“Somewhere in the dim future, maybe.”
“What about that demo you recorded?” she probes.
“Alexis said he’d give it to someone he knows, but I doubt that anything will come of it, since we recorded it three weeks ago. Spencer hasn’t called me yet.”
“I bet you he will.”
“And I bet you he won’t,” I giggle and we shake hands to seal the wager.
“Micah!” I yell enthusiastically when I spot him. We haven’t talked for weeks, but now I see why he never took my calls. I run towards him.
“Honor!” he cries and opens his arms to receive me. “Good to see you, future mega star.”
“Oh, stop that; I’m not a star, nor will I become one,” I giggle.
He sets me down and walks to the bar with me. “I’m pretty damn sure of it.”
“Stop it, Micah.” We sit down after Krys has hugged him as well.
“Let me dream a little for you. Wouldn’t that be cool? You becoming famous, and then Krys and I will tag along on tour, getting front row seats every night,” he gushes.
“Front row seats?” Krys laughs. “We’ll be backstage and looking at her from the mixing desk, instead of standing there being squashed.”
“Guys,” I try to curb them. “It’s not gonna happen.”
“What?” they chorus in outrage.
“Just stop talking as if I’m going to make it to the bigtime,” I demand with a giggle.
Mic gives me a cheerful look. “But you will.”
“Let’s just wait and see.” I’ve got to stop them a few more times, because they keep imagining my overly bright future. I don’t want to dream too big, because then my wishes won’t come true. I’ve always fared well with this precaution, because the surprise is so much sweeter if your wishes do come true in the end.
It’s nighttime in New York City, but outside the lights of Times Square are as bright as day. Sometimes I wonder what this place would look like if it was lit only by streetlights.
Micah and Krys took a cab home, but I need some fresh air. I’m fond of walking the streets in the evening and late at night. Even though this city literally never sleeps, I cherish the relative quiet of the witching hour, which is interrupted by the beeping of my phone.
“Hello?” I say warily, since the call is coming from a clocked number.
“Hey, beautiful. How’s the Big Apple?” Alexis!
“Hey … it’s large and dark … though I’m strolling past Times Square right now.”
“Alone? At this hour?” he asks, sounding dumbfounded and a little worried.
“Yes, why not?”
“Are you crazy? Do you have any idea what could happen to you?”
I snort. “The same that can happen anywhere else. It’s okay, Lex. Nothing’s gonna happen to me.”
“That was what that woman thought, too. She was attacked in the middle of Times Square, and suffered broken bones, bruises, contusions, and she’s still in the hospital.”
I knew he would mention her. Last week, a woman our age was mugged right in this area, for a few dollars and her cell phone. I saw it on the news.
“Honor?”
“Yeah, I’m still here.”
“Would you please call a cab?”
“I’ll be home in fifteen minutes, Lex. We can keep talking till I get there.”
“And be a live witness to your mugging? No, thank you. Please take a cab.”
“Lex,” I drawl.
“I’m happy to pay for it, too, but please get into a fucking cab right now!” he barks at me.
I snort in annoyance, before stepping up to the curb and whistling loudly.
“Fuck, Honor! What the hell was that?”
“You told me to get a cab, so I whistled for one.”
“You whistled into my ear!” he complains.
“Sorry. There are worse things, I guess,” I reply as the cab pulls up. I get in and tell the driver my address without listening to Alexis’s complaints that his ear is still ringing.
“Will you let me know when you’re home?” he asks.
“Do you want to hang up?”
“Yeah, I need to get rid of this ringing noise,” he says. “I’ll call you back in a bit.”
“Okay. Talk to you later.”
“Bye.” I drop my phone into my purse.
Twenty minutes later I’m standing in my bedroom when the phone rings again. “Prescott?”
“It’s me.”
“No more ringing?” I ask without feeling the least bit bad for him.
“It’s not completely gone, but it’s okay. How was your night?”
“It was great. I caught up with my friends. How was yours?”
He utters a snort of amusement. “The guys and I recorded another song after Joel left. The album was accepted as it is, so we’re really done with it. We celebrated that, which is why I’m kinda bombed now.”
“I couldn’t tell,” I state as I sit down on the bed.
“You can’t? Thank god you can’t.” He chuckles. “When are you coming back?”
“Weren’t you supposed to be on vacation?”
“I know, but I want to see you.”
“Then I guess you’re going to have to come to New York.”
“I would, but my flight home is tomorrow.” He sighs. “Maybe you’d like to come with me to Miami?”
“Are you serious?” I ask, perplexed.
“Of course not; just fucking with you, Honor,” he says dryly.
“In that case …” I giggle. “I don’t think I should come. It’s your long-awaited vacation, and you should spend it with your family and friends.”
“What if I said ‘please’?”
“What airport are you flying from?”
“The local airport here. You’d have to come here if you wanted to join me.”
“What would that look like, Alexis? Your friends don’t want us to spend time together,” I reply pensively.
Alexis takes a deep breath. “I don’t care what they think. It’s my life, not theirs.”
“Lex, we shouldn’t take it too far. I don’t want to be the reason for a fight, and I don’t want to lose my job either. I’m so grateful that I have it.”
“Okay, then come visit me in Miami on your own. I have my own place there, so you don’t need to worry that your showing up will be the reason for any fighting whatsoever.”
“But we’ll see each other when the tour starts.”
“Please don’t make me beg, Honor.”
“I don’t, but I’m hanging up on you now.”
“Okay … sleep well, then,” he says, sounding suspiciously hoarse all of a sudden. Did I just hurt him?
“You, too.”
“I’ll call you.”
“Yes, talk to you soon.”
I’m standing on a stage, in the spotlight, with the audience screaming my name, my hand on the microphone. I sing the song that I wrote with Alexis. He’s standing next to me, holding my hand, and then he sings the chorus with me.
When we finish the song, the setting changes. We’re in a bedroom, and I’m in his arms, happy about the successful gig, when he starts caressing my body. “I love you, Honor,” he murmurs softly before nibbling on my earlobe.
I wake up sweating. He just confessed his love for me – in my dreams. Will his waking self ever do the same? “Not going to happen, Honor,” I tell myself in the darkness of my real bedroom before closing my eyes again in frustration, trying to fall back asleep. Which is hard after a dream like this.
My uneasy slumber is interrupted by someone ringing my doorbell like crazy. “Jesus, whoever that is, you’re a dead man … or a dead woman,” I grumble as I sit up with a jerk. I slip into my dressing gown and pad over to the door. I’m still trying to figure out what to tell the numbnut at my door, when they start knocking like a frigging woodpecker. “Do you have any idea what time it is, you ass– uh, Alexis!”
He grins at me and comes in, pulling me into his
arms and kissing me like a drowning man. He kicks the door shut with his foot and then lifts me up, and I wrap my legs around his hips. He carries me down the hallway, breaking the kiss for a short moment to ask: “Bedroom?”
“There– “, is all I can utter before his lips find mine again for another passionate kiss. I point wildly to tell him where to go.
He stumbles over my shoes, which I kicked off in the hallway last night, but manages to catch himself in time. Alexis carries me into the bedroom and drops me onto the bed. He hastily takes off his jacket, kneels between my legs and leans over me. “I missed you.” Again, my answer is sealed off by his eager lips on mine. He braces himself on one hand, using the other to pull my gown open. Underneath, I’m wearing just a flimsy chemise, no panties. I grope for the belt of his jeans, open it as well as the buttons, and push down his pants and boxers. He pulls off his tee with one hand, letting it fall to the floor next to the bed. I put my hands on his cheeks, lift my head and kiss him again when he’s already positioning his cock in front of my pussy, ready to enter me.
“Oh my god,” I blurt when I break the kiss and he penetrates me in one quick rush. He thrusting into me so hard that he stretches me wide open on the first go, not slowly, gradually, as he’s done all the other times before. I have no time to get used to his length and hardness inside me.
Alexis lowers his head and teases my neck with his teeth before repeating the hard thrust. He doesn’t say a word, merely moans softly, and takes me in a manner that would almost be frightening if it wasn’t for the tenderness of his touch.
I put my hands on his back, feel his muscles move under my fingertips, and adjust to his rhythm. I arch my back to meet his thrusts, and kiss his cheek. Alexis wraps a hand around the back of my neck, holds me close to his body, alternates between harder and gentler thrusts. I close my eyes and revel in the sensation of him inside me. Skin to skin, we ride towards another climax that will trigger an explosion of endorphins. When he hits that spot inside me that makes me go off, I know I won’t last much longer. “I can’t hold back much longer,” I whisper.
“Then let yourself go and come for me,” he growls.
I claw at his back, which elicits a hiss from him, but I can’t let up now. It’s getting even more intense, and each breath of his hits my sweat-drenched skin like an arctic blast. My entire body is wracked by spasms; I have never experienced anything as extreme as this. My own breath becomes a frantic panting, while his thrusts slow down. Multi-colored spots are dancing in front of my eyes behind their closed lids, and then it feels as if I’m falling into the black abyss. My cry comes in time with me hitting the bottom of that abyss, and Alexis echoes it only a split-second later as he spends himself inside of me. I keep my eyes closed as I struggle to gain control of my breathing.
Alexis kisses my cheeks, my jawbone, the corners of my mouth and then my lips, but I’m too far gone; I can’t even will my lips to react. “Are you okay?” he murmurs.
“Yeah, I’m … only a little overwhelmed still,” I whisper back, before he kisses me again.
Then he lies down next to me and gets rid of his pants, which were bundled around his ankles. He pulls me into his arm, pulls the covers over our bodies, and strokes my back gently. We’re lying chest to chest. “I was planning to surprise you with a kiss, and ask you again to come with me to Miami. That kind of went to hell,” he admits softly.
“It went pretty well,” I reply with a smile. I put my head on his chest and let my fingertips stroke it lazily.
“I’m glad to hear that.” The tips of his fingers trace the line of my shoulder blade.
“But I still won’t go to Miami with you.”
“Then I’m going to stay here with you.”
I lift my head and give him a confused look. “You can’t cancel your vacation because of me.”
“Of course I can.”
I sigh. “Alright … I’ll come and visit you, okay?”
His sensual lips curve into a gentle smile. “Why don’t you come along today?”
“That’s a little rash for my taste. I need to pack and all that. I’d prefer to come in a few days, Lex.”
“Okay.” He caresses the sensitive spot behind my ear. “When are you coming?”
“Next weekend? I need to get a ticket and pack my bags. Maybe buy a few new clothes, since it’s supposed to be hot in Miami now. Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but we can go shopping once we’re there.”
I give in to his insistence, nod and snuggle up to him again. “When are you leaving?”
“Our flights taking off in six hours.”
“That means you need to leave in like an hour,” I state grumpily.
“I could just tell them I’m not feeling well. Then we could fly out together. Tomorrow, or the day after that.”
“So you’d stay with me here for a little while longer?”
“Yes, I would.”
“Okay.”
“You don’t exactly sound thrilled, Honor.”
“That’s only because first, you woke me up in the middle of the night, and then fucked me into exhaustion,” I giggle.
“I came here without any sleep at all. Let me call Linden to tell him I’m flying out later.”
“Alright.”
Alexis pulls away from me, gets up and pulls his phone from his pants pocket. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t.” I stare at his fabulous ass as he walks out of the bedroom. When he’s out of sight, I close my eyes.
I sense him coming back, lie down beside me again, and pull me into his arms, but when he kisses the top of my head, I’m already drifting off into sleep.
Alexis
If you google ‘complete idiot’, I’m sure the top hit will be a mugshot of me. I’ve been meaning to push Honor away from me for weeks; to hurt her, to get her to keep her distance, but no, instead I’m falling for her harder and harder with each passing day. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I’m in love with her. My conversation with Linden was brief and succinct. I told him that I didn’t feel up to flying today. The others will just have to do without me. After all, Jayden did diagnose a burnout, however minor it might be. The thing is, I don’t feel burned-out at all when I’m with Honor. I feel more alive than ever when she’s with me. Now she is lying in my arms, sleeping soundly. I could spend the rest of my life watching her sleep. I’m beyond tired myself, but the voice in my head forces me to stay awake, and it just won’t go away. I need to act, and it doesn’t matter how much I will regret it afterwards. She’s going to hate me once she finds out what I’ve done. But she’ll only find out when we’re on tour. I can enjoy it until then, or at least get out like a decent man. Why did I invite her to come to Miami with me again? Complete idiot, that’s me. Google it.
I exhale with a sigh and then pull away from her, taking care not to wake her up. I get dressed and take a long last look at the sleeping beauty in the bed, and then I leave her apartment without leaving a message. She’s going to call me later, and I will tell her that I really am the asshole I always claimed to be, and that it was stupid to pester her into joining me on my vacation. She’ll understand that. Or maybe not; maybe she’ll just feel like I abandoned her.
When I get into my car, I glance up at her window again, but she’s not there. She’s still sleeping. I feel like the lowest scum that has ever walked the earth, but it’s better this way.
For me.
For her.
For everyone.
Honor
He’s gone. When I woke, I thought he’d maybe gone out on a coffee run or something, but a brief phone call proved me wrong. I didn’t expect Alexis to hurt me, but that’s exactly what he did. And probably without batting an eyelash, too. He told me I shouldn’t come to Miami after all, and that he knew he had pressured me into coming. He didn’t want me to come if it was just because he’d gone on my nerves.
I took a shower, put on some cozy couch clothes, and settled into the living room to wat
ch old favorite movies on DVD. They always cheer me up when I’m sad or down, even though I’m crying like a baby. Why did he do this? Why can’t he accept that of course I would have loved to come with him; I was just concerned about the others? No trip to Miami for me now, whether he still wants me there or not. I’ve decided I’m going to keep my distance from now on, and during the tour as well. I knew I was falling too hard for him, and I was already suspecting that he didn’t have feelings for me.
I can’t stop the tears from falling, even though I should have known that he’d hurt me sooner or later.
Chapter 11
Four weeks later
The tour is well under way and Alexis is obviously avoiding me again. Whatever it is I’ve done, I have no idea why he acts the way does. When I stepped onto the plane a while ago, he slipped off into one of the on-board bedrooms. I’m sitting in a seat on my own. The rest of the band is further to the front of the main cabin, chatting, and the other background singer is nowhere to be seen. I can’t even call Krys or Micah, because I had to switch off my phone. I feel frustrated, especially when I think of the prospect of an eighteen-hour flight. Maybe I’m wrong, I was confused by the flight times given on the internet and the time zones, but it’s going to be a damn long trip; that much is certain.
“Where did Alexis go?” Azer asks.
“I’d be more interested to know where Charlotte went,” Gavin adds pointedly.
“Didn’t you see her head into the bedroom ahead of Alexis?” Madeleine asks.
I swallow. Don’t flip out now, Honor. He’s not worth a single tear, if he seizes the first opportunity to hop into bed with the other background singer, I tell myself in my head. I sniffle.
“What was that?” Mike asks.
“Honor?”
“I’m alright; I just tried to stifle a sneeze, and now my nose is running,” I try to talk my way out of this.
Madeleine appears at my side and studies me. “Doesn’t look like it,” she says softly as she sits down next to me. “I noticed you spending a lot of time with Lex when you were staying at the mansion.”
Alexis: In love with a rockstar (The Hamptons Series Book 2) Page 17
