I made a move to put down my guitar when Otis’ voice made me turn around real fast.
“Hey, Harley!’’
“Hi, guys.’’
I blinked and smirked at her when her eyes found me and she started blushing. Damn, she was beautiful and sexy. I let my eyes trail down her short jean skirt to reach the black Converse on her feet. But I couldn’t not look a bit longer than was discreet at her perfect breasts stretching the fabric of her white top. From the stage, I had a real good view of her cleavage and I made out some purple lace. Fuck. I licked my lips and twitched in my pants. I silently thanked my guitar for hiding my growing hard on.
“Do you mind if I take some pictures of you working? It’s for the article I’ll be posting tomorrow on the blog,’’ she asked us all, but kept her big green eyes on me. She nibbled on her lip and I fought back a smile when she looked away. When her eyes left me, I wanted to jump down from the stage and throw her over my shoulder to get her attention back on me. What the fuck was that?
“Knock yourself out,’’ Otis agreed and went back to his bass, playing a few chords from our first big hit Dirty Her.
“I don’t mind either,’’ Beckett said.
She finally glanced back at me, asking silently if I was okay with it.
“No problem, but maybe you should wait for Maxen before. That way you’d have the whole band.’’
“Yeah, that’d be great. Where is he?’’
I shrugged and the guys did too.
“He said he would be here in a minute,’’ Otis said distractedly.
I looked at Beckett who was frowning in the direction of the backstage. “I hope he’s not fucking someone already. Usually he waits just before we go on stage.’’
“He has sex before going on stage?’’ Harley asked with a strangled voice that got us looking at her again. She fidgeted with her purse and smiled shyly. “Sorry, I’m just, hm…’’
“Surprised?’’ I supplanted.
“Well, I guess I shouldn’t be.’’ She laughed awkwardly and ruffled her hair a bit, looking away from us as we all started to smirk and chuckle. Damn it, she was really innocent for someone working for a blog solely focusing on the music scene. Some crazy shit could happen behind the scenes. “Do you want me to get him? I saw my father and he looks pretty on edge so you better be ready to work on the sound check.’’
“Floyd is always on edge when we have a show,’’ Otis replied. “But yeah, Maxen needs to get his ass here. We can’t do shit without the drummer.’’
“Alright. Where’s the break room?’’ she asked, glancing toward the door leading to the “personnel only’’ area of the bar.
I pointed to the door and kept a hand on the guitar handle. “Go through that door and it’s the third room on your right.’’
She nodded and waved over her shoulder, glancing once at me. I kept my eyes on her ass swaying from side to side as she walked away. Damn.
“Good thing Floyd isn’t around or that look would have pissed him off,’’ Beckett said with a smile in his voice.
“What? Oh, that. Uh…’’
“Shit, you’re really after her? Maxen wasn’t bullshitting earlier?’’ Otis asked, walking toward me. Beckett followed.
“None of your business.’’
“Hey now, we’re a band, we’re family. Everything is our business,’’ Otis said.
I cringed and looked at Beckett, hoping the more subdued of us would be the voice of reason, but the amused smile on his face told me he wouldn’t be siding with me this time. I rubbed at my neck and glanced around. “You know I can’t…’’
“Yeah and usually you don’t look at a woman like you do her, either,’’ Beckett pointed out, nodding toward the door Harley disappeared behind.
“Fuck,’’ I mumbled.
“That’s probably the point, man,’’ Otis said in a laugh and patted my back. “At least now you’re writing again so keep doing what you’re doing.’’
I felt the tip of my ears burning when the guys turned around and went back to prepping for the sound check, talking to a few guys near the amps. I stood there for a few more minutes until I was finally able to focus on my job. I joined the guys, already tuning my amp for the show tonight.
*
HARLEY
I walked past a man pushing several boxes of bottles stacked on a rolling cart back to the bar and finally located the room Dex had indicated. Seeing him on stage made me weak in the knees even though him in only swim trunks had topped the view of him on stage. I fanned myself and knocked at the door.
Nobody answered. I frowned and knocked again without any more result. I leaned against the door, listening closely. I really didn’t want to see Maxen naked with a woman.
I didn’t hear a thing, but with the guys back on stage playing their guitars it was difficult to be sure there wasn’t anything going on in this room.
I braced myself and opened the door slowly. And when the door finally hit the other side of the wall I wished I hadn’t volunteered to get Maxen. I gaped and took everything in, slowly. It was very foreign, something I never thought I’d see.
Maxen wasn’t with a woman.
He wasn’t naked.
He wasn’t drinking or asleep either.
No. Maxen was sniffing a white line with a rolled bill, his black credit card discarded nearby on the coffee table. He groaned and leaned back on the couch, rubbing at his nose, eyes closed and a lopsided smile on his mouth.
“Ma…Maxen?’’ I stuttered with a small voice. I didn’t know if I should run away or talk to him. I didn’t know what to think and briefly wondered if the other guys in the band were doing drugs too. But I couldn’t picture that. Yet, a minute ago I hadn’t been picturing Maxen doing coke either.
Fear stole my breath and froze me to my bones. My legs started to wobble as I crossed my arms, either to comfort myself or protect a part of me from this vision. I wasn’t ready to face something like this.
He slowly opened his eyelids and straightened. His pupils were large. I couldn’t miss it with how light green his eyes were. His nose was slightly red from rubbing it seconds ago. “Fuck, Harley. What are ya doin’ here?’’ He cleared his throat then and swore again. “Don’t tell the guys.’’
I blinked and shook my head. “What! You can’t—‘’
“Please, Harley. Don’t tell anyone, most of all Dex.’’ He stood up and wavered, almost toppling over before he found his bearings and walked to me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me slightly. His fingers bit into me, teetering on the edge of pain. My heart was beating wildly. “You have to promise.’’
I pushed at his huge chest, but he didn’t budge. I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm when everything in me was exploding. It wasn’t like I was a complete innocent and didn’t know that drugs were part of this world, but I wasn’t expecting to see it. If my father would have known, he would have never asked the label to hire me.
“How long…’’
“That’s none of your business,’’ he replied with an underlying anger that had me gaping at him again. He didn’t sound like the usual playful, naughty Maxen. He sounded like an addict afraid to see his secret bared to everybody, afraid to see his next fix confiscated. “You’re not part of the band, Harley. You may want Dex to fuck you and succeed, but you’ll never be a part of Kinky Shine so stay the fuck out of this. ‘’
I blinked at the venom in his voice, but didn’t let it deter me. Desperation was talking, not him.
“You’re doing drugs, Maxen. That has nothing to do with me. Nothing. If you think it’s going to stay a secret, you’re mistaken. That stuff? It always comes out at one point.’’ I nodded toward the coffee table where he had sniffed his line. That vision would always stay with me. If I needed to remember how this life was opposite to mine, that had been a great reminder.
“Promise me you won’t say a fucking word,’’ he insisted, his eyes now lowered to the ground as he released my shoulders and took
a step back. “Please.’’
I swallowed thickly and rubbed at my forehead. I didn’t know what to do. I should tell someone, for his health alone, but I didn’t know how to go about doing it. I didn’t want to push him over the edge. What if he had an overdose because he felt threatened by me and decided to snort more or get hooked on something even worse? I would never recover from this. “You need to talk to someone. If not Dex or the other guys, go see a doctor or something.’’
He nodded and snatched his credit card. He wiped it on his frayed light blue jeans and pocketed it without taking the time to put it back in his wallet. “I will.’’
He made a move to walk out, but I grabbed his elbow as he passed by me. “Promise me, Maxen. I don’t want something to happen to you.’’
He smiled at me his light smile and, this time, I wondered how much of his character I had seen so far was genuine. “I know what I’m doing.’’
I released him and watched him walking down the hall and toward the stage. “All addicts say that shit,’’ I mumbled and grabbed my phone with weak hands to do what I came here for; taking pictures of the band for another PR stunt.
I stood in front of the stage, watching the guys getting ready for the sound check, joking around. Maxine’s loud barking laugh reached my ears and I wanted to hide. I agreed to keep a secret I shouldn’t be keeping.
When Dex’s eyes went to me, I felt like the worst scum around here. He had trust issues and I was hiding something very important about his best friend. If he knew, he would never want to see me again and it would forever kill the little progress he had made with me regarding his relationship to women.
But mostly, he wouldn’t want to see me again and I would deserve it.
DEX
The place was packed with people screaming, jumping and trying to touch me or Otis and Beckett when they came close to the edge of the stage. Adrenaline ran hard in my blood and I sang harder in the mic. When my voice broke down in that growl that got us noticed so quickly, another screaming wave hit us and I smirked at the women at my feet, tugging on my jeans as if they wanted to strip me. That shit was insane and it still blew my mind.
I turned around when Beckett was about to finish his guitar solo, making his guitar cry higher and higher until he stopped right in time for Maxen to hit his drums hard, unleashing the last part of the last song of the show. The beat was hard and fast, beating inside of me and I joined the band last, completing the melody of our latest hit from last year, Hard and Rough.
I closed my eyes and let myself get lost in the insane music, in the bridges and intricate chords and then, born from years of playing together and from playing that song a thousand times, we all stopped at the same fucking time. Only the fans were left screaming, yelling.
“Kinky Shine!’’
“Kinky Shine!’’
“Kinky Shine!’’
And the odd “Marry me Dex, Maxen, Otis and Beckett!’’ as if polygamy was authorized for us. I chuckled and fist bumped the air, earning myself another round of yells and applause. The guys joined me and as usual, we all wrapped an arm around the others’ shoulders, in line for our fans to chant. Damn, this was the fucking life.
I leaned into the mic and winked. “Shit guys, you’re one insane crowd.’’ They screamed louder. “You’re fucking amazing!’’
The guys added a few words and we reluctantly left the stage under the calls for more songs. If we didn’t have Floyd looking out for us, we would be able to play for them until our hands bled. That was the craziest rush to play in front of a crowd, even a small one.
In the backstage hall, we laughed and punched each other’s shoulders, slapping the other’s backs. Otis jumped on the balls of his feet a few times as if his legs were ready to lead him back on stage. Beckett was smiling big, his eyes dancing with a happiness you didn’t often see there. He kept on drying his wet forehead with one of the towels left for us on a table in the hall. Maxen opened a water bottle and took a few sips in between his crazy laughter. He threw his shirt into the crowd after the fifth song and a fight had almost broken out to grab the ruined item.
I snatched the last towel and dried my face, taking a deep breath and leaning against the wall.
“You were on fire, boys,’’ Floyd said with a big smile and bumped our fists and then patted my cheek like a father would his son. He had always been very paternal with us even though he respected our need to do our own thing as a band. “Listen to your fans, boys. Listen to them.’’
We went quiet and listened to the fans still screaming their hearts out, still calling out Kinky Shine and our names. “I’ll never tire of this,’’ I said and smirked at Maxen who nodded.
“And we won’t now that you’re back to writing,’’ Beckett said, giving a high five to Otis next to him.
Floyd’s smile got even bigger. “You’re writing again?’’
I shrugged and tried like hell to not smile goofily. “Yeah, I have a song almost ready.’’
“He wrote it last night and recorded a demo. I don’t remember the last time he wrote something so quickly,’’ Maxen said and laughed loudly. “Alright, I need a drink.’’ He walked back to the break room and Otis and Beckett followed, but I stood behind with Floyd.
“It’s not ready yet, Floyd.’’ I ran the towel over my sweaty neck and draped it around my shoulders. “I don’t want to make you listen to something that’s not finished. I need the guys to tweak the melody and the lyrics at the end aren’t powerful enough.’’
He put his hands up and shook his head. “I know you don’t want me to listen to something that isn’t finished, I get it. I’m glad you’re back to writing.’’
“Me too,’’ I sighed and smiled ruefully, thinking about how the inspiration hit me. If he knew Harley was probably the trigger, he wouldn’t be so stocked. I glanced around, sure she would be around now that the show was over. I hadn’t seen her since she was taking pictures of us on stage getting ready for tonight. After that, she disappeared and I was stuck with the guys and Floyd along with the owner of the Dragonfly.
“Harley will be in the break room shortly. She’s asking questions to some fans for her article.’’
I blinked and faced Floyd again. “I…’’ I cleared my throat. “I wasn’t…’’
“You were looking around for her, weren’t you?’’ His green eyes froze me and I couldn’t lie. The man had our backs and he had never done anything against our interest. He didn’t deserve some lame ass lie about me and my intentions toward his daughter. But I wouldn’t tell him how much I hoped I could fuck her at one point. That would be pushing it.
“Yeah, I was.’’
He nodded and checked his phone. “My wife told me I shouldn’t interfere and have confidence in Harley. You’re a good guy, Dex, so keep it going.’’
“Floyd I—‘’
“It’s late so make sure you don’t stay too long here. There are some paparazzi outside and the crowd will linger awhile. Tell the guys I want to see all of you tomorrow at lunch,’’ he said, interrupting me as if nothing was abnormal.
“Uh, maybe we could meet at my place?’’ We had often had meetings at my house seeing as it’s in a gated community and had a built-in studio we liked to play in and record some stuff.
“Good. I’ll bring something for a BBQ. Make sure the guys are all there.’’
“No problem,’’ I replied and dried my temple when another drop of sweat started to fall. “Will…hm…will you bring Harley?’’
Oh, fuck. That was awkward. The woman was his daughter. He eyed me with narrowed eyes and his lips twitched slightly as if he wanted to laugh at me. I couldn’t blame him, I sounded like a fucking teenager enquiring about his crush.
“She’s shadowing the band. Maybe you should ask her.’’ He shook his head and walked away, probably going back home now that the show was over.
I leaned against the wall and swore under my breath. I had never been in contact with girls’ parents when I w
as in high school and considering that was the extent of my experience, facing Floyd was out of my depth.
“That was quite a show.’’
I straightened up and bumped my head against the wall in my haste. She was there, red-cheeked and smiling her sweet smile. “Thank you.’’
She walked to me and I didn’t move from against the wall. I didn’t know where we stood at this moment. We decided to explore that attraction between us, but that was yesterday…
She stopped right in front of me, closer than what a person should be standing, but not close enough for me to feel her body against mine. She tilted her head up and her big green eyes locked on mine, rendering me speechless. And the energy, the adrenaline I had felt on stage came back with a vengeance.
I cupped her face, my thumbs tracing her cheekbones and then her lower lip. “I’m going to kiss you, Harley.’’
She said nothing and nodded, biting that same lip I had a hard time looking away from. I frowned and closed in on her mouth, taking it in mine and delving my tongue into her mouth. I growled when her tongue met mine with the same eagerness I was feeling.
Her small hands went under my t-shirt drenched in sweat, but she didn’t seem to mind. She plastered herself against me and moaned into my mouth, biting on my upper lip until I groaned and pulled her harder into me.
My hips shot into her, pushing my hard cock into her firm yet soft stomach. I did it again and again while still kissing her with every-fucking-thing I had. She went on her tiptoes and tightened her fingers into my skin on my back and I shivered against her. I was trembling with an energy I didn’t know how to let go. I wanted her even more than yesterday.
I suckled on her tongue and her moan turned louder in my mouth as I delved a hand in her thick hair, grabbing a few strands to keep a good hold on her. I was the one against the wall, trapped between it and her, but I was leading that damn kiss.
Dex (Kinky Shine #1) Page 12
