Ash (7:42AM): Is it Sat night yet? This week’s been way too long

  Dylan (8:22AM) Can we talk?

  I groaned and threw myself back on the bed. I knew Dylan and I needed to get this over with but I had never had to have an uncomfortable talk like this with a guy and it made me nervous.

  Me (8:29AM) How’s tomorrow? Saturdays seem to work for you.

  I knew that I didn’t need to make the snide remark about Saturday, but I was still a little pissed and my feelings were more than a little hurt about his strange behavior last Saturday followed by the lack of texts or calls for 6 days. All of this had been so out of character for him, at least it was for the Dylan that he had allowed to me know.

  Dylan (8:30AM) Fair enough. I’ll be at your place at 5?

  Me (8:30AM) K

  With that settled, I reread Ash’s message and I felt much better. During the week, we texted back and forth, keeping up with what was going on in each other’s lives for the most part, but nothing replaced the time I spent in his bed with him. I really was pathetic when it came to Ash Walker. I shot him a quick response before I headed off for my morning shower.

  Me (8:44AM) One more day and they are all too long. See you tomorrow

  By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, I was wound so tight with frustration and irritation; I thought I was going to snap. Fridays were usually the worst day of the week for me anyways because that was always day six of not seeing either Ash or Dylan. Day six of my male withdrawal. By Fridays, I longed for the following day when Dylan would hold me in his arms and kiss me sweetly. And then of course there were my late nights with Ash and sleeping snugly in his arms until early the following afternoon. Those Sunday early morning hours were what I lived for and it was then that I felt most comfortable just being me.

  But Friday nights were the absolute worst. I would toss and turn, get hot then cold, look at the alarm clock no less than ten times . . . So when I added the additional stress about the upcoming talk with Dylan, I needed a release in the worst way. Fortunately, my plans for the evening involved the one person that I knew could help me forget it all, even if it was for just the night.

  I was no fool when it came to Mason Templeton. I knew that I was way out of my league when it came to him in almost every facet of life, and I didn’t for one minute fancy myself as the girl that was going to make him fall in love and change his bad boy, promiscuous ways. He was the lead singer in a pretty popular local band that was possibly headed for bigger things (according to the results of my Google search), co-owned a bar with his brother, and obviously wasn’t hurting for cash. I was sure that he had hundreds if not thousands of girls in his bed and there was a line just as long waiting to be the next. As long as I didn’t allow myself to forget any of those facts and not get emotionally attached, I was going to enjoy hanging out with this uber-sexy hot piece of sin and learn whatever he was willing to teach me. The reality of my situation was the guy I really liked was about to break off whatever it was that we had going and the guy I was in love with was never going to allow us to have a chance, so I figured why not spend time with the guy that I lusted after. The guy that had my body explode in a thousand pieces of pleasure with his hands and mouth. The decision was quite easy.

  It was a little after eight when I heard the growl of Mason’s bike pull into the parking lot. I looked down at my short denim skirt and I shuddered at the thought of hiking it up and pressing my body against Mason’s back. The first cool front of the fall had blown through the night before so instead of a tank top, I opted for a fitted, long sleeve, old ringer tee that donned the cover from Van Morrison’s Moondance album. I hoped that Mason would understand my wearing it was a show of appreciation of his previous week’s serenade. It clung to my body and it was extremely thin from hundreds of wears and washes which allowed my satin chocolate brown bra to be clearly visible (I may or may not have gone shopping that afternoon especially for this bra and panty set to match this shirt.) I threw on some brown leather flip flops, and opted for the pigtail braids again since I had assumed he’d bring the bike and I didn’t want my hair to be a tangled mess.

  I ran out of my room to meet him. Even though it had only been three days, I was so anxious to see him again, to touch him and just let loose for a while.

  “Angel, what a breath of fresh air on this fucked up day. You look amazing as always,” he complimented me as I approached him taking off his helmet. He looked just as incredible as I had remembered, once again in a plain t-shirt, navy this time, and jeans, and I had no shame but to walk right up to him and wrap my arms around him. He just as eagerly put his arms around me and held me close to him.

  “Mason,” I said into his chest without pulling away. We stayed like that for several minutes. I didn’t know what had happened in his day and he didn’t know about mine, but we both seemed to know that we needed the physical contact, the closeness, at that moment. No words were necessary. We finally tore apart and Mason broke the silence.

  “Okay, that was enough seriousness for the night. We both need to forget about whatever shitty kind of day we had and relax. Let’s go have some drinks and listen to what I hope is some halfway decent music.” He tilted his head at me as if he was asking my approval for this plan.

  “Are you not singing tonight?” I asked, a little confused.

  “Nope. Marcus changed up the schedule this week so that Friday nights are now open mic and Thursday and Saturday nights are scheduled sets,” he explained with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

  “What?” I asked. “What are you not telling me?”

  He leaned down to me and put his forehead on mine. “I may have had some pull on the schedule change so that I could actually spend some time with you tonight instead of having to worry about performing,” he admitted sheepishly. I couldn’t help but grin goofily and feel all gooey inside that he would go through the trouble of changing the entire bar’s schedule so he could spend time with me, but I was also sad that I wouldn’t get to hear him sing.

  “So when will I get to hear you sing again?” I pretend pouted.

  “I’ll play a song or two tonight acoustic if you want, but you’ll have to either come on a school night or bring your Saturday boy with you to the bar.” He moved his lips closer to mine so that we were only centimeters apart.

  “Well, that won’t be a problem any longer,” I whispered, bringing my lips so close to his that they were practically touching. “No more Saturday night guy.” He didn’t wait any longer to capture my mouth in his and I sighed in relief at the sensation of his mouth on mine. The kiss was long and hungry and I hoped a preview of what was in store for the rest of the night.

  “Come on, Angel. Let’s get going before I give you another lesson right here in this parking lot,” Mason growled into my mouth. His words mixed with the pure wanton lust in his voice inspired a small growl of my own, which made him kiss me again. Finally, we separated and got on the motorcycle, both of us more than a little worked up.

  When we got to the bar, Mason pulled his motorcycle around to the back where he parked close to a back door. He helped me off the bike and picked right up where we left off in my parking lot. He held me close against his body, I could feel that he was still hard as he pressed against my abdomen.

  “Do you feel what you do to me? Do you have any idea how crazy you are making me right now?” He asked in a low voice as he kissed the top of my head. He began moving his mouth down to my neck and ear and continued to talk and kiss. “Tasting your mouth again?” Kiss. “Those fucking sexy ass pigtails?” Kiss. “Seeing you in that damn see-through shirt?” Kiss. “Feeling your heat through those damp silky panties while you were pressed up against my back?” Kiss.

  I stepped back before I had a damn orgasm just from him talking to me and kissing my neck. “We should go inside before you try to start another lesson, Teach.” I smiled up at his handsome face and he nodded in agreement, grabbing my hand to pull me through the back door.

&nbsp
; Mason stopped by the office to let Marcus know that he was there even though he was technically off. Marcus was a little friendlier to me during our second meeting and I was surprised that he had remembered my name when he greeted me. We said goodbye and ventured into the main area. The room was fairly crowded and there was a girl on stage that was pretty good. Mason placed his hand possessively at the small of my back and guided me through the crowd to his regular table. I recognized several of the people there from last Friday, but didn’t remember everyone’s names.

  Mason seemed to sense my unease as we approached the table because he whispered in my ear, “The only people you need to know here are Cruz and Sebastian, Aaron isn’t here and he’s the only one that has a girlfriend that’s worth remembering. Cruz is my childhood best friend and Sebastian is his cousin.” He kissed the top of my head and I nodded. I remembered which ones were Cruz and Sebastian as soon as he said their names. Despite the fact that I did not find him attractive, Sebastian appeared to have no problems getting female attention as he had two brunettes snuggled up to him. However, it could easily be argued that Cruz, while not as physically impressive as Mason was, had just as much sex appeal as his best friend. He was average size in both height and build, but his bright green eyes combined with his darker complexion and long black hair was fascinating.

  Everyone called out their greetings to Mason, or Rat rather, whenever we got settled onto his bar stool. He insisted that I sit on his lap again, so I positioned myself on one of his legs, with my legs dangling in between the two of his, so I could still see his face and be able to kiss him whenever I felt like it. Mason gave a universal hello to everyone around the table, but then turned to address Cruz and Sebastian. “Cruz, Sebastian, you remember Scarlett from last Friday.” I knew that there was no way that they were going to remember me from any other bimbo that Mason usually had curled up in his lap.

  “The girl from last Friday? Angel?” Cruz’s question was directed more at Mason then at me, but they were both looking at me curiously. Of course they would remember because of Mason’s ridiculous little concert he dedicated to me.

  “Yeah, MY angel,” Mason answered him. He lightly pulled on one of my braids with one hand, kissed my cheek, and placed his other hand high up on my thigh. I blushed furiously knowing that everyone was watching us.

  “Fucking brilliant, Rat,” Cruz said. I turned to look at him, not sure if he was being sarcastic or not, but when his emerald eyes locked onto mine, I was startled to see the pools of desire that stared back at me. Unable to control my reaction to him, I clenched my upper thighs tightly together and lightly dug my fingernails into Mason’s shoulder. It only took a matter of seconds for me to realize that I needed to break the stare, which I quickly did, but not without Mason observing the entire exchange.

  Surprisingly, he chuckled and looked over at Cruz, “Not with this one, man.” Mason shook his head. “Not a fucking chance. You have no idea.” He brought me closer to him and wrapped one of his arms tightly across my waist and kissed the side of my mouth. I wasn’t exactly sure if I understood the entire conversation that just took place, but I was pretty sure that Cruz was asking Mason to share me with him.

  “Don’t worry, Angel, no one else is going to touch you,” Mason assured me. I didn’t bother to tell him that I wasn’t worried in the least about Cruz because it was then that I noticed they were introducing the next local musician ready to take a shot at impressing the crowd. When Ash walked onto the stage with his acoustic hanging around his neck, I inhaled deeply and my body stiffened. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Ash pulled one of the available stools up onto the stage and adjusted the microphone. He looked out into the crowd and showed his irresistible dimple.

  “Ah shit,” I heard Mason mumble against my back.

  “Thank you. I had actually planned to do a different song that I have been working on, but instead, I just noticed a friend of mine that’s here, so I’m going to invite her up to play with me, if that’s okay with all of you. I think you’ll really enjoy this.” Everyone cheered. He turned and looked at me sitting in Mason’s lap and every eye in the bar followed his. “Scarlett?” He asked in the microphone. “Care to join me?”

  I was going to fucking kill him when I got my hands on him. I could not believe he put me in this position and even though he acted like it was all innocent, just two friends who like to play guitar together, I couldn’t help but think he was sending a message to Mason. I turned to Mason and asked if there was an extra acoustic I could use. He stood up with me and walked with his hand in mine over to the back of the stage where he grabbed a guitar out of a case. He leaned down and kissed me solidly on the mouth. “I will beat his ass later if you want me to.” I just nodded my head, completely aware of the silence and stares still focused in on me. I walked up on stage where Ash had already pulled another stool next to his and set up a microphone. I glared at him letting him know that I was none too happy with his antics, but he just smiled and patted the stool.

  “Sit down, butterfly,” he purred. Still contemplating bashing him over the head with the guitar, I lowered myself on the stool.

  “Lover’s Eyes?” he asked. I nodded and tried to focus less on the ass sitting in front of me and more on not making an idiot of myself. I looked over at Mason and gave him a tight smile. He nodded his head at me and smiled back. I was sure he was just as curious as everyone else what this was going to sound like.

  I closed my eyes and took myself back to Ash’s room and pictured us sitting on his bed and tried to relax. I allowed him to lead us in as I always did, and then I joined him, in both guitar and voice. I looked into his beautiful face and forgot being mad at him while we lost ourselves in each other and the song. By the first chorus, I had forgotten about the other people there and just let go. We sang to each other, lost in the magical melodic connection that we always seemed to produce. We cut the song short since its original version was well over five minutes long. As we stopped playing, a hush fell over the crowd before a burst of applause shattered the silence and we even received a standing ovation from many of the people. I couldn’t believe it. My heart filled with joy at everyone’s positive reaction.

  I slipped off the stool, gave a small curtsey, and put the guitar back in its case. I didn’t dare look at Ash during my exit, I turned off any emotion I felt for him. I would not allow him to ruin my night with Mason any more. People congratulated and complimented me as I walked back over to Mason’s table and I smiled and nodded my appreciation. I could hear Ash’s voice in the background singing, but my sole focus was on one rather large, pierced, tattooed, really fucking sexy rocker that was just a few feet in front of me.

  Mason was standing with his feet slightly apart, his arms crossed in front of his chest, and his lips pressed together in a firm line. He sort of looked like a bouncer guarding entrance to the bar stool behind him. I walked straight up to him and looked into his charcoal eyes, everyone at the table was silent and focused in on the two of us. I had thought he wasn’t upset since he had been smiling and clapping, but all of a sudden, I was nervous that he was mad at me. We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Finally, he said something.

  “That was the fucking sexiest thing I’ve ever seen,” Mason growled. He grabbed both sides of my face in his hands and attacked my mouth and neck right there in front of everyone. Everyone started hooting and hollering and yelling lewd comments, and I couldn’t have cared in the least bit. When Mason’s lips were anywhere on my body, it was as if all brain functions except those centered around physical pleasure were temporarily paralyzed.

  “I’m ready to go,” I whispered up into Mason’s ear between my panting breaths.

  He chuckled and pressed his lips against my forehead, “We just got here, angel. You know what everyone would think?”

  I looked around at the people near us. Everyone had resumed their conversations or making out or listening to the next guy up on stage. “I don’t care what they t
hink. I don’t want to be here if he’s going to be. I’m really angry right now and I need you to help bring me back down . . . relieve some tension,” I looked up at him wantonly. “Please.”

  “I could never deny you anything, Angel,” he said shaking his head at himself. “Especially if involves me and you and relieving tension.”

  I kissed him. “Thank you, Rat.”

  He threw his head back in a hearty laugh. “What am I going to do with you, you little musical, virtuous, angel?”

  I scrunched my nose at his description of me. “I sound like I should be on top of a Christmas tree. Do I light up, too?”

  He grabbed my hips and spun me around so I was facing the exit and my back was against his chest. “I made you light up on Tuesday and I plan on doing it again as soon as we get back to my place.” He kissed the center of the back of my neck and shivers ran down my body. I couldn’t wait.

  Saturday morning brought with it stormy weather, which I thought was ominous for the “talk” that Dylan and I were going to have later in the day. The night before with Mason had been just about perfect, minus the Ash hiccup. Back at his apartment, we spent hours exploring each other’s bodies and after my third orgasm, I passed out in his bed. I had no idea that someone touching the back of my knee and the palm of my hand could be such a turn-on. Waking up with him had been a little strange since the only guy I had shared a bed with was Ash . . . and Ash and I didn’t sleep together naked. So when I woke up in a foreign room, draped in heavy limbs, and looked down to see myself and a male body completely in the buff, I had more-than-a-minor freak out until I recalled the events of the prior evening.

  I wiggled out from under Mason’s body and went to the bathroom to get cleaned up and dressed. When I returned to his room, he was still dead asleep. I didn’t want to wake him, he looked so peaceful and innocent. Against my better judgment, I stripped out of the clothes that I had just put on and rejoined him in bed. The next time I woke up, it was to Mason’s tongue teasing the most sensitive parts of my body while his hand lightly traced patterns on the inside of my upper thighs.