Shattered Lives Mended Hearts

by Lena Nicole

  “That. Was. Incredible,” I say between each kiss.

  “What? Are you done already? No encore performance?” she asks with a challenging look in her eye.

  I pull away and look down at her. “I thought for sure with all that moaning and screaming you were completely satisfied. Are you telling me you’re ready for round two?”

  “Oh trust me, I was more than satisfied. But I can go again if you can.” She licks her lips and stares up at me expectantly.

  “Oh, I think I can make that happen. This time I want the pilot to hear you,” I tell her as I trail a path of kisses down her neck and in between her breasts.

  NOT LONG after we’re both completely satiated, the pilot is announcing that we’re approaching our landing and that we need to stay seated until the plane stops. Once the plane stops and we get off of it, I walk us to the car that’s waiting to take us to the hotel. I planned it so we’d have time to drop off our stuff at the hotel room I reserved for us before heading over to the surprise.

  The hotel isn’t anything super fancy, not like the hotel we stayed at in New York. But this is a small town, and I didn’t want to drive way out of our way just to stay somewhere luxurious. I figured it wouldn’t matter to Addison either. Especially once she finds out what the surprise it.

  We set our stuff down and Addison goes to lie back on the bed. “Uh uh,” I tell her. “You need to get up. We have to get going.”

  “Really? We can’t relax for a few minutes?” she pleads.

  “Nope, we can relax later. We’ll be late if we don’t change quickly and go now.” I grab her hand and hoist her up off the bed.

  I had it arranged that we would have a driver all tonight so we didn’t have to worry about getting a rental car. I don’t plan to leave the hotel room once I get her back here after the show. The driver is taking us through this small town and I can see the wheels in Addison’s mind turning trying to figure out what is going on. Finally, we pull up to our destination. I look around the parking lot which is full and rest my eyes back on Addison wondering if she’s figured it out yet.

  The furrow of her eyebrows tells me she’s just as confused now as she was this morning when I picked her up. “If you wanted to go to a bar, we could have gone to one closer to home.”

  I grin and shake my head. “Do you know where we are?”

  “No, but it looks like a small town.”

  Nodding my head, I say, “Yep, but did you notice the town’s name?”

  “No,” she says, dragging out the ‘o.’

  “We’re in Beaumont.” I’m waiting for recognition to hit her face at any moment, but I’m met with nothing.

  “Okay…” is her only response.

  Letting out a sigh, I continue, “Do you know who’s originally from here and frequents this bar to play?”

  “Nope.”

  “4225 West.” Her eyes slowly get bigger as the words sink into her head. Finally. She gets it.

  “Oh my God, are we going to see them perform?!” She’s so excited and practically bouncing in the middle of the parking lot like a teenager.

  “Yep, unless you don’t want to…” I trail off giving her a grin.

  “Are you kidding? I love them!” She grabs hold of my hand and drags me to the front door and all the way to the closest table to the front that’s still available.

  “I can’t believe I’m getting to see them live! This is so exciting!” She turns toward me and I watch as her eyes go from wide with excitement to soft with adoration. “Thank you, Pierce. This was really thoughtful of you and I appreciate it more than you know,” she says softly before placing the gentlest of kisses to my lips. I cup her jaw with both hands and deepen the kiss before pulling back and resting my forehead against hers.

  “Anything for you, Beautiful. I love you.” I kiss the tip of her nose before releasing her jaw.

  “I love you too,” she says.

  Right then, Liam comes on stage and says a brief introduction to the crowd before him and his band start playing their first song. I’ve never really listened to them much on my own, just here and there when Addison had their songs playing, but I have to say that they’re pretty good and put on a great, energetic show.

  All throughout the show, I keep glancing at Addison. She is radiating with enthusiasm and looks so happy. She has her hands up in the air dancing, swinging her hips from side-to-side. She has no idea how sensual she can be sometimes, and I want nothing more than to take her back to the hotel at this moment. Hell, I’d settle for a quickie in the backroom at this point. But, I know I’ll have to wait.

  The performance comes to a close and the guys say their goodbyes. What Addison doesn’t know is that the guys hang out with the locals sometimes after shows and chat with them for a while. I lead her over to the bar so she has a chance to talk to them.

  The guys walk over to get their drinks and I swear Addison’s heart stops. I’m contemplating if I need to give her CPR or not. I lean down into her ear and whisper, “Breathe, sweetheart.” She blinks rapidly like she’s coming out of a trance. I try to stifle my chuckle, but it comes out anyway.

  Addison suddenly becomes mute and is unable to speak with the band standing next to her. I don’t want her to miss out on the opportunity to talk to them, so I introduce myself before introducing Addison. They’re really nice and down to earth and ask her if she liked the show. Before long, she’s joking and talking to the guys like she’s known them forever. I think a few times she may have been flirting with Harrison, the band’s drummer. A lesser man might have been jealous, but one look at her face that is beaming with excitement is all I need to see. The sparkle in her eyes and the permanent smile etched on her face makes everything worth it.

  Later on, the guys introduce us to their wives and girlfriend. It’s funny; Addison seemed just as excited to meet them as she was to meet 4225 West.

  The ride back to the hotel is spent with Addison talking animatedly about the evening. She’s talking a mile a minute, recounting every aspect of it. I’m not participating in the conversation much, not that she notices. I just enjoy listening to her rattle on about the concert and how much fun she had.

  We walk through the door of our room and she’s still talking about her meet and greet with the guys. I shut the door behind us as she walks farther into the room. I lean against the door and take her in. She has a lean body with gentle curves in all the right places. She must sense me staring at her because she turns around and stops mid-sentence when she sees the look on my face. I want her, and I want her now.

  “What? You didn’t get your fill while being inducted into the mile high club?” she asks with a raised brow. I love her sassy little attitude that surfaces from time to time.

  “Sweetheart, I’ll never get my fill of you,” I say as I stalk toward her.

  We spend the rest of the night exploring, tasting, and feeling each other. Every time with her is amazing, but this time was beyond phenomenal. We connected on such a deep level that nothing else compared. She consumes me. With each moan, arch of her back, scratch from her nails, and tightening around my dick, I knew she was in this with me. I see the confident Addison come to life more and more now. It feels incredible when she loses control and lets herself go with me, taking charge, telling me what she wants and how she wants it. She’s less unsure of herself and is the carefree Addison I’ve seen grow over time who’s not shy and allows herself to be wild with me.

  After we exhausted our bodies and she insists she can’t come again, she curls up next to me. With me on my back, she rests her head on my chest, drawing little circles on my torso. I wrap my arm around her and hold her tight to me. Shortly after, the movement of her hand stops and she’s sound asleep. I fall asleep, content in knowing that this is where she belongs. Right here, next to me. Forever.

  MORGAN IS coming over any minute to discuss all the details of my trip to Beaumont. At first, she didn’t believe me that Pierce took me there and thought I was pulling her leg.
When I sent a picture of me and the guys from the band, she screamed in excitement that I got to meet them. Grabbing glasses and a bottle of wine, there’s a knock on the door and Morgan walks in. We say hello and I bring the glasses over to the couch and pour us each a glass.

  “Tell me everything! Are they as hot as they look on TV and magazines? Do they just ooze sex? What about their tattoos? Were they on display or hidden, leaving you to your imagination?” Morgan says, spitting out all her questions a mile a minute.

  “It’s nice to see you too, Morgan,” I say laughing. “Slow down, we have all night to talk about this,” I tell her, handing her a glass of wine. She takes a sip, smiling as her excitement is radiating off her. I don’t blame her for being excited since I could hardly speak when I was face-to-face with the sex gods of 4225 West.

  “Want to watch a movie?” I ask, teasing her.

  “A movie? Really? Come on, Addison. Spill the goods.”

  “Okay, okay,” I say laughing at her impatience.

  “As you know, I had no clue where I was going, let alone going to see 4225 West. I was so confused when we landed. The airport was on the smaller side and I couldn’t figure out where he had taken me. It still didn’t click what we were doing there when he told me we were in Beaumont. I gave up trying and just enjoyed the town around me. It’s a small, cute, little town and the people who live there are super friendly. When we landed, we had stopped at the hotel first so we could change and the receptionist was really nice. She offered to tell us all about the town and places we might like to visit while we were there. Beaumont seemed like one of those towns where everyone knows everything about everyone. We got changed real quick and got into the car that was waiting for us. We pulled up to a medium-sized bar called Ralph’s and it still didn’t click why we were there.”

  “How did you not know?” Morgan asks with her hands up in the air like I’m an idiot. “Liam is from Beaumont! He moved back there when he reunited with his high school sweetheart and the band does all of their recordings there,” she says matter-of-factly.

  “I’m not even going to ask how you know all this about them. I’m pretty sure that’s borderline stalking,” I laugh.

  “Whatever, call it what you want. I’m a devoted fan. Now continue,” she says.

  I take a sip of my wine and place it back on the table. “Their set was amazing. I can’t even imagine what they are like at a big concert venue. The way they demanded your attention was riveting. After their set was over, they came to the bar to grab some drinks. Pierce mentioned that they talk to the locals there but I wasn’t expecting them to talk to me. I’m sure they knew I wasn’t from around there.”

  “Well obviously they talked to you since you got your picture with them,” she says.

  “Oh, I talked to them alright, thanks to Pierce. I totally froze when they were standing next to me at the bar. He stepped up and introduced us to them. I swear I almost had a heart attack when I was shaking their hands. And let’s not even forget about Jimmy’s accent. I swear when he said hello, a nervous giggle escaped my mouth. It was so embarrassing,” I admit to her as I put the heel of my hand against my forehead and shake my head.

  “I can tell you if I had that man speaking to me, my panties would be soaked in an instant.” I hit Morgan’s arm, laughing at her bluntness. “What? Who doesn’t love a man with an accent?” she says, shrugging her shoulders.

  “Well the rest of the night was pretty awesome. They actually hung out with us for a while and their two wives and one girlfriend even joined us in conversation. They are the sweetest, most down-to-earth women. So not your typical rock star wives cliché. We eventually left and went back to the hotel room where I showed Pierce just how much I appreciated our little impromptu trip,” I say grinning.

  “Well, I’m totally jealous. I still can’t believe Pierce did that for you.” I can believe it. He is always going above and beyond to make me happy.

  “You know… I bet if you gave him the chance, Jeremy would do things to make you happy that would surprise you,” I tell Morgan.

  “Ugh, are we really going there again?” she asks while rolling her eyes.

  “Yes, I tell you all the time what a great guy he is…” Before I can continue, all the lights go off in my condo.

  “That’s weird,” I say getting up to go get a flash light from the kitchen. Morgan walks over to the window and looks outside.

  “It looks like it’s just your place; the neighbor’s lights are on. Maybe you blew a fuse?” she asks.

  “I don’t know, but I’ll go check,” I say, handing Morgan a flashlight.

  “I’ll come with you,” she says, following me to the garage.

  Holding the flashlight on the panel in the garage, I flip every breaker on and off to reset them.

  “Anything?” I ask Morgan who is looking into the condo.

  “Nope, none of the lights came back on.”

  “Hmm, well I don’t really know what else to do,” I say, closing the panel and heading back into the condo.

  “I’ll call Jeremy. He fixes this kind of shit for me all the time,” Morgan says pulling out her phone to call him.

  There’s a knock on the door not even fifteen minutes later and Morgan jumps up to answer it, adjusting her top so her boobs are nice and perky. I laugh and shake my head at her as she opens the door.

  “That was fast,” she says moving aside to let him in.

  “I was on my way out when you called,” he says shrugging his shoulders.

  “I hope I didn’t tear you away from anything important,” I say giving him a hug.

  “Nope, just headed out on a date.”

  “You should have told me. I could have called Colin or Pierce,” I tell Jeremy, feeling bad that I interrupted his evening.

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. Colin is out with Charlotte, so you probably wouldn’t have been able to get a hold of him anyway. Besides, I called my date and told her I’d be running late and had to help a damsel in distress. She was very understanding and I think it helped seal the deal of me getting shagged tonight, so I should probably thank you for calling me,” he says the last part while looking at Morgan. I can see she is getting angry, and I have a feeling it isn’t because of Jeremy’s comment, but because of the fact that someone else other than her will be sharing his bed tonight.

  Jeremy walks into the garage and does the same thing I attempted before he got here.

  “I already told you, we tried that,” Morgan says in a harsh tone.

  “You called me to help, remember? I’m doing it again just to be sure you guys didn’t miss one, so how about you drop your attitude.”

  “Guys, please, can we not bicker, and just worry about getting the power back on?” I plead. I don’t feel like hearing them go at it tonight.

  “I’ll have to check your main breaker outside. All of these look fine, so the problem has to be coming from out there,” he says, turning around so he can head outside. Morgan and I follow him outside with our flashlights. Once we reach the box, Jeremy is standing there, staring at it.

  “Morgan, hand me your flashlight please.” Morgan hands him the light and he shines it on the box. “Hmm… that’s weird,” he says, examining the outside of the box.

  “What’s weird?” I ask.

  Jeremy moves the light to the ground and finds what he is looking for and picks it up. He opens the main breaker box and flashes the light on the wires.

  “Addison, did you cut the lock off the box?” he asks, handing me the lock that once was attached to the main breaker.

  “No,” I say examining the lock.

  “It looks like someone cut the lock off the box with bolt cutters, I’m assuming.”

  “Why would someone do that?” Morgan questions.

  “So they can do this,” he says shining the light on a bunch of cut up wires. “Addison, someone cut the power to your house. Do you know why someone would do that?” he asks in a worried tone.

  “No,”
I say, starting to feel scared.

  “I would call the police and make a report. It could just be teenagers messing around, trying to get a rise out of you, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” I nod as I pull out my phone and call the police to make a report. Once I hang up, I hear Jeremy on the phone canceling his date explaining to her what had happened.

  “Jeremy, you didn’t have to do that,” I say.

  “Nonsense. I’m not going to leave the two of you in a dark condo waiting for the police to come. I’ll wait with you. In the meantime, I think you should pack an overnight bag and spend the night at Morgan’s until we can get your power back on. I have a buddy who works with these problems and he owes me a favor, so I’ll have him working on it first thing in the morning,” he says.

  “Thank you, Jeremy,” I say giving him a hug.

  “Not a problem, let me go call my buddy now,” he says walking off.

  “Well, he really is a goddamn knight in shining armor,” Morgan huffs.

  The police come and take all of our statements so they can file a report. Once they are gone, I grab my bag, lock up, and head to Morgan’s for the night.

  I’VE BEEN dreading this moment since the night I had that awful dream. I asked Addison if I could talk to her about something that was on my mind. I’m not sure if she’s been picking up on the fact that I’ve been physically distant from her, but I want to explain why before she makes any assumptions.

  Knocking on her door, I anxiously wait for her to answer. I hear what sounds like a heard of buffalo storming toward me right before the door swings open. My eyes are wide, expecting some kind of large animal to trample me, but I’m met with a rambunctious dog who Addison is trying to pull back so I can step inside.

  “I’m so sorry, Colin. She doesn’t bite or anything, she just gets a little too excited when people stop by. Please, come on in,” she says as she tugs on the dog’s collar while quietly scolding her for being a bad dog. It makes me want to laugh because the dog couldn’t care less how bad Addison thinks she’s being.