“Oh, I detect some attitude. Don’t worry, your boy headed home to get ready. No facing him today.”
“Thank the Gods for small favors.” Sameera opened the door, flipped her sunglasses up in her hair, took a cleansing breath and stepped inside the opulent interior. The building map outlined where the recording studio was located. Together, she and Catalina rode the elevator to the lower level.
“I’m just saying, Sam. You can stay off the Jimmy buffet until he proves he’s into you, and only you, if you want, or you can take what you’ve wanted for years whenever you want.”
“That’s a total contradiction to what we planned. What changed your mind?” They stepped off when the elevator dinged their arrival.
“I just want you to know you have options where that man is concerned. I know it’s a bit wishy-washy, but did you hear how he told you once ya’ll are sequestered on the tour bus he’s coming after you. Them words were one hell-of-an affirmation.”
“I don’t have time to think about what will or won’t happen. I need to get into the singing vibe.” She stepped into the room and waved at Midian, Major and Vin. “Hey guys, when’d you get here?”
“S’up, babe. We’ve been here all morning. Figured we’d get our parts laid down so you could work your vocal magic.” Vin kissed the top of her head.
“Ew, mushy.” She pushed away from him. “Hey Garrick, where do you want me?”
“Never ask a man that, sweetheart. The guys have laid down the tracks for Liar Liar and your cover of Kiss Me Deadly. We do have room for another song. Do you have another song you want to showcase?”
“They work fast.”
“This ain’t your first rodeo, girl. Do you got something mind numbing or not?”
“I forget you’re country.” Sameera laughed and bit her tongue to keep speaking in English. “I wrote a song last night and fooled around with some acoustic guitar.” She pulled the folded paper out of her pocket and handed it to him.
“All right. Well, let’s get you started with the two songs. You can do this in your sleep. We’ll get started and tweak as we need. Do you need any tea or water?”
“Warm green tea and a few bottles of water would be great.” Sam left Garrick to the recording equipment and stepped into the sound vocal box. Catalina gave her a thumbs up as she put on her head phones.
Garrick ran her through some vocal warm-ups before they got started on Kiss Me Deadly her favorite Lita Ford song. She’d sung it so many times she assumed they’d knock it out quick. Not so much. Garrick wore his producer hat, making her run through different parts of the song for what felt like a million times. She repeated sections in her range. To her they each sounded the same, but she wasn’t the boss. A lifetime later and after a bottle of water and a quick break, they wrapped up the first song and began on Liar Liar.
The first time she wrote the song, she bawled. God, she loved to torture herself. The song personified how she felt about losing her parents, living in solitary even though she was surrounded by a surrogate family. She put all her rage and anger in that song. The screaming lyrics caused her head to hurt at times. Everyone thought Liar Liar was about a broken heart from a relationship. It was. It was about the severing ties of death, cruel fate and forgetting her mother’s laugh, her father’s stern voice and their scents. It was about how time didn’t heal—it just erased what you so desperately wanted to remember, leaving an empty husk.
“Hey darlin’, let’s do that run again. I’m loving this song you wrote. We’ll order some food and take a break in awhile. You’ve been at it for almost five hours.”
“No wonder, I’m sick of this booth.” Sameera laughed. When cued, she began singing from her soul. What amazed her was how different, and naked she felt without her guitar with her.
After a dozen more takes they shut down. She exited the booth starved for food. “I’m glad it’s not sweltering in there.” The wafting smell of pizza made her stomach rumble.
“Drink this first, I know you’ve wanted some tea. How’s your voice feeling?”
“Not bad.” Like she’d complain if her voice ran away and hid. “I’m famished.” She sipped her tea and sighed in sweet relief. She followed Garrick to a lounge filled with every possible snack craving.
“Perk of using the studio. They like to make sure we have whatever we want, that’s legal.” He showed her the variety of food hidden in the cabinets as well. His cell phone blared when he opened his mouth to continue. “Hey Nev, how are you doing, darlin’?
Awkward, she didn’t want to be up in his personal business, so she walked over to the table and fixed herself a few slices of pizza, breadsticks, marinara sauce, and salad. Loaded up, she took a seat between her band members and Cat. “Where’s Dom?”
“Hopefully still asleep. Vin wore her out last night.” Major smirked.
Sameera threw a breadstick at him. “Great, perv. You do realize she is my best friend. Don’t make shit awkward.” After snatching the breadstick back, she dunked it in marinara and wolfed it down.
“Sorry about the interruption, Sam.” Garrick rejoined them and fixed his own plate. He stared at his food instead of digging in. Tension rolled off his shoulders and set the room at unease.
“Is everything okay? The twins okay?”
“Yeah, babies are fine, their mama, though, is driving me apeshit insane.” Garrick folded his pizza in half and shoved a slice in his mouth.
“Man, women who aren’t pregnant are stressful. Just look at Sam.” Vin joked. Cat jabbed him in the gut.
“Fuck bro, anything we can do to help you know we will. We’ll all be family soon, especially locked up on that bus together. Ying and fuckin’ yang.” Midian swiped a piece of pizza of Sameera’s plate.
“Hey. I should stab you with a fork,” she grumbled. “Can your sisters help her or talk to her. I know having you away must be driving her crazy.”
“She’s used to us being away, Sam. It’s…Fuck.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “It’s the weight thing again. I thought I handled that shit when we met. I love her, I love her gorgeous curves and right now she is feeling bad about her weight gain. But damn, she is the sexiest woman alive housing my babies. There is nothing that would kill my love or attraction to her.”
“Kind of in one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t stitches. I know how you feel. Bet you can’t say anything right. But you’ll be home tomorrow to see her before we leave.”
“Yeah. She’s not coming on tour with my babies. I need her home and safe, not stressing on the road and she is flipping the fuck out.”
After cutting another piece of pizza with her fork, she popped it in her mouth. Sameera chewed her food in deep thought and swallowed. “Weight was a tricky issue with a lot of women. She probably doesn’t feel sexy with bloated feet, ankles and other things. Not to mention her hormones all over the place. Do something thoughtful. And no, don’t write a song about loving her at any size. Don’t go buying her a personal trainer. Flowers won’t cut it. Why don’t you set up a pregnancy photo shoot? There are tons of stores with sexy pregnant lingerie, when we’re done we can go pick some out. Cat is great at styling. Call and schedule something for tomorrow. Surprise her and go with her. You can even be in some of those photos. When she gets the spread back and sees the naked desire and deep seated love you feel for her, she will have a physical reminder of your affection and arousal to comfort her when she misses you in the coming weeks.”
“That is the best idea I’ve heard in a long time. My word isn’t good enough right now.”
“Yeah well, you are a man. Ya’ll will say anything to get us to shut up,” Catalina said, smirking.
“All right. We finishing the last song?”
“You are. I’m going to leave. Text me a current full picture of Nev’s lover boy. I’ll get her everything she needs for the shoot. You come in your jeans, and fitted T-shirt. We can have you take your shirt off in some poses. Sing your heart out, sister.” Cat winked as s
he and Garrick traded info before leaving.
“One less stressor down, only a million more to go.” Garrick chuckled.
Sam moved onto her salad and drowned her lettuce in ranch dressing. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes.” She tossed Garrick a disc. “Acoustic music for the new song. Not sure how good it is considering I was drunk and exhausted.”
She watched Garrick and her guys leave her in peace to eat. Hopefully, the guys would figure what she wanted and she could catch a catnap until it was her turn.
Fire searing across her left ass cheek woke Sameera from her much needed sleep. She glanced up through red rimmed, puffy eyes to see Jimmy smirking down at her.
“What do you think you’re on vacation?”
“The hell? You are not supposed to be here,” she grumbled, yawning at the same time, pretty sure her words made no sense.
“Yeah. There was something I forgot to do before I left, so I hopped on the plane and came back.”
Sameera uncurled herself from the comfy couch and stood. “What could you have possibly forgotten to do here before leaving?” She grabbed a half full bottle of water and drained it.
“You know what I told you in the car.” He stepped forward cutting off any avenue of escape, boxing her in between him and the wall.
“Uh. Yeah,” she squeaked searching for an exit.
“I forgot to seal the deal. Remedying that right now. You just look so kissable, so fuckable right now with your sleep mused hair.” He traced her lip with the pad of his thumb. Sameera’s breathing kicked up into hyper-drive. Her nipples hardened with the gruff sound of his voice and teasing touch. When his lips touched hers, her legs threatened to give out on her. Held captive by his mouth, his hand snaked around her waist. She opened her mouth to his assault. Damn, he tastes so damn good. All male, all Jimmy. He made love to her mouth, driving her to ache for more, not a savage assault. A tender, leave her breathless, mindless assault—so caught up, she forgot to breathe until he breathed into her and broke off.
“Rectified. Have a good recording session. Garrick sent me to wake up the sleeping beauty.”
“Uh, Huh? What?” Sameera floated on cloud nine. Her brain hadn’t caught up with his last words, she was still stuck replaying the hot as Hades kiss he branded her with. That’s what his play was.
“Earth to Sam. Look, meerkat. Don’t give me a bigger head than the lower one I already have.”
And then he had to ruin it with a statement about his Johnson.
“Are you sticking around for the last song?” Why did he always block her in? Pushing against his chest with her palms proved futile. She gazed up into his hungry eyes and swallowed.
“Wouldn’t miss it. Been hearing how the song is going to be a sure as shit hit.” He tugged on her hair. “Ask nice and I’ll move.”
“Jackass, move.”
Jimmy chuckled and pushed off the wall, stepping back. “Not what I had in mind. Fuck, meerkat, I’ve missed you.”
“Yeah…right.” Sam grabbed her bag to find a brush and drag it through her tangled mess. Jimmy pried the brush from her hands.
“Leave it. I want to watch you play. Your voice is still husky from sleeping. Go.” He motioned to the other room. She followed instructions but grabbed her acoustic electric guitar.
“You need the lyrics?” Garrick asked.
“No. I wrote it.” She noticed a stool sitting in front of the microphone and went to take her seat. She wiped the sleep from her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt and yawned.
“Still sleepy, darlin’?”
“Umhm. Next time send a prince to wake me not a frog with a hard hand. Give me a second to get into the zone, okay. I’ll start when I’m ready. I think I’ll fool around with the guitar a few seconds, then I can sing it through and if you need we can do the vocals only.”
“All right.”
If there was any song she felt deep enough to convey for the one she wrote, the song that came to mind was Jem’s 24. The mixture of strings, with guitar added extra depth.
Blocking out Jimmy, she let her hair fall in a curtain around her face, took deep long breaths to clear her mind and opened her mouth to sing. The first strains of Perfect Storm welled up from deep within her soul. Strumming her acoustic, she let go and sang the song the way she lived it, the way the memories urged her to share the experience of surviving. Real. Raw. Desolate. Haunted. She sang until she thought her soul would break. Until she wanted to disappear into herself and never come out to see another ray of sunshine again. Dropping a soft whisper for the final chorus, she let the emotionally packed song taper off. Trembling, she looked up. On the other side of the glass, they were all gaping at her. Wetness stained her cheeks. Blowing out a calming breath, she pulled herself together. “I’m sorry. If that was shit, I can do it over until it’s right.”
Eyes wide, she watched as Jimmy stormed into the recording studio with her. He turned to the guys and made a cutting motion with his throat. She watched Garrick turn off the equipment to give them privacy and turn. They all turned their backs.
Her Jimmy loomed in a simmering unsettling rage. He swiped the moisture from her eyes and stared her down. “Meerkat, I will never. I repeat. Never fucking say goodbye to you. Do you get me? We are far from over. Fuck, we will never be over. Do you feel this?” He brought her hand to his chest. “Fuck that song wounded me. Your pain kills me. Don’t cry, beautiful. I promise one day shit will be right. We just gotta stick it out and get there.” Jimmy leaned his forehead on hers.
“Is Garrick mad? I can do it better. Sing it better.” Sameera rested her hands on his waist, drawing in his warmth and comfort.
“No. What you did first time through was fucking perfect. He was right. That song is going to land you all on the top of the charts.”
“Okay. Can you have one of them bring me my cello? I wanted to add some tracks to use in the song to add depth.” She really needed him to leave and give her a bit of space. His reaction took a toll on her, she hadn’t anticipated his words.
“Sure.” Jimmy pressed a kiss to her head and left. When he returned, she grabbed the instrument she disappeared in when her world was in shambles. Sameera shut them out and played for sake of playing, warming up with some of her favorite classics. Then she played what she felt for her new song, adding her pedal to give the song an electric cello strength to end with.
“Darlin’, can you do that last run one more time. I want to capture more. Damn, you’re good. You are bringing the cello on tour right? We may add some of your cello to our songs if you don’t mind. You can join us on stage as a treat to the fans if not on this tour another time.”
“I’d love to.” Sam repeated the tracks again like requested. Her love for cello gave her a semblance of peace she desperately needed right then. In ways singing the lyrics brought her out of her normally reserved shell. Gave a part of herself up for what would be public consumption and speculation. Fingers glided over the strings with ease as she drew the bow creating her unique sound. In the end, she’d more than adequately given Garrick what he’d requested. “I need a drink.”
“Good. We thought we’d have to come in and forcibly remove you. Come on out. We are done. If we need to tweak anything we can do it back home.”
Sameera smiled as Jimmy came in and relieved her of her most cherished treasure. She followed him out and watched him stow her cello in the case. “Thanks.”
“I vote Jimmy and Sam get their own bus. They are going to be like a tropical hurricane, I foresee damaging winds and all the shit that comes with it.”
Sameera laughed. “Midian, what are you, some sort of prophet now?”
“Uh no, but look what’s happened since you two met face to face again after two years.”
“I am a professional. Nothing will happen on that bus. Now are you, Vin and Major packed up to go?”
Vin snorted. “What? We’re not females. We got the basics and a few weeks of clothing. I’m sure there will be a place to do laundr
y along the way.”
“Trish has a team of people who handle our wardrobe and clothing. They sign non-disclosure documents and are discreet. You won’t find your panties being sold on eBay to the highest bidder. The plane waits. I have a surprise trip for my fiancé, thanks to Sam for the brilliant idea.” Garrick beamed.
“I’m glad. I will finally get to sleep.” Sam moaned in pleasure, following the guys out.
Jimmy held the door for her to the service car. She quirked a brow at his sudden explosion of manners. “I’m surprised you know how to open a door for a girl.” Her teasing lilt was met with a humorless stare.
“For the right girl.” Jimmy fiddled with the drink compartment. “Want anything?”
“No. All I want to do is sleep.” Sam curled into the crook of the door to find her own space. The door opened leaving her off balance, nearly pitching her out onto the pavement. Jimmy pulled her onto his lap.
“Hey, be more careful,” he growled at Midian, Vin and Major as they climbed in and sat on the other side.
“Sorry, Sam.”
“Love you too, babe. I’ll be home soon. Yeah, I’ll come right home.” Garrick closed his phone.
“I didn’t know the others left already.” Sameera yawned.
“Yeah, Jackson, Carrie, Carlie, Shea and Neveah went home yesterday. So did my parents and brother Jordan. Nev hates flying early in the morning.”
“So how does touring work? We’ll be on the bus. One bus for weeks?”
Major, Vin and Midian chuckled. “You worried of being cooped up with nothing but guys?”
“Nah. All I have to do is call the girlfriends for support. Just give me my own little corner and I will leave you heathens alone.” Yawning, into Jimmy’s lap, she groaned when he got a little happy and sat up to lean her head into his shoulder.
“She gets the room with the bed in it. Right, Garrick?” Jimmy’s asked.
“Yeah. She’s the only girl. No way I’d make her bunk it out with the rest of us. And no that doesn’t mean you get to sleep in the same room with her if she objects.”
Sameera grinned. “Thanks, Garrick. A girl likes her space.” She peered out the window and saw JFK Airport in the near distance.
Kiss Me Deadly Page 8
