10. Elijah
Chapter ten
Elijah
T he last time I spoke to Brie was a few days ago. I sent her a few messages, but she didn’t respond with actual words. All she did was like or heart them. I hadn’t asked if she had told her boyfriend or not, but I assumed that had something to do with why she had been so quiet.
I couldn’t get that damn simple kiss out of my head. Even my bandmates noticed that my mind had been elsewhere. Her not answering me was bothering me more than I cared to admit to anyone.
I was pulled from my thoughts when Hunter called out my name.
“Elijah, we’re on in ten.”
The adrenaline of stepping on the stage would never get old, especially at home in Tennessee. Hearing the crowd and seeing all the lights did something to my soul that I could never explain. It’s a high that not even alcohol gave me.
As I was singing our last song, I looked out into the crowd. I could swear I saw a glimpse of a familiar face a few rows back, her green eyes staring up at me. I closed my eyes to collect my thoughts and keep myself on task with singing. Brielle wasn’t there.
As I finished the song, the crowd and camera flashes erupted around me. My brother patted my back, yelling over the noise.
“Great fucking job, man. That was probably the best you have ever been.”
I couldn’t say anything back. I put my arm around him and searched the crowd again.
Had I just imagined Brielle?
I was in the middle of a conversation with Hunter about where we were traveling next when a very drunk Maxine threw herself onto my lap.
Maxine was our show opener. She wanted to tag along with us to the bar after the show. She was a curvy blonde, totally my usual type, but my brother had already warned me she wasn’t single, so that was the end of that.
I caught her, gripping her middle so she didn’t topple over. “Hey, handsome. How is your night going?”
I looked at Hunter, making sure I wasn’t hallucinating, and his look was just as surprised as mine. She seemed so timid earlier.
I looked back at Maxine. “Hey, are you okay?”
She flung her head back with a laugh that sounded like a hyena. “I am wonderful. I was just wondering when you were going to ask me to dance.”
“Isn’t your man somewhere around here? My brother said he was coming today.” I looked around and she pulled my face back to look at her.
“I only said I had a boyfriend so you guys wouldn’t hit on me. But the way you looked at me today…Mmm,” she moaned, making my dick twitch beneath her. “It made me want you even more than I already did.” She leaned in and whispered into my ear, “Are you going to take me somewhere more private?”
She snaked her hand between our bodies and cupped my dick over my jeans. I jumped, and so did my dick.
I stood without looking back at any of the guys and pulled her toward the bathrooms. Once inside the men’s room, and after making sure no one was in there, I locked the door and turned back to her. When I turned, she was already falling to her knees and reaching for my zipper.
I grabbed her wrist. “Maxine, you don’t have to do—” My words were cut off when she pulled the zipper down with her other hand and cupped me over my briefs.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
“Let me do what I need to do, and we can talk later. I’ve been thinking about getting this cock in my mouth all night.”
My head fell back and hit the door as she pulled my dick into her mouth. My fingers laced into her hair.
My phone buzzed, so I used my other hand to silence it in my pocket without even looking down.
She moaned around me. I didn’t know if it was simply that I hadn’t been with anyone in a while or if I was just mentally done with her already, but either way, I just wasn’t into it. I picked her up and put her on top of the double sink as I slipped one finger into her.
“Fuck, yes, Elijah. Oh my God. How…” She didn’t finish what she was going to say because she came with a vengeance. I covered her mouth with my other hand to stifle her moan.
I grabbed a paper towel to clean her up. “That was…amazing.” She leaned in and kissed my neck. That was my cue to end this. I didn’t really know what she thought was so amazing. She basically did it herself, and I just helped bring her over the top. I helped her off of the counter.
“That was amazing, thank you,” she added again.
“I don’t think I did much, but you’re welcome,” I chuckled.
“Can we not tell the guys that that just happened?” she asked.
I let out another laugh because if there was one thing I could guarantee, it’s that at least one of them was standing outside that door right now. I would bet my life on it.
“Sadly, I don’t think that will remain our secret once we walk out this door. One of the guys is always around trying to babysit me.”
She shrugged, “Eh, no biggie. Just figured I would try. I don’t really care.”
“Cool. Me either.”
I made sure she was good and opened the door. Beck was standing there with wide eyes. “I tried to call you when I saw you walking in here with her, but I couldn’t stop you.”
“Stop me for what? Why would you want to stop me?”
He nudged his head toward where we were sitting. Brielle’s perfect green eyes hit me right in the gut.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
I turned back to Beck. “What is she doing here?”
“Amani and Brielle came to surprise us. They are staying with Aubrey's dad. Amani came for me, well not for me but to hang out, I guess, and well, Brielle came…”
He didn’t have to finish. I knew what he was going to say. She came here for me, and I just got done finger fucking some girl in the bathroom and had my dick down her throat.
“Does she know I was—” I gestured to the bathroom.
He shrugged. “I mean, no one told her, but she’s not a fucking idiot. I am sure she assumes.”
I ran my fingers through my hair and immediately felt overwhelmed. I grabbed a drink off one of the shot girls’ trays and walked out the back door. “I need a smoke.”
I leaned against the brick building and closed my eyes as I took a few puffs of the cigarette.
“You smoke?”
My eyes flew open, and I lifted my head to look at Brielle. “Hey.”
She smiled, leaning against the building. “Hey, yourself.”
I moved toward her a little. “What are you doing here?”
She looked around. “Right this second, I am making sure my friend is okay. But if you are asking what I’m doing in Tennessee, I am delivering a few pictures I did for Aubrey’s dad’s music store.”
“You’re hand-delivering pictures?”
She looked down and seemed to blush a little.
“Kind of. I was going to just ship them, but then I was worried about them getting ruined, and he is family, so I figured a road trip to deliver them in person would be fun. I knew the drive from when Aubrey and I went home last time so I knew it wasn’t too bad.
Amani came with me because she wanted to see Beck.
They kind of have a thing happening.” She laughed. “I guess I surprised you.”
I took another drag of my cigarette. “Sure did. Why didn’t you say anything? I mean, you had to have known you were coming here last time we spoke.”
“Because it was a surprise dummy.” She paused. “So, are you okay?”
I took the last drag of my cigarette. “I am just wonderful.” I flicked the butt of the cigarette to the ground and put it out under my shoe.
“Good, I’m glad. I guess I'll go inside now since I feel like my arms are about to fall off from the cold.”
“It’s like fifty-five degrees out. That is not cold,” I joked.
She looked at me with slight defiance but not anger.
She shrugged, looking down at herself, then back at me.
“Well, I weigh practically nothing and don’t have an ounce of fat on me.
I am sorry I couldn’t be more like the girls you like and have some curves and insulation, but my skinny ass is cold.
” She looked almost surprised at herself for saying that.
“I wouldn’t want you to be anything like them.” I blurted out.
“What?”
“You are right. You’re nothing like them, and I wouldn’t want you to be. You are perfect. You are a Masterpiece, remember.”
She stared at me without saying anything.
“Let’s get you inside.”
She stared at me for a moment before she nodded. Before she walked all the way inside, she turned back toward me. “Ya know, you really shouldn’t litter like that.”
“Huh?”
“The cig butt. You should pick it up and throw it out.”
I looked back out at the ground, which was covered in them. “Uh, sure. I’ll do that later.”
She smiled at me, “Sure, ya will.” She walked in, shaking her head.
All I could do was smirk.
Brielle
I reached my hand out to the pretty blond sitting in front of me. “Hey, I’m Brielle. You can call me Brie, like the cheese.” I laughed. That was such a corny joke, but it always made everyone laugh.
“Maxine.” She nodded as she shook my hand.
She was gorgeous. I sat in the chair opposite her, and she leaned in. “So, how long have you been seeing El—” She stood up abruptly, cutting off her own question. Her eyes landed on something over my head, so I turned.
“Hey, ladies.” Eli sat down, and she stared at him like she was waiting for permission to sit on his lap or something. He looked up at her and motioned his head toward the chairs at the next table. “Grab one of those.”
Her face fell, but she recovered quickly. Once she sat down, she resumed the question. “So, how long have you been seeing Elijah?”
I almost spit out the water I was sipping. I coughed. “Excuse me?”
She looked at a very confused Elijah, then back to me. “You are Brielle, are you not? You just told me that was your name.”
“I am? But why would that mean I was with Elijah?” I gave him a dirty look, but he shrugged. It was clear he didn’t know what she was talking about either.
“Owen told me about you. You are the girl Elijah likes.”
Elijah choked on his drink. My cheeks heated. “I don’t…I…wait. You thought he had someone else, but you still went into the bathroom with him earlier?”
Elijah’s hands went up like he was trying to quiet everyone else. “Hold on. Do I have someone else?” Eli asked.
“Shush, you are missing the point.” I waved him off.
“Well, yeah. Tour sex doesn’t count. My boyfriend doesn’t mind.”
“Your what?” Elijah asked. A little too loudly.
“Oh, come on. You’ve never fucked around while on tour and had someone at home?”
“Never,” he said confidently. It made me smile inwardly until he said the rest, “I don’t date. I’ll never be tied down. Too complicated. But even if that changed, I would never cheat.”
He looked over at me.
“Oh, well, my boyfriend knows when I’m on tour we're in agreement that we are single. It's just how it goes.”
Elijah stood up. He was now getting looks from not only me but a few of the guys as well.
He turned to Maxine and ripped into her, “I would just like to clarify, you told me you didn’t have anyone.
Had I known, I never would have—” he looked around, his gaze landing on me.
“Done what we did.” He huffed as he gathered his things.
“I’m heading back to the bus. I will talk to you guys later. ”
He grasped my shoulder when he walked by me. The moment he touched me, shivers traveled down my body. “Thanks for coming. I loved seeing you.”
“Eli, I—”
Before I could finish, he was already out the back door.
A few minutes passed, and I realized no one was going to get up to check on him, so I did. I stepped out the back door. He wasn’t there. I called out for him twice, but he didn't answer.
I looked down to find that all the cigarette butts were picked up and placed in the trash. I hadn’t expected him to pick any of them up, let alone all of them.
I smiled. I could see right through that tough exterior he was trying to give off.