Finding the Rhythm

by Leigh Louden

  And then I felt it, that tightening in my bollocks. Her nipple fell from my mouth as I moaned loudly.

  "Oh, fuck, Allison. I'm going to come so deep inside you." I wasn't asking her, I was telling her. I knew it was okay, and the thought of her being filled by me without anything covering my cock made my climax that much more powerful. I roared as I felt the first of my cum spurting out deep in her cunt, needing to pour it all into her, needing to know she was taking everything I had to give her. I gave her one last hard thrust and she screamed out in another climax right along with me.

  Utterly spent, it took all of my remaining strength not to just collapse on top of her. She wrapped her arms and legs around me so I couldn't move off her even if I had wanted to. I lay wrapped up with her until my arms couldn't support me and I rolled in behind her.

  I pulled her tight against my front and fell asleep with her in my arms.

  When Vinny had first suggested being with him, I have to admit that I thought it wouldn't be for me, that it would be repeating past mistakes of being involved with someone I worked with. But I was wrong. I wanted it. Dear God, I wanted it.

  The reality was proving to be very different. Knowing I had been with Vinny had me feeling very liberated. I wasn't sure how that would work out with the band, but it still felt right. Being the drummer with Dragon Zion was right, and so was being with Vinny.

  Vinny caught me in the middle of a daydream as I got myself a drink in the middle of our final sound checks.

  "Have fun last night, Allycat?" He grinned. I felt the heat in my cheeks. Vinny leaned in closer. "You’re mine," he whispered against my ear. "I’ll be seeing you later."

  "Oh, fuck."

  "What are you swearing about?" Ethan interrupted.

  "I was just telling Ally, I have the room next to hers." Vinny grinned wickedly.

  "Oh, for fuck’s sake," Ethan rolled his eyes “Can’t you keep it in your pants for five minutes? You’re just a walking set of bollocks, I swear.”

  I blushed, and Vinny roared with laughter as Ethan walked off, sighing with mock disgust as his friend’s libido.

  I caught Smith in the corner of my eye. He'd been handed an envelope by someone from the venue's staff, and when he opened it, the colour seemed to drain from his face. Whatever it was, he stuffed it back into the envelope, and when he noticed me watching him, he pulled his mobile from his pocket and disappeared backstage to the manager's office.

  "I wonder what that was about," I murmured, more to myself than Vinny.

  "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough if we need to."

  The small crowd in The Globe was buzzing. The atmosphere was just electric. Smith got the crowd all worked up for some new material we had been working on. They were singing along by the second time they heard the chorus. It had been a while since I was in a band that had released new material. DA3 had been working on a new album when Devon had pulled his shit and we had broken up our relationship and our band.

  The good vibes carried us back to the hotel, where we all went to the bar. Smith's smile had faded, and he told us he was heading for his room.

  "You okay, bruv?" Ethan asked him.

  He nodded. "Yeah, I'm all right." He patted Ethan on the back, smiled at me, said goodnight, and waved over to Vinny who was already at the bar.

  I had a drink with the boys, celebrated our successes that evening, but I wanted to check on Smith.

  I headed upstairs and knocked hard on Smith's door.

  "Hey." I beamed at him when the door swung open.

  "Hey yourself."

  I waited for him to invite me in, but it didn't look like that was happening. Something was clearly troubling Smith, and I wondered what it could be.

  "Uh, can I come in?" I asked to break the silence.

  "Oh, shit, yes! Sorry!" He stood back to let me in, snapped out of whatever thoughts he was lost in. "Are you okay?"

  "I just wanted to come and tell you thank you for being understanding about me and Vinny," I admitted, more to the floor to him. I couldn't bring myself to look at him. He clearly wasn't happy, and I didn't want to be making anything worse.

  Smith's arms engulfed me, squeezing me tight. "I'm glad you’re both happy, Ally. But I have something you need to hear, and I don't want you to freak out about it, okay?" He kissed the top of my head tenderly and softly.

  I started to panic. "Oh, God. Are you cutting me from the band?" I even sounded panicked. I had practically squeaked out my question.

  Smith held me even tighter. "God no. Nothing like that!"

  "Then what is it?" I asked, relaxing a little, looking up to see if I could read his face as to how bad this might be.

  "It's about Devon."

  Yip, that was not somewhere I saw this going. I openly flinched at the mere mention of my ex's name.

  "What the fuck can he possibly want now?"

  The pity I saw written on Smith's face made my stomach knot. I did not want to hear this. He ran his hand down my arm and took me by the hand.

  "I think you should sit down."

  "Smith, you're scaring me."

  He led me so I was sitting on the edge of his bed then moved to where some documents and his laptop were sitting. He lifted an envelope and brought it to me.

  "Apparently, a courier delivered this to the venue today."

  I took the envelope from him and pulled out the contents. I recognised the handwriting the second I saw it. Devon's.

  I can see how much you all care about Allison, and the band's image. But how much are you willing to do to protect it? I'm betting that once you know what she's like, you'll ditch her faster than your last drummer.

  I have a tape of her and me, and she's a dirty little bitch, getting fucked in all the ways imaginable.

  You keep her, I’ll release the tape, and you lose the band. You ditch her, and you keep the band.

  The choice is yours, but I think we both know that she's not worth the trouble.

  My hands started to shake. A bizarre mix of anger and embarrassment washed over me. I had been eighteen and very stupid. I couldn’t believe he kept it, and I couldn’t believe he was willing to release it and humiliate us all.

  "I'm going to be sick," I told Smith. The room was spinning.

  Earlier that day

  I stared at the page in the envelope, trying to take in what was happening, trying to think of how to best handle it, and worried about what it would mean for Allison if anything ever came out. I knew only one thing; I had to protect her at all costs. I glanced around and saw that she had been watching everything I was doing. I shoved the contents back into the envelope and headed to the manager's office.

  "Eddie, I need you to do me a favour."

  The voice on the line replied to me.

  "That information you've been getting for me, I need it now, like within the next six hours... Yeah, I know that's short notice... I'll take whatever you have so far. From what you've said, it should be enough to know if there's a story there, right?... Yeah, email it to my personal account, mate. Thanks."

  Call it a hunch, but I needed to see how many skeletons were in Devon Montgomery's closet. When Allison had joined Dragon Zion, I had called in a favour from a private investigator friend of mine. He'd been looking into our friend Devon very closely. He hadn't told me much over the phone, but he had provided me with enough to know that the fucker had more secrets. Eddie had been digging for a while now, and I knew the shit would hit the fan with this dick eventually. Knowing what was going to hit us would lessen the blow eventually, but now he was making threats against Allison, and I wasn't about to take that.

  I called Don and told him to come and join me in the office.

  The door knocked, and Donovan came in.

  "Uh," he said when he saw my expression. "What's happened?"

  "Devon fucking Montgomery is what's happened."

  Don's fists clenched tightly at his sides. "What's that wanker done now?"

  I sighed. "It's about Ally.
"

  Anger crept over his features. The more I told him, the redder he got.

  "He needs to be fucking dealt with," Don seethed.

  I agreed with him. The man was worse than a liability, and he needed to be taken care of. "It's in hand," I informed him. "Allison can't know about this yet. No one can. I'll deal with it all after the concert. But I'm going to need a car on standby; I'll be wanting to pay the little prick a visit."

  Don nodded. He would make the arrangements for me. I had no idea what I would be doing to sort this mess out, but I couldn't let anything happen to Ally.

  The concert was a roaring success. Even with everything going on behind the scenes, I couldn't help but be caught up in the buzz and thrill that a good gig always managed to fill us with. But when everyone else headed for the bar, I made my excuses with the band and went to my room. I re-read the contents of the envelope as I logged into my email and waited to see what Eddie had sent me.

  * * *

  To: Smith_dragonz@gmail.com

  From: eddie.mullan@mullaninvestigators.co.uk

  This guy is a first-class arsehole. I hope you're going to nail his balls to the wall with this.

  Find attached photos of him with the females in question, dates, ages, birth certificates etc. There's enough here for a police case, mate. Be warned.

  * * *

  Cheers, Edd.

  * * *

  I opened the first photo and glanced at it, looking at the names and dates of those in the photo. I clicked next and was greeted by the woman's ID. Fuck. This was huge. More photos had been sent, with evidence of what Eddie had been talking about.

  Fuck.

  I jumped when the door to my room knocked. I slammed my laptop closed and headed over to open it.

  "Hey." Ally smiled when I opened the door.

  "Hey yourself."

  She looked at me expectantly for a second. "Uh, can I come in?"

  Her question jostled me back to reality. "Oh, shit, yes! Sorry!" I said, and stood back to let her come in. "Are you okay?"

  Ally nodded. "I just wanted to come and tell you thank you for being understanding about me and Vinny," She was looking down and fidgeting. With everything that was happening today, I pulled her into my arms and held her tight against me. Her arms slid around my waist in response and she held me tight right back.

  "I'm glad you’re both happy, Ally. But I have something that you need to hear, and I don't want you to freak out about it, okay?" I told the top of her head and kissed her softly on her sweet-scented brown hair.

  "Oh, God. Are you cutting me from the band?" she asked, sounding suddenly small and delicate. I squeezed her tighter to me.

  "God, no. Nothing like that!"

  I felt her shoulders relax a little.

  "Then what is it?" She pulled back from me to look at my face.

  "It's about Devon."

  She winced at the sound of his name.

  "What the fuck can he possibly want now?"

  I slid my hand down her arm and caught hold of her hand. "I think you should sit down."

  "Smith, you're scaring me."

  Her backside hit my bed, and I sighed. She was there to share her happiness with me, and there I was, about to put fear into her and tell her something that might pull her life apart.

  "Apparently, a courier delivered this to the venue today," I explained, and handed her the envelope. I waited and watched her while she opened it and digested the contents.

  The envelope and note started to shake, and I watched her chest rise and fall rapidly. "I'm going to be sick."

  "He really has one then?"

  She nodded, her face pure white. "I'm so sorry." A tear escaped from her eye and ran down her cheek.

  Instantly, I was in her space. "Hey. No, no, no. This isn't on you!" I cupped her face in my hands and wiped her tears with my thumbs. "We will sort this, together, all of us," I told her. "We're not about to let anything happen to you while we have breath left in our bodies, Ally."

  "How the hell do I fight this?"

  "We will." I pulled my phone from my pocket and called Vinny. "My room, mate. Now, and bring Ethan." I hung up.

  Within minutes, there was a knock on my door.

  "What the fuck?" Vinny was pissed. Ethan looked past him and caught a glimpse of Ally.

  "What the fuck did you do?" he growled at me.

  Ally got up. "No! It wasn't Smith. Look." She held out the note from Devon.

  Both men stepped into the room. Ethan took the note from her and Vinny read it over his shoulder.

  "I'm going to fucking kill him," Ethan fumed.

  "You can wait in the fucking queue," Vinny snarled.

  Ally touched them both tenderly on the chest. "Stop," she pleaded. Vinny and Ethan swarmed around her and held her against them, forming a protective cocoon around her.

  "I've told Ally that we will deal with this together, and that we will protect her and make sure it's okay," I told them as I moved in to join their cocoon. Vinny and Ethan let go of Ally on one side and let me surround her with them. We stood there for a few moments, Ally in the middle of our Dragon Zion burrito.

  "Thank you." She sighed, looking at each of us in turn. "What do we do?"

  We'd let our arms drop and she moved out from the middle. Ethan was thinking. Scheming, in fact; I could tell.

  "I have an idea," he piped up.

  "Let's hear it," Vinny said, "and it better have me smacking him in the teeth at some point."

  Ally smirked.

  Ethan looked at me. "Mate, I know you, so I'm going to assume you've been talking to your friend again. But my idea is, whatever he's found, we use it and blackmail the dirty little bastard right back. Play him at his own game."

  I nodded. He knew me too well.

  "You've been spying on him?" Ally asked.

  I shrugged. "I wouldn't call it spying."

  Vinny raised an eyebrow.

  "Well... not really. More... protecting the band's image. When you joined us Ally, I had my friend do a little digging to see if there was anything about Devon that might come back to bite us in the arse. I'm glad I did, because now we can look out for you better than I could have hoped."

  "Oh, fuck. I'm not going to like this, am I?" Allison asked.

  I shook my head. "Probably not." I looked at Vinny and Ethan, knowing they could read me well enough to know that shit was about to get serious, and Ally was about to be hurt. Again.

  Ethan took her by the hand and got her to sit back down on the bed again. "We're ready," he said, and Vinny sat on the other side of her and took her other hand.

  "Devon is a cheater." I held up a finger to pause Ally in her reply. "A serial cheater. Steph wasn't the only one. But there's an unfortunate pattern that has emerged. Remember the age you were when you first got with him? That's his thing. He likes them younger. But, ah... "

  "Sick cunt," Vinny interrupted.

  "How young?" Allison asked.

  "The youngest Eddie has found so far is fourteen years old."

  Allison snatched her hands from my bandmates, got up, and started pacing the room.

  "Ally," Ethan pleaded.

  She shook her head at him. "No, E." Her eyes went to Vinny who was about to stand. "Don't."

  "Allison."

  She stopped and looked at me. "I don't care what you have to do. Deal with him. If you need to push me out of the band to save yourselves, do it. I can't deal with anything more from him." She turned and headed for the door. Vinny went to move and catch her.

  "Vin," I said, and shook my head when he looked at me. He stopped, and all three of us watched as she left the room and the door closed behind her.

  Ethan had a pretty reasonable idea, to be honest. Blackmailing the blackmailer. It was risky, but I really couldn't think of anything else that would work. We all agreed that the biggest thing we needed to do was protect Allison. We knew that might cost us the band, but we also agreed that she was more important.

  Vi
nny and I were going to see Devon, and Ethan was going to stay with Ally. Don had the car waiting for us, and I knew from Eddie where Devon was.

  "Are you ready for this?"

  Vinny nodded.

  "Then let's get the fuck out of here," I told him, putting the postcode Eddie had supplied into the satnav and heading away from the hotel.

  It was two hours later when we finally arrived in Reading, where Devon was hiding in a riverside apartment.

  "You're sure this is the place?"

  I looked at my phone then at the building in front of us. "That's where the investigator says he is."

  Vinny nodded. "Let's get this fucking over with then." He headed for the main doors of the swanky apartment block.

  The security guard greeted us at the door. I got myself ready for having to blag my way into the building.

  "Oh my God, Dragon Zion!"

  Vinny grinned at me. "Alright, mate?" He smiled at the guy, holding out his hand for him to shake.

  "Vinny Richards, fucking hell. What are you guys doing here?"

  "We just needed to call in and see Devon Montgomery," I told him, hoping he would welcome us on up. The guy's face fell, and I thought he was going to refuse us entry.

  "Oh, that prick." He snorted. "That tosser is up in apartment 4D. He's been strutting around here like he owns the joint."

  Vinny nodded. "Yeah, he's a bit of a wanker, isn't he?"

  The guard agreed. "Not being funny, but that Allison Watts is a cracking lass, and what he did to her is just fucked up."

  I grinned and patted him on the back. "You hit the nail on the head there, mate. We're just off to have a little chat with him. Thanks, fella." I strode off and left Vinny to shake the guy’s hand one more time.

  Vinny pounded his fist against the door and then stood to the side out of Devon's immediate line of sight.