Escaping Me

by Cat Mason

  The smile on Gray’s face is burning bright. Leaning down he captures my lips, nipping slowly as his hands cup my face. “I know.” He whispers simply because he does know. Grayson Cole owns me completely and he knew it before any of us did.

  Chapter Nineteen:

  Apple Fritter

  Back in the hotel lobby Henry makes sure we all get settled before he follows a now normal clothed Hunter around on his hunt for someone ‘un-Chase’ like. Cam is arguing with Aiden by the elevators. Her eyes dart to mine the pain in them hits me in the gut. She’s really going to do this. Pulling out of Gray’s arms I walk over to them in time to hear Aiden’s broken voice. “Not overnight Cam please I need you here.” I have never heard him sound weak but right now he sounds so fragile it nearly breaks me. “I won’t be able to sleep with you gone.”

  “They’re my family Aiden. That’s why I came in the first place.” She argues but won’t meet his eyes.

  “You came to be with me Cam, don’t give me that shit. You love me just as much as I love you quit fuckin’ around.” He snaps. “Don’t run away from me. Come up to bed and let me love you.” He says roughly into her ear. I have to admit Dom-style Aiden is hot.

  Cam trembles at his words making him smile proudly. His hands brush up her arms causing her to shiver against him, her eyes fluttering closed. Gray’s arms around my waist make me jump but I don’t move. I can’t look away even though I know that I should. This just feels so intimate it’s not just a kiss, not just affection it’s erotic. The way that Aiden brushes his lips over hers; the way he commands her without words it’s magnetic. Cam doesn’t move she just mirrors his movements as he moves his mouth against hers. “I love you Cam. I fuckin’ know you love me.” He whispers against her mouth roughly.

  “Apple Fritter.” She chokes out making him pull away in shock. Cam’s eyes fill with tears as he stares at her in shock. “Apple Fritter Aiden.” She repeats.

  “Goddamn it!” He shouts punching the wall beside her.

  “Aiden!” Hunter shouts starting across the room toward us.

  Aiden slams his mouth to hers roughly then walks out of the lobby disappearing into the crowd on the street. Hunter’s eyes widen, “Aiden! Fuck this is goin’ to be bad big man. Aiden damn it wait!” He shouts running after Aiden begging for him to stop.

  Henry looks at us then runs after them. Cam crumbles to the tile floor sobbing into her hands. I run over dropping to my knees holding her as she sobs. “Cam? What happened? What does that mean?” I ask trying to calm her.

  “Apple Fritter is my safe word. I’ve never used it until today.” I nod against her then help her to her feet.

  “Come on let us get you to your room. You can lie down until he comes back. It’ll be fine Cam.” Gray hits the call button on the elevator and I secretly send up a prayer to anyone listening to please let this me be right about this.

  I settle a now quietly sobbing Cam into bed making her promise to call me if she needs anything. I don’t want to leave her but luckily we are just across the hall so it’s not very far. Closing the door to the bedroom, I meet Gray’s eyes watching me from where he sits on the couch waiting. “Is she okay?” He asks standing to his feet. He wraps me in his arms, kissing my forehead sweetly.

  “I don’t know Gray. I just hope he comes back and talks this out with her. She does love him. She’s scared though that she won’t be strong enough to stand beside him.” I whisper. Gray just nods then walks us across the hall to our suite.

  The moment he locks the door he pounces on me like a panther. My shirt flies across the room quickly followed by my bra and jeans. I barely had time to kick out of my shoes. Slamming me into the wall, Gray’s mouth latches onto my collar bone sucking in a patch of skin as his hands grip my ass grinding me into his already hard cock. I moan like the shameless hussy I am when it comes to having Gray’s hands on me.

  Grayson’s hand runs along my hip ripping my panties from my body letting them drop to our feet. Dropping to his knees, he kisses along the stem of my daisy tattoo. My eyes glued to his mouth as he pulls my leg over his shoulder steadying me with his hands. His tongue circles my clit lazily making me insane. I let my fingers slide into his hair pulling him to me trying desperately to get his mouth where I need it. “God Gray please!” I scream in frustration begging him to give me more.

  He pulls back looking at me with a grin. “Needing something are we?”

  “Quit being so cocky and give it to me.” I bite out.

  Gray stands to his feet, shoving his jeans down his legs exposing his erection. “Wrap those amazin’ fuckin’ legs around me baby.” He growls grabbing my hips. I barely manage to when he slams me onto him making the breath rush out of me, stealing my scream.

  I grab his shoulders; my fingernails digging into the back of his neck as he pumps into me. My blonde hair covering our faces like a curtain as our lips devour one another. His grunts matching my moans as he fills me, his ladder feeling like it touches me everywhere. My head flies back against the wall as I cry out. My entire body shakes as I explode around him. Gray grabs my hair, twisting it in his hand and tugs exposing my neck. His teeth sinking into the hollow of my throat makes me scream. Increasing his thrusts Gray forces my eyes to meet his. My body is already building toward another orgasm one that I think may kill me.

  “Let go for me again.” He roars commandingly.

  Arching his back Gray’s position inside of me changes, the piercings rub along my clit as he pulls out of me slowly then slams into me fast. I watch him slide in and out again and again completely mesmerized by the erotic moment. Grayson’s hips slam into me as he comes. Trailing his hand down, his thumb finds my clit. Making me erupt again then he turns so that his back is against the wall and slides to the floor.

  I don’t know how long we sit there against the wall together Gray still inside me but I hear shuffling outside the door to our suite. “I’m writing a country song about this shit.” Hunter says with a grunt as he pounds on the door. “Oh happily married spooners let me in!” He sings.

  “Come back later man.” Gray says lazily nuzzling my neck. “Like next fuckin’ month.”

  “I have a drunken drummer who needs to sober up before he talks to his bitch.” He says kicking the door.

  Jumping up I throw on my jeans and shirt while Gray stuffs himself into his pants. I fling the door open to something I never thought I would see. Hunter is completely sober but Aiden is so trashed he is slumped against Henry in the hall. “I feel like I’m in a parallel universe.” I blurt then wave them in.

  Henry lifts Aiden over his shoulder, walks through the door plopping him on the sofa. “He’s trashed. One too many rounds with Stoli. Told that stupid bastard you never win when you take on a Russian.” Hunter says sprawling out in the chair next to him grabbing Gray’s acoustic guitar. He strums the strings humming as he goes. “My bitch done me wrong, when I sang her a song… Shoulda licked her shitter like an apple fritter… Instead I’m a pussy who doesn’t deserve his schlong.”

  “Shut up asshole.” I mutter. “You’ve been worse off.”

  “Fuck you Daisy…” Hunter continues to sing as he strums. “But she married Gray… so her preferences must be hazy…”

  “Alright Hunter, let’s go. Aiden can sleep off his drunken sulk here while I take you for bacon and some ass.” Henry says yanking the guitar from his hand.

  “Hell yeah big man!” Hunter says jumping to his feet. He glances at Aiden who is snoring on the sofa then at Gray and me, “You watch him goddamn it. Don’t go off fingerin’ Gray’s vagina and forgettin’ that he’s in here hurtin’ you got me? The poor bastard has been through enough.” I nod then he looks at Gray, “You know him when he gets like this man. Which means you also know how this shit will need to go down. He has to sober the fuck up, get back in control that’s why Cam’s good for him. She gives him what he needs and that pushes the bad shit out. Fucker is no good when he gets like this.” Leaning over Hunter pats Aiden on
the shoulder then follows Henry out slamming the door behind him.

  After a quick shower I change into yoga pants and one of Gray’s hooded sweatshirts. Walking across the hall, I knock on Cam’s door but no answer. Knocking again harder I call out her name. “Cam? It’s me.” Giving up, I walk back into our suite slamming the door in frustration.

  “What’s wrong?” Gray asks while digging through the mini bar. I walk over and sit on Aiden’s legs carefully digging through his pockets. “Um, what the fuck are you doin’?” I look over my shoulder seeing the confusion on Gray’s face.

  “I’m lookin’ for the room key. Cam won’t answer the door.” I blurt as if it should have been obvious. “What else would I be doin’?” I ask then look at my hands shoved into Aiden’s front pocket. “Oh…” I groan as Gray chuckles.

  “Would you mind gettin’ off the goods babe? They’re not insured.” Aiden groans making me jump off of him. Shoving up from the couch he grabs his head with both hands as if will fall off. “Fuck.” He groans. “I gotta talk to Cam. I should’ve never walked out on her.”

  “I think she’s asleep. She was really upset when I left her.” I say sadly. “You two gotta fix this Aiden. Cam loves you.”

  “I know she does Daisy. I love her too.” He mutters then walks out the door.

  Gray spreads his arms out jerking his chin for me to come to him. I nearly run into his arms. “Wanna go to bed?” He asks suggestively rolling his hips into mine.

  “I just got dressed.”

  “It really would have been worth it if I’d made them include always be naked and waiting in those vows.” He shrugs. “The things you think of after… Oh well, I’ll just undress you then no biggie.”

  I shove away from him and run around the coffee table. “Oh no… We can do something other than that tonight Mr. Cole.”

  He shakes his head then leaps over the coffee table grabbing me by the waist. I giggle loudly when Gray turns us so that I fall onto him as he lands on the sofa. “Mrs. Cole, I don’t care what we do. I wanna do it naked.” He purrs into my ear.

  “How the hell am I supposed to argue with that?”

  “You’re not.” Gray lifts the hooded sweatshirt up exposing my belly. His tongue runs along my tattoo slowly. “This would be easier if we were naked.” He tosses out while kissing down the stem to the edge of my waistband. “See, some of it hides under there so I can’t tend to it properly.”

  The door busts open making me jump. Aiden stands there, his face a broken shell. Tears streaming down his face then he drops to his knees. I jump off of Gray, fumbling across the room to him where he sits staring off into space. What the fuck happened? Falling to my knees just as Gray gets to us I grab Aiden’s shoulders shaking him. “Aiden? Aiden! What the hell?” I scream into his face when he doesn’t look at me. “Gray, what’s wrong with him?” I ask looking down at his blood covered knuckles.

  Gray runs across the hall. I can hear him screaming for Cam as he shoves shit around in the rooms. I turn looking at Aiden again, “Where’s Cam Aiden? What happened?” I plead shaking him again. “Please talk to me.” Tears are streaming down my face while all sorts of images flow through my head of what happened over there when he saw her.

  “She isn’t here. She left me Daisy, Camaron doesn’t want me. Nobody ever did.” He says without any emotion before crumpling into me then he breaks down sobbing like a baby.

  Gray stands bracing his hands on the door just nodding in agreement. Gone. Camaron just packed up her shit just like that. She told me she was going to leave. I should have seen it coming but I hoped she would change her mind. With how much she loves Aiden I never thought she could go through with it.

  Aiden hangs on to me for dear life while sobs rack his entire body. My eyes fixed on Gray as he just watches us in disbelief. Aiden, who is always so calm, is now falling apart on the floor of our hotel room. Right now I am hurting for him just as I hurt for Camaron knowing how hard it was for her to go. It doesn’t change how badly I want to shake some sense into her though. I want her to see him like this so that she knows it’s her who holds him together. She doesn’t think she has any power over him. Cam thinks that she gives the power all to him but right now I think that Aiden gave her everything a long time ago. She just didn’t see it or didn’t believe she was worthy of it.

  I sit listening to Gray talking on the phone to Henry; his voice carrying from our bedroom. “Big Man? It’s bad. It’s the worst I’ve seen. Yeah, we got him. No she’s gone. He trashed the suite. Yep get on that shit. We got this for now. Later.”

  Chapter Twenty:

  A Violent Shove in the Right Direction

  Hunter and Henry come to take Aiden to their suite but he refuses to leave in case Cam comes back. Although I think he forgot that he totally demolished the room. After a call to Tad who assures us that he will take care of it none of us believe the slimy bastard so Henry makes a few calls himself.

  Hunter paces the room while Aiden lies sleeping face down on the fold out. His shirt was covered in his own blood from punching the walls so we had to cut it off of him. He also shattered all mirrors along with throwing anything that wasn’t nailed down. The room is a total loss which I’m sure the hotel manager is really happy about now while he does the walk through with Henry.

  I sit beside Aiden getting the first good look at the tattoo on his back. He has a set of angel wings that span his entire back even dipping into the waist band of his jeans. They look almost like iron and wire framed in feathers. The feathers are tattered and worn, looking partially shredded. It’s almost like he barely made it out of a battle of some kind. It’s dark, very gothic looking. “They’re so he can always escape the pain he carries inside of him.” Hunter says as he slams a beer cap on the bar. “Our sperm donor was a piece of shit. Aiden always wanted to just fly away and escape it all.”

  “You mean?” I start to ask but choke on my words.

  “I mean it was a shit ass way to grow up. I protected him. Our mother is a worthless whore who couldn’t say no to the mother fucker. So every time he asked to come back she let him.”

  “I’m sorry.” I whisper because what else do you say to that shit?

  “Nothing to be sorry about Daisy.” Walking over Hunter sits beside me. “So our childhood sucked ass. It could’ve been worse.” He shrugs. “Could’ve been a helluva lot better but it could’ve been worse because he rarely got to Aiden.” The look on his face is cold and serious telling me all I need to know.

  “You’re a good guy asshole.” I say kissing his cheek.

  He chuckles. “I’m really not. I thought you were gonna cause all kinds of problems on this tour. I told Landon to fuck off. Told him no regular pussy on the bus but I’m glad you’re here Daisy. You came through for my brother tonight when I wasn’t here. One last thing to do though, we gotta get that bitch back.”

  Grabbing my phone I head into the bedroom thumbing in a text to Cam:

  Why Cam?

  Her reply is instant:

  I had to.

  Taking a deep breath, I pace the room as I type my reply.

  Meet me. I need to know u r okay.

  After assuring her that I will come alone, I get an address of a restaurant that she will be at in half an hour. Quickly, I grab my bag, throw on my shoes then walk back up the hall. “Hunter, I gotta go see a bitch about a drummer.” I blurt heading for the door.

  “Whoa there Wildflower. Not alone you don’t.” He says grabbing my hand on the knob.

  I look at our hands then at his face. “I told Cam I’d come alone. So I’ll go alone.” I say jerking the door open meeting Gray’s steel gaze.

  “Going somewhere baby?”

  “I need to go see Cam. I told her I’d meet her in thirty minutes, time is ticking.” I answer, silently pleading for him to just move.

  “Henry go with her but give them space. Maybe she can talk some sense into Cam.” Gray says pulling me flush against him. “You. I couldn’t love you more right
now if I tried.”

  I brush my lips over his softly. “I love you too. Be back soon.” I say taking Henry’s arm as he walks me to the elevator.

  ***

  “What the fuck is it with all of us and these damn diners? Can’t we go to a coffee shop or get pizza?” I say slumping into the booth across from Cam. She looks horrible. Her hair is pulled up in a bun, her face splotchy and swollen from crying. Her eyes are the same emotionless horror as Aiden’s. Can’t she see what she is doing to them?

  “How is he?” She asks staring into her coffee mug unable to meet my eyes.

  “He needs you.” I say simply. Cam huffs out a laugh. “He does Cam. I’ve never seen anything like it. He wrecked the room, total fuckin’ loss man. Aiden kicked our door in, fell to the ground then cried like a goddamn baby until he passed out. He was covered in blood. Fuck Cam, I don’t know how to help him. He’s so lost. Hunter says you push back the bad shit in his life. You keep him grounded. Now you’re here, not with him so he’s not grounded. He’s shattered and from the looks of it so are you. Why would you willingly put the both of you through this Cam?”

  “I know that Aiden has his shit. His past is dark I know that. He hasn’t shared any more than I have about mine but we all have our shit to deal with. I can’t be what he needs in the long run when the band makes it big, hell I can’t deal with it now. I can’t give myself over to him that way then have him hurt me because I’ll never recover from that Daisy. Fuck I’m ruined now after just a few months. I’ll never love anyone the way I love Aiden. I just can’t go on like this only to have us both hurt in the end. Our relationship isn’t one of permanence even as much as we both may have wanted it to be. He’ll move on. Aiden has the guys and now you to help him.” Turning she wipes her eyes.

  “But it should be you Cam. You could fix everything just by coming with me now.” I say gesturing to the door.

  “For how long Daisy, huh? How long before I end up being pushed aside for someone better? Someone who is made for the spotlight that Aiden belongs in? It was great while it lasted. I’ll love him for the rest of my life but I can’t.” She shakes her head then stands. Tears falling freely down her face as I stand to stop her from leaving.