Southern Rocker Boy (Southern Rockers Book 1) (19 page)

There was a resounding crack throughout the room as her hand flew at my face, slapping me hard before I could stop her. “Do it again,” I dared, before I breathed “bitch,” to seal the deal.

Her other hand raised but I caught it. I curled her arm easily behind her back, bringing us face to face. It was frustratingly familiar. “Is this some kind of fucking foreplay with you, lady?” I said under my breath as I studied her eyes.

“You’re an asshole,” she hissed.

“Then why are you here with me?” I asked as I held her even closer. As mad as I was, she still felt like heaven in my arms. That body… that fire… all I wanted to do was throw her on that bed and make her mine. It wasn’t just a fight with her anymore. It was a fight for us. “If I’m some talentless hack, some witless paper doll, why did you come here? To rub my nose in it, like some dog that pissed on the carpet?”

“No!” she denied instantly.

“Then tell me,” I commanded softly.

Her eyes darted between mine until I saw tears form at the edges. Finally she said, “I wanted you to prove it wasn’t true. That you’re not him.”

It was the most honest thing she had ever said. “You want proof?” I said before I lifted her in my arms and tossed her onto the bed. I followed her down, pinning her to the mattress with my body. “Here’s your proof.” I crushed her mouth under mine for a punishing kiss that would silence any of her doubts. I held her arms above her head with one hand as I buried my face into the soft curve of her neck. Any protests dissolved into moans as I rimmed the edge of her earlobe with my tongue. My other hand slipped up her torso under her shirt, stopping short under her bra.

If she wanted more, by God, she was going to have to tell me. I kissed my way across her chest until I was tugging away each button with my teeth. The soft cotton material fell open, revealing her lacy bra underneath. I trailed my tongue across her bared skin, without ever touching the places that arched for my hungry mouth.

“Jonah,” she whimpered, so I crawled back up her body to face her.

“What?” I demanded. “What do you want from me?” My eyes caught hers as I searched for the answer. She tried to look away but I grabbed her chin and forced her to face me. “Tell me,” I repeated.

Her eyes searched mine. Those dark, beautiful eyes weren’t that far different than her mother’s. She was still evaluating if I was a threat. I released my firm hold to cup her face, my thumb brushing against her swollen mouth. I kissed her softly, my eyes locked with hers, until I lifted away.

“I want you,” she finally admitted in a hoarse whisper. “God help me, I want you.”

I slid my hand up under her bra to cup her full breast. Her eyes fluttered shut. When I brushed my thumb across the erect nipple, she gasped out loud. I kissed her again, but even softer this time, taking my time to explore her mouth with my tongue and savor the sweet, intoxicating whiskey of her kiss.

“I’m not Tony Paul,” I told her as I lifted away. “I’m not going to break your heart, Lacy.”

She shook her head. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jonah. One day you will have to choose.”

I slipped her bra from her body and latched onto the hardened peak of her breast with my mouth until she cried out underneath me. I unzipped her jeans, slipping my hand in under her panties, between her legs, toying with her with my finger until she was writhing against me, speechless with need. Slowly I peeled her clothes away until she was naked in my arms. I kissed my way down her body until I disappeared between her legs, which trembled as they parted. I dove in between those luscious lips and savored the taste of her on my tongue. Her fingers grasped the bedcovers as I licked her slowly and deliberately, opening her with my fingers and sucking her clit into my mouth. Within minutes she was coming hard, crying out as she shuddered all around me.

I tore off my shirt as I rose in between her legs. She watched between half-closed eyes as I unzipped my pants and stepped out of the snug denim, kicking it free. I fit myself in between her legs as I planted a kiss on her lips. As I pulled away I forced her to look into my eyes. “You’re my drug, Lacy. Every day when I wake up, I’m possessed by the thought of you. Nothing even comes close to competing. Not the fame. Not the girls in the audience. It’s a hopeless addiction I take one day at a time. Any day I can, I choose you,” I said before I thrust into her. She cried out before she locked her legs around me. I lost myself in her kiss as I drove myself into her with force and purpose. I wanted each thrust to drive away any doubts she may have had that I could want anyone else. She was screaming by the time she came a second time. I wound my hands in her hair as I raced toward the finish line. I wanted to explode in her. I wanted to feel each and every muscle in her velvet pussy clamp down all around me while I came. “Tell me you want it,” I begged in a gruff voice that didn’t even sound like it belonged to me.

“I want it,” she echoed obediently. “I want you. Jonah.”

That was all it took. I emptied myself in her with a triumphant cry. I held it for a heartbeat or two afterwards before I collapsed on top of her. “God damn, baby,” I muttered against her ear. “You make me crazy. You know that, right?”

She nodded as she caressed my face with her hand. “About as crazy as I get when I see you with other girls.”

I brushed her hair from her face. “And you know what I’m thinking whenever I’m with those girls?” I asked. She shook her head. “I’m wishing they were you.” She rewarded me with a kiss and I wrapped her tightly in my arms.

The rest of the week followed the same pattern as the week before. Lacy and I rehearsed every single night for hours on the phone. Part of it was because I missed her so bad I couldn’t bear one night to go by without talking to her, without hearing her voice. The other part of that was that really wanted to polish my skill as a performer. Her comment about my being a paper doll lingered in my ear, which forced me to raise my own game. I challenged myself as a guitarist but mostly as a vocalist. I had something to prove… to myself, to Lacy and to Gaynell. I knew that the opportunities coming my way were leveraged heavily on my being at the right place at the right time and having the right look.

In order to make this a career, I needed the goods to back all that up.

Most importantly I wanted Lacy to know that there was some middle ground, that someone could work hard and still play the game with some degree of integrity. Yes, I took most of the advice Gaynell gave me on things that had nothing to do with the technical skill of playing or singing, but only because she was the one who knew how to get things done so that I could play and sing for a lot more money. If it benefited me, and mostly my family, then what was the harm?

I knew who I was. My family knew who I was and hopefully now Lacy knew who I was. That was all that mattered to me.

It was clear by the week’s end, however, that Gay’s sexualized image of me was what brought fans through the door. Thursday my name was just as big as Blaze on the marquee. I wasn’t just some guitarist for the band anymore. They weren’t “introducing” me or “featuring” me. I was a guest star, which further separated me from the band and from Lacy herself. Where there were no pictures for Lacy or the rest of the band, one of the pictures from my photo shoot was used at the door to entice people inside.

The local papers advertised my appearance that weekend like I was some superstar granting a special show to the hometown crowd. Gaynell proudly showed off the clippings, reading aloud so I could see how masterful she was creating this image of me. Lacy never said one word, and often left the dressing area altogether whenever Gay got a little too enthusiastic about the crowds we were pulling or the attention the club was getting.

She absolutely wanted nothing to do with any details for Ariel Acardi’s upcoming video shoot, scheduled now in two short weeks. It was all over Ariel’s social media feed that she couldn’t wait to get back to Texas and see some “special” people.

I would roll my eyes and let it roll in one ear and out the other. It was all part of the illusion and it meant far more to everyone else than it did to me. All I cared about was our set, our performance.

Gay hand-selected each song in our set, which included some of the ones we had already performed. “
Need You Now
” became our anthem, probably because we sang it with true emotion. We could make everyone believe what we sang because every word rang true.

My solo for Thursday was “
Call Me the Breeze
,” a honky-tonking Skynyrd tune that got everyone on their feet as we all jammed on stage like it was a weekend. Even Gay got her chance to shine during the piano solo Billy Powell had perfected before her. The only thing missing was the horn section, which she brought in special for Saturday’s gig.

By Sunday it was clear we owned Austin nightlife. My check reflected as much. I almost had to sit down when I read the numbers that followed my name. I wanted to take Lacy for a late night dinner to celebrate, but her mother worked the graveyard shift at an all-night restaurant, so that made any time spent together after performances out of the question.

To say I was living for the next Tuesday was an understatement.

I still had to get through Monday, which proved to be more chaotic than the one before. Gay offered ten more M&G opportunities for the first lucky few who made it through the door, which meant the line started by Monday morning. She ended up giving a dozen more passes away, which meant I was going to have a late night.

Again she dressed me in skin-tight clothes, but that wasn’t enough for the girls in the crowd who, despite how well I played or how well I sang, kept screaming for me to take my shirt off. Gay nodded at me from the piano but I wasn’t about to strip. But she cornered me before the encore. “Take your shirt off and you’ll double this crowd next week.”

With a sigh I peeled off the shirt, but I compromised by putting on a button down shirt that I simply left unbuttoned. The girls went wild when the spotlight found me as I stepped onstage. I ended the set with “
Feel Like Makin’ Love
,” which was quickly becoming another fan favorite. I headed backstage to another full dressing room, which didn’t even give me the chance to change. This time a cycle of fans were ushered in and out by Gay and Jacinda. Each fan lingered as long as I would allow, as if they lingered long enough they could win the whole night. Their eyes were hungry as they latched onto my bare chest. More than one used any excuse to cop a feel. They smiled big for every picture. Some even waited outside in the parking lot until I left the building entirely, unwilling to give up the dream.

I was so dog-tired by the time I got into the hired car that I fell asleep in the car. It was nearly two o’clock in the morning by the time I crawled into bed.

Regardless, I was up by eight o’clock the following day. It was Tuesday and Lacy had agreed to bring Cody to the apartment so the kids could hang out together. She was there by noon. We made lunch together and then we spent the rest of the afternoon performing for our pint-sized audience.

I had warned Mama that I would have company that evening, but she seemed a little shocked that it was a heavily tattooed single mom. She was gracious as always, taking Lacy into an immediate hug. “It’s so nice to finally meet you,” she said.

“Thanks, Vi,” Lacy responded with a smile, using the nickname my mother insisted she use. I offered to take all of them to dinner, but Mama shook her head with a smile. “You two go on now. Enjoy your night. I can take care of these two,” she said as her eyes sparkled at the little boy I already knew had stolen her heart.

My Mama loved children, especially toddlers. She spent a good ten years supervising the Sunday school for the nursery set, and missed that when we moved away from the church we’d called home.

“Are you sure?” Lacy asked. “I don’t want to be any trouble.”

“Are you kidding?” she said as she took Cody into her arms. “Looking after babies is about my favorite thing in the world. It’ll hold me over until Jonah gives me a grandbaby.”

“Mama,” I said with a stern look she promptly dismissed as she snuggled Cody. I looked down at Lacy. “What do you think? Wanna go grab something to eat?”

I knew that she caught the gleam in my eye. She nodded wordlessly and I ushered her out to my truck, pointing us straight to the hotel where we had stayed the previous week. “Your mother’s a sweetheart,” she said.

I beamed with pride. Mama and Leah were the loves of my life. I was glad that they had embraced this wild redhead at my side. “They love you.”

She chuckled. “Well, we only just met.”

“Why do you always say that, baby? Don’t you know how awesome you are?”

She shook her head and focused on the traffic outside her window. I took her hand in mine and kissed her fingers. “Then let me show you,” I said.

With my epic payday from the week before, I was able to get a hotel suite. I drew her a bath while I ordered room service. I dimmed the lights of the bathroom as I joined her, stripping as I walked toward the tub. I climbed in behind her, lifting her up into my lap as I kissed the gentle slope of her graceful neck and her creamy shoulder, running a soapy wet washcloth over that supple body that haunted my dreams. “You’re beautiful,” I whispered into her ear. She laid her head against me as her hands slipped between our bodies. I shuddered when she touched me. I wrapped my arms around her, cupping her breast as she leaned her head back for a passionate kiss. My hand slid over her slippery body, tweaking the peak of her breast until she trembled. My fingers disappeared between her legs, which opened for me. I teased her slowly, luxuriating in the feel of her against my hand.

“Jonah,” she whispered. “I need you.”

It was all I ever wanted to hear. I turned her around to face me in the tub, curling my hand around her neck as I drew her close for a hot kiss. She rubbed against my hardened shaft, slippery and ready.

But I was going to take my time with her this week. I ground her against me without entering her, which only drove her crazier, especially when I kissed my way from her mouth, along her chin, down her neck and across her chest until I captured one breast in my mouth. Her head tipped back as she ground against me. “Please,” she whimpered.

“Not yet,” I said with a wicked smile on my face. “We still need to eat.”

I lifted her out of the tub. She shivered as I dried her off, our eyes locked together as I wrapped a large, soft towel around her body and carried her to the bed. I planted my face between those creamy white thighs. She grabbed a handful of my hair as she shoved my face into that sweet quivering pussy. I happily obliged, torturing her with my tongue until she was coming hard with a happy little cry.

Before I could make her come again, room service knocked at the door. I grabbed one of the hotel robes to cover myself as I answered, rolling the cart toward the bed where she had crawled, naked, between the sheets. I popped a bottle of champagne and poured her a glass.

“Jonah,” she chastised softly. “This is too extravagant.”

I couldn’t tell her it was only a small fraction of what I had been paid for my solo performance, the majority of which went to Mama to finish paying off Leah’s hospital bill. Plus with the money I was going to earn for my part in the video next week, I was finally in a place in my life where I could afford a little extravagance. And I could think of no one who deserved it more than the beautiful woman in front of me. “You’re worth it,” I promised as I dropped the robe and crawled into bed next to her. I toasted her. “To the beginning,” I said.

“Of what?” she asked before she drank.

“Of everything,” I grinned. We sipped the bubbly liquid. I grabbed a plump strawberry from the platter of fresh fruit and cheeses. I swirled it’s perfect red tip around the hardened peak of her breast. She trembled before she reached for a kiss, pressing me back onto the mattress.

She grabbed a strawberry of her own, to trail down my body. She followed that trail with the tip of her skillful tongue. I lay back against the pillows and closed my eyes as she explored my chest, my abdomen, and in between my hard thighs. When her soft mouth enclosed around my hard shaft, I couldn’t stop myself from gasping out loud. Encouraged, she sank her mouth deeper on me until I was almost swallowed whole. “God, baby,” I muttered as I wound my hand in her hair, guiding her slowly.

She needed no help. She worked my cock masterfully with her snake-like tongue and warm mouth. I groaned as she sucked me deep. It was clear she was in the driver’s seat now and she was fully intent on getting even for me for torturing her in the past. She took me right to the brink before she’d slow way down. She’d lift her mouth away and use her tongue against the sensitive head until I was begging for her. “Baby, please,” I moaned.

She wore the same evil grin I had as she lifted up. I watched as she straddled my hips, tormenting my cock with her hot pussy as she rubbed against me. “Tell me what you want, Jonah,” she said as she looked down at me, fully in control.

It was the hottest fucking thing I had ever seen. “I want you to fuck me,” I told her.

She moaned herself as she slid down on top of me, savoring that first deep thrust before she began to undulate against me in a rhythm so deep and primal her head fell back as she gave herself into it. I grabbed her hips with both hands and guided her against me. We rocked together slowly and I watched her ride me, her wet, tousled hair loose around her shoulders, her full, lovely breasts heaving with each deep breath. I reached up to capture one, unable to resist. I wanted to taste every inch of her. I wanted to explore every inch of her. The closer I got, the closer I wanted to be. I thrust deeper inside her, making her eyes grow wide as she cried out.

I flipped her over onto her back. “Don’t you see how goddamned perfect you are?” I muttered before I crushed her mouth with mine. She met the kiss with equal passion, her nails sinking into the skin of my shoulders as I rode her harder, claiming every inch of her with every powerful stroke.

I watched her face as she came hard, spasming around me until I was helpless to follow. I cried out myself as I drove into her one last time, spilling into her everything I was and everything I could be.

We lay locked together for long moments afterwards, staring into each other’s eyes, unable to speak or even catch our breath. I couldn’t hold back anymore. There was no fighting it. There was no denying it. I had never uttered the words to anyone before her, and I knew in that moment there would be no one else after her. I was hers. Helplessly, hopelessly and shamelessly hers. I traced the delicate line of her beautiful face with one finger. “I love you, Lacy,” I said at last. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye so I sealed my commitment with a kiss. She closed herself around me as if she’d never let me go.

And as God as my witness I never wanted her to.