28. Creed
Chapter 28
Creed
I t’s been two hours since Collins sat down and started talking to her brother. Or rather, he was talking to her. I sat across from Riley and watched them for a while, picking at my food. I’d lost my appetite with the anxiety that had flooded my body while wondering if I’d colossally fucked up in surprising her to see her brother. I couldn’t hear their conversation, but I assume it’s going decent, at least, considering Collins isn’t screaming at him. I had a feeling I knew exactly what he was saying based on his facial expressions and the tears that Collins had wiped away several times.
I was fucking thrilled to see that she did as I’d suggested and ordered a fucking smorgasbord of food. Loaded pancakes, hashbrowns, cheesy eggs, bacon, sausage, and a bowl of fruit. She devoured nearly the entire meal while Asher sat and watched her with the same expression what I’m sure Riley and I gave her when we first experienced the magical disappearing act with all the food she puts away and still looks like a fucking goddess when she’s done.
When Riley failed to keep me distracted with meaningless conversation and questions about the sets we had planned for our tour in a few days, we paid the waitress and he dragged me from the diner. Luckily this town is small and more rural so people don’t pay us much attention here.
We’re now inside of a shop full of handmade jewelry and tons of vintage memorabilia and swag that’s two doors down from the diner, and Riley looks like he’s on a mission.
I’m about to ask him what the hell he could possibly be looking for but he disappears to the back corner of the store at the same time my eyes snag on a framed vintage band tee behind the display counter. It’s a David Bowie t-shirt from his 1983 tour. And it’s been signed. Collins’ birthday was days ago and our abrupt reunion had distracted me from telling her or celebrating her beyond the half-assed voicemail I left for her.
This shirt is the perfect gift. The kid working the counter rounds the corner and I see recognition flash in his eyes when he spots me waiting. I just wink and hold my finger up to my lips, urging him to not bring attention to my being here. He nods in understanding as he makes his way behind the counter. It’s a small town where we met Asher, but people still recognize us. It’s not that I don’t want the attention, but at this moment, I just want a quiet minute to shop for my girl.
Not my girl.
Fuck.
There’s no way I’m sticking to that asinine friend-zone I crammed her into. As much as I wanted to make her mine right then and there on the couch last night, I knew that we had ten years’ worth of shit to hash out. Once I’m certain we’re not running on adrenaline-fueled decisions, she’s mine. Until then…
Fuck my fucking life.
Shaking my head, I get back to the matter at hand; a belated birthday gift for Collins. I wave the clerk over and point to the framed tee hanging on the wall. “How much for the Bowie shirt, my guy?”
“Uh-uhh,” he stammers, pushing his glasses farther up his nose, glancing at the shirt and back to me. “I-it’s not for sale. It’s just decoration Mister Saint James, sir.” He stutters out, “It-it belongs to the owner of the.. store.”
I furrow my brows. “Is the owner here today? Everything has a price, and my girl would really love that shirt.”
Aaaand here I go again with that fucking title.
I sigh internally, berating myself for being so fucking dumb. She’s nine years younger than me, but with her maturity mixed with her stunning body, you’d never guess that she’s only twenty to my twenty-nine years. My fingers twitch as I remember the feel of her body against mine while she writhed in my lap. Goddamnit .
“Um, yeah, let me go get her, Mister Saint James.” He scurries away. I roll my eyes but smirk at the repeated formal title use. Mister Saint James. It sounds sophisticated. An adjective I’d never use to describe myself. I look down at the tattoos that cover my arms, hands, and knuckles. I snort. So fucking sophisticated .
A minute later, Riley walks up next to me with an arm full of vintage records and some cassette tapes, as well as a vintage portable Walkman with some old school looking headphones. He just looks at me and shrugs with a shy smile on his face.
“I heard she had a birthday not too long ago and wanted to get her a present.” Apparently we had the same idea. His grin spreads even wider, his dark eyes full of playful innocence. “I noticed how she loves vintage and up-cycled things.” He lays the stuff on the counter carefully and neatly stacks it. “You think she’ll like it?”
I wait for the feeling of rage or jealousy to fill me at Riley being able to read her so well so fast, or that he feels enough affection for her to get her a gift for her birthday as well, but that feeling never comes. Riley came from a shitty home life and deserves the friendship he’s developed with Collins more than anyone I know. He’s a sucker for her already and he’s done everything in his power in just four short days to make her feel welcome to our tiny family unit. I can also tell he’s crushing on her hard by the way he looks at her like a lost puppy who’s finally found his owner.
Again I reach for that feeling of jealousy but weirdly enough, it’s nowhere to be found. So I just shrug it off and look at my best friend who’s practically bouncing on his toes with excitement, his headphones bouncing off of his shoulders with how much he’s moving.
I nudge him with my elbow, and nod towards the loot of records he found—including a record that matches the band tee on the wall. “She’s going to fucking love it. You did good, Ri.”
“Thanks,” he says, still grinning, and his face flushes a little. “Did you?—”
“Hey, sorry, I was going over paperwork in the back.” A soft voice cuts him off as a woman rounds the corner. She looks like she could be best friends with Collins, based on her fashion choice. She’s about the same height but with fuller curves, and is dressed in those fishnets that Collins loves so much, leather shorts, and a fucking Dark Sins band tee—of all the shirts she could’ve worn today—tucked in. She’s got long dark hair with bright purple strands poking from the bottom. She smiles wide and holds her hand out for us to shake, “You’re Creed Saint James and Riley Graves.” She says with mild excitement as we each nod and shake her hand, but a level of professionalism overpowers it. I appreciate that. “I’m Genevieve McTavish, the owner here. Tucker said you’ve got a question about a shirt?”
Riley raises a brow at me as he takes in all the shirts that are out and hanging loosely on display. But then he spots the Bowie shirt on the wall and he shakes his head, knowing there’s no way I’m leaving here without that shirt. It’s about principle now, and I’m too fucking stubborn to walk away from something I want.
Except for Collins, apparently.
I offer Genevieve a smile and nod toward the Bowie shirt. “That one,” she turns to see which one I’m talking about. “How much for the Bowie Tour tee?”
She turns back to me and narrows her eyes. “It’s not for sale.”
“Everything has a price.” I repeat my words from earlier.
“Sometimes.” She says quietly, but then she asks, “You a Ziggy Stardust fan or something?”
Riley chuckles next to me and I smirk, thinking about a certain freckle faced, green-eyed, white-blonde haired beauty. “Yeah, or something.”
Her eyes narrow further, really scrutinizing me. Her blue eyes are so analytical it almost makes me squirm. Almost. She’s not flat out telling me no, so that’s a good thing, I guess. She pops a hand on her hip and flips her hair over her shoulder and leans forward. “What’s her name?”
“How do you know it’s for a girl?” I ask, feigning ignorance. “Maybe I just really like David Bowie.”
“Perhaps,” she muses, but then she smirks like she’s got it all figured out. “Though the look in your eyes is telling me that you’ve got someone special, someone who’s not you , in mind for a gift like that.” She nods back toward the shirt proudly displayed on the wall.
“I don’t have a look in my eyes.” I deadpan, denying the shit out of her very correct assumption.
“You do.” She smiles reverently. “You do, because it’s the same look that was on my husband’s face when he gave it to me.”
Shit. Well fuck. I was prepared to fight for it, but I don’t think I can now. She must see the defeat in my face because she laughs. Fucking laughs at me. Yep, she’d definitely be best friends with Collins. "This thing?” She gestures to the shirt behind her, “is just one of the freaking thousands of gifts my husband insists on giving me for this store, despite my telling him I’m busting at the seams here.” She gestures vaguely around the store to all the décor and memorabilia displayed on walls and shelves. She rolls her eyes playfully, “The man is a Scottish lunatic who—no matter how many gifts he buys—always has that same look on his face.”
Scottish? “Wait, you said your last name is McTavish?”
“Yeah?” She lifts a brow in question.
“He wouldn’t by chance be one of the McTavish brothers who owns a club a little farther north, would he?”
“Why?” She narrows her eyes.
“My… girl,” I say, again , and Riley stiffens beside me. “Her brother works on their security team. The two of them are actually at the diner down the block. That shirt would be a gift for her.”
Her eyes widen and a huge grin splits across her face. She turns to the shirt on the wall and takes it down and proceeds to wipe the dust from it with a cloth she’d produced from somewhere. She looks at me as she sets the framed shirt down on the counter. “She’s Asher’s sister?”
I nod. What a small fucking world. Genevieve continues, “He has gone on and on all week about getting to see his baby sister for the first time in nearly a decade. He talked the ears off of Callan and Lachlan about her. How quiet and kind she was, and how much she loved David Bowie.” Her eyes shine with emotion and she bites her lips for a second to keep it from quivering. She then slides the frame toward me and shocks the shit out of me with her next words. “Take it. From what I’ve heard, she deserves to be spoiled by all of her favorite things.” She looks at Riley and asks, “she your girl, too?”
I choke on air and cough while Riley turns as red as a tomato, stammering for words. Genevieve just looks between the two of us and smiles, but the look in her eyes is conspiratorial at best. She ducks down and produces some bright pink and blue gift bags and proceeds to quickly pack everything on the counter into each one, complete with fucking sparkly tissue paper. She pushes them toward us and says, “Go spoil her.”
Uh. “How much for all of it?”
She just shakes her head. “It’s a gift.”
“I can’t just take all of this. Let me?—”
“You can, and you will.”
I look down at the gift bags, and I’m thrown back to all the times Ash and I found Collins in the back of her closet, wearing out her brother’s mp3 player by listening to David Bowie’s greatest hits. Or how I’d play Heros or Ziggy Stardust on my guitar while she’d dance around her room, belting out the lyrics the best she could until her voice gave out completely .
“You want a price?” Genevieve asks, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Yes,” I answer past the fucking lump that’s now occupying my throat.
“Take care of her. That’s my price.” She says with authority, this strange shop owner damn near ordering us around now. But her eyes soften before she continues, “I know how it feels to live for so long without family,” she glances to the far wall where several pictures of people hang and fresh flowers and lit candles adorn a table beneath them. She turns her attention back to Riley and me.
“We will, I promise.” Riley says, his eyes shining with absolute truth. I’m fairly certain he’d sooner throw himself off a cliff before ever hurting Collins. I can’t say I disagree.
She pushes the gift bags closer to us and we take the sparkling monstrosities from her. “Thank you,” I tell her, genuine gratitude washing over me as the weight of the framed shirt in the bag settles into my grip. “Are you sure there’s no way I can pay you?”
She just shakes her head but then pauses. “You picked up a tour for As We Stand, right?”
Riley nods, “We did.”
“I know that both Dark Sins and As We Stand like to start and end your tours here in Cali,” she twirls a purple strand between her fingers, and I know where this is going. It’s not the first time someone has tried to sweet talk their way into getting tickets, but for this chick? I’d lick her fucking scuffed up doc martin boots if she asked me to right now. But I let her finish speaking. “If you can leave me a ticket for your last show in August, I’ll call us even.”
I glance at Riley like I’m prepared to have a silent debate with him, even though we both know she’s getting that fucking ticket. He offers me a smile with wide, obviously exasperated eyes that say just give her the fucking tickets, dude.
“You’ve got a deal, Genevieve McTavish.” I hold my free hand out to her and she shakes on it. “It was nice meeting you.” I say as I turn and start for the door, Riley right on my heels .
Of course, we earn a laugh from her when Ri turns back at the last second and yells out, “Your store is fucking awesome!” I shove him out the door and we turn back towards the diner, where I see that Asher and Collins are now standing next to my Range Rover, hugging like they’ll suddenly vanish if either of them lets go. My heart squeezes in my chest and regret flows through my veins when I think of a young Collins, alone in the world without her family, thinking she was unwanted.
Fuck, I feel like a bastard. Based on the agony on Asher’s face as he squeezes her in a tight hug, the feeling is shared.
He finally lets her go as Riley and I approach the SUV and they both turn their attention to us. Collins’ eyes are red-rimmed and puffy, the tip of her nose is pink, but the light in her jade eyes and the smile that she blesses us with cause my shoulders to slump in relief. I was fucking terrified that I’d made a very bad decision in bringing her to see her brother, because though she was never a spiteful person or one to hold grudges as a kid, I’m not entirely familiar with how she is now. I can tell she’s still a people pleaser, but that doesn’t mean she’s as forgiving as she was as a kid. But she doesn’t hesitate when she takes the few steps that stand between us and wraps her arms around my shoulders, burying her face in my neck and whispers, “Thank you.”
I turn my head and drop a chaste kiss to her temple. Asher watches me with a really weird look on his face, like he’s trying to analyze and dissect the entirely innocent interaction. The kiss was completely innocent, but it’s more affection than I showed her as a kid. “I take it the surprise reunion went better than expected?” I ask, glancing between Ash and Collins when she releases me and steps back to her brother, who’s scrutinizing glare is still trained on me, by the way.
“It was a shock, that’s for sure.” Collins says, trying for sarcasm and sass, but it quickly morphs into joy as she smiles again and side-hugs her brother, laying her head on his shoulder. “But the happiest surprise.” She straightens and fluffs up her messy waves and leans against the side of the Range Rover. She looks away from us for a moment, her eyes trained on the morning sun peeking over the trees on the horizon. A warm breeze brushes some of those messy white waves across her cheek and the sun peeks out, casting her face in a golden glow.
My god she’s fucking stunning.
Fucking Christ. I need to make her mine.
She fidgets with her now midnight blue nails as she speaks, her gaze meeting each of ours. “I wanted to be angry.” She huffs a sarcastic laugh before she continues, “I wanted to be so fucking angry, because for so long I felt…I felt abandoned, forgotten…like I was a burden that nobody could be bothered with anymore. Dad ran off to god-knows where before landing himself in prison, and when mom…” she trails off, her raspy voice breaking at the mention of her mom. Riley inhales in a barely audible gasp. He had a shitty relationship with his mother, though their situations were different, I’m sure he feels that similar pain at the loss of a parent.
Asher reaches out and wipes a tear from her cheek before she has time to do it herself. “I was just a kid, ya know? So when you’re told that you’re being placed with a foster family because the family contacts declined, you start to assume the worst. I was angry for so long, but I can’t find it in me to be angry now. Not when I’ve found my family again. Not now that I know you’re all happy and healthy and…and fucking thriving. ” She says with a soft smile, and glances at all of us, including Riley. She looks over to her brother, “Especially you!” she laughs, tugging on his suit jacket. “Wearing fancy suits, carrying weapons, and apparently, you’re a fucking bodyguard now?” Asher laughs at her but her expression changes to something softer as she says, “You look happier than you did in the MLB, Ash.”
He just smiles at her and responds, “I am.”
“Sutton,” A deep voice calls out before Collins can say another word. We all glance over and I take in the goddamn mountain of a man with his arm wrapped possessively around a petite woman with curly cotton candy pink hair and denim overall shorts. “We’ve got to go,” He drawls, his Scottish accent rough and thick. None of us miss how both Asher and Collins’ faces crumble at the four simple words.
Asher nods solemnly and looks to his sister. He pulls her into one last tight hug and murmurs something into her ear that has her giggling and nodding up at him when he releases her to grip her shoulders. “You’re always welcome to stay with me if you get sick of Creed’s shit while on tour.” My jaw drops dramatically at the audacity of this fucker. “I move into my new place next week, where the kitchen and the bedrooms are all separate.” Collins laughs again and it lifts a weight from my chest at the sound.
She turns to Riley and me and finally notices the glittery bags we each carry. “What are those?”
We hold them out to her and start to sing the Happy Birthday song in unison. The smile that splits her face damn near brings me to my knees. Her eyes are watery and Asher steps up beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and starts singing, too. Before I know it, several patrons near the diner are singing along with us, even the pink-haired girl is singing, too, where she waits with Mountain Man by his blacked out SUV.
When we finish singing, people clap and shout their “happy birthday’s” to Collins as they enter the diner and she takes the bags from our outstretched hands. She looks at each of us and flashes me a smile full of sass as she says, “I would say you didn’t have to get me anything, but it’s honestly been so long since I’ve opened a birthday gift and you told me to be selfish, so…Thank you!” she squeals before giving me a hug, then Riley.
Scary Scottish man, who I’m assuming is another McTavish brother, shouts to Asher again and he curses under his breath. “I’ve gotta go.” He says to his sister when she turns to him. “But I plan on seeing you as often as possible now that you’re home.” Home. Kinda like that word associated with her when it comes to me. Asher’s eyes shudder when he whispers, “I’m sorry I left you, Collins. I’m so, so sorry.” He yanks her into one last hug. “I swear I’m never leaving you again. I don’t give a shit if you’re ten minutes away, or ten hours away. Call me, and I’ll be there. I swear it.”
Collins sniffles, burying her head into Asher’s chest. “I know, Ash. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” His words break off at the end and he blinks away the tears gathering in his eyes. “I’ll call you soon, make sure Creed is behaving himself or if I need to come kick his ass.”
Collins has the nerve to laugh at that and I glare at her playfully, but then her eyes drop to the bottom lip I stuck out at her and fuck me, I can’t get hard in front of her brother, because then he’ll really kick my ass.
Asher helps Collins into the car, and hands her the sparkling gift bags one at a time. Riley says something about watching her to make sure she doesn’t open them without us and darts to the car, leaping in beside her in the back seat animatedly, and her raspy laughter drifts through the closed doors to me and I can’t help the way the sound makes my lips tug up at the corners.
I fucking love the way she sounds. I know she hates the way the surgery changed her voice all those years ago, but it gives her a unique sound and tone to her voice that I could listen to all day long. Fuck, she could read a grocery receipt and I’d be putty in her hands to listen.
Before Asher stalks off, he approaches me and pulls me into a one-armed hug. “Thank you, Creed. For finding her, even if it was by chance.”
“I wish I’d found her sooner.” I say truthfully, gazing at the two figures in the car, laughing at something Riley said in the back seat.
“You like her.” He says suddenly, catching me by surprise because, what the fuck?
“What?”
“You like my baby sister.” He repeats. His expression is completely unreadable and it’s fucking with my head. It’s very unlike the old Asher from our younger years. My mouth is suddenly dry and I start to sweat and it has nothing to do with the California heat .
But how do I answer this? Deny it or acknowledge it? I go with the obvious answer.
“No—”
“ Creed .”
“Yes.” I blurt. Shit .
He claps me on the shoulder with a cocksure smile, but I flinch anyway because he squeezes my shoulder tighter and I’m honestly expecting an ass-kicking for having the fucking balls to be attracted to his little sister who is nine years younger than us.
I’m as ready for the physical blow as I can be, but instead he delivers a verbal punch that I am absolutely not expecting. “Look, we’ll talk more later, because if I stand here much longer, Camdan is going to fucking shoot me himself,” He must be talking about the mountainous dude I saw earlier. “But I’ve been trained to read people recently. To watch their expressions and to predict and anticipate what’s going through their minds. It’s how I keep my charge and those I care about safe. You may have tried to fool your friend in there, and even fool my sister, but you sure as fuck don’t fool me, Creed.”
I stand there silent, my throat bobbing as I swallow. I’m not entirely sure what to say here. Lying obviously isn’t an option because he’ll know, but I can’t exactly be honest and tell him how I’ve been practically obsessed with Collins for two years and that obsession has only magnified tenfold when I kissed her and felt her body moving against mine. And I definitely can’t be honest and tell Asher that I’ve imagined fucking his sister seven ways to Sunday.
“I see the way you look at her. The way you watch Collins’ every move, the way you look like you want to chain her to your side and hang a sign on her neck, telling all other men to fuck off.” His eyes search mine and I don’t bother even trying to hide any of my feelings swimming right there at the surface. Asher’s my best friend, and he’s a magic mind reader now anyway, so why fucking bother? I’d do anything for Collins and I’d do anything to keep her. My cock jerks at the thought of Collins in a collar .
I guess Asher finds the answer he’s looking for in my face because his expression softens as he drops his hand back to his side and tucks it into his pocket. “This isn’t some corny-ass romance novel where I threaten you to stay the fuck away from my sister. That’s not how reality works. You like my sister? So be it. But don’t you fucking hurt her.” he pins me with a glare, sounding just like Collins did that first night.
“Never,” I say, my voice low and rough. “You know I’d never.”
“I know.” He responds. “But you also know Collins. When she loves, she does it with her entire being. You saw how she treated us when she was a kid. She fucking oozed love for the two of us. Especially you.”
I’d deny it, but it’s true. Collins was always attached to my hip when she was a kid. Never in an annoying, clingy way, but the affection she showed was always amplified around me. “She was boy-crazy about you back when she was nine, imagine how she feels now that she’s an adult?” he prompts and it really makes me think. “If you decide to pursue whatever has you looking at my sister the way you do, just think it through first, yeah? Because when she commits, it’s going to be with her whole heart, and it’ll be for the long haul. Make sure you’re wholly in it and on the same path that she is, if that’s what you decide.”
“What makes you think she wants me like that now?” I fucking know she wants me, but shit, I’m starting to feel a little unworthy of her affection now that I’m being reminded of just how much of herself she gives when she cares for someone.
He taps a finger to his temple with a knowing grin. “I fucking know.”
I laugh as I pull him into a hug, slapping him on the back once before releasing him. “I’ll always take care of her. I hate that I let her down before, but I’m not letting that happen again.”
“I know, Creed. Me, too.” A car honks a few rows down and Asher rolls his eyes. We both glance over to see the pink haired girl smack Camdan’s arm with the back of her hand and I see him mouth the word sorry to her, and a smile pulls at her mouth. “I gotta go. Camdan and Millie need to get back to the city for her sister’s fashion show this evening and she’s my charge tonight.”
I pat his bicep twice and shove him towards the awaiting SUV with an impatient Scot in the front seat. “Go. I’ve got her. It was good to see you, Ash. You look good.” And I mean it. He looks like a different man than the one I dragged to rehab years ago.
“Thanks,” he chokes out but clears his throat. “Good to see you, too, bud. I’ll call you soon.”
I nod and he turns and leaves with a wave over his shoulder. I watch for just a moment before climbing into the Range Rover, the sound of Riley and Collins’ laughter hitting me as I slide behind the wheel. I meet Collins’ eyes in the rearview mirror and they shine with so much happiness it nearly physically hurts. “You good, Stardust ?”
“Yes,” she smiles and answers without hesitation. “Thank you for this surprise trip, Creed.”
The last of the anxiety and tension over this little trip leaves my body. I also try to ignore the way my brain reacts to the sound of my name on her lips. “You’re welcome.” I turn onto the highway, heading south and making my way to the studio to meet Bear, Ayla, Ritz, and Steve for a final meeting before loading up on the buses and heading to our first tour destination. “You open your gifts yet?”
“No!” She laughs out, elbowing Riley in the ribs and he fakes a dramatic injury with an oomph and a hand clapped over his side, “Riley practically pinned my hands down and told me I had to wait to open them. It became a battle of the wills. Which, apparently he has in abundance because clearly, I lost.” She rolls her eyes, but I don’t miss the glimpse of her tiny smirk when I glance back to her again.
“Oh, Stardust ,” I tease, “Haven’t you ever heard of the saying, ‘Good things come to those who wait’?”
She scoffs and folds her arms over her chest but her silent tantrum is short-lived when Riley starts tickling her and cracking jokes and telling stories of our previous tours and the after parties we’d host during the rest of the trip.
She listens intently, her eyes alight with amusement and joy. Meanwhile, I’m lost in my own thoughts of just how good things will come to those who wait. Like how long I’ll wait before finally claiming Collins as mine. I don’t know why I’m so fucking cliché in getting over that mental barrier that I put up after Asher practically gave me his blessing, but I am. The last thing I’d want to do is to put a rift between any of the three of us.
I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my hands to myself much longer around her. Every inch of her is fucking begging for me to touch, to tease, to taste. And god, will I fucking taste her.
My mind slips into thoughts of that first night when our paths collided by an odd miracle and seeing her body in that strappy green outfit. The way my cock stood at attention over the way she moved in perfect sync with the music, the way she hypnotized me with every undulation of her body. Fuck, and later that night when I took her home, when she’d climbed into my lap and kissed me, I’d nearly lost my mind. I couldn’t believe that I had this perfect, stunning woman giving herself to me. The feeling of her soft, full lips claiming mine had me ready to fucking nut in my pants.
The memory of that tiny whimper when she ground down on me— you know, that perfect moment of pleasure before I was an idiot and stopped it— is enough to make my cock hard now. I can only imagine the other sounds I can ring from between those sinful lips of hers when I have her choking on my cock or when I’m buried so deep inside her pussy that she’ll feel me there for days after.
Collins may be tiny in many ways, but she’s far from fragile, and I can’t wait to find out just how much she can take. I don’t want to hurt her, but I have a feeling that she’ll give it to me just as good as she gets it, and fuck if I don’t love the mixture of pain with my pleasure.
I have to stifle a groan that so desperately wants to escape my throat by rolling my lips together and clearing my throat. I don’t bother to readjust the hard on in my pants because luckily Riley’s passed out in the back seat, his head propped against the window, but when I glance at Collins, her bright green eyes are trained on me.
“You okay, Creed? You look a little…I don’t know, bothered. You nervous about the tour?”
I smile at her concern because fuck yes I’m bothered, but not about the tour. Singing and performing on stage is just the norm for me after performing onstage for almost ten years. No, I’m fucking bothered by the fact that I’m hard as fuck over the beauty in the back seat and there’s nothing I can do about it at the moment. I’m fucking bothered because I need to make her mine.
There’s an order of operations I should follow, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to follow by the minute.
Get the girl, then ravage the fuck out of her.
Then a thought hits me. She may hate me for it, but I need every fucker in the world to know she’s off-limits.
“Nah,” I tell her, my smile tugging upward on one side and she smiles back, “I’m excited because I’ve actually got a few surprises up my sleeve for the first show of the tour.”
“Yeah?” Her eyes light up at that. “I’ve never been to a concert before.”
“No shit?” she shakes her head, her white-blonde waves shaking in her face as she flushes the prettiest shade of pink. “Well, how would you feel about performing one of your routines during our encore on Friday?”
Her eyes go wide with shock and her full lips part. I try so hard not to imagine my cock sliding home between them. ‘Try’ being the operative word .
“Wait, what—really?”
God, she’s so fucking adorable.
“Yes, Stardust , fucking really.” I glance back at her again, my eyes meeting hers for a moment so she knows I mean every word. “You have a true talent when you dance with those aerial ribbons,”— and without them— “When I saw you perform, I couldn’t look away. ”
“You couldn’t?”
“Never.”
She’s quiet for a moment, and a quick glance back at her shows me that her face is still that sweet shade of pink. Then she asks quietly, “You think the crowd will like it, too?”
“Collins, I fucking know it, baby.” The last word kind of slips out without my permission but her little gasp tells me she liked it, so I pretend like it wasn’t a slip of my tongue.
She bites her lip when I look at her in the mirror, and she smiles wide enough that her dimples pop out. “Okay, yeah, let’s do it!” she squeals, bouncing in her seat and claps her hands but quickly stops, slapping a hand over her mouth when she remembers the sleeping Riley next to her. When our eyes meet again, she busts out in silent laughter.
But when I look at Riley, I see his lips quirked up in a smile, no doubt having heard our conversation and likes the idea of seeing her perform again.
I just hope he likes what I plan to do afterward, too. I can see that he already has feelings for her, but I’m a selfish bastard who will stop at nothing to make her mine, if she’ll have me.
If she doesn’t? I’ll fucking find a way to make her.
Eh, it’ll be fine.
Probably