Becky couldn’t help but pout. There was only one Goth boy she was interested in. But so far, Kelley hadn’t shown any romantic interest in her. Well, except for that time at her locker. Actually, there had been other moments she could have sworn she sensed his attraction to her. There was something there in the way he had run his hands over her body when she’d fallen in the tub. The few times she’d snuck into his bed, he’d held her so tenderly, whispered so many reassurances in her ear. Then again, perhaps he was only being kind since her granny had so recently passed away.
In actuality, Becky was quite confused about the whole thing. She hadn’t even contemplated Jax as a possible romantic interest. Not that there was anything wrong with Jax. Despite his extreme Gothness, and multiple piercings, he had a sweet enough face and he had shown her quite a bit of attention, so much so that she tended to shy away from him when he came by the house. Which, by the way, had become quite often, ever since that first night when he had dropped by to hang out with the guys, and found Becky in their midst. He’d been quite pleasantly surprised to be introduced to her that first night. In fact, he hadn’t been able to take his iceberg blue eyes off her.
Jax was not quite as tall as Kelley, Crispin or Dorian. He was just under six foot. Tall enough for her, though, being only five foot nothing. He had platinum blonde, shoulder length hair that he wore flat ironed straight. He was extremely slim, but in a good way, like a model or a runner. There was definitely nothing wrong with Jax, but he just wasn’t Kelley.
“Are you telling me that you’re not the least bit interested?” Crispin asked with a frown. In his mind, this was a perfect solution to his anxiety about Becky coming in between Kelley and the band. “He seems like a super nice guy.” He added with a conspiring wink and an enticing smile.
“I’m sure he is,” she said with a sigh. But he’s not Kelley.
“You could do much worse,” he said, leaning down, looking into her green eyes. “He talks about you all the time when you’re not around.”
“Oh? What does he say?” she asked, suddenly curious.
“Well, just that he finds you quite to his liking,” Crispin said, not wanting to give specifics. Truth be told, Jax had been quite graphic in his admiration of Becky’s womanly attributes. “He asked me if you were seeing someone.”
“What did you say?” she asked, furrowing her brow.
“I said no, of course. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“I suppose,” she said pensively. Even though her heart wanted Kelley, it didn’t mean he wanted her back.
“He even asked me to put in a good word for him. He wanted me to ask you if had any interest in him. Apparently he thinks you’re avoiding him.”
“I’m not avoiding him… not really. I just don’t know him, that’s all,” she explained.
“Well, perhaps this is a good opportunity to get to know him,” Crispin said. “Don’t look so worried, dormouse. Apparently he’s quite into vanilla, so you’ll be just fine, if not a tad bored, but who am I to judge?” he added with a mischievous grin. Then his expression softened ever so subtly, his grey eyes taking on a warm glint. “I suppose under the circumstances, I might even consider – oh, never mind.”
“What does that even mean, vanilla?” she asked, watching him chuckle and shake his head, ruffling her hair with his large hand.
“What does Kelley think about all this?” she asked when he didn’t elaborate.
“Kelley… what does it matter what he thinks?” Crispin scoffed impatiently. “This is between you and Jax.”
“And you, obviously!” she said, getting frustrated at his insistent matchmaking.
“Fine, forget it! Stay a naive little virgin forever, for all I care,” Crispin spat as he stalked off.
Becky couldn’t help but frown at Crispin’s insensitive comment. Perhaps he was right, though. Being a virgin forever wasn’t in the least bit appealing. Besides, Jax wasn’t such a bad guy, and if Crispin thought she should get to know him, then what would it hurt? As for the vanilla thing, she really had no idea what he meant by that.
All she did know is she didn’t want to stay a virgin forever, no matter how scary surrendering her body to a guy she didn’t really know might be. Maybe she should get to know Jax a bit better. Perhaps next time he drops by she won’t be so eager to retreat to her room.
Chapter 15
“Not that I care, but what’s with you pushing Becky onto Jax, all of a sudden?” Kell asked as they set up for band practice.
Crispin scoffed incredulously. “Because he likes her?”
“So what if he likes her?” Kell insisted. “What’s in it for you?”
“Peace of mind,” Crispin said with a shrug.
“That way he doesn’t have to worry about Becky coming in between you and the band.” Dorian chuckled. “Isn’t that right, Crisp?”
“Really?” Kell asked with a scowl, wishing his nosy housemates would stay out of his business.
“Well, if you must know, yes,” Crispin answered belligerently. “The last thing we need is another Yoko on our hands.”
“What the hell are you getting at?” When no one answered, Kell couldn’t help but frown at both his meddling housemates. “How much do we know about Jax anyway? Do you even trust him with Becky?”
Crispin shrugged, unbothered. “How bad can he be? We’ve known him for quite a while now. He comes around enough just to hang out. Besides, he likes her. Isn’t that enough?”
The truth was, although he’d never admit it, Crispin had gone to great lengths to investigate Jax’s past with the ladies. Amongst the lanky blonde’s ex-girlfriends, he found nothing out of the ordinary. “I don’t sense any malice in his personality. He likes a lot of the same music we do, and he’s Goth. What more can she ask for?”
“I just don’t think you should pressure her into it if she’s not interested,” Kell said, tuning his bass guitar.
“What makes you think she’s not interested?” Crispin asked, gesturing towards the garage door.
Becky stood quietly by the door and waved her fingers at her three housemates. Not wanting to miss another chance at watching them play, Becky had snuck out of the house, eager to see the band.
“Becky…” Kell groaned, wondering how much she’d heard. “What are you doing in here?”
Becky’s face fell as a result of his question and the harshness in his tone. Kicking himself, Kell quickly rephrased his words and softened his voice. “It’s dark out. You shouldn’t wander out here on your own.”
“Come on, Kell.” Dorian chuckled. “It’s only a few feet from the garage to the house. How much trouble can she possibly get into?”
“Besides, I’m not alone,” Becky said indignantly, looking over her shoulder as Jax stepped in behind her. How dare they talk to her like she was a child, especially in front of company! “Jax came by just now. He was looking for you. I thought it would be fun if we could watch you practice.”
“Gentlemen.” The smitten blonde nodded in greeting, looking quite chuffed with himself. Finally, he must be getting through to her. Surprisingly, Becky hadn’t run off the moment he arrived at the house. He’d been trying to get her attention for quite some time. Ever since that first night he’d discovered her napping on Crispin’s lap, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. At first, he’d assumed that she and Crispin were a couple, but Crispin had only laughed when he’d inquired. When he had explained that Becky was simply his housemate, Jax’s hopes soared.
She was the cutest little thing. She obviously wasn’t Goth which is how he usually liked his women, but he could work with that. She seemed quite comfortable in their midst. At least, around her housemates.
So far the little waif had avoided him, though. Perhaps he’d scared her a bit. Understandable, since he was quite extreme in his Gothness. Most women liked the way he looked, but then they were usually Goth themselves.
Tonight, though, much to his delight, Becky hadn’t shied away from him. In fa
ct, she’d been quite welcoming, even offering to escort him to the garage. Even though he would have been more than happy to make his own way, since he’d always done so in the past. “Mind if we join you?” he asked, placing a possessive arm around Becky’s suddenly tense shoulders.
“Sure, we love an audience,” Crispin said with a smirk. “Don’t we, Kell?”
“Yeah, why not?” he grumbled, tensing at the sight of Jax’s grubby mitts all over Becky. How dare he be so… familiar with her! It was bad enough coping with her newfound friendship with Crispin. Jax just better watch himself. Becky was not a plaything.
Exchanging a nervous glance with Jax, Becky followed his lead and joined him on the old chesterfield to watch the band. Right away, he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest. She was a bit taken aback by his forwardness, but perhaps this is what she needed since left to her own devices, things would never progress beyond holding hands.
“Relax, Becks,” he crooned, chuckling at her timidity.
As distracted as she was by Jax and his overbearing attentions, Becky couldn’t help but be excited to watch the guys play. The entire experience was quite thrilling for her. She’d been wanting so badly to watch the guys practice. Ever since she discovered that the were indeed a band, she’d been so curious as to what they would sound like. In classic Becky style, though, she’d been too shy to impose upon them. It didn’t help that they hadn’t invited her back either.
She was captivated by the whole thing. The sound-checks, the primping and prancing, the tuning of instruments. My, but the boys looked good up there on the makeshift stage. They were all eye-catching really, but Kelley was to her, the most spellbinding. So tall, so dark and entrancing. The pouty brooding glances he cast her way, did nothing to quell her escalating attraction to him. All that and they hadn’t even started playing yet. With her heartbeat already accelerating in her chest, she was almost afraid to find out how she would react when they actually performed.
“Do you like Goth music?” Jax asked, nuzzling his nose in her hair, suddenly interrupting her lusty thoughts.
“I, uh… I don’t mind it,” she said with a shy smile. In all honestly, she wasn’t really even sure if she did or not. The stuff she’d heard the guys playing on the stereo, she didn’t really care for. Now and then, though, a particular song would come on that she did enjoy. For the most part, their taste in music had started to grow on her in the last little while. As for what they as a band sounded like, she had no idea since she hadn’t actually heard them play.
“It’s an acquired taste,” Jax said, gazing intently into her eyes. Smitten by her, he found it incredibly hard to keep from touching her. Leaning in close, he ran his hand down the side of her face and very suavely tucked a stray curl of her hair behind her ear.
Becky smiled nervously and nodded. “I suppose…” She couldn’t help but shy away from Jax and his intense if not expectant gaze.
Thankfully the guys decided right at that moment to kick in with their first song. Becky startled at the unexpected assault of sound and jerked her head towards the stage.
“Wow…” she gasped, watching them go at it. Crispin was phenomenal. She couldn’t quite believe his transformation. He went from prickly to… seductive as he sang and played lead guitar. Not to be outdone, Kelley brought his own game, swaying ever so appealingly if not a tad aggressively. It was hard to say really if that was what he normally looked like when he performed, or if the aggression was directed at Jax’s hand on her knee. She suspected by the menacing glare he was directing at the amorous blonde Goth that it was the latter. Still, she couldn’t help but find him incredibly sexy up there. The angrier he got, the sexier he came across.
Dorian was absolutely nuts on those drums. The three of them were something else. How could she have been living with these very sexy men all this time, and not have noticed? Well, that wasn’t exactly true, she had noticed them, especially Kelley.
“They’re pretty awesome, aren’t they?” Jax asked, taking the opportunity to slide his hand further up her knee. “You’re pretty awesome too.”
“Oh, yeah…” she said headily, watching Kelley pound away at his big black guitar, subconsciously rolling her lip between her teeth, wishing that it was his hand travelling up her thigh.
The way Kelley played that bass was unlike anything she could have imagined. He was beautiful in his stage rage. If that’s how he was like when he played his guitar, imagine what he was like in other such passionate endeavours. Unaware of the fact that she was practically panting with want of him, Becky was even less aware of the ever opportunistic Jax until she felt his lips on her neck and his tongue in her ear.
Caught off guard, she started to protest and push away, but then after a few coaxing swirls of his tongue, she relaxed into him, oddly enjoying his talented tongue a little too much.
Jax smiled and chuckled, finding her bashfulness refreshing. Here was a challenge! Something he hadn’t had to contemplate for a long while. “You’re adorable, you know that?” he murmured affectionately in her ear.
Becky peeked up at him through her lashes and blushed prettily. A couple of songs later, Jax pulled her into his chest and proceeded to run his fingers through her hair. Strangely enough, she didn’t mind it so much. In fact, she was quite enjoying herself. After all, Jax was quite handsome and charming in his own way. Perhaps Crispin was right about him being a good guy for her. Maybe giving him her virginity wouldn’t be such a bad thing. He appeared to know what he was doing. He seemed quite confident so far, and unlike a certain Goth with red streaks in his hair, at least, Jax didn’t feel the need to deny his attraction to her.
As the evening went on, a few more of their friends showed up and let themselves into the carriage house. Nodding in acknowledgment, Jax greeted them with a chuffed glint in his eye when they noticed Becky so intimately tucked into his side.
Meanwhile, it was taking all of Kell’s willpower not to go over and rip the enamoured Goth’s throat out. His barely contained rage was not lost on Dorian or Crispin either. The negative energy he emitted was quite obvious to his band members. Kell was all over the place with his notes. He was never off key, but tonight, the brooding Goth was all over the map.
“What’s the matter with you?” Crispin hissed between songs. “It’s bad enough I have to sing and play lead guitar at the same time, but you have no excuse!”
“Fuck off!” It was all he could say. Damn meddling Crispin. It was his fault he couldn’t concentrate. It was his idea to practically hand Becky over to Jax on a silver platter. Bastard!
“Come on, guys. Let’s get it together, shall we?” Dorian pleaded, looking around apologetically at their confused audience.
“Really, Kell, it’s for the best,” Crispin muttered, inclining his head in the direction of where Becky sat encircled in Jax’s arms. His tongue, once again buried in her ear, his hand creeping ever higher on her thigh. “Everyone wins this way. No one gets hurt.”
Standing head to head with Crispin, Kell all but growled at the conniving son of a bitch. “Stay the fuck out of my business, Crisp!”
“Shit, here we go,” Dorian huffed, tossing his drumsticks to the floor.
“Damn, it’s just like with Keegan all over again,” Crispin spat.
Chapter 16
To say that Jax was good at what he was doing, would be a severe understatement. In fact, he was amazing at it. Becky moaned softly, liking the way his talented tongue felt as it swept in and out of her ear. Too bad, she couldn’t quite get past the idea of having an audience.
“Fuck…” Jax grumbled suddenly, reluctantly pulling away from Becky.
“What’s going on?” Becky whispered huskily, sitting up and frowning at the interruption of her introductory make-out session.
Why had the guys stopped playing? She was too far away to hear what the guys were saying to each other, but from their body language, it was pretty obvious that they were not happy.
“
Um, Becks are you by chance… involved with Kell?” Jax asked nervously, having suffered under the dark Goth’s glares one too many times.
Becky turned to face Jax and furrowed her brow. Why would he ask that? Hadn’t he talked to Crispin? As far as she was concerned, Crispin had made it quite clear that she wasn’t seeing anyone. “No… not really, why?” she asked.
“What do you mean, not really?” Jax said, looking very concerned. “He’s been staring daggers at me all night.”
“I mean, we’re just friends. At least I think we are,” she explained as well as she could, even though to be honest, the entire situation was a bit confusing. Why would Kelley feel the need to scowl at Jax in such an unfriendly way? Even now, he was glaring a hole through the blonde’s head.
“Well, perhaps you had better clear that up with him because I’m not so sure he is of the same mind,” Jax said, abruptly setting Becky away from him. “Shit, here he comes.”
Watching Kelley approach with such singular murderous intent, startled Becky. Reactively, she stood up, feeling the need to intercept his heat-seeker missile momentum. “Kelley…what…”
Literally seething with hostility towards Jax and his octopus arms, Kell hadn’t expected Becky to suddenly jump up in front of him. “Damn it, Becky!” he cursed, nearly knocking her over with the full force of his impact. She bounced off his chest like a bowling pin. Fortunately, he caught her before she fell backwards. With his large hands, he grabbed her upper arms with a vice-like grip and steadied her on her feet.
“Kelley…”
“Hey, back off, man,” Jax warned, jumping up, looking nervously from Kell to Crispin for some sort of intercession. Too bad it wasn’t coming. Crispin and Dorian had already taken off in a huff.
Jax wasn’t looking for any trouble. He was a lover, not a fighter, and Kell Keele was a force to be reckoned with on a good day. “What the fuck’s your problem?”
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