Billy Jeffers: Rockers of Steel (10 page)

“No, she actually didn’t, but I was pretty sure we were going to jail when she tried to outrun the cop.”

“I didn’t try to outrun the cop!” She slaps my chest, and I grab her hand so she can’t hit me again.

“She kind of did,” I tell Memphis. “She took the off-ramp like a damn Indycar driver and nearly jumped a curb, too.”

Madison tries to pull her hand away, but I hold it to my chest so she can’t. She is not happy that I have the upper hand. I like it.

“Then—”

“Shush, Billy,” she groans.

“Then, what?” Memphis is in hysterics.

“She bolted inside the gas station, and then she came out.” I stop. “Do you wanna tell him or should I?”

“She said she was pregnant, didn’t she?” Tales giggles.

“Yes. Yes, she did. Madison, how many times have you used that one?” I ask, kind of perturbed and having no idea why.

“At least one other time,” Memphis interjects. “And I swear the cop looked at us like—”

I gasp. “You said Memphis was the father of your child?”

“Dude, it’s no different than her saying you are. We’re like family, right?” he asks.

I don’t say a thing, and I have no idea why. I am looking at her, she is looking at me, and there is no way she is like family. She is far from it.

“Right?”

She swallows hard, looks away, and snorts. “Well, no duh.”

“Okay,” Memphis says and then silence.

When she looks back at me, my eyes shift from the road to her, and I have this incredible urge to kiss her. Hell, I want to do more than that.

She reaches over and hangs up on Memphis again. “Billy?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing?”

“Thinking we sure as hell are
not
family.”

“I mean …” She squeezes my hand, and only then do I realize I have it pulled up to my mouth.

“No idea.” I sigh and regretfully let go. “You hung up on your brother again.”

She smiles and nods. “The reception is horrible here.”

I nod. “Sure is.”

My phone rings. I look over at Madison curled up on her side, sleeping. I want to reach over and push the hair out of her face just so I can see her lips.

When it rings again, her eyes flutter, and I look away, not wanting her to see me looking at her. I don’t want her to look at me like she does. I don’t want her to make me hard. I don’t want her to make me so angry I feel like I need to smack her little peach of an ass. And I don’t want to think about how badly I would love to wake up again, still tasting her pussy in my mouth and smelling her on my skin.

I answer the phone so she doesn’t have to hear the call. “Hello, Mom.”

“Billy? Where are you? Did you catch a flight?”

“There weren’t any. I’m driving. I should be there in an hour. Text me the hospital address.”

“Oh, really? You’re on your way?”

“Of course I am, Mom.”

“Um, well, Dad and I were going to wait to tell you we sold the house and bought a little bungalow on the shore. It’s totally adorable.”

“You sold the house?”

“Yes,” she says calmly.

“Didn’t you need my signature?” I ask. I paid off the damn mortgage and was promised the house would be in my name.

“Nope. Why would we need that, honey?”

She is totally clueless. I love my mother, but the woman lives in her own little world.

“No reason.” I try not to sound pissed.

“Okay, well, it’s beautiful but only one bedroom,” she says then waits. “I can sleep on the couch.”

“Don’t be silly, Mom. I have a friend with me, so we will get a hotel.”

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

I am not in the right mindset to deal with this right now. I need fucking answers, and he’s lying in a hospital bed while Mother is in her adorable, little bungalow on the moon.

I wait long enough for whatever feelings or circumstances he is dealing with to pass. But after I can’t stand it anymore, I open my eyes and see him glancing at me.

He sighs, shakes his head, and looks away.

“You okay?” I ask.

He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. His jaw clamps shut, his muscles pop, and he rubs his hand up and down his leg.

“I can drive.” I start to sit up.

He reaches over and stops me. His hand lingers, and when I feel him grip the fabric of my shirt, I nearly stop breathing.

This is not a side I have ever seen of Billy Jeffers, not even when he thinks I’m not looking.

I reach up and hold my hand over his, and he lets out a heavy sigh. He starts to pull it away after a minute.

“I’m calling a truce,” I tell him, taking his hand and holding it against my cheek. “He’s gonna be okay; you’re gonna be okay; and I am gonna pretend that you are the guy I imagined you were the first time I saw you.”

“Madison,” he growls, inching his hand back.

“Billy,” I growl back then nip his knuckle.

“Don’t fucking do that,” he snarls.

“Okay, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t do that, and you didn’t
already
break my truce.”

“We can’t …” He stops and seems to be searching for the right words.

I lie back and bring his hand to rest on my heart. “The first time I saw you, it was like seeing a man who could maybe be my best friend someday.”

“Mad—”

“Shush and listen. I saw this group of wild men, and in the middle of the chaos, there was a calmness. Did you know storms like calm?”

“No, Madison, I didn’t,” he says.

“Well, we do.” I pull his hand to my lips. “Anyway, there you stood, poised, strong, angelic almost.” I rub my lips across his hand and close my eyes. I want to get this right. I
need
to get this right. “I had, weeks before, watched a man I always thought was the same exact way I thought Billy Jeffers would be.”

“But Billy Jeffers is no calm to any storm.”

“Well, this may be true, but it happens to be my story, so I am gonna continue.”

“Of course you are.”

He acts like he doesn’t like it, but I think, deep down, he does. I hope so, anyway.

“The man I had put on a pedestal my entire life was a fraud, a phony, a liar.”

“He was human, and that tends to be disappointing.”

“Yes, but when you see your father’s dick buried in your best friend’s father’s ass, a lot of shit changes.” I laugh.

“Aw, sweet thing, it’s not that funny.”

It takes a moment to recover from
him
calling
me
sweet, but I will not be swayed.

“Nope, it’s not, but I make jokes to get through things. I also …” I turn and look at him. “Now this part is important, and it’s between us.”

“We have more secrets?” he asks.

I nod and try not to smile, because secrets with Billy are so much more fun than my secrets about Billy.

“I have this brother who is crazy talented and has always chased his dreams without doubting himself. He truly knows who he is, and well, as much as I love him madly, it wasn’t always easy to gain attention. So, I adapted.”

“Is that what you call it, adapting?”

I nod and fan my eyelashes at him.

“I’m pretty sure you could gain attention in other ways, Madison Black, like smiling, letting people see your sweeter side, and not just going for shock and awe.”

“Well, I’ve learned that some people require shock and awe.”

He shakes his head. “You may be wrong about that.”

“I’m learning,” I sigh.

“Two men saw you for what you were and apparently liked it enough to win you over.”

My eyebrow inches up, and I chuckle. “Yeah, I suppose.”

I’m a liar, a big fat liar.

“And then one who just needed to give you what you had begged for from him for a year.”

“If he was being honest with himself, I’m sure he’d realize his obvious desires were not hidden well, either.”

“
My desires
?” He seems shocked.

“I will be honest and say I may have, at first, tried everything in my arsenal to gain your attention. However, I quickly realized that said arsenal was severely lacking, and by that point, you looked at me with disdain. And I can say with all honesty and a ton of shame that messing with you was so much fun. You, Billy Jeffers, were interested in me. I may not know much, but I do know that.”

“I was doing whatever I could not to fuck my co-worker, my friend’s sister, and break a bond formed with my band.”

“Because you wanted me,” I comment, looking away from him.

“This is not to be mean, but Madison, your ass has been in my face so many times I know it as well as I know my own. Did I want you? Yes. You’re beautiful; I won’t deny that at all. But you and I are like oil and water. I know more about you from a three hour road trip than I knew about you in an entire year.”

“Then what happened last night?” I ask, my heart feeling heavy.

“I am such an asshole.” He shakes his head. “I fucked up, and I have no idea what to do with you now. I was drunk.”

Ouch.

“You weren’t this morning,” I whisper.

“No, this morning, I was pissed at myself and at you. This morning, I woke up and—” He stops and shakes his head. “I’m so sorry if I am—”

“Don’t be. It’s silly. Like I was saying, when I met you, you seemed to be something soft and nurturing. I needed that then. When I tried to gain your attention and you shot me down, it pissed me off.”

“So you decided to wage World War III via your little ass?”

“Yeah,” I concede. “I did.”

He doesn’t say anything, and I don’t, either because, in all honesty, I know I am just figuring it out, and he is fighting some inner demons that my crush on a boy pales in comparison to.

“Billy?”

“Madison?”

“I’m not going to overthink this. I don’t want you to, either.”

“That’s gonna be pretty damn hard.”

Wow.

Good?

Bad?

“I will take your secret to the grave. Will you take mine?”

It takes him a minute, but he nods his head.

“Friends?”

“Yeah, Madison.”

“Friends with secrets,” I say in an airy tone.

“Perfect.”

I look up at him and see his chest rising and falling harder. I look down and see the bulge in his pants. I quickly look back up at him and see his eyes are bluer than I have ever seen them before.

“Please don’t say it, Madison,” he nearly pleads.

“That can be our secret, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” comes out a little breathily. I sit up and place his hand on the console. My nipples are painfully erect against my shirt as I then flop back.

He reaches over and takes my chin so my eyes meet his. Then he brushes the back of his hand against where my nipples are pressing against my T-shirt.

“More secrets?”

I nod as I whimper.

“I have always hated secrets, Madison. They destroy things.”

I shake my head. “I won’t let that happen.”

“I’d rather have you as a friend,” he says as his hand makes another pass across my nipples.

“I’d rather have you as a fuck buddy,” I admit, pressing my knees together to ease the throb.

“Fuck buddy is a crude, rudimentary word.”

“Say it again,” I nearly beg.

“Fuck. Buddies.”

“It doesn’t sound crude the way you say it.” I grab his hand as it passes across my chest again and press it tightly against me.

He squeezes my breast, and I nearly come.

“No.” His voice is a low rumble.

“What?” I gasp.

“If you and I are gonna do this fuck buddy thing…”

I mewl at the way he says it.

He draws a sharp breath between his teeth. “We do this, and I want two promises from you.”

“You keep playing with my tits, and I will promise you the moon.”

“I hate when you talk like that.”

I reach over and grab him firmly. “I don’t care, because my secret”—I squeeze his cock—“likes it a lot.”

“I hate to admit it, Madison”—he squeezes my tit—“but you are so fucking right. Two. Things,” he grits out as he pushes against my hand.

“Let’s hear it.” I close my eyes and push against his touch.

“We come together,” he says, and if I wasn’t so incredibly turned on, I may have tried reading into that statement. “When it ends, you can’t hate me, and I can’t hate you.”