High Strung (Power Station Book 1)

by Gephart, T

  I swallowed hard as my eyes raked up and down Ashlyn’s body, my balls begging me to hurry up and get with the program. “Nice…very, very nice.”

  “Um, Dan?” Skyla appeared at my side like some wicked magic trick, looking all pissy.

  “Yeah?” I responded not wanting to be distracted from my current view, completely forgetting I had already made plans to leave.

  “We’re ready to go,” Lili snapped, tapping her foot impatiently.

  Ashlyn continued to eyeball me, ignoring Skyla and Lili.

  I waved them off. “Yeah, I think I’m going to hang for a while longer.” Strangely no longer interested. “You girls go on without me, have a good time.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Skyla or maybe it was Lili shot in my direction. “You are just going to ditch us?” Okay, that time, it was definitely Lili.

  Ashlyn leaned closer and whispered into my ear, “Your pussy party seems angry.” She paused before adding, “Tell me, Dan, are there any women who aren’t pissed at you?”

  “You think that getting girls is a problem for me?” I laughed. No really, the fact she thought I ever needed to spend a night alone when I didn’t want to was seriously amusing.

  “Listen, girls.” I twisted back to face my pussy party. Pretty cool name actually, I should think about getting shirts printed. Like an unofficial Dan fan club or something. “This isn’t going to happen tonight. Thanks for the hand job but I’m no longer feeling it.” I shrugged deciding that should be enough of an explanation.

  “You are such an ass,” shouted Skyla, or was it Lili? I’d be lying if I said cared.

  “I have to agree, he is an ass,” Ashlyn slurred as she backhanded me across the chest. “Ass,” she repeated.

  “Come on, Skyla, let’s go. No way is he getting laid tonight.” Well that one was obviously Lili. She frowned at me before pulling her friend toward the doorway.

  “Well done, you’re all class, Dan,” Jase said, chuckling. “I’m Jason, don’t judge me by my association with this numbnuts.” He bumped me out of the way and offered Ashlyn his hand, like he was negotiating a used car deal.

  “Hi, Jason.” Ashlyn grabbed his hand enthusiastically and pulled him in a little closer. Her body crashed against Jase’s arm, the dickhead smiled smugly as it made contact. “I’m Ashlyn and this is my friend Megs. She’s a big fan.”

  Ashlyn motioned roughly to the direction of the short, sexy blonde who had walked in with her and Troy. I must be losing my edge ’cause I hadn’t even noticed the rocking curves she was working.

  “Hi, Jason Irwin, I’m Megs. I’m a big fan.” The blonde nodded, talking so fast she sounded like she might be high. Come to think of it, they both were acting really strange. “He plays keyboard, Ash.” Megs cupped her hand and attempted to whisper but it was actually louder than her regular volume. This was so fucking weird. “I’m so excited to meet you, Jason Irwin.” She waved, not letting go of Troy. While she might be a fan, obviously she had a favorite.

  “She has a tendency for saying our full names. I think it’s easier if we just go with it.” Troy grinned like a douchebag, giving Megs a squeeze. He clearly wasn’t hating the attention. Not that I blamed him, the blonde who had the death grip on him was all kinds of hot. Troy glanced up at me, biting back his shit-eating grin. “Ashlyn apparently thought you were the drummer, Megs was kind enough to set her straight.”

  “I sure did, Troy Harris.” The blonde bobble head chimed in.

  “Are you girls loaded?” I asked, looking between them. They had to be. Their eyes were glassy and they could barely stand straight.

  “My alcohol level is not relevant here.” Ash strutted back over to me and I could feel the heat roll off her body as it stood inches from mine, her lips in my face were driving me insane. “What is relevant is that you, are a pig.”

  “Is this shit for real?” I wanted to laugh, I didn’t care she was paying me out. She was drunk, and her pouty lips fumbling with words was fucking hot.

  “It’s pretty awesome if you ask me,” Jase added from the peanut gallery.

  “No one asked for your opinion,” I shot back, not even attempting to take my eyes off Ash. I couldn’t look away, hell, what I wanted to do was throw her over my shoulder and take her home. Let her work out some of that aggression.

  “You were rude to me this morning.” Ashlyn pushed her finger into my chest. “I need to set you straight.”

  “Babe, you were practically hyperventilating when you met me. You don’t have to deny it now.” I couldn’t help myself as I pushed a little further. My dick screamed in agony straining against the fly of my jeans.

  “I am not a fan.” She breathed into my face. “I worked my ass off and graduated from college with honors. I was working fifteen-hour days and handling accounts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I wouldn’t just hyperventilate over someone like you.”

  “What do you mean someone like me?”

  “Someone like you. You play in a band. How is that even a real job? Did you even graduate?”

  Well fuck me, she thought because I played in a band it somehow made me stupid? I didn’t need to go to College. I’m doing what I love and making bank doing it. I’ve come across people who judge us ’cause we have tattoos and don’t dress a certain way, but I couldn’t give two fucks. I’d rather hang myself than have to wear a suit and tie all day and punch some fucking clock. I didn’t care what anyone thought. I was living my dream and if anyone had a problem with my lifestyle, then it was just that – their problem. “Do you get lonely up in your ivory tower, sweetheart?” I tilted my head back and laughed.

  Ash smacked me across the chest with her hand. “Why are you laughing at me?” It was just enough to sting.

  “Jesus, woman. Why the fuck are you hitting me?” I laughed harder, seeing how aggravated she was that I hadn’t been offended by her attitude. She was so fucking adorable.

  “Don’t laugh at me.” She huffed, planting her hands on her hips, giving me a better look at that fine body of hers. If she was trying to turn me off, she was failing.

  “Babe, you can think whatever you want about me and I get to laugh at whatever I want, that’s how it works.”

  “I hate you.”

  I leaned in and whispered, “No, you don’t. You’re just mad ’cause I make your panties wet.”

  “You disgust me!” She pushed against my chest.

  “And yet, you still want to sleep with me, don’t you?”

  “What? No. Are you insane? I don’t want to sleep with you. Not every woman wants to sleep with you.”

  “Maybe that’s true, but you do.”

  “You…you…ugh!” She opened her mouth and shut it, wordless.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart, don’t fight it. I promise it will be good for you.”

  She slammed her lips onto mine, her tongue invading my mouth. It was hot and I could taste a hint of whatever she’d just been drinking as she swirled her tongue around mine. I pulled her head closer, ignoring our audience, as I fisted her crazy red hair. Her tits pushed up against me and I heard her moan as I pulled up her leg, hitting that sweet spot with the throbbing hard-on that was begging to climb out of my jeans. I didn’t care she said she hated me, or that I disgusted her, her body was telling me she wanted me, wanted this and I wasn’t about to deny her.

  She leaned into me, her hands getting crazy as they moved down my back and squeezed my ass, pushing her hips harder into me. I could feel her grind against the friction of my jeans, using it to work herself up, the action making us both crazy. It felt so good, her mouth hungry for every little inch of tongue I gave her. I could only imagine how amazing those lips would feel wrapped around my cock. I needed to get inside of her before I blew my load in my pants. I couldn’t remember a time I had been this worked up over a girl. It was like someone had flicked a switch in her and all that anal control shit just exploded into a big ball of want. Oh yeah, I said anal and I would be happy to work that out with h
er too, but right now, I need to get my dick suited up and buried into her pussy.

  She pulled away in a rush, her face flushed and her lips puffy from making out. Her chest heaved up and down as she pushed her hair out of the way. She backed away steadily and gave me a fucking drop-dead gorgeous smile, her tongue tracing her perfect cock-sucking lips.

  “There, I’ve made a questionable decision. Megs, I would say our night is done.”

  Smart! Seems like that fancy degree was worth something, despite getting hot and bothered. She was telling her girl to wrap it up so we could go get busy. I had to respect the fact she didn’t want to fuck me right here in the club, it was a little skanky. I mean, I would have done it if she’d asked but I was looking forward to taking her home and fucking her properly, having her come so fucking hard around my cock she forgot her own name. Yeah, we needed to eject from this club ASAP.

  Megs’s bugged eyed expression matched that of Troy and Jase. “Uh Ash, you just made out with Dan Evans.”

  “Wrong, he just made out with me.” She smirked and turned away from me. “Troy, Jason. Have a good night.”

  What the actual fuck? Is she leaving? No, she can’t be leaving. Coming up for a breath I understand, but calling curtains is a whole other matter. One minute we’re getting hot and heavy, going at it like a porno, and the next minute she is saying goodbye? Who does that? I’ve got the worst case of blue balls and she was just going to walk away?

  “Wait, you are just going to leave me like this?” I pointed to the bulge in my pants thinking she must be kidding. Maybe this was like foreplay for her, we could get aggressive and then fuck hard.

  “Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Think of it as character building. Write a song about it. Either way, I am not sleeping with you. Megs, let’s go.”

  Shit, she was serious. She stalked over to a bewildered Troy and unwrapped her friend from his body. Megs was not able to offer much more than a wave as Ashlyn pulled her out to the main area of the club.

  “What the fuck was that?” I stared dumbfounded at Troy and Jase.

  “I believe you just got owned, my friend.” Troy patted me on the shoulder like some poor little puppy. “Looks like it’s just you and your hand tonight.”

  Jase gave me a friendly punch in the arm. “I like her. I’m going to see if Lexi will give me her number. Maybe I’ll ask her out, she seems like a fun time.”

  “Don’t even play me right now, asshole.” I ran my hands through my hair, five different shades of worked up.

  “Oh come on, Dan, you’ve got to admit that was funny. You did the same thing to those other two girls not five minutes before.” Troy crossed his arms in front of his chest. He was a big bastard too; all that cymbal crashing and drum bashing made him solid so I wasn’t going to argue with him even if I didn’t agree.

  “She was totally hot for me, her leaving was to prove a point.” I flagged over a waitress, needing a drink to calm me down. I should just tell her to bring the whole bottle.

  Beth brought over our standard order and I snagged the tumbler of Jack and Coke I knew would barely make a dent. Troy grabbed his bottle of beer. “Well I guess she did that, didn’t she?”

  “Whatever man, that was fucking bullshit. Bullshit. Who gets a guy all fucking hard and then walks? Not even an offer of a blowjob or anything. It’s not like I wouldn’t have reciprocated.” I swallowed the drink and slammed down the glass.

  Jase tipped his bottle of beer and took a swig. “Don’t be looking at me, dude, I’m not blowing you.”

  “Nice one, asswipe. Like I’d want to have my dick sucked by you.” I’ve got nothing against dudes sucking other dude’s cocks; I just don’t subscribe to it for myself.

  “You baited her dude, what were you expecting?” Troy took a seat on the couch and pointed at me to do the same.

  Like I was going to chase after her like a loser. Dan Evans did not chase after a girl no matter what she looked like, even if she gave amazing head. Okay, if she gave amazing head, that would be grounds to break my rule but it was too late now. She had too big of a lead and I had no idea of her head-giving talents so therefore, by my own rules, I could not pursue.

  “Just let it go, man. You’ve both had your fun, now move on.” Jase sunk his ass into the chair beside me.

  He was right. I should let it go. She was beautiful, there was no denying that, but she had a chip on her shoulder a mile fucking wide. A girl like that meant work, and she obviously thought she was too good for me, her and her fucked-up idea of who I am was too much trouble.

  I clenched my fist, my body still all jazzed up from her little stunt. I should just go find a random girl and forget it even happened. Forget her and her delicious fucking mouth. Damn it, now I was thinking about her again.

  “Dan.” Troy snapped his fingers in front of my face, snapping me back to attention. “I can see your cogs turning, let it go.”

  I nodded, pretending to agree with him and he rolled his eyes, giving me that look. The look that told me, we both knew I wasn’t letting it go. I don’t know why but that girl had gotten under my skin and come hell or high water I was going to need to figure out why.

  With the dawning of the new day also came panic. Panic induced by the foggy memories that slowly bubble to the surface, panic about the half-remembered words that float in your subconscious that you hoped never spilled from your lips, and panic from the body aches echoing through your muscles which point to an active night.

  I was home in my Brooklyn apartment which gave me pause, as I had remembered deciding to spend the night at Megs’s, but after leaving Panic—the club not the state of mind which was burning through my body today—I had very little recollection of what had transpired. Perhaps, I just caught a cab and came home? Maybe Megs had found someone she wanted to share her vagina with; she’d been pretty intent on it earlier. That would have definitely prompted me to hightail it back across the bridge. Or maybe the need to play show-and-tell had been mine. Megs’s borrowed dress from the previous night was strewn carelessly on the floor beside me but I was still wearing my bra and panties. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it? The bile in my stomach churned as I slowly turned my head to survey the other side of my bed, praying with everything I had it would be empty. Rumpled sheets and a pillow were my only bedfellows. I slowly breathed out a sigh of relief. Whatever I did last night could be forgiven, as long as I didn’t continue those mistakes in the morning. I could chalk it up to an unfortunate evening resulting from questionable judgment and move on.

  “Good morning,” a husky voice greeted me, my previously forgiven sins now flashing before my eyes. “I was hoping you would wake up soon.”

  Standing before me was Dan Evans, still wet from a shower with one of my towels wrapped around his hips, barely affording his modesty. Seriously, I had bigger towels; did he choose the tiniest one? Ashlyn, you are worried that he chose the tiniest towel? Seriously? Dan Freaking Evans is in your bedroom, has been in your shower, and…is. In. Your. Bedroom. What the hell? But damn, he looked good. All the exposed ink covered skin glistened as he moved closer to my bed. It made the colors in his tattoos more vibrant, life-like. His chest flexed as he lifted his arm to dry off his hair, thankfully with another towel and not the one wrapped precariously around his lower body. He was lean but incredibly toned, his body resembling a poster you might find in a biology lab. Each muscle clear and defined, it would be so easy to take a marker and start labeling - starting with those lower abdominal muscles no one knows the name of and what most women simply call the V.

  “FUCK!” My horror overrode my libido as I realized what must have transpired.

  “Now, you’re talking,” remarked a grinning Dan as he sat down on the bed, the mattress compressing under the weight of his body. “You know, for someone so uptight, you sure have a dirty mouth when you’re drunk.”

  I raked my hands through my messy morning hair in frustration trying to remember how he got here, surely Dan didn’t just teleport int
o my bedroom. Half-naked. Wet. “How? What? Where? I said goodbye to you. I remember saying goodbye to you.”

  “Yeah, that. That was not cool.” He tossed the towel he was using for his hair onto the floor casually as the smile teased at the edges of his mouth. “Why did you kiss me and then run away?”

  “Because…” The reason no longer made sense in my own head. “Because I thought I should loosen the reins a little, make out with some random guy. Megs was on my case about being normal, and you made me angry. I wanted you to stop talking.”

  “Way to make me shut up. You showed me.” Dan’s fingers slid up my arm pushing my hair out of the way. I hated to admit that him touching me didn’t feel so terrible. It actually felt nice. Gah! No. I was not willing to allow myself to make the same mistake twice. I shrugged off his hand, determined to fight off any further advances. At some point I needed to get my head in the game, now would be a good time for that. I sat up, hoping my vertical positioning would prompt my smarts to kick in. Unfortunately becoming vertical also highlighted that I was in my underwear. The sheet slipped down to my waist and revealed my bra. Dan’s eyes dipped down and gave me an appreciative smile before I was able to scramble and pull up the sheet to cover myself. Not that it mattered at this point; he’d seen it all last night no doubt. Regardless, the free show was not going to continue today.

  “I know I left. Megs and I walked out of the front of the club. I know we did.” I scanned my memory for an anchor - nothing.

  “Yeah, you did. That’s where I found you two, at the front of the club, on the floor. I don’t get why girls wear such high heels. I’m all for being sexy but the ones your friend was wearing were bordering on stilts. Anyway, she twisted her ankle walking out. Fell straight onto her ass. I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprain but she flat out refused to go to the ER, babbling about looking like an idiot with her folks.” He shrugged, not knowing the context of Megs’s refusal. Even in her inebriated state, Megs knew the minute she stepped into an ER someone would have recognized her last name and possibly connected it to her parents.