This Love of Mine (Raine Series #1)

by Bennett, Amanda

  His purple and black plaid, button up shirt, was only fastened half way up with a solid black T-shirt underneath. And just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I glanced over and saw all of his ink on display. He had his shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows and the meticulously crafted tattoos stared, urging me to touch them.

  As I made my way back up his body, my eyes skimmed right past his face and straight to the top of his head. His always baseball cap sheathed head was now free of the binding material. His hair was a beautiful shade of brown and I wanted more than anything to run my hands through its thickness. It was shorter than I had first thought and I accredited it to the fact that his baseball cap more than likely pushed it down, making it appear longer.

  When I made my way back down to his eyes, I wished I hadn't. He was staring at me knowingly, and I almost gasped at the intensity of it. In two days, this boy had gotten under my skin more than anyone I'd ever known. I replayed my conversation with Cami over and over and finally decided to let myself live.

  I reached my hands up into that dark thick muddled mess and pulled his lips down onto mine. I tugged gently, trying to pull him further into me. His hands snaked around my waist, but I could feel the hesitation in his touch.

  As I pulled back, his eyes caught mine and I couldn't stop the smile that spread from ear to ear. His hand slid down the backside of my dress and grazed the back of my thigh as he helped me up into the cab of the truck. He placed a gentle soft kiss to the back of my hand just before he closed the door and ran around the front of the truck, and into the driver seat. Our eyes connected one last time as he threw the truck into drive and we headed out towards town.

  We were only a few minutes away from the town limits, when I decided to strategically place my hand in the middle of the bench seat. I needed to know if the feelings I had were going to be reciprocated and when he settled his hand on top of mine, I smiled in triumph.

  When we pulled up to the small bar at the end of the main street through town, I suddenly felt the emptiness as he pulled his hand away. I wasn't exactly sure how this night was going to play out, but I was hoping and praying that I would end up sprawled across the seat of his truck. Oh my god, what was I even saying. It's not like I was a virgin. My ex had made me do things, only people much older than I, had ever experienced. But everything just felt so unexplored and new with Madison.

  I blushed at the memories, when I caught sight of Madison walking around the front of the truck to fetch me from my side. I reached for the handle just as he flung the door open. I glanced up at him and noticed his demeanor had changed from sweet and soft, to hard and unreadable. Well, if that was how he was playing it, then I would just show him that two could play that game.

  His hand reached for mine so he could help me jump down out of the truck. I looked directly into his eyes and smiled a tight smile, just before stating very matter of factly. "I can do it on my own, cowboy." I winked and he stood back abashed. Finally, he would know just how it felt to be in my position.

  Chapter 16

  Madison

  Words failed to explain how breath-takingly beautiful she looked when I saw her standing at the end of her drive. I wanted to swoop her up and run far away from everything, and have it just be me and her. I knew I looked like a complete idiot standing there waiting for her to say something. I felt like a coward when she made the first move, but I needed her to do it. I was following her lead on this one, and I wasn't about to push her to do something that she didn't want to do.

  I was relieved when she pulled me into her. My body reacted instantly, betraying me at every turn. There was no way I was going to be able to hide what her close proximity did to me for much longer. She didn't say anything once we started heading towards town. Not that I expected a full blown, heart wrenching conversation, but something would have been better than the silence that was strangling the air right out of the truck.

  I kept an eye on her every move out of my peripheral vision, so when she placed her hand on the seat between us, I knew exactly what she was doing. I didn't hesitate to set my hand on top of hers, when that was all I had wanted to do the entire ride. I thought we were finally on the same page, and I would have continued to think that way, had she not copped some shitty attitude once we got to the bar. I wasn't exactly sure what happened between the time I picked her up to now, but something was seriously off.

  I knew I was going to have to sneak her in, so I turned on my serious face and hopped down to fetch my lil' country girl. Only when I reached her side of the truck, she had all but shut down, again. Holy hell, I couldn't win with this fuckin' girl. When she called me cowboy, my dick twitched and made its presence known. The things this girl did to me with just a word, was out of the ordinary. I caught Glenn out of the corner of my eye and nodded in his direction. When I pointed towards KJ, her back was turned the other way and he shot me a wide smile and a thumbs up.

  Dumbass.

  He ran over to us a second later, after helping Brandon and Bryce with our equipment. We had all known each other since we were little and it just so happened that over the years, we all fell in love with the same kind of music. Brandon and Bryce were brothers and I swear if you didn't know them, you would have thought they were twins.

  They both sported short blonde faux hawks and had brown eyes. They were the exact same height and only a year apart in age. Brandon was definitely the nicer of the two, but once they started talking it didn't really matter. Girls were drawn to their heavy Texas drawl and there was usually a few that fought over both of them.

  Glenn came running up to us and introduced himself to KJ promptly. "Hi, I'm Glenn. You must be Kayla." His shit eatin' grin made me want to beat the shit out of him where we stood, but I knew he was just being polite to the girl that I couldn't shut up about.

  "Hi Glenn. Yes, but please call me KJ." I noticed her wink and shoot a flirty smile in his direction.

  "Okay, so now that we have that out of the way. Can we please get her inside so we can set up?" I was only slightly irritated, but I must've come off like a dick because when I reached for her hand, she quickly pulled it back to her side. Damn it, why couldn't she just let me touch her, without consequence?

  "Yeah, bro lets go. Ryan is around the side, waiting for us."

  Glenn led us over to a side entrance that I didn't even know existed until now and sure enough there stood a huge bouncer. I had never met Ryan before, but Glenn said he was a good friend of his brother, so I let him make the introductions.

  Man, I felt dwarfed in comparison to Ryan. He had to be at least six foot five, probably around two hundred and fifty pounds and solid fuckin' muscle. Goddamn, he was huge. He was wearing a short sleeved black t-shirt, and was covered in tats just like I was, but his traveled all the way up and around his neck and throat.

  Shit!

  "Ryan this is my buddy Madison and his girl KJ. Guys, this is Ryan."

  I reached out to shake Ryan's hand and noticed just exactly how many tattoos he had. They covered his entire hands, top and bottom. Impressive. He had a stoic look on his face as he shook my hand in return, but then placed an easy smile on his coarse face as he looked over Kayla. I was jealous instantly, and wanted to pull her back to my truck and drive her straight home, but I ignored the small flare of jealousy and watched her closely as she held her hand out to shake his. What happened next, was not what I expected at all.

  This hard as shit man in front of me, bent down and scooped her up into one of the biggest hugs I have ever seen a guy give a girl. I wasn't sure if maybe they knew each other previous to now, but I got my answer when she responded with a, "nice to meet you."

  Glenn eyed me a few times, gauging my reaction to the scene playing out in front of me, I'm sure. When my hands balled into fists at my sides, he aggressively patted my shoulder.

  "Alright, let's get her inside, so we can finish loading the equipment on stage, yeah?" He whispered.

  "Yeah." Was all I could manage to strangl
e out of my dry throat.

  "Don't worry about it fellas, I'll take good care of your girl here." He reached his hand out for Kayla to take it, and when she did, Glenn had to hold me in place as he walked her inside.

  I quickly turned and glared at Glenn. "Who the fuck does he think he is?" I growled.

  "Bro, you need to calm the fuck down. He knows she's only sixteen. He won't fuck with her."

  "Seventeen." I mumbled to no one apparently, because Glenn had since run over to the van. I caught up with him and said my hellos to Brandon and Bryce, before we started moving our stuff inside. I wasn't exactly sure about the emotion coursing through my veins, but I was damn sure going to get to the bottom of them by the end of tonight.

  I pushed the cart of drums over the lip of the side door, when I caught sight of a very scantily clad Taryn, headed in the direction of sweet, innocent KJ. I was about to drop everything I was doing to go intervene, but it looked as though Ryan was taking his babysitting duties to the extreme. I watched as he whispered something in Taryn's ear and then shook his head. She quickly retreated and headed back to the bar. That was definitely not a situation I wanted to deal with tonight.

  When I reached the stage, Brandon was already reaching out for me to hand over his drums. So much for trusting your friend and band mate huh? I quickly handed off the rest of his gear and then made my way over to Kayla. She glanced up from her cell phone and gave me a quizzical look.

  "Hey pretty girl, whatcha doin'?" I sat in the seat right next to her and placed my hand on her exposed thigh.

  "Nothin' much, cowboy. Aren't ya supposed to be helpin' those boys out?" She pointed in the general direction of the rest of the band.

  "Nah, I'm the singer." I winked at her and could instantly see the blush creep up her cheeks.

  "I see." Her voice sent my blood pressure through the roof and I knew if I didn't walk away now, I was going to do something very inappropriate for public.

  I placed a small kiss to her head and then went in the direction of the stage. I needed to start warming up and I was in desperate need of a cold shower. I could feel her eyes on me as I turned the corner and I let out an audible sigh as I almost ran right into the back of Glenn.

  "Sorry, bro."

  "It's cool. What's got you all worked up?" He started laughing and I couldn't help but find the irony in it all. I was always using girls, and now I was caught up in a girl that was all but using me at the present moment.

  "Funny." I sneered.

  *****

  About an hour and half later, a couple beers and some extra time with KJ, and I was geared up and ready to go. The crowd started filtering in and it was definitely much larger than we had anticipated. Good to know Bryce had been doing his job getting the word out. I leaned over and kissed Kayla right on the lips, leaving her breathless in my wake. I smiled at myself and headed up the side of the stage.

  To my surprise, it was Ryan who would be introducing us and despite that, I was still pumped. Every time I hit that stage, everything else ceased to exist and I could be, me. It was my small escape in a world full of uncertainty. I lived for this shit, oh and baseball. Baseball was the only other thing that could get me going the way performing did. That was until I met Kayla.

  I stood behind the mic, waiting for Ryan to announce us and for the curtains to fall to the side. I shook my head, clearing all other thoughts out of my mind. Suddenly, remembering that Kayla was out there was making me nervous like I had never been before.

  "Thanks for coming out tonight, y'all. We have an amazing band ready for your pleasure. Give a big hand in welcoming, Restless Youth!"

  I grasped the mic between my hands as it sat on the stand and closed my eyes just as Bryce began playing the bass. Our first song was a fast one that started out slow and I always kept my eyes closed through the first chorus. That was until I remembered who was watching me. I scanned the crown and caught her eyeing me, and I smiled.

  The first few lyrics came out soft and smooth and I could tell by the look on her face, that she was surprised. As I got a few more words in, I could see her practically melting into the floor and it pushed me harder than I had ever pushed myself before. This concert was for her.

  Chapter 17

  Kayla

  His voice wasn't at all what I was expecting when he started to sing. I watched his eyes float up to mine with the first few words of the song and I practically came right where I stood. His voice was like a soft wave of satin, enveloping me. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. He looked sexier than ever standing on that stage and commanding so much attention. I hadn't realized how many people had actually showed, until I glanced around me as the lights went brighter. The place was packed and all here to see them.

  I was surprised with the music that they played. When he said they were alternative, I almost expected a much rougher edge to there sound, but I was pleasantly surprised. I listened to all types of music, but this was definitely something I could see myself listening to a lot, and not just because I was overwhelmingly attracted to the lead singer.

  Their first few songs were fast, but they started to bleed into some slower ballads and every time Madison looked out to the crowd, he sought me out. He looked amazing being in his element, and I couldn't help but wonder if he ever went big, would he even care if I were around?

  I know how ridiculous I sounded, but I was willing to put it all out there before he left and I couldn't help but wonder, if he was willing to do the same.

  ****

  An hour and a half later, they were wrapping up their last song, when I heard my name through the speakers.

  "This song goes out to a special girl, who I can only wish thinks of me just as I think of her. This one's for Kayla James."

  His voice did things to my insides that I could only hope never faded. I stood with the rest of the crowd as he started singing accapella. His voice wrapped around me like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. His eyes were closed and he gripped the microphone as if it would disappear any second. I kept my eyes focused on him as he sang about a flirtatious and amazingly strong love. I willed him to look up at me, but was disappointed when he didn't. As the song was coming to an end, he let the last few lyrics float from his mouth and they encased me, speaking volumes.

  I watched as the curtains fell closed and the house lights came on. I didn't notice anybody around me, until Ryan came strutting over asking how I liked the show.

  "It was amazing." I shouted over the house music pouring through the speakers.

  "Were you expecting them to suck?" He laughed.

  "Not necessarily, but I've never heard them before." I smiled as he pulled me over to his side.

  "Come with me. I'll take you backstage."

  I went willingly under the security of his strong, brooding frame. He led me to a small black door next to the stage and opened it quietly. "Go through the door on your left. You'll find your boy in there."

  I pressed up on my tiptoes and laid a kiss to his scruffy cheek. "Thanks Ryan. It was nice meeting you."

  He smiled and then quickly closed the door behind me. I stood in front of that small red door, willing him to come running out looking for me. After a few minutes or seconds had passed, I reached for the brass handle and turned.

  My heart was pounding out of my chest, and I could feel my palms beginning to get sweaty. I was nervous wondering what I may or may not walk in on. I was pleasantly surprised when I pushed open the door, and Madison was standing there arms stretched wide, waiting for me.

  I ran straight for him, relishing in the warmth of his arms. He squeezed me tightly into his broad, chiseled chest with a strength that I had only ever heard about. I looked up through a veil of hair into those sparkling green eyes. They held every emotion he was feeling, and they saw deep inside of me. I never wanted this moment to end, and I was fairly certain it would have lasted awhile longer, had Glenn not interrupted with his smart-ass remarks.

  "You two need to just screw alre
ady. I mean, our boy here is leaving soon, and then what?" He slapped Madison on the shoulder as he ran past laughing.

  I smiled up at Madison, agreeing one hundred percent with Glenn, but Madison didn't know that. "It was an amazing show, cowboy." I winked at him just as his lips came crashing down onto mine. All was lost in that moment. My sanity, reasoning, hell, even my panties wanted to march out that door with the rest of it all.

  "Let's get you home. I don't need your granddaddy wanting my ass on his wall for bringin' ya in late."

  I quickly searched my purse for my cell phone to check the time. I had let time get away with me, and Madison was absolutely right, my granddad would have his ass if he brought me home late. Especially, given the fact that he didn't even know I was with him in the first place. That would only fuel the fire.

  The light on the screen lit up, letting me know it was now eleven o'clock. Phew, at least we still had a little bit of time. Madison had pulled away from me and my body was already feeling the effects of not having him near me. This guy was like a drug and not being around him, sent me into withdrawals.

  I waited around backstage as Madison helped the guys load up the rest of their equipment. By the time they were completely done and ready to go, it was about eleven thirty. I was a little bummed when it took Madison another ten minutes to say good-bye to everyone left at the bar. I wanted some extra time with him tonight, but apparently that wouldn't be happening.

  His intoxicating smell assaulted my senses as his warm, strong hand curled around my hip, pulling me deeply into the comfort of his side. I glanced up at him with a wide smile as he led us out of the bar and back to his truck. This time I let him help me into the cab of the truck and even let him think he accidentally copped a feel of my ass. Before he jumped into the truck, I made sure to scoot myself into the middle of the bench seat. There was no way I was going home without feeling his hands on me, even if it was just a hand on my knee.