Reckless

Chapter 16

Left to my own devices while Krista is inside, I foolishly scan the internet. There are stories breaking about Cody and how he fucked over Reckless Soul. People are speculating whether it has anything to do with why the band is on a break. Or more importantly, why I’ve disappeared. Some are even speculating I have something to do with the fraud. That boils my piss.

I fire a text off to Paul about it because contacting Solene might bring on more problems than I can be assed to deal with right now. He gets back to me straight away, thank fuck.

Paul

Yeah, the label is aware. Far as I know, they are gonna put a statement out about it saying the two aren’t related so don’t freak out

Jude

Kinda hard when the world is speculating I’m a fucking thief

Paul

Don’t let it bother you. We all know the truth

Jude

When they’re accusing you of this bullshit, come back and tell me about how not to be bothered

Paul

You can always reappear and say it’s bullshit. Ask someone else for advice if you don’t like mine

I lock my phone. I won’t get anything else out of Paul. It’s easier said than done letting it go. Is it more important to speak up than it is to stay with Krista and keep her protected?

Before last night, I would have said it was best to go back. Now, I can’t bring myself to do it. And it’s not just about the fact we fucked. That’s a bonus. In fact, it’s one hell of a bonus. I’ve had more fun with her in the last five days than I have ever had with any other woman, even the ones I’ve been in relationships with.

There is still no sign of her from the store. The hat is doing enough to keep people from looking over here. I guess hats like this aren’t uncommon around here. I’ve seen a couple of other guys wearing cowboy hats wandering around. Especially those driving large trucks. It does a good job of keeping anyone from seeing my face. And keeping the sun out of my eyes. It’s damn hot here.

I smile a little, thinking about how Krista looked at me when I came out of the bedroom wearing it. I could almost read her mind. She had that sexy as fuck look on her face, like she wanted to jump me.

I would have let her if we weren’t at a gas station. Although, who would know what we were doing inside this vehicle?

I’m not an insatiable beast unable to control myself. Well, maybe able to control myself for a while, but the thought of getting her under me again has my cock twitching.

What is taking so long? I look back up at the store and see her walking past the window. She’s filling up a basket. Wonder if she is buying more condoms. Not that we need them, given the size of the box she got back in Wall.

A couple walk by. The woman looks over as my head is lifted. She does a double take, but I duck my head, so the brim of the hat covers my face, then head back inside the RV.

It’s not safe standing around out here. Given my face is being blasted all over the media again because of this scandal with Cody, I’ve got to be even more careful.

Parched, I get a bottle of water from the fridge and sit down at the dining table. I keep thinking about Krista going to meet her friends. I get the impression she doesn’t want me tagging along, and that’s fine. I get it. She’s thinking of me.

Do I even want to meet her friends? It’s surprising to me that the answer to that question is yes. I do. I want to know everything I can about her. How has she got such a chokehold on me in so short a time? Not that she is asking anything of me.

It’s hard to read her though. Does she want me to stick around? Is this a bit of fun for her? Even more worrying to me, I’m not sure how that is making me feel. The thought of her disappearing from my life is leaving an empty pit in my stomach. Fuck, the thought of her with another man is making me all kinds of enraged.

Maybe she doesn’t want me to meet her friends. That niggles at me. What am I supposed to do while she is off with them, getting trashed? What if she meets another guy and hooks up while I’m sat hiding away in this RV? I kick myself for thinking that. I may not have known her long, but Krista isn’t the type to just hook up with someone random.

Doesn’t mean there aren’t people here she knows who she could be with.

“Fuck,” I groan.

I don’t think like this. No woman has ever made me feel such blinding jealousy before.

The door opens and Krista comes back in carrying a couple of bags. She smiles at me and all the fears and worries disappear. Her smile lights up the fucking room. Damn it, I’m so fucking screwed.

“I’ll drive the last leg into the city,” she says. I must pull a face she finds funny because she laughs. “There are lots of tight turns and other vehicles to worry about.”

“Fair enough. So, we’re going to Falls Park?”

“Yep, here,” she hands me a six pack of San Miguel beer and I can’t help but smile. “Don’t say I do nothing for you.”

As she settles into the driver’s seat, I can’t help but wonder if I’ll be drinking these alone while she is out enjoying an evening with her friends. At least we still have tonight. Maybe I can convince her to let me go with her tomorrow.

I join her at the front of the RV, and we head off.

She’s right. Krista needed to take over. Once we get into the city, I see now that I would never have been able to traverse some of the roads she takes. Krista has been quiet for most of the journey here and I’ve let her. We’re each lost in our own thoughts. Until we pass the first sign for the park. I’m excited to see the falls. They look awesome in pictures.

“Um…”

I look up at her. She’s biting her lip as she watches the road ahead.

“Um?” I repeat.

“So, I had a phone call while I was in the store.”

“Yeah?” my gut clenches. Not sure why.

“With my friend, Drew.”

“About?”

“You,” she glances at me.

“Oh yeah? In what way?”

“My plan is to spend the afternoon and evening with them, and that means staying overnight at their house. Where they live is big enough to park the RV.”

“I see.” I glance out of the windshield, staring into the distance where the city of Sioux Falls is spread out. Is this where she tells me I’m being left in the RV on the driveway to hide away like a dirty secret?

Wait. She told her friend about me?

“Jude.”

Her voice draws my head back to Krista. Her look is sad, and I clench my jaw, ready for the blow.

“You think I’m going to leave you, don’t you?”

“What?” Is my confused response.

“I told Drew about you because I won’t leave you.”

It takes a second for that to compute. Jesus, when did I become so damn vulnerable? I’m afraid of being rejected. People have surrounded me for the last eight years. People who want to be near me, who brag about it when they spend time with me. It came with the fame and somehow became normal.

All I’ve wanted these past few months is to get my freedom and space. To be allowed to just be. To think. Get my head on straight. I should celebrate the fact I’m getting time to myself while Krista does her thing.

It isn’t how I feel.

I want these people, these friends of Krista’s, to like me. To want to be around me.

Krista pauses as we make it to the lot outside the Falls and get the RV parked up.

“The thing you need to know about Drew and Wayne.” She turns her chair and leans forward. “They’re not your average people. They’re not like me.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, intrigued.

“Wayne is a billionaire. He owns a huge chunk of… well, this state. And other places in North Dakota. His family has always had money. Not that he was handed anything on a silver platter. He had to prove his worth and go to college, which is where we met. We didn’t know how much money he had back then.”

She’s rambling. And I let her because this is interesting news.

I’m well off. I wouldn’t need to work another day in my life and still be comfortable. I’m not a billionaire. With that level of money comes particular kinds of challenges.

I don’t know a thing about this guy, but I can already guess he’s cautious about where he goes and who he meets. If I want to go out anywhere, this is the perfect guy to do it with.

But Krista is concerned. Both for me and her friends. You grow very untrusting quickly when you have money and fame.

“The place we go to every year belongs to his family. Lots of security. The area is closed off and only people Wayne trusts are allowed in. You wouldn’t have to worry.”

“Is that the only reason you’re asking me along, Krista?”

“No,” her eyes widen. “Oh God, of course not. I want you to come. I want you to meet…” her brow creases.

I could take that the wrong way, but I know what she is saying. She’s thinking about my privacy, about how her friends will react to me. She wants me around, she wants me to meet her friends. That shit shouldn’t make me feel so damn happy.

“Don’t make a big deal of it,” she kicks out her foot and knocks my shin.

Clearly, the grin I was trying to keep stifled is spreading. But, reality check. I do need to ensure my safety and privacy. It’s one thing going out to see all these tourist attractions in the wild, wearing a semi-disguise. A nightclub in a big city, not the same thing. Even with this Wayne guy's precautions, there is always a risk someone runs off to spill what they’ve seen.

Some people would sell their grandmas for a fast buck. The people at Bill’s party back in Montana should have been trustworthy, but someone told the press I’d vanished.

I’m supposed to still be ‘missing’ and in the middle of a huge controversy, to boot. I’m making Krista and her friends vulnerable to the savagery of the media if anyone finds out where I am.

“How did they take it?”

“Drew was shocked. She accused me of kidnapping you,” she snickers. “I gave her some of the detail, but I didn’t tell her everything about you. Just that we met by happenstance. You needed a ride, and you wanted to try out the nomad lifestyle.”

“And she bought that?”

“No. But I didn’t tell her anything else. It’s your private business and I’m not going to go spreading it around.”

“Did you tell her about…” I stick my thumb up and point it at the bedroom. When did I become such a fucking prude? Did you tell her we fucked? It’s not that hard to say.

“She’s my best friend.”

I rub a hand over my mouth to hide the smile. Best friends are tricky though, even I know that. It could go one of two ways, she will be awed and thrilled and desperate for information, or she’ll be overprotective, wanting to make sure her friend doesn’t get hurt. Either way, I’m in for a grilling.

“She threatened to set the RV alight if I didn’t give her the lowdown.”

“As in how I am in bed?”

Krista laughs, throwing her head back. “I’m sure that’ll be her first question when she gets me alone, but no, she didn’t ask that.”

“What will you tell her?”

Krista gets up and tries to squeeze past me. Oh no, she doesn’t get to ignore that question. Truth is, I kind of want to know. We’ve had our usual banter, she hasn’t let on that what we did has affected her detrimentally, or there are any regrets, but we haven’t exactly talked about it.

I jump up and wrap my arms around her waist from behind, pressing my face against her neck. It gets lost in all her hair, but I don’t mind. She smells like cherries, a smell I’m becoming addicted to.

Krista struggles, but all that does is make her ass grind against my cock, which can’t help but respond to being pressed up against all that fuckable flesh, even through her clothes. She makes a surprised sound, obviously feeling what is going on behind her.

I move her hair and kiss her neck but let her go. She looks over her shoulder at me. The most sexy, sultry look on her face. She’s gone into a sex fog and I’m pretty sure if I pulled her pants down and pressed her against the wall, she wouldn’t stop me.

I like her breathless. Shit, I’ve not got that much self-control. We’re in a public parking lot.

Fuck where we are.

I stalk her back to the wall, slamming my hands on it at either side of her head.

“Jude,” she half whispers, half moans as I run my hand up her inner thigh. Her shorts are thin. I can feel the heat of her against my fingertips as I ghost them over her clothes between her thighs.

Leaning in, I kiss her mouth, briefly with just enough pressure that when I pull back she almost falls forward, her lips chasing mine. Her eyes are glazed, and her mouth parts in a small O when I drop to my knees and press my face into her stomach.

She doesn’t stop me when I inch her shorts down, catching her panties at the same time to avoid wasting precious time. A small grin spreads across my mouth as I see how wet she is. Always fucking ready.

Krista cries out at my first taste. As I fuck her with my tongue, she grabs onto my hair, her fingers raking over my scalp. When she pulls a little too hard, it means I’m doing my job right. Her pleasure is fast becoming my new goal in life.

I go harder, then softer until she’s a writhing mess. I love every second of how she moves, pushing her hips into me, then pulling away like she can’t decide how much she wants. A few strokes away from her coming, I pull back.

Seeing the shock, then annoyance flash in her eyes has my cock throbbing. Before she can protest, I stand, pick her up and half run to the bedroom.

She’s laughing by the time I drop her on the bed and launch myself over her.

“If the RV’s a-rockin, don’t come a-knockin,” I say as I pull off her shirt.

“This RV has excellent hydraulics.”

Her throaty laugh has my chest swelling.

“So do I.”

We manage to get into the park a couple of hours later, and I’m glad I took her advice not to stay tucked up in bed against that incredible body. The Falls, like everything else I’ve seen on this trip, are amazing. Although I’m not sure it compares to being inside Krista.

That’s a thought for later.

We got tacos from a truck outside the park before heading back to the RV. I’m surprised she booked a place for us overnight, but she tells me Wayne and Drew aren’t in the city and even though they’re happy for her to go to their place, she wasn’t comfortable with it.

I can’t help but think that wouldn’t be the case if I weren’t here.

Later, while Krista settles in to do some writing, I head up to the roof with the guitar, which I haven’t had much chance to play since I bought it. It’s hard to believe that was only a few days ago.

I sit cross-legged and strum a few chords. Nothing special, but they’re new. I keep going, switching it up until something clicks in my head. Then I grab the pen and scribble it all down on the pad.

The stars out here aren’t as bright as they were back in Montana, but they’re still visible, and for a while I wait to see if I can spot another shooting star. Krista said they are more common than people realize, but I don’t see any this time.

Maybe I’m an ass for thinking it, but the one we saw that night is special. Metaphorically speaking, it reminds me of myself. My star falling. All so I can begin again. Shit, I’m starting to sound ridiculous. At least I never said it out loud.

“Jude?”

I roll over and crawl to the edge of the roof, looking down. Krista is in the doorway. She’s barefoot in a pale-yellow sundress, her long red hair is in one of those crazy up-do styles.

“What’s up?”

Her head tilts back, spotting me right above her. “Your phone keeps ringing. I didn’t know if you wanted to check it.”

“Shit, sorry. I thought it was on silent.”

“It is, but it’s buzzing a lot.”

“Shit,” I repeat. I go to get up, but she goes up on her toes and reaches up with the phone. I bend down and reach for it. We pass it without dropping it. “You getting any work done?”

“Yes,” she lifts a brow. “You are too, I hear.”

“Damn, I’m sorry.”

“You’re not disturbing me, it’s kinda nice. Keep playing when you’re finished.”

She ducks back inside, and I go back to my seat. Seven missed calls and six texts. Jesus. I’m surprised Krista didn’t give me the phone sooner. All of them are from Solene and spread over the last five hours. Holy shit. I haven’t looked at my phone for that long?

It occurs to me I never took it with us when we went out into the park. I don’t remember ever not having my phone in my pocket. Except for the night before I met Krista. It’s kind of freeing.

I dial Solene back, hoping it’s nothing serious.

“About time. Where have you been?”

“I left my phone behind when we went out. What the hell is so important?”

“What else could it be? I’m in South Dakota, of course!”

Wait… She’s what?