Sticks (Black Addiction #2) (28 page)

“He moved? And I missed it?” He pulled the phone away from his ear, not even trying to hide his disappointment.

“Or she.” We still had no idea of whether it was a boy or girl. “But you wouldn’t have felt it, I barely did.” I wrapped my arms around him, laid my head against his chest. “You’ll be here for the next time.”

“You bet your ass I will be.”

He dropped to his knees and pressed his lips to my belly. “Listen here, buddy, this is your daddy. I just told your mommy how much I love her, but you need to know that I love you too, and we’re done fucking—I mean
messing
—around. We’re going to be a family now, so you do whatever it is you need to do in there and I’ll take care of everything else out here. Also, if you hear your mom or me swear, those are grown up words and not for you.” He kissed my stomach and then got back onto his feet.

“I love you.” I smiled, unable to stop saying those three words. It was like a sickness and I was happy to be infected.

“God, I love hearing that.” He grinned, obviously just as far gone as I was.

“Me too.” I snuggled closer.

“Now, I’m going to need to make love to my future wife.” He wrapped his arms around me and lifted, my feet losing contact with the ground. Our new destination set as he moved us into my bedroom.

“Wait, aren’t you supposed to be on a stage somewhere?” My back hit the mattress as he lowered me down, my mouth asking questions while the rest of me screamed to
shut the fuck up
.

“It’s cool, I got a fill in.” He joined me on the bed, kicking off his shoes. His eyes telling me he was done with the conversation.

“Who did you get on such short notice?” My stupid mouth once again let down the team. Seriously, why couldn’t I shut up?

“Stop talking, I need to get you naked already.” He laughed against my throat, his hands wandering against the hem on my sleep shirt.

“So, tell me who and I’ll strip.” I wriggled around underneath him, my fingers moving to the fly of his jeans.

“Troy Harris, from Power Station.” He pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it to the floor as I got to work on his pants.

“Whoa, he just had nothing better to do than a stand-in gig?” I unzipped his jeans and palmed him, the thickness of his cock erasing any need I had to discuss anything further. In fact, what was I even talking about?

“What can I say, he needed the challenge. We’re done talking about him and the band.” His fingers ripped off my sleep shirt, getting impatient as his eyes steamrolled over my mostly-naked body. “God, you’re beautiful.”

“Touch me.” My back rose off the mattress desperate to feel his hands on my skin.

He didn’t answer; a low growl rose from his throat as he kicked off his jeans and moved his mouth to my breast, his lips wrapping around my tight peak.

Yes
.

I had meant to say it out loud but my mouth refused to operate, instead a strangled moan came out as I writhed underneath him.

“I’ve missed this so much.” His mouth moved to my other breast, his hands moving over every inch like he was trying to remember me by touch.

“More,” I managed to moan, the sensation of his tongue against my nipple driving me insane. My hands reached for the bulge in his boxers as I palmed his cock, his erection jerked at my touch.

It wasn’t close to enough as my hands dove beneath the material, my fingernails grazing his skin as he continued to worship me with his mouth.

“Fuck,” he hissed, using one of his hands to push his boxer shorts below his hips, giving me better access. “You’re driving me crazy with those hands.”

With the added encouragement and an ache between my legs I couldn’t describe, my fist wrapped around him and tightened. The slow journey up and down his length deliberate as his
fingers moved to the edge of my
panties.

I wanted them off in the worst way, hoping he could read my telepathic message to rip them as I continued jerking him off.

And what do you know? He was a mind reader, the tear of the fabric just audible over our heavy breathing. The cool air against my naked skin made me gasp as he moved his fingers against my core.

Oh.

My.

God.

I wasn’t sure if it had been that long since he’d touched me there or if some weird biology had happened to my body, but it had never felt like this. His fingers got busy, moving against me before he plunged them inside. His thumb paid close attention to my clit as the sensations sent me into overdrive. My body bucked against his hand while I tried to keep my hands on him, the movement up and down his cock slowing down as every nerve in my body tingled.

“Joey.” I had no idea what I was even asking for, just needing to say his name as his mouth moved back to my breast and sucked.

I didn’t stand a chance.

An internal detonation exploded inside of me with enough force to make me scream, my body a shaking, twitching mess.

“Yeah, that’s my girl.” He gave me a satisfied grin, his fingers still moving inside of me.

My eyes blinked, vaguely aware that my hand was still clamped around his dick but had stopped moving. The shivers of the orgasm still rolling through me as he moved his mouth to my throat and sucked gently.

Maddening.

It was the only word I could use to describe it as my body responded to his touch despite coming only minutes before. Tingles prickled my skin as I felt another wave building.

“In me. I want you in me.” My broken sentence making enough sense that he nodded in response. The head of his hard length pushed against my entrance as my hips tilted toward him.

“Slow down, baby,” he warned, trying to steady me as he slid in slowly, the tip of his cock barely entering me an inch.

“No, I can’t wait.” My hands grabbed at his ass as I pulled him against me, the sudden motion making him lose balance as he fell toward me. His heavy body covered me as he entered in one hard, sharp unintentional thrust.

“Kenzie, I’m going to hurt you.” He scrambled to his elbows and lifted himself off me just enough so I could breathe.

“More,” I begged, unashamed at how much I needed him. “I’m going to come.”

Taking the words for the green light they were intended, he thrust inside me again—hard. My fingers clawed at his back as I rocked my hips against him, unable to stop.

Everything was amplified, like I tripped on some sexual acid, as my body bucked against him out of control.

“Kenzie, you’re going to make me—”

He didn’t finish the sentence, my body shattering into a million pieces for the second time, just as violently as the first. He chased my orgasm with one of his own as he filled me with his hot load while his body jerked. His breath ragged and out of control matched mine as he kissed me fiercely on the mouth.

“Don’t take this the wrong way.” He slowly rolled to his side, my body feeling the loss as he pulled out of me. “But what the hell was that?”

“Everything is super sensitive.” I rolled onto my side to face him. “I read about it, but didn’t know it was going to be like that.”

Understatement of the century.

The information I’d read said you
might
feel enhanced sensation—not stimulation overload. If that’s what it would feel like every time, then I was in serious trouble. I already had a healthy appetite for sex; with my body’s new groove, I was going to turn into a glutton.

“It’s quite possible I’m going to turn into a sex fiend. Fair warning.”

“Babe, as long as you give me a couple of hours to play and occasionally eat, I’ll happily take care of all those urges.” His teeth gently bit against my shoulder.

“Good.” My fingers traced the toned muscles of his chest. “Because I want to do that again.”

I could have laid
in that bed with her forever.

Literally.

Or at the very least stayed in her apartment. My need to be anywhere she wasn’t, non-existent as I watched her sleep peacefully by my side. I couldn’t imagine not having this, and knowing what it now felt like, there wasn’t a chance I would give it up.

Unfortunately, reality would be an asshole whether we wanted to deal with it or not. The tour I was on still had three months left, and there was no way I would fuck the band over by dropping out now.

So there we were. All the happy-happy-joy-joy short lived as I tried to imagine getting on a plane and leaving her again. Yeah, I’d rather rip my fingernails out one by one.

“Hey.” Her eyes cracked open, giving me a perfect view of those beautiful baby blues. “Did I break you?” She treated me to the biggest smile that would have knocked me on my ass if I wasn’t already sitting down.

“It’s going to take a lot more than that to break me, sweetheart.” I brushed her tangled waves off her face. “But I’m going to have to fly back today.”

“Oh.” The smile faded, the prospect just as exciting for her I guess, as she shuffled up the bed. “When do you have to leave?”

Too fucking soon, that’s when. The hours had ticked away through the morning, neither of us lifting our heads until almost noon. I needed to get my shit together, get to the airport, book a flight and be back in Philly in time to hit the stage tonight. Not to mention I hadn’t even spoken to the band to find out how last night’s gig went.

“In the next hour or two.” My eyes locked on hers, already hating the miles I was going to have to put between us. “I’m sorry.”

“Joey, you can’t be sorry for having to leave. This tour was planned before we even got together. This is an amazing opportunity.” She flipped the script, being the voice of reason I should have probably been.

“It doesn’t make it easier.” I leaned back against the headboard, wishing there was some way I could buy us a few more hours. A day would be even better.

“What if I came with you?”

My head whipped around so fast I wasn’t sure I wasn’t going to have whiplash, my ears not sure they’d actually heard her correctly. “You would come? With me on tour?” I didn’t care how pussy whipped I actually sounded, even a slight possibility of it happening—rocking my fucking world.

“I woke up early this morning to pee, and it got me thinking.” Kenzie, pulled her hair off of her face as she sat up a little straighter in bed. “You put that money in an account for me to use while you were gone. And you said I could use it for whatever I wanted to, right?”

The account that she had been so adamant she wouldn’t spend had been getting as much action as my dick had been on tour, i.e. none at all. It was still loaded up with enough zeros that she could have had a fucking field day at Tiffany’s, my entire advance from the new album parked in Citibank’s finest.

“Well, yeah, but I’ve checked the balance and you haven’t spent a dime.” Which is what she’d warned me about when I had given her access in the first place, her hard-ass routine not likely to thaw anytime soon.

“What if I used it to fly back to New York on Fridays?” She threw out her suggestion. “Do my two nights with the
Beauty Queens,
and then take a red eye to wherever you were. We’d have most of the week together. It’s three months, so that’s like roughly twelve flights? I’ve seen the amount of money you put in that account, Joey; I could fly to Hawaii twelve times with what’s in there.”

The asshole in me wanted to fucking sweep her into my arms and tell her yes. That she was coming back with me and would be playing tag with NYC and whatever city I’d be in. Because let’s face it, leaving her here was becoming less of an option the more time I spent in bed with her. But to be shuttled back and forth like a cheap yo-yo for my benefit was a dick move and I knew it. She was pregnant; all that flying couldn’t be good.

“Kenzie, I don’t know, babe. All those miles, the back and forth?” I played devil’s advocate even though my heart was telling me to shut the fuck up and let the woman do what we both wanted.

“Well, what choice do we have?” Kenzie waved me off like her mind had already been made up. “We clearly suck at being apart from each other.” She gestured between us, the events of the last few days something I’d rather be forgetting rather than having it signposted for me. “And I have all these urges that are going to need to be taken care of.” She smiled seductively. “I mean, I can only masturbate so much before it becomes a liability, and I’m no use to the
Queens
without the use of my hand.”

“Jesus.” I laughed, wondering how the fuck I got so lucky. “Well, far be it for me to get in the way of what you want. And I’ll happily take care of whatever needs doing.” The last bit said with intent. Like it would even be a hardship. I don’t know what fantasyland she was living in, but that shit would be my fucking pleasure.

“Don’t get too excited, buddy.” She arched her brow, face full of I’m-not-buying-it. “Your new job description is playing in your band and
then
having sex with me. I bet the novelty wears off really fast.”

“Awww, babe.” I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close to my chest, my throbbing hard-on ready and willing to prove the point. “You’re so cute when you’re wrong.”

“Pfft, when have
I
ever been wrong?” She playfully pushed against my chest, trying very unsuccessfully to hide the smirk.

“Do you want a list?” I barked out a laugh, loving seeing her like this—happy. “Not sure we have that kind of time.”

“Whatever,
you
have made being wrong an art form.” She tipped her chin in the opposite direction in an attempt at cold-shouldering me. She didn’t stand a chance as my hands cradled her face and turned it back toward me.

“Why don’t we agree we’ve both had our moments, and we’re going to be smarter from here on out.” Lord knows I was taking that fucking commitment to heart, my stupid dumbass shit well and truly in the past.

“I can agree to that.” She gave me a smile that just about slayed me.

There was no point holding back any longer, my mouth fused to hers, sealing the agreement. My lips as hungry for her as the rest of my body, a small whimper coming out of her mouth as my tongue slid in.

It was a compromise, kissing her like that and promising my dick it would get its chance later, because as much as I wanted to lay her back and make her scream my name, the clock was still ticking. We needed to get from Brooklyn to JFK and get a flight to Philly. Also somewhere in between all of that, we needed to throw some of her stuff into a case and tell her band she was hitting the road. And even though I was Jedi-mind-tricking the fuck out of the analogue display that was sitting on her nightstand, the minutes hadn’t rolled back. Which translated into hurry the hell up.

Reluctantly peeling my mouth from hers, I left her to pack while I went to shower alone. Lord knows I couldn’t be trusted. If it were up to me, I’d have her up against the tile before the spray had even hit the floor. So we played it smart, with her getting her wash-n-dry after I was out and on the phone to the airline.

It was actually a pretty awesome team effort, getting our shit sorted, the cab ordered and hopefully coming soon to get us on the road.

Kenzie called Sara and gave her the low-down, extra time needing to be spent explaining that what happened with the lawyer had been a huge misunderstanding. Sara took a little convincing—not surprising given how tight they were—but eventually came around. Kenz let her know that we were not only together, but that I’d come to my senses and taken a knee. Cue the tears on both sides of the phone.

And as much as I didn’t want to rush my girl, we needed to move this along, hauling our packed bags out of the apartment to the waiting cab. I even triple-check the stove and the locks so she wouldn’t have a panic attack on the plane, her tendency to forget shit lately giving her a temporary case of OCD.

The drive to the airport was standard. Lots of stop-start, hurry-up-and-wait but we made it to the gate with time to spare. She used the few extra minutes to call her parents and fill them in, which was interesting considering her brother had already given his version of events. Her folks and her pain-in-the-ass brother also hadn’t been part of the make-up, so were dumbfounded as to why she was marrying a guy who had apparently broken her heart. Cue more drama than a fucking UFC title shot on fight night.

I assumed that was the reason why she waited until we were at the gate and past the TSA security checkpoint before she called them. Smart actually, meant she fulfilled her daughterly obligations—telling them about her change in relationship status and her temporary revolving address—but didn’t have to deal with them showing up on her doorstep. Not like they didn’t know that once Kenzie’s mind had been made up, there was little to change it. Besides, there was no doubt their attitude toward me would thaw once they realized I was here for the long haul, and I loved her with all my heart and soul and I wasn’t going anywhere.

The boarding call meant I had to sideline my own explaining, the band still in the dark as to what was happening with us. And other than a quick text while the final doors of the plane were closing, they hadn’t even known I was on my way back.

Trust me, if anyone would understand it would be those three people. We’d grown up together, shared our dreams and tried to build something great. I’d spent more time with Max, Rusty and Angie than I had my own family, and I loved them no less.

A lump formed in my throat when we’d finally hit the runway, the short flight coming to an end and delivering us to our destination. My tally of fucking awesome was ridiculous and I had taken well above my share. The band, the success, Kenzie, the baby—it almost didn’t seem fair. That one guy—a not so-bright kid from the Bronx—had managed to win the million-dollar lottery a few times over just didn’t seem logical. But I’d be damned if I was handing any of it back.

“Hey, you okay?” Kenzie looked at me as she unhooked her seatbelt, my eyes blinking fast as I grabbed her hand.

“Yeah,” I coughed clearing my throat. “Everything is perfect.”

She didn’t look like she believed it, but did me a huge favor in not pushing it. Breaking down on a Delta flight wasn’t my idea of a good time, so I managed to pull my shit together as we got off the plane and onto the jet bridge. Getting out of the airport and back to the hotel my top priority.

Kenzie’s hand stayed locked in mine as we exited the arrival gate and walked to baggage claim. A few people had recognized me—something that was happening more times than not these days—so I’d stopped for a photo or two. My hand around Kenzie didn’t deviate; keeping her tight by my side, which of course attracted inevitable attention to her. And if I’d had any doubts that she would be able to handle life on the road with me, they were put to fucking bed as I watched her smile and chat with the fans. She was flawless— absolute perfection—and she was mine.

“What the fuck?” My lids peeled back wide as we rounded the corner of the baggage carousel, my eyes needing to do a double take. Max, Angie and Rusty standing in front of us, the complete lack of surprise on their faces as they saw me with my arm around Kenzie.

“Thought you might need a ride.” Max grinned, his chin tipping hello to my girl. “Had a hunch you might be returning with extra luggage.”

“Incidentally, you might want to bring your A-game tonight. Troy raised the bar last night and lucky he’s already got a gig or your sorry ass would be replaced.” Rusty popped me in the arm before turning to Kenzie with a laugh. “FYI, I have no objections to you playing rhythm if you want, Kenz. The added value will just make me sound more awesome.”

“In your dreams, Rust. I play lead or not at all.” Kenzie grinned back. “Oh, and my future husband will blow the doors off tonight.” My girl giving me a twofa by going to bat for me, and revealing we’d decided to tie the knot.

“Congratulations.” Angie joined in, her grin genuinely happy. “Seems like every time we go on tour our entourage grows. I think we’re going to start needing to take out extra insurance.”

“Speaking of which, Alison, Jase and Zack are all waiting to have dinner. If we’re done with the Hallmark moment at the airport, maybe we could get something to eat.” Rusty reminded us that part of our entourage—his and Angie’s significant others—were still back at the hotel.