Beats of Life (Perception Book 5) (15 page)

Kylie

With each step I take, my heart rate accelerates even more. ‘One step at a time,’ I silently chant to myself. Breathe and walk, breathe and walk, it really shouldn’t be that hard, but I am petrified. The last time I walked into the VIP section at a ‘Rise Up’ after party I found myself face to face with the new lifestyle Slater now lives. I had inconveniently decided to go to the bathroom and ended up separated from the rest of the girls, which means I am now entering the gates of hell alone.

I hear his deep rumbling laughter before I spot him. He is sitting up high on a barstool at the end of the bar, talking to a beautiful brunette. Her long tan legs on full display in a short black sequin dress. My heart drops into my stomach and tears sting my eyes as the feeling of disappointment courses through my body. Ever since our drunken kiss, Slater has ramped up his effort in wooing me back into his bedroom. I tried to keep our ‘relationship’ in the friend’s zone. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be with him, believe me, I want him more than anything in the world, but nothing had changed from two years ago and the reason I left him was still in the forefront of my mind every time I looked into his eyes. But my defences weakened with every smile, wink or playful comment he made and as each day passed my excuses for not being with him grew less and less. When he invited me to the after party tonight, I decided that I can no longer deny what my heart wants, and it wants him. Except now it looks like I left it too late. At least I can take a small amount of comfort in the fact that this time around he is fully clothed and she isn’t on her knees.

My disappointed eyes quickly scan the room in an attempt to locate Melanie. Emily and Noah are sitting close together in a black booth, talking in hushed whispers. Jenni and Nick are making out like teenagers at a prom in another and behind them is Melanie. She appears to be actively participating in a deep and meaningful conversation with Marcus. I quickly make my way towards them, triggering Melanie’s eyes to dart up, her head slightly shakes, the look on her face warning me to stay away. I narrow my eyes and huff angrily. She can’t leave me stranded looking like the odd man out since everyone else is paired up. She rolls her eyes dramatically and gestures her head towards Slater. I quickly shake my head, mortified. I am not interrupting him while he is talking to a lady that looks like she belongs in the centrefolds of Sports Illustrated.

I silently beg her from across the room, my bottom lip drops and my face morphs into sadness. She smiles softly before shaking her head, her attention focusing back on Marcus. I stomp my feet, doing my best impersonation of her famous tantrums. She smiles largely and rolls her eyes, but I notice she missed the head shake. It’s time to bring in the big guns. I drop my bottom lip again and blink my eyes rapidly, forcing tears to form in them. When she spots my tears, her face constricts and the corners of her mouth slowly droops before she raises her manicured finger into the air, requesting a minute. I quickly nod my head. My inner vixen screams in excitement as I do a little jig of victory. Today is the first time I have ever won a standoff against Melanie and the victory feels euphoric.

“It was the stomping that won her over.”

My immature dance moves stop and my heart flutters faster. I bite painfully on my lip before slowly spinning around. Slater’s face appears amused. His eyes dart down to my lips, before he raises his hand and gently removes my bottom lip for my menacing teeth, his smile getting larger with every movement he makes. My eyes quickly dart back to the bar to discover the brunette is watching us. When she smiles, I can’t help the extravagant gasp that comes out of my lips. No one should be that beautiful. Slater chuckles at my reaction, making me realize that I had gasped loud enough for him to hear it over the loud music blaring around the club. I really shouldn’t have had all those shots Melanie kept handing me left right and centre earlier tonight, but I was nervous and I thought a little buzz would help settle the butterflies that were fluttering in my stomach. The buzz was great at the start, but now that it is fading, all of my confidence is being drained right along with it.

Slater wraps his hand around mine, his touch feels warm and comforting. I only stumble slightly when he walks us towards the beautiful brunette. As we get closer, I realize I have seen her before. She is the bassist of ‘Big Halo’ but her name has slipped my mind. Her smile gets larger with every step we take. Her eyes roam over my face, before wandering leisurely over my body. My step slightly falters when her eyes lift back to mine and the undeniable sparkle of lust is beaming from them.

“Miranda, this is Kylie. Kylie, this Miranda,” Slater introduces, his eyebrow slightly cocked when he notices the expression on Miranda’s face. “This one is off limits,” he states sternly, triggering Miranda’s eyebrows to shoot up high into her hairline and my excited eyes to dart to his.

“No dibs Slater, you know the rules,” she says playfully, her voice sounding as seductive as she looks. Miranda’s eyes leisurely roam over my face before they return to Slater’s. She gives him a cheeky wink, triggering him to smile largely. My eyes bounce between them both, trying to work out what the hell is going on.

“Fuck the rules,” Slater says chuckling loudly, pulling me in close to his side, making my heart rate soar in excitement.

Miranda hollers unexpectedly, startling me. She smiles brightly as she leans over and rings a gold bell on the side of the bar. Suddenly, a handful of bar staff swiftly cover the entire length of the wooden bar with a long line of shot glasses.  In sync, they lift crystal bottles high into the air and the clear liquid inside them flows out freely, filling the shot glasses in one quick motion. Miranda gathers three of the sticky overflowing shot glasses, handing one each to Slater and I. She grabs my spare hand and raises it to her mouth, her tongue darting out to lick the section of skin between my thumb and index finger. My eyes flick up to Slater, his face is unreadable as he watches Miranda grab a canister of salt to shake onto my hand, her smile practically beaming out of her.

“To girls worth breaking the rules for,” she says loudly, the words purring out of her mouth. She raises my hand to her mouth to slowly lick off a portion of the salt with her long tongue, before downing her entire nip of tequila in one hit. A loud deep moan vibrates from her throat. She winks cheekily at Slater before sucking on a cut of lemon she removed from a bowl the waiter had just placed on the bar.

My mouth waters and my pussy tingles when Slater’s tongue darts out and licks the left over salt off my hand. His tequila is downed in one swift movement, before he pops a large wedge of lemon into his mouth. He returns Miranda’s cheeky wink before his eyes turn to stare seductively into mine.

“Your turn,” he says roughly, his voice sounding so deep and rugged. 

I swallow harshly from the intense gaze they are both directing at me. My tongue darts out to moisten my skin again to replace the salt they had licked off. In one quick motion, I lick and sip. My eyes close and my face scrunches up from the disgusting liquid that is sliding down my throat, I’ve always hated the taste of tequila. I grab for a wedge of lemon when suddenly, without warning, a pair of warm lips are pressed against mine. Their skilful tongue, that is laced with lemon, soothes the tequila burn. I can’t tell if it is the alcohol that is creating that buzzing sensation dancing around my body or the steaming hot kiss. When my knees buckle, I’m fairly certain it’s the kiss. When a deep moan vibrates from my throat, I am one hundred percent certain it is the kiss.

“Alright, alright, you win,” declares Miranda, her playful tug on my shoulders effectively pulling me away from Slater’s deliciously fruity mouth. “But you cheated,” she continues, her eyebrows lifting high into the air, poking her sharp nail into Slater’s chest.

“She is supposed to pick the mouth, not you choose it for her,” she informs laughing, doing another tequila shot, this time using her own salted hand.

“Your chances of getting close to her is nearly as good as Sonny’s,” Slater replies cheekily.

“Neither of you have a fucking chance,” he adds more sternly, forcing Miranda to laugh loudly, gaining her the attention of several males in the room. I stand there completely silent, since Slater’s kiss has rendered my speechless.

“One night with me will be all she needs to jump that fence,” Miranda responds playfully. My eyes instantly dart to hers. When she winks at me seductively, the penny finally drops. Miranda likes girls. 

“No fucking chance,” Slater replies, taking a swig out of his bottle of beer.

“We could share,” Miranda suggests, her shoulders slightly shrugging like she was willing to discuss a compromise. My eyebrows shoot up high into my hairline. Is sharing something they do often?

“No. Fucking. Chance,” Slater repeats sternly, his eyes narrowing at Miranda.

He sits down on the barstool and pulls me towards him so I am half sitting on his lap and half standing. He places his large open hand possessively on my right hip, sitting just above where his name is inked on my skin. Miranda’s curious gaze flicks between us and she appears just as confused as I am.

“I’m going to miss my wingman,” she informs sadly, her large lips pouting playfully, triggering Slater to chuckle softly.

Miranda stands from her barstool and makes her way down to a group of guys and girls at the other end of the bar. I turn around to face Slater, my confused eyes leisurely roaming over his face. His eyes are beaming with lust and appear a little glossed over.

“Are you drunk?” I question quietly. His face breaks into a huge cheeky grin that the corner of his eyes get a small gathering of lines.

“I’m just a little bit tipsy,” he quotes smiling, using the exact same words I had said to him three nights ago. 

“Slater tipsy or Kylie tipsy?” I question cheekily.

“Does it matter?” he replies quietly, his warm breath fanning my lips.

No, no it doesn’t. Well that was what I wanted to say. Instead I continue to return his intense lust filled gaze while trying to ignore all the angry glares being directed at me from several women in the room when they noticed me standing between Slater’s legs, possessively staking my claim.

Slater

I am not even close to being tipsy, let alone drunk, but I’m not going to tell Kylie that. I like having her close to me, her little sharpened claws out and ready to bounce if anyone gets to close. Kylie has never been shy at making the first move and I am ecstatic that she has finally decided to stake her claim.

I spotted her the instant she walked into the VIP section of the club. Her face paled when she noticed me sitting next to Miranda. I sat next to Miranda as I thought she was the safest option, since her interest in men is as lacking as mine. It was only when I saw Kylie’s reaction did it suddenly dawn on me that she was unaware that Miranda is gay.

The waitress’s face clearly showed her disappointment when I handed her back the napkin with her name and number on it, declining her offer. There is only one girl in this whole club I am interesting in taking home tonight and a groupie romp in the bathroom isn’t enough incentive for me to ruin my chances at getting Kylie between the sheets again.

I silently watched Kylie’s interaction with Melanie and I couldn’t help but chuckle at her stomping her feet in true Maddie style. When I approached her, she spun around and was biting her lip so hard I was surprised she didn’t draw blood. I pulled her lip away from her teeth, while silently wishing it was my teeth that were biting into them. I chuckled when she gasped loudly at Miranda. Miranda is gorgeous, but she has a manufactured look, you know the kind of look you could get in any Plastic Surgeon’s office. Kylie is also gorgeous but her beauty is natural and completely unique to her. No one would ever be able to replicate her exactly and it is that uniqueness that makes her even more beautiful.

The instant Miranda rang the bell I knew she wanted to play the tequila game. We have played it a few times before and our stats are pretty even. It’s the experimenting college girls that keep Miranda’s numbers high. You know the ones that can use ‘I was young and I was in college’ as their excuse when they wake up in a girls bed the next morning. I did cheat when I kissed Kylie, you’re suppose to remove the lemons from their reach and make them choose the lemon flavoured mouth to kiss to help lessen the tequila burn. But I didn’t kiss Kylie because I had doubts that she would pick me, I kissed her because I couldn’t wait any fucking longer. My dick was already hard from watching her lick the salt off her hand. Even though her mouth was laced with tequila, she still tasted like heaven. I had gone two years without kissing anyone and kissing her is more sexually satisfying to me than any groupie fuck.

I couldn’t believe Miranda had the hide to suggest that we could share Kylie. I don’t share in general, but there wasn’t a fucking chance in hell I was going to share Kylie with her. The instant I placed my hand possessively on Kylie’s hip, Miranda knew I was indicating for her to back off. Unlike Sonny, she respected my request. Miranda is good like that.

Kylie moves to the bar and orders a drink from the bartender and I can’t help the smile that forms on my face when she returns to standing between my legs, especially considering that there is now an empty bar stool next to me. Her eyes slowly roam over my face before lowering down to the tattoos on the bottom half of my arms.

“You got a few new ones I haven’t seen before,” she says quietly, a small smile forming on her face.

“Yeah, a few,” I reply, twisting my arm to show her the latest tattoo I got three months ago. It is a replica of my bike my dad had placed on my lower right forearm.

“Oh, it’s Gertie,” she states cheekily. I roll my eyes and gag. She nicknamed my bike Gertie the week after we started dating and I fucking hated it. For one, if my bike is going to have a nickname it is going to be a name that is as tough as she is, not some pansy old ladies name.

“I was planning on taking you for a ride on her tomorrow, but you lost your chance now,” I say cheekily, taking a swig out of my bottle of beer.

My eyes filter around the room where I catch the intense gaze of Emily and Jenni watching the interaction between Kylie and I. When I squint my eyes at them, both of their eyes dart away quickly, making me chuckle softly against the rim of my beer. When I return my eyes to Kylie, I notice she has her mouth gapped open wide in surprise, her excited eyes are darting between mine.

“She is here?” she questions quickly, her excitement clearly heard in her voice. “In San Francisco?” she continues.

I smile, before nodding my head. Kylie snatches the beer out of my hand and places it down so roughly she nearly smashes it against the bar. She grabs my hand and attempts to drag me out of my seat.

“Come on,” she pleads, when her attempts to drag me off my seat are unsuccessful. When her pleading eyes turn to face me and she quietly says “Please,” I know that I’m not going to say no to her request. I’ve never been able to deny her pleading eyes.

When I nod my head, she squeals excitedly before rushing over to Melanie. She hugs her quickly and runs back towards me. The smile on her face nearly brings me to my knees. I send a message to our driver, requesting for him to bring the limo around to the front of the building while we make our way down the stairs. Once I spot the limo out the front of the club, I tuck Kylie under my arm and quickly dart towards it. We caught the paparazzi surprised since they were not expecting the band to be leaving so early. The only photo they would have captured would have been my rear end when I jumped into the limo after Kylie.

Kylie sits across from me as the limo slowly pulls away from the curb. The paparazzi cameras are pushed up against the windows, trying in vain to snap a missed opportunity. Once we pull into traffic, the camera flashes illuminating the inside of the limo lessens. Kylie sits up straight, her lust filled eyes roaming over my body, before her tongue darts out to moisten her lips. This is the first time we have been alone together and although her eyes are showing she is a little tipsy, she is certainly not drunk. The sexual tension between us is so electrifying you can hear it crackling in the air.

“Come here,” I request firmly, wanting her to come to me, forcing her to take that first leap.

She smiles softly before gently shaking her head. My heart plunges into my stomach since her rejection hit me full force like a fucking Mack Truck hitting a brick wall. When she notices my reaction she appears confused, before she smiles softly again. This time her head nods to the open partition window behind her, showing the drivers head is easily visible. I lean over and push a button on the dashboard to close to the partition. The smile on her face when she notices it raising behind her is one of the most dazzling smiles I have ever seen in my life.

“Come here,” I request again. This time she doesn’t shake her head. She drops down on her knees and seductively crawls over to me. My dick instantly hardens from her intense heated gaze running over my body. She licks her lips. Her eyes stare straight at my crutch that is clearly showing her my arousal. The instant she reaches me, she grabs my black leather belt and undoes my belt buckle. I stop her hurried movements and lift her up so she is straddled on my lap. I want her lips on my mouth even more than I want them on my cock.

I haven’t had nearly enough time to get my fill of Kylie’s mouth when the limo driver taps on the partition, signalling to us that we have arrived at the hotel. Kylie whimpers when I pull away from her embrace that I am tempted to tell the driver to circle the block so we can finish what we have started. It is only when she realizes that we are back at the hotel does she eagerly slide off my lap. She runs her fingers through her hair and checks her face in the mirror behind me, before her excited eyes turn to me.

“Are you ready?” she questions, surprising me that she can go from horny to calm in a matter of seconds. She giggles softly when I adjust my crutch since my erection is digging painfully into my zipper.

“I’ll take care of that after we go for a ride,” she informs seductively, instantly making my dick dig into my zipper again.

Her excitement is practically beaming out of her when we enter the elevator to take it down to the basement carpark of the hotel. She always loved going on the back of my bike as much as I loved taking her on it. I hesitate when my hand lunges into the saddlebag of my bike, afraid that I might be showing my hand to early when she discovers that I still carry her purple helmet with me everywhere I go. When my eyes dart up to hers and she is smiling her knee dropping smile, I no longer fucking care. She still has my name inked on her skin, clearly showing that she was also not ready to let go of our time together.

She tried to brush it away quickly, but I didn’t miss the tear that fell down her cheek when I pulled her helmet out. A little giggle erupts from her mouth when I nervously clean out the cobwebs that have formed in her helmet. One of my biggest fears is spiders and she knows this. Her eyes rapidly fill with tears when I place her helmet on her head and tie the straps under her chin. She looks at me curiously when I hand her a pair of sunglasses, considering it is pitch black outside.

“The paps,” I inform. I’ve been caught without glasses before and I nearly sideswiped a parked car with my bike.

I throw my leg over my bike and offer my hand to help her onto the back. She squeals excitedly the instant my bike kicks over. Her arms dart around my waist and her cheek leans against my back. Just like that, in a matter of mere seconds, the past two years just vanished. It is once again me and two of my favorite girls.

The flashing of the paparazzi lights starts the instant they hear the rumbling of my engine coming up the carpark exit ramp. I slowly glide my bike between them as they scream out a range of questions. Most of their requests are for my date to lift her head so they can capture her face. They appear surprised. I guess it is the first time they have ever taken a photo of me with a girl on the back of my bike.

As soon as it safe, I pull back on the throttle and we go darting through the heavy traffic surrounding the hotel. I can tell Kylie is smiling. Her cheekbones lifted against my back the instant my front tire hit the bitumen. The traffic around Fisherman’s Wharf is always heavy, but that is the greatness of having a bike. I can manoeuvre through the cars without any hassles. It also means I can easily lose the paparazzi that are tailing us.

There is no greater sound in the world than the purr of my engine combined with Kylie’s giggles.