Slay Me (Rock Gods #1) (13 page)

             
He knew she'd run if he tried it.

             
She was more than aware of his track record. But those marriages had been shams. A procession of hot, placid girls who clung to him like glue. Not one of them had challenged him like she did. Not one had excited him this way either.

             
He was eagerly suckling her glorious tits when the knock came on the door.

             
"GO AWAY!"

             
He grinned down at her.

             
"See love? Problem solved."

**********

              Sabrina stared out the window at the paparazzi who were huddled together outside Le Baron. Nick's rehearsal had just finished and they were eating the most sumptuous meal she'd ever had in her life. She was wearing the new Givenchy dress that Nick had insisted on buying her that afternoon. It was raw gold toned silk and deceptively simple, fitting her body like a glove. Then there were the Dior shoes. They were shimmering snakeskin pumps with an ornate floral design on the toe and heel.

             
He had one rule for the sales women. No black.

             
She'd tried to stop him from spending so much money on her but he'd been adamant. He kept reminding her of her promise to be agreeable. In the end, he'd simply worn her down. As a result they'd bought her bags of designer clothing and shoes.

             
Two Chanel handbags were back in the hotel room, in addition to the Dior clutch that sat on the table beside her.

             
A new Cartier watch was on her wrist.

             
She'd seen him eyeing some rings as well. She'd felt panicked already, just from the sheer volume of money he was spending. If he bought her a ring she would faint on the spot. He caught the look in her eyes and wisely moved down to the earrings.

             
Pave diamond earrings.

             
She fingered the matching pave pendant hanging on her chest. Nick was ordering something for them. Another bottle of champagne. He was in his element, knowing exactly what to get. Surprisingly, his French was impeccable.

             
Nick was full of surprises.

**********

              Nick stared out over the throngs of screaming Italian fans. He was in his element, performing better than ever before. And it was all because of her.

             
The last few weeks had been bliss. He wasn't getting much sleep, but neither was she.

             
They were insatiable for each other.

             
For the first time in years he wasn't drinking excessively.

             
All of this was adding up to him feeling better than he ever had before.

             
Because of her.

             
As much as he loved performing, he was eager to get off stage and finish what they'd started in the dressing room. He'd requested whipped cream from craft services. He'd been eating the foamy spray off her nipples when the call to start the show had come. He'd just licked a whole portion from between her thighs.

             
He was ready for a second helping. Sabrina had mentioned that she had a sweet tooth as well.

             
Bloody hell. That thought was making it hard almost impossible to concentrate.

             
The crowd didn't seem to notice. For once in his life, it felt like he could do no wrong.

             
He even thought he was bringing her around to the idea of being his wife. He made casual references to things they would do, far in the future. The first few times she had given him startled glances. But lately she was taking it in stride.

             
Progress.

             
Finally the show was drawing to a close. He was off the stage like a shot, even before the crowd had started screaming.

             
The moment he was off stage he could tell something was wrong.

             
Sabrina wasn't there.

             
She wasn't in the dressing room.

             
He ran down the hallway just in time to see her walking out of the stage door of the arena.

Fourteen

             
Sabrina refused to cry.

             
She'd known this was going to happen, hadn't she? It shouldn't have come as a surprise.

             
But it had. A terrible, gut wrenching surprise. She was still reeling an hour later as she rode alone in a cab back to the hotel.

             
If only she hadn't heard them talking. She could have gone on pretending a little while longer.

             
But it was no use. The spell was broken, their words echoing endlessly on repeat in her head. She stared out the window and relived the scene she'd walked in on at the concert.

             
The road crew had been with Nick forever. He considered them all his mates, he even knew them all  by name.

             
Obviously he'd been talking to them a lot when she wasn't around. She'd come back stage just in time to overhear them talking. About her.

             
"Oh come on. You know you wonder how she is in bed."

             
"Don't have to. Got the Nick Falcon rank right from the horses mouth."

             
"Shut up."

             
"Nope. He gave her a ten. Said she was the best lay he'd had in his life."

             
"The best? Out of how many?"

             
"Thousands mate. He rated her that high."

             
"Hell, I'd give her an eight on those tits alone."

             
"Amen to that!"

             
They were talking about her. Dissecting her like she was a piece of meat.

             
But she was.

             
They'd said he'd slept with thousands of women. Thousands.

             
She'd been with four.

             
Sabrina felt ill at the thought. And then it hit her. He hadn't just rated her for their amusement. He'd lumped her in with the rest of them.

             
She wasn't special, or different.

             
She was just another groupie.

             
The dream was over.             

**********

              Nick was frantic on the ride back to the Villa Borghese. He stormed through the hotel lobby until he was in his room. What he saw there send a shiver of ice down his spine.

             
Sabrina was leaving him.

             
"What are you doing?"

             
"What does it look like? I'm packing."

             
He grabbed her shoulders.

             
"Stop this. Tell me what's wrong."

             
"It's good to hear that I rate so high on your ranking system Nick. But I'm not interested in being another number."

             
"What are you talking about? You're not a bloody number to me."

             
She stared at him coldly.

             
"Please let me go."

             
He looked down at his hands. He was gripping her shoulders tightly. He forced his hands to relax.

             
She stepped away so quickly that he knew he had lost her. He felt like someone had just stabbed him in the gut.

              "Please don't do this Sabrina."

             
She didn't look at him, just continued packing until she zipped up her bag. Then she stood up and looked right into his eyes.

             
"We both knew this wasn't going anywhere Mr. Falcon. I just got a little wake up call as to why courtesy of your road crew."

             
"I'll bloody kill them! What did they say?"

             
"It's not their fault really, is it? They were just stating the facts."

             
"Please, tell me Sabrina, so I can fix it."

             
"You can't fix this, Mr. Falcon. It's not your fault. It's mine. You can't change who you are. I'm the foolish one for thinking you had."

             
"Stop bloody calling me that! I'm Nick, remember?"

             
He held her by the shoulders again. He could see her eyes were full of unshed tears. And hurt. He'd caused her terrible pain somehow. Slowly he released her.

             
She picked up her bag and rolled it toward the front door.

             
"Where are you going?"

             
"To get a hotel room. Did you think I was leaving? I can't leave, remember? I still have a job to do."

             
She stared at him proudly, holding back tears.

             
"Unless you want to call Jerry and release me from this joke. I'd- I'd like to go home."

             
He stared at her, full of rage. She was taking the only thing that mattered to him away. He gritted his teeth and shook his head slowly.

             
"Hell no."

             
She stared at him as if he was the lowest form of life known to man.

             
Maybe he was.

             
He heard the door close behind her as he stared blindly around the room.

             
That's when he saw it.

             
She'd left behind all the things he had bought her.

             
He strode across the room to the bar.

**********

              Sabrina dabbed makeup under her eyes. She'd been crying and it showed. The last thing she wanted to do was give him the satisfaction of knowing he had hurt her.

             
It was a week since they'd broken up, if you could call it that. One horrible week.

             
They'd been in Sweden for two days. Nick's concert was that night. She had to go upstairs to make sure he was prepared. Well that wasn't true exactly. He'd sent Marley to
demand
her presence.

             
He'd  been doing a lot of that recently. At first he'd called her upstairs and tried to bargain with her, to win her back. It was all a game to him. One he didn't like losing. But she wasn't moved.

             
Then he'd started deliberately making her life difficult. He made her ride with him to Berlin but after six uncomfortable hours of silence, he informed her she could ride with the band to Sweden. She'd booked herself a flight and met them there at the Grand Hotel Stockholm.

             
For every move he made, she had a counter move. She would never admit it but he was wearing her down. It wouldn't  be long before she fell back into his arms.

             
Besides, she missed him.

             
He'd been drunk and belligerent almost constantly since she'd called things off. Somehow he still drew her to him like a moth to a flame. Now she was worried about him as well. And dreading being forced to watch him take the constant parade of groupies up on their offers of no strings sex. So far he'd turned them all down as far as she could tell, but it was just a matter of time.

             
She pulled on her blazer and prepared to face him again. She wasn't sure how many more times she could do this before she begged him to take her back. She could feel herself wanting to do it. She was close to doing anything, humiliating herself in front of him.

             
She took the elevator up to the penthouse and pressed the buzzer. Marley smiled at her sadly as he opened the door. There was something apologetic in his eyes as she walked past him.

             
In just a second she saw why. Nick was shirtless and working out, doing pushups in the middle of the floor. Empty champagne bottles were everywhere.

             
So were girls.

             
Three of them to be exact. Sabrina did a double take. They were triplets. Three blond, very buxom triplets.

             
She felt an odd twisting feeling in her gut. She stared down at the floor, grasping her leather folio to her chest. Then she opened it and pulled out the schedule for the next few days.

**********

             
Nick watched Sabrina's face carefully. She was standing there, stiffer than a statue. He was hoping for more of a reaction than this. That's why he'd had Marley let the bloody girls in to begin with.

             
He was hoping to make her jealous.

             
She lifted her eyes and crossed the room to him, holding out a piece of paper. He stood up and leisurely wiped himself down with a towel, making her stand there and wait. His eyes drank the sight of her in. She'd been avoiding him all week, driving him to take more and more drastic measures in his attempts to win her back. He took in the opportunity to look her over, to refresh his memory of what had slipped through his fingers.

             
What he had lost.

             
That's when he saw it. Her hand was shaking. His eyes jumped to hers, boring into them. She was fighting back tears. She wasn’t as immune to him as she pretended to be.

             
He knew it. He felt it in his gut.

             
She still wanted him. Even if she didn't want to.

             
She
definitely
did not want to.

             
There was something so fragile about her standing there. She looked like she might break into a thousand pieces if he touched her.

             
Damn it, he might have pushed this too far.

             
He took the paper from her and glanced at it. Anything to get her hand to stop shaking.

             
"This looks fine. Thanks."

             
"Good. Then I'll just-"

             
He stared at her while she floundered for words. Sabrina was never at a loss for something clever to say. That’s part of what he loved about her. Her ready wit and razor sharp mind. She stared at him mutely for another moment. Then she just nodded to herself and turned away.

             
"Sabrina- wait-"

             
But she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at the triplets. The girls were giggling and preening on the couch, their clothes barely covering their ample assets. He hadn't fucked them. Wasn't going to. But there was no way for her to know that. Or any reason for her to come to any conclusion other than the obvious one.

             
Damn it.

             
"Sabrina."

             
She faced him. Her smile was over bright, forced. He could tell she was hurt. But she also looked relieved somehow. After all, he'd just proven her right, hadn't he?

             
"Have a good show tonight Mr. Falcon."

             
She left the room then. Marley came back in and gave him a look of supreme disappointment. Nick knew exactly how he felt. He was bloody disappointed in himself.

He
had ten days before this leg of the tour was over. He had time to win her back. He'd tell her tonight that nothing had happened with the girls. That she was the only one he wanted.

             
"Get rid of them."

**********

              Sabrina walked quickly back to her hotel room. She refused to cry until she was safely inside.