Twisted (Delirium #1) (4 page)

Shas groaned. “So it wasn’t a bad dream.”

“Afraid not, sweetheart.” I ran my hand along her arm, thrilled at the way her green eyes darkened. “You okay?”

“I think so.” She swallowed. “Are you leaving now?”

The lingering fear hidden within her gaze made my gut clench. Returning home had been my idea—my way of healing us after Rio’s death. We’d all taken it hard, but I’d been struck head on since I’d been there.

I’d heard his last words, swallowed every single one and known them to be truth. I hadn’t been able to save him from jumping off the building and ending the wreck his life had become, but I would damn sure learn a lesson from his senseless loss.

I’d stake a claim on what I really wanted and fight like hell to make it mine. The tenacity my manager Rio had instilled in me the past seven years wouldn’t go to waste. I’d get Shasta Monohan back in my life where she belonged.

“No, sweetheart. Let’s go to my hotel room.”

“Okay.”  She groaned as she peeked up at me. “You sure we aren’t in a nightmare?”

God I hoped not because for the first time in a long while I gave a damn about something—making sure the beautiful woman looking up at me would never go numb again.

A few signatures and more autographs and poses with cops than I wanted to remember later, we made our way into the lobby of the downtown facility and walked straight into an army of paparazzi.

Fuck.

Shasta

The flood of camera flashes doused my tequila haze. Caleb covered my head with his jacket and dragged me through the sea of questions before the shock wore off. Who was I? Was I the flavor of the month? Was I the girl from the balcony?

Balcony? Dread clawed my insides. Adrenaline spurred me forward, destination unknown. Anywhere away from whatever I’d gotten myself into would do. My stomach grumbled the loss of my planned IHOP induced sobriety ritual. Damn the media vultures. I needed my pancake fix.

Okay, I was still trashed. How many shots had I drunk? My pulse hammered in my ears. Dealing with the results of vultures picking away at the carcass of what we’d done on the balcony was the last thing I wanted to deal with.

Hell, I didn’t even want to think about the way he’d taken me over the edge so easily, the way his touch still lingered in my mind when I closed my eyes. Why couldn’t everyone go away and let me have my one-more-night dream?

We slid into a massive black limousine because things long, black and rare wouldn’t be easy to follow at all. I giggled as the imagery of a sea of cars chasing us through the barricaded downtown streets of Austin streamed through my mind.

I crawled to the other side of the massive interior and tuned out Bets and Caleb arguing over my stint in the slammer. She wasn’t pleased. Neither was I. My hussy had no scruples, though, and this was her night. Realizing the blissful numbness somehow got left behind at the lovely APD facilities, I snagged a couple of bottles from the convenient bar beside me and twisted the caps open. They slid down my throat smooth and burned all the way to my belly. A new dose of courage would keep me from falling apart under the weight of a million eyes watching me melt into a puddle of confusion.

“Shit!” Bets grabbed the empty bottles from my hand and tossed them on the bar. “What the hell are you doing, Shas?”

“What?” I looked at Caleb and back at her. “We’re out. Let’s pick up where we started. Rock stars don’t let a little time in the pokey keep them from having a good time. Do they, Colt?”

I crawled toward him, angling for his belt with my hands, then yelped when he grasped my arms and tugged me into his lap.

“Enough, Shas.” The growled statement stilled me. “I hope this gets through to the sexy woman hiding behind a sea of tequila, because she’s the one I want to have around tonight. Leave the party girl behind. This isn’t about a good time.”

“No, it’s not. It’s closure.”

His gaze narrowed. Tingles burst along my chin, beneath his caress. “You really believe this is the goodbye we didn’t get? The balcony was your
hasta la vista baby
?”

“Terminator? Really?”

His lips hovered above mine. “For what it’s worth, the balcony was nowhere near goodbye for me.”

I closed my eyes and kissed him, giving him all the confusion, desire, anger and wanton need drowning me in a kiss I hope expressed everything I intended. I needed his understanding, his help explaining what tonight was about since I had zero clue.

The vehicle lurched to a halt too soon. I was okay with driving in circles, kissing Caleb all night as we kept the world locked out. I fell into an awkward silence, unsure what he expected once we were alone. Bets squeezed me tight and whispered words my inebriated mind didn’t hear.

I toed off my shoes, opting for the safety of bare feet versus another feeding frenzy for the media vultures when I had to get something broken set in the ER. The world spun, my head floated. My heart thundered adrenaline and anticipation through my veins as I tromped beside Caleb, blinding out whoever may or may not be watching us.

The elevator sealed us into isolation. Heat coursed through me. The last time we’d been alone in a moving tube I’d…and he’d…and we’d…Yowza. He groaned and drew me into his arms. I ran my hands along his chest, willing the moving to stop.

“I’m not kissing you until I have at least two locks between us and the world because once my mouth closes on yours again, I won’t stop until we’ve both come and we can pass out on the bed in exhaustion.”

My will crumpled beneath the pleasure his words offered, unabashed freedom to do whatever we wanted one more time. I’d craved the opportunity too long. I hustled out of the elevator the moment it stopped and smiled when he chuckled behind me. Sprinting down the hall proved pointless, though, since I had no idea which room was his.

Of course it turned out to be the huge ass double door one at the corner. A suite. Naturally. He carded us in and I attacked him the second the door shut. Tongues dueled, hands groped, clothing ripped—his more than mine. Impatience prickled the awkward tussle to the massive bed in the other room.

He growled and picked me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and deepened the kiss. Cool pillowy softness greeted me as he severed the contact long enough to remove my skirt. I yanked the red lace top over my head and tossed it aside. When he reached for his belt, I grabbed his hands and licked my lips.

“Let me.”

“Jesus, Shas. I’m about to explode. Not sure I can handle those sweet lips of yours on my dick.” He groaned when I freed his manhood and wrestled the denim down his lean lips and powerful thighs.

He kicked off his shoes and freed his legs from the jeans. Kneeling before him, I massaged, kneaded and licked my way up his magnificent body. I’d missed Caleb’s unique flavor, the glide of his flesh beneath my tongue, the way his muscles clenched and flexed beneath my touch.

The responses I drew from him invigorated me, pushing the tequila haze back. Rubbing and massaging along his inner, upper thighs I bypassed the pulsating cock awaiting me and chased an invisible trail along his washboard abs. Damn the man was cut. I moaned my appreciation and flicked my tongue from the top of the left side of the sexier-than-hell V down to where it intersected the heated flesh awaiting my mouth.

I wrapped my hand around his thick shaft and flicked my tongue along the tip, savoring the precum. My fingertips ran along his shaft, pumping as I drew him into my mouth. The feral growl rumbling from him shook along my spine and pooled in heated arousal at my core—where I wanted him most.

Pleasure thrummed within my veins. Each thrust of his hardened length taunted me with how good he would feel buried within me. Eager for the sensation his touch sparked, I ran my fingers of my other hand across my pussy and clit.

“Fuck, you’re so hot,” Caleb grunted as he powered into me in a thrust I felt clear to the finger buried in my wet slit. “I need inside you, Shas.”

Before my mind could wrap around the plea he pressed me against the mattress. The kiss was hot, hungered. I hoped there was a third condom in his magic pocket, but then remembered his pants weren’t around. I thought to sever the contact, hunt for protection.

His mouth roamed south, his trajectory obvious since he pinched and tweaked my nipples. I groaned. To hell with thinking ahead.

Warmth enveloped the tiny bud, streaming bursts of ecstasy throughout my body. His wandering mouth continued, licking a trail down my ribcage. I gasped when his fingers thrust into me.

“So wet,” he whispered before his tongue laved my clit. His hands spread my thighs wider and he looked up at me. “I’ve wanted to do this all night.”

Yes. Sweet heavens his tongue was a registered weapon meant to destroy a woman’s thinking ability. His fingers and tongue worked in tandem, suckling and fucking me into a delirium. Hands above my head, I relished the way he commanded my body so easily, ignited pleasure I couldn’t imagine having with anyone else.

“You taste so good I could do this all night.” His hot breath fanned my inner thigh a moment before he rose to loom above me—a sex god about to fuck the sacrificial virgin into oblivion. Okay, I wasn’t a virgin, but the sentiment was the same.

“Does your magic pocket have any more of those equally magical condoms left?”

“Fuck I hope so.” He growled his agitation and abandoned me.

Mutters and frustrated grumbling ensued while he rifled through his baggage, a rabid squirrel not finding the proverbial nut. I sighed, my vision dancing with a glorious display of skin—his perfect, muscular ass and powerful thighs. I bit my tongue and planned where I’d nibble later.

He stood and I moaned when he paused and rolled a condom on his gorgeous cock. The thought seemed somewhat cliché. How could a dick be pretty? But his was—thick and long enough for a woman to feel long after he was done fucking her senseless. Before I could regale him with thoughts of the beauty of his manhood, he returned and kissed every thought from me. Again.

“It’s probably good you left me, Caleb, because every time I’m with you I can’t think about anything but this, what you make me feel.”

“I never left you, Shas. You were with me every time I closed my eyes at night. You were the first thought I had when I woke up.” He slid into me. The pleasure, the completeness was almost too much to bear.

Caleb covered my body as he drove into me with a wild abandon I felt trickling through me. I met each thrust, clenched and begged for more with the press of my fingers to his ass. My entire body shook with the need for release, but the thought of ending this undid any thought I had of abandoning the small grip I had on my control.

I moaned when his hand slid between us and his talented fingers strummed my clit. Damn him for always knowing exactly what ignited my blood. I cried out the release I didn’t want because it meant the fusion between us would end. Tonight would end.

An errant tear trekked down my cheek. He kissed it away and moved inside me slowly, each thrust stroking the embers igniting between us with an impossible promise my jaded heart latched onto.

“I won’t let you go, Shasta Monohan. Come for me, sweetheart.” His lips melded with mine and swept me into a landmine of what-ifs and maybes I had no desire to leave.

I panted and gasped, my body seizing in pleasure. My senses fled. I heard his growled release from a distance from the tunnel of awareness I was floating within. Tucked against him, I nuzzled into his warmth and basked in the euphoric cocoon only Caleb spun.

“Wow,” I whispered.

He feathered kisses along my forehead and moved my damp hair from my eyes. “Go to sleep, sweetheart. We’ll talk in the morning, when I know you’ll remember what I say.”

My gut clenched. The conversation wasn’t necessary because my heart had known all along what words he’d say. Tonight couldn’t mean anything. There wasn’t a place in his life for anyone from White Bluffs.

“No sleep. Wake me for round two when you’re ready. I’m not done with you, Caleb.”

I never would be, but he didn’t need to know the ugly truth looming between us. I had the next few hours and I had no intention of wasting a single moment sleeping. I was a rock princess and I’d reunited with my rock star king.

* * *

The thing about tequila few people realized? Its effect only lasted a few hours. When the blissful numbness fled your body all those emotions you’d attempted to block out returned and chewed away at your insides. Harsh morning light flooded through the floor to ceiling windows along an entire wall.

The fact I hadn’t even noticed them last night should’ve been a litmus test for all the things I’d done in the bed, the shower, the floor, against the wall, over the sofa. I sighed. No wonder my muscles ached. I’d been bedded by the Energizer Bunny and the list I’d run through hadn’t even been the end because he’d carried me back to the shower. Damn the man had serious skills and staying power.

We have seven years to make up, Shas.

The words stung more in the brutal morning after than they had last night. I couldn’t lay here and have the
conversation
he’d promised. No way could I deal. Call me chicken shit. I didn’t care.

Unwrapping myself from Caleb, I ninja’d my exit from the bed and activated Operation Save My Heart. It was weak, desperate and pathetic. Whatever. It was doable.

After rescuing what clothes I located, I tip toed out of the room with a momentary pause. Looking over my shoulder, I sighed my acceptance. This was for the best. He had a life so beyond me he was in the stratosphere.

Goodbye, Caleb. I’ll always love you.

Emotionally wrecked and physically exhausted, I powered forward through the hall and hit the elevator before I could second guess the most fateful decision I’d made. The lobby proved problematic. Planning on the fly wasn’t my strength. The vultures hovered near the Starbucks beside the nearest exit.

Damn.

I looked around, praying for an invisible exit strategy.

“Miss?”

Shit. I did an uncommitted glance over my shoulder and sighed in relief when I noted his uniform. Hotel staff I could handle. Hopefully. “Y-Yes?”

“If you’ll follow me, I’ll get you a private car if you wish.”

I smiled at my savior. “Thank you.”