The Luminous Rock Series Box Set

by K E Osborn

  He thrusts deep, so deep, lights keep flashing behind my eyes. My back arches as a shudder runs down my spine. It’s like fireworks explode around the room, brightening the dimly lit area with hues of erupting florescent colors.

  I’m alive, and every part of me knows it, as I moan out loud riding him for all he’s worth as he groans out something that resembles my name, his cock tensing inside of me as he explodes. I feel him come so strongly it takes my breath away as he falls in a heap on my back and we both pant, heaving for breath on top of the barrel.

  It takes a few seconds before either of us have the function to speak, but when we do, it’s Mercs who makes the first move. He slowly slides off me, pulling out, and moves to the side while looking me in the eyes as I prop myself up by my elbow.

  “Wow!” he murmurs, and I giggle.

  “Yeah. Wow!” I smile and take a long breath to bring my breathing back to normal.

  He moves in trying to smooth my hair back into place and sighs. “And to think I nearly didn’t come back on tour with you. I could have missed this.”

  I move in grabbing his hand and place it on my face and hold it to my cheek. “I know you miss Kiera. It’s okay to be sad, Kaden. I miss her, too. But I am glad you came with me. The good news, we will see her soon. Next month we’ll be back in Ligonier with Kiera, with Gran and it will be Christmas, and I for one am looking forward to it.”

  He nods and leans in pressing his lips to mine briefly before pulling back and looking into my eyes. “Yes, and it will be an amazing Christmas. But for now, we should get back to the party. People will start to wonder where we are.”

  I giggle as he turns looking back over to the bench. He quickly pulls his pants up, doing them up then walks over grabbing my G-string and heads back, handing it to me. I smile and bend down putting it back on, then shimmy my dress back into place as if nothing’s happened. He looks me over and fiddles with my hair some more. He tilts his head and chuckles. “I’m pretty damn sure people will know what we’ve been up to.”

  I shrug. “Oh well. We’re a couple, and we’re in love. We’re allowed to fuck if we wanna.”

  He snorts out a laugh and nods. “Hell, yeah, we are. Now, I need a fucking beer.”

  “Then let’s get you a fucking beer, but first I have to stop by the ladies and freshen up,” I reply and grab his hand as we walk toward the door. I make my way to the ladies—our original destination—while he waits for me outside. Once I’ve freshened up we head back into the club, and he chuckles as I straighten my dress. I feel better after having Mercs inside of me. And him being that way with me, his usual rough and dominant self that I’ve come to love, only makes me feel like I’m even more attuned to him. It might sound weird, but I love the way we fuck. Sure, it’s rough. Sure, it’s hard. Sure, it’s fast. But it’s us, and I can’t imagine my life any better than it is right now. Everything’s perfect. It’s back on track, and I know Mercs and I are headed for great things.

  We make it to the VIP room, and everything’s still in party mode. No one noticed our absence, and I smirk at Mercs who tries to hide his smile as he leads me to the bar, where Andi and Tank are still sitting drinking away the evening. After a workout like we’ve just had, I have to admit, a drink is in order.

  “Hey, guys, can you tell Tank that he’s stupid and that I need to have lemon and salt with my Tequila,” Andi trills.

  I nod my head and chuckle. “Umm… yeah. How else do you drink it?”

  “Straight bitches,” Tank yells downing his shot of tequila, then pulling a hilarious face. “Oh yeah!”

  We all chuckle as Andi looks at him almost longingly. The adoration in her eyes is evident as she smiles, dropping her hand to his knee and caressing it tenderly. I love how close these two have become. I just wish they would sort their shit out.

  Kristy runs up to us puffing like she’s out of breath as she stops and smiles wide. “What’d I miss?” she asks her voice chirpy and excited.

  I raise my brow at her and smirk. “Where have you been?” I ask, and she shrugs.

  “Nowhere in particular, just hanging out with my phone, doing the social media shit as always.” Her bright smile makes me think there’s more to her story than she’s letting on, but I choose to let it go. For now.

  “Why are you puffing?” Mercs asks with a slight laugh.

  “Oh, I was coming in here, and then Casey nearly ran over me while she was skating, so I had to dart out of the way to miss her, then I was running to dodge her, and I thought I’d keep running to come see you guys. I gotta keep workin’ on my fitness and all that,” she says as she jumps up and down starting to star jump on the spot.

  I furrow my brows as she turns to the bar and begins doing pushups against it.

  I think she’s losing her mind.

  “Kris, are you high?” Andi questions as we all watch Kristy continuing to do a mini workout, still in her concert outfit.

  She stops her pushup, turning to us, and raises her brow with a frown. “What? Why would you ask me that?”

  “‘Cause you’re kinda acting weird?” I tell her, and she rolls her eyes with a huff.

  “Am not. You’re being dramatic. I just like to keep fit is all. Anyway, gotta run. I need to check Instagram.” She doesn’t even have time to look at us before she’s up and jogging off to the other side of the room and pushing through the doors to the balcony.

  I glance at Andi and raise my brow in bewilderment. “Right then…” I murmur and Andi shakes her head as Casey skates over to us and slides to a screeching stop.

  “What was that about?” Casey asks, and I chuckle.

  “Honestly, I have no idea,” I reply.

  Casey shrugs looking over to Raoul and Cooper. She sighs. “So, do you think they know how to have fun?” Casey asks, and I follow her line of sight to Raoul and Cooper.

  My face scrunches, and I shake my head. “The security team? Why?”

  Casey shrugs and smiles wide, almost mischievously. “They look so stuck up. I mean Raoul loosened up a little in Ligonier around Kiera, but since we’ve been back on tour, he’s been all moody again. But Cooper… I mean he’s more relaxed than Raoul, but still, I think I could make them smile?”

  Mercs chuckles and shakes his head. “Casey, I love that you’re feeling the need to make people smile, but they have a job to do.”

  She raises a brow. “So do I. To make people smile. Challenge accepted.” She turns around. “Hey Cooper, what do you think of my new skates?” she yells as she rolls off toward our security team.

  “I think we need to get ‘crazy’ tattooed on her forehead,” Tank jokes.

  Andi scoffs smacking him upside the back of his head. “Hey, that’s my cousin you’re talking about there, jerk.” Her smile is wide, and I love that she’s feeling good in her own skin right now. Her hair is a bright shade of pink at the moment, suiting her perfectly.

  “Runs in the family, I suppose?” he teases opening his mouth wide in fake shock as Andi reaches out and punches him in the bicep.

  “You’ll keep,” she replies, and he looks back at her with that same longing look she was showing him moments before.

  Swallowing hard, I turn to Mercs and notice him staring at me with a look of something in his eyes. A look that says he has some plan ticking away through his brain. He’s coming up with something, and I have no idea what that something might be. “What’s going through that brain of yours, Mr. Mercury?” I ask, and he smirks.

  “Come with me.” He grabs my hand and pulls me toward Raoul, Cooper, and Casey. I walk with him wondering what he has in store for me, but he steps up to Raoul and smiles at him.

  Raoul frowns and exhales. “Mercs, I don’t know what you’re planning, but I already don’t like it,” Raoul blurts out, and I giggle.

  “Raoul, I know you don’t like leaving Cooper here and in charge, but I want you to escort Effa and me somewhere.”

  Raoul huffs, looking up at the ceiling in annoyance. “And are you goin
g to go anyway even if I don’t come?”

  Mercs smiles wide. “Yes.”

  Raoul groans looking to Cooper who chuckles. “I’ll be fine, grumpy ass. Go. Casey will keep me company,” Cooper quips and Raoul clenches his jaw.

  “That’s what I’m worried about… but fine, I’ll look after Mercs and Effa. You’re in charge, Cooper.” Raoul turns, and Mercs and I follow, as Raoul signals for some more security to flank around in an endeavor to help us leave the club. Luckily this one has a back exit so we won’t have to deal with a mass amount of people as we leave. We walk down the stairs, Raoul in front of us, a guard either side and another at the back. We’re surrounded, and as we get to the bottom, there’s only bar staff to greet us as we walk through the back exit and out into the alley to the waiting car.

  Raoul opens the door for us to slide in without any hassle, and I jump in followed by Mercs and he shuts the door. The other security head back inside as Raoul gets into the driver’s side and starts the engine.

  “So Mercs, where are we off to?”

  Chapter Twenty

  MERCS

  The car pulls up onto the street I told Raoul to head to. I didn’t say where we were going, just that I would tell him when to stop. Effa sits next to me casually still, utterly unaware of my idea as she gazes out the window trying to guess where we’re going.

  I sit on my cell searching for just the right thing, and as I find the exact thing I’m looking for, a text comes through on my cell. I look up to Effa to see if she’s looking, but she’s too wrapped up in the drive to look at me as I glance at the name on the screen—Hex.

  Taking a deep breath, I open the message as my stomach churns in dread.

  Hex: Time’s up, son!

  Three simple words, that’s all it takes to send a wave of fucking fear into me. I clear my throat and clear the message as I swallow hard trying to gather my thoughts. I’m in debt, big time, to a damn bookie and I owe him so much money I can never pay him back what’s owed. Hex turned down my request to pay him back by installments, and now it looks like it’s coming back to bite me firmly in the ass. I’ll have to set up a meeting with him, alone, to see if I can deal with the situation, but I don’t see this ending well for me whichever way it goes.

  I went into it with good intentions. I gambled once with good reason. Now, Hex will come after me. I need to tell Effa. I’ve kept this secret from her for far too long. But I know she’ll be ashamed of me. Disappointed. Maybe even annoyed. A gambling debt is bad news, and I don’t know that she’ll fully understand me keeping this from her. Especially, after everything we’ve been through. Her number one rule in our relationship is being open and honest, and I’ve tried but not with this, and hiding this shit from her might just be the one thing that breaks us. This might be my undoing. From her, from my family, from everyone I hold dear.

  Fuck!

  “Are we getting close?” Raoul calls out from the front, breaking me from my rambling thoughts and bringing me back into the moment. I look to Effa who turns to me and smiles, her beautiful smile that always takes my breath away.

  I can’t tell her, not yet.

  I’ll do what I came to do right now, and then I’ll tell her. So at least I’ll be connected to her in this way if all goes to shit after I tell her about Hex.

  “We’re close. It’s the store on the corner up here on the right.”

  Raoul drives to the corner as Effa peers out the window looking for a clue as to where I’m taking her. She gasps and chuckles. “Tattoos?” she asks, her head snapping around to look at me as her smile forms wide on her face.

  I grin and swallow hard, pulling up the picture I had in mind and show it to her on the screen. “I had this in mind for both of us. If you like it?”

  She doesn’t look at it but continues looking at me. “Matching tattoos?” she asks.

  I nod and gesture for her to look at the design. She grins widely and finally looks down at the screen. Her eyes light up as she stares down at the music inspired pulse beat. It’s the line of a pulse that turns into a treble clef, then a big beat of a pulse, then a music note, and then ends the pulse.

  Swallowing hard, I look at her and smile. “To me this represents us. The music flows through us like a pulse, it’s in our hearts, both of us. It’s what brought us together. But the pulse also represents our hearts pulsing together, beating for each other. Belonging to each other.”

  She looks up to me, her eyes glistening, tears threatening to break over her eyelids as she sniffs and slides closer to me, her bottom lip quivering as she shakes her head. “Kaden… I love you.”

  My heart swells as I rush forward, grabbing the back of her head and forcing my lips to hers. A fire ignites inside of me knowing that I love her too. I love her with all that I have. She’s the only woman I can ever see my life worth living for.

  She’s the reason I breathe.

  I kiss her so full of passion, so full of need, so full of hunger that my cock begins to grow in my pants. Her tongue dances along with mine as her hands press against my chest, her fingers digging in deeply needing to feel me.

  I pull back from her, breaking the kiss. She looks at me as she swallows hard, but I bring my hand up and caress her cheek tenderly. Her eyebrows soften, and I smile at her shaking my head in disbelief. “Effa, I fucking love you, too.”

  She exhales, and I lean in pressing my lips to hers once more. She giggles as Raoul clears his throat making us both look to him in the front of the car. “While this is lovely and everything, shall I see if it’s okay to get out of the car?” he asks.

  “Yes. Sorry, Raoul. Of course, go ahead,” she offers looking to me and grimacing slightly as Raoul gets out of the car, then shuts his door with more force than necessary.

  She gazes back at me and smiles, her look full of contentment, and I know how she feels. She stares into my eyes, and I caress her cheek. It feels like I’m looking at her for the first time, but also like I can see the rest of our lives together, and fuck if our life doesn’t look spectacular.

  Bang. Bang.

  A hard knock on the window breaks my trance, and I look out to see Raoul standing at the door, and I chuckle.

  “Time to go,” I suggest, and Effa nods and spins opening the door. She slides out of the car, and I follow as we head into the tattoo parlor.

  Two hours later, we have matching tattoos on our left inner wrists, and we’re bandaged up and ready to head back to the Langham Hotel on Fifth Avenue. My arm is wrapped around Effa’s shoulder as Raoul walks us out of the parlor and toward the waiting car. We have to walk down an alleyway, and being the middle of the night, it’s dimly lit, but things look fine. The crunch of decaying leaves underfoot as we trek the alley brings sounds of the end of Autumn. Effa shudders against me as I wrap myself around her. She’s wearing her leather dress from the show, her thigh high boots and a jacket I gave her, but she must be freezing as the weather is brisk.

  “C’mon, let’s get you back in the car before you catch a cold,” I demand as we rush down the long alley toward the waiting car.

  But as I look up, Raoul halts us. He stands stock still, his arms holding Effa back protectively as I glance forward to see five men standing ahead of us, three of them holding baseball bats. I grip onto Effa tighter and swallow hard as Raoul turns his chin up in defiance at all the men. A cold sweat runs over me as I look at the other two who are not holding baseball bats to see their hands shrouded in knuckle dusters.

  Fuck!

  “Whatever you want, it’s best if you turn around and walk away,” Raoul calls out as my breathing escalates while holding onto Effa tightly as Raoul stands guard in front of us.

  The man in the middle steps forward, he’s older than the others. A scar running down his right cheek into the crook of his mouth as he smiles a toothless smile. His gangster styled hat sitting half crooked on his head making me think this guy is some sort of big league, and then it hits me as his eyes zero in on mine. I exhale as a shudder runs do
wn my spine and my stomach churns.

  Time’s up.

  He chuckles shaking his head, his men stepping closer as Effa tightens her grip on me in utter fear. “Now, now. No need for you or the girl to get hurt in this, if you play it cool, big man. We’re only after the one person.” His voice is deeply disturbing, and even though I’ve never met him in person, seeing him here like this is intimidating.

  Raoul takes a small step forward, and I huff shaking my head. “How did you find me, Hex?” I blurt out.

  Raoul turns his head looking at me as Effa tenses beside me, her face dropping in confusion.

  Hex takes a step forward, his baseball bat moving up in one hand and dropping into his other like it’s the most natural thing to do, but the simple movement is as threatening as hell. “You think Sportshark is just a gambling app, Mercs?” He chuckles. “No. It tracks your text messages, taps your phone calls and tracks your location. I know where you’ve been the entire time you’ve been linked with me.”

  Effa stiffens as she slowly detaches from my grip. She furrows her brows with the most prominent frown I’ve ever seen from her. I know that fucking look. She’s hurt. She’s wondering how I could have hidden something like this from her. And right now I’m wondering why myself. Because she’s in danger, and it’s all my fucking fault.

  “I owe you the money, Hex. So let Raoul and Effa go. Do with me what you want, but don’t bring them into this.”

  Effa gasps shaking her head as she slides back up against me. “No,” she murmurs, and I glare at her as Hex bursts out laughing making us both turn to look at him.

  “This is lovely and all. Seeing you with your gal. Watching as she realizes you have this big secret you’ve been keeping from her. The kicker to all this, boys…” he chuckles loudly and waves his hands around, “… she wants to protect you anyway. It’s sweet… really it is, but she’d be best stepping aside and letting us do what we came here to do.”