STONED (Wrecked Book 1) (17 page)

“What are you doing here?” I ask, not giving him a chance to answer before my lips are back on his, my teeth nipping at his plump bottom lip. “You’re not supposed to be back until tomorrow, I thought.” Hands cradling my head now, he tugs my hair gently to reveal my throat and scrapes his teeth down the exposed skin before pulling back to answer.

“Couldn’t wait another day to get my hands all over you, Wills. I hate being away from you like this,” he whispers, pressing his forehead to mine. I nod in agreement.

“I hate it too. One more semester though and I’ll be finished with school. Then maybe I can go on tour with you guys, at least in the summer, if I’m able to get a teaching job,” I appease. It would be so easy for me to just drop my classes and follow him, but I can’t do that. I promised my aunt before she died that I would finish my degree and not give up on my dream to teach music in order to support Stone in his. She loved Stone like a son, but she saw him for what he was—a moody, broody, rock star destined for greatness—and while she couldn’t be any more proud of him, she also didn’t want me to lose myself in Stone’s shadow.

“It’s not enough. I need you with me all the time, Birdie. You’re my music.”

“I know, Stone. But I have to finish. For auntie. For me.” He brushes his nose against mine and looks at me with those gray eyes I love so much. They’re like a storm. Always brewing, constantly on the brink of rain. Not just gray but blue and slate and beautiful.

With his lips pressed to mine he sighs into my mouth, “You’re right. I would never ask you to quit, but any time you want to, you can. Shit, Birdie, with what we’re making, you’ll never have to work again,” he says excitedly. I can’t help but smile at how happy that makes him. He was an orphan who never had anything. Stone wants to be able to provide for me, for us, for a family and not have me kill myself working if I don’t want to. Stone gets the innate need to support me because he came from nothing. It’s an admirable trait, but I want to be able to support myself doing something that I love as well.

“That’s your money, Stone. And I want to do this. It’ll be good practice for me for when we have kids,” I tell him, smiling.

There’s no doubt that he’s my guy. Stone has been my only everything, and he always will be. He’s my heart’s song. The day I met him I knew there was no turning back. It took him a little longer to figure it out, and I watched him go through girls left and right and tried not to let it kill me. I survived, reminding myself boys are slower than we are. Then one day it’s like a switch flipped, he looked at me in a new light a little confused. He asks me now what he asked me then, what he asks me every time we’re apart, whether it’s for an hour, a day, a month.

“Where the hell you been, Birdie? My heart doesn’t beat in rhythm when you’re not around. You gotta know I need you, to be me.”

“Right here, Stone. I’ve been right here waiting for you.”

“Damn right you have.”

With one final deep breath, I swipe the tears from my face, pushing the memory aside. I’ve cried too many tears over Stone Lockhart. I won’t allow him to do any more damage than I already have. It’s not just me I have to protect now. Stone may have been the greatest love of my life, but he wouldn’t be the last. Resolve firmly in place, I throw the Jeep into drive and turn the radio up, drowning out my thoughts with some Sia, because when it comes to Stone there’s no telling what my heart will talk my mind into.

I tried calling Perry on my way over but she never picked up, so I left her a voice mail with the Cliff notes version of what went on. She must’ve just heard it because she’s sending text after text demanding the details. Shaking my head, I shoot off a quick message,

Me: You should’ve picked up. I’m freaking out, Per!

Perry: Had I not been fluffing for some lame ass rock star with a tiny dick I would have.

Me: You were the fluffer?

Leave it to Perry to be able to put a smile on my face when my whole world was being kicked right off its axis.

Perry: No. Not really. It’s a long story but I’m gonna need yours first.

Perry: You OK?

Perry: Of course you’re not. I’ll be waiting at your place. I love you!!!!!!

Me: Thanks. Love you too.

I’m glad she didn’t give me a chance to respond to her questions.

“
Hey, baby girl. What’re you doing hiding in the corner here? I almost missed ya!”

I glance up just as Cora makes it to my table. “Nothing, just thinking about how depressed I’m about to make everyone tonight.” I smile, even if it does hold some sadness.

“Bear told me he showed up in town. You okay?” Wise eyes stare back at me. There is no use lying to her—she’d see right through me. So I don’t.

“Not even close to okay.”

She tilts her head at me, her glossy platinum hair following the movement. Cora nods. “I’m glad you didn’t try to bullshit me. Woulda seen it coming from a mile away, baby girl.” She covers my hand with hers, stilling my nervous tapping. “Tomorrow, coffee and a chat when I don’t have to scream to be heard, eh? I’m on my way home now to take Lyric to see mama. Tomorrow,” she repeats.

“I’ll bring the donuts,” I answer, glad for the little break that I will get tonight. It’s all too fresh to talk about right now and I for sure don’t want to do it here.

“Good. You want your hot tea now or do you want to wait for Bear?” she asks, standing beside my chair.

“With a little honey in it?” I implore, sweetly.

“Because you’ve had a miserable damn day, I will. But don’t get used to it.” Her fake glare would be more menacing if she could keep the twinkle out of her bright blue eyes.

I raise my hand to vow I won’t and she harrumphs and goes off to make my drink. It’s a little ritual of mine that she picked up on right away. It’s things like that that make her so damn special.

Stone

“YOU SURE ABOUT THIS, STONE?”
Judge asks, his hand on the door of a little bar called The Dirty Bird. Fitting for
my
Birdie. It took Judge and Law a couple days to find out where she’s been playing, but the minute they did and confirmed her schedule, I started making plans for us to come see her. Taking one last drag of my cigarette, I drop it in the ashtray at the entrance right next to the big God damn sign that says “NO SMOKING EVEN IF IT IS A FUCKING BAR.” They clearly think it’s bullshit too.

“I’m fine. It’ll be okay.” He’s worried about the fact that it’s a bar and as part of my rehab, I’ve also given up drinking. This will be the first time I’ve stepped foot into a bar or been around alcohol really. The guys support me by not drinking. I pat my pocket and pull out a sucker, popping it in my mouth, smiling around the stick. “Promise if shit gets bad we’re outta here. I just want to see her. It’s been so long since I’ve heard her sing, seen her play like this.” Pulling the sucker out of my mouth I reassure them all one more time, “Not gonna fuck this up. Can’t. Not if I have any chance in hell of ever getting her back.”

Arrow, who arrived a couple hours ago, brushes Judge out of the way, “Let’s go. He’ll be fine. He’s gotta learn to survive this shit sometime; he’s got a great motivator in there. And I’ll personally whoop his ass if he even looks like he wants to get stupid.”

“In your fucking dreams, Ro,” I laugh, glad for the tension breaker. He opens the door, bowing deeply, the sounds of an acoustic guitar floating out at us along with the mingled scents of alcohol, sawdust, and a touch of sweat. I suck in a deep breath but it’s not the smells that sucker punch me, it’s the music. Seems like a lifetime since I’ve heard her play. It’s a little overwhelming. As stupid as that fucking seems. A hand on my shoulder pushes me forward.

“God, that voice. Let’s go see our girl do the damn thing,” Law says eagerly.

They’ve missed her too. I know they have, but they knew Willow being gone was best for her. So they let her stay that way until I got my shit together. Tugging the ball cap I’m wearing down lower over my eyes, I enter the dark bar. Lollipop firmly in place as I concentrate on
not
concentrating on the people all around me drinking. Arrow taps my arm and points to an empty table away from the lights of the small stage. A place where we could remain unseen from the room and hopefully not draw a ton of attention. It’s not often that we go out in public together, especially without some kind of security like this, because we’re bound to be recognized, but we do our best to blend. It’s a chance I’m willing to take tonight.

We take our seats quietly as Wills is setting up for another song. The moment we sit, a waitress appears at Judge’s side. He gives her an order I can’t hear, nor do I care, my gaze transfixed to the stage. Willow sits on a stool, feet propped on the bottom rung, her Martin sitting in her lap as she talks to someone at a table right up front. My leg is bouncing out a beat as I watch her fingers start strumming, thoughtfully, like she’s debating on what she’ll play next. I see it as soon as she makes up her mind. Her fingers move with purpose, sure of the song now.

Willow isn't a performer. She’s too honest and pure for that. She plays and sings with her heart. If she’s mad, she sings angry shit. Happy, she smiles throughout the whole damn song making you smile too. But I know the moment I hear the chords of “Over,” this set she’s working on is all me. She can’t see me in the corner here, but she sings for me nonetheless, and I feel every fucking word. Every last note as she pours her heart out. This is a Willow that was always reserved for me. She never wanted to be in the spotlight. We begged her to be in the band and not just help write the music, but she said no, over and over. But when it was just her and I, this was the Birdie I got. We would play for each other for hours, late into the night, sometimes it would lead to us fucking, and other times it was because we had just finished, our bodies sated, but our souls still full of passion and adrenaline. A naked Wills wearing nothing but a guitar is the most beautiful fucking sight in the world and just thinking about it now makes me hard.

“Stone? Babe? Wake up, I can’t sleep.” I can hear her but can’t make my eyes open to see her. The bed shifts and then dips. Willow straddling my lap has my eyes opening slowly, blinking the sleep away. I suck in a breath when I can finally focus. My beautiful Birdie is sitting astride me, completely naked except for her brand new custom Martin. Her fingers lovingly stroking over the fret board. “I wrote you a new song,” she whispers excitedly. Peering up at her, I can see the excitement on her face, the love in her whiskey-colored eyes. As she starts playing I shift. My bottom lip clamped between my teeth I gently tug the sheet lower down my legs inconspicuously. She begins singing and I feel a lightness wash over me. Her words like a balm on my now overly heated skin. Every time she opens her mouth, beauty pours from it, and I have the urge to fill her. Fill her any way that I can so that I can touch that music. Be her music the way she’s mine. Entranced, I watch as Willow falls into her zone, eyes closed, face intense in its peacefulness. As she hits the bridge, her voice raising an octave, I slip inside her. Pussy wet, always so wet when she gets like this, I thrust. Her eyes don’t open, but she softens, all of her relaxing into me. When I begin rocking back and forth, slowly, rhythmically in sync with the chords she plays, she falters for a beat. Gradually her eyes open, landing on mine just long enough for me to see all the love from moments ago turned to lust and a deep, needy want. She’s close. Thank fuck.

Careful to not bump the guitar, I slide my thumb to her clit and play her, same as she plays her Martin. Silently we make music together as her song envelopes us, breathier than before. I join in on the chorus, my raspy voice melding with hers as I fuck her, pushing us both over the edge.

Blissed out and with hands on her thighs, I smile wickedly, “Sing it for me again, Wills.”

I’m brought from my thoughts when Law elbows me. “Where’d you go, bro? You okay?” he whispers just as the song finishes and she takes a moment to sip from her mug. I’d bet money it was tea. She always drank tea to soothe her throat when she was serious about a session or we had a lot to work out in the studio.