Rhythm of Us: Book 2 Of The Fated Hearts Series (28 page)

Ben swallowed audibly. “I’ve missed you, Xavier. My world felt dull and out of focus without you in it.”

He rose to his feet, walked to me, and held out his hand for me to take then pulled me to my feet. Ben wrapped his arms around me and held me tight; it felt like coming home. We stayed that way for several minutes just breathing each other in. He’d hugged me and held me before, but in that moment it felt different; felt more.

“Don’t disappear on my again, Xavier.” He ran his nose along the outer shell of my ear, making me shiver. “My heart can’t take it.”

“I want to be the one you finally give your heart to for safe keeping, Ben.”

“You fucking scare me to death, Xavier.” He placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Pick out the music and I’ll grab us some drinks.”

Snuggling on the couch led to slow dancing which turned into lazy kisses. Those kisses got steamy as we slowly peeled each other’s clothes off and tossed them on the couch. Our soft sighs soon turned into hungry kisses that threatened to scorch us both.

“I want to lay you down on my bed and love you, Xavier. Then I want you to ride me slow and drive me wild with your hips. Damn, I’ve imagined nothing else since I saw you perform at Bottoms Up.” Ben cupped my face in his strong hands. “I’m brave enough to give you all that I am, but are you brave enough to accept it?”

“Yes,” I whispered through tears.

We showed each how we felt with our bodies when words just weren’t enough. Ben laid me down and loved me so slowly with adoring eyes that never left mine. Then I rolled him over and rode him with everything I had. Ben caressed my body as I rolled my hips to the beat of the song like I did at the bar. When Ben came close to coming, I reached behind me and squeezed his balls to hold his orgasm off. I knew it would make his orgasm even more powerful when he finally came. I would ride him to the edge and hold him back time after time, ignoring his pleas to let him come. He was a lot stronger than me and could have easily rolled me over and fucked me into the mattress, but he loved receiving the sensual torture as much I loved doling it out.

We came together and it was magnificent and poignant, as well as loud. We collapsed in a heap in the middle of his bed and held each other tight. Ben rubbed his hand up and down my back soothingly while I nuzzled my nose against his chest. I wanted to stay just like that for the rest of my life, but Ben’s growling stomach negated that idea.

“Let’s go downstairs and
I
will cook for
you
this time,” I told him.

“You cook?”

“I cook some, but nothing near your level.”

“I haven’t eaten since breakfast and I’m starved to death, Xavier. I’d probably eat cardboard at this point.”

“Good to know.” I said with a chuckle.

We didn’t bother getting dressed before we walked downstairs to his kitchen. I opened up the refrigerator to see what I had to work with. Ben came up behind me as I was bending over to check his crisper drawer and began to caress my ass and nibble on the back of my neck.

“I changed my mind about food,” he said huskily. “The only thing I want to eat is your . . .”

“Jesus Christ. Haven’t you two had enough of each other yet?”

The deep voice startled the hell out of us both causing us to jump and spin around. Ben pushed me behind him in a protective move, but not before I got a look at the man who stood in the kitchen – not that I needed to see him to know who our intruder was.

“Hi, Deac,” I said from behind Ben. I realized that Ben was naked and reached around with both hands to shield his cock and balls from Deacon’s view. “A simple phone call would have sufficed.”

Maybe I should have been afraid that Deacon was in Ben’s house, after all he was wanted by the police for questioning in the murder of my ex-boyfriend. Even though I didn’t know Deacon well, I felt down to the marrow of my bones that Deacon Bradley was not a ruthless killer. In my heart, I knew there was a lot more to the story than the black and white report that Bevan received and I was glad I was getting the opportunity to hear Deac out and ask the questions that have been floating around in my mind ever since I heard the news.

I LOOKED DOWN
at Xavier’s hands shielding my man parts from Deacon’s eyes. It made my heart beat faster that Xavier didn’t want anyone seeing my cock and balls but him. The big man standing in my house was intimidating, but he didn’t have a crazed look in his eye like he was about to take a knife to my nuts. However, he cared enough about Xavier to potentially kill for him, and that alone had me a bit on edge. “Babe, you might want to keep still, because your hands on my dick has the same outcome each time, unless you want to give your friend a show.”

Deacon grinned good-naturedly and I relaxed. “I just came to talk, not watch a peep show. It was bad enough listening to you torture the big guy, Xavier. I didn’t know you had such a mean streak in you.”

Xavier pressed his forehead between my shoulder blades and I could almost feel him blushing behind me. I wasn’t embarrassed about my begging to come; it was so sexy watching Xavier ride me slowly and taking control of both of our pleasure.

“No one forced you to listen to us having sex,” I pointed out dryly. “Why don’t Xavier and I get dressed and then you guys can talk.”

“You want me to hide my eyes?” Deacon had a sarcastic sense of humor. I liked it.

“You go into the living room and wait while we go upstairs and get dressed,” Xavier said.

“Fine.” Deacon huffed teasingly and exited the kitchen.

“I’m going to stay up here and let you guys have some privacy,” I told Xavier once we were up in my room. I pulled a pair of sweats out of my drawer and walked them over to him.

Xavier watched me closely as if that wasn’t the reaction he expected. I had to remind myself that he spent a year or longer in a very abusive relationship. “You can come down, Ben. I have no secrets from you. I . . .”

I cut him off with a soft kiss. I squatted down and held the sweats out for him to step into and I slowly pulled them up his legs. I kissed both of his lean-muscled thighs before covering them up. I rose to my feet and tied the string at his waist before rolling the waistband a few times to keep them up.

“Can I borrow a shirt too?”

“No.”

“No?” He asked incredulously.

I lowered my mouth and sucked the skin directly above his heart into my mouth. I used my teeth, tongue, and lips to mark him as mine. Xavier ran his fingers through my hair and made a soft mewling sound in the back of his throat. I released his skin with a wet plop and licked over the red mark to sooth the angry looking flesh. I leaned back to check my handiwork.

“One day this heart will be mine and I want him to know it.”

Xavier affectionately traced my love bite with his finger and then pulled me down for a sweet kiss, which turned hot pretty quickly. We were breathing harshly into one another’s mouth and our hands began to roam.

“Both of you get down here already,” Deacon hollered from the bottom of the stairs. “I have limited time and want to speak to both of you at the once. You guys can kiss and fuck
after
I leave.”

I was totally confused about why Deacon would want to include me in the conversation, but the pleading look on Xavier’s face won out. Xavier and I finished dressing into some clothes and headed down to my living room hand in hand. I sat on my cozy couch and Xavier curled into my side. He leaned into me and I wrapped my arms around him. It should have felt awkward with this could-be killer sitting on the loveseat across from us, but I had Xavier in my arms and that made everything right.

“Where do you want me to begin?” Deacon’s voice was calm, certain, and controlled. I could understand why he earned the nickname.

“I’d like to go back to what happened to you after I left LA the first time, but you said you had limited time,” Xavier replied, equally as calm.
Shouldn’t one of us be freaking out?

“About that,” Deacon said with an ornery smile, “I just said that to get you guys down here.” Deacon leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. His face became serious as did his voice when he said, “I did not kill Erik Schafnitz aka Damien Diamond, so let’s just get that out of the way. After I leave here, I’m boarding a plane for LA and I’m turning myself over to the authorities. I have absolutely nothing to hide, Xavier. I’ll tell you what happened the night Damien died and if we still have time we can work our way backwards, okay?” Xavier and I nodded in unison. “I had a voicemail message from Pax about what Damien did to you and, yes, I went to his home and beat the motherfucking shit out of him for what he did to you, but I promise you that I
did not
kill him. I was the one who tossed his place, because I was looking for the shit he had on you and the other bandmates.” Deacon took a deep breath and scrubbed his hands over his face.

“What?” Xavier asked, “What shit?”

“I saw evidence of his blackmail scheme for one of his victims on his coffee table and figured that he had similar documents on you and the rest of the band. I tossed his shithole until I found what I was looking for and then got the fuck out of there. I destroyed every bit of it, Xavier, so you don’t have to worry about any of this getting traced back to you.” Deacon leaned back in his seat, looking relieved to have told us his account of the night Damien was killed.

Xavier and I sat quietly for a few moments, letting that sink in. I can’t say for sure what Xavier had been thinking, but I felt his body tense beside me and figured it had to do with whatever Deacon had found and later destroyed. I ran my hand up and down his back to give Xavier comfort as he worked these things out in his head.

“What did Damien have on me, Deac?” Xavier broke the silence and the shame I heard in his voice had all my protective instincts rising to the surface. On one hand, Xavier had the right to know what Deacon had found, but I was afraid it would set him back. He’d come so fucking far in his recovery and I didn’t want anything to jeopardize it, not even something he was entitled to know. My eyes locked on Deacon’s and what I saw there said he would willingly take that information to the grave with him. Xavier must have seen the truth too because he let out a frustrated sigh. “I have the right to know. I can handle it. I’m much stronger now and knowledge is power. I promise you both that I won’t let this cause a setback.” I heard the sincerity in Xavier’s voice, along with the strength inside him that I knew was there all along. “Please, Deac.”

Deacon took a deep breath and then nodded. I held Xavier tighter against my side in attempt to soften the blow. “It appeared that he had taken intimate photographs of you while you were too stoned to care. He had similar photos of your bandmates, along with some arrest records, and evidence that two of them were in debt up to their eyeballs with a loan shark.” I saw Deacon trying to implore Xavier with his eyes to not let this hurt his recovery. “Damien was a really bad person, Xavier. I won’t say he got what he deserved, because what he deserved was a prison sentence for extortion - not being shot in cold blood in his home. Life doesn’t always give us what we deserve, but we must take the hand we are dealt and make the best of it.” Deacon’s voice sounded choked with emotion and he cleared his throat before continuing. “You’ve been dealt a second chance with a good man and you should run with it. Don’t look back at your time in LA as anything other than a life lesson. Don’t let one man’s rottenness eat away at your happiness.”

“Deac.” Xavier sounded equally as emotional. “I don’t know how to feel right now or even what to say, except thank you. Thank you for looking out for me. Again.” Xavier looked down at his lap and his voice was reduced to barely a whisper when he said, “I thought that you were angry with me when I went back to LA. You wouldn’t return my calls and I was worried about you. What happened to you after Damien fired you? Were you okay?” I leaned over and kissed Xavier’s temple to remind him that I was here – would be here whenever and however he needed me. He looked up at me and gave me an appreciative smile.

“Xavier, I was never angry with you for returning to LA.” Deacon’s voice was soft, yet firm. “I took a job working private security for Heston’s CEO, Mitch Heston. I’ve known him since high school and it felt like fate when he called me out of the blue looking to hire me for his detail. Everything worked out good for me. I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that I was mad at you. I just knew that Damien would have made your life miserable if we kept in contact, even though we were never more than friends. So, I stayed away.” I heard the regret in Deacon’s voice and wondered if he might be blaming himself for Xavier’s downward spiral.