by Meghan Quinn
Rook started to move in closer to her. She could smell the soap that caressed his body in the shower. His hair was still a little wet. His face was getting closer and closer to her, so she could feel his breath spread across her skin, causing goose bumps to ripple along her skin. He leaned in and was just about to touch his lips with hers when something clicked in her head.
This was Rook, asshole Rook, the same Rook who didn’t believe in her talent and her abilities. Hell no was she going to let him kiss her even though her body was screaming for him to take her to the Fuck Bed and christen the whole bus.
She placed her hand on his chest and pushed him away, well more like stopped him from kissing her because pushing him away was quite difficult, since her hand was enjoying the feel of his bare chest.
“Don’t, Rook.”
“Don’t what?” he asked with a grin.
Instantly annoyed with Rook’s confidence in himself and his damn smile, Maisy wiggled away somehow and put space between them. She paced the hallway for a few seconds while rubbing her head, then turned around and faced him. He had his arms crossed, making his chest muscles stand out more than they usually did. He was leaning up against the wall of the bus as he smiled at her. Damn him for looking so good and the fact that he knew he looked so good. His arrogance annoyed Maisy to the point of wanting to punch him in the jugular.
“You can’t just come in here, act all concerned, touch my tattoo and think you can kiss me. It doesn’t work like that. I’m not one of your groupies, contrary to what you like to think. You’re an ass Rook and honestly, I want nothing to do with you, so why don’t you go lock yourself back up in the back of the bus?”
Rook didn’t even look phased from her rant. Instead he put his shirt back on and walked toward Maisy. He grabbed her hand and led her to the couch where he sat down and forced her to sit as well.
He let go of her hand, causing her body to weep since it craved his warm touch.
“I know I’ve been a dick to you. Believe me, I hate myself for it. I want you to know that I’m sorry and that I’m not very good at handling my feelings.”
“Feelings?” Maisy asked, completely confused.
“I know I haven’t been that obvious, but there is something about you Maisy that my soul wants. Whenever I’m around you I want to be holding you, touching you, feeding off of you. My body craves yours and I’ve been a stupid ass to deny myself for this long. Well, I’m done. I want you, Maisy.”
Maisy sat there with her mouth wide open like a child trying to catch bubbles on a warm summer day. She had no clue what to say to that. Rook didn’t like her…did he? There was no way. He insulted her, he didn’t talk to her, he barely looked at her.
She shook her head, trying to wrap her head around what he was saying. “I don’t know what game you’re playing. Is this this about Cruz? Are you in some sort of competition with him?”
“No,” Rook said, as if she had slapped him. “I’m an ass, but I don’t go around playing games with people. But I will tell you this, you won’t be letting Cruz hold you anymore. That’s not his role.”
“Excuse me?” Maisy said, while backing up from him. “Where do you get off telling me who I can be with and who I can’t? You’re delusional if you think you can control me. No one can control me, not even my father. I decide who I’m with and who I’m not and right now, you can leave this bus because you, for one, are not welcome here and two, you’re a dick and I don’t want to be near you.”
Rook didn’t get up to move, he just sat there like a stubborn old coot.
“Ugh,” Maisy blew out as she got up, grabbed a jacket and tore off the bus. She couldn’t be around him any longer. He was beyond infuriating.
She stomped her way through the parking lot as she thought about what he said to her. There was no way he was in his right frame of mind. He had to be high, delusional or absolutely plastered. Although, when she thought about the look in his eyes as he talked to her, she knew he was none of those things. He was completely real with her, but she chose not to believe him. It was too dangerous to believe him because he was the only one that could control her, own her heart. She knew it. She felt it every time she was around him and, damn her, if she wouldn’t put up a fight. She could so easily get lost in the whirlwind of Rook Tyler and the worst part was, she didn’t think she was strong enough to survive.
***
Rook chased after Maisy, hell if he was going to let that be the end of their conversation. He knew he had been a complete dick to her, but he didn’t know he had done that much damage. He knew she was going to show some resistance, but he didn’t know she was going to completely shut him out.
He knew he was wrong to demand that she stop going near Cruz, but he couldn’t help himself. If Rook was going to be with Maisy, there was no way on an old lady’s nipple hair that he would allow Cruz, of all men, to hang all over Maisy. Cruz was way too much of a horn dog not to try to get it on with her, or even just try to cop a feel. No, Maisy was Rook’s and he could punch himself in the face for taking so long to realize exactly what he wanted.
“Maisy wait!” Rook called out as he caught up to her. She didn’t turn around, instead she just stood in the parking lot, looking down at the ground.
He turned her around in his arms and lifter her chin so he could look at those huge brown eyes of hers.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just that…” Rook raked his hands over his face while trying to gain the courage to say what he wanted to say. “It’s just that I like you, a lot and I it’s hard for me to accept a relationship like the one you have with Cruz when I know what’s on Cruz’s mind is sex, twenty-four-seven.”
“And that’s not on your mind?”
“No,” he answered sincerely. “It’s not. You’ve been on my mind twenty-four-seven. I can’t shake you and I don’t want to anymore.”
“Well good for you for having an epiphany, but it takes two to be in a relationship and I’m not interested.”
“Yes, you are,” Rook said, as she started to walk away.
She quickly turned on her heels and charged after him. She poked him in the chest while she said, “How dare you tell me…”
Rook didn’t let her finish her sentence. Instead, he took matters into his own hands and proved to her that he was right.
He put his hands on the sides of her face, shocking the crap out of her and placed his lips on hers. She was as stiff as a dead fish at first, but Rook didn’t give up. He coaxed her lips with his as he slowly worked his hands in her hair. She started to melt in his arms and slowly reciprocated the act, so it became a consensual kiss.
Her lips tentatively glided across his, as if she was testing their kiss to make sure it was real. She had kissed him once in the studio, but it was a quick kiss, nothing like the one they were sharing at the moment. Her hands glided up his chest and gripped the collar of his shirt. He didn’t want to scare her, but he needed to taste her; he needed to see if his edgy angel tasted as good as he thought she would.
He moved one hand down her back and pulled her in closer while he kept one hand in her gorgeous, long blonde hair. Slowly but surely, he coaxed her mouth open and slipped his tongue in her mouth so he could explore her even more. She was delicious, amazingly delicious. Better than any expectations he ever had. The one thing that took Rook over the edge was the cool feel of her tongue ring against his mouth.
He pulled away reluctantly and looked into her dreamy eyes that were now full of lust instead of fury. He smiled down at her as he stroked her soft cheek with his course thumb.
“Told you,” he said with a grin.
“Ugh,” Maisy smacked his chest, most likely furious with herself, and walked away.
Rook wasn’t going to chase her down this time. He made his point and she knew it as she stormed away, trying to put her jacket around her shoulders, but failing miserably. Rook laughed to himself and went back to his bus to grab his guitar before he headed off to the phot
o shoot. He was pleased with the progress he had made. If he had to kiss her every time she was furious with him, then so be it. No one had to twist his arm to release the fury in her eyes that he put there. Nope, her lips were perfect, and he had no problem with kissing them, whatsoever.
***
“Look at all these clothes, there has to be something I can wear,” Willow said, as she looked around the studio dressing room that was scattered with clothes from one of the many designers that provided clothes for the band.
“There is, I’m just going to have to specifically tailor something for you real quick for the shoot. Here, try this on,” Quinn said, while tossing a vest at Willow.
“Uh, do you want to give me a shirt to go with that?”
“No, the vest with the dark skinny jeans you have on and boots will be perfect. Now try it on so I can pin you and make some adjustments.”
Willow shrugged her shoulders, took off the shirt she was currently wearing, and put on the vest. It fit her perfectly around her breasts but was loose around her waist. Her midriff was showing, thanks to the low cut jeans she was wearing, but apparently that was her new style. She was fit, but in order to keep up her appearance, she swore off all fatty foods and added more crunches to her nightly regimen. The new routine she had was working because she had never looked better.
“God, you’re skinny,” Quinn said, while pinning Willow’s vest in on the sides. She poked Willow’s hip bones and said, “You have that V that all guys have in their abs. I didn’t think that was possible for a girl.”
Quinn was always complimenting Willow on her body, sometimes she found it extremely uncomfortable. She heard from Maisy, who heard from Cruz that Quinn had an eating disorder back in the day and still had body image issues. Quinn was skinny and beautiful; she couldn’t imagine such a lovely person having such a horrible body image of herself.
Willow had been spending a tremendous amount of time with Quinn and, unfortunately, she found out that Quinn really was an amazing person. No wonder Grey loved her so much; she was hard not to love. Willow had a bit of a girl crush on Quinn which she openly admitted a couple of times to Quinn, which only made her laugh.
The fact that Willow was crushing big time on Quinn’s boyfriend was bothering Willow more and more every day, especially after what they did the other day in the back room. Willow felt beyond guilty and hated herself for being that slut of a girl who took advantage of people’s boyfriends in weak moments. The other day, she swore to stay away from Grey. She refused to break the two up, especially now that Quinn was her friend. Willow could never do that to her.
“All set. Take it off and leave it inside out so I can hit up the sewing machine. I’ll be really quick so just hold tight.”
“Alright, but I’m unbuttoning these jeans, I feel like a stuffed sausage in them.”
“Well, you don’t look like one,” Quinn said, slapping Willow on the ass, tossing her a smile and walking off to go sew up her vest.
Willow stood in the middle of the room with her pants unbuttoned, showing off her hot pink thong and sporting her matching hot pink bra up top that was doing wonders for her cleavage.
Taking in the moment, she couldn’t believe it. It was their first photo shoot. Their album was all coming together. They had a phone conversation later in the day with the label to talk about release dates for their first song and then when they would drop the album. It was all so surreal, Willow just tried to soak up every moment she could because she knew that fame could be taken away from her just as quickly as it was handed to her.
“I don’t know where it is…” said Grey as he walked in the room Willow was pacing since there was no seating.
Grey was wearing form fitting jeans that were a dark wash and a tucked-in button-up shirt with a belt and suspenders. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and he was walking around with one brown shoe on and one stocking foot.
He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Willow in the room he was looking around in. When he made eye contact with her, he stood straight up and gulped. He tried to be nonchalant, but Willow saw him take in her appearance as heat lit up his eyes.
“Shit, sorry. I didn’t know you were in here,” Grey said, while covering his eyes and looking around on the floor.
“It’s alright, no big deal. What are you looking for?” she asked, trying not to be bothered by the fact that Grey looked at her two seconds ago as if he was about to tackle her to the floor and rip off the rest of her clothes.
Grey held up his foot with the shoe on it and said, “My other shoe. I seem to have lost it in this mess of clothes. Have you seen it?”
“No, but it could be under some of these piles. I’ll help you look.”
They both started moving clothes around while they looked for the missing foot apparel in silence. Willow tried not to think about the fact that she was practically naked in front of Grey and how good he smelled and how much she wanted him. She reminded herself that her friend Quinn was going out with him and he was off limits.
From the corner of her eye, Willow saw Grey pick up one of her bras and mutter, “Jesus” under his breath as he tossed it to the side. She laughed to herself thinking she wasn’t making it easy on the guy. She knew he had feelings for her, lustful feelings and without even trying she was affecting him. She knew it was wrong but she felt a surge of pride roll through her body for being able to affect such a gorgeous man.
They both reached for a sweatshirt, colliding hands. Grey’s hand was on top of Willow’s as she grabbed the shirt they were both reaching for. His thumb skimmed the top of her hand as they looked up at each other. Willow’s brain told her to pull away but her body wasn’t responding. Instead, her hand stayed locked in his and her body moved closer to his.
“God, you’re…”
“Here you go,” Quinn said, as she walked into the room. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Grey and Willow looking at each other.
Willow and Grey separated so fast she almost thought Quinn didn’t see them so close, but by the look in Quinn’s eyes, she did.
“Hey sweetheart. I was looking for my shoe and couldn’t find it and Willow was helping me, then we both grabbed for the same sweatshirt and…ugh, do you know where my shoe is?”
Grey looked at Quinn, begging for forgiveness; for what, Willow didn’t know. Nothing happened but she knew they looked guilty. Maybe they felt guilty because of what happened the other night or maybe they were guilty for the obvious feelings they had for each other, but whatever they were feeling couldn’t happen anymore because the look on Quinn’s face was devastating.
“Um, no. But I’ll go look for it. Here’s your vest.” Quinn tossed it at Willow before she took off, running out of the room.
“Fuck,” Grey said, as he ran his hand through his hair. He looked at Willow and stared her down. “Stay the hell away from me.”
Insulted, Willow put her hands on her hips and said, “Gladly, dick smack.”
She watched as Grey took off after Quinn. Willow grabbed her vest and put it on. It fit like a glove; she headed for the studio. She didn’t need Grey’s bullshit. It took two to tango and he was just as much of a guilty party as she was. Hell if she was going to let him blame her for his obvious display of arousal.
***
Quinn ran into the bathroom, sat in a stall, and started crying hysterically. She knew nothing happened between Willow and Grey, or at least nothing yet, but the way he looked at Willow ripped Quinn’s heart out. He looked at Willow as if he couldn’t be away from her, like if he stepped away from her presence, he would burn on the spot. He looked at her like he needed Willow in order to breathe. It was heartbreaking. Grey never looked at Quinn like that. He loved her, she knew that, but he didn’t lust after her like he did Willow. Quinn could see the difference.
She didn’t blame Grey; Willow was beyond gorgeous. She had perfect skin, the perfect body, thick blonde hair, sexy tattoos, beautiful blue eyes, and even a tongue ring. A tongue ri
ng! How could she compete with that? She was every man’s wet dream and Quinn was the girl next door who made the wet dream’s clothes.
Quinn could never compete with Willow; she didn’t have the curves Willow did, nor the perfect breasts and ass. Quinn was thin, but almost too thin and she knew it. She knew she should eat more, but she couldn’t make herself do it. She thought if she ate more than her allotted amount in a day, then she would be ugly and she didn’t need to be any uglier then she already was, especially with Willow around.
“Quinn, you in here sweetheart?” came Grey’s voice from the bathroom door. If it wasn’t for her sobs, she would have been able to get away with hiding from him, but she couldn’t help but cry into her hands.
Grey peeked from under the stall and maneuvered himself into her stall from the bottom when he spotted her. He kneeled in front of her and grabbed both of her hands.
“Quinn, talk to me. I swear, nothing happened.”
“I know,” Quinn said, as she placed her hands in Grey’s.
“Then what’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” she said, while shaking her head.
“Don’t do that. Don’t pull that nothing bullshit. I know something is bothering you, so just tell me.”
Grey’s voice was sterner than normal which startled her. She wasn’t expecting Grey to be so direct with her.
“I see the way you look at her,” Quinn blurted out, while rubbing a tear from her eye.
“I don’t look at her any differently than anyone else. You just happened to walk in on a very awkward moment when we both reached for the same sweatshirt. I promise you, nothing happened.”
“I know nothing happened,” Quinn shouted as she blew past Grey and headed out to the sink to splash some water on her now blotchy face. Grey followed her and she saw the look of concern on his face in the reflection of the mirror while she was drying her face off with a towel.
