Heartstrings: A Dirty Affliction Novel

by Regina Frame

  When we made it home, he went next door to collect Booger from the neighbor. I had an idea, so I began stripping in the kitchen, knowing that he'd enter through that room when he came back with the dog. Dropping clothing along the way, leaving a trail to the bathroom. The final piece of clothing a black satin thong that I knew would be his undoing.

  I turned on the water in the tub and poured a healthy amount of sweet smelling bubble bath in. I smiled when I heard him come in, talking to the dog, and I could tell the moment he spotted the first article of clothing.

  "What the f . . ."

  His boots slapped the floor, growing louder and louder the closer he came to my room. I scooted down farther in the tub so that the only part of me that was visible was my head and shoulders.

  "Holy shit!" he hissed, when he spotted me in the tub full of bubbles. His eyes darkened with lust as he chewed on his bottom lip, toying with the tiny hoop there while never taking his eyes off me.

  "There's room for one more."

  "Thank fuck, because I was two seconds away from getting in, anyway." He gave me a devilish grin as he pushed his jeans down his legs, letting his dick spring free. He was already hard with a glistening drop of precum at the tip. Water sloshed over the side of the tub as he lowered himself into the hot water, hissing as he went. "Get on your knees and face the wall," he ordered.

  I did as he said and pushed my backside in his direction. Needing. Begging for him to slip inside. With one hand in my long hair and the other on my hip, he thrust into me, hard.

  "Ooooohh, Chance," I moaned as he began to move in and out of me, hitting that sensitive bundle of nerves with every thrust.

  "You like my cock, don't you, baby?"

  He tugged on my hair a little harder this time, rolling his hips. A deep groan rumbled in his chest as his thrusts became deeper, harder, and more frantic. He was chasing his release as mine was baring down on me. The familiar tingle in my lower spine and the tightening of my abdominal muscles was my body’s way of telling me it was there.

  "Yes." I hissed. "Yes! Yeeesss!" I shouted as I shattered around him.

  It only took him a couple more thrusts before he stiffened behind me and growled out his release. My head dropped to the cool ceramic as I gasped, trying to catch my breath.

  "Damn, Sparkles," he panted. "You're gonna have to let up on the keegles a little bit. When you clamp down on me like that, I'm lucky if I get in two more pumps. It was almost over before we even got started." He slapped my ass, causing me to yelp.

  "Do you even know what keegles are?" I laughed.

  I'd never met a guy who even had a clue what those muscles were called, or even that women exercise those muscles for moments just like that.

  "Fuck yeah, I do. I know every inch of a woman's body, and just how to play it." He smirked. I believed every word. He'd more than played mine. "Crawl in bed. I'll be right back."

  I watched as he stepped from the tub, suds from the bubble bath sliding down his firm ass, which, by the way, was also tattooed. I watched him walk out of the room, completely naked, dripping wet and leaving a trail of water along the way, before grabbing a towel and wrapping it around myself.

  I was lying in bed when Chance walked into the room, carrying a tray that had one cupcake and two glasses of wine on it.

  "What's this?" I asked, as he sat the tray on my lap and then crawled onto the bed beside me.

  "I can't tell you how sorry that I am for the way I reacted to the birthday party."

  "It's okay. I'm just sorry that I didn't ask. Can we just forget it and move on?"

  "The way that I reacted is not okay, and I need to explain why I have such a difficult time on my birthday. You see, my mom left on my birthday. I knew she was going somewhere because she had her purse and those damn cigarettes, so I asked her if I could go, too." He paused a moment and swallowed. His Adam’s apple was bobbing beneath the ink on his neck. "She told me no. Said she was going to get my birthday cake and she wanted to surprise me, so she sent me to my room to wait. That was the last time I ever saw my mom." His voice was thick with emotion.

  "Chance, I . . ."

  He shook his head when I tried to speak.

  "Don't. Just don't." He didn't have to say it, because I knew what he meant. He didn't want me to feel sorry for him, so I kept my thoughts to myself. "Anyway, I've been thinking about it and I'd like to try and put that behind me." His brows dipped as he stared at the cupcake on the tray. "I can't think of anyone that I want more to celebrate my birthday with."

  My heart ached and my stomach fluttered with his words. We fed each other bites of that delicious cupcake, drank our wine, and then he worshiped my body two more times before we both fell asleep, exhausted and wrapped up in the warmth of each other.

  ***

  Chance

  New Year's Eve

  The place was crawling with top celebrities from the big screen and music industry. If you'd told me three years ago that I'd be performing at The Playboy Manor, I would have told you that you were full of shit. The freakin mansion looked more like a castle than a home. All it needed was a damn mote out front. And the inside of the place looked like a museum. It was definitely not a kick your shoes off in the middle of the room or toss your dirty towels on the floor beside the hamper kind of place. It was all marble floors, expensive paintings, and Persian rugs. It even had a movie theatre and dance floor.

  Music blared and strobe lights bounced off the dance floor. There were beautiful women everywhere. Some topless. Some wearing corsets or various types of lingerie, but most all of them were wearing cat ears with long black tails pinned to the skimpy underwear they were wearing. Any other day, I'd see just how many of them I could stick my dick in. Today was not that day.

  The only woman I was interested in had blonde hair with pink tips, and she was standing across the room, talking to some nerdy douche wearing horn rimmed glasses and a bow tie. I was sure he was hitting on her, too. Who wouldn't? She was stunning, and so out of his league. I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands into tight fists when he grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. It took a total of ten seconds before his hands moved to her ass. I was gonna give him five seconds to move his hands or I'd put him on his ass.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when she removed his hands from her backside and walked off the dance floor toward the bar. We rocked the shit out of that place that night, and the guys and I were standing around the pool area, drinking and watching as girls in bikinis played volleyball in the pool. Well, actually Levi and Jinx were watching them. I still had my eyes on Honor as she talked to some redheaded chick at the bar. Every few minutes, she'd look my way and I'd toss her a wink, maybe lick my lips, or tug at my lip ring, and it always resulted in her blushing. Something I'd grown to love about her.

  It took every ounce of strength that I had not to toss her over my shoulder and find the nearest room to fuck her in. Things had changed so much between us over the last few weeks. I just hoped that once she knew the full truth about me, she wouldn't bolt. I really couldn't blame her if she did, but until that happened, I'd cherish what time we had together.

  "Chance!" I heard my name being called in some high pitched, nasally toned voice that made my skin crawl. A rail thin, bleached blonde teetered on her six inch heels as she made her way over to me. Shit. "It's so good to see you again."

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me on the fucking lips. Something like that wouldn't normally bother me, but now it just felt wrong. Fan or not, the only lips I wanted to kiss belonged to the five foot two feisty little blonde living under my roof. The same one who was currently walking in my direction with determination in her steps and murder written all over her adorable face. Fuck me. Sparkles just may have been jealous.

  "Whoa now," I said, unwrapping her from me and taking a step back. Her overly plumped pink lips turned into a pout, and I swear she stomped her foot like a damn two year old.

  "Aren't you glad to see me?"
she whined. I didn’t have a clue who the chick was, and her voice alone was enough to make my dick shrivel up and fall off. When she realized that I didn't recognize her, she said, "New York?" She waited. "American Music Awards?" She shoved her hands on her hips. "I'm Tabbie Walker." Still nothing, but I was over the guessing game.

  "Oh yeah. Tabbie." I must have been coked up or strung out since I couldn’t remember her. If anything, I should have remembered that voice.

  "Want to sneak upstairs?" She giggled. "I seem to remember you like it when I . . ." Honor finally made her way over to me. Snaking my arm around her waist, I pulled her in close against my side and kissed her on the cheek. Tabbie wasted no time letting her claws show. "Um … excuse me." She flipped her over processed hair over her shoulder and looked down her nose at Honor. That was not a good thing.

  "You're excused," Honor fired back.

  I almost choked on my beer. Claws were definitely showing. She was catching on to the groupies, and some of the shit they tried to pull.

  "No. Honey," Tabbie snapped. "We were trying to have a conversation, if you don't mind." She sneered.

  "Oh. I don't mind. Please continue." Honor waved her hand between the two of us, and when she grinned, I completely lost it. I barked out a laugh, and Tabbie glared at me.

  "Seriously, Chance?" Her voice was loaded with sarcasm as she tilted her blonde head in Honor's direction. "You're fucking the help now?"

  I choked on the mouth full of beer that I'd just taken, and it almost came out my nose. When Honor took a step forward, I knew I needed to intervene, no matter how much I was enjoying the little pissing match between the two. That would not end well for Tabbie, because from what I'd seen over the last few months, Honor could definitely hold her own. She had learned to deal with some psycho fans.

  "First of all, Honor is not the help, and you need to take a walk."

  She straightened her spine and let her ugliness show, because no amount of makeup could cover that shit up. An ugly soul transformed a pretty face, no matter what you did to try and disguise it.

  "Just so you know, sweetheart," she turned her glare toward Honor, who arched her brows in mock interest, "you won't last long, because they never do. He'll fuck you just like all the rest, and when the shiny newness wears off, he'll move on to the next new toy." Her lips curled in disdain, before her eyes slid back to me. "Good luck with that." She turned on her high heels and wobbled across the cement to some other poor unsuspecting sap standing at the bar. I almost felt bad for him.

  ***

  Honor

  Chance's tattooed arm tightened around me, and he buried his face in my hair.

  "Don't go." He grumbled. "It's too damn early for someone to be calling."

  His voice was husky with sleep, and it caused my nipples to harden into stiff little buds. Ever since we'd started having sex, he had slept in my bed with me every night, unless we fell asleep watching a movie.

  "It must be important."

  Pushing myself up on my elbow, I blinked a few times to clear my vision, looking for my cell. It wasn't on the charger beside the bed. I flopped back down on the bed and snuggled back into the warm wall of muscle beside me, deciding they could just leave a message.

  When my phone immediately began to ring again, I huffed and forced myself to get up, but not without Chance rubbing his morning wood all up against my backside first. I giggled as I ran from the room and grabbed my phone from the kitchen counter. Uncle Louis's name flashed across the dark screen. He never called that early.

  "Good morning, Uncle Louis."

  "Hi, sweetheart. I'm sorry to call so early, but this really couldn't wait." His voice was laced with worry, causing my stomach to knot painfully.

  "What's wrong? Are you okay? Is it Aunt Judy?"

  My thoughts were racing, trying to come up with what could have him so concerned. Uncle Louis had always been calm. The laid back one. Always taking things in stride and talking me off the ledge when needed. I had never heard that tone in his voice before.

  "We're okay. It's nothing like that." Thank God. I exhaled a heavy breath and waited for him to continue. "Before you ever left for L.A., John Major with Infinity Talent scheduled a meeting with me to discuss an issue with their contract, and when we compared their contract versus checks issued to them, there was over two million dollars missing from the account. We spent hours combing through the account and found that several payments had been issued to T.A. Consultants," he reported.

  "Who is that?"

  "That's what he wanted to know. It seems that it's Trevor Anderson.

  "What? Trevor, as in my ex Trevor?"

  "One and the same," Uncle Lou replied. "He made it look as if we'd hired this consulting agency when what he was doing was depositing large sums of money straight into his own bank account."

  "I can't believe this. Does he know that we're on to him?" I never should have trusted him. "This is all my fault," I cried.

  "Don't say that. It is in no way your fault. I'm the one who offered him the V.P. position of finance. This is on me." He added, "To answer your question as to whether he knows that we've caught on, the answer is no. Not yet."

  I looked up when Chance stepped into the kitchen. He was at my side in a heartbeat, because he proved, once again, that he could read me. He could tell just from looking at me that something was not right, and when he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, I thanked my lucky stars that he was a part of my life. When my uncle spoke again, his words almost brought me to my knees, and I was pretty sure I would have hit the floor if it hadn't been for Chance's strong arms holding me up.

  His eyes moved over my face, studying me. "I'll pack my things. I can be there by afternoon," I said, unwrapping myself from Chance and walking toward my room to start packing.

  "No," my uncle said, causing me to stop just inside the doorway to my bedroom. "There's no need for you to leave. I can handle this, and, truthfully, I'm afraid he'd try and use you if you were here. I've scheduled a meeting with him tomorrow, along with the board members. We'll let him know what we've found, show him the proof, and have security escort him out. I'm meeting with Detective Shaw this afternoon to get the papers in order.

  Tomorrow, I'll go to the police station and file charges against him, so at some point, you'll need to sign those."

  I nodded my understanding even though he couldn't see me.

  My uncle was right about Trevor. It didn't take long for him to pick up on how obsessed Trevor was with me. And he'd always been able to twist things around to make it work in his advantage. I should have never hired him to handle the financial part of the label, but he came highly recommended.

  I shudder to think what could've happened if I'd accepted his marriage proposal. It was bad enough that he was my shadow, always showing up at meetings when they didn't involve him. Always showing up at family functions uninvited. Not to mention the times Harmony and I attended club openings for the label. Somehow, Trevor always knew about them and conveniently showed up.

  "Are you sure? It would be wrong of me to expect you to handle this all by yourself."

  "Sweetheart, you're right where you need to be. I'll keep you updated, and if and when I need you here, I'll let you know. You just keep doing what you love and take care of yourself. I want you to promise me that if things get to be too much for you that you'll talk to me or Dr. Parker," he said, his voice full of concern for me, and rightly so.

  He'd seen firsthand how stress and grief had affected me, and I never wanted that to happen again. It was a very low point in my life, and I'd like to think I was much better now.

  "I promise, Uncle Lou. Don't worry about me."

  We said our goodbyes and ended the call. I couldn't believe this was happening. It proved one thing. Always trust my gut. I walked across the room and dropped down onto the bed. When Chance spoke, it startled me. I had forgotten that he'd followed me down the hall.

  "Everything okay?"

  He sat down b
eside me and placed his warm tattooed hand on my thigh, sending a surge of warmth through me. I shook my head and looked up at him through watery eyes.

  "It seems that my ex-boyfriend has been embezzling money from some of our clients. Uncle Louis says it's in the millions." My voice was barely a whisper. I couldn't believe this was happening.

  "Oh, Sparkles." He wrapped me in his strong arms and placed a warm kiss on my temple. "What can I do to help? Anything. All you have to do is ask."

  My God. Could he get any sweeter? If there was anyone that could take my mind off my ex-asshole boyfriend and the shit storm he'd caused, it was Chance.

  "I need you to take my mind off this," I begged.

  "Come on," he ordered, taking my hand and tugging me up from the bed. "Shower with me."

  I followed him into the bathroom, and stripped out of my sleep shorts and cami while he moved about the room, collecting everything we'd need for our shower. He placed two fluffy white towels on the towel bar beside the shower and stripped himself of his boxer briefs and turned on the shower. Steam billowed from the shower when he opened the glass door, and the mirror above the sink fogged over.

  Chance grabbed my hips and hoisted me around his waist before stepping into the steam. Hot water rolled over our naked bodies, making our skin slippery. His green eyes met mine, dark with lust that made my body come alive just from that heated look. I let my head fall back on a moan as he placed greedy kisses down my neck, across my shoulder, stopping at my breast.

  "I'm gonna fuck you, Sparkles, and then we'll move to the bed, and there, I'll worship you slowly." He rasped into my ear as his fingers dug into my hips. "You alright with that?" I nodded my head while grinding my pussy against his hard dick. "Need to hear you say it, babe."

  "Yes. Yes; that's what I want."