Rebel (Bad Blooded Rebel Series) (5 page)

“Yeah, I think they are going to stop
and pick up your friend Danni on the way over and then we’re going to chill for
a minute before we decide what to do.”

“Wait…they are picking up Danni? Why?” I
asked.

Ryder looked at me like the answer
should be obvious. “Uh, because Beau and Danni are friends and he wanted to see
her.”

“They are?”
What?
Since when have
Beau and Danni been friends, and why the hell didn’t she tell me?

“Yeah. After Danni tagged the band in
those pictures from Cincinnati, he friend requested her and they talk like
every day. Why are you surprised? Didn’t you know?” he asked.

I blew out a breath. “No, I didn’t.”
Danni had been messaging and talking to Beau Cavanaugh for the past three
months and couldn’t find time to tell me this? It wasn’t a big deal really, but
it still hurt me that she didn’t confide in me.

He put his hands on my shoulders and
massaged them comfortingly. I instantly felt more relaxed. “At this point they
are just Facebook friends. It’s not like they are hooking up or anything. Well,
not yet anyway.”

“I know,” I said, and I turned my face
to look at him. Just as he was about to move in and kiss me again, I stopped
him. “Listen, can we talk for a second?”

He leaned back and smiled. “Sure,” he
said, still massaging my shoulders.

“What just happened…Ryder that was
amazing. I’ve never kissed anyone like that and no one has touched me like that
in a long time. I’m surprised I let it get that far.”

“Well, I do have that affect on women…or
so I’ve been told,” he said, winking.

I rolled my eyes and elbowed him in the
ribs. “Shut up,” I said, and he smiled a sexy smile at me.

“Ouch,” he joked, faking pain.

“I’m serious. Kissing you and letting
you touch me just now was a huge deal for me, but I don’t want to do anything
else until I know you better. We really don’t know much about each other, so if
this is going to turn into something we probably should maybe learn a little
bit more about each other. Don’t you think?” I asked.

Ryder nodded and gave my shoulders a
shake. “Yeah, you’re right. Okay, so let’s start over.” He held his hand out to
me. “Hi, I’m Ryder Matthews, and I am the lead singer of Bad Blooded Rebel. I
am twenty seven years old and I was born in raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. Football
is my favorite sport and I am a diehard Bengals fan. Mexican food is my
favorite, I love just about any movie made in the eighties, and I hate cats.
Oh, and I think you’re really hot. Okay, now it’s your turn,” he said, smiling
a boyish smile.

Despite myself, I grinned so wide my
cheeks hurt. I placed my hand in his and let out a chuckle. “Um, okay. Here
goes. Uh, hi, I’m Everleigh Stone, and I work as a waitress at Deuce’s Diner. I
was born and raised right here in Muncie, Indiana and I just turned twenty
four. I love football too and the Colts are my all time favorite team, so we
might have problems with that. I love Italian food, old movies from the
thirties and forties are my all time faves, and I too do not like cats. Oh
yeah, and as much as I hate to admit it, I think you’re really hot too,” I
said, and he chuckled.

“Nice. See? Now we’re getting
somewhere.”

“I guess we are. So, what now?”

“Ask me a question. Anything you want to
know. I’m an open book.”

“O-okay. Uh, let me think. Um, what’s
your middle name?”

He smiled at me. “Storm.”

I chuckled. “Are you serious? Your name
is Ryder Storm Matthews?”

“Yeah, what can I say? I was born in the
middle of a really bad thunderstorm and apparently they lost power at the
hospital for a minute. I was born literally the minute the generators came on,”
he said, grinning. “My dad always said I rode in through the storm.” He looked
sad for a moment, but before I could ask anything he said, “So, what’s your
middle name?”

“It’s Grace. Common, I know,” I said.

“No, it’s beautiful. Everleigh Grace
Stone. How did your parents come up with it?”

“Well, my dad’s the one that named me,
actually.”

“He did?”

“Uh, yeah. My mom died in childbirth, so
Daddy basically named me after her. Her name was Grace and Everly was her
maiden name. He just flipped it and changed the spelling.”

“That’s so sad. You never got to know
your mom and now you are losing your dad,” he said, looking so sad for me.
“That’s awful, Everleigh. I’m really sorry.”

I felt a lump in my throat. “Thanks.
It’s so hard watching him waste away. Part of me just wants him to be at peace
because he’s suffering so much, but then I feel terrible for feeling that way.”

He put his arm around me and pulled me
into a one armed hug. “It’s not terrible, Everleigh. I know how you feel,
believe me. My dad died of lung cancer seven years ago right after we really
hit it big. It was the most god awful feeling in the world watching him go through
that. My mom was so devastated over losing him that she overdosed on pain
killers two years later. It just about destroyed me. I really thought our band
was going to fall apart because I was so wrecked,” he admitted.

“Oh God, Ryder…I had no idea.”

“Yeah, well…” he said, trailing off for
a moment, my heart constricting tightly in my chest. “I’m lucky that Beau,
Kris, and Jude were there to get me through it. They all loved my parents too
and it hit them just as hard. They weren’t as lucky as I was to have awesome
parents and my mom and dad treated the guys like they were their own.”

“Your parents sound like they were great
people.”

“They really were. Dad was so proud of
us when we signed our record deal. He kept a scrap book of all of the articles
that mentioned us. He was a great guy.”

“He sounds like it.”

He took a deep breath and blew air
through his lips. Giving his head a little shake, he said, “So, tell me about
your dad. What’s he like?”

I smiled a pained smile. “Well, he’s a
Vietnam vet and he and Deuce served together. He met my mom when he came back
to the US and they were married for seventeen years before they had me. They
tried to have kids for years and never thought they would be able to, but then
I came along,” I said, smiling. “Daddy said that he and mom were so ecstatic
when they found out they were having me, and that she was sure I would be a
girl. They knew there would be risk having a child at such an advanced maternal
age but she didn’t care. They felt like it was fate. Everything had gone just
fine up until she went into labor, and then things just went south from there.
She ended up trying to have me naturally but there were complications and she
bled out after I was born. To this day I feel guilty. My mother literally gave
up her life to have me and I just feel like I’m the reason Daddy lost the woman
he loved,” I said. I had never admitted that out loud before and it hurt to say
it.

“Oh, Jesus, Everleigh, that wasn’t your
fault. You can’t think like that.”

I shrugged. “I can’t help it. I
seriously sit and think sometimes that I shouldn’t be here. My mother died to
bring me into the world, my father is dying in front of my eyes, and the first
guy I ever fell in love with used me just to get laid and then dumped me the
next day when I told him I wanted to slow things down,” I said, and I started
to cry again. I don’t know what it was about Ryder that made me feel calm
enough to break down in front of him and admit all my lifelong fears and
regrets, but he was like a balm to my broken soul.

“God, it’s taking everything in me to not
track down this Scott asshole and beat the fuck out of him,” Ryder said. “What
all did he say to you?”

I shook my head. “Not now, okay? Maybe
later. Can we talk about something else?”

“Everleigh…” he said, half pleading and
half angry.

“Ryder, please,” I begged.

He sighed and nodded his head. “Okay.
Like what?”

I thought for a moment and then bit my
lip. Looking at him, I said, “Will you sing me a song?”

Ryder

“A song? Really?” I asked, grinning.

“Yeah, why not? I noticed you have your
guitar case over there. Sing me a song. Unless you’re scared,” she said,
smiling that million dollar smile.

“I’m not scared of a damn thing, baby,”
I said, and I got up off the bed and grabbed my guitar out of the case. “Any
requests?” I asked, sitting on the chair across from her.

“Surprise me,” she said, and she pulled
her legs up and sat on the edge of the bed crisscrossed style.

I tried to think back to the night we
met in Cincinnati and I remembered she was wearing a Guns N’ Roses tee shirt. I
figured that was a good place to start, so I set my guitar on my lap and began
to play the first few chords of “Don’t Cry.” I didn’t look away from her
beautiful gaze the whole time I sang the song as the words poured out of me.

Our eyes were locked the whole time I
sang to her. I hated to admit it to myself, but I’d never been more nervous to
sing in front of anyone in my life until this moment. I was afraid to look away
from her beautiful brown eyes because I thought I might stumble and forget the
words. Once the song was over, I put the guitar down and looked back up at her.
Her eyes were welling with tears again, and I chuckled. “The song is telling
you
not
to cry, Everleigh,” I joked, trying to play off my nerves.

“Ryder, that was…magic. You have a
very
beautiful voice,” she said almost breathlessly.

I felt redness rising in my cheeks and I
looked down at my guitar and mindlessly strummed a few chords. “Thanks.” I’d
been complimented before, but nothing meant more to me than what she just said.

“If you can sing like that, why in the
world do you growl in most of your songs?” she asked innocently.

I laughed. “That’s the kind of music I
like to sing and that’s what our fans want to hear. Besides, I don’t growl all
the time, you know.”

“Well, it sounded like it to me at the
show. No offense,” she said, and I smiled.  “Apparently I was so out of my
element there that I didn’t remember.”

“It’s okay, Everleigh. Our music isn’t
everyone’s taste, but we still do okay.”

“Oh, I know. Danni’s been a freak for
you guys for a
long
time, and I’ll admit, she had me banging my head a
little bit to that song, oh what was it… ‘Self Destruction’?”

I nodded and smiled. “See? You’re not
that out of touch.”

“Well, I liked the beat of it. Your
drummer is really talented.”

“Yeah, that’s Kris. He’s a bad ass
drummer and a really good guy.”

She smiled. “So tell me more about them.
How did you guys all meet?”

Before I could answer, my cell pinged,
letting me know I had a text message. I checked it and saw that it was from
Jude. The guys were all here with John and our security team. I felt a stab of
disappointment because my time with Everleigh here in the hotel room was about
to end. I had been having a great time getting to know her and I didn’t want it
to be over yet. “That’s Jude. Everyone’s here. They are in the lobby checking
in right now.”

“Oh. Well, great. It will be nice seeing
them again,” Everleigh said sincerely.

“You mean you aren’t ready to get the
hell out of here?” I asked, grinning at her.

She smiled sweetly at me. “Well, I am
anxious to get home to Daddy, but as much as it pains me to admit it, I’ve been
having a good time with you this evening, Ryder.”

I smiled. “See? I’m not such a bad guy,
right?”

“I guess not,” she said, surprised. I
put my guitar back in the case and quickly walked over to the bed. I sat down
next to her and moved my face close to hers. “What are you doing?” she asked,
surprised.

“Enjoying the last few seconds I have
you alone before the wolves descend,” I said, and I leaned in and kissed her,
making her gasp loudly. Making the most of our moment together, I traced my
tongue along her bottom lip and she opened her mouth to me. We made out like a
couple of horny teenagers for about two minutes before I heard a knock on the
door of my room. Groaning, I pulled away and shifted around to make my hard on
go away. Everleigh fanned her face with her hand, her cheeks a bright pink.
“Well, let’s get this over with,” I said.

I got up and walked to the door. After I
checked that it was the guys through the peep hole, I opened the door and let
them in. “Hey guys,” I said. “You guys don’t think you’re staying in here, do
you?” Jude, Kris, Beau, Danni, John, and three bodyguards dressed in black
suits walked into my small room. There was a whole lot of man crammed into the
hotel room.

“No, we rented out the whole top floor,”
Jude said, plopping down on the bed next to Everleigh. He threw his arm around
her and pulled her into a hug. “Hey, how are you doing?” he said, winking at
her. “We’ve heard about absolutely
nothing
but you for the past three
months.”

She shrugged out of his grasp and stood
up. “Nice to see you again, Jude,” she said, walking over to me. I wrapped my
arm around her shoulders and flipped him off.

“So, how bad is it out there?” I asked
John.

“Not bad. Most of the reporters seemed
to have gotten the pictures they wanted when the rest of the band showed up.
Some of them might try and follow Miss Stone back to her house, but we rented a
black SUV to take her back home and two of our guys are going stay parked
outside until this thing dies down,” he said. “Nice to see you,” he said to
Everleigh, and she nodded. “I’m John.”

She offered her hand to him and he took
it, giving it a shake. “Yeah, I remember you from the show. It’s nice to see
you again.” The smile on her face was so sweet and genuine, and for the first
time since I’d known him, I saw John crack a smile. It seemed that I was not
the only one to fall for Everleigh’s innocent charms.

“Well, I want us to stay here for a bit
until I make sure it’s safe for her to go home and then she needs to get back.
Her dad needs her home,” I said, squeezing her into me.

“Well, why don’t we all get dinner then?
I’m starving,” Jude said.

“Dude, we just stopped at a Burger King
an hour ago,” Kris said.

“Hey, I’m a big boy. I need sustenance,”
he replied. “Everleigh, what’s good to eat around here?”

She shrugged. “Mostly fast food places
close to here. If it’s past ten most of the good restaurants are closed.”

“I thought I saw a Pizza Hut before we
pulled in,” Beau said, and I realized at that moment that he was holding
Danni’s hand. I would say the guy worked quickly but I didn’t really have room
to talk. I’d been in town one day and had already practically dry humped Everleigh
and had gotten my hands up her shirt. I definitely wasn’t complaining…her full
breasts felt
incredible
in my hands.

“Hey, if you want pizza, I have a better
place for you guys to try. If you don’t mind,” Everleigh said.

“Oh no, it’s fine. You know the area
better than we do,” I said. “What are you thinking?”

She looked at Danni. “Pizza King?” Danni
asked, smiling.

“Pizza King,” Everleigh said.

“I’ll call them. What does everyone
like?” Danni asked, walking away from Beau and grabbing the pen and paper from
the night stand. Everyone told her what they wanted, and I just mumbled that I
didn’t care. Living on the road as long as I have, I would eat just about
anything within reason.

After we were all stuffed and full of some
of the best pizza I’d eaten in a long time (seriously, that shit was
incredible), it was time for John and the guys to take Everleigh and Danni back
home. I almost felt like a needy girl because I didn’t want her to go yet. Ever
since everyone had shown up, I hadn’t really gotten to talk to her much. She’d
spent most of the evening talking to Danni. I’d had a great day with her and I
was bummed that it was going to end.

John had just left with the rest of the
men in suits to do a security check of the floor when Everleigh stood up from
her chair next to Danni. I may not have gotten to have much a conversation with
her in the past hour, I would be damned if I didn’t get some kind of
goodbye…hopefully with some tongue. “So, this evening turned out to be pretty
good, huh?” I asked her, lacing my fingers through hers.

She shivered slightly as our fingers
tangled together. “As much as I hate to admit it, I had fun with you guys tonight,”
she said. “Your band mates are pretty cool. Even Jude.”

I grinned. “Wow, that’s a compliment.
He’s usually a pain in the ass but I love him like a brother.”

“Yeah, he’s really nice.” She sighed and
gave my hand a squeeze. “Listen, thanks for taking my mind off of everything
for one night.”

“My pleasure, Everleigh. Listen, I am
going to be in town for at least a week. Can I see you tomorrow?”

She smiled her beautiful smile at me. “S-sure.
I have to work in the morning, and then I’ll need to check in on my dad, but
after that I’m free.”

“Great. I thought maybe you could show
me around the city.”

“There’s not much to do here but eat and
see a movie,” she said, chuckling to herself.

“A movie? Wow, I haven’t been inside a
movie theater in forever,” I said.

“Really?” she asked, looking surprised.

“Well, there’s not a lot of opportunity
for the lead singer of a famous rock band to sneak away and do something by
himself. Today should be proof of that,” I said, and she nodded.

“Well, maybe we can do some kind of
‘cloak and dagger’ thing and sneak away to the movie theater,” she suggested,
and I smiled.

“Being with you inside a dark movie
theater for two hours? That sounds like fun, but it’s probably going to be just
about impossible to do that, what with cameras around.”

“True,” she said, biting on her bottom
lip and frowning.

“Listen, I don’t want to push my luck,
but what about if I just came and hung out at your place?”

 “M-my house?” she asked, nervously.

“What’s the matter? Do you not want me
to come?”

“Oh, no, it’s not that. It’s just that
my house is kind of small and plain and…”

“Everleigh, you don’t have to be
embarrassed about where you live. I’d love to see where you grew up.”

She gave me a small smile, but I could
tell she was still nervous. “Well, I guess we can try that. If you like
eighties movies, my dad’s actually a movie buff and we have a pretty big
collection. If there is a movie you want to see, chances are we have it.”

I smiled at her. “Okay then, it’s a
date,” I said, grinning.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I guess
it is,” she said. “Just what I’ve always dreamed of.”

“What?” I asked.

“Being on a date at my house with my dad
there.”

I chuckled. “I’m sure it will be fine,”
I said, feeling confident.

“Hey, don’t let the fact that Daddy’s
sick fool you. He’s pretty protective of his little girl.”

“I thought you said he was pushing you
to get a life?”

“He is, but he’s also a man and knows
that most men want one thing from women.”

“Well, I could lie and say I don’t want
that one thing from you but I do. I want all of it,” I said, and I felt relief
when she smiled.

“Well, you’re not getting it yet, rock
star,” Everleigh said bravely, but I knew she was nervous.

“Yet? That means I’ll get it eventually,
and I have no problem waiting. I have all the time in the world. Hell, I’ve
been in dry dock for the past three months and I’m doing just fine. Well, kind
of,” I laughed, and shifted around to make my semi go down.

Everleigh looked at me with wide,
surprised eyes. “Y-you have? Really? Wow,” she muttered, looking impressed.

“Well, geez, it’s not like I won an
award or anything, relax. It’s just that no one really interested me after I
met you. You’ve wrecked me, girl,” I said.

“I just can’t believe you held off that
long.”

“Well, porn helps,” I said, and she
giggled.

“Ugh, you’re a freak,” she said.

“Oh you have no idea,” I replied, and at
that moment John came back into my room giving us the ‘all clear’.

“Well, guess that’s my cue to head home.
Thanks again for a good time,” she said. She reached into her pocket and pulled
something out. In her hand was the money I gave her earlier.

I shook my head. “I’m not taking it
back, Everleigh.”

Her brow furrowed for a moment and she
sighed. She moved her hand quickly before I could think she reached her hand
into my front pocket and tucked the money inside. I could feel the warmth of
her hand on my leg through the thin material of my pocket, and my dick twitched
in response. “Yes you are, Ryder.” She pulled her hand out of my pocket and
wrapped her arm around my waist in a quick hug. “Thanks again.”