Beats of Life (Perception Book 5) (25 page)

Kylie

Three months later….

Jenni and Emily both gasp loudly in sync the instant I step out of the bathroom. Emily’s eyes fill with tears and Jenni rushes towards me as fast as her seven-month pregnant belly will allow. Her hands run down the purple satin dress, making sure the material all sits in the right spot. I slowly turn to face the full length mirror in my hotel room and I can’t help the excited squeal that escapes my lips. The full length ball gown Jenni designed and sewn personally for me gathers in all the right places, giving me the allure of a perfect hourglass figure. When you first look at my face you would assume I am not wearing any make up. The only reason I know that I am is because all of my freckles have been blended in the background. My hair is back to the original length it was when I first met Slater two and a half years ago. No, it didn’t grow that much the past few months. It is all the work of hair extensions meretriciously placed throughout my hair. The hairdresser Jenni hired to do my extension is very talented. I can’t even tell what is and is not my real hair.

“You look perfect,” Jenni whispers softly next to me.

I throw my arms around her shoulders, startling her. It has taken me a few months to get use to all the affection Jenni and Emily lavish me with every day. Dominic and his two brothers were pretty much my best friends growing up. I had a small handful of female friends at school, but the distance between our ranches meant we didn’t see much of each other outside of school. Once I left for college, all of my female friends ceased to exist, until I stumbled upon Melanie.

“Can you please take a photo so I can send it to Melanie?” I request, quickly making my way to my bag hanging over the hotel room chair in my master suite to collect my phone.

“I could,” Emily replies, shrugging her shoulders like she is considering the idea. “Or you could just go and show her yourself,” she continues cheekily, forcing my excited eyes to dart down to hers. My tall height already gains me three inches on Emily, but with the high heels I am wearing, I tower over her.

When Emily fails to extinguish my confusion, my eyes turn to Jenni. Her cheeks are flushed and she has a huge smile on her face. “She is in the living room,” she informs. I am halfway out of the master suite before Jenni even gets the whole sentence out of her mouth.

“Melanie!” I squeal loudly the instant I spot the back of her in the middle of the living room.

I rush towards her. My heart is racing so fast my body has to perspire in an attempt to lower my pulse. I haven’t seen her in nearly five months and text messages and phone calls can’t compete with seeing her in real life. She spins around with a large smile on her face, squeals at the top of her lungs and runs towards me. Her black short ball gown swishes around her white thighs as she quickly closes the distance between us.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh my god, where did you get your dress?”

“Your hair, I love it”

“Your hair, I love it!”

We continue to throw a range of questions at each other until we both become breathless. Emily and Jenni watch us from the doorway of the master suite with an amused look on their faces. They are probably just realising that this is exactly what they look like every time they greet each other.

“You look beautiful,” I inform Melanie. She looks the most dazzling I have ever seen her. Her platinum blonde bob has been change to a very short pixie style haircut, making her blue eyes dazzle even more. She is wearing a black strapless dress that has a fitted bodice and the skirt fans out just below her navel. Her killer high shoes add a few extra inches to her tiny five-foot-four height. She appears to have lost a bit of weight the last few months or maybe she just looks smaller since I have gained a couple of pounds the past few months.

“Thank you,” she replies graciously, doing a little twirl to allow me to see the entire dress.

“You look smoking hot,” she says, walking over towards me. “What have you got under there, because I swear I don’t remember them being that big before,” she continues cheekily, pulling down the front of my dress to expose one of my naked breasts that are being held perfectly in place with Hollywood tape. I slap her hand away from my chest, causing her to chuckle loudly. Yep, she is Slater to a tee!

“What are you doing here?” I question excitedly, quickly peering down to make sure my boobs are once again covered.

“Slater brought me here,” she quotes, using the exact same tone she used months ago. “He thought I would be a good influence on you,” she continues cheekily, trying her hardest to hide her smile.

“He picked the wrong friend!” we both scream in sync. Our joint laughter echoes around the room.

Oh my goodness, I have missed her so much! Our giggles only die down when a loud knock hits the main door of my suite. I flick my excited eyes to Melanie, who is smiling brightly and waggling her eyebrows. I rush to the door, eagerly anticipating seeing Slater again since he had left over four hours ago so I could get ready.

“I love you!” I emphasize dramatically, swinging the door open wide. He has been spoiling me rotten every day the past two months, but seeing Melanie again tops any of the lavish gifts he has given me.

Marcus smiles brightly, his eyes slowly roam over my face before he replies. “I love you too?” hesitantly like it was more a question then a statement. I pull Marcus into my room by his black tuxedo covered wrist and pop my head out in the hall, seeking Slater.

“Slater is going to meet us in the ballroom,” Marcus informs when he notices my shocked expression. “He had some loose ends he needed to tie up,” he continues with a small grin forming on his face. “His time got cut short,” he adds on, his small grin turning into a large smile.

Melanie and I both stare at Marcus who is chuckling and murmuring to himself, seemingly entertained by an insider joke we are not privileged too. When my curious eyes turn to Jenni and Emily they both shrug their shoulders and join us in staring at Marcus curiously. His chuckles only die down when Melanie walks straight up to him and kisses him hard on his lips. My mouth pops open in shock over her tenacity, Marcus freezes in surprise and Emily and Jenni both gasp loudly. My eyes don’t know where to look, so they dart between Emily and Jenni, the empty hallway and occasionally to Melanie and Marcus.

After what feels like minutes, Melanie slowly pulls away from their embrace. She runs her hands down the front of her dress and turns to face the mirror in the entranceway. Her index finger wipes away her smeared lipstick and she grabs our masks off the entranceway table.

“Now that that has been taken care of, let’s go and party,” she says casually, like she kisses a world famous bassists every day. She clasps her clammy hand around mine and quickly makes her way out the front door of the suite with a shocked and smiling Marcus following closely behind us.

“Have fun!” Emily and Jenni call out in sync.

Melanie remains quiet the entire time we ride the elevator, her eyes occasionally glancing over to Marcus who is standing in the corner smiling. Once the elevator dashboard signals that we are about to arrive at the second floor, we place our masks onto our faces. The Serena Scott Annual Gala Fundraiser is being held in the ballroom of our hotel. It is a masquerade ball, so all attendees are expected to be dressed in formal attire with a mask covering their face. The ticket sales alone will raise millions of dollars for people suffering with ALL. Slater has explained to me that Serena’s foundation was set up to assist people like me with no medical insurance. It pays for all their medical bills and assists paying for accommodation and living arrangements for the family members that are supporting their child or partner going through such a horrendous illness.

I am so proud of Slater and his family for starting this organisation. Anything that helps lessen the burden for these families is the greatest gift you could possibly give them. My treatment was aggressive and painful, not just physically, but emotionally. Because I was so young when I was first diagnosed, I did not have the option of storing any of my eggs before treatment needed to be commenced. When you are thirteen, you are not worrying about not being able to have children, you just want to live. But when I saw how much happiness Maddie and Jasper bring to Emily and Jenni’s lives my heart felt torn. I was angry and heart broken when I crossed number three of my list. Not just from not being able to have children, but because I knew I would never be able to finish my list with it on there. The chances of conceiving naturally after chemotherapy is low in general. So my chances of ever falling pregnant naturally are basically non-existent since I have suffered from ALL twice. When Slater said we would find a way to add it back onto my list, my heart nearly burst. He has never been shy in admitting that having kids scares the living shit out of him, so the fact that he was fully encouraging me to add it back on my list really proved to me how much he loves me.

Melanie and I follow Marcus to the auction registration table to sign up to become bidders for tonight’s auction. Several exclusive items supplied by ‘Rise Up’ will be auctioned along with other elaborate items. All the profits raised from the auction will go directly to researching if there are any links between ALL sufferers and certain chemical pesticides. With an increase of ALL patients coming from rural and remote areas, they believe there may be a link that some patients may have been overexposed to certain chemicals and that those chemicals may have contributed to their diagnosis.

“You need to show your paddle when you bid on any item,” the lady behind the desk explains sternly.

I giggle softly when she advises that my auction paddle number is sixty-nine. When she narrows her eyes angrily, I giggle even louder. You would think since I am twenty-four years old I should be more mature, but I’m not. When you have been through what I have been through, you never want grow up. I missed a large majority of my teens years as I was in hospital, so I figure I still have a lot of teenage rebellion that needs to be unleashed. Lucky for me, Slater is one of the biggest kids I know.

“Are you ready?” Marcus asks, his entrancing green eyes staring directly at Melanie. She smiles largely as she accepts the nook of his arm he is offering her.

I follow them down the magnificent wooden and wrought iron stairwell. The ballroom below is full to the brim with people. All the ladies are dressed in beautiful ball gowns. Some are full length like mine and others are short and sexy like Melanie’s. All the men are wearing tuxedos. Most are black in color, but a few more extravagant gentlemen are decked out in bright yellow, red and blue colors. My eyes eagerly dart around the space seeking Slater. We have been inseparable for the past six months and the four hours we spent apart today has been the longest we haven’t seen each other that whole time. There are hundreds of people milling around the floor that I take my time slowly running my eyes over them, while carefully walking down the stairwell, wanting to ensure I don’t trip on my long dress.

Once I finalize the last step, my heart leaps in my chest. The smile plastered across my face is so large my cheeks instantly hurt. The quartet that is assembled on the stage has just started performing ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift. My eyes water as they scan the area surrounding the stage seeking Slater. I know he has to be here somewhere.

“You get more beautiful every time I see you,” whispers his deliciously sexy voice behind me.

I turn around so fast I get a rush of dizziness and a few of my tears drop down my face. My eyes leisurely and appreciatively roam over his body starting at his black polished dress shoes. I slowly raise my eyes to inspect his perfectly tailored black tuxedo pants and black fitted jacket that is worn over a white dress shirt. A smile forms on my face when I notice his wonky black bow tie. He chuckles softly at my reaction. When my eyes finally settle on his beautiful face, I notice that he is wearing a black silk mask, making his piercing brown eyes appear darker than normal. My god he is gorgeous.

When I continue with my perusal, I suddenly intake a sharp inhale of breath that gets caught in my throat. My heart rapidly beats and my confused eyes seeks his gaze. 

“Oh my god Slater, what happened?” I question shocked, before rushing towards him.

Slater

I recognize Kylie the instant she starts her descend down the stairwell, even though her beautiful face is covered in a mask and her hair is several inches longer then it was when I had left her a few hours ago. I have memorized every single detail of her beautiful face and body, so I would easily be able to recognize her, whether she was wearing a fancy ball gown or a sack of potato’s. Her eyes slowly scan the crowd, no doubt seeking me. We have been inseparable the past six months and today is the longest we have been apart. You would think that I would hate being tied down, but I have loved every fucking minute of it. Being tied to Kylie is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I’m not just talking about those times in the bedroom.

I had originally planned on meeting her back at our hotel room, but decided to surprise her here instead. I silently stalk her as she slowly makes her way down the stairwell. Once she reaches the second last step, I signal to the quartet to start their performance. They are playing one of the corniest songs I have ever fucking heard in my life, but it is our song. Kylie told me she was singing it that morning as she was so deliriously happy, and for some reason unbeknown to me, it was me that made her that happy. She believes meeting me saved her, even though I know without a doubt that she is the one that is doing the saving. So even though I hate country music with a passion and you would never catch me dead listening to it on a standard day, I will happily play this song on repeat just to see the smile it forces on Kylie’s face every time she hears it.

I chuckle softly when she steps off the stairwell and walks right past me, not appearing to recognize me. Her beautiful wildflower and hay smell engulfs my nostrils the instant she floats by.

I quietly walk up behind her, fighting the urge to grab a handful of her delicate backside.

“You get more beautiful every time I see you,” I truthfully inform. Every day I spend with her, I fall in love with her more.

She spins around so quick she nearly loses her footing. I go to grab her but she quickly regains her footing before I have the chance. I feel her intense heated gaze slowly roaming over my body from the black polished dress shoes my mom forced me to wear with my tailored fitted black tuxedo. I chuckle softly when she smiles at my wonky bow tie. No matter how many fucking times I tried to get the bastard straight, it would go wonky again. After Marcus’s fifth attempt to get it right, I angrily pulled it off and threw it to the ground. He chuckled loudly, before handing it back to me. “It’s all part of the look,” he said. Look my ass, that bow tie fucking hates me. I ended up storming out of the hotel room with it sitting wonky and had completely forgotten about it, until now.

Today’s ball is the third annual fundraiser for Serena’s foundation. It is also the first time I have worn a tuxedo. I have worn a suit twice before. Once to my sister’s funeral and once for Noah’s wedding. Normally, I use any excuse I can find to turn up to an event in plain clothes. One of my most regularly used excuses is that the attendee’s know they are getting a drummer, so they intern expect a drummer to turn up, not a penguin in a suit. But today I wanted to wear a tuxedo. Why you ask? For no other reason than the look Kylie’s eyes are projecting right now. Even hidden behind her dark purple sequins mask, I can easily see the lust beaming out of her beautiful eyes.

Suddenly, her face morphs into shock. She intakes a sharp inhale of breath and her shocked eyes turn back to mine.

“Oh my god Slater, what happened?” she questions quickly, closing the distance between us.

Her hands instantly lift to run over the top of my scalp. Her face is a cross between amused and panicked.

“Your dreads,” she whispers softly, like she thinks she is dreaming. “They’re all gone,” she continues. Her eyes rapidly fill with tears and they dart between mine.

I nod my head, confirming what her eyes can’t believe. My dreads are gone. My head is bare and feels cold and lonely with the crew cut the hairdresser had given me earlier today.

Kylie runs her hand over my scalp again and a small giggle escapes her lips. “You look like Brad Pitt,” she informs softly. I roll my eyes. Her, Emily and Jenni are fucking obsessed with that guy. I seriously don’t get it. He is more than double their age for crying out loud.

“But at least ten times hotter,” she continues when she notices my reaction. This makes me smile largely. I pull her in close to my body by her tiny waist.

Her hand shoots up to run over my head again, making me worried that she may like the crewcut more than my dreads, since this is the third time in the past minute she has ran her hand over my head. Although her nails scratching my scalp does feel pretty nice.

“Don’t get used to it, I’m growing my dreads back,” I inform sternly, wanting to ensure she fully understands there is no chance in hell I am keeping this haircut.

She smiles largely, so large my dick instantly stiffens. “Good,” she whispers seductively. “Because I love your dreads,” she continues, causing my dick to get that hard it hurts. I pull her in closer to me in an attempt to hide my erection from the gala attendees walking around us.

“Why did you cut them off?” she questions softly. Her minty breath fans my mouth since we are standing so close to each other.

“For Serena’s foundation,” I respond.

It fucking killed me watching the hairdresser cut off my dreads that I have been growing since I was fifteen years old. It was even more painful than getting me into this tuxedo. But when an anonymous bidder places a bid of three million dollars for me to cut them off, I am going to cut them off. My hair will grow back, but that amount of money will be a huge help to the families that are suffering through what my family went through. It also means people won’t have to struggle like Kylie did when she went into remission. My mom has made a few changes to Serena’s foundation the past three months. Now we don’t just help the people suffering from ALL, we also help the survivors. People like Kylie who are left unemployable because they can’t get health cover. It pissed me off when I found out what had happened to Kylie. She went through the fight of her life and she still had to fight even after she went into remission. That is fucking bullshit. No one should have to go through that. So the three million dollars the anonymous bidder bid on top of the ten million dollars ‘Rise Up’ contributes each year will really help boost our new campaign.

“Someone placed a bid of three million dollars for me to cut them off,” I inform, triggering Kylie’s mouth to pop open wide in shock.

“Holy crap,” she whispers softly, her eyes darting between mine.

“I guess that three hundred dollars I saved for the auction isn’t going to cut it,” she continues with a little giggle.

Fuck, I love her and her little giggle.

Last week she paid me back the one thousand, seven hundred and twenty-three dollars that the tally on her phone told her she owed me. When she forced me to take the money, I donated it to Serena’s foundation in Kylie’s name. She then requested to know how much rent an apartment like mine would fetch so that she could pay her share. I probably shouldn’t have laughed at the expression on her face when I said her half would cost her over fifteen thousand dollars a month. After I calmed her down, we ended up negotiating a better term that would suit us both.

“Bid on anything you want and you can pay me back,” I advise, leaning in close to her delicate neck. “You just have to pay me back like you did for your rent,” I whisper softly into her ear.

Her breath comes out in ragged pants and her excited eyes dart between mine before she gently nods her head. I may have negotiated with her to add a few extra items onto her bucket lists in exchange for free rent. My requests were eerily similar to the ones Melanie had added seven months ago. 

“Now let’s get this party over with so I can see what you look like underneath that dress,” I say cheekily. Kylie giggles softly before accepting my hand I am holding open for her.

“They are all as shocked by your haircut as I was,” Kylie whispers in my ear as we make our way to the middle of the ballroom.

Kylie always assumes people gawk at us because they recognize me. I know that isn’t true. They are looking at us because she is so incredibly beautiful they can’t help but stare. Kylie didn’t even recognise me with my new haircut, so there is no chance in hell anyone in this room would recognize me. My dreads made me easily recognizable but now they that they are gone and I am wearing a tuxedo and a mask, I am completely incognito.

“They aren’t looking at me,” I respond, pulling her in close to my side, clearly indicating to every guy in this room that she is taken. A few get the hint and look away, but a few need a stern dagger or a finger point in their direction for them to finally get the hint.

I really wish she would wear that diamond engagement ring I brought her. I didn’t technically ask her to marry me. I just wanted her to wear it so all the roadies would back the fuck off. They still see Kylie a prime target since she has no ring on her finger, but she refuses to wear the ring I purchased. She said, until she is engaged or married she will not wear any ring on her ring finger, not even one that costs me millions of dollars.

By the time the auction starts, Kylie already has a few wines under her belt, making her bids more daring than normal.

“Four thousand dollars,” she bids, raising her number sixty-nine paddle into the air again. The gentleman bidding against her instantly raises his bid to five thousand dollars.

“Ten thousand dollars,” she announces without hesitation.

Her eyes dart over to the gentleman bidding against her. He is wearing a dark blue tuxedo and a large black feathered mask. From this distance, I have no clue who he is.

You would think I would be worried that she is bidding so high for one of my signed drum kits, but I’m not. All the money goes to Serena’s foundation and I get the benefit of Kylie paying me back in sexual favors.

The crowds all gasp in sync when the gentleman counter bids with twenty thousand dollars. Kylie turns to face me. Her face appears slightly panicked.

“I think I can get him to go higher,” she whispers quietly into my ear, seeking my permission. I chuckle loudly since I have just clicked on that Kylie is playing him. She can read people a mile away and she knows she has this sucker played.

I nod my head, not even caring that she may be wrong. She turns back to face the auctioneer.

“One hundred thousand dollars,” she announces loudly, forcing me to swallow harshly. I wasn’t expecting her to bid that high. A broad smile stretches across my face and my dick stiffens when I realize all the fun things I can add to her list for that amount of money.

Her eyes turn to look at the gentleman across the room. She fans her heated cheeks with her bidding paddle. The room has fallen into complete silence. As each second ticks by, Kylie’s smile slowly falters.

“One hundred and ten thousand dollars.” He counter bids, forcing one of the most radiant smiles I have even seen to form on Kylie’s face.

She slowly spins around to face me, trying her hardest to mask her excitement, but miserably failing. “I love you, but I don’t love you that much,” she says jokingly, forcing the people surrounding us to chuckle softly.    

Once the auction hits the gavel down on the podium, Kylie pouts playfully, before wrapping her arms around my neck.

“Sucker,” she whispers into my ear, causing me to chuckle softly.

Kylie returns to scanning the crowd, looking for any other sucker she can bid against, as the gentleman that won the auction makes his way across the room. It is only once he is standing in front of me and I look into his eyes do I realize who was bidding against Kylie.

“Hopefully this will make up for my lack in judgement,” Cormack says into my ear.

Noah and I may have had a few words with him when we found out he was planning on terminating Kylie’s employment since she couldn’t get health cover. Now any employee Destiny Record hires will be fully covered by the company’s medical insurance, no matter what their previous medical history may have been.

“It’s a start,” I reply, moving to stand next to Kylie.