Just an Illusion--Unplugged

by D. Kelly

  “Listen, guys, I know you’re pros and shit, but this is what you pay me for. Two-minute countdown, okay? At least nod so I know you’re somewhat listening.”

  “We’re listening,” Noah remarks, but his eyes are elsewhere. That catches my attention because it’s dead back here tonight since we only have event staff and ours. When he turns back to the group, I follow his gaze, and my throat suddenly dries up.

  I don’t see her face, but her body is bangin’. She’s got curves for days in all the right places. My cock twitches as I tug my lip ring with my teeth. She must feel my eyes on her because she turns around. It’s just a quick glance, but it’s long enough for her to blush and for me to notice. She’s pretty in an effortless way—minimal makeup and dressed casually in a pair of jeans showcasing every delicate curve. There’s nothing band-related on her body and that fact alone makes my breath catch.

  “It’s time, Bastards, get out there and shut this bitch down! On three!” We all jump in for the count as Amy counts us down. “One, two, three!” This is why she’s the best PA ever; she’s got energy for days.

  Mac ushers us into the SUV, and I’m in a fucking daze. Me—Sawyer fucking Weston. I’m not sure what is going on tonight, but I’ve never been more irritated and more turned on by a woman than I have been the last hour by Amelia Greyson.

  We’re only in the car seconds and I’ve already got her book downloaded onto my phone. As much shit as I’ve talked to Wyatt, I can’t have a physical copy laying around, but fuck me, I need to see what’s inside this chick’s head.

  Warren looks at the two of us excitedly. “So what do you guys think? Is she really the one?”

  “Yeah, she is,” Noah and I agree in unison.

  “She’ll be on the buses with you, and she’ll have your phone numbers … you have to be okay with that. For the next three hundred sixty-five days and the international portion, she’ll be with you night and day. You’re sure you’re on board?”

  We both nod, each lost in our thoughts.

  “She’s pretty perfect, but I need to put this out there. If either of you fuck her it could be a real disaster. You know that, right?”

  “She’s a bitch. I’m not going to fuck her.” The words fly out of my mouth before I can think. I’m in defensive mode right now, but that was still messed up.

  “She’s direct and blunt, but she’s not a bitch. Say something now if this is going to be an issue, Sawyer, I mean it,” Warren cautions, and I exhale. I can’t fuck this up; something tells me I want this girl on tour with us more than I’ve ever wanted anything.

  “It’s not a problem. I’m just hungry and tired.” Hungry for Princess’s pretty little lips to be wrapped around my cock like they were with that water bottle earlier. I’m pretty sure the attraction is mutual too.

  “You’re sure your ego can take it? She’s not going to go easy on you.”

  “What, Warren? You think I can’t give as good as I get? I’ll be fine.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about,” he mumbles before turning his attention to Noah. “What about you? You’re awfully quiet.”

  “I think she’s a good fit. The best out of all of them. Up until an hour ago, I was beginning to think Sawyer and Wyatt were right and maybe we should scrap the book. This will be good, Warren, she will be good. We’ll make her feel at home.”

  “Not too at home,” he cautions warily.

  “Of course not,” He agrees with a chuckle.

  I saw Noah checking her out and how he responded to her, but Noah is nice to everyone. It’s hard as hell for me to gauge who he’s actually interested in and who he’s just being nice to. I’ll have to find the time to talk to him about her because I don’t want to be in another Marilyn situation again.

  Warren calls Sam to talk details as Mac drives us back to the Malibu house. When Warren hangs up, he rubs his hands together gleefully. Sometimes, Warren is the biggest kid of all of us.

  “Sam is completely on board. In fact, he said I could tell Amelia they want to offer her a contract on The O Factor.”

  Noah smiles. “You’re going to make her night, Warren.”

  “We’re going to make her night,” I say, correcting Noah.

  He high-fives me and leans back with a smile as Warren spouts off details. When he gets to the financials, he pauses.

  “What?” I ask as he scribbles out something on his paperwork.

  “She’s a new author. I think we need to revise the pay. Everyone else was established, paying them two hundred thousand a year seemed right, but maybe we should offer her less. Maybe one twenty-five?”

  “That seems a bit low,” Noah hedges.

  “That’s bullshit and you know it. Give her two fifty.”

  Warren and Noah’s mouths are both gaping open. “Sawyer, that’s insane. She’s already getting a book deal and a percentage of the royalties,” Warren clarifies.

  “Yeah, and she’s giving up a year of her life to travel on a fucking bus with four strangers. She’s going to put up with all of our shit, especially mine. Consider it hazard pay for dealing with me. Two hundred wasn’t enough in the first place, but I didn’t like those other people, so if they took that money, it was on them.”

  Noah’s interest is piqued. “And it’s not on her?”

  “To an extent, sure. But like Warren said, she’s new, she’s green around the gills and probably doesn’t have a clue how contracts are written. We don’t know her situation or anything about her. Hiring an attorney on a weekend premium will cost an arm and a leg. There’s a real chance she could go into debt just trying to make an informed decision about this. At least she will if she’s smart, and I think we can all agree she seems fucking smart.”

  I’m not sure why I feel the need to defend her, but I do know what it was like to be new in an industry and get nickeled and dimed to death. I may not be on board with all of Noah’s fate shit, but I believe in karma, and I don’t want to fuck anyone over.

  Noah smirks but eventually nods his head in agreement. “He’s right, we should have offered more from the get-go. If her book is as good as Anna and Sam say, and it probably is because she has the bestselling ranking to back it up, she deserves more. We’re putting our trust in her, so she should be able to trust us to protect her right off the bat.”

  Warren mumbles again but scratches out his new numbers and writes a big 250K with a circle around it. Seeing him give in is oddly satisfying. It’s not often I win a battle of wills with him.

  When we arrive at the house, Warren exits the car, but Noah grabs my wrist, holding me back. “That was nice of you,” he muses.

  “There’s a difference between nice and fair.”

  “Maybe. She got to you, didn’t she? Are you upset she called you out on your shit?”

  “Do I look upset? She’s a princess, Noah, and she’s going to hate me because I’m everything she isn’t, but we don’t screw our employees. Never have, and I’ll be damned if we start now.”

  “Okay, if that’s all there is to it, I’ll let it drop.”

  “Thank you.”

  Noah grins and hops out of the SUV. “Come on, I’m starving, and we get to go make someone’s life a little bit better tonight.”

  I’ve got no doubt Amelia will be excited about the deal with SOS, but I’m not sure how she’s going to feel about our offer. It would be a dream come true for most people, but if there’s one thing she’s shown us tonight, she’s not most people by a longshot.

  “I should go talk to Mel.” Belle excuses herself from the table and Noah follows, giving her a blanket to take down to the beach. While he leads her to the stairs outside, we all sit quietly and finish our dinner. That was beyond strange yet not exactly unexpected.

  “She’s not going to do it, and if she doesn’t, we need to just cancel this book. It’s not like we have to do it anyway,” Wyatt says.

  “No, but it would be fucking cool to have a book,” Darren sa
ys as he tosses a piece of garlic bread in his mouth.

  With a glare at them, I push my plate away in frustration. “This book isn’t just for us. It’s for everyone. The fans, other celebrities, our family. Unless you’re famous, you don’t understand the toll this life takes on you. How hard things are. I can’t even buy a box of condoms without the pictures ending up all over the tabloids. If people understood what we actually go through just trying to live our day-to-day lives, maybe things would get easier. If more celebrities spoke up, maybe people like Sara wouldn’t become fixated on people like Noah.”

  Noah enters on the tail end of my rant and takes his seat before contributing. “It’s true, this book could make a difference, but for me, it’s more about giving our fans a piece of us. A final glimpse into our world. I want them to feel our highs as well as our lows. It’s like Sawyer said, we want to give our fans an insider’s look at our lives. If we can show them the good, bad, and everything in between, hopefully it will give them the closure they need and a newfound respect for what we go through. Which, in turn, could make our retirement a whole lot easier.”

  Warren nods as he stands. “It’s up to you guys. If Amelia won’t do it, you’ll have to kill the project or pick one of the others. We’re out of time and out of options. I’ve got to get some work done.” After tossing his napkin down, Warren walks away.

  “So …” Darren begins, dragging out his thought while he makes sure the office door closes behind Warren. “Belle’s a fucking hottie. I’m going to grab a blanket and go chat her up for a bit.”

  Groaning, Noah gets back up. “Then I guess I’ll come with you and bring Amelia back up to the house. God only knows how long you’ll be down on that beach.”

  “Hopefully long enough to show Belle I’ve got mad skills. Round one might be quick, but round two will display my epic fucking capabilities. She had me practically busting a nut in my pants earlier. I just about had my hand down her pants before someone interrupted us for dinner. I’ve been blue balling it ever since.”

  He tosses a pointed glare at Wyatt, who shrugs it off casually. “Whatever, dude. Next time I’ll let Warren catch you fucking instead and have her pulled from the tour before it even starts. How’s that?”

  “Okay, I’ll give you that. Thanks for the save.”

  After they head down to the beach, Wyatt turns his attention to me. “You all right?” Sometimes, I wish I was the easy-going one because I want to be the one going down there to check on her instead of my brother.

  “Yeah, just got a lot on my plate right now, you know?”

  “Don’t let them get to you, Sawyer. We can push off the title track a few more weeks if we have to.”

  I know Wyatt is only trying to help, but I’m stuck on the sexual chemistry between me and this girl. If I could funnel that energy into our song, it would be a hit.

  “I appreciate the support, but you know as well as I do I’m about out of time.”

  “Then let’s rally tomorrow. Like the old days, just hang out and jam our asses off. Inspiration always hits when we let everything go.”

  It’s been a while since we’ve said fuck it and had a band jam day. “Let’s do it. I’m going to go to the garage and clear my head a bit.”

  “Movie night later?”

  God love Wyatt, he’s doing everything he can to relax me. “Sounds good. Text me when you’re ready.”

  After quickly running down to the garage to get my journal, I run back up to my room. I need to take a shower, but my curiosity gets the best of me, and I pick up my phone and open Amelia’s book to a random page. I’m dying to know what’s inside this girl’s head.

  Joss laid motionless under Sam.

  “Babe, that was nice,” he murmured against her heated skin. Par for the usual course lately, he rolled off her and went into the bathroom to ditch the condom and clean up.

  Tired of being his pump and dump receptacle, Joss stuck to the decision she made earlier and reached into her nightstand. After smoothing a bit of lubricant onto her favorite vibrator, she reached between her legs so she could finish herself off. Gasping as the bunny ears teased her tender clit, she set the vibrator to a comfortable pulse and fucked herself the way she deserved.

  “What are you doing?” Sam hissed from the entryway.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked through her pleasure. “I’m taking care of my needs since you seem to have forgotten how.”

  Sam remained motionless, but his eyes never left hers. Joss imagined it was him between her legs as his lustful gaze raked up her body. They’d been together for a while, but she was tired of accepting complacency. She was always going to long for the pleasure he used to bring her, and if he wouldn’t give it to her, she wasn’t going to stick around any longer waiting for him. Crying out as her orgasm crashed over her, Joss gave into every sensation and thrashed across the bed. As the sensations subsided, she turned off the vibrator and gasped for air.

  “That was so fucking sexy,” Sam said, crawling into bed with her.

  Turning to him, Joss made her intentions clear. “Sam, I love you, but that’s the last time I come thinking of you if you’re not the one bringing me pleasure. If it’s not you getting me off next time, I’ll find someone else who wants the job.”

  My dick is hard, and I’ve got a million questions running through my mind. The first thing I want to know is how much truth is in her fiction? Did Amelia’s man leave her high and dry? If he did, he’s a fucking fool. The sexual vibes that radiate between us have already convinced me she’s the kind of girl who gives as good as she gets. And I’m the kind of guy who gives again and again.

  Fuck, I need a shower.

  After removing my shoes and putting my clothes in the hamper, I hop under the heated spray and try clearing my mind. It’s no use; I’m still picturing the glimmer of lust in Mel’s eyes from when I told her I wanted to put her over my knee. I want to smack that tight ass of hers until it’s pink and she’s begging me to fuck her.

  Unlike earlier today, my cock is rock hard. My soaped-up fingers circle the tip of my dick, my pre-cum adding to the slickness. With my head against the tile wall, I work myself to the point of no return. Imagining Amelia’s pretty, pouty lips circling my dick and swallowing me down her throat is my undoing. My body trembles with the aftershocks of one of the best orgasms I’ve ever had. Getting myself off shouldn’t feel that good, but damn … it was like she was right here with me.

  How am I letting this girl I don’t even know get under my skin? She’s bitchy, sarcastic, and undeniably sexy in the most obscure way. She’s not one iota my type, yet I can’t get her out of my head. I just need to sleep with her and get it out of my system. She seems like the kind of woman who can handle a one-night stand. And since she doesn’t like me or my band, I won’t have to worry about her turning into a clinger.

  I’ve just wrapped my towel around my waist and cracked the bathroom door when I hear someone step into my room. No one comes in without knocking, ever. If it’s not her, it’s Belle, but one of them is about to get a surprise.

  Rapidly flipping the light off, I open the door and pull the unsuspecting girl inside. “What the fuck?” she gasps.

  It’s her.

  “Fucking hell, Princess,” I growl. The room is dark and steamy, and before she can tell me to shove my Princess comment where the sun doesn’t shine, my mouth crashes against hers. As I wrap an arm around her waist and pull her closer, I weave the fingers of my free hand through her hair. Her scent is intoxicating, and as I slide my tongue across her lips, she opens to me. My heart pounds in my chest as our tongues meet for the first time. Her mouth tastes like heaven, but the two of us together could easily burn a path straight to hell.

  Her body fits perfectly against mine, and as our tongues duel for control, she wraps her arms around me and releases her soft cries of pleasure against my mouth.

  If another woman had ever kissed me like this, I would have given up
my bachelorhood a long time ago.

  She tugs my lip ring with her teeth, and it sends a jolt straight to my cock. I’m moaning just as much as she is, and when her body begins grinding against my dick, I slide my hand down her tight little ass, bringing us even closer together. I want her doggy style on my bed, and the thought alone practically takes me to my knees. Her gasp brings me back to the present as she abruptly pushes me away.

  What the fuck?

  “We can’t.” Her voice is a breathless whisper.

  “Oh, Princess,” I say, placing her hand on my dick, “I’m pretty sure we can.”

  She laughs, and it’s like music for my soul. With a laugh like that, I have to see her smile, so I flip on the light and she blinks rapidly. Oops, guess I didn’t exactly think that through, but oh well, it’s worth it because she’s still smiling and it looks damn good on her. Once her eyes focus, she takes me in. There isn’t an inch of my body her gaze doesn’t roam across. I know she said no, but when she licks her lips and bites down on her bottom lip, I know it’s her mind talking over her sex drive.

  When her eyes land on my chest, the rapid rise and fall of hers becomes noticeable. This girl has a thing for my piercings. I’m tempted to drop my towel, if for no other reason than to see her lick those luscious lips of hers again. Too bad, she’s starting to come to her senses, I was enjoying the pheromone high between us.

  With a regretful look, she speaks, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do this.”

  “Your body says otherwise,” I counter, curious as hell to see how this is going to play out.

  “Maybe it does, but I don’t think with my body anymore, I think with my mind. We can’t do this if I’m coming on tour with you.”

  So she made her decision. All right, I’ll play her game … for now. I’ll deal with a temporary disappointment as long as I know I’ve got access to her for the next year and a half. I’ll talk to Noah about her tonight and tell him how I feel because if there’s one thing I know as easily as my own name, it’s that me and Princess are meant to be fuck buddies.