Phoenix Rising Rock Band: The Series

by Kathryn C. Kelly

  Keeping his mouth over my breast, he clutches my pussy and rubs. The silk panties press against my aching clit. Gasping, I grind faster, digging my nails into his arm muscles.

  That doesn’t stop him, so I push at his shoulders.

  He rises above me, his mouth and hand deserting my body, leaving me in limbo. “What, Raine?”

  “Take off your clothes, Kiln. I’ll undress, too.”

  For a long moment, he stares at me and then sighs, moving to my side. “No.”

  “What?” I can’t have heard him right.

  “You’re fucked up, doll. Drunk off your ass. I’m not taking advantage of your vulnerability. If you were sober and changed your mind about us waiting a week to fuck, I’d eat your pussy, lick your ass, suck your titties, and fuck you like there’s no tomorrow.”

  My eyes squint as I process his words. When I do, my heart melts. I might’ve just fallen in love with him. That thought sobers me—a teeny bit. “I am drunk,” I admit, hearing the slur in my voice. I scream in laughter.

  His chuckle is like music to my ears.

  We turn to face each other and he caresses my face, brushes hair from my cheek.

  “You really are a gentleman,” I say softly.

  He smiles. It’s gentle and tender, a side I’ve never seen from him but will cherish forever. “Not so much, sweetheart. If you hadn’t given me your terms and you were drunk and wanted to fuck, I’d spend the night inside of you. This is just the right thing to do.”

  “Since when do you do what’s right?”

  “I admit those times are few and far between. I’ve done shit I shouldn’t have, especially to Georgiana.”

  That catches my attention and I prop myself up on an elbow. “You assaulted her?”

  “Damn near,” he says with a sigh and lays flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

  I barely notice the bright reflection of the movie. Barely hear what’s going on. It’s just white noise in the background.

  “Sloane beat the fuck out of me. He beat me unconscious. If Jaeger and the rest of the band hadn’t been there, he would’ve killed me.”

  Although Kiln was dead wrong, I resent Sloane Mason for hurting Kiln. If he’d been killed, I never would’ve met him.

  “Georgiana claimed she forgave me. Because she accepted me back into the fold, Sloane has kept me on. Yet, I’m still the outsider. Still not allowed upstairs.”

  I bend to tease his lips with mine. “It’s okay, baby. If they hold grudges, that isn’t your fault.”

  “I’ve never terrorized a woman, the way I did Georgiana.”

  “Are you sorry?”

  “Yes. Very. I think that’s why I’ve stayed on, in limbo. Not knowing if this is the day Sloane will decide to fire me. If he sees me looking at his wife wrong, he gets a wild look. When he found out what I did, it drove a bigger wedge between us.”

  I cuddle against him and he pulls me into his arms. My eyes slip close.

  “You smell so fucking good,” he tells me, ruining my near-sleep.

  I sniff him. “You do, too, pal.”

  “Tomorrow, I have a proposition for you.”

  “Is it a fuckable one?” I ask groggily.

  He laughs. “No. It’s about the second floor. I need you to get up there again. Straighten shit up. Take a few more things for yourself. She has perfume and hair things and makeup. You’re a girl like her. You need those things, too.”

  “I’ll straighten things up, but I’m not stealing any more of her stuff. Those are her things. I have no right to them.”

  “Yes, you do. I’m working on a project, so I don’t have time to take you shopping. Until I do, I want you to have what other girls do.”

  “Ummhmm. Have you ever heard of online purchasing?”

  “I like the traditional method.”

  Forcing my eyes to stay open, I sit up. The room spins. I plop back against his arm. Turning to him, I raise my hand and push my index finger into his cheek. “You’re so full of shit, dude. I see right through your nonsense. You’re not giving me money because you think I’ll fly away. You’re not taking me shopping because you think I’ll run away.”

  He stiffens.

  I wag my finger. “Oh, shut up. Don’t deny it, Kiln. I wasn’t born yesterday. I know when someone is stonewalling me.”

  A beat before he sighs and releases more laughter. “I like having you around. You’re fun to spar with.”

  “I’d be even funner to fuck.”

  He laughs again. This has to be some type of record. This argumentative, mistrustful man is rarely so carefree.

  “If you still feel that way tomorrow, then my cock is yours.”

  I grip his prick and squeeze. It jumps. “Will you let me suck you off?”

  “I’ll think about it. First, I’m eating your pussy and making you come.”

  My breath hitches and my pussy gets so hot and wet, I squeeze my legs together.

  “Call me a motherfucker, Raine,” he says after a moment of silence where I try to imagine his head between my legs. “I want you with me because you want to be with me. Not because I’m paying you.”

  “That’s not fair. That just puts me at your mercy. People need money to survive.”

  “Whatever you need is already provided for you.”

  “Except my own stuff,” I fling back at him.

  “I’m going to give you money. Soon,” he promises. “Just…I have a lot going on. I need you with me.”

  Sadness creeps into his voice. I sit up and huff out a breath. “You’re a fucking buzz kill, man.”

  He caresses my back. “One more sip of alcohol and your buzz will return. You might even pass out. I didn’t know you were such a lightweight.”

  “Montana didn’t want me drinking. He said that was the gateway to hard drugs, to use as a coping mechanism. The one time I defied him, he left me on my own. That night, a john introduced me to anal sex. I had no one to hear my screams. It was a lesson I never forgot.”

  “I dislike your fuckhead brother, more and more.”

  “Don’t blame him,” I say quietly, bowing my head. Suddenly, I want to cry. “In case you hadn’t realized, I’m hard to handle sometimes. I didn’t listen so I guess I got what I deserved. He found me.” Wrinkling my nose, I scratch my head and lay down again to stare at the ceiling. “Of course, I’m such a fucking dumbass. I tried to fight the guy off. He beat the shit out of me and took my ass.”

  “When you say Montana found you, what do you mean?”

  I hate this memory most of all. But it happened and I survived. “I was in an alleyway, naked and bleeding. Maybe, one of the other girls saw me and called him. Or, maybe, because I was near the hourly-rate motel I usually tricked from, he came looking for me when hours had passed and I hadn’t returned.” I shrug. “Who cares, though? That’s the life of a street whore. Girls are raped all the time. Go missing. Are murdered fifty percent more than all other women.” I clear my throat to stop my impending tears. “I’m so, so hurt that my brother is gone. But…but…” Sniffling, I pause and knock away rogue tears. “I’m a horrible sister with what I’m about to say.”

  “What’s that?” Kiln asks in a subdued voice.

  “If Montana hadn’t been killed, I wouldn’t be safe and off the streets.” That I even have that thought breaks my heart. “I’m such a traitor,” I sob, turning to him.

  Kiln sits up and pulls me onto his lap. We lean against one of the cinema loungers. Sudden silence surrounds us as the movie ends and the lighting automatically switches from the movie screen to dim ceiling track lights. A red velvet curtain slides closed, covering the big screen.

  “I’m not a crier,” I say around pathetic sniffles. “It might be the alcohol.”

  Kiln lays a hand against my cheek and thumbs my tears away. “You can cry as much as you want over your brother. You loved him. You have every right to grieve.”

  “Kiln, my brother did the best he could for me. You sound as if you don’t like
him. I promise if you’d gotten to know him, you would’ve found him to be funny and kind and personable. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. He was so warm and carefree.”

  Placing a finger under my chin, he tips my face up and leans down to kiss me.

  “I didn’t know him, but that’s not important. Your memories of him are. And, no, you’re not a traitor for being relieved that you’re not earning a living on your back anymore.”

  I don’t agree with that. However, he’s being so sweet and kind, I can’t bring myself to argue with him. I bury my nose against his neck. His hard dick throbs against my wet pussy.

  Damn our clothes.

  He attacks my mouth again. The mint isn’t as prominent on his tongue anymore, but his kisses take my breath away. Muddles my brain even more so than the wine I drank. Despite how much I want to have sex with him, I’m also relieved we won’t. It allows me to relax and enjoy our making out. There’s no expectations of pawing and ravishing and humping. I can really, truly lose myself in his kisses.

  I can trust him. Know that he has my best interest at heart.

  Most important, I can let my guard down around him.

  Before pulling away, I steal another kiss from him, then lay my head against his chest. “I’m sleepy.”

  He kisses the top of my head. “Close your eyes, sweetheart. Rest. Trust that I won’t allow anything to happen to you.”

  “I know,” I whisper, then I’m out for the count.

  Yesterday, Raine stayed in bed, suffering with a terrible hangover. She couldn’t keep anything on her stomach and she complained of a ferocious headache. She was so bad off that I even cancelled having dinner with Mother. Jaeger is out of town, so I couldn’t have called him to check in on Raine.

  Therefore, the job was left to me. Since I was the one who plied her with wine, I would be the one to nurse her back to health. She kept shooing me and insisting I didn’t need to baby her, but I beg to differ.

  If anyone needs pampering and babying, it’s Raine.

  If anyone needs to be fucked up, it’s Montana. Each time I hear his additional crimes against her—his revenge—I’m convinced I need to tie his hands behind his back and drag him through the street by his dick.

  I understand her misplaced allegiance to him. He allowed their stepfather to assault him to save her from sexual abuse as a child. As an adult, he ruined his selfless act and good intentions by encouraging her to fuck for a living.

  He needs to pay for that.

  At the moment, though, Montana’s sins aren’t my problem. Raine and Mother are. For some reason, I decided it would be a good fucking idea to bring Raine with me for my rescheduled dinner. I didn’t want her in the house alone and saw no harm in allowing Raine to meet my mother.

  Stupid dickhead move.

  While Raine sticks to water and I drink scotch, Mother plies herself with vodka, while attempting to stare Raine done.

  The problem is Raine’s looks are intimating various ways for Mother’s death. She’s not backing down. She’s not looking away.

  In other words, Mother’s tactics aren’t intimidating Raine. They’re only pissing her off.

  Mother sets her dessert spoon down, her plate scraped clean of the strawberry shortcake Cook created. “What family did you say you were from again, Raine?”

  Swallowing the piece of cake she’d just stuffed into her mouth, Raine sips from her goblet of water. “No one that you’re familiar with, Alexia.”

  “I’m Mrs. Mason.”

  Raine smiles. “Then, I’m Miss Storm.”

  “You’ve not proven any reason why I should bestow such courtesies to you,” Mother retorts.

  “Do I need a reason? Aren’t you one of those snobs…” Raine grits her teeth and drinks more water. “Aren’t you one of those ladies who puts a lot of stock in manners?”

  Eyeing her, Mother sips vodka. “Again, Raine, what family are you from? What connections do you have?”

  “You really want to know, Alexia?” Raine hisses.

  “No,” I say as Mother snarls, “Yes.”

  Raine thrusts her face toward Mother and offers an evil little grin. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, ma’am.”

  “Raine—” I start in warning.

  “What, love?” she coos, just to piss Mother off a little more. She’s never called me “love” before. “Are you ashamed of me?”

  Clenching my jaw, I throw her another warning look.

  Shadows cross her features at my non-answer. But what can I say? It’s always a crap shoot with Mother. For some reason, I thought she’d welcome the female companionship. Anytime she allowed Dietrech back into her life, I decided Mother needed a woman to do woman stuff.

  I didn’t have many options. In retrospect, I realize I thought I’d hit on a way to fulfill my dinner obligation to Mother and still look after Raine. This was a strikeout, though. Mother took an immediate dislike to Raine, making dinner long and uncomfortable.

  “Will one of you answer me?” Mother demands, transferring her glare to me and looking down her nose. “What is Raine’s background, Kiln? What family is she from? Her name is Storm. Why does that sound so familiar? Isn’t that the name of that man you hired?”

  Raine narrows her eyes at me. “You hired a man named Storm?”

  Wanting to strangle my mother for bringing Montana up, I hold Raine’s gaze, not wanting to raise her suspicions from high alert to code red. “I did. Ignatius Storm. Mother’s new accountant.”

  Under the table, I grip Mother’s knee, thankful we’re at a small dining table that puts me in close proximity.

  “Do you swear, Kiln?” Raine questions, her eyes huge and haunted. “Are you sure it isn’t Montana? There aren’t many Storms around. Honestly, I’m not even sure if that’s my real name. It’s the one my mama gave to me and Montana.”

  My hold tightens on my mother, but I address Raine. “I beg to differ. There are many storms around.” Figuratively, speaking. I’m in the midst of one at the moment. “If I discovered your brother was alive, I’d never keep such a secret from you. You’d be the first person I told.”

  She swallows. This lie, if discovered, assures I’d die gruesomely at her hands. “I know,” she croaks, her eyes watery. She blinks a few times, clearing her pupils.

  “If your goal is to come between my son and I, think again.” Mother’s shrill voice cuts through the air, backtracking to a topic best left forgotten and changing the mood in the room. “Be you princess or pauper, Kiln belongs to me. He’s all I have left and I’ll be damned if I allow anyone to come between us.”

  “I’m not trying to come between you and Kiln. Or Kiln and anyone,” Raine snaps. “We’re friends.”

  I release Mother’s knee and grab her hand from her lap, bringing it to my lips and kissing the back of it. “Mom, Raine is nothing to me. Just entertainment for the time being.”

  Hurt screws up Raine’s face and she straightens in her seat, glaring at me. My eyes must deceive me. We have a clear-cut agreement. Right?

  “How’d you two meet?” Mother presses.

  Raine bares her teeth at me, venom tainting her eyes.

  “Raine—” I start in vain.

  “We met at a whorehouse fronting as a restaurant, Alexia. I offered to suck his dick, but he turned me down that night. I’m a prostitute. I ran away from home when I was sixteen and started selling pussy at twenty. I guess you could say my family was trailer trash. You know? Lived in a trailer. Had an alcoholic for a mother. Had an abusive, raping dickhead for a stepfather.” She drums her fingers on the table. “Dropped out of high school. Just the usual.”

  Disgust washes over my mother’s face. I jump to my feet, lean toward Raine and grab the collar of her dress, yanking her out of her seat. “That’s enough.”

  “Fuck you,” she spits.

  Anger flares in me and I shake her. “I don’t know what the fuck has possessed you, but you will respect my mother’s presence. She doesn’t deserve your filthines
s.”

  Fuck. At Raine’s gasp and Mother’s cackle, I know I have problems. Raine swings at me. My reflexes are too slow and the hit lands on my jaw. It stings, but she’s too small to do major damage.

  “I didn’t mean that statement the way you’re taking it, Raine. All I meant is she shouldn’t be subjected to your nasty little temper.”

  The way she stills and considers me is surprising. However, I’ll take what I can get. If my honest words calm her, all the better for me. The fight leaves her and she wilts, throwing Mother a sullen look.

  “I apologize, Alexia. Kiln’s right. I was out-of-line.”

  “Nothing new to gutter trash like you,” Mother sniffs. She stands and glares at me. “How dare you bring a person like her into my house. Filthy little whore.”

  Raine’s face reddens and her mouth turns down. “I want to go, Kiln,” she says in a small voice.

  “Good riddance,” Mother sneers.

  “Enough, Mother! Enough!” I roar, releasing Raine and turning on my mother. Anger invades me. My mother is so fragile, but she’s mean-spirited, as well. I know how she treats Jaeger. “Stop with your insults to Raine. If I don’t give a fuck about her background, you don’t give a fuck either. It’s my life and I spend my time with who I choose to. Whoever that happens to be, you will not insult them. You especially won’t insult her.” I nod to Raine. “She’s been through enough.”

  Mother screams at the top of her lungs. Raine jumps. I don’t. I’ve seen this from her before. She picks up her dessert plate and flings it at me. It sails by—she has a fucked-up aim—and shatters against a nearby wall.

  “I hate her! I hate her! I want her dead. It’s because of her my Brenda is gone.” She upends the dining table. The loud, dramatic crash of china and crystal brings Cook and our server into the room.

  “Get out!” I order. My mother isn’t a freak show to be gawked at.

  They turn and run away. A moment’s distraction is all it takes for Mother to spring on Raine and wrap her hands around her throat. Instead of punching Mother, Raine grabs her wrists and tries to dislodge her grip.

  I rush to them and drag my mother away. Holding her throat, Raine rolls to her side.