Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
JACKSON brOWNE, “SOMEBODY’S BABY”
Nashville was more than my small-town heart could take. It exceeded all expectations. The raucous bars and vibrant nightlife blew my mind. Isaac didn’t need a cigarette because the honky-tonks were filled with smoke, laughter, music, and dancing.
I felt so grown-up in my dress, boots, and new hat. Throngs of people filled the streets, wandering from place to place and gathering around the telephone poles to check out the stapled flyers to see where everyone was playing that weekend. Isaac kept a protective arm around me everywhere we went that night, popping in and out of little dive bars to listen to a few songs and grabbing a beer (soda for me) and a quick sandwich before landing at Leonard’s Lounge in the rock block. I felt like a real aspiring musician alongside Isaac in his hat, boots, and guitar in hand .
“This doesn’t feel real,” I said when we entered the back of the bar.
“What’s that?” He lowered his ear closer to my mouth.
I shook my head and mumbled, “Nothing,” just as a tall guy with an orange mustache and thick biceps charged toward us.
Isaac released my hand and set his guitar on the floor before hugging the guy.
“How the hell are you?” he asked Isaac.
“Good, man. God, it’s great to see you.”
His friend released him and eyed me. “And who do we have here? Wife? Girlfriend?”
My eyes widened, looking to Isaac for help.
“My preacher’s daughter. I kidnapped her. She sings in the choir but secretly loves songs about sex.”
I fought my usual reaction, which was to turn ten different shades of red and avert my gaze. This was the start of my favorite dream.
I wasn’t Sunday Morning.
I was the girl who planned on making my way onto the stage and showing the audience I was really the one they came to see. So I acted like that girl because she was more fun than the one who rarely missed curfew and knew every song in the hymnal.
“I’m Sarah. Isaac said I can sing while he plays the guitar,” I said with my head held high. I followed Isaac’s instruction by sliding my arm around him and tucking my fingers into his back pocket while holding out my right hand.
“I’m Lenny.” He shook my hand and chuckled. “Sorry, sugar. Isaac misspoke. I can’t let you onto my stage if I haven’t heard you sing, even if you are sucking his dick.”
I stiffened while fighting to keep my smile. That’s what adults did. Haha! He made a sex joke. So what. I had a sense of humor.
“I didn’t tell her she could sing, but I am responsible for her. So when nine o’clock rolls around, and you kick the youngsters out, I need to let her stay perched in the front row.”
“You’re babysitting. Got it.” Lenny winked. “I gotta get back out there. Y’all help yourself to food and drinks; it’s on the house.”
After Lenny disappeared through the doors, I faced Isaac with my hands on my hips. “So you just let him think I’m sucking your dick, and you’re my babysitter?”
“Baby, he was my boss for four years, and he’s letting me sing here for the next two nights. He can think whatever the hell he wants. You sucking my dick is optional, but it won’t get you on that stage. Sorry, house rules.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but who was I kidding? Nashville was my Disneyland. Just walking through the throngs of people milling around that night was beyond my imagination.
“You’re cute when you pout.” He chuckled, taking his guitar out of its case and slipping the strap over his head. “Do you want something to eat or drink?”
“How about a beer?”
“You’re not old enough to drink,” he said, glancing up from his guitar to give me a quick grin. “I wouldn’t feel right about letting my pastor’s daughter drink a beer.”
“What? Are you totally serious? After you fing—” I clamped my mouth shut.
Gah!
Why did I lose all bravery and momentum when it came to sex talk ?
“Fingered you?” He strummed his guitar.
I was such a priss for thinking he sounded crude. If I was willing to let him do it, then I needed to grow up and use my words.
“Do you think I should write a song about fingering the preacher’s daughter?” he asked.
I held my breath to keep from reacting as he waited for just that.
“Of course, I’d hide the meaning behind more poetic lyrics as all the good songwriters do.” He continued to pluck the strings and adjust the sound.
“What are you going to sing? Are you any good?” I dismissed all other topics that involved his fingers inside of me, even if it was the best sexual experience of my life thus far.
“I’m going to do a little Jackson Browne and Tom Petty. Why? Do you have any requests?”
“I like Jackson Browne and Tom Petty. Which songs? We could sing together, so technically, it’s not just me singing.”
He chuckled. “You’re relentless.”
“Hypothetically, if I did what Lenny said, would you let me sing with you?”
“Did what Lenny said?” Isaac glanced up at me, eyes narrowed.
A few seconds later, the realization hit, and he shook his head. “Baby, don’t ever suck a man’s dick for anything except you having a good old hankering for it. Okay?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
It was rare, but Isaac Cory blushed while keeping his gaze on his hands. “Let’s find a seat for you.”
“Is that a yes? ”
“We’ll continue this discussion at the motel.” He returned his guitar to its case and took my hand.
“Why?” I followed him toward the saloon doors.
“Because you talk big when you know no one’s going to immediately call your bluff. So later,” he stopped just before pushing through the doors and turned toward me, “when we’re alone in a room with two beds and a heavier dose of reality, we’ll discuss your plans to get on stage.”
I lifted my chin and made duck lips. “Fine.”
There was no way I was sucking anyone’s dick. I was only curious about the price of fame—window shopping of sorts.
Isaac couldn’t find a table for me by the stage because most of the area was an open dance floor. So he sat me at the end of the bar with a Pepsi and instructions for Lenny to help keep an eye on me.
I watched with envy as Isaac took the stage, and everyone clapped. A group of women on the opposite side of the stage whistled and hooted at him. It was different than girls at school salivating over Matt because my boyfriend ignored the other girls.
Not Isaac; he shot a huge smile toward their table and winked.
Winked!
“So how long have you known, Isaac?” Lenny hollered from behind the bar.
“Um, I’m not sure. His brother and I graduated together. So our families have known each other for years.” I dismissed Matt as someone I graduated with, and it fed the cancerous guilt in my gut. “What was Isaac like in the Army?”
Lenny laughed while filling a mug with beer. “Tough as nails. Smarter than everyone else combined. Loyal. Pretty much the perfect candidate for any position. I said he could go far if he wanted it to be his career, but he said the legacy of the family’s ranch depended on him returning and taking things over someday. From what I gathered, their family must own a lot of land.”
I nodded. “They basically own all the land in Devil’s Head.”
Isaac’s voice drew my attention back to the stage as he started singing “Somebody’s Baby .” I loved that song. And I loved that when he sang it, he looked at me instead of the women on the other side of the stage trying so hard to get his attention with their boobs spilling out of their shirts and dresses.
For the next hour, I fell a little more in love with Isaac Cory, his rich voice, and flirty grin. Isaac was living my dream.
After the final song and a huge crowd of people applauding, he exited the stage and set his guitar case on the end of the bar before wedging himself between my legs on the bar stool. “You’re such a distraction in this dress,” he whispered in my ear before biting my earlobe.
I didn’t know if it was his gravelly voice (a little worn from singing), his hands on my thighs, or his actual words, but it did something to me. And all I wanted was to kiss him.
That was a lie. I wanted to do so much more than kiss him.
But we were in a public place, so I settled for a kiss, the kind that felt a little too intimate for an audience.
“Any interest in seeing The White Animals play tonight?” Lenny asked.
I shoved Isaac’s chest. “YES! Where? When? Are you serious? ”
Isaac laughed. “It’s past your bedtime.”
I wrinkled my nose and playfully kicked his leg. “Shut up.”
Lenny scribbled something on a white napkin and slid it to Isaac. “Tell that guy at the door that Lenny sent you.”
“Thanks,” Isaac said, pocketing the napkin. “Can I leave this with you?” He nodded to his guitar.
“I’ll guard it with my life.” He winked.
“Let’s go, Sunday Morning.” Isaac took my hand and pulled me toward the exit.
When we reached the venue, our connection to Lenny barely got us in the door, but I didn’t care that we were as far from the stage as possible. Isaac rolled his eyes every time I tried to restrain my excitement. I loved every second of The White Animals' performance, especially when Isaac would let me have a few sips of his beer while he stood behind me with one hand around my waist, possessively pressed to my stomach. He dipped his head and nuzzled his face into my hair until his lips reached my neck.
Nothing about that night felt real, but everything about it felt right.
By three in the morning, we returned to the motel, and Isaac carried me inside because I was so tired and more intoxicated than he planned on letting me get.
“Let’s have sex,” I mumbled with a huge smile when he set me on my bed.
“You need to sleep.” He removed my boots and my bracelets.
“Sleep is overrated,” I said, unbuttoning my dress, even though my fingers and everything else felt a little too numb to be adept or nimble.
“I’m not having sex with you when you’re drunk. ”
“I’m not drunk,” I giggled. “I’m a little drunk. But I give you my consent.”
He shook his head, pulling down the bedspread.
I shrugged off my dress, and he set it on the bags with my new clothes. By the time he faced me again, I had taken off my bra and was tossing my underwear onto the floor between the two beds.
“Jesus, Sarah, what are you doing?” He scratched his jaw and shook his head.
“I’m not a virgin.”
“I’m aware, but we’re still not doing this.” Isaac gestured for me to lie back, and I did.
But when he tried to pull the covers over my naked body, I kicked them away.
He reared back so I didn’t kick him. “Stop.”
Again, I kicked my legs, so he grabbed my ankles. Everything was warm and soft. My vision was a little blurry; the air conditioner sounded more muffled. But his touch was sharp, and I liked it.
I dragged my teeth along my lower lip as the tense indecision in his face intensified.
“Touch yourself,” he whispered, keeping a firm grip on my ankles.
Losing my inhibitions felt liberating like the dream day we were having would never end.
I slid my hand along my inner thigh, and Isaac’s gaze followed it while mine remained affixed to his face and his tongue making a lazy swipe along his lips before he swallowed hard.
“Perv,” I murmured with a smirk.
His attention flitted to my face for a moment while the corner of his mouth quirked into the hint of a smile .
I enjoyed touching myself, even if, according to my parents, it disappointed Jesus. I liked brushing my hair and rubbing lotion on my legs too. What was the big deal?
Isaac released one ankle at a time and crawled up the bed, settling on his stomach between my spread legs. He kissed my fingers as I slid them between my legs. His tongue stroked my flesh, and he sucked one of my fingers into his mouth and hummed.
My other hand rested on his head, and I spread my legs a little wider. The feeling left me speechless and breathless, so I knew it had to be a sin. I bargained with myself. If I could spend the next three days letting Isaac do that to me as much as possible, I would spend the rest of the summer on my knees, clutching a Bible, begging for forgiveness.
Isaac was so, so good at making me orgasm (better than me), so I removed my hand and clawed the bedsheet beneath me. What he did to me after our shopping trip was great, but this was mind-blowing.
My knees collapsed inward. “Isaac …” I couldn’t take it. I don’t know if it was the alcohol or just my first time having oral sex, but I needed him to stop because it was almost too sensitive, but when he started to pull back, I realized I didn’t want that either.
“N-not yet … just …” I curled my fingers and scratched at his head to keep him there as unrelenting waves of pleasure spread in all directions.
This is Heaven.
He chuckled before kissing my inner thigh. “Sleep, now. Okay?”
I murmured a lazy “Okay,” and rolled to my side, curling up in a ball as he pulled the sheet over my body. I couldn’t wait to tell Heather.