Blessed Fate (13 page)

A Tragic Situation?

It seems there's trouble in paradise for Blessed Tragedy guitarist Colton Bradford and lead singer Rain Maxwell. Just days ago they were spotted cuddling and kissing, but that most definitely wasn't the case last night in Baton Rouge. Is the blessed coupling over before they began? (see inset)

I slammed my hand on the table hard enough to make the cell phone near the edge fall to the floor. "Damn it!" I shouted.

It had been two weeks since we left Lexington, and someone had leaked a picture of Rain and I at the burial to one of the gossip sites. No wonder she was so untrusting; someone from her hometown had decided to cash in on a very private moment and twisted it to be something it wasn't. As if that wasn't bad enough, the burial picture was beside a picture taken at last night's concert, supposedly showing Rain upset with me.

We only needed to make it through two more shows before Rain and I began our cross-country trip on the Harley, so we could have some time to figure out our relationship. She had finally agreed to talk about her fears and feelings, and now that was all going to be blown to hell if she saw this article.

"Hey, you know anything about this?" I said, not looking up from my laptop when Rain stormed onto the bus. I couldn't look at her, afraid of what I would see reflected back at me from her bright green eyes. She shook her head, avoiding eye contact just as much as I was. Obviously, someone had talked to her already.

"This is why I wanted to talk that night in your room. Now, I'm the asshole less than a week before our trip."

"You're not the asshole. If you take a look at the story, I'm pretty sure they're giving me that title." She slid into the seat next to me, turning the laptop slightly. "Look... you tell me who the bad guy in that picture is. It sure as hell ain't you. I'll probably need extra security tonight to protect me from angry groupies."

I started tugging at my long blond hair, a nervous habit I'd had for a long time and wished I could get rid of. I couldn't shake the feeling that everything was going to fall apart, and I desperately needed to think of a way to fix it. "Look, this is your deal. I've already said my piece; you know what I want. Of course, this kinda changes things, doesn't it?"

"Why would it change anything?" She seemed shocked that I would think anything was different. I
was
shocked that she thought it didn't change things. I'd spent years trying to make her see that she could trust me, that she could trust in us enough to make things work without tearing apart the band, and just as soon as there was a glimmer of hope, the tabloids were lining up to tear us apart.

"Oh, I don't know...maybe because the very thing you worried about is happening now, and we're not even a fucking couple. It's like I'm getting all of the bullshit that goes along with a relationship without the satisfaction."

Smooth, Bradford. Way to be the asshole.
I wished there was a way to rewind and not be the insensitive ass only interested in sex.

Sure, there was part of me dying to bury my cock so deep inside of her it would rock our worlds, but it was so much more than that to me. I wanted the freedom to pull her body close to mine and kiss away her pre-show nerves. I wanted to walk through the halls of every arena with the most beautiful woman in the building on my arm, knowing that the world knew how much she means to me. I wanted to sneak her off for dinner in the middle of the afternoon just so we could have some time away from our crazy lives. I could easily envision the day when I could walk into my condo knowing she would be on the other side of the door. Hell, if we managed to make it through our first fight I had just managed to start, I would even take more fighting if it meant having her in my life.

"Is that what this is about to you?" She shot out of her seat, pacing up and down the aisle of the bus.

"No, dammit. You know it's not." Had she not paid attention to anything I said? Ever? "You know I want the whole package. But let's be real, other than incredible sex, would anything really change between us if we were together that way?"

I cringed at my ability to, yet again, bring it back to sex, expecting her to storm off the bus, refusing to speak to me. I was more than a little surprised to see that she seemed to be thinking about what I said, hoping that she was realizing we already
had
everything couples have except for that. We had been best friends for years, we knew each other's deepest secrets and fears and we slept side by side every night. When laid out like that, we had a stronger foundation for a successful relationship than a lot of couples out there.

She had no comeback for my statement other than a shrug, so I decided to push the issue and hopefully get her to laugh a bit. "Okay, so why not end this silly ass game you're playing and say you'll give us a shot? Because you know I'm right, the sex would be epic.
Mind blowing
. We'll make the crew on the other bus blush."

"You think pretty highly of yourself, don't you?" She laughed.
Laughing's better than telling me to go to Hell.

"I do. And you know I'm right." I wrapped my arms around her, pressing her body tightly to mine, hoping she could feel my heart pounding in my chest the same way it did whenever I thought of a future with her. "So, does that mean you're done fighting me on this?"

"You know, you really make me sound like a bitch when you put it that way."

"No, I'm pretty sure you're the one who called yourself a psycho bitch after the last time I brought up the subject. I'm just asking if you're conceding."

"No, I'm not conceding. That makes it sounds like I'm defeated, and that somehow seems the opposite of how I should feel going into a new relationship."

That was all I needed to hear! I jumped out of the bench seat pulling Rain with me. "Thank you!" Without thinking about it, my lips crushed against hers in a series of fast, hard kisses, spinning her around in the aisle. If anyone had told me I would fight for the affection of one woman for five years, I would have told him he was insane. Now, I had, and I finally got through to her.

I leaned against the counter watching her walk to the back bedroom, still trying to wrap my head around how much differently that discussion turned out than I thought it would.

My will to stay in the living area of the bus quickly faded as I pictured Rain alone in our bedroom, naked as she changed for our show. I wanted to see and feel her bare skin against mine, run my hands along every curve my hands had innocently touched as we slept.

Now that I had her, I intended to do everything possible to show her how much she meant to me. That meant I had to stay strong and resist the urge to make her mine. With so much of our relationship to this point revolving around our band, I wanted to make memories that were only ours, completely independent of anything involving Blessed Tragedy. I wasn't about to cheapen the first time I made love to her by having it be on the back of a tour bus; that was a place previously reserved for meaningless encounters with nameless women.

When I walked into the bedroom, promising myself I was going to do nothing more than talk to my girl, every thought rushed out of my head as she leaned into the closet wearing only a hot pink lace bra and matching bikini panties. I stalked over to the closet, wrapped my arms around her waist and tossed her onto the bed.

As I lowered my body over hers, I kept repeating to myself that I would
not
take her on the bus, that I had to stop this before things went too far. "You have
no clue
how long I've waited to do this," I breathed into her ear, gently nipping at her lobe before showering her with gentle kisses along her jaw and back up to her mouth.

I straddled my body over hers, not allowing my weight to rest on top of her. If I felt the heat from her core against me, I was certain I would either explode or lose the ability to wait until we were off tour to have her.

My teeth grazed across her bottom lip, gently tugging, begging entrance into her mouth. Her lips parted slightly, allowing me to taste her cinnamon gum as my tongue explored her mouth. As I deepened the kiss, I felt her hips bucking beneath me, grinding against the already painfully hard bulge in my pants.

Despite my body screaming at me to strip both of us naked and plunge deep inside of her, I stood up, adjusting myself in the process. "Time to put on a show, my little cloud." She laid there, panting, hooded eyes veiled with sadness. I bent down to kiss her again. "There will be time later, I promise. But if I don't leave this room now, Jon and Travis will have to do the show on their own."

As I walked through the back hallway of the arena to get ready, I stopped short when I reached Rain's dressing room. I rapped gently on the door, letting myself in before anyone could see me. While I wanted nothing more than to shout to the world that she was mine, I didn't want the rumor mill getting the news to Jon before we had a chance to talk to him about it.

There was no denying that Rain is a beautiful woman, but seeing her smiling at me in the mirror without any makeup and her hair pulled back into a casual ponytail took my breath away. Okay, so the fact that I interrupted her while she was putting in her contacts, leaving one eye emerald green and the other a dark honey brown was a bit distracting, but even then, she was stunning.

I set my own bag down next to hers on the counter and started brushing my hair seeing as someone felt the need to pull out my leather tie and run her fingernails through it a bit earlier.

"Don't put on your lipstick yet," I warned her.

"No lipstick, huh?" She pulled her hand away from her face, raising the eyebrow over her brown eye. In the middle of my serious and seductive moment, she seemed to be going out of her way to make me crack up.

"Nope."

"And why would that be?" She asked as she put in her other contact.

"Because I don't need to go on stage with fire engine red lips, and I plan on kissing the hell out of you once we're ready. Is that okay with you?" I draped my arms over her shoulders, allowing my hands to brush against the bottom of her black leather corset.

"If you must," she deadpanned. I laughed at her nonchalant response.

"Oh, I must. But now I'm not so sure I want to wait." I pulled her out of the chair, turning her into my chest. I felt her smiling against my lips as our kisses grew intense and desperate, tongues dancing between one another, learning and exploring.

The way she stared into my eyes, her face so close to mine, was a small, temporary reward for my persistence. As we stood in the middle of the room, lost in one another, the door flew open.

"Hey, uh... Jon's looking for you two," Travis said, averting his eyes as though he had just walked in on us naked. "Guess I don't have to go find you, Colt," he said nervously, backing out of the room before either of us could respond.

"'S'pose he'll tell Jon before we get there?" I asked as she finished curling her hair.

"Take it you two kissed and made up?" Jon asked, his eyes darting from mine down to the arm I had wrapped around Rain's waist. I didn't care that he knew, I didn't care about his reaction, but there was a tone of concern in his voice that worried me. He was the one telling me to make a move, but now that I had, he seemed... off.

I moved Rain in front of me, hoping her body would shield the world from seeing the effect she had on me. The last thing I needed was a hard time from the guys about the fact that I was having a
hard
time.

"Yeah, we're good," Rain said, turning to look into my eyes with a silly grin on her face.

"It's about fucking time," Travis called over from his bar stool. I flipped him off, knowing the comment was a dig at me for either taking so long to get to this point or for being stubborn enough to not take no for an answer after so long.

Jon patted me on the shoulder, leaning close to my ear. "Just don't piss her off," he warned me quietly.

"Don't plan on it. She's ugly when she gets mad," I laughed. Rain whipped around in my arms as if she was going to slap me, but her gaze quickly softened into one filled with what I could only hope was love.