Straight from the Heart (23 page)

Hour passed and I was finally back at the
loft after dropping off Vince, Luke and Raptor, with Cale passed
out face down on my bed.
So much for ‘taking care’ of him
tonight
I thought. Taking a quick shower, I put on a loose
fitting t-shirt and underwear, slipping under the covers next to
Cale.

“About time you joined me…” Cale’s voice was
muffled from the pillow underneath him.

“How are you feeling?” I asked him, turning
over so I faced him.

“My head hurts like a damn freight train,”
he replied, rubbing a hand over his forehead “But come here, B, I
want to hold you.” I scooted myself back until my butt was directly
rubbing against his erection. I swear the thing had a mind of its
own because once my skin touched his, that damn thing sprang to
life, poking me half to death.

“I’m not going to be able to sleep against
you like this, Pelton, your dick’s thinking for you.” Immediately
covering my mouth, I couldn’t believe I just said that! My face
flushed beat red and was glad he couldn’t see it. I felt Cale shake
from laughter behind me, only turning me on more…not good.

“Did you just say what I think you just
said?” He teased me, moving a hand to lie on my stomach beneath my
t-shirt. The cold touch against my warm skin caused me to jump a
little, causing Cale to grip me harder against his body. “I don’t
talk silent, Bryn Michelle Schaefler. You should repeat what you
said.”

Covering my face, I somehow wished he would
forget my words. “No,” I whispered, hiding a small smile behind my
hands.

“Oh no you don’t. I’ll resort to tickling in
some forbidden places,” Cale whispered in return against my
ear.

My head whipped around to meet his. I kissed
him quickly on the lips and said “Don’t you dare.” Trying to reach
for his hands in attempt to avoid being tickled to death, he
grabbed mine first. Climbing on top of me so his body rested in
between my legs, he trapped my wrists above me, so I couldn’t get
away from him.

“So this thing has a mind of its own huh?”
Cale asked, referring to what was sticking straight out in his
pajama pants. I wrapped my legs around his back as high as I could
to get him closer to me. I knew in the back of my mind I shouldn’t
do this…especially when he was drunk, but he seemed to have sobered
up pretty quickly.

I was ready. More than ready.

“Cale…I…” I tried to spit out that I wanted
him right then and now, but the kissing and suckling on my neck was
just making me want to scream.

He stopped, his eyes roaming from my neck up
to my eyes. “What is it, baby?” Not knowing that he let my hands
slip back down to my sides, they started fumbling with the hem of
his pants, slipping them down his body just an inch so he’d get the
hint. Glancing down, he gave me a curious look. “What do you think
you’re doing?”

I turned my head away to gain my composure
and turned it back to face him. Deep breath…say it Bryn. “I want to
do it.” I said proudly, thinking how awkward I was saying that I
“wanted” him. I never said that.

Cale’s mouth dropped. He gestured between
us. “You mean you want me to finally make love to you like I’ve
wanted to since day one?” The look on his face was pure excitement.
Here I was, thinking I was the luckiest girl in the world. Cale
could’ve had any other girl out there. He had the choice to take
groupies back to the bus every night, screwing them while I
listened in the next bunk over. But he didn’t. He chose me. When I
nodded excitedly, his lips crushed onto mine, giving me no room to
breathe. I moved my fingers through his scruffy bed hair as he
started grinding against my skin between my legs.

His hand managed to slip underneath my
oversized t-shirt, grabbing ahold of my underwear and ripping them
off my body with no protest from me. Throwing them to the floor
beside us, his hands cupped my ass, flipping us around so I
straddled him. I fingered the bottom of the shirt and pulled it
over my head within seconds. I had forgotten I was wearing no bra,
so now I was sitting on top of Cale Pelton, completely butt ass
naked.

I tried covering myself up, but Cale moved
my arms so he could get a full view.

“Why are you hiding?” He asked sweetly. “You
are so unbelievably beautiful, Bryn. You have no idea.” Then he
transitioned me back over to lie on my back, him over me, reaching
for a condom in his back pocket.

“Is it going to hurt?” I knew nothing about
the specifics of sex. I was terrified I was going to feel sore for
days on end. Inside my head I was a nervous wreck, but my heart
knew that it was time, and Cale was the guy for me.

“You can ask questions like that, B, and not
feel embarrassed.” Cale let out a light chuckle. “It might at
first, but after the initial shock you should be good. You’ll feel
more pleasure than pain, trust me.” He gave me a peck on the lips.
Slipping the condom over his shaft, I watched in awe.
Damn, how
is that going to fit inside of me?
 I asked myself,
watching intently. He climbed back on top of me and lowered himself
to my entrance.

“If it hurts too much you tell me to stop
babe, okay?”

I nodded. “It’s okay. I’ll bear with the
pain. It’s worth it.” Giving him a reassuring smile, he gave me one
last kiss on the lips, eyes never leaving mine. He guided his shaft
to the very tip of my entrance and I initially squirmed. Gripping
the sheets on each side of me, I braced myself for more pain as he
pushed in even further, inch by inch.

“One last chance,” he breathed. “Are you
sure?”

“Yes.” I moaned, and that was that.

I woke up the next morning to a full course
breakfast on my table. Smelling fresh bacon and scrambled eggs, I
pulled the covers off my head to see Cale setting napkins and cups
down across from each other. Not wanting him to know I was awake, I
peeked out of one of my eyes, my hands covering the other one. He
was still shirtless, and his sweatpants hung low below his waist. I
could see the tattoo on his shoulder as he flexed his arms over his
head to stretch, and then get back to the task at hand. I watched
him pull a frying pan from the stove, scooping some pancakes onto a
paper plate and setting them next to a vase of flowers.

Shaking my head at all the trouble he was
going through, I threw the covers off dragged my feet to stand on
the floor. As soon as I stood up, the bed creaked, which startled
Cale out of his daze.

His eyes raked over my newly non-virgin body
and his lips curled up. “Did I wake you?”

“Mmmm nope. That amazing smell did,” I
admitted, walking over to where he stood by the table. Gesturing
towards the food, I asked him “How’d you have time to do this? It
looks so yummy…”

“I couldn’t sleep,” He joked, linking a
pinky finger with mine. “After the night we had, the furthest thing
from my mind was sleep.”

I grinned, replaying the events from the
late night in my head. I had lost my virginity to the most amazing
man I had ever met, and although I was sore and feeling gross after
the first time, I didn’t back down until I couldn’t keep my eyes
open. Cale had made me feel things I’d never felt before and
treated me like a princess. It would get to the point where I
couldn’t handle it and he would slow down, whispering in my ear how
I was the best girl he’d ever had, and how he was so lucky he got
to be my first. It was absolutely perfect. Not rose petals on the
bed and candles on the tables kind of perfect, but it was just
right for me.

I slightly nudged him. “I had a lot of
learning to do. You were a good teacher.”

“Oh trust me babe, there’s so many other
ways. But damn, I can’t even describe you.” I could feel his
erection already pressing against my hip. “Just thinking of how I
made you come is making me hard as a rock again.”

“Let’s eat first before everything gets
cold.” I told him. “And then we can have round whatever we’re
on.”

I’d never seen Cale eat faster in the almost
5 months that I had known him. He was sure to eat my portion too. I
was taking my sweet time, savoring every taste of bacon and maple
syrup, but I knew he had other things on his mind he’d rather be
doing that eating breakfast.  

“Are you gonna finish that??” Cale demanded,
growing more impatient by the minute.

I slid the plate in his direction. “Go for
it,” I replied, and he ate what was remaining in one big bite.
“Damn do you have some place else to be or something since you’re
eating so quickly?”

He smiled and held onto my hand from across
the table. “In that bed.” I knew exactly what he meant. So we spent
the rest of the morning in bed cuddling and him showing me how much
he loved me…which I couldn’t get enough of.

With the new album coming out, we had to do
promoting. We also had to pick out our first single and shoot a
music video, do interviews, YouTube updates, and I never realized
that so much work came with a new album. But with Tyler on board,
the whole process still went smoothly. It wasn’t like they hired
another stranger off the street like they did when they took a
chance on me.

We were having a phone meeting with Walker
and discussing what our first single should be. He and a few other
executives had the first cut of the album before it was finalized.
I wasn’t too familiar with how record label owners should be, but
Walker seemed pretty involved with all of the bands signed to the
label, which was  a pretty big deal considering our label was
one of the best out there at the time.

After lunch the guys and I met up at the
warehouse where we practiced to call Walker.

“Hey there how are my newest rock stars
doing?” Walker bellowed into the phone.

“Pretty rested and refreshed, how are you?”
I answered, kind of wishing my brother was sitting beside him right
now.

“Not too bad myself. How’s Raptor holding up
now after the accident?”

“Getting there,” Cale replied. “He’s going
to try to tour with us and set everything up since doctor said he
can’t play or anything.”

“Glad to hear he’s recovering well guys. And
Tyler, are you happy to be back?”

“Yes I am thank you. It’s an honor to be a
part of the band again with my friends and signed to a great
label,” Tyler said, sounding nervous.

Walker let out a hefty chuckle. “Well listen
guys. I had a listen to the album just yesterday, and I must say
while I have you on the phone that it is absolute perfection. I
have a really good feeling about this record. I’ve listened to your
other 2 records and demo from when you guys first started and every
release just gets better and better. Cale, your voice can put some
of these other big time guys to shame, I can’t get enough of
listening to all of these songs. Sure you’re probably thinking I
say that to all of the bands we’ve signed, but this really is going
to be big. I can feel it in my old bones.” He laughed again. “One
thing I’ll say that sets you out is that you have Bryn singing
beside you. That’s what will draw those crowds in on that tour
coming up. I have never had a doubt in my mind about signing
Everlasting ever since I heard you the first time.”

All of us had cheesy grins on our faces.
Getting a compliment from the owner of our label was huge.

“So what do you have in mind for the
single?” Cale asked. “We were all talking and thought about ‘You
Were Young,’ but it was between that and a few others.”

Walker remained silent, and then I could
hear him clear his throat. “You guys need something that’s hard
hitting, gets peoples attentions. I think that’d be the perfect
choice. I’ll get Richard Marx to call you and you guys could meet
up in Detroit or in the area to shoot as soon as possible does that
sound good?”

“Richard Marx?” I mouthed to Tyler, who was
on my other side.

“He directed a few of our videos before.”
Tyler whispered. “Brilliant with the camera.” I made a mental note
to pull up old Everlasting videos that night on my phone when I got
home.

“Sounds good,” Cale told Walker. “Thank you
so much for having faith in us. Bryn wanted to know how Brayden was
doing at the label.”

I shot him a dirty look. ‘No I didn’t!’ I
wanted to say.

“Haven’t you heard?” Walker asked us. “He
took off. I haven’t seen him since a week after the dinner we had
in Los Angeles with you. No sign of him anywhere. Strange. He was
always on time and seemed to like what he did.” Changing the
subject, he said “I better let you guys go. Got a couple of
meetings with some of the other groups and make sure you keep in
touch, okay?”

We shouted “Okay!” in unison and said thank
you once again.

Once that phone call was over, we all
breathed a sigh of relief. Except what Walker said about Brayden
had my stomach tied into knots. He just packed up his stuff and
left? Again? I didn’t say anything to the guys after the call and
band practice, but I was almost 100% sure now he was the cause of
Raptors injuries. But why? I didn’t understand it. I would have to
dig deeper to find out why he could’ve done something so horrible,
but I knew I wasn’t going to like the outcome.

Back in town, Cale talked Louisa into
letting him help cook in the kitchen for a couple of nights.
Alberto Jr. was sick, so she agreed without any questions. When I
saw him back in the kitchen with Alberto and the other cooks, I
wanted to giggle. It was too hard to concentrate on taking orders
when I could feel Cale’s presence in the restaurant, and his eyes
on me.

As I was finishing ringing up a customer,
Rachel, one of the new waitresses, stood beside me and made a
whistling noise towards Cale’s direction.

“He’s from the band too right?” Rachel asked
me.

“Yeah he’s the lead singer.” I pointed out.
“And my boyfriend.” I had hoped it would’ve crushed her hopes at
trying to get into his bed, but there wasn’t a dash of sadness on
her face. I learned quickly that she was the type of girl that
would do anything to get a guy to notice her. Two could play that
game tonight. I excused myself to give my last customer their
change and sneak back to the kitchen area, knowing that Rachel was
watching with disgust.