by Wood, Vivian
“I don’t want you to be, princess. You’re mine, you hear me?” He fixed her eyes to his as he said this. Her heart galloped away again… Sure, she had no idea what he meant. But she liked the sound of it, so she didn't ask. She wasn't willing to sacrifice this moment with him by saying something stupid.
They dried off and got properly dressed for the first time in days. “Much as I wanna stay here with you forever, I need to go check on Anders and the guys. We have an interview set up for later this afternoon.”
She changed into a deep purple dress and almost lost the dress as soon as he saw her in it. Kissing her stupid and sliding his hands under the hem, she almost lost all rational thought and led him straight back to the bedroom before he murmured softly to her. “This has to wait, princess, we gotta get to Anders’ place and to that interview. Much as it fucking kills me. You look sexy as all hell in that dress.”
She followed him to the cavernous garage, heading for the Aston Martin. Instead, he led her to the black Range Rover. “Not today, Serena. Let’s just take the Rover. Don’t want to call more attention to us.”
Well, that was new. Wasn't the purpose of her being here to provide a distraction and call attention to them? In the last few days, something between them seemed to have shifted, but she wasn't sure what just yet. She definitely felt something for him, but there was no way he felt that way too, right? Wishful thinking. The sex had been mind- blowing. But to him, sex was probably just sex. He had been clear about what this was from the start, she was here as a distraction, yet here he was, not wanting to call any extra attention to them…
She voiced none of this as she slid into the Rover, cranking up the A/C and the radio and settling into her seat, sunglasses over her eyes and she hoped, every bit the picture of cool confidence.
They pulled up to Anders’ house and it was definitely not just them here. All the guys’ cars were scattered in the drive, along with a few that she didn't know.
“Shit,” Rhys breathed. “I can’t believe they have groupies here, we’re doing the interview in about fifteen goddamn minutes.”
“Do you usually do interviews at your houses?” It surprised her to learn that the interview was supposed to be taking place here. She had thought that they were meeting the band here before heading off to wherever the interview was happening. In her infinite knowledge of rock star interviews, of course… Truth be told, she had no idea how these things usually happened.
“Hell no. This is a first. But there have been rumors about Anders. Annie thinks it’ll work if it looks like we’re ‘inviting people in.’ Bullshit if you ask me, but she didn’t. So here we are.”
Rhys opened the door for her and they walked hand in hand into Anders’ house. The rest of the guys were relaxing on couches, groupies swooning all over them in the living room. As they walked in, still holding hands, the guys catcalled, Luc and Jett started a slow clap and Milo was laughing good-naturedly, joining in the slow clap. “Only three days, Rhysie?” he laughed at them. “I’m disappointed in you. Thought you had more stamina than that!”
Rhys grinned at first at Milo’s taunts, but his smile dies on his lips and his eyes were fixed on Anders, a beer in his hand, glaring at Rhys and Serena like they were the end of his party. Rhys moved toward the same couch that they had found Anders unconscious in front of not so long ago and took the beer from him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, bro?”
Anders said nothing, still glaring at Rhys. Then he looked at the girls scattered around the room and ordered them away. Milo, Jett and Luc looked between Rhys and Anders for a second before following the girls out of the room.
“Good to see you, Sese,” Milo shot as he gave her a quick hug on his way out the room. Luc and Jett just smiled and winked at her before they were gone as well.
Anders fixed Rhys with his dark glare. “So,” Anders sneered. “The girlfriend is staying then?”
“Yes, Andy. She is. If you have a fucking problem with that, you can fuck yourself with it.”
Anders said nothing, instead he surveyed her like she was an alien.
“Anders, alcohol? Seriously? You need to go to fucking rehab, brother. With the greatest of respect. You can’t keep doing this to yourself!”
“Why the fuck would I go to rehab, Rhys? I got no problem, unless you do.” Anders snorted and Rhys tensed visibly. “In which case, you can fuck yourself with it.” He snidely repeated Rhys’ words from seconds before.
“Look, bro. I know the home was tough on you. You need to deal with what they did to you there, Anders. It wasn’t your fault, damnit. You fucking need therapy. You need to focus on you for a goddamn change.”
Anders cut him off then. “Fuck off, Rhys. I don’t need you fucking preaching to me. Just leave, bro. And take your little slut here with you.”
Rhys took a deep breath, looking like he was about to punch Anders again.
“You don’t fucking call her that! Ever, you hear me?” He had Anders’ shirt balled up in his fist. “And we’ll leave, Anders, but in case you’ve forgotten, we have an interview here starting any fucking minute, so pull yourself the fuck together!” He fumed as Annie stepped in the room, as if on cue.
“Right, gentlemen. I have Drew Prince setting up with the rest on the balcony. If you’ll stop assaulting one another for a second, you have an interview to get to.” Annie didn't seem surprised by the scene in front of her for a second, but she did glance at Serena, letting her annoyance slip through.
Rhys immediately released Anders and walked over to her, tilting her lips up to his and kissing her gently. “We’ll be done in fifteen minutes or so, princess, then we’re blowing this joint.”
He walked to the balcony. Anders glared at her briefly before following.
“Well,” Annie nodded toward her. “Are you coming?”
The guys were spread out on couches on the balcony and a middle-aged, friendly looking man was sitting in a chair facing them. Cameras surrounded him and various cameramen and others were frantically checking cables and shots and the like before one nodded to him. “You’re live in… five, four, three” he stopped talking and counted the host down with his fingers.
Annie kept Serena close to her as the host looked straight into the camera and said, “You’re live with Misery, ladies and gents. Nowhere else than from Anders Grant’s own balcony, chilling with the guys on this glorious Saturday.”
“How’re you doing, Misery?” He turned to them. “Been a while since you’ve come home from your last tour, what’s new with Misery? Can we expect a new album soon?”
Jett launched into an answer, Luc and Milo interrupting from time to time. Rhys and Anders were quiet, but no tension was visible between them. The interview seemed to go seamlessly, it was clear to her that the band had a definite rhythm, an ease with which to face these things that, regardless of what may have been happening personally, was swept away by their public personas.
“So Rhys, we’ve seen a lot of you around town with a certain young lady recently. Want to fill us in on what’s happening there? You’ve never been this openly affectionate before, some are speculating that you’re trying to draw attention to yourself, care to comment?”
“Let them speculate. Serena is a wonderful girl. I’m honored to be spending time with her for as long as she’ll have me.” He gave an arrogant nod as he smirked straight into the camera, but his eyes went soft when they met hers where she was standing behind the camera.
“Is there a Misery wedding in the near future then?”
Her heart completely stopped, her lungs refused to accept air.
Rhys simply chuckled easily, like the question was completely normal and didn't faze him at all. “It’s only been a few weeks, Drew. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? Lest we scare the poor girl off.”
The host asked no questions that concerned her after that, but her head was still spinning. Rhys hadn’t said no!
The band continued their easy banter w
ith Drew Prince for a while before Annie nudged the camera man, who alerted Mr. Prince.
“Well, folks, that’s all the time we have today with Misery. Let us know what you thought using the hashtag #miseryontwo!”
Just like that, the red light indicating that the cameras were on blinked off, and Rhys jumped to his feet. “Pleasure seeing you again, Drew” he said, shaking the man’s hand. Then he nodded to the rest of the band without any further words, grabbed her hand and dragged her to his car.
20
“Rhys, why are we packing? Where are we going?”
He hadn’t said a word all the way back to his house in the Hills. He had sighed at the ever- present cameras waiting for them at the gate and as soon as they were safely inside it, had slid his sunglasses into his hair, looked over at her with burning eyes and told her to pack a bag for a few days.
“We’re going somewhere private. Somewhere away from this chaos.” He emerged from his walk in closet, duffel bag hanging from his shoulder and pushed his lips to hers in a deep kiss. When he broke the kiss, his eyes lingered on hers for a long moment, a look that she couldn't quite place in them. Then he blinked and whatever had been in his eyes in that moment was gone.
“We need to get away from all this for a minute. Lucky for you, I know just the place.” His confident smirk was back in place, the tenderness having not vanished only from his eyes, but also from his voice.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see when we get there. Pack comfortable, and light. I don’t wanna be lugging a ton of shit around.”
He turned on his heels and she only just heard his voice call, “Meet you in the kitchen in fifteen minutes!” from the stairs.
Damn. She'd really thought they were over this part of their relation - whatever-the-hell-they-were doing. Clearly though, she'd been wrong. Not for the first time when it came to this man. Confusing as heck!
Nevertheless, she must not disappoint her confusing, moody, rock star. With a sigh she grabbed one of her smaller bags and packed quicker than she ever had before.
Rhys was waiting in the Range Rover, talking on the phone. As soon as she slid into the car, he ended the call and pulled out of the garage once more.
He turned the music up loud and barely slowed down to allow the cameramen to clear the drive before slamming his foot on the pedal and screeching away, leaving his house and the cameras and everything else behind. His jaw was set, mouth in a tight line as he sped to wherever they were going.
Once they were on the Pacific Coast Highway, he seemed to start to relax. His mouth was softer, and his shoulders weren't as tense. He hadn't slowed down, turned the music down or told her where they were going, but the farther away they got from the house, the more the tension seemed to seep out him. They'd been driving for a while when he rolled down his window, put his arm out the window and let the air slide around his hand, diving it up and down like one does making dolphins with your hand for a child.
Eventually, he turned down the music and shot a glance at her.
“I’m sorry, Serena. I had no right to take any of this out on you. Anders just drives me up the fucking wall sometimes, you know? And what he said about you… Let’s just say it made me want to go back to when we used to settle things differently than how we do now.”
“And you had to get away not to?”
“Yup. But it’s not just that. These past few months have been intense. Need a couple of days to clear my head. Away.”
“You know, if you need to clear your head, you can just drop me at Mary’s for a few days?” A small part of her withered as she made the offer. She didn't want to leave him for a few days again, not when things were finally starting to feel real between them and especially not after how they'd spent the last few days tangled up in each other, but he seemed like he desperately needed some space to ”clear his head” as he had put it.
His face fell. “You don’t want to come with me?” His voice was hard as steel.
“No! No, Rhys, of course I do. God, you have no idea how much. It’s just that I get that you need space, and I’m trying to give you the option to have it. I know that you might have thought that I don’t have anywhere to go, and that why you…”
He cut her off with a soft chuckle. “I don’t need space from you princess, I need space for you. Away from all that bullshit back there. Don’t ever think that I don’t want you with me again, okay? I didn’t tell you to pack because I didn’t think you didn't have anywhere else to go. I think you know I’m not that much of a goddamn gentleman, I told you to pack because I want you with me.”
What now? He wanted her with him? “Well then, I’m with you.”
“Yeah you are,” he murmured softly.
Her heart stammered. He couldn’t mean it in that way, right? No use trying to lie to herself about it anymore though, she definitely wanted him to mean it that way. That she really was with him. His.
They were off the PCH now, at the beach. Rhys navigated twists and turns and they pulled up outside an exquisite house in an estate right on the beach as the sun started to set. Rhys shut off the car and slid out, opening her door before grabbing their bags and leading her up a short stone path to the front door. He dug for a set of keys, unlocked the door and led her inside.
She sucked in her breath in as she stepped inside into the main room with more floor to ceiling windows and an unencumbered view of a patio area, infinity pool and the ocean beyond it. The main room was open concept and had a dining area accompanied by a gourmet kitchen and bar.
He turned to the left, through a hallway that still offered unobstructed lawn and ocean views through its glass walls into a master suite that was big enough to fit Josh’s apartment several times over. He flipped on light switches as they walked, and she absolutely marveled in the splendor of the place.
The master bedroom had a huge, emperor-size bed with immaculate white bedding, a seating area with a flat screen television and a smaller seating area that was surrounded by records and CDs and three guitars sitting on their stands. Beyond that were the doors, still entirely glass, that led to a hot tub on the lawn outside and the beach and a spectacular view of the sun setting over the ocean.
She held her breath as she took in the view, feeling his arms sliding around her waist and pulling her close to him. “It’s something, huh?”
“Yeah. It might be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”
“I agree,” he said firmly, but as she turned in the circle of his arms, he was staring at her.
“Aren’t you afraid of people passing and seeing in here, though? All this glass…”
“You can’t see in if the doors are closed. Anyway, this is the last house on the cul-de-sac and there’s hardly ever anyone on this part of the beach. Part of the reason I bought it.”
“This is yours?” she stammered.
“It is. And you’re officially its first guest. It’s my private hideaway. The guys don’t even know about it yet. Transfer came through while we were on tour. It has a recording studio on the other side, though. So they’ll find out about it soon enough.”
“Up for the grand tour?”
She slid her hand into his, kissing him chastely. “Hell yes!”
He led her through the house and showed her the gym, wine cellar, four other bedrooms and the recording studio before leading her back to the kitchen in the center.
Her head was spinning at the place. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before!
“Really? You like it that much?”
“Did I say that out loud?” she groaned, feeling the heat spread to the tips of her ears.
“You did.” He smirked, but then tipped her face up toward his and kissed her deeply. All thoughts of the splendor were immediately erased by the touch of his lips on hers, the taste of him, the way he moved his hips against hers, his hand cupping her cheek and the other on her neck…
And then her stomach grumbled. Loudly. He broke the kiss with a nip
to her lower lip and smiled.
“Well, seems you’re hungry for something other than me… first. And here I was thinking that all you needed was a steady diet of me.” He arched his eyebrows at her with a naughty smile, doing a little dance while teasing his shirt up over those incredible abs, exposing that perfect, lickable V… Yes, I must lick that tonight! she thought.
He cleared his throat and she instantly realized that she'd been staring. “Could your ego be any bigger?” She rolled her eyes at him.
“Yes. But I don’t think my ego was what you were thinking about right then, and I’ve never had any complaints about size there. In fact, I remember a certain girlfriend of mine telling me just a few days ago how big that is.”
Girlfriend! He’d called her his girlfriend! She could do a happy dance, jump up and click her heels, but they had joked around with the boyfriend/ girlfriend thing before so he may still have meant it that way, as a joke. Must not get her hopes up.
Instead, she walked toward him, giving him her best seductive look and slid one strap of her dress down slowly as she came to a stop in front of him. Already, his mouth had opened just a bit and he sucked in a small breath as she moved toward him.
“You know, my memory might need some refreshing. Care to remind me just how huge what is?”
His eyes were dark with lust and he was breathing faster now, pulling her toward him again, grinding his hips into her and she could feel his erection pressing into her stomach as he pulled her into a kiss.
It lasted only a second before he groaned and pulled away, though. “I think what you just felt against your stomach is going to have to be your reminder until we get some food into you.”
“You want to order in?” she asked.
“Nah, asked the housekeeper to stock the fridge for us this afternoon. I intend on keeping you right here, to myself, for as long as humanly possible. Let’s see what we have.”
His eyes lit up. “How about breakfast?”
