I frowned. “Did you get drunk at a strip club?”
“I started to get drunk in the studio,” he said. “Then I fought Jay. Broke his guitar. Left when they wanted to talk about Mitchy. I wanted to go find trouble. So, yeah, I hit the strip club…”
I swung my hand and slapped his face. “And then you come here? For what? Didn’t have enough money for one of them to finish you off?”
Dex grabbed my hips and I gasped. “No, Candice. It wasn’t that at all. I stood there and watched. And I… I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to be here with you. I’d rather be here with you. I’m feeling pain right now, sweetie, and I don’t want to bury my face in some expensive tits listening to my own music smashing through speakers.”
I swallowed hard. “Dex…”
“I just want to be here with you. And have you all to myself. That’ll make it go away.”
Dex made a move and kissed me.
He pulled away.
I had a second to breathe. To think.
Because this was wrong… this was going to…
I slapped his face again.
Then I grabbed his shirt and moved to my toes.
“How in the fuck do you do this to me?” I whispered as I kissed him.
Dex didn’t respond.
He didn’t need to respond.
Instead, we tore at each other’s clothes.
I wasn’t even sure how it all happened as fast as it did. I wasn’t sure if I took my shirt off myself or if he did. Our hands grabbed, arms flailed, and then his body was against mine. He stood naked while I wore nothing but panties. His hands cupped my ass as my hands clung to the thick muscles in his back.
Dex dipped his mouth down to mine for another kiss that was just…
It wasn’t the way you kissed someone if you were being fake.
This wasn’t fake.
And even if his kisses tasted like whiskey…
Dex brushed his lips to my ear. “I’m not drunk, sweetie. Believe me. I’m thinking fucking clear and know right where I want to be.”
I pulled at him and fell back to the bed.
Dex had lifted me so I didn’t actually fall.
He placed me down on the bed, his body hovering over mine.
His right hand wasted no time moving down the front of my panties, his fingers taking a dip in what he made me feel. With heavy swirls and each of his fingers grazing my clit, my hips were already shaking, aching for more of him.
After one more perfect kiss, I put my head back and shut my eyes.
Dex kissed slowly down my chest, moving from one side of my chest to the other, paying attention to all of me. The flicker of his tongue to my nipples matched the way the tip of his middle finger moved against my clit. The pleasure matched up and met in the depths of my stomach, leaving me already exploding.
And I didn’t care one bit.
He kissed back up to my neck and his hand eased from between my legs so he could guide my panties off my body. He then lowered his body down to mine, resting himself against me.
I opened my eyes and saw Dex staring at me.
We met halfway for a kiss.
Our tongues wrestled but when Dex thrust forward, I stopped moving.
I lost my breath and my mind all in one movement.
His left hand swept behind my head, holding me steady so we could keep kissing.
His right hand held my hip, driving me down to the bed.
And the way he moved…
I gasped into his mouth as I came after just a few thrusts.
But that was perfectly okay.
Dex knew to keep going.
One wasn’t enough.
He was spoiling me.
He was ruining me.
* * *
At some point I was lost in a dream where it was just Dex and I on a stage. A big stage. With a Filthy Line banner above our heads. Every seat was empty though. It was just us. Naked on that stage. Teasing each other. Until he finally took me…
I swallowed and sighed as my eyes opened.
Between my legs…
I felt movement under the covers and let out another sigh.
My left hand touched Dex’s forearm.
I felt his muscles flexing as he touched me.
Was there any better way to be woken up?
Dex’s lips pressed against the back of my shoulder. “It’s okay, sweetie. I just need to feel you.”
I moved my hand from his arm to his body. I slipped it between our bodies and my fingertips grazed his cock.
Dex pressed his body against mine.
His left hand moved from my clit to my inner thigh.
He opened my legs and guided himself to me again.
I bit at my pillow and reached for my phone.
It was almost four in the morning.
And he woke me up just to fuck me.
We were as silent as we could be as he gently thrust in and out of me.
Just our breaths and grunts.
When I came, I whimpered into the pillow.
And when he came, he thrust, held, and latched his mouth to the back of my neck, grunting with each pulse of his body.
I had no idea how I fell back to sleep after that, but I did.
My mind took me right back to that same dream I was having before.
I never thought my dreams and reality could be so fucking good.
That dream took me until the morning to live through.
This endless concert of just Dex and I on that empty stage. Doing whatever we wanted to each other. Dex playing guitar for me. Dex telling me he loved me.
It was just…
My eyes opened and the first thing I did was lift the blanket to see if Dex’s hand was between my legs.
It wasn’t.
Dex wasn’t even in the bed.
I sat up and felt my heart sink.
If Dex wasn’t here… then… where…
I never moved so fast in my life.
I was still putting my shirt on when I was already halfway up the stairs.
As I slammed against the basement door, it swung open and smashed against the wall where the garage was. I cringed, knowing how much Dr. Keith hated when Carter let doors slam off the walls like that.
When I turned the corner, my heels slid on the perfectly, shiny wood floors.
I saw Cali, Keith, and Carter sitting at the breakfast table.
(Yes, they had different tables for different meals.)
And then…
“Morning, sweetie.”
Dex stood behind the kitchen island, with an array of breakfast foods in front of him.
“Dex made us breakfast,” Keith said.
My jaw dropped.
I must still be dreaming.
* * *
Dex handed me a mug of coffee and kissed my cheek.
“How’d you sleep, sweetie?” he whispered to me.
My cheeks turned red and I looked right at Cali.
She was annoyed. But she was being calm and cordial. Probably only because I had dirt on her. The perfect wife coming home tipsy from too much wine.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Dex said. “Been a while since I woke up in a basement.”
Ohgod…
“Is that so?” Cali asked.
“Yeah,” Dex said. “The old days before the band was signed. Now I’ve got a view that would take your breath away. Right, Candice?”
“Yes,” I blurted out. I cleared my throat. “His house is… it’s round. Very round.”
“Strange looking but cool,” Dex said.
“So, uh, Dex, you guys jam out a lot?” Keith asked.
He made the motion for an air guitar and I looked at Cali again.
She looked at her husband with disgust.
Poor Carter covered his face.
“We jam all the time,” Dex said. “Have to play to write, you know?”
“How does that work?” Keith asked. “I’ve always been amazed by it. I played some tunes back in my day.”<
br />
“You did?” I asked.
“You did?” Cali asked.
“Summer camp,” Keith said. “I played the violin.”
“Dad, stop talking,” Carter said.
“What?” Keith asked.
“He’s from Filthy Line,” Carter said.
“I don’t like that word, Carter,” Cali said. “And how do you know…”
Carter stood up on his chair. This amazing, ready to be defiant, almost ten year old. “Because I like their music. A lot. I listen to it all the time. And because I hate sports. I hate them all. I know Daddy fixes up athletes when they’re hurt, but I don’t like sports. I want to play guitar. Like Dex does. I like Filthy Line.”
My eyes went wide.
Cali put her fork down. “Carter…”
“Don’t stand on the chair, son,” Keith said.
“Hold up, little man,” Dex said. “Your dad gets to cut people open with a knife.”
Cali gasped. “There goes my appetite.”
“Just hear me out,” Dex said. “That’s pretty badass.”
Cali slapped the table.
“Dex,” I whispered. “The language.”
“What did I say?” he asked with a grin. He walked to the table and looked down at Carter. Carter was in awe. “Your dad is pretty cool, little man. Seriously.”
“See?” Keith asked. “I’m pretty cool. Even the rock star says so.”
“Dad,” Carter said.
“Music is good too,” Dex said, looking at Cali. “Don’t be afraid of it. Maybe the little man doesn’t want to take part in the family gig, and that’s okay. Right?”
“I’m going to see myself out,” Cali said. “I have a busy day today.”
“Need something for that headache of yours?” I asked.
“How did you know she had a headache?” Keith asked.
Cali stared daggers at me.
“I can always tell what my sister is thinking,” I said.
“And I wish I knew what my sister was actually doing,” Cali said before storming out of the kitchen.
Dex shrugged his shoulders and looked at Keith. “Women, right?”
“Women,” Keith said.
“Yeah, women,” Carter said.
“What do you know about women?” I asked him.
“Kelly likes me,” Carter said. “She tells everyone she’s going to marry me.”
“Is she pretty?” Dex asked.
“What? No. Gross.”
“Ah, come on, little man,” Dex said. He crouched down at the table to be eye level with Carter. “Don’t be shy about it. I think your aunt is the prettiest girl I’ve ever met in my life.”
I swallowed hard.
I looked at Keith.
Then I looked away.
“You’re marrying her, that’s why,” Carter said. “I’m not marrying Kelly.”
“Nobody said you had to.”
“Uh, Cali wouldn’t approve of this,” Keith said.
“Got it,” Dex said. “So what’s it like for you, Dr. Keith? You fix those rich athletes up, huh?”
“That’s right,” he said. “It has its moments. Always nice to see them back to health.”
“Until they get hurt again,” Dex said.
“Job security,” Keith said and laughed.
I’d never really heard Keith laugh before.
He was man crushing on Dex.
“You and the little man should come to a show,” Dex said.
“Yes!” Carter yelled. He looked at me. “Aunt Candice, you are the coolest ever. This is so much cooler than eating cookies last night after eight.”
“What’s that now?” Keith asked.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Wait a second,” Carter said. He stood up and pushed his chair back. “You’re marrying my aunt. That means you’re going to be my uncle.”
“I guess so,” Dex said. “I’ll be your rock star uncle.”
“Whoa,” Carter said.
Dex stood up. “Tell you what, little man. You have a phone or something?”
“Yeah…”
“You pick out whatever guitar you want. Send it to your aunt. I’ll have it here by tomorrow for you.”
“Oh, Dex…,” Keith said. “That’s, uh…”
“Dr. Keith,” Dex said. “Really?”
Keith sighed. “Yeah, sure, fine. Okay.”
Carter jumped at Keith and hugged him.
I looked at the food. “You didn’t cook this, Dex.”
“Nope,” he said. “I ordered it. Had it delivered. That a problem?”
I looked at him and moved to my toes to kiss his cheek.
I was just thankful there were no topless strippers serving the food in my sister’s kitchen.
* * *
Cali flipped the page in a magazine so hard it ripped.
“You can hate him,” I said.
“And you can love him.”
“I’m sorry he’s here,” I said. “It was unexpected. After you fell asleep last night, he-”
“The drunk sister, right?” Cali asked.
I sat down on the metal chair next to her outside in the morning sun.
“I don’t know what this is, Cali,” I said. “Maybe I never thanked you for what you did when we were kids. If so, I’m sorry. You were more of a mother to me than she was. And you’re right. I need to just give up and change my number. That’s my problem though. Just like with the flower shop. Trent. This thing with Dex…”
“Just tell me it’s not real,” Cali said. “It’s all for show, right?”
I looked at my hand.
I had a chance for honesty with my sister.
A real chance.
And I went with the truth…
“It’s real to me,” I said. “Maybe not the kind of real you think or want for me, but it is real. He’s…”
“I don’t get it,” Cali said. “Does he know everything about you?”
“What does that matter?”
“Exactly. And there’s no way you know everything about him. Yet you two are going to get married?”
“Not today,” I said with a smile.
“I’m not laughing.”
“Then maybe it’s time for me to move out. I’ve stayed long enough. I’m just in the way.”
“If that’s what you want,” Cali said. “I’d love to hear your plan though. Just move in with the rock star? Then what? How long until you find him sleeping with another woman? Or you find him half dead on the floor of an overdose?”
“You read too much of that gossip trash, Cali,” I said.
She looked at me. “I’ve read everything about that band. And they are terrible. Even if half the stories are fake, the other half are just… disgusting.”
“I’m sorry I let you down, Cali,” I said. “You always wanted me to marry Trent, right? The handsome business guy that was going to save your sister. I think I forced myself to fall in love with him to please you. And look how that turned out.”
“You walked away,” Cali said. “You had a chance and you walked away. Don’t blame me for that.”
I curled my lip. “I hope Carter plays guitar. And I hope he grows his hair long. I hope he gets earrings. I hope he writes a song that makes him famous. And you know what? I hope Keith starts listening to Filthy Line.”
Cali turned her head.
That was the end of the conversation.
I was going to lose my sister over this stuff.
Over a fake engagement.
And I was okay with it.
Fuck, Dex, you better be worth all of this.
19
Dex
We all sat around in the rehearsal space with our acoustic guitars and whiskey.
It was the middle of the day and we were in the middle of a song.
The concept for hitting the world with two releases was a good idea. And SLECK wanted it.
Of course they wanted it.
They knew what it would make them.
&nbs
p; And us.
Nash stood up and motioned for Reed and Sab to follow him.
They purposely left Jay and I alone, each on a leather couch, each holding a guitar.
“You break this one and I’ll break your hands,” Jay said.
“Then don’t talk about shit we don’t need to talk about,” I said.
We were in silence again.
I started to strum the new song. Working through a few parts, knowing parts were missing from it. Shit, it could have worked as a basic three chord kind of song, but I wanted a bigger sound. A much bigger sound. I pictured the songs like this… the five of us on stage in front of twenty thousand fans. And we’re each holding an acoustic guitar. The sound we needed…
Jay whistled to me. “Keep going with that.”
I played the same chords again.
Jay started to mess with a riff, moving up a few octaves for sound.
He kept going with that, playing notes that matched Nash’s vocals.
We both stopped at the same time…
We both nodded.
I reached for my whiskey glass.
He reached for his.
We lifted them at the same time and nodded again.
We drank to one another. We drank to fucking Mitchy. We drank to Candice.
And that was that.
I looked over my shoulder and nodded to Nash.
He, Reed, and Sab came back over and we worked on the new song again.
Five acoustic guitars. Five parts. All together making a huge sound.
Nash sang and we threw in our own vocals in the background.
Trying to piece it all together.
You came around,
To take all this pain,
You left yourself behind,
You played the perfect game.
I couldn’t look away,
You made me feel blind.
I still don’t know where I am,
And it’s wasting all my time.
They weren’t the best lyrics in the world but they were catchy. The kind of song you’d sing in your car. The kind of song that would come back to us at a concert.
We’d turn the houselights on, kill the fancy lighting, and just be with the crowd for a little bit.
It took us another hour to consider the song finished in the sense of jamming out.
We all looked at each other and knew it was time for the studio.
A FILTHY Engagement: a filthy line novel Page 17
