by Deana Birch
With a finger to my mouth to signal quiet, I knelt down next to her. Her little booty was a magnet for my hand, and I couldn’t help but give it a rub.
“You’re a sight for very sore eyes,” I whispered.
She sat up, holding her top to her chest. I leaned my forehead into hers.
“I’m sorry, baby.” I dropped my head to her shoulder, then remembered she was practically naked. “Put your top on, woman. You're making the natives restless.”
“Seems silly to put something on that’s coming off anyway,” she said, but she attached the back of her bikini.
“Does that mean I’m forgiven?”
“Depends on what you do upstairs in ten minutes.” She smiled, and the weight of my fuck up finally lifted.
⸎
“Five. I already have the key.” I pulled it out of my pocket and resisted jumping on top of her right there.
“Then what are we waiting for?” She tied her straps, slipped on a little skirt, grabbed her bag, and said hello to Sam and goodbye to Gina.
I grabbed her hand and led her from the pool to the lobby. Shane stood with Phil at reception, and he clocked our approach. Did Shane’s eyes jump to Louana’s chest? I told the monster to go back and play with his trucks. Louana was beautiful and Shane was my friend.
Alone in the elevator, it was too much. She hopped into my arms and I kissed and carried her all the way to the room.
Our bags landed inside the door and our clothes made a trail to the bed. Normally I’m a rev-em-up-and-make-sure-she’s-fully-satisfied kind of guy. But he’d be back later. I was inside her and forgetting all my troubles within minutes.
“God, I missed this feeling,” I confessed in her ear.
As she tightened around me, I watched her shudder. Her moment complete, I turned her over and pulled her closer. She braced the bed for support, and I dug into her hips as I guided her back and forth. I let out my cry of release and collapsed.
“Welcome to Houston.” I kissed her on the cheek and rolled onto the bed.
“Was that makeup sex?” She crawled in next to me and found her nook.
“Yeah. I’m already dreaming of ways to piss you off again.”
She smacked my belly. “What time do we need to leave?”
I stood and dug my phone out of my shorts. “We have two hours.” I went over to the minibar. “Drink?” I opened it and scanned its contents.
“Seltzer, please.”
I found her water and opened a beer for myself. I moved back to the bed, looking at her gorgeous body waiting for me. “The fridge is very cold.”
“Don’t.”
Was she begging or warning?
But I was too fast. I already had the cold bottle on her back, and she let out a shriek. I set the drinks next to the bed and climbed on top of her.
“You know, there’s something I’ve been wondering about you…”
“What?” She wiggled under me.
“I’ve been wondering where on your body is the most ticklish.”
“Oh, I can tell you.”
“Please.” My mouth hovered over hers.
“My sides. Absolutely. And no need to verify.”
“Oh, but watching you squirm and laugh have become two of my favorite things.” I sat on top of her and slid my hands under her armpits.
“Don’t you dare!” She grabbed my hands with hers, but wrestling me was pointless. I pinned both wrists over her head and held them down with my left hand as I trailed down her torso with my right. “Please, please don’t tickle me. Anything. Please,” she begged.
I stopped, surveyed her body, then looked back into her eyes.
“Anything?” I raised an eyebrow and let go of her hands. “Okay, come to Phoenix and meet my parents.”
“No.”
“Pity,” I said, not meaning it, and went right for her ribs.
She screamed and laughed until tears dripped from her eyes.
“Uncle! Uncle!”
I released her and reached for my beer.
“You’re a wicked man.”
I took a swig and shrugged.
“What do you want to do for two hours?” she asked.
“This,” I said. “Just be with you.”
“How do you manage to go from impossible to charming in zero point three seconds?”
“It’s my superpower.”
My words were met with a roll of her lovely brown eyes, but she smiled. Her looking at me with happiness was better than any drug I’d ever tried.
We went back to our previous position and she put her head on my chest. I brushed my fingers through her hair. This was what I needed. Calm. Intimacy. Realness.
“You look tired,” she said, gazing up to me.
“And you look beautiful,” I said, deflecting her comment. I was tired. Exhausted, really, but I was already feeling better about Dallas.
When it was time to get ready, she took her bag into the bathroom and closed the door. I sat on the bed waiting, already dressed, and was busy texting my brother about who to let backstage in Phoenix. When Louana came out, she paused at the doorway. The dress. The tighter-than-shit, black, no-bra-underneath, banged-her-against-her-front-door dress.
I blinked hard and said, “How do you expect me to go play a gig with you in that?”
“It’s my revenge for your bad behavior.” She grinned and winked.
“And you know the no bra thing kills me.” I stood and shook my head as I walked over to the door. I held it open for her, and I smacked her on the bottom as she crossed the threshold. “Now who’s being wicked?”
“Paybacks are hell, baby.”
The elevator doors opened to Shane and Phil. We joined them, and I reached for Louana’s hand.
“You guys get some rest?” I asked.
“Nah. We went to the gym,” Shane answered.
“You got Phil to the gym?” My eyes jumped from Phil’s spare tire to Shane’s abnormally green eyes.
“Yeah, but he’s hopeless and only wants to talk about branding.” Shane rubbed his face with both hands.
“Aww, you missed me. I’ll go with you tomorrow after this evil temptress leaves.” I fixed my eyes on Louana.
“I’m sure I have no idea what you are talking about.” Ignoring us all, she focused straight ahead. When the doors opened to the lobby, she walked straight toward the exit. And I watched that ass every step of the way.
We all piled into a large, black van with tinted windows and headed to the venue. Louana and I sat in the front row. My arm was around her and she was up against the window.
“What color?” she whispered in my ear.
“Huh?”
“What color?” she repeated. “Today. Right now.”
Oh my God, her underwear.
I skimmed her body, trying to find a clue. I landed on her red lips, then settled back to her eyes.
“You wicked, wicked woman,” I said, raising my voice so everyone could hear. My head bounced against the seat behind me, knowing full well she would make me wait to find out.
⸎
“Ugh, I miss your cooking. The last decent meal we had was in Vegas,” I complained over my paper plate and plastic utensils backstage.
“You cook?” Gina asked Louana. “Maybe you could give me some pointers. The artist in me gets too carried away, and I end up ruining all the recipes I try.”
Sam’s eyes grew two sizes. “No comment.” He stood and carried his and Gina’s plates over to the trash.
“Two days ’til my mom’s chocolate cake!” I rose as well, dumped our own plates in the trash, and went to grab another beer.
I left Louana alone with John and went to find my drum tech. When I got back, she was serving herself a bottle of water from a bucket of ice.
“They’re red, aren’t they? Red lips.” I pointed to her mouth, then to her waist. “Red panties.” Definitely red. Which meant they were new and very hopefully trashy.
“Maybe.” Her bottom lip pushed out.
“I had thought the red lipstick might be to throw me off.”
“I would never do such a thing,” she teased.
“Or would you? That’s it. I’m looking.”
I squatted down and moved my head to try to see up her dress.
“You wouldn’t.”
Oh, I would. Maturity was not a requirement in a drummer.
“Lemme see.” I pressed my cheek to the floor.
“Get up!” She stepped back and crossed her legs together.
“Dude, what are you doing?” Shane asked as he helped himself to a beer.
I peeked up at him and crawled closer to Louana.
“She won’t tell me what color her underwear is.”
“Stop it! Jake, get up!”
I faked trying to open her legs.
“You’re going to make me fall.” She laughed and swatted my shoulder.
“Maybe she’s not wearing any,” Shane offered.
My body froze. I hadn’t thought about that. That would be tricky. My eyes darted back and forth between Shane and Louana. I hopped up and frisked her in search of fabric below. She smacked my hands away.
“I’m wearing some. I promise.”
Shane sauntered away, probably bored and visibly unimpressed with my antics.
“How do you expect me to go onstage and play like this?”
She draped her arms around my neck and peered up to me. “Fast, furious, and very hard.”
The thunderous energy of the crowd fueled us. Houston was going much better than Dallas had. We played our asses off and were all drenched before the encore. Louana handed me a cold beer, and I downed half of it and changed my shirt. I kissed my girl, finished the beer, kissed her again, and put my arm around Shane as we walked back onstage.
“This is the last fucking time I play an Eagles song.” I rolled my eyes.
Shane addressed the audience. “Thank you. Thank you, Houston. With all due respect to Don Henley, our boy Jake hits too hard for this next song. Our good friend and crew member Frankie Smalls on drums, ladies and gentlemen.”
The crowd gave Frankie a warm welcome, and I slid in behind the keyboards. Playing that cover in Texas was a good idea, I had to hand it to Phil. But that didn’t make me happy about it. I felt like a Muppet. Sam turned around and flashed me huge eyes. The bass line of this song was boring as hell. But the crowd was into it. Texas pride and all that bullshit.
During the backup vocals, I found Louana side stage and sang right to her.
She pursed her lips back to me, holding in what I was sure was a smile.
I kept playing the cord progression, and toward the end of the song, I saw Louana watching Shane. When he repeated the hook, her eyes closed hard. I angled my head to get a better view of Shane, who, thankfully, sang his perfect falsetto directly forward.
When we finished, Shane yelled, “Thank you, Houston, and goodbye, Texas!”
I’m not sure the fans read the relief between the lines, but the rest of us exchanged glances and understood the implications. We took a bow all together, except Frankie, who had already gone backstage. The crowd chanted for more, but we were done.
We showered and changed. A quiet moment hung in the air before the after-party started. Phil got up with a grumble. His babysitting duties were about to begin.
“Phil!” said John. “Blondes with big, big tits.” He gestured out in front of himself.
Phil rolled his eyes but moved on like he was taking food orders. “Shane?”
Shane eyeballed Gina with a half grin. “Hippie chicks, wild hair, beautiful green eyes…” His tone was light and mocking.
“Hey, fuck you, Murphy.” Sam’s chest puffed up.
“Relax, I’m fucking kidding. Gina’s like a sister to me; I’m not that fucked up.” Shane flipped Sam the bird, and he quickly got the same response.
“Still not funny.”
“Sorry,” Shane said, his apology lacking conviction.
He turned back to Phil. “I honestly don’t care. I just want to get the fuck out of this state.”
“Welcome to the wonderful world of being friends with pussy magnets,” Gina said. She nodded her head in disgust and offered her beer to clink with Louana’s.
“How long do we have to stay?” Sam asked Phil, who was opening a bottle of water. Watching over rock stars required sobriety.
“An hour, tops.”
“Thank you, sweet baby Jesus,” I said, smiling.
While Sam spoke to a fan who had won a local radio contest, a reporter interviewed me. Shane was surrounded by a gaggle of gushing young teens, and I seriously wondered how they’d gotten to the adult table of backstage at a rock show. It was a massive selfie fest with our lead singer in the middle.
A young blonde girl hovered at my side, stalking, begging to be noticed. She swallowed a lot; her left hand held her right arm down as if it would spontaneously grab me if she let go. She shifted her weight back and forth from one foot to the other and never took her eyes off me. During our quick rise to popularity, I had seen starstruck, but this girl was a little spooky.
She stepped forward and tried to speak, but no words came out of her mouth. I was sure she was going to hyperventilate, and my eyes dashed around the room for Phil. I tried not to touch her, since I honestly thought it might make things worse, and did my best to calm her down. I saw Gina pop up from her and Louana’s perch in the corner. She grabbed Phil, then pointed to me. He rushed over, but when he pulled the girl away, sobs and wails let loose, and a few people shot concerned looks in our direction. Phil led the girl to a chair against the wall and fetched her a bottle of water.
Louana’s eyes were huge. Shit. After what had happened in Vegas, I didn’t want her to see any other girls throwing themselves at me. Gina sat back down next to Louana and smoothed her skirt. But Gina’s eyes found Sam, who had been cornered by two women. It was clear he was uncomfortable.
Louana stood up, put her beer down, rolled her shoulders back, and walked over to Sam. She said something I couldn’t hear, hooked her arm into his, and led him over to me and the reporter.
Sam stuck out his bottom lip. “That was impressively convincing,” he said.
Louana let go of his arm. “Purely selfish,” she said. “The steam coming out of Gina’s ears was melting my mascara.” Pretending to wipe below her eyes, she turned and shimmied away with a bounce in her step.
The crowd eventually thinned, and I could finally put my attention where I wanted it.
“Ready?” I asked.
Sam, Gina, Louana, and I rode back to the hotel together. We exited the elevator on the same floor. They were down the hall from us, and we all said good night. I unlocked our door, went in, and sat on the bed. Louana hung the Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob and closed the door.
“Dress. Off. Now.”
“One last guess?” She lifted a leg and pressed the toes of one foot to the heel of the other.
“Keep the shoes.”
With her zipper all the way undone, she held up the dress with a forearm to her chest. “What’s your final answer?” she asked.
“Red,” I said. “Your panties are 100 percent, most definitely fucking red.”
When the dress fell to the floor, she stepped out of it and exposed the scarlet lace below her waist. A smile of victory covered my face.
“Get over here. I’m done being teased by you.”
She sauntered over and knelt down in front me. Taking her time, she unbuttoned my shirt. Her hands slipped under the material to expose my shoulders and chest. Once the shirt was open, she kissed my stomach and worked her way up to my neck.
“You’re going the wrong way, baby.”
She climbed into my lap, pushed my shirt all the way off, and forced me to lie back.
“So impatient,” she said.
“You’re right.” I flipped her over and pinned her down. “I told you, I’m all done being teased.” I took one more look below her waist. “Fucking red. I was sur
e of it.”
“I knew you would get it right.”
“What do I win?”
“You get to take them off.”
“Good thing I was the only one playing.” I dipped my fingers into the waistband, and she lifted her hips as I slid them off and around her heels. “I’m keeping these.” I smooched the red lace and tucked it into my back pocket. This woman must have been made for me.
⸎
The metal curtain rings jangled, and warm sun hit my face. I grabbed a pillow, moaned, and covered my head.
“Baby.” She straddled over me and pulled the pillow off my head.
I shielded my eyes with my forearm.
“Jake. Breakfast is here, and I only have a few hours before I have to go.”
“Mmmm.” I squinted and reached for her, but she pulled away from me. “I don’t like this wake-up call. I want a different one.”
She swatted me with the pillow.
“Aye! No need to get violent!”
Pouting, she said, “Please. I’m hungry and don’t want to eat alone.”
I stretched, grumbled, and reached for my phone to check the time. I dragged myself to the shower, then joined her by the window to eat. I had some begging to do.
“Coffee?”
“Please.” I rubbed my eyes and sat down as she poured. “I want you to come to Phoenix and meet my friends and family.”
Her mouth twitched to the side, but I kept going.
“And Phil checked into flights. You could fly in, catch the show, meet everybody, and take the first flight out in the morning. I know it’s a lot, but I really want you there.”
Her lips pushed in and she scanned the table between us before looking back at me.
“First of all, thank you. I’m flattered you want me to meet your friends and family.”
I crossed my arms. It sounded like she was serving rejection for breakfast.
“And it’s not as if I don’t want to.”
“Ugh, not the ‘too soon’ shit.” I rolled my eyes and dropped my head back.
“Jake,” she said sweetly. “Let me finish, please. I love being with you; I love watching you play. And hopefully, someday, I will meet all of those people. But this week, I can’t.”
