“SHHEEEAATTT,” Abbi says. “I didn’t think about that. Well, I have a solution. We’ll just have a few drinks before we go to the back. I plan on winning at six and Ella has a point.”
“Well, let’s just go and see what happens. I’m not comfortable with this plan. And the more we stand around and talk about it, the better chance I’ll chicken out.”
We have to take two cars, but we find parking easily enough. Since our name is on the list at the door, we don’t have to wait in line. The place is already packed. The six of us try to make our way to the bar, but only Harper and Charlie actually make it. We make eye contact and I mouth I want a beer.
A guy jumps in front of me trying to talk. But before I know it, I have a hand on my back. When I look up, I see a huge man wearing all black with tattoos peeking out of his shirt. His head is shaved and he reminds me of Max when he came home from boot camp. You can tell this man is all muscle and not to be messed with. I see Abbi, Ella, and Kendall right behind me and their eyes are huge. He leans down and shouts in my ear, “Follow me.”
I’m not sure if he can hear me, but I try to get out of his grip at the same time I reply, “No thanks, we’re on our way to meet our friends at the bar.”
I think I see a smile cross his lips. He gently grabs my hand and starts walking. “It wasn’t a request.”
I’m nervous. The others follow me and we’re led in the backroom. The room is filled with about fifty people but I only recognize Blake. The big guy let’s go of me and leaves. Abbi makes it to me first. “Um, Rave, that was Mark. He’s a good friend of Declan’s.”
“He didn’t seem like a conversationalist.”
“Nope, never has been.”
Kendall and Ella join us and Ella is grinning. “I win.”
Kendall argues right away, “No way, we didn’t even get to the bar. Looks like this room’s off-limits, but when we get back out to there, it’s on.”
I break in. “Will one of you text the others and let them know to come back here? They’re probably waiting for us.”
Abbi steps up, “I’ll go get them. But don’t move! I want to be back in time for the fireworks that are going to go off when Dec sees you.”
She leaves and I move towards the private bar. Once we all have a beer, I look around for Declan, trying to discreetly locate him before he finds me. The others join us as I tell them what happened with Mark. There’s a commotion across the room and see a large door I never noticed before open. Declan, Cooper, and Nate walk through and I see about five girls run over to them. Declan looks around until his eyes meet mine. I give a light smile while he continues to stalk through the room until he’s directly in front of me. Before I can protest, he has removed my beer and is dragging me across the room to the now closed door.
I hear Ella behind me and it sounds like she says, “I told you so.”
Then Kendall replies, “Well, shitballs.”
When Declan gets to the door, he leads me through and I realize we’re behind The Steamroom stage in a darkened corner. He immediately takes me into his arms and kisses me with force. At first I’m motionless, but then I fall into his embrace and meet him thrust for thrust. Our mouths and tongues move together perfectly. He moves to cradle my head and I whimper against his lips. My hands are holding onto his hips pulling him as close as possible. At one point, someone walks by, but I don’t stop. I’m clinging to him to hold myself up. He pulls away first and I try to catch my breath.
“Imagine this, Raven; I’m sitting back here with Nate and Cooper practicing a song for tonight. I have a perfect view of the door. Then you come through looking like a fucking wet dream with your posse. I see at least ten guys look at y’all and I know I need to get to you before I get into a fucking fight. I promised your brother and Finn I wouldn’t fuck up again and I meant it. So I have to ask Mark to get to you before anyone else has a chance to.”
“Why would you do that?”
“You don’t get it yet, but you will. I consider you mine. That first night, I wanted you. I know I fucked up and we’ll get through it, but I can’t stand the thought of anyone else kissing those lips, touching your skin, or seeing how incredibly sexy you are. If you think I was a dick to bring you back here before you had a chance to prance across the bar, so be it. But I am not sorry.”
I’m staring into his eyes as I listen to his words. They are full of passion and intent and I hope my eyes are saying the same back to him. I’m crazy about him. I want him to want me in every way possible. I lift up on my tiptoes and run feather kisses across his lips. “Okay,” is all I say.
“Shit, Sparkle. I’m hard as stone just thinking about you. You look edible and I’m starving. Please tell me I can see you tonight after the show.”
“I’m sure we can stick around, but it is the last night of our girls’ weekend. I think Kendall wants to sleep in a bed tonight.”
“Pack a bag for tomorrow night. I know I need to explain what happened the day you came by, and you may not like it, but I want to spend the entire night making it up to you.”
Pure desire runs through my whole body. “Okay.”
“Before I let you go, please tell me you know nothing happened with Sami.”
“I know you didn’t sleep with her. I’ve spent days listening to everyone tell me that she set it up. You’ve formed quite a coalition with my friends and family.”
“Not only did I not sleep with her, nothing at all happened.”
“I believe you.”
“I’m going to kiss you now and then we are going back in that room with you on my arm. Shit, I’ll carry you in there if I have to. And tonight on the dance floor, please behave. I don’t want to have to break up a set because some pervert gets the wrong idea.”
“It seems a little barbaric, but tonight I’ll agree with you only if you promise me that we’ll work on your jealousy issues.”
He walks me backwards until I hit the wall and bends down. Right before he kisses me, he says softly against my lips, “Never had jealousy issues until I met you.”
After a few more minutes of making out and adjusting our clothes, we join everyone back in the room. The rest of the band has met my friends and it looks like tequila shots are flowing. There are a few strangers hanging around and I notice a scantily dressed blonde inching her way closer to Declan. Right about the time she arranges herself next to him, I pull him behind me and he has no choice but to wrap his arms around my middle. I think he knows why I did it; he complies and chuckles in my ear. You can tell she’s pissed, but I shrug my shoulders at her.
Because I wasn’t paying attention to the conversation in front of me, I didn’t realize that Ella had said something. Declan grips me tighter to get my attention and asks, “Can you repeat that, Ella?”
“I said that since I’m a gracious winner, I’m dedicating my winnings to our tab tonight.”
“What did you win?”
“The bet.”
“What bet?”
Everyone grows quiet, but I can see smiles on their faces. I, on the other hand, feel like I need to stop this. “It’s nothing but a stupid idea Kendall had.”
“I’d still like to hear about this ‘stupid idea’ because I have a feeling it had to do with me.”
Ella doesn’t seem to notice the tension and decides to let him in on the stupid wager they made. “We made a bet on how many guys would hit on Rave tonight. I took the low number of one because I knew you would take control once you saw her. The others threw in higher numbers because they under-estimated your possessiveness.”
“To my credit, I thought we would at least get to the bar. I was counting on the long walk through for my number,” Kendall shouted out. “Why do you think I spent so much time on that outfit?”
“Just out of curiosity, what was your guess?” Declan directs the question back to her.
“My guess was four, but ten was the highest.”
He tightens against me and I chug my beer hoping he isn’t going to fl
ip out. Instead, he starts laughing. He turns me to face him and kisses my forehead. “Just so you all know, you were hustled. Ella was right. Once I saw her, no one even had a chance.”
We finish another beer before the guys have to get ready for the show. Our group leaves the room and finds a comfortable booth on the side of the stage that’s reserved for us. The waitress comes over to get our drink order and I notice Mark is five feet away. He’s leaning against the wall and watching us with a grin on his face. I wonder if he’s guarding me because after two sets and one bathroom break, he is always close.
I don’t have to wonder long. When a guy runs in to me on the dance floor, Mark immediately steps in and moves me to the center of my friends. Abbi rolls her eyes, but the others think it’s hilarious.
You can tell the band’s energy is fueled by the crowd. At one point, Nate breaks off into a solo on the drums and the girls up front go crazy. I see Declan looking down at me and he smiles widely. He’s drenched in sweat and he keeps running his hands through his hair to keep it out of his eyes. I don’t think he’s ever been sexier to me than in this moment. Nate finishes up and they all jump back in. I know it’s the end of the set so I go back to the table because my feet are killing me and I’m exhausted from dancing.
The stage goes dark and people start to thin out. There’s movement on the stage and I see Cooper setting a stool in the middle in front of the microphone. People stop moving away and turn back towards the stage. I look at Ella and Abbi to see if they know what’s going on, but they shrug at me. I look back and see Declan sitting down with his guitar. Behind him, Blake adjusts the strap of his guitar and strums a few cords. The entire room is silent except for a few whispers from behind me.
Declan leans in and hums to make sure the microphone is working.
“Hey, guys, we decided to add a little something different tonight. I’ve only been working on this for a few days, but I hope you like it. There’s someone special here tonight that has changed my life. This is for her.”
I can’t move and my eyes are glued to the stage. Declan starts to whistle as he begins strumming the guitar, leading into the song. Tears form in my eyes as I recognize the song immediately. He’s looking straight at me as he serenades me with an acoustic version of Gun N’ Rose’s “Patience”.
I feel my hands being squeezed, but I don’t take my eyes off of him. His voice is like silk and his eyes are piercing into me. He keeps right on singing to me like I’m the only person in the room. The tears stream down my cheeks and I see a flash of sadness cross his face, but he keeps on singing. Blake starts in with a riff in the background. The crowd in front of the stage is swaying to the rhythm and the whole scene is beautiful. A few people have figured out he’s singing to our table so Mark moves in closer. I hear sniffles all around me.
When he starts in on the last verse, Blake takes over the music all together and Declan grabs the microphone with both hands. He stands up and turns his whole body to me. He sings the last verse about needing me and my heart explodes in my chest. I’ve never felt this happy in my life.
The stage goes dark and the crowd goes wild; girls are screaming at him. I look around and all of us have tears in our eyes– even Kendall.
“Holy shit, Raven, that was fucking unbelievable.”
I use my beverage napkin to wipe my cheeks, “Did that really just happen?”
“Yep,” in unison.
Mark walks over and motions for us to follow him. We all gather our stuff and head to the back. When we walk in, the room is alive with energy. Cooper and Nate are on the sofas with four girls I’ve never seen before. Judging by their attire, they’re Band Bunnies. I don’t see Declan or Blake yet. There’s a few people hanging around the bar drinking and shouting how awesome the show was. Apparently, they had met fire code capacity and had to turn people away.
My friends make small talk knowing I’m not paying attention. I can’t concentrate because I realize I just fell deeper in love with Declan Collins.
Blake walks through the stage door without Declan. I excuse myself to find him and hear catcalls behind me. It starts with Charlie (no filter), but our group joins in. One of the Bunnies ask, “Who is she?” I don’t respond because I know Charlie or Kendall will take care of it.
I find Declan packing up his guitar behind the stage. He sees me and freezes. He has a shy expression and hesitantly walks the rest of the way to me.
I put my hands on my hips to imitate an irritated stance, “Declan, when I come over tomorrow, I’m not packing a bag.”
His whole body sinks.
“I’m packing a whole fucking suitcase.”
It takes a second for him to comprehend, but he reaches for me. I see his smile before he crushes my mouth with his. I feel myself lifting up in his arms and see a flash of light as others come back stage from the room, but I don’t let him go.
He pulls away from my mouth, but he tightens his grip and keeps me close. “Thank you,” he says with a smile.
After the guys get their stuff from the stage, we go to the bar and continue to party until last call.
Declan didn’t leave my side the rest of the night. He was always finding some way to touch or hold me. Tons of his fans came up to him to compliment his serenade and I guess they quickly figured out it was directed at me. I got several nasty looks from girls that he turned his back on. When it was time to go, he walked me to the car and kissed me gently. I promised to call him Sunday afternoon to confirm our plans.
When the girls and I got home, I was so exhausted that I put on my pajamas and fell into bed. I know my friends want to talk about what had happened earlier, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.
Kendall rolls in next to me and squeezes my arm.
“That boy is in love with you, RJ.”
“I hope so because I’m pretty in love with him too.”
“Good, that’s what I wanted to hear.”
Chapter 23
It’s Only You
Sunday morning we all sit around the kitchen drinking coffee and talking about last night. I think Charlie has a crush on Blake. She gave him her number and asked him to come to Atlanta when he had time. Abbi and Ella confirm that he’s not a man-whore like Nate and Cooper are. The conversation turns to me and the girls want to know what’s happening.
“Well, I’m sure you girls pretty much guessed that I forgave him. We’re having dinner tonight to talk and figure out our next step. I’m pretty crazy about him, but I don’t want to be naïve. There are some things we need to figure out.”
“What kind of things?” Questions Harper.
“Well, I have to get over the fact that he’s the lead singer in a band that has a following. We’ll have to plan our weeks out because of our different schedules. I need to try to forget that he has screwed more girls than I care to know about. And, I need to make sure he wants me too.”
“I think this weekend wholeheartedly proved he wants you. His apology couldn’t be more sincere and it sounds like you know he didn’t cheat on you. You need to back down and have some fun with this. Last night was intense; he laid himself down in front of at least four hundred people. He sang one of your favorite songs directly to you saying he needed you. I think you have your answer.” Kendall states.
“You’re right.” I smile brightly and decide to change the subject. “Who wants pancakes?”
The rest of the morning goes by quickly. We strip all the sheets and start the laundry. Since I was the host, I get to pick my area to clean and I choose the living room. The others spread out around to house. In less than an hour, all of us are done and my Atlanta friends start packing up. When I walked them to the car, we all say our goodbyes and agree to plan something for Thanksgiving break. I think my first official hosting duties of Girls’ Weekend was a success!
*****
I drive up to Declan’s at 5:30. He’s waiting on the front porch and rushes down to help me with my things. He sees I only have one small duffel bag and he
frowns at me.
“Where’s the rest of your stuff?
“All I needed fit into this bag.”
“You can’t possibly have everything you need in that little bag.”
“Declan, it’s only one night.”
“Not if I can help it.”
When we get to the front door, he leans in and kisses me gently. “Thank you for coming tonight.” Then he leads me into his home.
I look around the room and realize this is not what I had expected at all. He doesn’t have a foyer, but the main room is open and airy. Unlike our house, it isn’t overly decorated. He has black leather couches that face a wall with a huge flat screen. Underneath the TV is a cabinet filled with several gaming systems. There are two end tables and one has a lamp on it. It’s masculine, but comfortable.
“Come on. I’ll give you the tour,” he laces his fingers with mine and takes me down the hall. There are two guest rooms with a bathroom between them. Only one bedroom has a bed and a dresser. The other is filled wall-to-wall with music paraphernalia. Two guitars are leaning against their stands and journals are stacked on the floor. There’s a computer system set up in the corner on a desk that is flanked by two bookshelves filled with albums, books, and picture frames. This room is a reflection of Declan’s personality. The reading, the music, the writing journals… all of this is a piece of him.
The last room in the back is the Master bedroom. It’s even bigger than my room. He has a king- size bed that sits against the main wall with windows on each side. A six-drawer chest with another flat screen TV on top sits opposite the bed. The only personal items in this room are three framed photos on his nightstand next to the bed. There is one thing that surprises me and that is his bedding. He has a shiny blue bedspread that resembles a duvet and sits two inches high off the bed; it looks almost feminine. Guys don’t usually mess with duvets, do they? I also notice the six pillows stacked against the headboard. I look at him and he winks at me. Then he points to the Master bath that’s through a small doorway. He drops my bag on the floor and leads me back to the kitchen.
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