by Casey, L. A.
“It’s good,” he chuckled. “Now lips.”
I leaned in and pressed mine to his.
“You meant my lips on yours, right?”
He hummed. “Always.”
I chuckled as I leaned back, reached over and grabbed the lone tube of lipstick. I uncapped it, rolled it up and puckered my lips. Risk mirrored my action so I dabbed the colour on the centre of his plump lips then used my baby finger to feather it out so it blended into his natural lip colour. I tilted my head. He looked sexy.
“I wanna kiss you but I’ll get the lipstick all over me.”
“Pity.” Risk grinned. “How much d’you wanna kiss me?”
I shifted, grinding my behind over Risk’s groin. He hissed, looked down and groaned when I rotated my hips slowly.
“So badly.”
“Vixen.” He snapped his teeth at me. “You’re being naughty.”
“I can’t help it. I want you. Can we have a quickie?”
I had seen fleeting images of him on stage, but never studied them. I had never seen him up close and personal with his stage clothes and make-up. It was really turning me on.
“No.” Risk shook his head. “Wait until after the show. I’ll be so full of adrenaline that I’ll fuck you hard and for so long that you’ll walk funny afterwards.”
I felt my eyebrows shoot up.
“Really?”
“Really,” he slid his hands up my back. “This is another first for me. A new kind of foreplay that I think I’m going to like. I’m going to tease myself with you while knowing I have to perform a whole set before I can have you. Hell. I’m so hard, baby.”
I felt his thick length under me.
“Does it make you harder to know I’m wet and swollen for you?”
“Yes,” he hissed. “How wet are you, baby?”
“Dripping.” I licked my lips. “I can already feel the fat head of your cock sink into my hot, tight cunt. You’ll fuck me slowly, pull my hair and bite me because you can. I want to feel pain when you fuck me.”
“Christ in heaven.”
“Jesus, Frankie . . . that was hot.”
“It’s always the quiet ones.”
“Leave her alone you three, she’s so cute.”
I forgot people were within hearing distance and I felt my face burn under my make-up. I locked eyes with Risk and when he laughed, so did I, but I swatted his shoulders.
“I’m gonna kill you,” I warned him. “I never talk like that.”
“I’m glad I bring the vixen out in you, Cherry.”
“Just hush.”
Risk chuckled as I got up. I was embarrassed, and to take myself out of the situation I had put myself in, I grabbed my phone and dialled Michael’s number as I joined Risk on the sofa with May and Angel. Games weren’t on the television anymore. An action movie was.
“Hi, Frankie.”
“Hi Michael.” I put my finger in my free ear. “How is Mum?”
“The same,” he answered. “She’s slept most of today. How is the concert? Are you having fun, kid?”
“I am.” I smiled. “It’s hasn’t started yet, I’m backstage with Risk and the guys. It’s so cool, I want to touch everything.”
Michael laughed, Risk snorted next to me.
“I’m glad you’re lettin’ your legs stretch, girl. Ye need this break.”
I didn’t realise how right Michael was until that moment, but guilt quickly followed.
“Are you sure Mum is okay?” I pressed. “I feel guilty not being home in case she needs me.”
Risk kissed the side of my neck, comforting me.
“Frankie,” Michael sighed. “Your ma would be the first person to push ye into experiencin’ the world. There is more to life than Southwold, y’know?”
I was beginning to grasp that.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Have fun.” Michael stressed. “No worryin’, just have fun.”
“I will.” I smiled. “I promised.”
“Good. Now, go and rock out, or whatever it is Risk and his bandmates do.”
I laughed. “I will. I love you.”
“I love ye too, kid.”
When the call ended, the guys were being told they had to get ready. I remained seated while Angel, May and Hayes got to change clothes. Like Risk, they got dressed quickly. They didn’t wear make-up like Risk so they had one step to skip. A short while later, the guys were getting their wireless in-ear packs clipped onto the backs of their jeans. I noticed that each pair of in-ear headphones were a different colour. Risk’s were dark green, May’s were red, Hayes’s were blue and Angel’s were black.
“I like your in-ear thingys,” I said to Risk when I got up and crossed the room to him. He left his in-ears hanging around his neck for the time being. “The colour is pretty.”
“Ask me why they’re green.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Okay, why’re they green?”
“Because it’s my favourite colour,” he answered. “Ask me why green is my favourite colour.”
“Uh, why is green your favourite colour?”
“Because your eyes are green, Cherry. Dark emerald green. They are my favourite colour.”
My throat ran dry.
“Risk.”
“I know,” he grinned. “You think I’m cute.”
“You are,” I leaned up on my tiptoes to kiss him. He had to lean down to meet me half-way. “The absolute cutest.”
We shared a chaste kiss then I stepped back and stared at the group and I had a ‘what the fuck’ moment.
“I’ve just had a moment of realisation that you guys are actually rock stars.” I swallowed. “I mean, I know you’re famous and successful and all of that jazz but holy shit, you guys are actual rock stars. You made it out of Southwold and took the world by storm. I knew you would.”
May made a sound between a whimper and a cough. He balled his hand into a fist and pressed it to his mouth that was clamped shut. I beamed his way and when I moved towards him with my arms open, he pulled me against him and hugged me tightly. Laughter and clapping surrounded us.
“I can’t believe I almost cried,” he said into my ear. “Fuck you, Fulton.”
I laughed, squeezed him then hugged the other guys. Things happened quickly then. People were buzzing around like bees, shouting different things and talking into walkie-talkies while I was just watching them with keen interest. Chris announced it was time to head to the stage.
“Your guitars!” I gasped. “Where are they?”
“Breathe,” Risk chuckled. “They’re on stage waiting for us on our marks. Everything is where it should be, beautiful.”
I placed a hand on my chest.
“Ignore me, I’m freaking out.”
“You have your inhalers, right?” Risk tilted my chin up so I was looking at him. “Both of them?”
I grabbed my bag and patted it. “I triple checked.”
“Good.” He flicked his eyes over my head. “Tob, you’ve got the inhalers I gave you, yeah?”
“Got them right here, man.”
He gave Tobias back-up inhalers?
I smiled up at Risk. “You’re so good to me.”
“Returning the favour is all,” he said. “You’ve taken care of me for long enough, it’s time I took care of you.”
“How about we take care of each other?”
He leaned his forehead down against mine.
“Sounds like a dream to me, Cherry.”
He pecked my lips then was ushered over to the other members as the crew were doing checks on their in-ear monitors amongst other things. I hung back, not wanting to mess up anything that was important in the build-up to the band going on stage. I couldn’t take my eyes off Risk. He looked so fucking good.
“Hello, Frankie.”
I looked up to my right and smiled.
“Hi, Chris.”
“Having fun?”
“Loads.”
“That’s great.” He looked at Risk. “L
isten, Risk needs to focus right now on his first sober show with the band. In order for him to do that, I need you to your take yourself out of the equation because you’re taking that focus away from his music.”
I felt my smile fall from my face.
“Oh . . . uh, yes, sir.” I shifted my stance. “I’ll just wait over—”
“Cherry? Let’s go. I want you side stage, babe.”
I didn’t even look at Chris as I ducked away from him and hurried over to Risk’s side.
“Everything okay?”
“What?” I blinked. “Oh, yeah. Fine.”
Risk nodded, hooked his arm around my shoulder and led me from the room. We lagged a little behind the other three members and Summer. There were crew members all around but my eyes were on the Blood Oath members. May was something else. He had on black distressed jeans, very similar to Risk’s. His boots tied all the way up to his knees though, unlike the others, whose combat boots stopped midway up their shins. Apart from this little black scarf thing around his neck, and black suspender straps over each shoulder, May’s torso was completely naked. I didn’t realise he was so heavily tattooed. He was inked up way more than Risk.
“He’s such a heartbreaker.”
“Don’t tell him that,” Risk leaned down and kissed the crown of my head as we walked. “He’ll think you want him and rub it in my face.”
I giggled happily.
I wanted to document this moment so I got my phone from my pocket, turned the face fronting camera on and held it out. Risk instantly leaned down, pressed his head on mine and smiled. I mirrored the actions and snapped a couple of photos. Risk took my phone got more pictures from better angles. He was taller and had longer arms, his pictures did us justice. He did the same with his phone then before he gave it to a crew member for safe-keeping.
“I’m so excited,” I said as I took my phone back and tucked it back into my pocket. “But I’m so nervous too. This is so huge.”
We reached the end of the hallway. This was where I would part from Risk. Him and the guys rose up onto the stage so they had to go a different route. I grabbed his face, leaned up and kissed him. I quickly made sure his lips were still a desirable red when we separated.
“I’m so proud of you,” I told him. “You know that, right? So bloody proud.”
“Really?”
“Really.” I reached around and smacked his bum. “Go get ’em, rock star.”
Risk’s smile was bigger than I had ever seen before. He took my face in his hands, pressed his lips to mine once more before he backed away. “This is for you, Cherry. Every single song . . . for you.”
Then he was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
RISK
“Let’s go, baby!” May whooped. “First Blood Oath gig.”
I looked at my friend as we ducked below the stage and huddled towards our stage lifts that would carry us up onto the stage when the gig began. The roar of the Sinners out in the stadium was already off the charts. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“First gig?” I repeated when he didn’t finish his sentence. “This is our millionth gig.”
“This is our first gig,” May stressed. “When you and Frankie broke up, you didn’t perform on stage or record in the studio unless you had drink or drugs in your system. This is the first Blood Oath gig because you’ll be really present for it. This is first real one, main man.”
My chest tightened and a fucking lump formed in my throat.
“Why’d you have to go and say nice shit like that?”
Angel poked his head over my shoulder.
“Are you crying? Please, tell me you’re crying, puta.”
I shoved him out of my space, clearing my throat as he and the others laughed happily. The four of us were hunkered down because we were way too tall to stand up under the stage without whacking our heads. We were sort of huddled together and it gave me the chance to look at each of my friends, each of my brothers, and smile.
“I wouldn’t want to do this fast-lane life with any men other than you three arseholes,” I grinned. “We’re Blood Oath.”
“We’re Blood Oath,” they echoed as we bumped our fists together.
“Can you believe we do this shit for a living?” Hayes quizzed, his voice filled with wonder. “We’re about to go and perform in front of one hundred thousand Sinners in Wembley. Those are people who love our sound, love Risk’s lyrics, love us, and want to see us live. I still can’t believe it.”
“Me either, bro,” May agreed. “This crazy shit is what our dreams are made of.”
I grinned. “Amen.”
“This feels different to you three as well, right?” Angel questioned, glancing at each of us. “Like this isn’t just a standard show because our lives have changed so much since the last one? Hayes is gonna be a daddy, Risk has his muse back, I’ve got me a steady girl back home and May . . . May is still STD free, so that’s something.”
We cracked up with laughter.
“It is different,” I affirmed. “This is how every one of our gigs should feel. I love being on stage with you guys but having a clear mind makes me feel like I’m experiencing all of this for the first time. I’ll see the faces of our Sinners as they sing our songs back to us. They won’t just be a blur of nothingness anymore.”
Hayes clamped his hand on my shoulder. “This is the first gig of many for us.”
I nodded. “The first of many.”
“Let’s get it!” May whooped. “I’m so fucking ready.”
My boy looked as excited as I felt.
“I’m buzzing, man.” I couldn’t hold still. “Frankie is here, she’s gonna hear me sing her songs. I’ve wanted this for so many years, just to see her face as she hears me . . . hears what I have to say to her.”
It was incredibly important to me that I see her when I’m singing the songs she inspired. I had never been able to sing them directly to her before, and I wanted to see her face, her eyes as she heard me. I knew she would hear my love for her when I sang . . . I knew she would. She’d hear me. She had always been the only person able to hear me when everyone else just listened.
“She’s not going anywhere,” May assured me. “Trust me.”
May’s words struck a chord within me and suddenly, I felt like I was about to burst.
“I’m telling her tonight.”
“Telling her what?”
“That I love her,” I answered. “That I can’t be without her. That I hadn’t felt alive until the moment she came back into my life.”
“It’s about fucking time.” Angel punched my deltoid. “I was going to tell her for you if you didn’t.”
I laughed as a voice behind us shouted, “On your marks, guys. Good luck!”
I felt a surge of adrenaline rush through my body as me and the guys bumped fists once more and moved onto our marks on our separate lifts. We all settled our in-ears into our ears and shook our arms out.
“May’s mic is live for introduction. Show time in ten, nine, eight . . .”
The voice of Edward, our sound engineer, filled my ears, and I knew that the others got the same message. When he reached one, May’s voice filled the stadium.
“Looonnndddddooonnnnn, Blood Oath is calling.”
The stage lit up as we were lifted into view. The screams, holy shit, they were loud. Right next to our marks were our guitars, Angel had to hustle to jump behind his drum set, but like a well-oiled machine, we were strapped with our instruments and ready to go in a matter of seconds.
Without warning, I strummed my guitar and grinned when the riff sounded. It sounded like a lover’s slow caress to my ears. Once the first one echoed, another one from the rhythm guitar followed its cue, then the beat of drums, then then bass line . . . then my voice.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
FRANKIE
The world could have ended around me and I wouldn’t have noticed because my entire being was focused on Risk. On his alluring, so
ul-touching, clit-throbbing voice. The throaty growling sound he made when he screamed certain lyrics sent a shiver up my spine. I had no idea what lyrics he was singing, I was entirely too captivated with how he looked and sounded to really listen to the words that were coming out of his mouth.
When the first song of the night wound to an end, the lighting on stage changed and each band member could be seen clearly by me at the side of the stage. There was a flurry of activity with the crew behind me still but I blocked them out and focused on Risk.
“London!” Risk shouted into his microphone. “What’s happening, you beautiful bastards?”
The screams, holy Christ, they were deafening.
“That,” Angel said into his mic from the back of the stage behind his drum set, “is what I like to fucking hear, Sinners. Don’t you agree, Hayes?”
“Oh, yeah. Nothing better than Sinners screaming.”
More screams quaked the stadium. I knew Angel and Hayes didn’t sing like Risk, who was the lead, and May, who provided some backing vocals, but Summer had mentioned earlier that they recently started having their own microphones so they could speak and interact between songs because the fans loved it so much. It was clearly a good decision.
“Ha!” May suddenly shouted. “Barely finished the first song and I’ve got my first thong thrown my way.” He bowed in the direction of the woman who threw it. “Thank you, darlin’.”
He hung it off one of the guitar’s tuning keys and I burst out laughing because that was such a May thing to do. A bunch of underwear was suddenly launched onto the stage, making Risk and Hayes laugh. With their fingertips, the lads followed suit and decorated their guitars with knickers and bras. I knew I couldn’t be the only one to wonder if they were worn or new.
“Lucky bastards,” Angel grumbled. “Where’s my panties at?”
More flimsy pieces of fabric were hurled onto the stage, all of the guys laughed when May grabbed a bunch of them and ran up the steps in the middle of the stage so he could reach Angel. He decorated his drum kit and when he was finished Angel high-fived him.
“I’ve always got my brother’s back when it comes to knicker decor.”
I giggled like a silly schoolgirl. They were so funny, so charismatic and so happy. They were all smiling, I loved to see it. Them being happy made me feel happy. It was infectious.
