I scoffed, but I passed him one anyway, knowing it would make my mom happy. It was my job as a teenager to give my parents and brother all sorts of shit, but the truth was I loved all of them more than anyone, even if I was crap at showing it.
My dad walked into the kitchen, his hair still wet from his morning surf and pressed a kiss to my mom’s cheek and then her neck, making her giggle. I looked away and at my brother instead, and he rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to flash me his half-chewed food.
“Did Maddox come home last night? I haven’t seen him this morning, and his bed was empty,” my dad noted, pouring himself a cup of coffee and sliding into the chair at my left. My mom put down a plate of food in front of him and dropped a kiss to the top of his head.
“No, I think he slept over at Zen’s.” Me covering for Maddox not being here in the morning was nothing new, but my parents felt bad for him and let him get away with everything. I could never get away with half the shit they let him do.
“He better make it back in time for graduation. What time do we have to be at the stadium?”
“We have to be there at three; you guys need to be there at five.” I checked the clock on the stove, and it read ten-thirty. I had some time to kill and wondered if I could convince any of the guys to hit the beach with me for a surf to blow off some steam and kill time.
Neither Zen nor Maddox liked to surf, but I could convince Jericho to hit the waves with me every now and then. And the others could probably be lured to the beach with promises of free food and hot chicks in swimsuits.
“What are you up to today?” my mom asked, slicing into the stack of pancakes she’d just finished smothering in syrup.
“Probably banging Sophie again like last night. Thanks for keeping me up all night, bro,” Hale smirked, knowing exactly what he was doing. I shot him a death glare across the table, and he had the good sense to look away.
My dad sighed and set down his fork, leveling me with his blue gaze that was so much like mine. “Do we need to have this discussion again, True?”
I shook my head. “Sophie’s gone after today, dad. I’m over her.”
My mom let out a little chuckle. “Don’t hurt the poor girl, but I can’t say I’m upset to hear that. Something about her doesn’t sit right with me.”
“That’s it? You guys aren’t going to ground him for letting Sophie stay over? For having sex with her in your house?” my brother asked incredulously.
“True’s an adult, and after today he’s done with school, too. I think he earned a free pass on this one,” my dad surprised the shit out of me by saying. I almost choked on the bite of egg I was chewing.
“You’re being safe, right?” my mom had to throw out there, being how she was, and I rolled my eyes.
“Always. More than safe.”
She nodded, satisfied with my answer, and went back to her breakfast. I turned to my brother. “You want to hit the waves with me this afternoon? I’m gonna see if the guys want to join.”
Hale shook his head, his messy blonde hair brushing into his eyes. “Meeting up with the receivers for drills.”
Hale’s ultimate goal was to be in the NFL. I’d never met another teenager like him, not even me. Maybe Zen came closest. He was singularly focused on making the big time and never let normal teenage antics derail him from working as hard as possible to make it happen.
Pushing back from the table, I dropped my empty plate into the sink, ready to spend the day soaking in sun, sand, and surf until the clock wound down on the jail sentence that was high school, and I was finally free.
Rubbing the soothing green aloe gel into my shoulders was sweet fucking relief after spending too many hours on the beach this afternoon and using far too little sunscreen. I stuck my arm through the ridiculous navy blue gown, and the cheap polyester fabric stuck to my sticky skin.
Maddox dared me to go naked under this thing, but I couldn’t do it. My parents had been waiting for this day for thirteen years, and I didn’t want to do anything to fuck it up for them. Today was more about them than it was me. Graduating high school didn’t feel like much of an accomplishment considering everything I could see on the horizon of my future. Even so, I did it, and I wanted to revel in the feeling of accomplishment, small as it was.
I zipped up the front and stared at myself in the mirror as I balanced the stupid-ass cap on top of my unruly blonde hair, tilting it slightly off to the side. The tassel hung down in front of my face, and I blew out, trying to move it out of my sight. It didn’t work.
Stepping out of the locker room doubling for our dressing room, I spotted my three best friends. I walked up and joined their group. Everyone gave us a wide berth. We’d always been the group everyone wanted to be friends with but were also intimated by. But since word got around we’d signed a record contract with a legitimate studio people wore awed looks around us but kept their distance, almost as if they didn’t know how to act around us anymore. As if we were other.
“I wish we could skip the whole fucking ceremony and get to the party,” Maddox grumbled, always the first one who wanted to blow off some steam. It had to be a miracle he was graduating at all with how many classes he skipped.
I bumped my shoulder against his. “You didn’t come home last night.”
He and Zen exchanged a look. “Stayed at Zen’s.” Ah, so my lie to my parents hadn’t been a lie after all. Good to know.
Zen absently scratched at his left side. “What’s wrong with you?” I wondered.
He lifted the unflattering navy material out of the way and pulled up his shirt, revealing a big ass tat on his left ribs. I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer to get a better look. I had to admit it was badass. “Okay, that’s fucking awesome. Why didn’t you tell me you were getting one? I might have gone with you.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, right. The clean-cut as fuck True Easton getting inked? Hell hasn’t frozen over yet, bro.”
We all wore matching outfits, yet Jericho somehow made his look darker and more stylish just by being him, the asshole. “What about you?” I asked him.
“You know I couldn’t let him show me up,” Jericho smirked, lifting his gown to show off the new design gracing his upper back.
Mrs. Germain, the older than dirt English teacher, corralled us together and announced it was time to line up. Single file, I stood between Jericho and Maddox, surrounded by my brothers, ready to take the first steps into the rest of our lives.
4
Jericho
That seemingly everlasting bullshit known as highschool finally came to an end today, and we were all fucking free. Not that we didn’t do whatever the hell we wanted before, but the guys and I didn’t have to answer to anyone anymore.
The long-ass ceremony this afternoon cemented it. My parents gave me obligatory pats on the back before disappearing to do whatever it was they did. Somewhere between twelve and eighteen, they decided they didn’t like being parents very much and were done with that part of their lives. So, it’d mostly just been me on my own until I joined the band two years ago, and the guys became my family. In my earlier teenage years, I might’ve been disappointed or upset with their easy dismissal of me today, but now I was just numb. I no longer gave one single fuck.
The frothy liquid in the cup I gripped sloshed over the side and landed on my shoe, thanks to some random drunken asshole knocking into me. I clenched his shirt in my fist, pulling him closer to me as I glared down at him. “Watch where you’re going, or next time I won’t be so nice about it.” Shoving him back, I watched with smug satisfaction as he lost his balance and fell on his ass.
I wanted to smash my fist into his face because now I’d smell like beer the rest of the night, but he wasn’t worth the effort. Instead, I lifted the shitty beer and swallowed down what was left in my plastic cup. I was eighteen, and these parties were already exhausting. It was the same group of people, the same loud, tasteless music, cheap, warm beer, and people hooking up in every available corner be
fore switching partners to do it all again. Even Rachel Harris’s same fucking house that we’d partied in at least ten times already this year hadn’t changed.
There was something so repulsive about the whole thing, but being a part of the band meant showing my face at these wastes of time. The guys and I had to show a united front if we wanted to keep our status as kings of the school alive and well. And make no mistake about it, that’s what we were. Zen stood next to me and watched the guy who’d spilled my drink pick himself up off the ground, avoiding looking in our direction.
“Can you believe it’s finally over?” he wondered rhetorically. He lifted his cup to his mouth and drank while his eyes scanned the room. “I can’t wait until we don’t have to deal with these stupid fucking high school house parties anymore.”
I raised my eyebrow at him skeptically. “Really? I thought you lived for these things.”
He chuckled. “No. I live for making music and having a good time. Stale beer and the same hookups we had last week aren’t exactly my idea of a good time.” He took another sip, staleness be damned. “And look at all these morons.” He waved his hand around the room to prove his point. “Going nowhere. Most of them will never do anything worth a damn. In ten years, they’ll still be here probably going to the same lame as fuck party.”
I hummed my agreement. Of all the guys in the band, Zen was the most ambitious, but I was right behind him. I didn’t want to be stuck in this dead-end life any more than he did. It was why I made us a YouTube channel and religiously uploaded videos of us playing our music and Zen in the process of writing it. It was also why I spent countless hours on the internet figuring out how to build a following organically and why over the past year, I’d poured every spare minute I had into making sure the right people noticed us.
And they had.
A few different record companies contacted us when we hit a million fans on our channel, so we had our pick. And we’d gone with the one who gave us the best deal, but also wanted to start recording the quickest. The four of us were ready to take the next step.
“Set your sights on anyone for tonight?” I scanned the room again. I wasn’t like any of the other guys. The way Zen and Maddox hooked up with anything that moved wasn’t my style. I discovered early on that I had preferences only a certain kind of girl would be comfortable giving me.
And I wasn’t like True, the kind of guy who wanted to be in a long-term relationship or nothing at all. I fell somewhere in between. I liked to hook up with no strings, but I had to be careful how I did it and who I did it with. For the past few months, my regular hookup, Kayla, had fulfilled most of my needs.
As if my thinking about her conjured her into existence, she sidled up to me and dropped another cup into my empty one. She nodded at Zen, who rolled his eyes at her and pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against. He shot me a parting, “Have fun, brother,” before sauntering off and blending into the crowd.
Today was a lot—a lot of change, a lot of frustration, and a lot of the same fucking bullshit as always. I was ready to fuck out all of the feelings and clear my mind. I hoped Kayla was up for what I had in mind because my need for control had been pushed to its limits today, and only one thing would calm me down.
“Go in the back bedroom, strip, and lay down on the bed.” I barked out the order without so much as a glance in her direction. She didn’t hesitate and left to do what I said. It was why I fucked her as often as I did. She let me do almost anything I wanted with her when most other girls would be horrified if they knew what I liked.
I slowly sipped my drink as I waited, not wanting to seem too eager. I glanced at my watch and noted that almost ten minutes had passed. I finished off my beer and set the empty cups on the table beside me.
The crowd was ridiculous, and I had to push my way through, but the further down the hall I went, the fewer people there were. At the end, it was just me and the closed door in front of me. I twisted the handle and slipped inside, shutting the door quietly behind me.
Kayla laid sprawled out on her back, naked on the four-poster bed in the center of the room. This was Rachel’s parent’s room, but I didn’t give a fuck. It would serve my purposes nicely. I felt her eyes on me as I slowly wandered around the room, pulling open drawers, and finally opening the closet door. Kayla knew better than to ask me what I was doing or question me in any way. I’d had to spank that out of her early on, but now she knew the routine.
I took my time perusing the clothes hanging in here, finally stopping in front of a tie rack. I ran my fingers down the striped and patterned silk, plucking out four of them before making my way back into the room.
Stepping up beside the bed, Kayla’s eyes followed my every movement. They were hooded, and she bit her lip. She liked this shit as much as I did, which was why I regularly fucked her. I ran my hand down the smooth skin of her leg until I got to her ankle. I pulled a condom out of my pocket, and I set the ties in my hand and the foil packet down on the bed before pulling a navy striped one out.
Wrapping it around Kayla’s ankle, I tied a quick bowline knot before attaching it the same way to one post. I moved to the other side of the bed and repeated the process with her other ankle. I grabbed the remaining ties and moved up to the head of the bed. She tried to run her hand down my chest, but I caught her wrist before she made contact. “No touching.”
Everything was changing, and my life as I knew it was slipping away minute by minute. It was changing into something new, and I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t want to stop it. But I wasn’t sure how to cope with all the new shit coming at me and fuck if that didn’t freak me out. But this? With Kayla? This I could control. I could command and shape it into whatever I wanted, and every single second of what happened in this bedroom would be on my terms.
I wrapped the tie around her wrist, securing it snugly before knotting it around the second to last post. I slowly walked around the bed, drawing out the process because I could. My shoulders relaxed as I tied the last knot, settling into the heady feeling of being completely in control.
I ran my fingers down her leg as I walked to the end of the bed, just letting the tips touch her skin. Tugging the knotted tie, I made sure it was secure before I pulled my shirt over my head, tossing it on the floor. The mattress dipped under my knee as I climbed onto the bed between her open legs. She watched me closely as I lowered my head to her inner thigh and slid my tongue up the sensitive skin.
Kayla pulled on the restraints, reacting to my touch, but I ignored her. Instead, I moved to the other thigh and repeated the motion until my tongue reached high enough to slide up her pussy. She jerked against the restraints again as I blew against her heated flesh. “Please!” she cried out, and I pulled away.
“Say another word without permission, and this ends before it even fucking begins.” My voice was hard, and my eyes were harder as I stared her down. She knew the fucking rules, and I wouldn’t hesitate to follow through on my threat.
She closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. I moved off of the bed, taking my time unbuttoning my jeans and stepping out of them. Just to reinforce who was fucking in charge here, I folded them up and set them on a chair positioned across from the bed. I sauntered over to my shirt, bending down and grabbing it to fold also. Once I set it on top of my jeans, I turned back to the bed. If she hadn’t gotten the message, next time, I’d walk out no matter how much I needed this.
Prowling back up her body, I settled back between her legs. I lapped at her entrance, enjoying her tangy taste on my tongue. She writhed and fought the restraints but didn’t make so much as a noise, and I rewarded her by sucking on her clit. I flicked my tongue over the sensitive nub before nipping it gently. When her thighs were shaking, but she hadn’t gone over the edge yet, I sat back, admiring my work.
Kayla whimpered, but I didn’t mind. I enjoyed watching her squirm but being unable to do anything about it. It was fucking hot. I turned my back on her and moved back off the bed, dropping my boxer
s and adding them to the folded pile of my clothes.
My body hummed in anticipation, and I wrapped my finger around my shaft and pumped my hand up and down a couple of times. I was so fucking hard the edges of the tight grip I kept on my control were starting to fray.
I continued stroking myself as I walked to the bed, crawling up Kayla’s body until my knees were positioned on either side of her head. She looked up at me with wide eyes but said nothing as I let go of my cock to run my thumb over her bottom lip. “Open your fucking mouth.”
She did as I said, parting her lips for me. I pushed deep into her mouth, groaning as the head of my cock reached the back of her throat, and then I pushed a little further. The vibrations of her moan echoed along my length into my balls, almost setting me off. Her tongue stroked along the underside of my shaft, making me hungry to get deeper inside.
Clenching my jaw, I pulled mostly out and drove right back between her lips, throwing my head back and closing my eyes. My fingers worked through Kayla’s hair until I’d twisted the strands around both of my fists to use as handles. I flexed my muscles as I moved her mouth in my favorite rhythm, thrusting even deeper and only stopping to look down at her when her throat spasmed on my cock. I pulled out of her mouth, and she gasped, inhaling lungfuls of air.
“Jesus, Jericho. I couldn’t breathe.” Her eyes were a little wild, but I couldn’t stop staring at her mouth and the way her lips were pink and swollen from my cock.
“Shh,” I ordered. “Just take deep breaths. You’re fine.” She eyed me apprehensively but said nothing, and I decided to let her speaking without permission slide this time since I was so fucking hard I could hardly think straight. I could be the biggest asshole in the world, but I didn’t want to hurt Kayla or make her uncomfortable. At least not any more than she wanted me to.
All the change and stress of the day were long forgotten as my only focus became my next move, my next command. I eyed Kayla appraisingly and decided the rest of this night would go better if I stepped back a second and got her calmed down. I couldn’t have her not trust me.
Shadow Phoenix: A Rock Star Romance Prequel Page 3
