Fractured Beat (Meltdown Book 1) (24 page)

“You okay?” he asked. For some reason I felt as if this was a test.
Was I okay?
I felt okay. In fact, I felt better than I’d felt in a really long time.

I stifled a yawn and smiled. He returned it with one of his own. Then he curled into me, pulled the covers over us both and kissed the side of my head. “Sleep,” he whispered, and I did.

We woke to a pounding on the door.

“Shit,” Grant muttered, and bounded from my bed. He slid into his jeans, grabbed his shirt and raced from my room. Deciding to let him handle it I drifted back to sleep.

The next time I awakened the sun was in my eyes and I had to pee. When I sat up I heard a crinkle on the bed next to me and noticed a piece of paper.

We slept through our session. I promise to make it up to you later. Gone to practice. See you at the show tonight. –G

I glanced at the clock and groaned when I saw it was after two in the afternoon. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d slept this late. Then again, I couldn’t recall the last time I’d stayed up all night either.

I want you, Mallory Scott. I want to do dirty things to you. If I promise you won’t lose your job will you let me do dirty things to you?

Grant’s words from last night drifted through my mind and I waited for the guilt to hit. Instead of guilt, though, all I felt was sated and pleasantly sore. In the shower I reflected on my feelings.
What do I want?
I asked myself. I kept coming back to the same answer.

Grant Hardy.

I thought back to what CiCilia had been telling me for years
. Let go of the past and move on.
My past destroyed me but it also defined me. I was no longer that selfish drug addicted child. I was better and stronger. Was I worthy of someone like Grant Hardy? That I didn’t know. Was I willing to find out, even if it meant walking away in a few weeks or four months with my tattered heart in my hands?

I’d have to wait and see.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in my hotel room catching up on emails and phone calls. I was nervous to talk to CiCilia. It turned out I didn’t have to worry. She was beside herself with her tennis pro. Apparently Jeff Jansen was quite the ass. He was also in total denial about his addiction. I spent most of the conversation feeling sorry for her and the rest laughing. CiCilia was funny when she got riled up. I was more than happy to let her vent about her case and leave mine well enough alone. After I hung up with CiCi Grant texted to tell me that Hank was on his way to get me. As it was hot on the floor last night and I was most likely going to be back there again tonight, I decided to wear my sleeveless purple bohemian dress. The front fell to my knees and the back touched my ankles. It was both sexy and lightweight. I knew Grant liked my hair down but it was too hot, so I compromised and pulled the top up and left the back draped across my shoulders in a mass of wild curls. Right as I was slipping on my wedge sandals I heard a knock at the door. Fear jolted through me.
What if Hank knows? How do I act? What do I say?
Taking a deep breath I opened the door and plastered a smile on my face.

Hank stood there with a grin on his face. “You look gorgeous as usual.”

“They pay you to say that,” I joked, and he laughed.

“Grant said you had a great session this morning.”

My smile started to slip but I caught it and hoisted it back up. “He did, did he?”

“I haven’t seen him this pumped since before the incident. Apparently you gave him some seriously good advice. Whatever you did, keep doing it.”

In an attempt not to choke on my spit, I pretended to forget something and quickly escaped into the bedroom where I had a mini panic attack.
What in the world did Grant tell him?
Once I got my breathing under control I grabbed my purse and returned to the sitting area. Hank led me down to the waiting car and we talked about protocol on the way to the venue. Unlike last night, where I didn’t see the band before the show, Grant told Hank to deliver me straight to the dressing room. I wasn’t sure what this meant but wasn’t about to ask for fear of him bringing up our “session” again.

Sampson greeted us at the back door and escorted me to the dressing room.

Luke spotted me first and let out a complimentary whistle followed by an obnoxious catcall. “Mallory Scott is in the house tonight.” I rolled my eyes and he laughed. Nash and Chaz were sitting on the sofa and Grant was standing off to the side. I felt his smile all the way to my toes. I wanted to go to him, but I didn’t dare.

“You look beautiful tonight,” Blane said from across the room. Grant scowled while I fought back a smile.

“Thank you,” I replied. Grant’s eyes narrowed on me and I widened my smile. He really was cute when he was jealous. A few seconds passed before he pushed off of the wall he’d been leaning on and walked out of the room. Worried he was upset with me, I scrambled for an excuse to go after him. Finally, I went with the only thing I could think of. “Does anyone know where the ladies room is?”

“Down the hall on your right,” Blane answered. “I can show you.”

The last thing I needed was Blane discovering what Grant and I were up to. “Thanks, I’ve got it,” I told him, and slipped out the door.

Halfway down the hall a door opened up and an arm reached out and grabbed me. My gush of surprise ended with a hand over my mouth.

“Shhhh,” Grant whispered in my ear, and I shivered with excitement as he pulled me inside the room and locked the door. The room was dark, but I could tell by the furniture it was a smaller version of Meltdown’s dressing room. Once behind locked doors, Grant released my mouth. Before I could turn to properly address him I found my back pressed flush against the wall. His mouth dropped to mine and he gave me a slow, soul stealing kiss. Lord, the man could kiss.

When we came up for air, he whispered, “I tried to get back to you today but couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

I kissed the apology from his lips and he groaned down my throat. He was wearing his signature ripped Henley and the jeans that hugged his perfect ass and I wanted him. I wanted him on my terms tonight, not his. I wanted him hard and fast and I wanted him to walk out on that stage tonight filled with thoughts of what we’d just done. Pressing my lips to his, I reached between us and slid my panties off. He stepped back long enough to grab a condom from his back pocket. As I reached for his fly he lifted my dress and a wicked smile appeared on his face.

“You are beyond beautiful. If we had time, I would so bury my face between those legs. Rain check?” he whispered.

“I’m holding you to it,” I all but panted. After fumbling around I finally found the button to his jeans. As quickly as my fingers would move I had them undone, pushed down and him released from his briefs.

His forehead dropped to my shoulder as I slowly stroked up and down the soft but so hard length of him. “We need to hurry,” he rasped. Seconds later he took control with his hands. I was almost there when he pulled back to put on the condom. As he lifted me up and slid inside, we both groaned.

“You feel so good,” I whispered against his lips.

“So good,” he repeated between thrusts. Just the thought of getting caught heightened the pleasure exponentially. My orgasm was quickly brewing.

Pressing my back against the wall he tightened his grip on my legs and powered in and out of me. At the same time, he gently bit the side of my neck and let out a sexy growl. A few strokes later, he said, “You need to get there, now.” The desperation in his voice mixed with his pounding thrusts slid me straight into home. Sensing that I was seconds away from shouting the roof off of the place, he fused his lips to mine and swallowed down my scream with a long moan of his own. As we put ourselves back together I asked him what he’d said to Hank and he laughed. “I told him you helped put things into perspective.” With a quick peck on the lips, he whispered, “Tonight,” and was out the door and down the hall. I waited a few minutes before following after. By the time I made it back to the dressing room it was empty, all except for Blane.

“I was wondering where you’d gone. Did you get lost again,” he teased.

If only he knew.

Grant was on fire that night. In fact, he was so on fire that they played longer than they’d planned. By the time we made it back to the hotel we were running on fumes. We agreed that after this morning’s incident, it was better for me to spend the night in his room. I left him long enough to brush my teeth and throw on a tank top. When I returned, he was sound asleep. I wanted to crawl in beside him, but things were still so new between us. Instead, I turned off his light and tucked him in before returning to my room. As I lay there in the dark I reflected on every second of the past twenty four hours. I fell asleep wondering if this was my shot at love or if I was in the process of making the biggest mistake of my life.

Revelations

Grant

T
he sound of
a door slamming in the hallway jarred me out of a dead sleep. Voices trailed down the hall as I reached for my phone to see what time it was.
Three in the morning.
The last thing I remembered was crawling into bed and waiting for Mallory to come back from her room.
I must have fallen asleep.
I wasn’t sure which was shittier, me falling asleep or Mallory ditching me. We had five hours before we needed to be packed and ready to go. There were many things we could accomplish in those five hours, all versions of me being deep inside her, but first I was going to spank her ass for bailing on me. On my way to her room I made sure to grab condoms. I also made sure to take my phone with me.

Mallory lay on her side with her back facing me. Her tank top had ridden up past her waist and her sexy, bare skin taunted me. All I could think about was stripping the rest of her clothes off and getting inside her. This time I wanted her under me, or maybe even on top. Hell, who was I kidding? I’d take her any way she’d have me. As I lowered my knee to the side of the bed, the memory of her nightmare flashed through my mind and I hesitated. She had to be exhausted. I sure as hell was. Setting my urges aside for the moment, I slid in behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. As I relaxed into the warmth of her skin and the comforting scent of honey, she woke up and sleepily called out my name. “Shhhh, sleep,” I whispered. I kissed the back of her neck and she let out a deep sigh and promptly drifted back to sleep. Sleep didn’t come so easily for me. My body was tired but my brain wouldn’t shut off. What was it about this particular woman that made me want to drop my defenses? I wasn’t scared of falling in love. Okay, so maybe I was a little scared, but only because of what I had to live up to. My parents had an awesome marriage, but they worked hard for it every single day. Nash hit the nail on the head when he talked about being with the same person day after day. Was I ready to be with the same person for the rest of my days? I wasn’t ready to let Mallory go, but was I ready to keep her?

I must have drifted to sleep because the next thing I knew Mallory’s elbow was in my ribs. “Your phone,” she grumpily mumbled.

Without even bothering to look at who was calling, I swiped my phone from the bedside table and hit the button, “Hello.”

“Breakfast in ten minutes,” Nash said.

“What?” I groggily asked.

“Breakfast in my room in ten minutes,” he repeated.

Before my incident the four of us had breakfast together every morning while on tour. It was a chance for us to catch up and talk through any issues we were having. My stint in rehab broke that tradition and I wasn’t sure I wanted it reinstated. Mallory chose that second to brush her ass against my cock and I thought,
hell no.

“Not today. I’ll catch up with you on the bus,” I told him.

“We’ll be at your door in five,” he said, before hanging up.

“Fuuuuuck,” I groaned.

“You okay?” Mallory groggily asked.

No, I wasn’t okay. I wanted to spend my morning buried deep inside her, not having breakfast with the guys. Letting out a growl of frustration I threw back the covers. As I sat up I felt her hand brush across my back. That was all it took to send me over the edge. One small touch and I was reminded of how deep the shit was getting between us. Pretty soon I was going to drown in it. In a matter of seconds I’d gone from horny, to frustrated, to so damn angry I couldn’t see straight. I’d always been in control. Even when it didn’t seem like it, I had a handle on it. In one fucking night everything changed and I was so damn sick of scrambling to get it back. I wanted too many things and the pressure was starting to get to me. I wanted to fuck Mallory. I wanted to quit the fucking band. I wanted to buy out the fucking label. I wanted to write fucking music and play my fucking songs. I wanted to be a normal fucking man with a normal fucking life for a change, but most of all, I wanted all of the bullshit to just fucking go away, every last bit of it. Before I said or did something I’d regret, I grabbed my phone and got the hell out of there.

“Grant!” Mallory called out after me.

Ignoring the hurt in her voice as she called out my name was one of the hardest things I’d ever done. I wanted to go back, but at the same time, I didn’t. As I crossed the threshold to my room, I made sure to close both doors and lock my side. The guys showed up with breakfast right as I was toweling off after my shower.