Page 43 of Follow the Rhythm
“Don’t what?” he asked, stepping even closer. I cursed my biology, the inner Omega who loved the attention and didn’t want to back away. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I jerked my head away.
“Don’t turn this into some game,” I hissed. “But it’s good to know how little you think of me.”
Hurt flared in his eyes. He stepped back carefully. “I didn’t mean-”
“Fucking spare me.” I turned on my heel and left with as much dignity as I could muster.
I walked blindly through the hallway, my heart beating an erratic rhythm to match the storm of emotions raging through me. Before I could make it outside to the tour bus, I bumped, literally, into Charlie again. He gripped my shoulders to keep me from toppling over. I’d blame my hormones for the bad balance. And the effect of his scent, like cherry pie straight from the oven, which stoked the flame of my anger into something more dangerous, for making my perfume spike.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I said.
Charlie smiled. “Good to see you too.”
As he smiled down at me, I watched my scent hit him in real time. His pupils dilated, and his grip tightened slightly on my shoulders.
“Are you trying to torture me?” he groaned.
“I do my best.” I ran my hands recklessly up his chest. He grabbed my hips, and I felt his already hard length against my stomach.
“Stop me, Jess,” he growled. “If you don’t want this, stop me now.”
I didn’t stop him. Instead, I slid my hands under his shirt, reveling in the warmth of his skin. He pulled my hair to the side and drew his nose slowly up the side of my neck, growling softly at my scent. When he kissed my throat, sucking gently, I couldn’thold back my whimper. His lips traveled from the sensitive spot under my ear, across my jaw, to find my lips.
His kiss was as intoxicatingly sweet as I remembered, and I drank him in eagerly. I poured all of my anger and frustration and pent up desire into the kiss, and he took everything. Charlie pulled me closer until I was plastered against him, grinding against him.
When he slid his hand up my waist and brushed his thumb gently over my peaked nipple, I felt it like a bolt of lightning right to my core and actually whined. The desperate sound of my own voice was enough of a jolt to bring me back to reality.
We were in a hallway, for god’s sake, where anyone could see us and cement my reputation as an Alpha-trapping harlot forever.
I stiffened in his arms, then backed away. I clenched my hands behind me, as if they couldn’t be trusted. Charlie looked like he was in physical pain.
“I’m sorry. That was unfair,” I said, my voice uneven.
Charlie nodded tightly. “It’s fine. I’m glad we kept ourselves under control,” he said. I swallowed against the dryness in my throat.
“I, um, need to go,” I said and left before he could say anything else. I ducked through a random door to try to collect myself. The room was dark, an unused dressing room.
We weren’t even one day into the tour, and I was already almost hooking up with Charlie and thinking about following Kieran into his shower. I’d even had a friendly moment withEllis, even if he had ruined it.
“Get your shit together,” I said to the mirror. The woman looking back at me, with her hair mussed and her eyes bright, looked nearly as wild as one of my illustrations.
Chapter 14 - Ellis
The first three dates of the tour went as well as I could have ever hoped for. The crowd was loving us, and so was the press. All the hours onstage were incredible. There was nothing like the high of feeding off an audience’s energy.
It was all the time in between that was the problem.
The tour bus was top of the line, but there was no escaping the fact that I was spending hours locked in one place, stuck in my thoughts.
Bea wasn’t a help. I could tell she was already regretting agreeing to go on the tour with me, and part of me hoped she would decide to go home. The other part was weak and held onto her like a lifeline. Fighting with her was better than fighting myself.
The other major problem was Jess. After seeing a hint of the girl I knew - funny and sweet, even if she didn’t want to show it - all I wanted was more. I wanted to be the Ellis she knew again, even if just for a minute. Her scent was another distraction. Even though she wore descenters pretty much constantly, I’d sometimes catch a tantalizing hint of her tart and spicy scent. I made up excuses to find her in the common areas of the bus,where she was usually either watching something with Grace or reading, headphones in her ears.
I noticed Kieran was never far away from her. The thought of him and Jess made me wildly jealous, but only because I knew I’d completely fucked my chances years ago, even if I was interested. Which, I reminded myself, I wasn’t.
We arrived a day early for the fourth tour date, and Charlie, that handsome genius, had booked us all hotel rooms. The prospect of a night off the claustrophobic bus was heavenly.
“Room keys,” Charlie said, climbing into our bus when we pulled into the hotel’s circular drive. Grace cheered as he distributed them.
