If last night is anything to go by, it may occur sooner than I thought.
Chapter Nineteen
Slater
“Do you want me to go get them?”
I shake my head at Marcus’s question. Although we’re once again waiting around for our band members to arrive, this time, I don’t mind waiting. Why, you ask? Because the beautiful specimen known as Kylie is seated across from me. I haven’t been able to get her out of my head since our kiss, and when she isn’t in my thoughts, she’s in my dreams every night.
My recently rediscovered fascination has me pulling out all my best moves, and tonight, I intend to collect my reward. We’ve been flirting so relentlessly the past few days, I’m constantly adjusting my crotch. Some of the stage crew are worried I have crabs. I don’t. I just can’t get Kylie alone to push our flirting to the next level. If I’m not with Marcus, she’s with Emily…or Sonny.
He still hasn’t gotten the fucking hint, but my chest puffed high when Kylie sidestepped him earlier tonight. She hasn’t forgiven him for plying her with drinks with the intention of taking her home drunk. Rightfully so. I haven’t forgiven him either. It’s why he’s been handed every shit task I can find. I even made him scrub the urinal in my dressing room earlier this week. It was a fucking glorious afternoon, but it had nothing on feeling Kylie’s eyes on me the entire two hours of Rise Up’s performance tonight.
Once the lights on the stage dimmed, I could also see her. She was covering her ears from the deafening chants of the crowd requesting an encore, and her fall-to-your-knees smile was plastered over her adorable face. When I walked offstage, I invited her and Melanie to the after party. Melanie squealed when I asked them to meet me in the limo in an hour. Kylie nodded as a shy smile curled her lips. She heard the innuendo in my tone. She knew what was coming next.
When she entered the limo, I once again had the urgent need to adjust myself. Her dark purple strapless dress has the middle section cut out in a crisscross design, exposing inches of the silky smooth skin on her stomach. The color of her dress matches the purple streak in her straightened hair to perfection, and her makeup is a little heavier than I like, but her lips only have the slightest amount of sheen—making them ready to be devoured. Kissed. Wholly consumed.
As Jenni climbs into the limousine, her eyes bounce between Kylie and me. Her lips twitch as a blush creeps across her cheeks. When she fills the vacant seat next to me, she nudges me. “Did you invite them?” she interrogates me quietly, ensuring Kylie and Melanie don’t overhear our conversation.
A giddy flare blazes through her eyes when I nod. “I like her.”
I roll my eyes. “I know.” She’s told me that exact thing on many occasions the past week. I’m seriously considering recording her to save her some breath.
“And so do you,” she teases me with a giggle.
I bump her with my shoulder before my eyes stray to Nick, silently begging him to save me from his loved-up fiancée. The fucker hangs me out to dry. He just smirks and shakes his head, leaving me defenseless. When I flip him the bird, Jenni giggles before sliding across the bench seat to snuggle into his side.
Emily’s eyes also dart between Kylie and me when she climbs into the limo on Noah’s heel, but she doesn’t smile like Jenni did. Her brows pull together as she fights the moisture filling her eyes. I stare at her curiously, confused as fuck as to why she’s reacting like she is. Emily is an old romantic. She watches black and white movies if something in the title gives away its sappiness, so her response isn’t just odd, it has me sitting on a knife’s edge.
My eyes drift to Jenni. The odd expression on her face reveals she’s also noticed Emily’s screwball response. “I don’t know,” Jenni mouths to my questioning stare. She’s never lied to me, so I take her confession at face value.
I spend the twenty-minute trip to the club our pre-concert event is being held at with my eyes darting between Emily and Kylie. Any time Kylie catches Emily’s stare, she smiles at her. Emily smiles back, but it isn’t the large, heart-warming smile she usually gives people.
By the time we make it to the club, my curiosity is so piqued, I plan on staying in the limo to ask Emily what the fuck her problem is. My plans falter when Kylie forgets she’s traveling with men who need a dozen security personnel just to catch a flight in a domestic terminal. It’s why we use private jets now instead of a regular aircraft. When Kylie is blinded by the paparazzi lights, her hands fly up to shield her eyes. It comes too late. Her impeded vision nearly has her stumbling onto the concrete sidewalk.
Hawke moves for her, but I beat him to her. While shielding my eyes with one arm, I curl the other one around Kylie’s tiny waist. She stiffens when she’s suddenly grabbed from the side, but she quickly realizes who has her.
“Keep your eyes on my boots,” I shout to ensure my voice is projected over the paparazzi screaming a range of questions at me.
After taking a handful of steps, the lights dancing in front of my eyes fade from the paps moving behind us to capture Noah, Marcus, and Nick entering the club. When I walk into the club, I move us to the side so I can make sure Kylie is okay.
“If you're looking at me, I can’t see you. There’s nothing but white blobs in front of me.” My laughter joins hers, but it doesn’t linger for long. “Oh my god, where’s Melanie?”
My eyes missile to the door, mortified I forgot about her friend. My panic subsides when I see Melanie is being ushered inside by Marcus. She’s clinging to his chest, happy to use the swarming paparazzi as an excuse to get close to him. She just needs to dull down her smile to authenticate her ruse.
“She’s okay. She’s with Marcus.”
Smiling, Kylie locks her eyes with mine, indicating she can see again, but just like Melanie, I’ll use the situation to my advantage. I keep my arms wrapped around her waist and my eyes fixated on hers. We’re standing so close, we share the same air. Another inch and I’ll be able to taste her lips again, and I’m not the only one noticing. The longer we stay in our little cocoon, the more wild the vein in Kylie’s neck thuds. It beats out a funky tune, its rhythm similar to the pulse inflating my cock.
Noise ceases to exist when Kylie inches her mouth toward mine. When her tongue delves out to moisten her lips in preparation for our kiss, she doubles the wetness on mine—that’s how close we are to kissing.
“Oh my god, that was fucking crazy!” Melanie’s scream is so loud, Kylie headbutts me when she jumps in fright. I wouldn’t have minded the interruption if our collision had her lips landing on mine. Unfortunately, they smack into the side of my mouth instead of on my lips as I hoped.
Melanie smirks as Kylie rubs her head. “Did I interrupt something?” When neither of us answer her, she hits me with a teasing wink before replacing my arms curled around Kylie’s waist with her own. “We’re not at a concert, in a limo, or in the shower.”
I’m left hanging at the side of the dance floor looking like a freak with a raging hard on. What the fuck just happened? Melanie has been practically throwing Kylie at me the past week, but just as things get interesting, she drags her away from me.
“Don’t try to understand them. You’ll only end up more confused.” Marcus curls his arm around my shoulders before guiding me to the VIP section of the club.
