Rockin' the Heart (Hot Wired)

by Miller, Gracen

  “Pity…I could detail the things he’s taught me, all the things I might be willing to do with you.”

  “Goddamn it, Sam!” He gripped her throat in a loose hold. Her wide-blue gaze held his. “Stop the fucking teasing, brat.” Because he couldn’t stay away from her taste, he kissed her again, slow and deep. “When I think of the things I want to do to you and imagine Omega’s most likely already done them… it makes me crazy. I shouldn’t even have such impure thoughts about you.”

  “Don’t place me on a pedestal, Heath. That’s a fall I don’t want to take.” The sincerity in her eyes gave him pause. “I’m not pure, and I don’t want to be. I want to live life to the fullest, without regrets.”

  He would try to help her with that. “Pookie? You remember me saying that was the one endearment you couldn’t call me?”

  “Of course. You remember me saying ‘never again’ to getting on stage? Payback’s a bitch. Ponder that before you provoke me again.”

  “You’ve groped my sister enough.”

  Heath had no opportunity to formulate a response before Jase was yanking Sam away from him and dragging her into the common area.

  “Goddamn it, Jase, stop manhandling her.”

  Everything moved so fast, Heath had no time to prepare. In a fluid set of moves, Jase pushed Sam aside and planted an uppercut to Heath’s jaw.

  “Jase! Stop it.” Sam tackled Jase, pulling at his arm, but he shoved her away, and she stumbled into Keys.

  Fury rode him hard, and Heath went for Jase, his single-minded focus to teach his drummer to never disrespect Sam again. They were a mass of flesh pummeling one another in the next breath. He registered the blows to his gut and to his forearms when he blocked a hit.

  They’d never engaged in bare-knuckle fighting. The two of them rarely squabbled. By the time Dixon, the drummer from Tone Deaf, and Derringer pulled them apart Heath could feel blood running down the side of his face.

  “Are you two insane!” Not a question, and neither looked at Tab when she shrieked, but put all their energy into glowering at one another.

  Keys stood with his chest to Sam’s back and his arm around her throat in a loose hold. Unshed tears twinkled in her eyes.

  “Damn you, motherfucker! You made her cry.” Intending to make another go at Jase, Heath jerked against Derr’s grasp, but the bass guitarist held tight. “You okay, Sam? Hurt?”

  Knuckling the tears away, she sniffled. “I’m okay. Let me go, Keys.”

  Hesitation before Keys released her.

  “You’re a selfish bastard.” Before Jase could reply, she smacked him across the cheek. Hard enough his head twisted with the violence. “I hate you right now, Jason Collins. Hate you! You have no right!”

  “Holy shit! I felt the impact of that.” Dixon chuckled. “Impressive right hook you got there, Sam.”

  Opening and closing her fingers while Keys drew her into his embrace, she burst into tears the moment they connected. Their lead guitarist spoke softly to her, but Heath couldn’t discern what he said.

  “Let me go to her, Derr.” A shrug and his band mate released him. He strode straight to her, caught her nape with his palm, and kneaded. “Come here, brat.”

  She turned into his arms and embraced him with a fierce grip. Over her shoulder, he caught Keys’ concern. Staring engaged, he sensed the other man assessed their relationship. Heath refused to look away.

  After a strained moment, Keys nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

  “You all are falling apart. I need you to get your shit together. You three”—Tab pointed at Derringer, Jase and Keys—“have an interview to do with Celebrity Beef right now, and Jase you look like warmed over shit. Clean up and make it fast.” Heath rubbed his chin against the top of Sam’s head and gave Jase a ‘this isn’t over’ glare. By his best friend’s silent communication, it was a long way from being over, but he departed to do as Tab commanded. “All of you have fans to meet. Sam, we need to work on your wardrobe because this—”

  “My wardrobe is fine.” Her head snapped up off Heath’s chest. She disengaged from his arms, and he reluctantly let her go. “For the record, I cut that bitch in Miami even though I swore under oath I didn’t. I’ve got a knife in my back pocket. Do you wanna test your luck, Tab?”

  A tense moment of quiet ensued as the women engaged in a staring contest. Tab looked away and rubbed her temples with her fingertips.

  “I’m going to the hotel,” Sam said when she won the dispute.

  “Get cleaned up, Fang,” Tab shot a wary glance at Sam as she dug cigarettes out of her purse.

  Heath ignored Tab and plowed his fingers into Sam’s hair. “Take Tex with you, brat.”

  “Nope, I’d worry about your safety.”

  “And I’m gonna worry about your safety if Tex doesn’t tag along.”

  “Heath—”

  “Shut up and do what you’re fucking told for a change.” She put a fist into his gut just hard enough to get his attention. Air expunged from his lungs with the blow, and he grunted. The feistiness of her demeanor had attracted him for a long time. He kissed her forehead and murmured, “Before you cut me for that badly delivered request….” Biting her bottom lip, her shoulders shook in an attempt to hide her giggles. They both knew it wasn’t a request. She’s lying about cutting that girl. Of course she’s lying. Isn’t she? That’d been her closest call yet at serving actual prison time, and there’d been nothing any of them could do to get her out of it. “Promise me you’ll text me the moment you arrive at your room and are locked inside.”

  She tilted her head back and delivered him a smooch that curled his toes and tightened his jeans. “Yeah.”

  “Is that a promise?”

  “Haven’t decided,” she said as she walked away, shaking her ass a little more than was warranted.

  Making eye contact with Tex, he nodded at the man, and the bodyguard followed her.

  The meet-and-greet with the fans ended, and Heath made his exit for the limo. He normally enjoyed hanging out with them, but tonight all he could focus on was getting back to Sam.

  After he dropped off his bag in his hotel room, he would say goodnight to her, tuck her into bed in a platonic way, and maybe watch some late night television before hitting the sack. His band mates had selected their groupies and others to party hard with until the late morning hours. They had nowhere to be until tomorrow evening when they had a second gig in the same city.

  “You assholes need to work your shit out.” Tab’s grip on the car door turned her knuckles white. Excellent timing on her part, waiting until all four of them were seated in the vehicle before she delivered that explosive statement. “The whores will meet you at the hotel.” Jase looked ready to protest the slanderous verbiage of the groupies, but Tab gave him a look that would’ve boiled water in half a second. Sam’s brother wisely shut his pie hole. “Take the ride to the hotel to work your shit out.”

  How many times could the woman use the word ‘shit’?

  “I don’t have time for your adolescent bullshit. You four have worked too hard, too long together to let stupid shit get between you. Use your time wisely. Work. It. Out. Or I will bust your shit up.”

  Heath couldn’t help it, by the time she finished her bitching, he was grinning. He suspected she didn’t even realize she’d used the same curse word five times.

  “You think I’m joking, Fang?” Heath suspected her ‘I’ll gut you stare’ had been taught in lock up. He wasn’t asking. No point in pissing her off.

  Forcing the grin off his face, he said, “No, ma’am.”

  “You turn me on when you bust balls, Tab.” Keys winked at her and blew her kisses.

  She pointed her finger at him. “Save the bullshit for someone who’ll believe it.”

  Their agent slammed the vehicle door.

  Keys laughed and stretched his legs out in front of him.

  Jase gawked at Tab as the limo driver inched the car away from the curb. “Remind me why we p
ut up with her bitchiness.”

  “Because she’s good at her job.” Derr dug out a mini-bottle of tequila, twisted the lid off and downed the liquor.

  Awkward silence surfaced. At first Heath had been pleased he wouldn’t have to endure watching the guys grope their ‘dates’. Considering Tab wanted them to address a hot topic, he changed his mind and preferred the groping.

  Derr rubbed his short spiky hair with his palm. “Did you see the chick I’m banging tonight?”

  “Lucky bastard!” Keys motioned to his chest indicating large breasts. “I’d smother myself in those tits.”

  “Oh, I plan to, brother, I plan to.”

  Heath propped his elbow on the doorjamb and leaned his chin into his upturned palm. He stared out the window, watching the buildings blip past them. That was how he’d talked about women a month ago, too. No wonder Jase despised the idea of him being with Sam. He’d objectified women for years, considered them vessels for pleasure, nothing more. He’d thought those were good times, now he understood how inadequate his life had been.

  He hadn’t objectified all women. Even then Sam had been the center of his universe. The only woman worth catering to and caring about.

  “We’re all family, so just say what you got to say and get it over with.”

  “It doesn’t end because I say what’s on my mind, Derr.” Jase shot their bass guitarist a bleeding glare. “And this has nothing to do with the band.”

  “When you’re throwing punches at a concert, it’s got everything to do with the band.” Keys slid his shades out of his pocket and skated them on his face. What the fuck did he need them for? It was midnight and the moon wasn’t that bright.

  “That’s my goddamn sister he’s dicking around with.” Jase looked everywhere but at Heath. “Can’t get any simpler than that.”

  “First off, I’m not dicking around with her.” Heath clutched the seat near his knee in an effort not to go after his friend. “Second, show her the respect she deserves, or I swear to God I’ll knock your teeth down your throat.”

  They engaged in a staring contest. Their stubbornness wouldn’t allow either of them to back down. With Sam on the line, all the rules altered.

  “That’s fair,” Jase said from between clenched teeth. After a moment he expelled a weary sounding breath. They both conceded defeat and looked away. His long time friend hooked stray strands of hair behind an ear and leaned his head against the seat’s headrest. “I really want to understand whatever this is between y’all. My first instinct is to protect her. Always has been. When I see you with her, everything inside me screams safeguard her.”

  “You know me. I’ve no desire to hurt her.”

  “That’s part of it, Fang.” Blue eyes so much like his sisters engaged him. “I don’t understand how you feel something more for her when you helped me raise her.”

  “I didn’t really. Help you raise her, that is.” Heath crossed his ankle over his knee and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You disciplined. I was her friend. I attempted to make the transition easier for her, and facilitate the fights you two had.” God knew there’d been a lot of arguments in the beginning. Sam’s entire way of life had changed in an instant. She’d gone from a structured setting, having a normal life with school and friends, to traveling the world one gig at a time. Homeschooling offered her little in the way of a social life. And the other rockers they encountered weren’t the friending type. “I never wanted to be her parent, that was your job, never mine.”

  “Yeah,” Keys nodded. “He’s right, none of us disciplined her. We all defected when it came time for that nasty job.”

  “My recollection, there wasn’t much discipline going around anyway.” Posturing boredom, Derr added that tidbit of info as he stared out the window. The comment told him the man was more engaged in the conversation than he appeared.

  “I always thought of her as your sister, Jase. You two had lost so much, I didn’t want to get in the way of that, not when you needed each other more than ever before.” He had two brothers and a sister. They shunned him and his lifestyle. Sinners weren’t tolerated well by his Christian family. Thanks to their criticism, it’d taken Heath a long time to decide he wasn’t a sadist destined for the pits of hell. No one deserved a judgmental family like his.

  “I don’t like you with her.” Jase shook his head. “You deserve a good woman, but not my sister. She’s better than all of us.” He indicated the occupants of the vehicle.

  Heath respected his directness.

  Keys sat up straight and flipped his shades up onto the top of his head. “Beg to differ. I’m a New York Cornell, that means no one is good enough for me.”

  Derringer snorted. “Says yo’ momma.”

  Keys only ever lauded his family’s prestige with rancor. “You calling my momma a liar?”

  Heath chuckled and with the toe of his boot nudged Keys’ shoe. “If your momma knew half of what you’ve done, she’d drag you by the ear to seek sacrament.”

  A devilish grin tore up Keys’ face. “Yeah.”

  “Sorry I punched you.” Long strands of Jase’s hair fell from his loose topknot, and he notched them behind an ear.

  “No, you’re not.”

  The corners of Jase’s mouth twitched. “No, I’m not. I’d do it again for Sam.”

  “Make her cry like you did today, and I’ll start the fight next time.” Heath swiped his fingers along his eyebrows to move the hair out of his eyes.

  “Make her cry like you did today, and I am going to forget I’m not taking sides.” Keys pinned Jase in his seat with a frown.

  “Ditto,” Derringer said.

  “Putting her in the middle between the two guys she loves”—Heath jerked at Keys’ statement. Sam didn’t love him, at least not the way he wanted, but he hoped to change that—“isn’t fair.”

  “It’s what she wants.” Derringer applied chapstick and pocketed the tube. “You have to respect that, Jase.”

  “I don’t know if I can. She’s vulnerable, without direction to her life. She can’t decide what she wants, and I’m supposed to give her the benefit of the doubt to make the right choice with you?” Jase took Derringer’s former lead and snagged a bottle of liquor from the minibar. “I won’t make promises I can’t keep. I need time to decide…”

  Decide what?

  Jase downed the contents of the bottle and used the same hand to point at him. “Just stay the fuck out of her pants, Fang.”

  “Talk about promises a man can’t keep. That’s one right there.” Heath ignored Derringer’s loaded comment.

  “Fang loves Sam.” Keys delivered the news without any tact.

  “Of course he does,” Jase scoffed. “We all love her.”

  “I’m in love with her.” No point in hiding the fact. He would do anything for her, even walk away from his band.

  Jase took his measure, his fingers tapping out a static rhythm against his leg. “Sam know this?”

  “No. Too soon to tell her.”

  A solitary nod. “Stay out of her pants.”

  “I will until she tells me she loves me. No promises then.” A frown centered across Jase’s forehead. “I love Sam, that means her happiness comes before yours.”

  His best friend’s jaw tightened. The choppy measure of his digits sustained against his thigh. The edgy movement testified to his agitation. Worry glazed his eyes. Heath tried to put himself in Jase’s shoes, but he’d never felt all that protective toward his sister.

  After arriving at the hotel, showering and throwing on a pair of jeans and t-shirt, Sam continued to fume over her brother’s aggressive behavior. Jase’s audacity flabbergasted her and produced a queasy ball of dread in her belly. Nothing good would come of his outlook. The brawl said louder than words he shunned their affair, and would do everything in his power to come between it.

  A dozen times since leaving the arena she convinced herself to leave. Just leave. Everything would resolve itself if she were out of the picture. Wh
en she thought of Heath and how he made her feel, walking away proved harder than she would’ve thought. Didn’t help that saying good-bye felt a great deal like giving up. That went against her personality. She was no coward. She confronted obstacles with a one-finger salute and either barreled her way through them or created more chaos.

  For the first time in a long time she believed she had a chance at something good, something that could work and make her happy. But sacrificing her family’s happiness for the sake of her own might be more than she could swallow.

  She understood Jase’s concern. Of course she did. He’d protected her all of her life. She’d knifed that bitch in Miami for him. While doing her business in the club’s bathroom stall, she’d overheard the woman confess to another how she suspected she had a bun in the oven. The bitch planned to con Jase into her bed—he’d been all over her so getting laid by him wouldn’t have been a problem. Afterward, she would file a paternity suit against him. ‘Instant jackpot,’ she’d whispered to her friend. The bitch counted on Jase paying her to go away. Sam had shown her no one messed with a Collins without suffering repercussions.

  So yeah, she comprehended why he safeguarded her. Protecting one another was an obligatory sibling duty. She’d been his sole responsibility since their parents’ death. Sam guessed that upped the ante on fraternal responsibility.

  And Heath was his best friend. Jase knew things about Fang she hoped were never disclosed. But being best buddies also meant Jase knew how upstanding a guy Heath was. One would think that would provide him some peace of mind.

  If their romance failed to work, a host of issues arose. She rubbed her forehead and stared at the city below. She kidded no one, not even herself. Problems surfaced simply because of who they were.

  I won’t come between him and the band.

  She placed her palm against the window. The cool glass sent a chill up her arm.

  The guilt of coming between them would eat away at her. Already ate at her.

  How do I leave Heath when I’m in love with him?

  Tears surfaced, and she sniffled them back. Big Al must’ve sensed her gloom because he wove between her legs purring like an engine.