Skipped a Beat

by Salsbury, JB

  Rachel’s got the kind of body that can rock a bikini in a magazine, but Jade has the kind of curves a man can sink his teeth into.

  I’m jarred to a stop when my feet hit the ground, and I wait impatiently for Jade to finish her descent. The crowd cheers wildly as the last of the two opening band finishes its set. Jade turns and faces me. The house lights go down, and I can see nothing but her silhouette.

  I reach for her, and she comes willingly into my arms.

  I nuzzle past her thick hair to her ear. “I’m so fucking sorry I hurt you.”

  Her body is still rigid in my hold, and she’s not hugging me back. The dim lights of backstage come up as roadies work to flip the stage for our set. I run my hands up Jade’s back and in to her hair, using my grip to pull her face back and meet my eyes. “Did you change your mind?”

  Eventually, she says, “No.”

  I rest my forehead on hers. “Thank God.” With a gentle pressure I rub circles against her scalp, urging her to relax, coaxing her pliancy. “Can I kiss you now?”

  Her eyes are slits of fire as they slide up to mine. “I can still see her on your mouth.”

  At my confusion, she brings her hand to my face and swipes her thumb just below my lip, pulling away the last bit of lip gloss Rachel left behind.

  “I bet you still taste her on your tongue.”

  I can’t deny it. The synthetic flavor still lingers in the back of my throat.

  Jade steps back, and I let her go.

  “Push me away all you want. I don’t care how long it takes,” I say. “I’ll wait you out.”

  She shrugs her bare shoulder. “We’ll see.”

  I smirk, “Yeah, baby. We will.”

  Jade

  Tonight’s show was without a doubt their best show so far.

  The band had their usual cohesive energy. They played as if they were different appendages of the same body, but there was an added levity that brought the show to a whole new level.

  Jesse made jokes that had Chris laughing so hard I thought he’d roll off stage. Ethan danced around and made a hilarious fool out of himself. But the best part of the show came after they took a ten-minute break.

  They all sauntered off stage, laughing. I handed them each water and sent the roadie away so I could be the one to toss Ryder a towel. He caught it on the fly and beamed at me like he’d won some kind of prize. I tried to act unaffected, but who was I kidding?

  Ryder Kyle was one sexy son of a bitch fully clothed. Ryder sweaty, shirtless, and flushed from beating on the drums was some next-level shit.

  He winked at me before he stepped back out and onto the drum platform. Then, without any warning I could see, he burst into the most kick-ass drum solo in the history of drum solos. And those aren’t my words, those were Jesse’s words to the frenzied fans when Ryder finally finished.

  Even Bethany seemed affected as she stared at Ryder right along with me, both our mouths gaping.

  The show ended with a call for an encore, to which Jesse and the guys obliged, and rather than follow them back to the dressing room, I went straight to the bus to get myself ready for bed. I figured the guys would be doing some celebrating with Ryder’s family and friends tonight, and after the emotional day I’ve had, I don’t have the stamina for more smiles and surface conversations.

  I’m in my sleeping shorts, tee, and tucked warmly in my bunk by the time I hear Chris and Ethan stumble in. They’re whisper-yelling, clearly drunk. I strain to listen, but I don’t hear Ryder’s voice among them.

  I grab the little foam earplugs I use during shows and stuff them in my ears, as if it’s the noise keeping me up and not the flashbacks of what happened with Steven only six weeks ago.

  The events of that day were eerily similar to the events of today.

  My feet frozen on the cobblestone path leading up to Steven’s door.

  His hands clenched on the bubbly, silicone ass of a woman much older than me.

  His head tilted, his tongue slipping into her mouth, and her body going lax in his arms.

  When her hands slid up to fist in his hair, that’s when I saw the ring. The sun hit the massive rock on her finger, and the glare nearly blinded me. As if God himself reached down to flash me the SOS: Save yourself, Jade. Run like hell.

  But I couldn’t run. My legs were incapable of movement. It would take the hounds of hell themselves to drag me away.

  It was devil in the flesh who finally got me to move.

  When Steven’s eyes landed on me, there was hardly a flicker of recognition. And what he said next, well… he sealed my self-made coffin.

  “Janet, call the police.”

  Janet. His wife. The one he’d divorced a year ago was very much not his ex-wife. And Steven, whom I loved, made future plans with, expected to marry and grow babies with, he threw me to the wolves.

  “You need to vacate the property.”

  Just twelve hours prior, he’d been balls deep in my body professing his undying love, and now he was treating me as if I were about to rob him.

  I suppose, in a way, I was. I’d wanted to steal him from his wife and keep him for my own.

  I wouldn’t learn until later he’d always known that day would come.

  And he had his plan B, aimed and ready to fire.

  I swipe at a stray tear that falls to my pillow as I stare at the blurry darkness in my bunk. Ryder is not Steven. I repeat the mantra to myself and close my eyes in an attempt to sleep with a hole in my chest that has never felt emptier.

  Eventually I must fall asleep because I wake suddenly, not sure why. The vibration of the bus engine lets me know we’re on the road. I pull the plugs from my ears and am met with silence.

  Everyone is asleep.

  I roll to my back and stare at the ceiling just above my face. The ache behind my ribs flares to life again, and I wish I’d stayed asleep where the heartache never seems to be able to reach me.

  Tears spring fresh to my eyes, and I wonder when I became so weak. How could I possibly want a man who reminds me so much of Steven? What does it say about me?

  I throw my forearm over my eyes, and Ryder’s face comes to mind. There was a moment tonight that was so tiny, so seemingly insignificant, I’d forgotten it until just now.

  It was during their song “Smoke and Mirrors.” The song has a powerful drum solo. Ryder was in his element, his body glistening with sweat, his muscular arms driving the beat while his feet followed in effortless precision. He must’ve felt me staring, because he looked at me.

  Brief.

  Fleeting.

  And yet more powerful than any eye contact we’d had before.

  In that one quick look, he communicated so much more than a want or a longing. Even now, trying to put my finger on exactly what it was I saw reflected in his eyes seems impossible. I know what I saw. I don’t know what it meant.

  I kick off my covers feeling restless and hot, my skin hyper alert with the need to confirm exactly how Ryder feels. I want to crawl inside his mind to see if he plans to seduce me with lies and empty promises like Steven did. I want to feel the truth. And when I do, I want to believe him.

  This can’t wait until morning.

  I slide open my curtain and hang my head out and notice Ryder’s curtain is cracked. Is it supposed to be an invitation?

  I shove out and off my bunk, and moving fast before I change my mind, I crawl up and into Ryder’s bunk, then slide and snap the curtain closed behind me.

  Ryder

  I wake to the feeling of hands rolling me to my back, and a blazing heat comes down on my dick.

  “Mmm… fuck,” I moan as whatever straddles me wiggles in tighter.

  Straddle?

  My eyes shoot open and—holy shit.

  Jade.

  My hands find her hips as she hovers over me, the tips of her breasts behind soft cotton rubbing against my bare chest. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m done waiting,” she says restlessly above me.

  I�
��m fucking exhausted, didn’t make it back to the bus until close to three o’clock this morning, but I still manage a smile. “That didn’t take long.”

  “Did you wash her out of your mouth?” she whispers. “Is she gone?”

  I sift my fingers through her hair and bring her lips close to mine, so close they brush together when I say, “Yeah. She’s gone.”

  “You can kiss me now.”

  “Finally.” I thought when at last I was able to kiss Jade like I want to, I’d be in a sex-frenzied rush, and I probably would be if it weren’t for the fact that I was dead to the world less than three minutes ago.

  I press my lips gently to hers and suppress a shiver. The heated touch of her skin against mine is even better than I imagined. I tilt my head and press against her mouth again, this time taking a tentative swipe of my tongue on her lower lip. Her weight sinks on top of me, my stiffening dick cradled beautifully between her legs. She parts her lips and her tongue touches mine, eliciting a rumbled groan from my chest.

  “Shh…” she whispers.

  The kiss turns less innocent as I greedily suck her bottom lip into my mouth and gently bite. She hisses but doesn’t pull away.

  She tastes incredible, like mint toothpaste and fresh rain. Our mouths fuse together in a battle for who can kiss the fuck out of the other the fastest. When she arches her back and rocks against me, I break on a gasp and she grins in victory.

  Two can play at this game. I pull her lips back down to mine and slip a hand up her T-shirt to rest it on her ribs just under the swell of her breast. She rocks against my hard-on, and I repay her with a swipe of my thumb against her nipple. She quakes in my hold. I run my palms roughly against her tit, and she sucks in a shaky breath. Her boobs are sensitive as fuck. I lick back into her mouth, nipping at her lips and sucking at the plump flesh. I press the pad of my thumb to her nipple and roll it. She shudders above me.

  “You’re so beautiful, baby.”

  She rides my dick, finding the right angle over my thin gym pants and moving her hips in waves.

  “I want you.” I use my free hand to grip her hips and add pressure to our connection. “But I’m not gonna fuck you on a bus.”

  “Then let me fuck myself on you.”

  My lips part, and I’m equally as turned on as I am surprised by her dirty talk. “Be my guest.”

  She buries her face in my neck, all that gorgeous hair in my face, and she licks up my jaw to my ear where she whispers, “You feel so good.”

  I can’t keep my mouth off hers. Intoxicated by her kiss, I swallow all her gasps and groans, starving for more. The weight of her breasts is heavy as they fill my hands, and I squeeze and tease her until her thighs quake against me.

  “I’m close.”

  Yeah she is. She’s drenched me through her shorts and mine. Her pace quickens, and I’d swear she’s about to start a fire with all the friction going on between us.

  “Let me help you.” I slip my hand down her panties and—“Fuck. You’re so wet.” My hard-on kicks behind my pants, the tip seeps, begging for access to her silken heat. My finger slides easily inside. Her breath hitches and she stills, letting me take over, allowing me to finish her off. “Tell me what you want.”

  “I wanna come.” Her hot breath at my ear sends goose bumps across my skin, and the desperation in her voice makes me wonder how long it’s been. When was the last time she got some relief, and more importantly, how long has she been wishing it’d be me who gives it to her? All conversations for a different day.

  I push a second finger inside. She rocks against my fingers. “Don’t move.” I clasp her hip, stilling her with my free hand.

  She stops moving at my demand, but the rush of wetness around my fingers says she likes me taking charge.

  “You want to make yourself come sometime later, I’d be happy to supervise. But this first orgasm belongs to me.”

  She props herself up on all fours above me, and I wish we weren’t crammed in this little bunk so I could see her up on her knees, towering over me while I bring her to orgasm with my fingers.

  “Ryder,” she moans.

  “Shh… don’t give those assholes anything to jack off to.”

  “Please.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t make you beg.” I add a third finger, press my thumb where I know she needs it most, and roll her nipple.

  She gasps, and I take advantage, plunging my tongue into her mouth as her orgasm slams into her. Her body shakes, her hips grind down, and I pull my hand free mid-wave. Desperate to ride out her orgasm, she dry-fucks me hard. I wrench up her top and suck her nipple to the back of my throat. Her second orgasm slams into her, and there’s no way she didn’t wake up the bus with this one, but fuck if I care at this point.

  My dick is sopping wet, rock hard, and straining. I shift her position, pulling her up so she’s rubbing the tip where it’s most sensitive. “Yeah, like that. You’re gonna make me come.”

  Her pace quickens. I moan, suck, and bite at her breast when the wave crashes into me, and I explode.

  I rip my mouth away to catch my breath as my dick kicks over and over behind my pants in what feels like a never-ending orgasm. My vision blurs, and I hold Jade tightly to my chest as I float back to consciousness.

  “Holy shit,” I say through a breath. “I can feel my heartbeat in my feet.”

  She hums and rolls off me. I’m on my back, and with her on her side, we barely fit in the bunk—not that I give a shit. The compact space gives me an excuse to hold her closer.

  “Fuck yeah!” Ethan yells from his bunk. “That was hot.”

  Jade buries her face in my shoulder, groaning.

  “You slimy son of a bitch!” I yell and grin into the dark, still high on having Jade and… other things.

  “Slimy is right.” There’s the sound of his feet hitting the floor and then footsteps toward the bathroom. “I need to wash up.”

  “That is so embarrassing,” Jade says into my arm.

  “Sorry about that.” I run my hand up the back of her tee and skate my fingers along her bare skin. “I had a feeling we’d wake him.”

  “It’s my fault. I wanted to make you wait, but I couldn’t.”

  “Happy to hear that.” I grin into the small space of the bunk that now smells like sex and Jade. “How, uh, how long has it been for you?”

  “A little over a month.”

  I wasn’t expecting that. “Who was he?”

  She stiffens in my arms. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

  I run a hand up her back, under her shirt, reveling in her silken skin. “I’ll give you time for now, but I intend to know every fucking thing about you. No secrets.”

  She clears her throat.

  Sensing I’m broaching on an uncomfortable subject, I mark it as a topic to bring up later.

  “I need a clean pair of pants.”

  “I should get back to my bunk—”

  “No.” I hold her close. “Now that I finally get to put my hands on you, I’m not letting you go.”

  16

  Jade

  I wake up suddenly, and it takes me minute to remember where I am. The heavy heartbeat in my ear and warm body glued to my side is all the reminder I need, and visions of last night’s make out session flicker through my mind.

  Ryder and I never did get to properly clean up last night, a travesty more so for him than me. We were both so zonked that we fell asleep while he was telling me our next stop was Seattle. I had asked him how long we’d be confined to the bus with no privacy and little space to properly explore each other.

  I was out cold before I heard his answer.

  With a numb arm and a kink in my neck, I shift and crawl, then slide from the bunk, hoping not to wake him. I take a selfish moment to study him, his model-like features passed down to him from his mom and the expertly placed muscle clearly a gift from his dad. My eyes zero in on his tattoo.

  Rosie.

  I wonder if she is his first love. I
imagine she’s blonde and strikingly beautiful. After meeting his family, it was clear the Kyle men have a type. I slide the curtain closed as insecurities begin to pick away at me.

  Doubting Ryder’s feelings for me is idiotic. I remember the look on his face when he crawled up the scaffolding to get to me. The relief was so evident he practically sagged with it. I know he likes me.

  But does he like Rosie more?

  Am I destined to always be the side piece? The placeholder?

  I shower, dress, brush my teeth, and stare at my reflection in the mirror, wondering what he sees when he looks at me. Black, white, French, Dominican, which does he see most? And why does it matter?

  Because until proven otherwise, you’ll always be too much of each to fit in anywhere.

  “Tell them there’s a black female on our doorstep.”

  I close my eyes as Steven’s voice pounds through my skull.

  “She could be dangerous.”

  How quickly I went from being his Jade, his sexy, beautiful Jade, to a black female in his rich white neighborhood.

  “Jade?”

  I startle at the knock on the door and the sound of Ryder’s worried voice.

  “I’ll be out in a sec.”

  “Take your time, just… making sure you’re okay.” He doesn’t say what he really means, but I can hear it in his voice. He’s worried I regret what we did last night, nervous about how I’ll respond to him in the light of day after what we’ve done, maybe even concerned I’m upset about Ethan’s eavesdropping.

  I straighten my sweater and make sure I didn’t forget to zip my jeans, then gather my pajamas from last night and exit into—

  “Ryder.”

  Both hands are braced on the doorframe above his head. He looks devilishly handsome with disheveled hair as he smiles down at me. “Jaaade.” The way he draws out my name has heat flaring beneath my skin. “How are you?”

  “Good, a little sore…”

  His grin morphs into one of absolute masculine pride.

  “My shoulder, from being crammed into your bunk.” I duck under his arm. “Pervert—hey!”