don’t know how I forgot. I don’t know—”

Adrenaline found its way to her heart, jumpstarting the organ along with her legs. Lita jumped from her throne, leaping over wires and sprinting full speed toward the sound booth. She caught just a hint of James’s relieved expression through the glass before the door swung open and she tumbled through. James scooped her up before she’d set foot inside the room, burying his face in the crook of her neck and chanting her name in a gruff voice.

“I lost you. I
lost
you.”

She wrapped her legs around his hips and clung, treasuring every frantic kiss of his lips up and down her neck. “You found me, too,” she whispered. “Twice now.”

He pulled away just enough to press their foreheads together. “There’s no excuse for what I said. I was
wrong,
Lita.” The words floated over her lips. “I’m protective over you because I remember living without you. I remember the
waiting,
even though I didn’t know that’s what I was doing. And when you finally appeared, I took protecting you too far. You didn’t need protecting. You needed me. We needed each other.”

Her heart couldn’t take any more. It pounded in her chest like the bass drum during a wicked solo, erratic and powerful. “Do we have each other now?”

James groaned against her mouth. “Lita, bring me back to life. Tell me you actually want me after everything I’ve done.”

“Of course I do,” she sobbed. “I don’t know how to stop wanting you. Wanting you is part of me. I like it right where it is.”

His kiss was one of cherishment. “I love you.”

Tears fell down Lita’s cheeks. “I love you back.”

She leaned in to kiss him again, but a commotion behind her in the studio caused James’s body to stiffen. His gaze was full of regret, but there was a hint of something else she didn’t recognize at first. But slowly it dawned on her. Mischief? She’d never seen James house mischief in any shape or form. It had to be a mistake.

“What’s going on?”

Footsteps sounded on the floor behind Lita, coming in their direction. “I had a backup plan, in case you weren’t ready to listen yet.” He kissed her one final time, then set her down. “So I hope you have bail money. Because I might have stolen a police car and drove it here.”

Lita’s mouth dropped open as two officers skirted past and pulled James’s hands behind his back, slapping handcuffs on his wrists. “James. I…what…” she sputtered. “You could have been killed. Do you know how much danger you put yourself in?”

His gray eyes were the lightest she’d ever seen them. Light and focused on her. As always. “It was worth it to see your face right now.”

“I’ve never been more turned on in my life.”

Ignoring the officers’ reluctant laughter, James stroked her with a head-to-toe look. “Excellent timing.”

“I’ll be right behind you with bail.” Lita pressed both palms to his cheeks and went up on her toes to speak against his mouth. “James?”

“Yes?”

“Kiss me and know that everything is going to be fine.”

He did. And it was.

Forever.

Epilogue

Two months later

James let himself into Lita’s apartment and carefully closed the door behind him. The sharp sounds of her drumming sailed down the stairs, forcing his heartbeat into the rhythm she created. He knew the song, knew the section she was working on.

Perks of being the band manager.

However, he much preferred the perks of being Lita’s boyfriend, which included having keys to her apartment. Along with permission to come and go without consulting her. To take her by surprise when she least expected it.

James wouldn’t even attempt lying to himself. He wanted to live with Lita. Whether it was here in the apartment or at his house ten minutes away, he wanted to live his life immersed in every goddamn facet of her. The way she woke up like a cat, rubbing her cheek on the pillow and purring in her throat. How she only ever drank one sip of coffee, then switched to orange juice. The pride she took in the apartment and the personalization of her space. He didn’t want to take that away from her any time soon, so he contented himself with spending the night as often as possible, without taking away from what she’d accomplished on her own.

After returning, he’d questioned his desire to continue as band manager for Old News, wondering if he should leave Lita to rule the professional part of her life, but she’d been horrified at the idea of him not returning. And in the spirit of being honest with himself, the idea of Lita traveling around the world without him? It didn’t sit well, to put it mildly.

As James climbed the stairs, Lita started the drumming section over, improvement noticeable with each run-through. Practice time was about to be over, though. James was starved out of his fucking mind for his girlfriend…and his intentions were the furthest thing from pretty. They were dark, dirty, and urgent. Just the way Lita liked them. Not that she would tell him that until after. Oh no.

Over the last two months, James had been beyond relieved to discover he found the same overwhelming pleasure making love to Lita that he did playing rough. It was just a different type of pleasure. Smooth instead of coarse. Sweet instead of razor-sharp. Every time their bodies were joined, his soul threatened to burst free, no matter how or when or where.

But today…today his urges were dealing in specifics.

He stopped in the doorway of Lita’s second bedroom, his gaze tracing the line of her neck, the toned muscles of her back as she played the drums. Christ, how had he managed to keep her? Her beauty couldn’t be described and it only increased with every passing day. He knew that for a fact because he never stopped looking at her. Couldn’t force himself to look away.

The amazing part being…Lita was usually looking right back at him. They’d started a tradition of sorts, when James’s old worries crept up after a particularly hard session in bed. When he looked at her disheveled state and wondered if he’d been right before. That he was bad for her. Not that she allowed his thoughts to get far, usually climbing on him and making him talk. Express his worries out loud. Their tradition had started with him, during that empty month in the Modesto motel room when he thought living without Lita was his only option. When his memories of her were the only thing keeping him sane. Now, he shared them
with
Lita. He recounted things she’d done and forgotten about, but of which he remembered every detail. That time she’d bought parachute pants and given the entire band, including him, the silent treatment for laughing. That time she’d skinned her knee stage diving so badly it needed stiches and he’d carried her a mile to the hospital because the fans were blocking the road and thus, the ambulance. The way she’d cried into his chest the whole way, breaking his heart in half. That time she’d bought him a bow tie for Christmas that squirted water, and he’d actually worn it with a straight face. The way she’d looked so pleased he’d almost broken down and kissed the life out of her.

Now, James narrowed his eyes on Lita. Had she shivered? Or was that his imagination? Secure in the music disguising any noises he would make, James lowered the zipper of his jeans and gave his growing cock room to extend. Knowing what would come next, a tremor moved through his hands before they went steady. Still and ready.

When he reached over to flip off the overhead light, a cut-off scream from Lita found his ears. “Who’s ther—”

His hand clamped over her mouth. He dragged her off the stool, knocking it onto its side in the process. She kicked and twisted, struggling to get free, but James held fast, grunting when her heel connected with a shin. “Who’s there?” He spun her around, pushing her body back against the closest wall. “The man who fits, little girl. That’s who.”

James settled his open mouth against her neck’s pulse, licking the unruly flutter. Both of her wrists were manacled in one hand and pinned over her head, freeing the other to reach beneath her skirt and divest her of underwear with a tearing sound. Having her pussy bare always made her kick up a fuss and this time was no different, her body bucking and writhing, an unwilling prisoner. The force of her struggle sent her hips bouncing off the wall, right back into his, where his cock waited for the contact. “Stop.” she whimpered. “
Please
.”

His mouth raked over her cleavage as he fisted his dick. “Save some of that begging for when you really need it.” He dragged the head of his erection through her slick folds before surging up in one savage move to fill Lita, her piercing scream ringing in his ears. “Now. Now would be a good time to beg.”

“Please.
No
.”

Releasing her bound limbs, James jerked Lita’s knees up around his hips and took her screaming against the wall, gritting his teeth against the smarting pain of her slapping hands…the dark satisfaction that followed in short order when she stopped resisting and her body began undulating in time with his merciless drives. Her moaning and wetness and sweat and
fuck
. All of her.
Everything.

“You fight me, but your body needs punishing, doesn’t it?
You love it
.” He cupped her bottom, parting her cheeks in an attempt to get even deeper. “You love
me
?”

Her nod was uneven, green eyes glassy, but fierce. “Yes. Yes.” She clung to his shoulders as her body started to shudder. “
I love you
.”

James followed her over the edge. “I love you, too.
God
, I love you so much.”

Minutes later, the perspiration cooling on their bodies, James gathered Lita close as possible on the bed and whispered another memory into her ear. About the time he watched her eat chocolate donuts. How she’d looked so brave.

THE END

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