Dex (Kinky Shine #1)

by Stephanie Witter

  “You already have my heart and you’re giving me yours. I don’t see anything more precious.’’

  HARLEY

  “I can’t believe you’re staying in LA,’’ Delaney said again on the phone and I could hear the pout from here, miles and miles away from my best friend still in our apartment in New York City.

  “Only for the summer. I’ll be back late August I think.’’

  She sighed in the phone and it sounded strange, like one would sigh when looking at a fine specimen of man eye candy as Delaney would say. “You’re a lucky bitch. I hope you know that. When I told you that if you had an opening to have a whirlwind romance with one of those rockers you should totally jump on it I didn’t expect you to do it.’’

  I smiled and let my gaze get lost while looking at Dex’s huge living room and the infinity pool right on the other side of the gigantic bay windows opening to the kind of deck you only saw on TV or in some interior design magazine. And yet his house was far from the most extravagant ones you could find in Hollywood hills. That’s probably why I found myself so at ease at his house.

  Dex was locked away in his built in studio in the basement, composing Kinky Shine’s next album. After a long block during which he hadn’t been able to write a single song, he’s now hit with so much inspiration that he already has four songs written and the base melody down for the other band members to tweak with him and give that unique sound Kinky Shine has. With Maxen now in rehab, it’s going to be challenging but I had no doubt he could do it.

  “I still have a hard time wrapping my head around it, to be honest. It’s been a short week since we decided to see where this would go and I’m still… I mean, I easily forget he’s famous and the frontman of the band, but he is.’’

  “It sure is a shock from your last boyfriend. Going from an IT guy to a worldwide known musician is quite the upgrade,’’ she said with a bright laugh and I joined in.

  Before Dex, I had been single for a little over a year and I was ready to get back in the saddle so to speak, but I didn’t think dating a rockstar was in the cards for me and if I was honest, I would have never wanted to if it wasn’t Dex. Our start had been quite hectic to say the least. Our first encounter ended up with him implying I was sleeping with someone to get to work with the band and me leaving and calling him a jerk. It’s a wonder how things had changed so quickly. Thinking about it had me smiling goofily.

  “Last night he wanted us to go out for a drink like any couple.’’

  “And? It’s nice.’’

  I shook my head and cringed, thinking of the white lie I served Dex. “We’d have been spotted and it’d have gone viral that Dex was with some unknown woman holding hands or something like that.’’

  “Either I’m dumber than I ever thought possible or you don’t make a lick of sense.’’

  “I don’t want to make the headlines. That’s the problem when you decide to date a rockstar. You can’t be a normal couple.’’

  “Have you told him that? Gosh, I’m sure he must have hated it.’’

  “That’s the thing, I lied.’’ I quickly glanced back to the hall leading to the basement to make sure Dex wasn’t walking back here, but he wouldn’t for a few more hours still. “I told him that we needed to be careful and not show our faces too much if we didn’t want the news about Maxen to get out.’’

  She whistled. “You never lie.’’

  “I know. I feel awful, but it’s so new, Del! We’ve been together for a very short amount of time and I don’t know where it’s going or if it’s going anywhere. I don’t want to get my face out there, have my credibility and impartiality questioned when it comes to my blog because of my relationship. I’m not ready yet.’’

  “I’m not an expert in relationships or else I’d have one that lasts longer than a couple of months, but I’m pretty sure honesty and communication are kind of important. I’m just saying.’’

  “We’re still working on the communication thing.’’ I leaned farther back into the couch as my shoulders started to relax now that I had been able to talk to my best friend about my little lie. I still felt somewhat guilty about it, but the weight of that guilt lessened some.

  “I still can’t believe that Maxen Walton is a drug addict. This is—’’

  “You swore you’d never tell anybody, Del. The label could sue me if it got out when I signed a NDA.’’

  “And I remember, Harley. I may be into the whole gossip thing, but you’re my best friend. Anyway, it’s kind of thrilling to know something the world doesn’t.’’ She snickered and I startled when the doorbell rang through the living room.

  “Sorry, Del, someone’s at the door. I need to go, but let me know if you have money issues. I transferred my half of the rent this month to your account.’’

  “Thanks. I need to go too anyway. I’m supposed to go for my dance lesson in a few. Call me soon to give me all the juicy details of this brooding rocker of yours.’’

  “Shut up,’’ I said with a laugh as I stood up to go to the front door and hung up on Delaney’s laugh. I knew she didn’t like that I wouldn’t be back for weeks, but she’s genuinely happy for me. She’s a real friend and I can’t be more thankful for that day my sophomore year in college when she dumped a full plate of hot pasta on my date’s knees who was the worst pig I’ve ever met back when she waitressed to pay for her night classes.

  I put my phone in my shorts and opened the front door. My smile widened when my eyes fell on Otis and Beckett towering over me with a big smile from the first one and a friendly nod from the second.

  “Hey, you here to help Dex with the songs?’’ I asked and pulled away from the door to let them in.

  “Hey Harley,’’ Beckett said and I saw Otis cringe and rub at his temples. He probably had a hangover again. “Dex texted us so we could record something for Maxen for when we visit him.’’

  I nodded and closed the door after Otis who removed his sunglasses. He narrowed his eyes into small slits, showing off the rings under his eyes.

  “I thought you were supposed to lay low.’’ If he went out to party like usual our whole campaign with my father and the PR team and my blog claiming that the band cancelled their summer tour to focus one hundred percent on their next album to protect the real reason of that cancellation is going to fall short in less time than we had hoped.

  “I did,’’ Otis replied and followed me into the house and toward the hall leading to the stairs going directly to the recording studio down in the vast basement. We all stopped at the door and I fixed the bass player with my best hard look. “I didn’t do anything wrong, Harley! Ask Beckett.’’

  I turned to the second guitarist who quietly laughed. “He had a few too many drinks while we were binge-watching Game of Thrones. The dumbass was drooling over the actresses he didn’t realize that he finished the twelve pack on his own.’’

  “Hey, you had a few too,’’ Otis retorted, a fake glare for his friend.

  It’s alway fun to see these men interacting. They could be like teenagers sometimes, but it’s heartwarming to see how close they were even though they were quite different and could easily clash.

  “I had two.’’

  Otis grumbled something under his breath and turned the knob of the door leading to the basement and we could easily make out the sound of an acoustic guitar and Dex’s voice singing, but I couldn’t make out the lyrics. I was glad that the guys were here so I had an excuse to follow them down there. Before that, I had been afraid of interfering with Dex’s inspiration. They’re pressed by time enough as it was.

  The two men quickly went down the stairs and I followed, eyes wide and grinning when Dex came into view.

  Dex was sitting on the other side of the control panel with an old classic acoustic guitar on his knee slightly bent higher than the other. His eyes were closed and his dark eyebrows bunched over them as he sang quietly, repeating a word or two while playing again and again the same chords. He shook his head and I
saw him clenching his teeth, the small muscle in his jaw ticking under his two-day stubble darkening his cheeks. He stopped playing and his hands tightened on his guitar, flexing the thick muscles in his forearms and biceps in such way that his tattoos called out to me even more than usual. He was sexy without trying and that made everything inside of me flutter.

  “Hey fucker,’’ Otis said when it became obvious that Dex was completely oblivious to everything around him.

  His head snapped up to us and his frustrated look changed when his dark eyes sought me out and locked on mine. He started smiling and put down his guitar and walked to us through the open studio door. He completely ignored his bandmates and wrapped me in his arms and dropped his head in the crook of my neck where he kissed me. I loved it when he did that. It never failed to give me shivers and goosebumps.

  “Get a room,’’ Otis said, quickly followed by a curse. “Fuck, Beck!’’

  Dex pulled away, but he made sure to keep an arm around my waist and we took in Otis rubbing his bicep and Beckett fighting off a rare smile.

  “What do you want us to record, Dex?’’ Beckett asked, going back to business as his usual. At first, I had thought he was a bit too obsessed by work and the band, but I now knew a little bit more about the man. He was trying to prove something to himself and something told me it had a lot to do with his family considering he would never talk about it. Last week, I asked him about that and he clammed up so tight I thought he’d never talk to me again. Good thing the guys knew how to loosen him up or else he’d still be mute four days later.

  “Hm… I was thinking about working on that first song, you know the one I got a demo for you at the Dragonfly a few weeks ago? The melody is good, but we need to tweak it a bit and I think with you guys it’ll help. Then we should be able to get Maxen’s input in a couple of weeks.’’

  “Alright, let’s do this.’’ Otis cracked his fingers one by one and I had to fight off the urge to cringe at the sound. “How do we do this? Beck you’ll take the drums, but should be recorded without the drums and only the two guitars and my bass or—‘’

  “Drums first. It’ll be easier for me to get the part with my guitar later on that way,’’ Beck said and he ran a hand through his light brown hair, getting a few strands to stick on top of his head in a strange mohawk.

  “You play the drums too?’’ I asked, surprised I didn’t know he could play something else other than the piano and guitar. For someone like me who prided myself in knowing most things about the bands I feature on my blog it felt awkward.

  “Not that well,’’ he replied and walked to Maxen’s drum kit, starting to get the small stool to his height considering Maxen was the tallest of the band. “I’m more of an amateur, but it’s that or nothing right now.’’

  “He’s better than he lets on, but you know what a perfectionist he is,’’ Dex said in my ear as Otis and Beckett were getting ready on the other side of the control panel. His breath warmed me and made me shiver from head to toes.

  I tightened my arm around his hips and pushed my head in his left pec and kissed him there. I heard him sigh and when I glanced up I saw his smirk carving that deliciously irresistible dimple in his cheek. “You should go to work now.’’

  “Will you stay a little?’’

  I glanced back at Otis and Beckett while they were looking down at some papers, probably the lyrics and the melody Dex composed. Then, I looked back at my rocker and nodded with a big smile stretching my mouth so widely that it’s a wonder I didn’t strain a muscle in my cheeks.

  *

  DEX

  “Let’s listen to this one. I think it’s good,’’ I said after the fourteenth take on the song. It took us a little while to get in sync with the new composition of the band. I missed Maxen a lot, but when playing without him, it was that much more difficult. The fucker was irreplaceable.

  “I still think the drums are too slow,’’ Beckett mumbled with a scowl as we joined Harley at the control panel where she was sitting, watching us play.

  I went to her and put a hand on the back of her neck. I had to touch her. Now that she agreed to spend the summer with me, I couldn’t be in the same room as her without touching her.

  “It’s just a demo. Chill,’’ Otis said with a long drawn out sigh as he massaged his temples. “It’s to give Maxen an idea of the song so he can plan what to do with the drums when he gets out of rehab.’’

  “You play really well, Beckett,’’ Harley added and snaked an arm around my waist, pushing her face into my side.

  It was fucking hard to focus on what I was doing. I tensed and twitched in my pants and one look at my girl showed me she was smiling like a vixen at me, aware of her effect on me.

  “Be quiet now,’’ I said after I finally had everything ready to listen to the demo. I took a deep breath and pushed the button.

  I closed my eyes and listened closely to the opening of me playing softly. The melody is haunting, slow at first, but it rose and accelerated when Otis’s bass, Beckett’s guitar and the drums joined. It’s gradual, following the lyrics getting more powerful and deeper. It’s good, really fucking good.

  I nodded and opened my eyes, looking at Harley to see her reaction and her blush and wide eyes were exactly what I hoped to find on her perfect face. This song was about us, Harley and me. It’s about how it started as a simmer, something we both wanted to fight, but it grew so fast and intensely, the sexual attraction being so fucking overwhelming that it couldn’t be denied as it took us over. It was about how fucking wild she made me for her. Her name wasn’t in the lyrics, nor was mine, but I knew. And she did too.

  The song ended on a high note with a drum solo that when Maxen tweaked it should be fucking wild and beat right through everybody’s hearts, echoing in their chests to leave them breathless. It fucking worked.

  “That’s… damn good,’’ Otis said after a whistle. “Maxen is going to lose his shit when he realizes he has a solo to finish the song. Dex, you’re a fucking genius.’’

  “It’s your best work to date, man,’’ Beckett approved and clasped my shoulder. “But Maxen is going to ride my ass when he’ll hear how floppy some parts are on the drums.’’

  “You can remind him he’d be here if he hadn’t been snorting some shit,’’ I mumbled and scratched at my jaw. “Okay guys, thanks for coming. Let’s meet up here tomorrow same time for the next song. It’s going to be more difficult because I still don’t know what to do with the drums in the bridge.’’

  “No problem, man. We’ll make it work,’’ Otis said and stood up to bump my knuckles before he gave Harley a quick hug under my watchful eye that made him give me the finger. “I’ll bring some stuff to eat tomorrow so we finish two songs. It’s time we put in more work.’’

  “I never thought I’d see the day when you’re the one asking to work more,’’ Beckett piped up with an amused twinkle in his blue eyes.

  He patted my arm and I did the same with him before he went to Harley and kissed her cheek as if she was a little sister or something. It was odd seeing him like this with my girl considering how cold and sometimes standoffish he could be.

  “See you tomorrow,’’ I said and watched them climb the stairs back to the ground level of the house. They knew the way and it’s not like we were all for manners and shit when we were together. Even Beckett who was more into the whole etiquette and manners bullshit was laid back when we were all together.

  “This song is amazing,’’ Harley said, finally breaking the comfortable silence that fell between us.

  She stood up and wrapped her arms around me. When her perfect tits pushed against my chest I had to remember that all hugs weren’t about the sex. After spending so many years without sex and now being able to be with a woman, with her, it was hard to keep my hands to myself. I could try and think of other things, but my cock still started to get hard pressed into her soft stomach. She felt too fucking good against me not to react to the littlest touch.

&n
bsp; “You’re a good inspiration, Harley. The best,’’ I whispered against the top of her head and she kissed me over my left pec covered by an old brown t-shirt. It made my heart speed up again.

  “I need to go back to my parents. I’d like to help my mom get dinner ready.’’

  “Already?’’ I tightened my arms around her and didn’t care if I sounded like a petulant child. Fuck, I should have some leeway considering I had the maturity of a teenager when it came to relationships. And I didn’t give a damn if it wasn’t manly of me to want to keep my girl here with me, plastered against me and maybe with fewer clothes on too.

  “Remember that dinner invite thrown by my mother when I told her and my dad I’m staying here this summer and you’re the one to thank for it? You agreed.’’

  I tensed again and pulled away, bringing both hands to cover my face. Fuck. I had agreed to go to dinner with Harley’s parents to meet them properly. I obviously knew her father damn well considering he’s Kinky Shine’s manager, but it’s different. For a start, I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to cut my cock off if I so much as made his daughter cry. I was a lucky bastard that he liked me before I started dating Harley or else he’d have already warned me off and not nicely considering the dark looks he was already giving me since Harley came to LA to shadow the band and help us with our online presence for a few weeks.

  “I’m a dead man.’’

  “Don’t exaggerate. My dad likes you.’’

  “Yeah, before he had a proof that I’m banging his daughter.’’

  I leaned against the control panel and crossed my arms as she watched me with a frown twisting her thin dark eyebrows.

  “You don’t have much of a choice now anyway. You agreed. Don’t be late.’’

  She walked to me and I watched her hips swaying before she reached me. She grabbed the t-shirt neck and tugged so I crouched to her level. She didn’t have to insist. I was all too willing to get my mouth on hers whenever possible.