Once Upon A Rock Star

by Yessi Smith

  Her titles published include the Book Boyfriend Series, Dusk ‘Til Dawn Series, Luminous Duet, Fire on the Mountain series, and numerous standalone books that range from New Adult to Contemporary romance. Her books have been a part of the USA Today Bestselling list as well as the Amazon and Barnes & Noble overall Top 100. You can follow her on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/erin.noelle.98, her blog @ www.erinnoellebooks.com, on Twitter @authorenoelle, and on Instagram @erinnoelleauthor.

  Play Me

  a Sex, Lust, and Rock & Roll short story

  by Jessica Prince

  Chapter One

  “Gah! This place is insane!” I shouted over the deafening sounds of people screaming and chanting the band’s name. “It’s pure chaos!”

  “I know!” Keagan yelled back, a manic smile on her face. “It’s fucking awesome!”

  I turned around and looked up, up, up. The stadium was packed, as in packed. The kind of packed that made you wonder how the fire marshal hadn’t stormed in and shut the place down yet.

  And there I was, with my sister, in the middle of it all. We were as close to the stage as you could get, the only thing between us and the band about to come out and perform were metal barriers and a row of beefy, thick-necked security guards.

  It was the biggest concert of the year. Civil Corruption was the headlining act. The opener, Usual Suspects, was only slightly less popular, so the population of Seattle—and the countless people who traveled to see the show—were going crazy. The only thing more exciting than seeing these rock bands separately was seeing them back to back in the same night.

  Ticket prices had been astronomical, and considering my sister hadn’t held down a shitty, minimum-wage job longer than a month before bouncing to the next, or getting let go (as was the case most of the time), I had no clue how she managed to get seats at all, let alone front rowers.

  I leaned over and hollered, “How the hell did you score these tickets?”

  She looked at me and winked, grinning salaciously. “I screwed one of the dudes who works the sound board for the shows.”

  We might have been twins—not identical, though we looked almost exactly alike—but our personalities couldn’t have been more different. Keagan was wild and uninhibited. She did what she wanted, when she wanted, damn the consequences. I’d always been the more mature, stable twin. Given the choice, I’d have preferred to have a bit of Keagan’s courage, but sadly, that choice was taken away when our mother passed during childbirth with our younger sister, Teagan. And yes, I was aware our parents had seriously screwed us with our names.

  Our dad—God love him—tried his hardest, but he had no clue how to raise three girls, so the responsibility fell to me, seeing as I was the oldest by a mere four minutes.

  “Jesus, Keag. You had sex with a guy for concert tickets? Explain to me how that’s any different than prostitution?”

  My sister rolled her eyes. “Will you chill out? God, Reagan, you’re like, the world’s biggest buzz kill. I didn’t bang the guy just for the tickets. I also got backstage passes out of it.” She beamed, pulling two black lanyards with laminated cards attached to the ends from her purse, waving them at me with unfettered glee. “You only live once, sissy. Don’t worry about how I got them. Just appreciate the fact that I did.”

  That was easy for her to say. The only reason I was at this damn show, and well outside of my comfort zone, was because I couldn’t bring myself to let her go alone, too worried about the kind of trouble she’d get herself in if left to her own devices. I’d spent the last of what meager savings I had on fixing the transmission of my piece of shit car. I couldn’t afford to bail her out of jail—again. So I only hesitated for a minute when she originally asked me to go with her, knowing it was the only way to ensure she’d make it home safely.

  “I also brought this…” She reached into her purse, looking around to make sure no one was watching before pulling out a flask. I tried to push it away when she shoved it in my hand.

  “No, Keag. I don’t want it.”

  She let out a huff of annoyance and thrust it back at me. “Will you lighten up for once in your life, Reagan, its just vodka. Stop being so boring. The drinks here are crazy expensive anyway.”

  Knowing she wouldn’t let it go until I did what she wanted, I took the flask, put it to my lips, and tipped it back, sipping at the harsh alcohol inside. But that hadn’t been good enough. Keagan put her fingers to the bottom of it and forced it up, giving me no choice but to open my mouth and swallow in large gulps.

  It burned like fire all the way down my throat before settling in my belly and spreading warmth through my entire body. “There you go!” Keagan chirped. “Put Stick-Up-Her-Ass Reagan away for the night and let Bad-Decisions Reagan come out to play!”

  I coughed against the scalding in my throat. “There’s no such thing as Bad-Decisions Reagan,” I said with a roll of my eyes.

  “Oh, yes there is,” she said conspiratorially. “And tonight I’m introducing her to the world!”

  I opened my mouth to object just as the wail of a guitar blared through the amps along the stage. The lights suddenly went out in the whole stadium, followed closely by the sound of a drumbeat.

  The crowd went full-on berserk. Seconds later, the stage lit up with spotlights. Five of them, to be exact. Each one illuminating a different member of Usual Suspects.

  Kennedy’s piercing scream was so loud it made me cringe as the lead singer stepped up to the microphone stand, wrapped his hands around it, and belted out one long, reverberating note.

  Then the music exploded.

  I covered my ears as hard rock blasted me from all sides. I’d never been to a concert in my life, so I had no clue what to expect, but I hadn’t imagined this. It was as if the insane levels of excitement in the stadium seeped into every molecule in my body, every drop of blood. It was impossible not to fall in with the crowd when tens of thousands of people were so ecstatic.

  It was addicting, damn near bewitching.

  What was happening on that stage could only be described as powerful. The shirtless man behind the drum kit pounded out a heady heat, banging his head with each strike of his drumsticks. The two guitarists played with perfect synchronicity, creating a melody that sent shivers down my spine. The bassist strummed like the instrument was an extension of his own body, as if making that deep thrum that vibrated through the soles of my shoes and up my legs was his only purpose in life.

  They were a sight to watch, each man as gorgeous, if not more so, than the next.

  But it was the lead singer that captivated me the most. Hell, he captivated the entire freaking audience. His showmanship and enthusiasm were unlike anything I’d ever seen. Not only that, but he was, by far, the sexiest man I’d ever laid eyes on.

  We were so close to the stage that I could see every rippled muscle beneath the tight fabric of his faded black t-shirt. Blank leather pants clung to long, thick legs, no doubt making every woman in here curious as to what lay beneath them. Heavy motorcycle boots encased his feet. He was right in front of me, only a couple yards away. The thick leather cuffs on his wrists drew my attention to his strong, corded forearms, each one liberally colored with ink.

  Beads of sweat dotted his forehead as they shimmered beneath the bright florescent lights. His coarse dark hair was swept back in a way that looked hot without even trying, like he’d been raking his hands carelessly through it all day. A square jaw covered in a few days’ worth of stubble and sharp cheekbones only added to his delectable good looks. It was like standing before an Adonis.

  I shivered as his husky voice sang about how sinful it felt sinking inside of a woman.

  Each erotic word, coupled with the heavy, broody music, was like a physical touch.

  “Ohmygod!” Keagan shouted from beside me, drawing my attention from the wet dream on the stage. She was jumping up and down to the beat with her hands in the air. “Maddox Sheppard is so fucking sexy!”

  I cupped my hands around
my mouth so she could hear me as I yelled, “Which one’s Maddox?”

  She looked at me the same way she had that one time I informed her I didn’t drink coffee because I hated the taste… basically like I was crazy. “Reag! It’s like you live under a rock or something! Maddox Sheppard is only the hottest rock singer in the world! Or, well, maybe second hottest. It’s kind of a tie between him and Declan Forrester from Civil Corruption. My ultimate dream is to be the meat between that rocker bad boy sandwich!”

  I rolled my eyes and turned back to the stage just as the band’s opening song wrapped up.

  “How you doin’, Seattle?” The singer—Maddox—yelled into the mic, causing everyone to lose their ever-loving minds.

  Keagan screamed at the top of her lungs. “Whoo! Maddox! Show us your dick!”

  My sister had a talent for drawing attention, even in a crowd of thousands. Because of that, she managed to yell that just as their was a lull in the noise, making it so the sexy front man heard her perfectly.

  I smacked one of my hands over her mouth and used the other to hold the back of her head so she couldn’t escape, say more, and embarrass me further.

  A pair of bright blue eyes landed directly one me, sucking all the air from the room and deflating my lungs in a blink. “Sorry, sugar. Maybe another time,” he said, his voice echoing through the stadium as he glanced at my sister. He winked, and I could have sworn I heard women swoon all around me.

  He continued to speak. “We’re so glad to be here with you tonight!” With each word he said, the audience went crazy until I feared they’d rush the stage and my sister and I would get trampled in the process.

  “So who’s ready to fuckin’ party?” More screaming commenced. “Then we’ll set the mood, and you show us what you’ve got!”

  The drummer clacked out another beat on his drumsticks before pounding out the rhythm as the rest of the band joined in.

  Maddox caressed the microphone stand like it was a woman’s body as he growled out the first verse of a new song. At that very moment, I had to admit I was pretty disappointed in myself for not knowing who Usual Suspects was. I’d heard a few Civil Corruption songs, but neither band had really been on my radar… something I was going to rectify to-freaking-night.

  “Holy shit,” Keagan sputtered in my ear, as Maddox took the mic off the stand and moved closer to the edge of the stage. “He’s looking right at you!” she squealed.

  I looked from her, to the stage, then back to her. “No,” I argued. “No way. He’s probably looking at the whole front row.”

  “Nuh uh! He’s totally staring at you like he wants to see you naked.”

  I laughed uncomfortably and shook my head, but… I looked back.

  Holy shit. She was right!

  Not only was he staring, but he moved closer and closer with each word he sang.

  The crowd behind us swelled, pushing us closer to the barricade.

  I looked over my shoulder at the people pushing and shoving. “Back the hell up,” I hissed at a particularly aggressive woman as she shoved into Keagan.

  She appeared to want to say something catty, but wisely rethought it when she saw the look on my face. When I turned my gaze to the stage, Maddox was watching me. He caught my eyes and winked… again.

  And that time it was me who swooned.

  Chapter Two

  The show had been amazing.

  Absolutely freaking amazing.

  But as my sister and I shuffled along with the rest of the backstage pass holders—pretty much all women—my anxiety spiked.

  Keagan skipped beside me, clapping her hands in front of her. “This is going to be so epic. I can’t wait to meet all the band members,” she prattled on, as we were stopped just outside yet another barricade. This one kept us on one side of a long hallway. People I assumed helped with the show marched back and forth in the open area across from us, all scuttling in and out of a bunch of doors I assumed were dressing rooms. I really had no clue, considering I’d never experienced anything like this in my life.

  “I’m telling you right now, sissy. I’m not leaving until I bang at least one hot rocker.”

  “Ugh! Gross,” I groaned.

  “OMG! Did you see the lead singer of Usual Suspects? He was totally checking me out during their entire show,” I heard a female voice say behind me.

  I turned my head and saw that the woman talking was the very one who’d tried to meld my sister into the metal guardrail during the concert. The same one I’d given the stink eye to in order to get her to back off.

  “Dude! He wasn’t checking you out,” Keagan scoffed. “He was checking out my sister. You weren’t even on his radar.”

  “Keag—shut up,” I grunted under my breath.

  “What?” my sister shrugged carelessly. “It’s a fact.”

  “Please, just… don’t start anything, okay? I’d rather not have to get into a fist fight to protect your honor.”

  She snorted. “Not like it would do my honor any good. You fight like a girl.”

  My jaw dropped, and I was just about to tell her off when the women around us started squealing.

  “Jesus,” I mumbled, looking around me. “They’re like a bunch of rabid do—”

  I nearly choked on my words as the men causing the ruckus came into view. Keagan emitted a high-pitched squee near a frequency only dogs should hear, causing my ears to ring. “That’s Garrett Wilder! He used to be on my list. But then he went and got married to his baby mama, ruining the illusion for me.”

  “You’re list?” I questioned.

  “You know, the list of famous people you’d get to have sex with whether you’re single or not? It’s like a hall pass, but for celebrities.”

  My brow furrowed and my top lip curled. “How are we even related?”

  “Guess you’re just lucky like that,” she teased. “Make cracks all you want, but every single man on that list just so happens to be under the same roof tonight, so there’s no way you can get me down!”

  The rest of Civil Corruption passed us by, most of them stopped to sign whatever was thrust in front of them. Scarily enough, there were an obscene number of breasts offered up for a signature. One woman even threw herself at the dark-haired lead singer and unceremoniously shoved her tongue down his throat.

  A beautiful redheaded woman standing behind the guys rolled her eyes, a look of disgust on her face as she watched the scene unfold before turning and stomping away.

  “Hey there, Green Eyes.”

  I’d been so caught up in the drama unfolding in front of me the voice gave me a start, causing me to jump as I spun around. For the second time that night, I went breathless, all because of a set of startling bright blue eyes.

  “Uh…”

  “Oh. My. God!” The aggressive, delusional chick screeched from behind me. “It’s Maddox Sheppard!”

  The women rushed so hard I grunted in pain when the steel from the barricade dug into my stomach as I was slammed into it. “Ouch!”

  Security ran over to try and get control of the crazy bitches, but it wasn’t helping much. I was about to grab Keagan’s hand so we could make a run for it, but before I could take a step two arms banded around my waist and hauled me over the guardrail.

  “Wha-what are you doing?” I stammered, as he placed me back on my feet. “Yo, Bass! I got mine. Rest of you get yours and we’ll start the afterparty, yeah?”

  A peek over my shoulder showed that the “Bass” in question was Usual Suspects’ lead guitarist, Sebastian Miller. I only knew this because Keagan spent most of the show detailing all the members of each bands’ lives for me.

  “Fuck yeah!” the guy called back before turning to the mass of screaming women, examining each like they were specimens under a microscope.

  “Wait…” I pulled against Maddox’s grip on my hand as he tried tugging me away from the crowd and pointed at Keagan. “Stop. I can’t leave my sister.”

  “Bass, dude!” Maddox shouted. “Gra
b that one.”

  I turned just in time to see Sebastian give Keagan a seductive smirk. Then he grabbed her and lifted her over the barrier, making her squeak in delight. He shifted and tossed her on his back, piggyback style, like she was a rag doll, and started past us.

  “Thanks, sissy!” Keagan called, waving at me. “Cut loose for once! If you’re not sure, just ask yourself, What would Keagan do?” she yelled as they disappeared behind one of those closed doors.

  “I’m Maddox Sheppard,” the incredibly hot stranger next to me spoke, drawing my gaze back to him.

  I was in too much of a daze for my brain to function properly. “Huh?”

  He smiled and my knees began to shake. Good lord, he was sexy. “My name, gorgeous. That’s my name. And yours is?”

  “Oh, uh…” I cleared my throat nervously. “Re-Reagan. I’m Reagan.”

  “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl. It’s nice to meet you, Reagan.” He began tugging on my hand again, but the spike in my anxiety kept my feet rooted in place. “What the hell is going on?”

  Maddox Sheppard leaned in and whispered in my ear like it was his right to invade my personal space, or something. “The real fun’s about to begin, Green Eyes.”

  Talk about being out of my comfort zone. I didn’t belong here. I belonged at home, curled up in my comfy bed with one of my many romance novels, reading about stuff like this.

  “I don’t think—”

  He placed his finger over my lips, effectively stopping me. “No thinking aloud. This is a think-free zone. All you’re aloud to do here is live.”

  I looked to where my sister had just been and admitted something I was embarrassed to say out loud. “I’ve never been very good at that whole living thing.”

  Maddox’s smile was downright wicked, and for probably the millionth time, I found myself wondering if this whole thing was real, or if I was trapped in some parallel dimension where the Reagan of that world was actually fun.