Rock Me Harder (Rock Star Rockstar Erotic Romance) (Rock Me #2)

Rock Me Harder

Two days after Christian and I spent the most amazing night of my life together in his house, I packed up everything I’d brought to England and left the hotel I’d been staying in one last time. Tim, who had become my permanent driver, drove me to Christian’s apartment, where I unpacked my things.

It still felt a little bit surreal, I had to admit. I had never expected that I would come here, fall in love with Christian once again, and decide to stay with him in England. After all, I was American, born and bred. Before this trip, I had never even left the country. Now I was leaving it all behind, living in a new land, just to be with this guy? A part of my brain just couldn’t wrap itself around this new reality. This was my life; this was what I was going to do.

The first two weeks flew by like an absolute blur of happiness, great sex and settling into my new life. So much so that I didn’t even get a chance to call my parents and tell them I was staying in England. Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to that phone call. Although they’d been mostly supportive outwardly, I could tell that my parents weren’t too enthusiastic about me going to visit Christian. I figured it was because neither of them had ever left the country either, and they were afraid the big world was going to ruin their daughter, which it obviously hadn’t, but nonetheless I was a little bit worried as to what their reaction was going to be.

On top of that, the band, Deux Pamplemousses, were also getting ready to go on a three-month long tour of Europe. That meant I had to get ready as well, since obviously I was going to join Christian while he was on tour.

Finally, one day, I found myself in our home, Jonathan having gone out for drinks with the band, but I felt like I had a bit of a cold coming on, so I decided to stay home instead. I had chicken soup delivered from one of the local delis nearby, and after watching TV for a couple hours, realized this was actually the perfect opportunity to call my parents.

I picked up my phone and stared at it for a few minutes, not looking forward to this conversation. I didn’t
know
that my parents weren’t going to be happy. After all, they might be thrilled and congratulate me. But I had a feeling they weren’t going to be pleased with this choice, and as I dialed their number the feeling gnawing away inside of me got stronger.

Mom picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?” she answered, and I had to admit, it was nice to hear her voice. I called her a couple times, not long after arriving in London, but hadn’t had another chance since.

“Hey, mom, it’s Violet” I replied.

“Violet! Oh it’s good to hear from you sweetie, how are you?”

“I’m good mom. Things are good. How about with you?”

“Oh, you know, everything’s the same here. Your father’s getting ready for his retirement, they’re holding a party for him next week. It’s a shame you can’t be there.”

“Yeah, that’s too bad. I’m glad he’s finally getting out of there, he’ll have more time to play golf.”

“Absolutely, I’m going to have to work hard to keep him out of the house all day and out of my way” mom joked. Then, she turned serious.

“So Violet, how is your trip going? Are you enjoying it?”

“I am mom, in fact, that’s part of why I called you. I’ve decided I’m going to stay in England, with Christian.”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment.

“Oh... that’s nice, sweetie. I’m glad for you. But... are you sure that’s the right thing to do?”

“I am sure, mom. I’ve thought about it a lot. I miss you, of course, but I really like it here.”

“Well as long as you’re happy, that’s the main thing. But sweetie?”

“Yes, mom?”

“Be careful out there please. I know you’re young and in love, but the world is a dangerous place, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

“Thanks mom, I won’t.”

“Remember, everyone isn’t always exactly as they seem.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

When I hung up the phone, I stared at it for a minute, wondering about my mom’s cryptic warnings. What on earth was she going on about? I mean, she’d always been a little bit worried about me going to a foreign country and everything, but this seemed different somehow. Was she warning me about Christian? What could she possibly be going on about? I hadn’t seen him in years, no one had heard from him in all that time.

Well, I guess it was just mom being herself: overprotective of her baby, as always. I put the thought out of my head and went back to watching TV, mostly napping in front of it, then went to bed with Christian when he finally came home.

I’d have liked to say I knew what my mom was talking about as I thought about it over the next few days, but I didn’t get a chance to at all. The band’s tour was starting the next day, right here in London. To make things easier for the organizers, rather than staying at their respective homes the band were moved, along with all the staff, into a luxury hotel right downtown. That meant I was moving, too.

It still impressed me that the band had actually booked two whole floors of the hotel. I mean, wasn’t that just one of those things you heard about in movies? I thought so, but apparently not. The band members had one floor to themselves, all enormous suites (at least I assumed the others had rooms identical to ours, I never actually saw them) with the most luxurious of amenities.

“We’re staying here for like, four days. I’m pretty sure there’s going to be entire ROOMS in here that I’m not going to have gone into by the time we leave” I announced to Christian as I stood in the middle of our suite, amazed. I had to admit, my favourite part was the view over London. From the floor to ceiling glass windows lining the lavish living room I could see what felt like the entire city. Skyscrapers and landmarks I’d only seen on TV before were now just in front of me.

“Well, with a view like this, who needs to leave this room?” Christian replied as he came over to me, as though he was reading my mind.

“You’re right, it’s incredible.”

“Nothing but the best for you, Violet my dear” Christian replied, his mouth moving onto my neck.

Just as I leaned back to enjoy the feeling of him against my skin, there was a knock on the door. We separated quickly, and Christian answered. It was Andrea, the band’s manager. She entered and greeted me warmly. I’d only met her a few times, but she immediately made a good impression. With her blonde hair tied back, and always wearing a suit, she was the quintessential look of a professional. She was probably in her mid-40s, and seemed incredibly intelligent and professional as well as diligent. Christian often told me that if it wasn’t for Andrea’s near-magic skills at understanding the music industry, Deux Pamplemousses wouldn’t be nearly as famous as they were.

“Christian, we’re getting ready to go to rehearsal. Are you coming with us, Violet?”

“Umm, yeah I think I will, if that’s alright” I replied, looking at Christian.

“Of course, Violet. You’re definitely welcome, it’ll be like your own private concert” Christian replied, beaming.

I had to admit, the thought of it seemed pretty cool. I’d seen the band in music videos, and of course I’d sat in a few times as they recorded a new single, but that was all different. I’d never seen them in concert before, and I really wanted to. I wanted to see Christian, this man that I loved, work his magic.

We were piled up into a van, past hordes of screaming fans. It seemed as though someone had leaked information about what hotel we were staying at. While I immediately made my way through the crowd and into the van, Christian and the rest of the band stayed out for a few minutes, signing autographs, taking photos and saying hi until security decided that was enough and herded them over to the waiting vehicle as well.

The door had barely closed before we sped off, towards the stadium the band was scheduled to play in. Everyone was in good spirits. Caleb struck up a conversation with me, asking me about whether things in America were really the way Christian had always described them. Eventually we pulled straight through into the underground parking and were ushered straight into a backstage area. Each member of the band had their own room, and when I entered Christian’s I was actually shocked at the luxury. A dressing table like the ones I always saw on TV and in movies was in one corner, a bean bag chair and comfortable looking couch sat on the other side. Racks of outfits for the concert lined one wall, a tray with some snacks next to it. A large rug covered the floor, and the walls were lined with posters of the rock stars of yore.

“I’ve got to admit, I’ve never been backstage before, anywhere.”

“Well, now you’ve seen all my secrets! Like the fact that I always eat a bunch of fruit before going onstage” Christian replied, motioning at the tray next to his outfits. I went over to the rack.

“Are you really going to wear all of these tonight?”

Christian shook his head. “No, I only usually wear two outfits a night, I change halfway through the show. I just don’t always wear the same thing, it’s not like a lot of pop concerts where they change outfits ten times a night and it’s always the same outfit. Rock is a lot less choreographed, a lot less strict about those sorts of things. Anyway, if you head out to the stage area, we’ve got about fifteen minutes before we come out and start to play.”

I did as Christian suggested, making my way towards the open area of the stage. It was weird, being literally the only person in the arena, tens of thousands of empty seats around me. No one else was around, and I sat down near the front of the stage, in the mosh pit, waiting for Christian to appear. It took a few minutes, and suddenly, out of nowhere the pitch black stage burst to life.

I was blinded for a split second as my senses went from almost completely unused to overwhelmed. The music started immediately, the bland getting right into things with one of their big hits right off the bat. As the arena exploded in a cacophony of music and lights, and Christian belted out the music, I found myself mesmerized. I suddenly realized just why this band was one of the most popular in the country. Not only did Christian have an amazing voice, combined with the band able to make incredibly catchy rock songs, but Christian had a stage presence unlike anything I’d ever felt before in my life.

Christian’s voice was his instrument. It seemed effortless, as he used his range to coax lyrics to life, to make them seem larger than life. It was husky and raw, like a rock star’s voice should be, but at the same time sensual, his control of his voice so perfect that every note sounded better than the last.

While Christian played, I could feel the intensity of his focus on the music, the strength it took to be so precise, so perfect for so long. For two hours the band did their final run-through, for two hours Christian showed his soul, bared it for me to see. I had never felt more connected to him than in that moment. He was so wrapped up in what he was doing, so heavily into the song, and yet at the same time I knew he was focused on me almost as intently.

His eyes met mine throughout the concert, and as he belted out the hardest notes, I knew, somehow, that he was singing exclusively to me. I had never imagined that this would be the reaction I would have when I saw him sing. I knew now, this was exactly what Christian had been born to do. As the band struck the last note, the strings of Andy’s guitar vibrating to a stop one final time, I burst into applause, although the noise was quickly lost in the vast space in which I was the only occupant.

Christian bowed low to me, sweat dripping from his forehead, and he came up with a grin.

“Did you enjoy your private concert, my lady?” he asked with a flourish, motioning around at the empty arena.

“It was better than I could have imagined” I replied, and I meant it. “Well done guys, that was incredible” I continued, talking to the rest of the band this time.

Five minutes later everyone was backstage once more. There were still four hours until the concert was to start, and the band were ravenous after the effort they’d just gone through.

“Is it normal to do a dress rehearsal the same day as the actual concert?” I asked. Christian shook his head.

“No. It’s actually the first time we’ve done it, really. I mean, except for the days when we’d just play in pubs and practiced that morning. But there was a circus group here that had the stadium until yesterday, the way things worked out with the tour we had no choice but to do it like this. We did rehearsals a little while ago, before the circus group came in, but not since. It’ll be fine though, the rehearsal went pretty well.”

“Are you kidding me? It was incredible. I couldn’t believe how good you were.”

“Thanks, that means a lot coming from you, Violet.”

We continued to eat in silence, then the band decided to have a last private meeting before the concert began. I was told by Andrea that they did this before every show, and that I was welcome to relax wherever backstage and do as I wanted.

I played games on my phone spread out on a couch while I waited for the real concert to start. I couldn’t get it out of my head though just how good Christian was. And to be honest, as I lay on the couch relaxing as hundreds of crew members ran around doing the thousands of little things still necessary for this show to go on, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty. After all, I wasn’t doing anything.