Beats of Life (Perception Book 5) (11 page)

I dove off my bed, ready to cause physical harm to my dad. Kylie jumped in front of me before I had the chance to get to my bedroom door.

“I begged him to do it,” she informed, her eyes flicking between mine.

“I don’t fucking care, he knows what I think about this,” I replied, my angry voice echoing around my small room. I had only left Kylie with dad for an hour that afternoon when I went and helped my mom to get some groceries from the store and that was what he fucking did.

I side stepped Kylie and just as I was about to open my bedroom door her voice, that was barely a whisper, stated, “I’ll go and get Tommy to cover it up.”

I instantly halted my hasty exit. Tommy was my dad’s rival in the tattooing industry. He is also one of the most sleaziest guys you could ever meet. The amount of woman he had slept with would even put Nick to shame. There was no way in hell I would ever let a guy like Tommy anywhere near Kylie’s skin, let alone skin that is hidden inside her panties and she knew that. I slowly turned around to face her and noticed a small gathering of tears in her eyes. That was the first time I had ever seen Kylie upset and I didn’t fucking like it.

“When it heals you’re getting it covered,” I instructed firmly, closing my door and moving back towards her. “By my dad,” I continued. She smiled brightly and softly nodded her head.

Obviously she never ended up getting it covered. And I don’t know why, but I get an immense amount of satisfaction in knowing it’s still there.

Kylie

When I turn around the corner of the hallway my room is located in, I’m startled by an extremely loud pitch scream. Once my heart leaps back into my chest, I lift my gaze from the hotel room key I’ve just collected from the front desk and spot Melanie standing at the end of the hall. I return her excited squeal before running towards her. This time I am the one that throws myself at her that we both end up toppling over into the hallway.

“It’s only been a week,” she giggles, returning my embrace. “Have you been a naughty girl?” she questions cheekily, her eyebrows cocking up high on her face. Just as I am about to answer, a pair of black boots moves into my vision. Lifting my eyes, I spot the smiling face of Slater looking down at us.

“I should have guessed it was you,” he chuckles, offering me his hand to help me off the ground. “When I heard high pitch screaming, I knew it was either you or Jenni,” he continues, making me smile softly. 

“Hello again,” Melanie greets excitedly, lifting herself off the floor. Her blue eyes stare up at Slater with her hands clasped behind her back. She appears to be trying to look innocent, which is a look nearly impossible for Melanie to pull off.

“Hi,” Slater replies casually, making me realize I have never properly introduced them.

“Slater this is my best friend Melanie. Melanie this is Slater,” I introduce.

After they awkwardly shake hands, Slater gently removes the hotel key room from my hand and slides it into the door we crashed next to. He walks into the hotel room with Melanie and I following closely behind. Melanie’s eyes bug out of her head and my mouth drops open wide in shock. This is not a hotel room. This is a house. There is a large black marble kitchen hidden behind a wall on our left, a sunken living area in the middle and a dining table that looks like it seats at least ten people. There is even a small black baby piano next to one of the three black leather sofas. Just the living area alone is bigger than the whole apartment Melanie and I use to live in.

“I think our keys got mixed up,” I inform Slater, walking over towards him and removing the key from his hand. The key doesn’t help lessen my confusion as it has no specific markings on it to indicate which room it belongs to. Slater runs his hand along the stubble of his chin before a small smirk forms on his face.

“Is this your room?” I question. His smile gets even larger, before he slowly shakes his head.

He walks over to the far right hand side of the room and opens a door. “That’s my room,” he advises pointing to the room that is attached to mine, forcing my confused eyes to flick up to his.

“You got us interconnecting rooms?” I question confused, the pulsing of my heart causes my voice to come out as a quiver. Half of me is excited whilst the other half is petrified. I’ll never be able to avoid the rotating door of groupies coming in and out of his room now.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I inform, wiping the smile right off his face.

“I…ummm,” I mumble, trying to think of some excuse as to why this isn’t a good idea without informing him that I don’t want to witness his new man whore lifestyle firsthand.

The stomping of his black boots is easily heard within the silence of the room. He walks over and stands directly in front of me. My defences weaken when his brown eyes flick between mine.

“I don’t bring groupies into my room,” he informs, his voice sounding rugged.

You would think his words would give me comfort, but they don’t. Just because he doesn’t bring groupies into his room, doesn’t mean he won’t find other places to accommodate them, such as stage curtains at an arena. When he notices that I am unable to maintain his eye contact, he breathes harshly out of his nose before making his way back to the interconnecting door. Upon entering, his gaze returns to mine.

“This will also ensure you don’t do anything stupid again like you did last night,” he says angrily, before walking into his room and closing the door harshly.

Now it all makes sense. He didn’t get us interconnecting rooms as he wanted me closer to him, he got us interconnecting rooms so he can keep an eye on me. He wants to ensure the stern warning he gave Sonny and the rest of the road crew stays firmly enforced. I let out a frustrated growl before I angrily walk towards the door. My angry strides only halt when Melanie steps in front of me.

“Let’s think about this first,” she suggests, her eyes staring firmly into mine. The longer I stare into her eyes the more they get a mischievous sparkle. I groan again before making my way to the ridiculously oversized living room.

“I told you he still has feelings for you,” Melanie emphasizes with her perfectly waxed eyebrows waggling in excitement.

“He doesn’t have feelings for me, he just doesn’t want anyone else to have feelings for me,” I respond, flopping dramatically onto a black leather sofa.

Melanie rolls her eyes and huffs before she comes and sits down next to me, her eyes slowly taking in the impressive surroundings. When she turns to face me, one of her eyebrows is cocked high into her hairline.

“Shut up,” I request to her sarcastic face. The suite is pretty darn impressive and I’m sure it is costing Slater a fortune for me to stay here, so maybe there is a little bit more to his generosity than just jealously.

“What are you doing here anyway?” I question, since it suddenly dawns on me that she has just turned up out of the blue.

Melanie’s parents’ house is around an hour from San Francisco so I guess it wouldn’t be too extravagant for her to do a pop in visit. Maybe she has been missing me as much as I’ve missed her? We did live together twenty-four-seven the past two years, so it has been a huge adjustment not having her attached to my hip.

She bites down on her bottom lip, her mischievous eyes turning up to look at me. “Slater brought me here,” she informs seriously, her voice sounding more mature than her twenty- three years.

“He thought I would be a good influence on you,” she continues, trying her hardest not to laugh. My eyebrows scrunch up tightly and my confused eyes lift to stare directly into hers, effectively breaking her cool calm composure.

“He picked the wrong friend!” she declares loudly between giggles. Melanie’s laugh is so infectious that I soon lose the ability to hold in my own laugher. We both chuckle so loud I am certain Slater will be able to hear it in his room next door.

If Slater thought bringing Melanie here was going to help settle me down, he has greatly underestimated Melanie. She is hell on wheels and creates havoc everywhere she goes, and she has no qualms about it either. Melanie jumps up onto the leather sofa like Tom Cruise did during his Oprah interview. Her arms thrown well above her head as she loudly declares, “Let’s show these fuckers how to really party!”

She jumps off the sofa and heads straight to the bar that is located at the side of the living room. The glass shelves are full to the brim with all different types of alcoholic beverages. I rush towards her when she opens one of the bottles, not even bothering to check how much it cost.

“You can’t just drink anything you want, a mini bar bottle costs a fortune, imagine how much a whole bottle cost,” I inform, attempting to snatch the bottle from her grasp.

She pulls the bottle out of my reach, her eyes rolling dramatically before she sashays her way to the door that interconnects my room with Slater’s. After three brisk knocks, Slater opens the door and his half angry eyes dart between Melanie and I.

“Can we drink this?” she questions, harshly shoving the bottle in front of his face.

His eyes turn from looking at the bottle to face me. “You can drink anything you want,” he instructs kindly. “As long as you do it in this hotel room,” he continues sternly, triggering me to roll my eyes.

“Thank you,” Melanie replies, before pushing Slater back into his room and slamming the door in his face.

Slater

I think I picked the wrong friend when the sound of blaring music and smashing glass comes from next door for the third night in a row. I only went and tracked down Kylie’s friend after collecting my bike from Sonny. He has made it pretty fucking obvious that he has no intention on backing down on his pursuit of Kylie and there is no chance in hell I will ever allow her to end up with a douchebag like him. People think drummers are bad, but we are nothing compared to the scum of the roadie’s crew. Sonny is lucky that he is still employed after the stunt he pulled Sunday night. If only our tour wasn’t plagued with useless crew members previously then I would have had no hesitation in firing him. But as much as it sucks to admit it, he is good at his job. He just needs to learn to back the fuck off when instructed.

Jenni was able to supply me with all of Melanie’s contact details as she had added both her and Kylie as friends on her Facebook account. I didn’t miss the curious sparkle in her eyes when she handed me all of her personal information. When I first called Melanie, she thought I was pranking her. It was only when I recited the entire playlist from our current CD did she finally believe that it was me. That girl has a mouth like a sailor. I have heard soft curse words come out of girls mouths many times before. But they are soft, as in shit, ass, crap etc. But some of the words that came out of Melanie’s mouth when I asked her to come and stay with Kylie while we are on tour, nearly made me blush. I guess that should have been my first hint that I had picked the wrong friend to keep Kylie in line.

Well I shouldn’t really say in line, I just want someone to keep an eye on her while I am on stage performing. I know the games the roadies play every time we commence a set and I don’t want to be worried about them ploughing Kylie with drinks, or anything else. Just the thought of anyone touching her makes the veins in my neck bulge and my jaw to tick. The only gratification I get is the fact that my name is still prominently marked on her skin. No guy she has slept with since me would have been able to miss it. It kind of makes me glad she didn’t get it covered.

I knew the instant her confused eyes turned up to look at me that she was worried about seeing me with a whole heap of groupies. Her eyes immediately darted away when I said ‘I don’t bring groupies into my room.’ I probably should have said ‘I will no longer bring groupies into my room’ and she may have believed me. I didn’t get us interconnecting rooms to just to keep my eye on her though, I also wanted to have her close to me, since I can’t get her out of my fucking head.

Once I hear the second lot of glass smashing next door, I can no longer stop my curiosity at going and seeing what Kylie and Melanie are up to. When I open the interconnecting door, the sound of music blasts through my eardrums and the smell of smoke filters through my nostrils, and I’m not talking about the cigarette type of smoke. I run my eyes over the room trying to spot Kylie. Fuck me, I swear half of San Francisco is in their room right now. The place is packed with people. The sofas have been moved out of the living area and are pushed up against the outside wall of the suite and there are several couples sitting on them in various stages of making out. I walk around the entire living area of the suite and don’t spot Kylie anywhere, just as I’m about to walk into one of the bedrooms Melanie walks out. Her hair is ruffled and her lips are swollen.

“Where is Kylie?” I question loudly, trying to project my voice over the blaring music. My eyes dart behind Melanie to make sure Kylie isn’t in the bedroom. I swear if I find her making out within some random guy, I will lose my shit.

“She’s in the kitchen,” Melanie replies. “Where she always is during our parties,” she continues, sarcastically rolling her eyes before walking past me.

I spot Kylie the instant I walk into the kitchen. She is stretching up trying to reach a bowl that is sitting on the top of the overhead cupboards. Her top lifts up high enough that I can see the two little dimples that adorn her lower back. If her jeans were any lower, I would have been able to see the top of her panties. I move towards her to assist her in getting down the bowl when I am suddenly cut off. Sonny leans over the back of Kylie and grabs the bowl she was attempting to reach. She darts under his arm and moves to the island bench where there are several unopen bags of crisps and pretzels. Her face morphs into a large smile when she notices me standing in the doorway of the kitchen, giving me that urge to fall to my knees.

“Hey,” she greets kindly before emptying some of the crisps packets in the empty bowls. She grabs two full bowls of crisps and walks past me, her breasts slightly rubbing against my forearm as she slides by. Even in the middle of the city she stills smells like hay and wildflowers.

I move towards the large stainless steel fridge and help myself to a bottle of beer, cracking it open on the expensive black marble bench top. My clean-up bill for this hotel suite is already going to cost me a fucking fortune, so what’s another little chip? I wink at Sonny before I go search for Kylie.

“Game on mother fucker,” I murmur to myself. Kylie had plenty of space to move past me without needing to touch me, but she still made sure she brushed up against me. Whereas when Sonny got close to her, she instantly darted away from him.

Upon entering the living room, I notice that there is a handful of people sitting in a circle in the middle of the room. When I spot the empty bottle of beer spinning in the middle of the group, I can’t help the chuckle that escapes my lips, especially considering most of the people playing would easily be over the age of twenty-one.

“And you thought she would keep me in line,” whispers Kylie behind me. She is standing that close her breath tickles my earlobe.

I take a swig of my beer and turn around to face her to discover she is nowhere in sight. Where the fuck did she go? I only just catch the back end of her as she makes her way back into the kitchen. This time when I walk into the kitchen, Kylie is the only one inside.

“So how often do you play spin the bottle?” I question cheekily. She smiles brightly as she continues to replenish the snack bowls.

“As often as possible,” she answers, forcing my cheeky smile to form into a frown. “When I was in grade five,” she adds on, her eyes flicking up from the snacks she is preparing. Her eyes roam leisurely over my face before she gives me a cheeky wink. She is in a very playful mood tonight.

“Do you want to play?” she questions seductively, instantly making my dick stiffen.

“Are we still talking about spin the bottle?” I question cheekily, cocking my eyebrow high into the air. She seductively prances her way over to me and when she stands in front of me, I smell the strong scent of cranberries.

“How many drinks have you had?” I question, suddenly realizing that I will not have the ability of smelling vodka on her breath. I managed to hold myself back three nights ago when she was drunk, but with how she is looking at me right now, I don’t know if I can do it a second time. 

“A few,” she replies, clasping my hand within hers to drag me towards the living room.

“A few as in a handful or a few as in you’ve lost count?” I question as we approach the group of around twenty plus people playing spin the bottle.

When she doesn’t answer me, I stop walking, effectively halting her hasty strides to the living area. Her glossed over eyes look up at me and I ask, “Are you drunk?”

She smiles brightly while waggling her eyebrows. “I’m just a little bit tipsy,” she says, before strolling into the sunken living area and plopping down on the ground, pulling her legs underneath herself. That means Kylie is drunk. Anytime she ever tells you she is a little bit tipsy means she is full on drunk. 

Her head nods towards the only spare space left on the light grey carpet. When her tongue darts out to lick her top lip and she winks cheekily, I know I’m not going anywhere. If she wants to play, I’m going to fucking play. I move to take my seat, my eyes roaming over the other people playing. The only face I can put a name to is Melanie and she is sitting three spaces up from me. I chuckle at the shocked expression on her face when she notices that Kylie has just joined the game. One of the road crew, I think his name is Scott, takes his turn and I release the breath I am holding in when his spin narrowly misses Kylie and lands on the girl next to her. Kylie’s eyes dart up to mine and she dramatically wipes her brow, causing me to chuckle softly against the rim of my beer. Yep, she is definitely drunk!

A blonde girl sitting next to Scott has the next go and the instant the neck of the bottle lands on me, my eyes dart up to Kylie. Her eyebrows pull together closely and her narrowed eyes dart between the blonde and I. She then quickly leans over and adjusts the bottle so it now faces the guy sitting next to me.

“Hey, that’s cheating,” the blonde angrily declares. Kylie arrogantly shrugs her shoulders at her, plops back down on her backside and returns her glossed over eyes to me.

“She can’t do that, I’m kissing the drummer,” the blonde declares sternly, crossing her arms angrily across her chest. The whole time she makes her dramatic statement, Kylie’s eyes stay firmly planted on mine with a look of hunger in her eyes.

“Kiss him or get out,” Melanie declares sternly, pointing to the guy sitting next to me. The blonde huffs angrily, before she does as instructed without any further protesting.

The next three turns go without any incident, neither Kylie or I get picked by the spinning bottle. Now, it’s Kylie’s turn. She stares into my eyes and licks her red painted lips before she spins the bottle. Both of our eyes dart down to watch the bottle as it twirls around and around. My heart rate increases and my palms sweat when the bottle slows down to a snail pace. I sigh loudly when it narrowly misses stopping on me and lands on the guy sitting next to me, the same guy that had to kiss the blonde earlier. Kylie looks at me and her bottom lip playfully drops, before she commences seductively crawling over towards the guy who the bottle landed on. Without any hesitation, I grab him by the scruff of his shirt and yank him across my body, so he is now sitting on the opposite side of me. Ignoring his arrogant rant, I move into his position, causing Melanie to giggle loudly and Kylie to smile largely.    

Once she is close enough that I can reach her, I hold my index finger against her lips, effectively stopping her from moving in any closer. Her eyebrows slightly pull together and a small spark of rejection forms in her eyes. I lick my thumb and run it along her lips, attempting to remove her heavy coating of lipstick. I want to have her bare lips against mine like they were the first time I kissed them. She smiles before she rubs her lips with the back of her hand, removing all traces of her lipstick.

“Just kiss him already,” Melanie yells loudly. The hollering chants of the others playing the game echoes around us.

The instant her lips touch mine, I know I made the right decision in enforcing my one and only groupie rule.

I am forever ruined by her lips.