Ready to Love

by Franca Storm

  I smile. “It doesn’t matter. The accusation alone will be enough to ruin your squeaky clean reputation, to discredit you. It’s gonna be difficult carving out the future you want, that your high-society parents want for you, with that hanging over your head, don’t you think? Things like that never truly go away.”

  He swallows hard and looks away. A few moments pass where I see him weighing up his options, trying to determine what to do. And then he blows out a breath. “Tell me what you want.”

  I lean into him, my eyes cold and my gaze hard and unwavering as I tell him, “End this thing with John Kingston. Let it go. Now.”

  His eyes meet mine and I see it there. The depth of his hatred for John. I’m not gonna lie, it scares me a little. But I manage to keep it from my face. Guys like him can smell fear. They get off on it. They’re like sharks getting a whiff of blood.

  “All right,” he mutters.

  “I’m gonna need more than that, Axel.”

  “Fuck,” he says with an exasperated growl. “I swear to you that this thing with John and me is done. I won’t come at him again. As far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t exist.”

  “Good.” I gesture to his school bag. “Now take out a pen and paper. I’m gonna need that in writing. And while you’re at it, seeing as though you enjoy writing notes so much, I think you can also drum up an apology.”

  Chapter 32

  ~Nicki~

  John opens the passenger door of his truck and takes my hand, helping me out. He’s such a sweetheart and he knows that I have a hard time just balancing in heels, let alone climbing out of anything in them. The only time I wear heels is for these family dinners.

  But his attentiveness is more than that. He hasn’t stopped touching me at all. His hand was either on my thigh, stroking my hair, or holding my hand the entire way here. He’s been like this ever since we finally had sex and officially got together. He’s not one to discuss his feelings often, so I think this is him showing them to me, showing his love to me. I know it’s such a typical girly girl reaction, but it gives me little butterflies and I haven’t stopped walking around with a stupid-ass grin on my face for the last few days. If I’d known it was gonna feel like this, I would’ve taken things beyond friendship with him way sooner.

  He presses me gently against the side of his truck, his gaze sweeping over me slowly. A sly smile spreads over his face. “You’re killing me in this outfit, Nicki,” he says, running his hand down my silky pale-blue blouse. He reaches for one of the buttons and undoes it. “Mmm, leave it like that.”

  “John! We’re at your parents’ house. I can’t be flashing my boobs like this,” I say, quickly fixing the button.

  He groans in protest. “Then, I guess this skirt will just have to do,” he says, fingering the hem that stops mid-thigh. He slips his hands underneath it, his fingers brushing the edge of my panties. “Mmm…lace. You know that’s my weakness, baby. I dunno if I can keep it together knowing what’s waiting for me under here.”

  I bat his hand away. “Keep your dick in your pants.”

  “Easier said than done when you’re around.”

  I push him back and start for the garage door that leads into the house. “Come on. We’re gonna be late and your dad will be pissed.”

  He grabs my hand, pulling me back around to face him. The playful look on his face is suddenly gone, replaced with…what…agitation? I watch as he pulls something out of the back pocket of his dress pants. He pushes it into my hand before I can get a look at it.

  Shit. I look down and see that it’s Axel’s apology note.

  “Huh,” I say calmly. “I guess he decided to finally cut his losses and back down.”

  He snatches it from me and stuffs it back into his pocket. He folds his arms across his chest, the thin material of his black dress shirt straining against his broad shoulders and those impressive biceps of his.

  “I know it was you.”

  I shift my weight on my heels. “What?” I ask, innocently. Innocent, my ass.

  “You left my place this morning and right around that time, I received this little note. What an amazing coincidence, huh?”

  “Yeah, a coincidence,” I say, biting my lip nervously. Oh crap.

  “You did this, Nicki. You went to see him,” he says, stepping into me. “Admit it. We’re staying right here until you do.”

  Son of a bitch. There’s no point denying it now. “Yes, I went to see him.”

  “I’ve been busting my ass to keep him away from you!”

  “I went for you.”

  “I didn’t need you to.”

  “The entire feud between you two was my fault. And so I fixed it.”

  “Nicki,” he says, taking both of my hands and holding them between us. “I’ve never liked the guy. Your involvement was just the catalyst to something that would’ve happened eventually anyway. I was handling it.”

  “And now I’ve handled it. It’s over. He won’t be bothering you again.”

  “I don’t need you to fight my battles,” he snaps.

  “Why not? You’re fighting mine…with Greg.”

  “That’s different.”

  I pull my hands away and rest them on my hips. “How? Because I’m a girl? Is that it?”

  “No. Cuz I need to protect you.”

  “Right, because I’m a girl.”

  “Cuz I failed!” he yells, suddenly. He turns away from me and runs his fingers through his hair, clearly distressed.

  “What are you talking about?” I ask gently. “You literally saved my life.”

  It takes him a moment to respond. And when he does it’s in a barely-there whisper thick with pain and heavy regret. “He had his hands on you several times before I did anything.”

  “I hid it from you for a long time.”

  “I should’ve known.”

  “How?” I walk over to him and slide my arms around his waist, resting my head against his back. “You saved me. You brought me into your home and gave me something I’ve never had: a real family.”

  He twists in my grip until we’re face to face. “I won’t let him touch you again. I swear it.”

  “I don’t want you to lay a hand on him.”

  “If I have to—”

  “No. He provokes you too easily. I don’t want you in that position. Promise me you won’t. We’ll do this how you said; the proper way.”

  It takes him a moment but he finally nods. “I’ll talk to my dad after dinner.”

  “Really?” I ask, surprised that he’s backing down so easily. It’s not like him.

  “Yeah. Honestly, it’s been difficult lately. You know how I get and all this shit with Axel…it’s…”

  “Testing you too much?” I finish for him.

  “Yeah.”

  I rub his arms softly. “It’s okay. That bastard deserved what he got. But, yeah, you need to avoid further situations like that.”

  “You know I would never lose it with you, right?” he asks, urgently. His entire body tenses as he waits for my response.

  “God, no. Of course not. I know that, John. Don’t think like that. Ever.”

  “It’s just—”

  “Let me guess; Axel put that idea in your head?”

  He nods.

  “And, you, John Kingston, are letting a punk like him get to you?”

  “I—”

  I stretch up on my tiptoes and ruffle his hair. “Get a grip,” I jest. “And do me a favor while you’re at it?”

  “A favor?”

  “Yeah, you can grant your girlfriend one favor, right?” I tease.

  His arms tighten around me. “I can grant you a thousand favors, baby.”

  “I don’t want the Greg thing hanging over our heads. I want us to live our lives. To be happy. We just got together and I want to enjoy that…us, you know?”

  He smiles. “Yeah. I can do that.” He kisses me softly, before quickly pulling away. “Let’s get inside before I take you right here in my parents�
� garage.”

  I chuckle and he takes my hand as we make our way into the house.

  ***

  “Really?” Tom asks John. “That’s a huge improvement,” he says, smiling at him.

  Whatever was said between John and his dad the last time we were here seems to have altered their relationship significantly. There’s obvious pride in his eyes now as he looks at his son. It is a far cry from the strict, critical attitude he always used to have around him before.

  I’d automatically tensed as soon as Tom had started asking John about school and his grades. But as John had told him that his grades were up, instead of finding something critical to say, Tom had grinned at him like a kid on Christmas morning.

  “Yeah, well. I’ve been a bit more focused lately,” John returns. He lays his hand on my arm and squeezes it gently, smiling at me. “Apparently, it is possible to have several points of focus after all.”

  I know what he’s getting at without him needing to say it. He’s learning to be less stubborn about the band; to be more relaxed and secure in its success, which has enabled him to give attention to other things like college and…me. Who would have figured that us getting together would change him so much? As soon as things had heated up between us, I’d noticed a change in him. He was more open and less set in his ways.

  Karen winks at me and I smile back at her. The boys are finally getting along. I know it’s a relief to her as much as it is me, because we’ve always had to be their buffers in the past.

  A peaceful silence ensues for a little while as we all enjoy the fruits of Karen’s labor: a delicious Sunday roast.

  “How’s Worst Exit doing?” Tom asks suddenly.

  I can see the utter surprise on John’s face. His dad has never referred to the band by its name before. He usually avoids the subject at all costs. I always found it strange, considering his wife used to have a very lucrative career as a lounge singer for more than a decade. It’s where John gets his musical talent from. And Karen made a heck of a lot of money doing it. But I’d heard that it didn’t end well. It was the reason she and Tom had met. She’d hired him to help her out of her contract with her manager who was, apparently, one hell of a sleazebag. I guess Tom has been worried about John getting caught up in the dark, seedy side of the business. But John has never really delved into all of that. Sure, he dresses like a rock star, has tattoos, has the arrogant attitude and he used to fuck around before he and I hooked up. But that’s as far as it goes with him.

  His smoking isn’t even anything to do with the rock star thing. He gets that from his dad who smokes like a damn chimney.

  John is too smart to get pulled into any shit synonymous with the rock star lifestyle. He knows who he is, which is quite a feat given that he’s only twenty-one. I guess that was one of the things that drew us together from the start. We’re both like that and we don’t give a shit about what anyone else thinks.

  “Me and Nicki are working on some new material,” John answers. “It’s been a while since we’ve written new stuff and I’m excited about it.” He looks at me and smiles.

  “You’re going to be writing the very thing that you’ve hated for so long soon, John,” Karen teases. “Love ballads.”

  John rolls his eyes. “Mom.”

  “Karen,” Tom laughs. “Don’t embarrass the boy.”

  We all burst into a fit of laughter.

  “I’m glad it’s going well,” Tom says sincerely, smiling at his son. “All of it,” he adds, looking between us.

  “Thanks,” John says, grabbing my hand under the table and squeezing it affectionately. He flashes me that new look of his; his look of love that I saw for the first time a few days ago the morning after we had sex. Oh God. It gets me every time, warming me all over and making my heart do that pitter-patter thing I’ve only read about in books.

  “I had a look at the Worst Exit website. It’s impressive. Did you create it?” Tom continues.

  John’s gaze snaps to his dad’s. “I wrote the content and our bassist, Mitch, wrote the code and put it up on the web.”

  “It’s very professional. Your mom showed me how to download the demos.”

  “You listened to our stuff?” John asks the two of them, clearly shocked by the news.

  “We did. Well, your mom always has. She just never told me,” Tom says, shaking his head at Karen.

  “And whose fault is that?”

  Tom holds up his hands in surrender. “Touché.”

  “Damn right,” Karen mutters. She looks at me and says, “John gets his stubbornness from his father.”

  “Oh, I’m well aware,” I chuckle, eyeing John.

  He just shakes his head at me. He’s about to respond, when his phone suddenly goes off. “Sorry,” he apologizes. He pulls it out of his pocket and eyes the number. His eyes go wide with surprise. “I need to take this.”

  Before any of us can respond, he dashes out of the room with his phone in hand.

  “Tom, I’m surprised at you,” Karen says, eyeing her husband.

  I can see that he registers the meaning of her comment right away as only two people who have been married so long can. “Let the boy do what he needs to do. He’s fine. He’s just fine.”

  Karen smiles before turning her attention to me. The three of us start talking about how I’m doing in college, if things are going well between John and I and every other topic under the sun. Like I said; they always treat me as part of the family.

  We’re interrupted when John returns to the room. He stops in front of the table, grinning widely with excitement.

  “What?” I ask, beyond curious when he doesn’t offer anything up.

  “It’s a good thing I took that call,” he says, his grin growing even wider.

  “John? What is it?” I press.

  “We’ve been invited to play Eclipse, Nicki!”

  “You’re serious? For real?” Eclipse is the club for any up and coming band. It’s always trawling with label reps. It’s the final stepping stone to getting picked up; to getting signed!

  “I never joke about the band. I’m serious. And we’re not just playing, we’re headlining!”

  “Oh my God!” I shriek, pushing back my chair and throwing my arms around him.

  “This will put us on the map!” he cries. “Finally. This is our break!”

  “Your aggressive marketing efforts have paid off! You did it!”

  “We did it!”

  Oh my God. I can’t believe it. This is gonna change everything.

  Chapter 33

  ~John~

  “Cuz this heat burning in my veins/ It’s you bringing me back from the dead/ Resurrecting a black heart ….”

  I stop strumming on my acoustic and glance at Nicki who’s scribbling away on her notepad opposite me, her guitar lying beside her. This is how we do it. We like to write barebones. Just the two of us with a notepad and our guitars.

  “It’s really coming along,” Nicki says, of our newest song, Fool’s Game.

  “We’re almost there,” I agree, taking her hand in mine and squeezing it. “I can’t wait for everyone to hear it at Eclipse.” While our campus hit, Twist Me, is still our signature song, I’m excited to play some new stuff. Plus, this new song is more personal than any of our others, because it’s about us. And, yeah, it’s a love ballad at its core, but with a hard edge which fits in well with our sound.

  “Me too,” she says, excitedly. “I still can’t believe we’re gonna play there.” Her whole face lights up at the thought of it. God, I love that excitable look of hers.

  We’ve both been on cloud nine since I told her about the call. Our upbeat mood is also cuz my dad’s put his people on the Greg situation; some guys he knows on the force. There’s a restraining order against the psycho. While knowing he’s out there still has us on edge, knowing also that we’ve got backup is a major weight off.

  Between classes and Nicki’s trips to the boxing gym, we’ve been working hard on our music to get ready
for our performance at Eclipse in a few weeks. Chloe’s booked us into a high-end hotel in the city, a couple of blocks from the club. Only the best for her. I was fine staying in a dive to save money, but there’s no way she would’ve been. She booked three rooms. One for Nicki and me to share and one each for her and Mitch, much to Mitch’s disappointment. He just can’t catch a break with her.

  “Those are new,” I say, eyeing Nicki’s black leather pants.

  This is what my music does to me. We’ve been sitting here in my apartment working on our songs for the past couple of hours and now I’m noticing how damn sexy she looks? Crazy.

  “Yeah,” she says. “I bought them for the show. Just breaking them in.”

  She needs to. Those things are so tight. Damn.

  “Chloe’s idea?” I ask.

  “Kind of. She said it will look more professional if we all coordinate our outfits. Especially, you and I as we’ll be at the forefront, you know?”

  “Well, any excuse for you to wear those things is fine by me.”

  “So, you’ll wear yours then?”

  “Sure.”

  She cocks an eyebrow. “Wow, I thought it would take more convincing than that. You don’t like to be told what to do.”

  I smirk at her. “I know it gets you hot seeing me in leather.”

  She blushes. “What? How do you—?”

  “I’ve seen you checking me out in them, even before we got together.”

  She slaps my arm. “Shut up. I was not.”

  I rest my guitar on the floor and lunge at her, driving her onto her back. She shrieks as I pin her wrists above her head with one hand. “Admit it.”

  She shakes her head from side to side. “Uh uh. No way.”

  “Maybe you need some gentle persuasion,” I say, running my hand slowly up her left thigh.

  I know I’m not playing fair. Since I took her virginity, she’s been greedy, always wanting sex. I know the slightest touch from me gets her going. She won’t win here. She’ll admit it all right.

  “John,” she whines, squirming beneath me as I walk my fingers up her thigh, stopping just before I reach her panties.