“I’ll take you to her … right after you tell me why you have clothes in the dishwasher.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
MADELYN
I’m woken abruptly for the second time tonight when I feel the mattress dip and an arm wrap around me while a hard chest lies flush behind me.
“Please don’t run from me again,” a deep, gravelly voice pleads. I freeze for a moment in surprise at how Reece has found me, but just as quickly relax against him. I thought I’d cried all the tears I had, but more sting my eyes.
“I just … I saw part of my hurtful past right before me, and it was standing right next to my very happy present … I didn’t know how to react to that.” I take a deep breath when my voice starts to shake. “So, I’m sure you know everything, and you are here to say goodbye. Very noble of you to do it to my face.”
His arm tightens around me. “I am not going anywhere. Well, tomorrow I am, but not now.” The sob I was fighting so hard to keep down, escaped at the thought of having one more night with him. He is just like the other two guys who I dated following James. “I have to get some things sorted out with Sean in the city, and then I’m coming right back here. I am not leaving you. I have heard dribs and drabs, I want to hear it all from you. I want the real version.” I take a deep breath before I roll over to face him. I’m not even settled before he kisses me deeply. “That was not a final kiss. That was a kiss of reassurance that I have fallen hard, hard for a girl named Madelyn living in a tiny part of the world who has shown me in the last few weeks that I’m capable of much more than what I have been able to do in the last twenty-odd years.”
Letting out another long breath and I speak into his chest. I don’t look him in the eye when I tell him that I thought I loved James. The term of endearment makes me feel physically ill when I think of him with anything other than hate. I cry when I tell him what it was like to have my brother breaking the news to me about what he saw on the Internet. I choke on my own bitterness when I recount what it was like to be shamed by complete strangers and have them dissect my life. Reece listens quietly while I tell him about my choice to alter my name, his arms tighten around me when I disclose why I distanced myself from my father after he made me feel like I’d shamed him. I was eighteen when I had sex, so I don’t know how it was embarrassing, two consenting adults.
Reece leans forward and places a gentle kiss on my lips. “You did nothing wrong. In any part of this shit story. I’m sorry you have gone through it.” His kiss reassures me, and it feels like the weight pressing down on my throat while I recount my story, is starting to lift.
“I spent a good six months trying to rebuild my confidence, trying to make a life for myself that can’t be connected to that one that’s taken so much from me. Any friends I did have, were quickly gone. Thank God for Trent.” I lift my eyes. “I think you’d really like Trent.”
Reece shifts forward on the bed and loops his arm under my head and pulls me closer to his chest. “Let’s not talk about your brother right now. I want to hear more about you.”
“There’s not much more to tell. I live here now. I’m working under a veil to protect myself. You and I both knew this wasn’t a long time thing.”
A rush of cold air comes between us as Reece moves back. “Why not? Now that I’ve been out of the public eye, I love life. Before, I can see now that I was existing. Going from next thing to next thing. I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I know there’s something more than just a casual thing here.”
“But how are our two worlds meant to exist. You love the limelight, and I hate it.”
Reece snorts and brushes my hair off my face. “I thought I did. It was good for the ego. That ego pretty much remains in my manager’s office. Or should I say ex-manager's office.”
“David.” He brings out the same kind of disgust when I mention James’ name.
“Yes. Speaking of him. He only told me your full name. He told me to check you out more and to just be wary of you.” My stomach turns in knots, and Reece runs his finger over my jaw. “But I’m here aren’t I? I didn’t look you up. I didn’t see anything.”
“Then what do you know about me?” Another time where the reputation is preceding me.
“Your brother’s filled in a few blanks for me and I was waiting for you to fill in the rest. Thank you for being honest with me. I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you.”
“Where are you going with this Reece? Where do you see us going? I don’t want my past to be attached to you.”
I’m not sure why he starts to laugh at me as he props himself up on his elbow. “Oh, Madelyn. Do you think I give a shit about my past? If I stopped living because of what people said about me, I’d never leave the house ever again. I’ve had people boo me on stage. Granted, it was once but it still fucking stung.” He rubs his hand across mine before taking it in a tight hold. “I know it’s not the same as what you went through, I’m just trying to say, you can’t let the opinions of people that don’t matter control your thinking.”
Reece doesn’t know how close to the mark his statements are. I pretty much became a recluse and shut the world out. “That was me, Reece. I wasn’t weak. I was horrified. Strangers weighing in on my life like their opinions mattered didn’t bother me so much. It was the so-called friends and family.” My voice starts to shake again as the tears start to well. “Yours was great media attention compared to mine. I don’t want to be forever known as that girl with the sex tape.”
“I understand you are scared. I would much rather you be known as my girlfriend, but I’m not going to push it. You are private and I respect that.”
Girlfriend? Whoa, back up. “I don’t think I heard you properly.”
“Oh, you heard me. I said it. I want you to be my girlfriend. I just thought that’s what you were when you start seeing someone monogamously over a number of times, they become your significant other. Feels like I’ve been here longer than two weeks.” He pauses for a moment before saying, “I guess that’s fast. You are pretty much who I think about when I wake up in the morning. I think about the food I want to make and share with you. I’ve written songs because you have inspired me.”
“That’s all you though Reece, you’re the one writing them, not me.”
“See, this is why … people in my industry would suck up all over me. They’d be saying how fantastic I am and how they helped me do it. You. You just … you don’t want anything from me.”
I join him on a hitched elbow. “That’s the thing. I want to be known for me and what I do, not for who I’m dating or sleeping with. If I know anything about the world of celebrity Reece, that can make or break you.”
“So are you saying you don’t want to be my girlfriend?” I’m certain he can hear my heart hammering against my chest. I’ve been thinking that for last couple of days when I knew I was warming up to the idea of starting this with Reece, that there might be the slightest chance that he would want something more. Out of all the places in the world he was able to go to, he came to mine. I can’t help but think fate has something to do with that. “Madelyn? If you’re not sure, we can take our time.”
I didn’t need time for my answer. “Yes.”
“Yes to taking time or being my girlfriend?”
A small laugh escapes. “To both. We can take our time, I would like to be your girlfriend. You are right. It should be our decision, not the thoughts of others that decide for us.”
He silences my words by rolling on top of me and his lips crash onto mine. Reece presses his hardness against me and the sensation spreading through me causes me to gasp. He takes advantage of my open mouth, and his tongue slides in to rub against mine.
Reece pulls away and sits up to remove his shirt while I get rid of mine. He lowers down and within seconds, our bodies are pressed against each other.
“I need to be inside you, Madelyn,” he groans. His voice alone has me instantly wet.
My hand reaches over to fe
el for the top drawer of the bedside table. “I have some … protection. In there,” I strain underneath his weight. I stretch again, and he lowers his head to take my nipple in his mouth. My back instinctively arches to encourage him.
“Reece. Need you inside me and to do that again please.”
He stops sucking, but not before licking a couple of times which is enough room to let me reach over, rip the drawer open and pull out the box. The coolness on my skin makes it prickle as Reece shimmies out of his jeans and briefs and his hard cock bounces on my leg. I stop and look at it. It’s pointing right at me, and my mouth starts to water. Why didn’t I have this box open? I chastise myself. The safety seal runs all the way along the edges, and I can’t open it. Reece’s fingers run lightly around the edge of my shorts before his fingers deftly curl inside the waist. He leans forward and plants a kiss between my breasts. He slowly and achingly lowers my shorts as I continue to struggle with the box. Even the sides are made of a plastic type box and it causes my fingers to slip.
“Fuck it,” I say as my fingers slip again.
“That’s what I’m planning to do,” he says as he yanks my pants completely down my legs and clears my feet.
A laugh bubbles out of me. “I can’t get it out.”
“It’s already out. See?” And Reece sits up on his knees and thrusts his hips forward, putting his hands on his hips while his cock stands to attention. The stance has me breaking out in fits of laughter.
“Oh I see alright, I desperately want it, I can’t get the box open,” I laugh while he turns his head to the side and pulls the sheet up to be a makeshift cape. I push myself to slide further down between his legs and grab hold of his cock with both hands. The groan he lets out makes me laugh harder as I lift my head and close my lips around the head. Reece drops forward onto his hands as I work underneath him.
I feel the shudder vibrating through him as I take him further into my mouth.
“Where’s the damned box? Good God. If this is how good your mouth is …”
I feel him sit back on his knees, causing his cock to hit the top of my mouth and pull out with a pop. I’m too busy licking, sucking, tasting and enjoying to answer him. Running my tongue along the thick vein on the underside to the tip and take him as far as I can at this angle when I hear the box tear open. Condoms rain down on my head and bounce off my face causing us both to burst out laughing.
Reece leans forward again but this time, he shifts his hips towards the end of the bed and lines up with my body and my legs wrap around him. He brushes the condoms to the side as he kisses me deeply. Saying a silent prayer that I’m glad I’m on the bed so I can’t fall any further because this kiss is making my whole body feel like jelly. His rough whiskers prickle my face, and my hands go deep into his hair.
Hearing the sound of foil crinkling doesn’t break our kiss until we both have to come up for air.
“Let me get this on,” he says as he pulls back forcing my legs to unlatch from around his waist. I miss his touch so I lean forward and snuggle my face into the crook of his neck. A gentle moan puffs in my ear as his fingers quickly work their way to my sex. “You’re so wet.” He rubs against me, and we can both hear his fingers moving through my slickness. “I want to taste you so badly, but I need to be inside you more.”
Reece realigns, and I’m waiting desperately for him. I want this. I want Reece. I want us to work. The fears that were starting to seep into my thoughts were quickly wiped away as he held his cock at my entrance.
My hips tilt and encourage him to push forward. “Reece. Now. I need you now.”
“I need you too,” is all he said as he slid to the hilt inside me. We groan in unison, and my fingers dig into his shoulder. “Just stay there. Right there. Just for a few seconds.” It wasn’t to get used to his size. It was purely for my pleasure. Any fantasy I’ve been able to conjure up between Reece and me, don’t even come close to this.
“Madelyn? I have to move. I need to move.”
Rolling my hips against him, he starts moving. Long and slow. Each thrust hit the sweet spot, and I kissed him deeply to encourage him to keep going. “Just like that Reece. So good.”
Time knows no bounds when you’re in a moment like this. We move together until we are both covered in a light sheen of sweat. The sound of skin hitting skin fills the room. My legs tighten around his waist as he pulls me up to hold me against him. Reece’s hand takes hold of my arse while the other holds me around my waist. I break our kiss and lay a smattering of kisses along his neck and across his shoulder.
“Madelyn. I’m going to come, I can’t hold off anymore.”
“Come in me, Reece.”
My grip tightens in response to his. I can feel his cock jerk inside me. I reach up and take hold of the back of Reece’s head when it lolls to the side, and he lets out a loud sigh. Reece slowly lowers me down and eases out of me. I gasp when I’m filled with his fingers. “Reece,” I say as my body responds to his movements. His fingers move in and out, but it’s his fingers that have me tingling all over. “Touch yourself,” Reece asks before sucking my nipple into his mouth. My fingers circle my clit, and that seems to be my undoing. Waves roll over his fingers, and I gasp to catch my breath.
“That’s it. Come for me, Madelyn.”
Just when I thought I’d finished, Reece pulled his fingers out and puts his tongue over my entrance. My legs shake, and I arch my back which forces myself onto him more. The sensation has me overtaken by another wave of orgasm. I stop playing with my clit and have to push his face away.
“Stop. Stop. I can’t take anymore.” My head flops back onto the mattress, and I try to calm my breathing while my heart comes back to its normal pace. Reece’s strong hands squeeze and press against my body as he moves to lie next to me.
“That was heavenly. Madelyn. Madelyn? Are you alive there?”
“Barely,” I laugh. “Just need to have a minute. If I pass out, just roll me on my side.”
His touch feels familiar and inviting as he runs his hand gently over my chest before stopping his hand directly over my breast. Within minutes of his hand resting there, I let sleep take me over.
Chapter Thirty-Five
REECE
Holy mother of God. I get what people mean now when they say when you find the one, they will capture you in a way no one else ever has. Madelyn has me. Hell, she had me before we had sex but that, that was where I signed the dotted line.
Within minutes, I notice her breathing evens out, and she’s fallen asleep. I move my hand off her chest and take care of the condom. I grab a tissue from the bedside table and try to tidy as many of the condoms that fell out of the box as I can. I take her in. To think in a few short weeks, how much my life has changed. How much I’ve changed. Things I once balked at are now the things I enjoy the most. A sense of dread mixed with determination about tomorrow starts to take over. I know that tax department is going to be the easy part of our plan. Dealing with David now that I know more about his underhandedness is what is going to be hard. I’m the first to admit I don't know much about the business side of the industry. I’m the product, I don’t need to know how to market myself. All I know is that I’m going to learn and learn fast about this industry.
I don’t know for sure what the outcome of tomorrow is going to be, I do know it’s a pivotal day in my career, if not my life. The one thing I’m sure of, I haven’t even left, and I can’t wait to get back to her. I slip my arm out from under her and just stare at her. I smile as her breathing gets heavier and heavier. Her mouth is partly open, and she looks totally relaxed. I can’t help but beam at the thought that I helped with that.
Slowly rolling off the bed, I gather my top and jeans. I quietly pull them on, but the noise makes Madelyn roll over. I don’t want to leave her, I have an important matter that needs my attention. I spend a few minutes watching her before she really starts to crank out the Z’s and I can’t help but snicker as I readjust her coverings.
T
rent had kindly helped me with his washing machine. And by help, he pointed out the machine in the laundry room and left me to it. This one seems much more Reece friendly. I don’t load in too much and within half an hour, I’ve successfully laundered my own load. Tossing the clothes into the dryer, I sense someone is standing behind me. I was hoping it was Madelyn, it was an uneasy sense.
“Hey,” Trent calls out as I clear the doorway. I put down the basket and stick my head back out to see him walking to me. “So is everything you said about my sister real or a ruse? You spoke about her as a man in love, not a man who’s looking for something easy and no strings attached.”
I was afraid to admit it myself. My feelings had certainly developed in leaps and bounds for her. I’d been trying to deny it, but now that he’s calling me out on it, I want to be honest. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”
“Sounds like you do, you’re just choosing not to say those specific words.” I’m not up for this guy killing my buzz, so I move the basket along the floor with my foot towards the dryer. I’m still mulling over my thoughts as I close the door to the dryer before moving back to the washing machine to put another load in. “She’s certainly worked her way into my heart.”
Trent crosses his arms across his chest. “She’s heard all the sweet talk before. My advice, show her. Show her how much she means to you.”
The clothes make a thud sound as they hit the bottom of the washing machine. “Why are you helping me?”
Trent takes a step back and casts his dubious gaze over me. “I’m not. I’m helping Madelyn.”
I watch him leave the room before I scoop up more of my washing when it hits me. No matter what I do, people are going to see me as a spoiled rockstar. The next point just about knocks me on my arse. I realise that not only do I have to show Madelyn I’m not a douchetard, I also have to show Trent.
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