Only for You (5 page)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not
saying people should sell their children. However, when you’ve
grown up like I have, with a druggie for a mother and never knowing
where your next meal was coming from, or if you would have to sleep
in a car for the night… being sold to somebody with more money than
sense sounds like a dream come true

But it’s made me moody and
hard as shit to deal with it, especially for Rae. She doesn’t have
a clue what’s going on, and I’m too damned ashamed to tell her. Or
anyone else for that matter. She thinks it has to do with Jaxon
coming to town that time, and singing with her, but I’ve gotten
over that.

Hell, the sex in her
dressing room, when I’d bent her over the arm of the couch, had
made up for that. I still can’t get it out of mind.

“
Hike up your skirt and
show me how wet you are,” I’d ordered.

She’d done just that, and
my cock had turned to stone. “Can you see?”

“
Oh yeah. Now I’m going to
put my dick in you and make you come, but you have to be really
quiet. Can you do that?”

“
Yes.” She’d been wet as
hell, her tight pussy clenching at me as soon as I’d shoved inside
of her.

I’d been a man on a
mission, and a liar. I did everything I could to make her
not
be quiet, including
smacking her cute ass a couple of times. The sofa sounded
especially nice hitting the wall as I pounded into her.

As soon as she screamed my
name, loud enough for everyone to hear, especially her ex, I’d
smiled like a smug son of a bitch and joined her.

Rae draws a circle on my
stomach, and it contracts in response, jolting me out of my erotic
memories. We’ve been lying in my bed, watching television for the
past hour. My little sister’s finally asleep and Parker’s in
Charlotte at his other job.

Which mean we are, for all
intents and purposes, alone.

“
Something you
need?”

“
You.” She climbs on top
of me, nude as anything, and straddles my lap. Her pussy is bare,
something she had done just for me, and it is the hottest thing
I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been with a girl who’s done
that.

I press my thumb against
her clit, satisfaction blooming at the swollen feel of it. “Does my
girl need a ride?” I use my free hand to pinch a hard nipple. Her
blue eyes grow dark as she gasps. “Or do you want me to suck on
those pretty little nipples of yours until you come?”

“
Both.”

“
Greedy.” I shake my head
at her in wonder, my hands leaving two of my favorite parts to
settle on her hips. She rises up on her knees and I watch as the
head of my dick disappears inside of her.

“
Damn, baby,” I groan. No
matter how many times I’m in her, it always feels the same. So
good. So tight. So unbelievable right.

She rocks upon me and then
leans down, those hard, pink nipples of hers at mouth level. I wrap
my lips around one, teasing it with my tongue and teeth. She makes
a little noise and rocks harder.

“
Cole,” she moans. “Make
me come.”

“
I’m not ready for this to
be over, yet.” Flipping her over, I pin Rae to the bed, fastening
my mouth to hers. She’s as hungry for me as I am for her. Our
tongues tangle, my hips grinding into hers so hard that I’m sure
she’ll have bruises or be sore tomorrow, but she doesn’t stop me,
and I’m sure as hell not stopping.

I need this. I need
her.

Harder and faster, I pound
into her. She widens her thighs, her hands going to my ass. She
sinks her nails into my skin and I tear my mouth away, letting out
a ragged groan.

She arches her back, her
tits thrusting out, and I take one in my mouth, biting the tip of
her nipple. She squeals, like I knew she would.

“
Oh God, Cole.”

“
Not yet,
baby.”

“
Please.” Her hands slip
between us.

I grab her wrist and pin it
to the bed, along with the other one, in case she gets any ideas.
“Patience.”

I slow my furious pace,
rolling my hips, until sweat beads on my upper lip. Her skin is
flushed and she is writhing under me, lost in the sensation that
only I can do to her.

A dark thought flashes in
my brain. “Did Jaxon ever do this to you?”

Her pretty eyes blink up at
me, unfocused and full of desire. They sharpen. “Cole, this isn’t
the time—”

I stop moving. “Answer
me.”

She looks away. “You know
we had sex… you know what the result was.”

A baby. That was the
result, and for the first time, I’m jealous of what he did with
her. I’m jealous that I’ll never be able to do that with
her.

I’m an asshole for bringing
it up.

“
Doesn’t matter, Rae.” I
gently turn her face to mine. “Remember that, okay?”

Her eyes soften, and I’m
thankful that she’s so forgiving. “And you remember what I told
you, okay? No reason to be jealous. Ever.”

Releasing her wrists, I
take her arms and wrap them around my neck. Then I make love to
her, slowly, deliberately… using my body to pleasure hers. I slip
out of her heat, kissing my way down her body, spending extra time
on the bluebird tattoo resting on her hip before I travel further
south.

Spreading her delicate
flesh, I lick her, taste her, and suck on her clit until she comes,
crying out my name.

Her hands are on me now,
urging me up and inside of her. In one smooth thrust, I’m back
where I belong.

***

The next day I take Rae and
Kelly to see Santa at the local mall.

Kelly holds hands with Rae
as we walk. “I brought my list for Santa, but I don’t think he
needs it,” she says with all the authority of a six year old with a
strong belief in mythical holiday figures.

“
Nope,” Rae agrees,
looking over at me. “I’m sure Santa knows you want the pink dream
house with the matching pink pool and a sheep that speaks three
languages.”

For once I smile, the bar’s
been doing well enough that I can afford all that stuff for my
little sister, without breaking a sweat. Okay, without breaking too
much of a sweat.

“
So,” Rae begins, her head
slightly tilting to the right. I follow and want to
groan.

A reporter is following us,
his camera at the ready. Ever since that night Jaxon and I threw
down, the paparazzi, as Rae calls them, has been digging up dirt on
me. So far, it’s been nothing special.

Everyone in Forrestville
already knows how many times I’ve been arrested and incarcerated
since both are reported in the town’s newspaper on a weekly
basis.

Honestly, I feel like
Eminem in the movie,
Eight
Mile
, when he basically tells the world
what he is before the other guy gets a chance. Only I don’t have to
say a word, the Forrestville Gazzett has already done it for
me.

“
Ignore them, right?” I
ask quietly, making sure Kelly stays focused on the line we’re
fixing to stand in.

“
Yep.”

Luckily, we’re only there
for fifteen minutes total before we walk away with some candy canes
and pictures of Kelly on Santa’s lap. As we head to my Jeep, Rae
clears her throat and then looks around.

“
My record label wants to
send me out on tour.”

I nod, happy for the news.
I always knew Nashville would come calling, but now I’m confident
in Rae coming back to me. “That’s great.”

Opening the passenger side
door, Kelly crawls in and I help her buckle her seatbelt, checking
the strap before I close the door. I turn to go to the other side,
but Rae’s blocking my path.

“
I’m glad you think so,
but there’s a catch.” She bites her lip, and dread begins to form
like a lead weight in my gut.

“
There’s always a catch
with those guys.” I kiss her nose, the diamond in it winking at me.
“They want you to lose the piercing or the hair color?”

“
The hair color, but I
told them no. Only…” she wiggles a booted foot, “they want it to be
a reunion tour, but it’s no big deal.”

“
Reunion with who?”
Honestly, I have no clue who she used to tour with, since I’ve
never in my life followed country music. Garth Brooks could walk up
to me and smack me with his black hat, and I wouldn’t know it,
unless he was wearing that iconic hat while singing one of those
crossover hits of his.

But I’m pretty damn sure
she wouldn’t be so nervous if it was no big deal.

“
Now don’t get
mad.”

And I’m pretty damn sure
she wouldn’t say that, either. “Just spit it out, Rae.”

“
Jaxon Hunter.”

*** *** ***

Violet

Cole’s staring at me, like
I’ve just grown an extra head. “My record label wants us to go on
tour, or they’ll say I’m in breach of contract and sue me,” I add,
desperate that he know it wasn’t my idea and that I didn’t have a
choice.

His jaw works. “How long
have you known about this?”

“
Two weeks.”

“
And you couldn’t have
said something before now?” He rakes his hand through his hair,
making it lay adorably every which way against his head. “You wait
until we’re out in public, with my sister, to tell me?”

“
When you put it like
that, it makes it sound worse that what it is,” I protest. “You’ve
been in bad mood since the night Jaxon and I performed
together.”

“
Stop saying that fu—” he
glances at the Jeep and takes a deep breath, “person’s name. I
don’t want your lips even contemplating his name. In fact, all
words that start with J are banned around me.”

“
Like jerk, for instance,”
I say, crossing my arms over my chest. My wool sweater tickles the
backs of my hands.

“
Exactly.” He brushes past
me, heading to the other side of the Jeep. I get in, and buckle my
seatbelt before he does the same.

Without a word, he starts
up the Jeep and heads out of the parking lot, taking a right on
main, before heading out of town.

“
Do you think I want to do
this?”

He cuts his eyes at me, and
then back at the road. “Do you think this is a good time to
talk?”

“
I had thought it
was.”

“
Can we stop for ice
cream?”

Cole’s hard stare softens.
“Too close to dinner, bug. How about another time?”

Kelly, sweet child that she
is, frowns a little, and then holds up her candy cane. “What about
this?”

“
Sure,” I say.

“
You’re not her mother,”
Cole snaps and my lips part, shocked at his tone and
words.

“
I know I’m not.” The hurt
that still lives in me grows. “I’ll never be anyone’s
mother.”

His hands clench on the
steering wheel, knuckles turning white, but he manages to keep his
speed steady and his temper in check. “That’s not what I meant, and
you know it.”

“
But it’s a fact and you
know that too.” A low blow, but I’m hurt. Maybe I’m in the wrong
for popping this on him now, but what else should I have
done—waited until New Year’s and said, “
Yay, a new year, and I get to spend the first part of it
touring the country with my ex-boyfriend
.”?

His lips smash together.
The rest of our drive is spent chatting with Kelly, like parents
who’ve had a fight but don’t want their kids to know. We’re
overeager in our answers, over cutesy with our inclusions into the
conversations, and it hurts. It stings, like stepping on a bee in a
patch of clover. Sudden and shocking.

Instead of taking me home
with them, he drops me off at my nana’s house, but she’s not home.
She’s gone to visit her son out in California and won’t be back
until a week before Christmas.

My parents are back in
Nashville, the baby’s imminent arrival making it hard for my mother
to travel further than an hour away.

I trudge up the front porch
steps, my phone buzzing as I unlock the door.

Jaxon:
Tour—Callie, you, and me. She’s our opening act.

Me:
ur joking…

I’d rather tour buck naked
with Jaxon than tour with her. Her comments to the press about me
have turned vicious. Like:
I’ve always
known Violet had a drinking problem but she would just never get
help. Bless Violet Lynn’s heart.

Bitch.

However, all those
interviews, with close-ups on her face, make me wonder about that
scar. She didn’t have one before my accident, and I never read
about her getting hurt since then, but Nashville is its own
Hollywood and some will go to extraordinary length to protect their
newest star.

Everett Morgan would, I
know that. He had tried for me, but no one would listen, because
the gossip was too good. The higher a star rises, the more people
want to see that same star fall flat on her face. And if a little
scandal is involved, all the better.