Chapter 17
Hound Dog
“ W hat do you mean you know what it’s like?” she asked as I pulled her through the winding beams that made up the layout of the building.
If she wasn’t loud and clear like before, I certainly heard her then. After being told she wasn’t enough or that she couldn’t accomplish things, it sounded like people tried to change her. I didn’t fucking blame her.
What she didn't know was that I had gone through the same thing when I started off early in my career. So, I probably wasn't going to tell her as quickly.
Her feet picked up speed as I dragged her through the middle of the warehouse. It was just us, the way I needed it to be. Away from the club, away from prying eyes, a place where only I knew about, to protect her in some way.
When I set her in the middle, she crossed her arms, looking too damn adorable. “I don’t think you do. Nobody dares to take from you. You’re Hound Dog, the president of an infamous motorcycle club.”
“And yet you’re still here. Haven’t bolted yet.” I tapped her nose, taking a step back, I had an idea that would burst down those walls she built. The root of the problem, self-confidence. As an artist, you have to get to a point where you are pleased with yourself and embrace yourself.
If I could make her more confident between her presence on stage to her riffs to her confidently trusting herself and art, she would become an unstoppable force.
I wasn’t going to change her. Hell the way she was part of the reason why I couldn’t stay away from her.
But I wanted her to be open to anything, confident in her art. I wanted to see where the flash of bold confidence went. It was buried there somewhere.
“Well if I didn’t, I have a feeling you would come find me no matter what,” she joked.
She wasn’t far from the truth. If she’d ran, I’d follow and drag her back. That was if she wanted to stay once something happened to her because of this lifestyle.
She started to tremble, between the cold and her own anxiety rattling internally. stepped closer, only to calm her down enough to get through this next part.“And I wouldn’t want to give you back to a world that doesn’t deserve you.”
She was speechless for a couple of seconds, “You barely know me.”
“Yet, you consume my every thought, even to put it in notes and measures.” She consumed every inch of my mind, the way she was intense with her music.
“Why are you so obsessed with music and all of this?” She gestured toward the warehouse.
I’d share one of my truths only for her to give me all hers. I got her guitar from her case, watching her mouth drop when I started to strum a few chords, trying to remember a few songs that would give her some idea that I knew what I was talking about.
There was one song that was louder than the others, one that only a couple people had heard before. Something that wouldn’t give too much of my past.
A past that I was no longer a part of anymore. A secret not many of my brothers knew. At least none of the newer ones.
If the sun burnt out,
Would you be there?
If I was lost in the stars,
Would you find me?
If anger flowed through my veins,
Would you keep fighting to save me?
If the world fell apart,
Would you stay by my side?
If the love was the only thing left,
Would you bind me with you
Never to let go, never to forget.
When problems grow and come in between,
Can we stand on hope,
Only to keep finding us.
Melody didn’t say a word when I ended, her mouth was left dropped. The epitome of when a jaw hits the floor. I hadn’t sang in a long time, but around her it was easy to get lost.
I barely sang after I started prospecting for the club even when I got patched in, it wasn’t something that was fulfilling anymore. At least not until a wave of fate changed everything.
As much as I still wanted to push her away, it was evident that it wasn’t going to happen. Little did she know that she was stuck with me.
“As much as I want to use that mouth for something else, you might want to close it, honey.” I set the guitar back in the open case and strode over to her, tilting her face up to close her mouth.
Her breathing was even, but I could see the gears turning in her head. Her hazel eyes turned up, “You’ve been holding back on who you are.” The way she looked at me was something to behold, like she was holding back a true smile.
“You think?” I asked her.
She nodded, she knew something. That little glint in her eyes sparkled under the warm lights. I gathered her in my arms, her hands traveled to my chest, playing with the collar of my shirt. How I wished that they would creep under my shirt.
“I’ll trade you a secret for another one,” she proposed.
“Careful, Melody.. That’s not what we’re here for. I showed you that I knew what I was doing to help you and that’s what we’re doing here.” I tried to switch the direction of this night, but it wasn’t going to go the way I needed.
“Please.” She batted her eyes, her soft features melted me. “It won’t take long.” she cooed. She didn’t wait for an answer. “When I first started writing, I worked for a lot of studios as a floating writer, the only way I could get my name out there without the stage. During that time, I wrote a song that a studio wasn’t originally going to use, but then they had a young male artist that heard it and wanted it. Unfortunately, I never heard it recorded. Or heard it until now.”
All color in my face felt like it disappeared.
“Later, someone told me who it was, the young artist that I wanted the song. An artist named Nash Young.”
The sound of my past name crept through me like a ghost taking possession. The sounds of fate that weaved our stories together. She was the muse from long ago. The one that wrote with passion and grit, songs that were full of emotion.
I tried to say something but nothing came out. She smiled, like she couldn’t contain it. “That’s not the best part. I knew who he was before I knew he wanted my song. Because he was the same man that told me to call the fire department when I bumped into him in the hallway.”
Now it felt like the world had shattered everything I knew. All the strings of fate finally untangled, because maybe deep inside that was trying to tell me she was mine for a longer time.
“You,” I struggled to say.
“Me,” she said. She waved.
“I guess I saved you,” I mumbled.
“I guess you kinda did.” She licked her lips.
There wasn’t enough time to process all that I wanted to know, wanted to say.
“That’s your song,” I said again like a dumbfounded man.
“Well, I let you borrow it.” The damn little minx winked at me. She was a ball of mysteries. “So, you’re Nash Young.”
“A long time ago.”
“You’re still him. Maybe not completely, but you are.”
I shook my head. “I’m Nash Lane, but more Hound Dog.”
That was going to be a conversation for another time.
I wanted her more than anything at that moment. Just her and me. In that moment, she accepted something in her that she didn’t know.
“I’m keeping it, just like I’m keeping you,” I growled out.
I had to tear myself away from her because any longer and I would have devoured her in a heartbeat, but I knew that before the night ended, what we craved would be satisfied until the morning.
“Lesson time, little birdie.” I pushed away leaving her in the center of the room.
She hugged herself, not because she was cold, but because of her nerves.
“What’s the lesson tonight? I thought I was just going to work on my singing,” She somewhat pouted. The wheels were still turning in her head, trying to picture my first steps.
“That’ll come soon, but first we need to get rid of those negative thoughts in your head that prevent you from being who you need to be, who you really are,” I leaned on one of the walls, watching her squirm under the tension.
If I had it my way, she’d be in front of a mirror, stripping away all the things that hold her back. I’d save that for another time.
“You’re going to tell me all that you have ever been told, every negative comment, every dismissal of your talent, every backhanded compliment, and you’re going to yell out the right and truthful answer,” I challenged her.
She rocked back and forth on her heels, hesitating to even start. “You think this will work?”
“It would be a start, but only you can know if it worked,” I told her. Over the years, I thought I lost a version of myself to care for anyone other than family and the club. Most sweetbutts stayed away from me, already thinking that I was the cruel monster people made me out to be, but it wasn’t far from the truth.
“Okay,” Melody said, huffing out a breath like she had been holding it. She shook out her arms and her neck.
“What’s the first thing that comes to mind that tears you down, what was first said to you.” I tried to get her to think of where to begin.
Her face grew sadder at the thought, her eyes softening, her shoulders tensing up. “My dad telling me and Aria that the life of a singer wouldn’t be a real career. That we wouldn’t survive the real world, we’d turn into druggies or hookers.”
Refraining from throwing my own fists into a wall was hard, because I felt the ounce of guilt that at least my folks and brother were there by my side. She didn’t have that and it was where it all began for her. I swallowed my anger, “And what do you say to that, Melody?”
She whispered, “That I survived, that I’m in a career that I love, even when it tears me down.”
It was close, but she still was focusing on a negative.
I pushed off the wall. “Say I’m a survivor.”
“I’m a survivor,” she said a little louder, but I wanted her to yell it to the point where the walls trembled.
I took another step. “Try again.”
“I’m a survivor,” she yelled out as it echoed in the emptiness of the building.
“That’s my girl, what else.” I started to circle around her, adding to the pressure that this wasn’t going to end until she released a good amount of demons. The only demons that were allowed were the ones that I gave her, the ones that unlocked a true intimate desire.
She gulped, “The record companies.”
“What about them?” I had some idea from what she’d already said to me.
“I’m told that I don’t have the right image, the right sound, that it's better to stand in the background.” She took a mental inventory of herself, touching her hips, her stomach, her legs. She was told like so many people that she wasn’t the idea of beauty, that her unique and perfect external features weren’t good enough to sell.
If she would have given in, she would have done anything from extreme dieting to changing her facial appearances to even become the person she wasn’t. That showed strength that she didn’t let greed overcome her.
I stood behind her, her back flush against my chest. I ran my hands along her curved side, running along her bottom of her stomach, caging her to me. I bent down to her ear, “And what do we say to that?” I said nipping at her ear.
She whimpered for a moment, getting lost in the sensation. Her little whimper went straight to my cock, twinging in my pants.
Her chest heaved as my fingers trailed along the edge of her jeans, the ones that made her peach like ass look good enough to bite. I kissed her neck, each kiss trailing along the curve between her neck and shoulders. I should have been hands off but I, myself, am a greedy bastard.
I’m also a Saint’s Outlaw. I take what I want.
“Hound,” she breathed out.
“What do we say to that statement, Melody?” I nipped at the midpoint of her neck.
Her ass ground against me, stirring something in me that just wanted to growl. “I am right for everything,” she answered.
I shook my head, chuckling. “Try again.”
“I am enough,” she answered loudly, like my own little echo. With one hand wrapped around her waist, the other one traveled underneath her tank top. Which made me a little mad that she didn’t wear enough layers for this cool weather. I made a little mental note for later.
“What else?” I asked. My hands trailed from her stomach to the wired contraption that was holding her luscious breasts. What I found made me smirk like a damn fool. Her nipples had hardened, and it wasn’t because of the weather. I knew that if I reached down past her panties, she would be a puddled mess.
I wanted to play. But not until she unleashed everything and I could get her home. But tonight was the night that I would claim her as mine, I’d give her everything that I was, give into her cravings, worship her like the Aphrodite she was.
“I don’t belong in the background.” she rushed her words like they were buried deep down. I rewarded her with a tease of her nipples. I wanted so much to strip her and lick them, taste them for my own satisfaction.
“No, you don’t, Melody. You deserve a huge, bright spotlight to show the world what a powerhouse you are,” I growled out.
“Hound, please.” She was in her own lustful haze. I wanted to drive her crazy, for her to submit.
“Tell me one more,” I commanded her.
She shook her head no. I quickly released her nipples to grasp her neck, wanting to possess her.
“Tell. Me. One. More.” I growled out, my voice rumbling against her back.
Her back straightened up, adjusting to my hold. “That’s right, you’re learning, never look down when talking about yourself,” I said.
One more thing and I would believe I would had broken down those barriers.
“I can’t perform on stage, because I’m afraid.” she said.
“Why are you afraid?” I pressed.
I felt a tear drip down my fingers, wrapped around her pretty little throat. Her raw emotions were coming out. Her fears came alive.
“No one deserves your tears,” I said softly, loosening my grip on her neck.
Her heartbeat was settling down. “I’m afraid that everything people have said will come true.”
“But will it?” I let her loose, spinning her around, cupping my hands on her face. Those breathtaking eyes were filled with tears. Her brutal lies that once tore her down were no longer unspoken in her mind.
She rapidly shook her head, her warm tears dripping down her face. “I don’t want them to. I want to prove that they were wrong.”
I rested my forehead on hers. “And why’s that?”
One final truth. “Because I am myself and I will prove them wrong.”
There it was, she said she will, not she can. Her truth. For once, I ignored all the signs that told me I shouldn’t and I went for it. I brought her lips to mine, capturing the rich feeling of a stronger, more truthful version of her.
She didn’t fight me, she embraced it all. She embraced me. Her moans and her salty tears were delicious. It was tempting to take her now and not look back. But not there, not in the open where I could make her uncomfortable.
Her tongue slipped with mine, trying to take control over this kiss. This kiss that burnt deep in my soul.
But not here, I couldn’t do it here.
I broke it, pushing away. Both of us were fighting to steady our breathing.
Her eyes looked lost and confused, she waited for me to say something. She tried to pull away from me, the look turned into rejection and hurt.
Oh no, my little songbird.
“Don’t you dare think I didn’t want this,” I soothed her. “I can feel you. I want more and I would be happy to make that come true.”
“Hound,” she whispered.
“Go home, Melody. You’re gonna spread your wings tonight,” I said, grinning. Showing her that I wasn’t going to let her go, never. “I’m giving you a ten minute head start.”
I gave her another quick kiss, to feel her body once more before I truly devoured it.