Under the Cornerstone

by Sasha Marshall

  “Leo cornered her in your dressing room when you went on stage. He tried to force himself on her. Look at him, man. What do you see?” he asks.

  I take a look at Leo and realize he’s bloody as fuck. He looks like he might pass out at any moment, but he also looks terrified.

  “Who beat his ass?” I ask.

  “Noely beat his punk ass with a chair. It took seven of us to get her off of him. If we didn’t pull her off when we did, she would’ve killed him,” he says.

  I let his words soak in and close my eyes.

  “Where’s my girl?” I ask.

  “Not yet. You can’t go around her until you get your shit together. Right now, she’s sitting behind your bus with Jimmy and Aaron and some other roadies and musicians. Nobody is going to hurt her. I made sure of it.”

  “How bad did he hurt her?” I croak out.

  “He roughed her up. She’s got a few bruises, but she said she’s had worse. Right now that bad ass woman of yours is chain smoking and drinking a bottle of tequila while demanding Leo release Blood Feather from your contract. She’s telling everyone she’s your new manager,” he lightly chuckles.

  “Goddamn straight she is,” I answer, still mad as fuck.

  “Breathe, man. I know if that happened to any woman I loved I’d want to kill him too. I get it. We’re men and it’s in our DNA to protect what’s ours, but is that what’s best for her right now?”

  I don’t answer him.

  “Who does she need right now, Johnny?” he asks.

  I swallow, “Me.”

  “So what’s more important? Beating his ass again, or taking care of her?”

  “Noe.”

  “Right answer. She already beat his ass like a grown man. Let him live with the fact that a woman handed him his balls on a platter, besides his balls won’t be much use to him after what she did. He won’t be fucking with a woman anytime soon,” he laughs.

  “Noe fucked him up that bad?” I ask just to be sure.

  “She would’ve killed him if we didn’t pull her off. It took me twenty minutes to get her to walk away. She was determined to kill him, man,” he says with a serious tone.

  “My girl fucked him up,” I say and my chest fills with pride.

  She didn’t let another motherfucker do this and get away with it.

  “She did. What’s more important right now?” he asks again.

  “Noe.”

  “Will you walk around the building with me? We’ll smoke a cigarette or two, have a few shots and calm you down. You gotta be in your right mind when you go to her. You have to be the calm one, because she’s still fucking pissed and she’s out for blood. You have to be level headed and do what’s best for her.”

  “Let’s go,” I say and the crowd surrounds us as we head away from Leo.

  They disperse as soon as we step around the side of the building.

  “She’s still mad?” I ask and look down at my shoes while I smoke.

  “She’s demanding that he release you from the contract and if he doesn’t, she says she’s going to cut his dick off and let him bleed out,” he chuckles.

  “She said that?” I ask in shock.

  “Verbatim.”

  I smile.

  “She said either way, Leo is gone. He either signs off or dies, both will release you guys from the contract.”

  I chuckle, “She’s always been so fucking smart.”

  “No offense man, but watching her drink straight out of a liquor bottle, chain smoke, threaten homicide, and pace up and down the bus is hot. She’s feisty as fuck.”

  “I know,” I smile.

  “You’re calmer so you should know, she has bruises on her neck and some on her arms and back. You don’t look at that shit when you go to her. Look her in the eyes. Be the calm man, because she’s a fucking hurricane right now. Be her calm.”

  I pull him into a man hug and thank him, and then he walks me towards the buses. I know when we’ve reached our bus, because twenty men surround it, but I can’t see Noe or Jimmy.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  “Give ‘em a minute,” Ray says and the men scatter quickly.

  When the sea parts I find Noely pacing up and down the side of the bus. She looks exactly like she wants to kill someone. My dick goes raging hard.

  “Where is that little dick motherfucker at?!!” she yells and throws her arms up in the air.

  I smile at how pissed off she is, because a year and half ago, she cowered and tried to hide it. Now, she’s out for blood and she’s not taking no for an answer.

  Fuck it’s hot.

  I look over to Ray, who smiles at me, pats me on the back, and then leaves to give us privacy.

  Ryan and Rich join me at my side and their movement signals Noely to our presence.

  She throws her hands up in the air and yells at us, “I want that motherfucker to release you out of your contract now!!!”

  “Okay,” I smile at her.

  “Okay?!! Just okay?!! Now, Johnny! I swear to God if he doesn’t, I’m going to cut his cock off with a butter knife and let him bleed to death. Jimmy’s already agreed to bury the body,” she points to Jimmy serious as fuck.

  I smile and look past her to Jimmy, who’s smiling like a fucking kid in a candy store.

  “What are you smiling at?!!” she yells.

  “You beat his ass?” Rich asks with a smile in his voice.

  “Yeah?” she answers and puts her hands on her hips.

  I see the bruises on her arms and remember what Ray told me, so I look at her eyes, so full of rage.

  “You don’t think I can beat a man’s ass?” she asks Rich with a bitchy tone.

  “No, I don’t think that at all. I think you almost just killed his ass though,” Rich chuckles.

  “I’m glad all of you think this is so fucking funny!” she throws her arms in the air and starts pacing again.

  I look at all three of my friends who try their best to hide their laughter. She’s hot and it’s funny as fuck that she beat Leo’s ass.

  “So you’re our new manager?” I ask her and take a step towards her.

  “Fucking right I am,” she answers and then uses her fingers to point at the three of us. “Any of you got a fucking problem with that? I already run this motherfucker. He didn’t do shit for you.”

  “Okay,” I say.

  “Okay?” she asks and glares at me.

  I take another step towards her.

  “Okay.”

  Rich seconds, “Okay.”

  Ryan thirds, “Okay.”

  Jimmy adds, “She knocked his ass the fuck out. It was glorious. I got it all on video too.”

  She throws him a dirty look and I take another few steps towards her.

  She turns to see I’m in her space and takes a step back out of surprise.

  “Jimmy, let’s go handle this contract business,” Rich says.

  “On it,” Jimmy says and starts to gather his crutches for his fake broken leg.

  I take another step forward causing her back to hit the bus. She looks up into my eyes and I see the rage start to leave her.

  I take one more half step and lay my forehead on hers.

  “Talk to me,” I plead.

  “He… he tried to…” she tries to tell me, but as the rage leaves her the fear replaces it.

  “I know. Tell me how you’re doing.”

  “I’m okay, I think.”

  “You beat his ass, Noely baby. I’m so fucking proud of you,” I say as I continue to stare down into her blue eyes.

  “They had to pull me off of him,” she says. “I wanted to kill him.”

  “Me too. I had to get my shit together before I could come back here and see you. I’m sorry,” I admit.

  “For what?” she asks and frowns.

  “For not walking straight to you. Ray made me see you needed me to check on you and take care of you instead of giving Leo ano
ther beating.”

  “I’ve been waiting for you,” she says and looks down at my lips.

  Don’t do that.

  “Yeah?” I give her a crooked smile.

  “Yeah,” she says like the air was knocked out of her. She frowns and looks down, but I don’t take my eyes off her. She tries to change the subject, “I want that fucking contract, Johnny. I’m not playing when I say Jimmy and I will kill him.”

  “I know,” I placate her.

  “Okay,” she says as the fight once again leaves her and her eyes find mine.

  “You’re okay,” I say and wrap my arms around her tightly.

  “I’m okay,” she sighs.

  “You weren’t on the side of the stage. I fought a panic attack because for once I knew something was wrong, but it wasn’t you leaving me. I was able to get through it because I knew you weren’t leaving me. We all knew something was wrong.”

  “I’m okay,” she repeats.

  “For the first time in years, I wasn’t afraid you’d leave me, Noe.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Johnny. I’m right here,” she says and I close my eyes and let her words settle deep inside.

  I hear a throat clear, but I open my eyes and stare back into hers. I don’t turn my head.

  “Yeah?” I ask.

  “Leo agreed to release us from our contract as long as Noe agrees not to press charges,” Rich says.

  “Can I hit him one more time?” she asks and I have to take a step back so I can double over in laughter.

  “Um…” Rich answers.

  When I can talk I look at her and realize even though I was already in love with her, I fell in love with her all over again today. I fell in love with the strength she didn’t know she had. I fell in love with a woman who almost beat a man to death with a chair. Then I fell in love with a woman who still wants to kick his ass after he gives her exactly what she asked for.

  “Sure you can,” I say.

  “Fucking right I can,” she says and marches out in front of Rich and me.

  We follow her around the bus where roadies and the rest of the musician’s mill around, but Jimmy puts his hand out to stop her.

  “Can’t fuck him up again just yet. Ray and the guys just went on stage and he said he didn’t want to miss a thing,” Jimmy explains.

  “Fuck that,” Noe says and begins to stomp off towards Leo.

  I grab her by the crook of her elbow and swing her around to me. Then, I pull her tightly to my chest and place my chin on her head.

  “Let me go, Johnny.”

  “If you take the time to think this through, Ray has given you a golden opportunity. See, he’s given you time to think past your anger and think about the best way to handle Leo from here. You could go over there right now and kick him in the nuts for shits and giggles or you could plan the most devious revenge and make it count. Those kind of plans take a little time,” I tell her.

  Some of the tension leaves her. I pull back enough to look at her face so I can gauge where she’s at. She’s looking at her shoes.

  “Noe?”

  She doesn’t answer.

  “Baby, talk to me,” I ask her.

  She sighs and looks around us as though she’s just noticing all the other people out here. She looks back up at me with her big blue eyes, “You’ve been calling me ‘baby’ lately.”

  I get nervous, “I thought we were talking about Leo here.”

  She searches my eyes, but I don’t know what she’s looking for and I’m afraid to show her too much.

  “You usually call me Noely baby. You’ve never just called me baby,” she says.

  “I’m sorry,” I try to save myself.

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why are you sorry?” she asks.

  “I didn’t know it upset you,” I answer and the panic starts to rise.

  She won’t leave you.

  “It doesn’t upset me,” she smiles and looks away. “I like it when you call me that.”

  I think I just forgot how to breathe.

  “The way you look at me when you call me that… I like the way it makes me feel,” she continues.

  Breathe man.

  “Noe?”

  She looks back up into my eyes and smiles sweetly.

  “I’m safe,” she says.

  “Yeah. You’re safe now.”

  “I wasn’t though.”

  “No. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

  “That’s just it. I should’ve felt safe when I beat his ass, but I didn’t. I paced the side of that long ass bus waiting to feel safe. I was waiting for you Johnny. I wasn’t safe until you put your hands on me,” she says.

  I close my eyes, afraid to look into hers, so I don’t hope for something that isn’t there.

  “Noe,” is all I can manage. “I’ll always keep you safe.”

  “Why did you close your eyes?” she asks softly and her hand comes up to touch my cheek.

  I instinctively turn my face into her palm.

  “Open your eyes,” she whispers.

  I shake my head. She’ll leave me. The panic rises.

  “I’m not leaving, Johnny. Breathe easy.”

  I nod, but still don’t open my eyes.

  “I still love you,” she says.

  “Noe.”

  “Do you still love me? Because, it took me a while to realize it, but I can’t stand the thought of you loving someone else. I can’t stand the thought that you may not love me anymore, and that we won’t ever be what I thought we’d finally be when we were in Calif…”

  I cut her off and press my lips to hers. I don’t want her thinking about California. I don’t want her to think about the day I walked out on her and that I left her screaming and begging for me. I want her to think about now and everything she just said.

  I hold her face in my hands and slip my tongue past her lips. I start off slow and relish in her taste. It’s been too long. I deepen the kiss and show her I still love her. Her hands inch up my stomach slowly until they reach my neck. She rests her hands there while I hold her beautiful face in mine.

  “Holy shit,” Jimmy says louder than he should, but he’s Jimmy.

  “Nuh-uh,” Ryan says in disbelief.

  “Get it, Johnny,” someone else says.

  “You lucky motherfucker,” someone else says.

  I flip that comment off, which causes everybody to laugh, but I return the hand to Noely and keep kissing her. I could do this all night. I could do this for the rest of my life. I hope I get to do this for the rest of my life.

  “Get a room,” Rich yells.

  I take his cue and reach down to pull her up my body. Her legs circle my waist and then I take us to the bus as my fellow rockers cheer us on. I climb the stairs without breaking the kiss, and take her to my bunk. I push her against the row of bunks and swallow her moans.

  I break the kiss and look at her, “I love you Noe. Goddamn, I’ve never stopped loving you. I haven’t been with anyone since I was last with you. I stopped trying to replace you. Can’t you see how much I love you?”

  She smiles, “As much as I love you?”

  “I sure as fuck hope so,” I swallow hard.

  “Then take your clothes off,” she says.

  I set her down on the floor quickly and rip my shirt over my head. I do not need to be told twice. She pulls at my jeans and then pushes them down.

  I press a gentle kiss to her lips, “I love you so fucking much.”

  “I love you too.”

  I pull her shirt over her head, and then stop her from taking her jeans off. I lean in and softly kiss her again as I finish undressing her. I push my briefs down and while I’m bent slightly at the waist, I scoop her into my arms and tuck her into my bunk. Climbing in between her, I lean down and kiss her again, never tiring of how she feels in my mouth.

  She reaches down and grabs me, rubbing me up and down
her clit.

  “Shit,” I moan.

  I realize I didn’t put a condom on, “Hold on.” I reach out of the bunk for my jeans and hope there’s one in my wallet.

  “Stop,” she halts me.

  “I need to get…”

  She pushes my head into her entrance.

  “Fuck, Noely.”

  “I love you,” she whispers and places kisses along my jawline.

  She runs her hands down my back and presses her hands into my ass to force me further inside.

  “Easy,” I tell her.

  She’s so fucking tight. I know we’ve done this before, but I don’t want to hurt her. I’m pretty sure it’s been just as long for her as it has been for me.

  “I wasn’t safe without you,” she says with tears in her eyes.

  “Shh, I’m here now baby. I’ve got you.”

  “I know,” she replies and my chest fucking aches at her words.

  She knows I’ve got her. She finally knows.

  I take my time getting seated inside of her, making sure I stretch her a little more each time I push in.

  We whisper back and forth. I say all the things I’ve ever wanted to say to her and she says everything I ever wanted to hear and more. I hate that Leo did this to her. I hate that another man tried to hurt her, but I’d secretly like to thank him for being an idiot. His idiocy made my girl realize how strong she is, and then it made her realize that I am her home just as much as she is mine.

  Home is supposed to be full of people who love you. Sometimes they’ll hurt you, but only because they’re close enough to do so. They only have that power because love makes you so goddamn vulnerable. Sometimes we’re even guilty of being the ones who hurt loved ones, and most of the time it isn’t willingly or even intentional. Sometimes it’s because you want what’s best for someone you love. Still, hurt goes hand-in-hand with love.

  I realize as I move inside of her that the Noely I slept with a year and a half ago isn’t the same Noely that’s lying beneath me. She’s been hurt and abandoned her entire life. We, mainly I, ran her life for her and she let us because she was afraid to do it. Then one day, when I hurt her, she took back control. I didn’t relinquish that control easily. I didn’t like the way it felt to have the rug pulled out from under me. I didn’t like the distance and the constant heartache, but it all led to her.