by Alyson Hale
It’s the band with two other men in what looks like a board room, and they’re holding up a stack of papers. Everyone looks elated. It’s the day they signed their contract with Hannigan Records. I take a closer look at the leathery-skinned man to Jace’s right.
“Hey…that looks a lot like my—”
“We have to go.” Jace drags me out the door and down the stairs of his trailer.
“What’s going on?” I stutter out, bewildered, and then watch as a parade of rental trucks drives into the park.
A very familiar man jumps out of the passenger side of the first truck, and his smile fades when his eyes land on me.
Chapter 22
Jace
“Jace, what the hell is she doing here?”
“What the hell is he doing here?”
Fuck my bloody life. I rake my hand through my hair, feeling at a complete loss for words. That’s a first for me.
They’re standing face-to-face, but both their rabid gazes are fixated on me. Her eyes are already bloodshot, though she hasn’t shed a single tear. Kyri isn’t upset about seeing her father. She is livid. I never knew such raw fury could pour off a woman.
“Who is he to you?” Her green eyes blaze a hole in my head. She hisses through her teeth. “Tell me!”
“I’m his manager.” Her father steps forward and commands her attention. She turns her head slowly back to him. Rick’s black eyes train on his daughter. “I’m sorry you had to find out like this. I thought we’d agreed not to bring her here yet.” He glares daggers at me.
Kyri spins around to face me. “You had an ‘agreement’ with him?”
Goddamn you, Rick.
I return his glare, and he shrinks back, knowing he fucked up. I can’t believe he just said that in front of her. Now we’re truly royally fucked.
Nodding, I take responsibility, feeling like God could snap me out of existence with a lightning bolt and I wouldn’t blame him one bloody bit. “I knew who you were. I’m…I’m sorry.”
“Of course you did.” She recoils from me, tears building up in her eyes. Seeing the hurt etched into her and knowing I put it there makes me want to take away all that pain and put it on myself. “I knew there was something. He used you to get to me.”
Her words slice through me. My eyes squeeze shut. “Kyri, I promise you that’s not all it was—”
“Is that all you are? Just a pawn in his demented games? That’s pathetic!” She whips her phone out of her pocket and hurls it at my mouth. After the painful impact, my taste buds are immediately flooded with the bitter flavor of iron. I touch my lip, and my thumb comes back bright red.
“Shit…I’m sorry,” she sobs. Her gaze darts around as if she’s afraid the police are going to materialize out of thin air. Covering her mouth, she chokes back another sob and backs away toward her car. “I’m so sorry. Please don’t press charges. I’ll just go.”
Kyri turns around, crying, and races to her car before I can catch her. I press my forefinger against my lip to contain the blood and dip down to grab her phone, then I dash toward her car as she revs the engine.
“Wait! Please—”
She turns around and tears out of the park as I chase her on foot. I manage to make it to the highway without running out of breath, but she’s much too fast for me, and I lose her. After she’s out of sight, I give up, dejected, and trudge back to the park. No one says a word to me as I pass by them, spit blood in Rick’s direction, and drag myself up the stairs into my trailer.
Of all the scenarios I practiced in my head for breaking this news to her, this is by far the worst turn it could have taken.
I deserve a thousand bloody lips. I deserve my voice box removed.
Perhaps I should just hang myself up by my guitar strings and do the world a favor.
Lying down on the bed, I take a tissue from my nightstand and hold it to my lip. Beating the mattress, I scream at myself. This is the worst thing I’ve ever done. I don’t know how I let myself get suckered into Rick’s games. She’s right. I’m nothing but a bloody pawn, or more like a puppet. He tells me to sing, I sing. He tells me to dance, I dance. I thought I was in control of my own life, but I was fooling myself. This whole thing is a farce. I no longer care about my own life, or my career.
After my lip dries up, I’m going to get her back.
I’m going to convince her nothing we did over the past week is a game, a plot, or going to end any time soon.
Chapter 23
Kyri
My tears don’t stop the whole way down the highway toward my house. I have to brush them away as soon as they form so I can see to drive. My fingers have become my very own windshield wipers.
What an idiot I’ve been. Of course Jace was in cahoots with my dad this whole time. I knew Dad was in the music industry. I knew what Jace and I had was too good to be true. Have I really become that dense and naïve? I can’t face Mom and tell her what happened. I can’t let Alex tell me it doesn’t matter because “he’s hot,” and famous, of course.
I can’t stay here.
As soon as I get home, I leave the car running, rush into my room, and pile everything I have into a rolling suitcase. I haven’t done anything with the money I’ve earned this week, and it was much more than I thought I’d get. It will last me until I find a new job wherever I’m going. I don’t know where I’m headed, but I know one thing. It’s far away from here.
As soon as I’m packed, I scribble a quick note for Mom letting her know I’ll call her when I get to where I’m going. A heat wave of humiliation washes through me when I realize I left my phone with Jace.
Shit. At least it has a passcode.
Leaving the note behind with a kiss, I hurry out of the house and to my car, still fighting tears. I’m finally getting out of here. No more bad memories to haunt me. No more Dad. No more heartache.
No more Jace.
I hate myself for being so heartbroken over him. It’s something I’m just going to have to build a bridge and get over. I’ll harden my heart into stone and be strong, just like I did when Dad left me as a kid.
I’m made of iron. I’ve got this.
I give a little wave to the house as I speed out of the driveway. Poor Mom. I hope she understands.
***
My car runs out of gas an hour before I get to Nashville, Tennessee. I’m amazed my clunker was able to make it this far without falling apart. After stopping under the bright lights to park next to a pump, I lock my car and hurry inside, relieved to see there are no creepers hanging around by the door. The last thing I need when I have no phone and no protection is a sexual predator following me. I’ve got to stop at a store soon and get a cheap prepaid phone.
Once I’ve picked up a candy bar and a soda for the road, I give the cashier a twenty and head out to pump gas in my car. While I’m waiting for my tank to fill up, I glance to the side and notice an oddly familiar truck parked off in the shadows. I rub my eyes with the backs of my hands and squint to make sure I’m not seeing things. It looks like one of the trucks Dad rented for the band.
I shake the cobwebs out of my head. That’s crazy thinking. Dad wouldn’t actually follow me here, right? Surely he’s not that far gone. It’s got to be a coincidence. After all, there are lots of trucks like that on the road.
Still, on the off chance I’m right, I decide getting out of here quickly is the best course of action. I finish pumping my gas, hop in my car, and speed off, making sure the truck doesn’t follow me out of the parking lot. To my relief, it stays put until I’m out of sight.
I continue down the highway until I get to the outskirts of Nashville and drive into the parking lot of a motel I estimate is going to be my cheapest option. I’ve got to conserve my money any way I can. When I walk into the lobby with my suitcase in tow, I ask for a queen room with no smoking. I pay the fee and receive my key card, then I hurry upstairs to my room by the outside stairway. I hate rundown buildings like this. It looks like a rat could cross my path
at any moment. Still, the price wasn’t bad, and it is only for one night. I’ll find somewhere better once I get a waitressing job in the city.
Once inside my room, I close the door and bolt it tightly. Then I drop my suitcase and throw myself down on the ratty comforter that’s obviously been there since the seventies and let a sob escape my throat. This is not the way I saw myself leaving my home. Leaving Mom. She’s going to be so heartbroken that I’m gone with nothing more to explain myself than a measly note.
Steeling myself, I push back the tears and crack open my candy bar. Then I reach for the TV remote and turn the channel until I find E!. Silently, I pray nothing about Jace will come on the air. Seeing him out on the town in Atlanta with a smoking hot babe on each arm right now would break me.
I munch on my Snickers and lean back against my pillows, barely listening to the hot mess that is celebrity news. As a segment about the new band Rejects Royale comes on the air, I hear a pounding fist assault my door. All the blood rushes down from my head into my stomach. Did Mom send the police after me? Are they going to force me to come back?
Of course, I know that’s crazy talk. I’m a grown woman. Still, I should probably at least see who this is.
I leave my bed and pull the door open, keeping the chain lock in place so whoever it is can’t force their way in. When I look up at the mountain of man standing outside my door, his stunningly sharp features cut into my vision.
A gasp catches in my throat. “What are you doing here?”
His eyes darken in their intensity. “Open this door. Now.”
Chapter 24
Jace
Her frightened eyes look up into mine, and I know exactly what she’s thinking.
“How did he find me here?”
The answer is simple: I followed her. All three and a half hours after finding her at her house. Just far enough behind her where she couldn’t see me, but I could follow her car as it passed over the next hill. She was determined to lose me when she spotted my truck at the gas station, but I wasn’t about to let her get away that easily. When I got to the motel, I waited in the parking lot until she’d been in her room for a few minutes, and then I made my slow approach.
Kyri Calloway thought she’d gotten rid of me, but no matter how far she runs, I’m never giving up the chase.
“Did you not hear me? Let me in. Now, Kyri.”
Her eyes spark their jade fire at me, and I feel the burn in my cock. “You can’t give me orders like that.” She starts to shut the door, but I block her with my foot.
“You’re going to hear me out, or I swear to God Almighty I’ll be pounding on this door all night. I’d much rather be doing that from the inside.”
Watching her eyelids flutter with desire and her wet mouth drop open gets my blood rushing at Mach 6.
“So are you going to let me in or not?”
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Kyri shoves the door against my foot. “I’m going to need you to move so I can undo the chain lock.”
“You swear you’ll open the door once I move?”
Her anger flares up at me again. “Yes. Just move.”
I draw my foot back, and I hear the rattle of the chain as she pulls it away like a good girl. As soon as the door is open, I maul her with my lips, yanking her hair so her head pulls back and gives me free reign of everything I desire. I slam the door shut with my foot, not bothering to lock it because I know I’d kill anyone who tried to bother us in here. I’m like a wild animal with my prey. She’s not getting away, and no one else is going to have her either. Not now. Not ever.
Detaching myself from the heaven of her lips, I pick her up, and her legs lock around my hips automatically. I whirl her around and slam her back against the door, keeping my promise. She moans, gritting her teeth with need.
Rolling my hips, I grind my hard, needy cock against her entrance, then I lean down to whisper in her ear.
“You listen up, sweetheart, or you’re not getting any of this tonight. Are we clear?”
“Yes.” She shudders, nibbling on my neck.
“You are everything to me,” I gush into her ear. Swallowing, I force myself to keep some sort of control. “I only went along with his plan so I could meet you. When I saw you in person, I couldn’t help myself. I knew I’d found what I’d been searching for, and you were so fucking addictive, I couldn’t fight your pull on me.”
Her breath escapes her in a rush as I sneak her dress up, teasing her with my jeans-covered cock. When I reach down to touch her with my fingers, I find that she’s still wearing nothing under her dress from when we fucked earlier, and she’s wet for me. Some of the fluid surrounding her pussy right now might be the cum I shot onto her earlier. I groan into her ear, and she tightens her hold on me.
“Fuck, you’re always soaked. I know you want me as much as I want you. But it’s gone beyond desire for me now,” I confess. I lean back to look in her eyes, finding confusion and a little fear there. “I love you, Kyri. I know it’s far too early to say it, but it’s the truth.”
I feel her chest tighten as her eyes wet with tears. “You what?”
“I love you. I’ll say it a thousand times, or however long it takes until you believe me.”
Kyri swallows, and the muscles in her face work as she fights back her tears. “I love you too.”
Digging my fingers into her hair, I press my forehead against hers, looking as far into her eyes as I possibly can. “You’ve been mine all our lives. I’m sorry it took me so long to find you. And I’m really bloody sorry about what I did.”
As if my words reminded her of it, she wipes some blood away from my lip, looking a bit sheepish. “I’m sorry I busted your lip.”
“You can abuse me as much as you want as long as you never throw your phone at me again.” I give her my best cheeky, smoldering grin.
“Deal.” Her delicious giggle bubbles out of her throat, and I seal my lips over hers, devouring the sound. Everything else is forgotten as I move my fingers back down to tease her paradise. She moans into my lips, and I drink up every last bit of the sound. Every moan, scream, and whimper of hers belongs to me. I want it inside me, where it belongs.
She unbuttons and unzips my trousers, and I let them fall to the floor along with my boxers. Then I pull her dress down to expose her bountiful breasts, leaning down to bury my face in them. My tongue circles her nipple until it strains to attention, then I make sure the other one gets the same treatment. Kyri bucks her hips against me. I move down past her stomach to taste my sweet dessert.
Spreading her legs as much as I can, I make contact with her skin and nibble at her clit, pulling a cry of delight out of her. My tongue flutters against her pussy lips and back up to her clit. I pull her legs apart even further from behind and thrust my tongue into her pussy, swirling around until she’s trembling in my grip.
“Oh…that’s it!” Her eyes roll back in her head. Watching her enormous tits jiggle from underneath is a vision I want to see every day.
I please her until a gush of warm fluid lets me know she’s getting close. Then I kiss the nearest set of lips and make my way up to the other, letting her taste herself on me. Our tongues tangle together as I thrust inside her, relishing the moan she releases into me.
“You’re mine forever, Kyri Calloway,” I growl possessively into her mouth. “You run away, I’ll chase you down and fuck you into submission. You turn your back on me, I’ll pull up your naughty little dress and rock you from behind. There will never be a day you won’t feel this hungry cock filling you up.”
“Forever? You swear?” The vulnerability in her eyes sends my heart into a frenzy.
“As long as you’re breathing, that air belongs to me.” My eyes send her a promise, and she finally lets the wall down I’ve been trying to climb over since the day I met her. Clinging to me, she accepts me fully, throwing her head back and screaming when I pummel her into the door, stroke by stroke. The force sends the chains jingling and the hinges creaking i
n protest.
“Oh, God! Jace!” Her screams intensify as my pace picks up. I’ve never given anyone a pounding quite like this one. I’m giving it to her hard, long, and wild tonight. She won’t be able to sit down once I’m through with her.
I’m not using a condom or any sort of protection, either. With any luck, she’ll be round with my baby in a few months. Then she really will be mine forever.
Her nails dig into my back, raking trails of beautiful pain into my skin. I bash her into the hard wood until I come over the edge, sweating and grunting like a cave man. Kyri comes as I’m juicing her, mewling in ecstasy. I pinch her nipples as tightly as I can, letting her legs hold her up until she’s finished.
Tears streak down her cheeks as her chest heaves, still driving me crazy even after all the orgasms I’ve had in one twelve-hour period. She smiles at me as she comes down from her climax and repeats the words I now crave from her lips. “I love you so much, Jace.”
“I love you too.” Taking her lips with mine, I let the promise flow between us. She may have been hurt in the past, but now she’s found a man who’s never going to let her go. I’m going to see to it that Rick makes amends with her too.
No matter what happens, I know I’ll have my queen by my side, and I’m never coming home to an empty bed again.
***
When the morning sun creeps in through the crack in the tattered curtains, my sleepy mind registers that my arms are cold. Stirring, I rub my aching neck, and a smile tugs at my lips when I remember why it’s hurting.
I spent the majority of the night positioned underneath my girl’s scrumptious pussy, absorbing her wetness like a greedy sponge. Not a single drop escaped my mouth. I wanted it all.
We fucked all night, and in between my own orgasms I built both of us up by loving every crevice of her body. The core of her is like a labyrinth I plan to memorize. I want to bring her to a new height of pleasure every time she comes, a climax ever-building until she completely falls apart.
