Black Falcon: Complete Series Collection (98 page)

Relieved, I smile. Meeting a bunch of rock stars and their beautiful wives isn’t something I’m up for right now. “That sounds good. All I really want to do is take a hot shower and go to bed.”

Trip wiggles his eyebrows. “Great idea.”

I laugh as I push away from him, not wanting my dad to witness mine and Trip’s public show of affection. “Good night, Dad.”

“Night, honey. Great job today,” he calls as I make my way upstairs with Trip in tow.

A few moments later, after Trip allows me to untangle myself from his arms, I step into a stream of hot water. I close my eyes and duck my head under the water, washing away the sweat and grime of the hectic day. My muscles ache from moving and carrying things all day long. It was constant today.

The shower curtain slides open and Trip stands there, wearing nothing but a wicked grin. “Mind if I join you?”

I laugh. “How can I turn down that proposal?”

He steps inside the shower with me and dips his head, allowing the water to flow through his hair. The water slides down his body and my first thought is
lucky water
.

I chuckle to myself for being jealous.

Trip cocks his head to the side. “What are you laughing about?”

I shake my head, still amused. “Nothing.”

Trip leans in and presses my back against the tiled wall. “I think I’m just going to have to make you tell me.”

I tilt my head up to stare into his hooded eyes. “How do you plan on doing that?”

He traces a finger down the center of my stomach all the way down to my pussy, where he slides it against the folds. I bite my lip as he toys with me, turning me on like only he can.

Trip presses his forehead to mine and licks his lips. “Like this,” he whispers against my mouth.

The moment his finger rubs against my clit, I moan, “Trip.”

“I fucking love the way you say my name.” His tongue darts out and he traces my lower lip with it. “Say it again.”

He rubs in a circular motion and my hands reach up, finding their way into his thick, black hair. I cling to him as I say his name again.

“Jesus,” he murmurs before crushing his mouth against mine.

I’ll never get tired of this, and I know it’s crazy, but I can’t imagine my world without him in it now. He’s quickly becoming everything to me, and I can’t wait to see where this relationship leads. Trip is right. We are perfection.

T
he Arizona heat beats down on us. It’s ridiculously hot for an October day, but I’m not complaining. I would rather have the sunshine versus rain, which we get very little of. All of the riders that made it into the semi-finals are out on the track, preparing for their run, praying they’ll make it to the finals where the bulk of the prize money lies in wait for the winners.

“Looks like it’s going to be a kickass day for the heats,” Trip says while surveying the tack beside me. “I don’t think things could have gone better.”

“I agree,” I say, feeling completely accomplished, taking in the fact that Trip and I planned and pulled this huge event off together in less than two weeks. “We make an amazing team.”

He reaches down and threads my fingers through his, before bringing my knuckles up to his lips. “That we do.”

Black Falcon’s tour buses pull into the gravel lot not far from my house and I let out a nervous sigh.

“Don’t be nervous,” Trip says.

I stare down at the simple t-shirt and jean shorts I’m wearing and envision the women on the bus looking much more glamorous than me. I’m not even in the same league. “Maybe I should change.”

He furrows his brow. “Why? You look great.”

Trip tugs on my hand and I freeze. “What if they hate me?”

He turns and wraps me in his arms. “Everyone on those buses will adore you, just like I do. You don’t have anything to worry about. I promise.”

I take a deep breath and stare at the buses. “Here goes nothing.”

He laughs and leads me to the bus. Each step I take, my hands grow a little clammier. The fear of the unknown always gets to me. I’ve never have liked being in the spotlight or being judged and meeting a group of new people feels no different. All of them will be checking to see if I’m good enough for Trip, measuring me up against some standard I’m not likely to meet.

After a couple swift knocks on the door, Tyke opens with a grin. “Hey, lovebirds. Come on in. The others want to meet you.”

“Great,” I say and Trip gives my hand a little reassuring squeeze.

The second we’re at the top of the steps, all eyes fall on me. I swallow hard, while Trip wears a smile so big it practically takes up his entire face. “Guys, this is Holly Pearson. Holly, this is everyone.”

I stand there frozen for a moment, and then force myself to wave. “Hi.”

A tall, slender brunette holding an infant in her arms is the first one to make a move. She places the baby’s bottle on the counter and walks over to me. She smiles and extends her arm. “Hi, Holly. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Lanie Falcon, Noel’s wife.” She motions to the very attractive man that was standing next to her. Like Trip, this guy is covered in tattoos and wears a beard.

I take her hand into mine and shake it, returning her smile with one of my own. I like her. She seems down to earth. The baby in her arms, wrapped in a soft blue blanket, squirms.

I smile down at the precious little thing. “He’s beautiful.”

Lanie’s pretty face instantly brightens at the mention of the baby. “Thank you. He looks so much like his father.” She laughs. “One of these days I have the feeling I’ll be beating off the ladies with a big stick.”

The beautiful redheaded woman sitting on the couch next to another hot guy with a crazy-looking Mohawk says, “More like a big club, Lanie.”

The two men and women laugh along with Trip and Tyke. If the women are as crazy over the rest of these guys as they are over Trip, I would have to agree with the club theory.

Trip points to the second couple. “That’s Aubrey and Riff. He’s our lead guitarist.”

Riff raises his hand and waves just as a second baby begins to cry from somewhere in the back. The tatted rocker grins and kisses Aubrey’s cheek. “And that would be our daughter, Hailey. She gets cranky when the bus stops.”

My eyes flit around the bus. Walking onto a bus with couples and babies isn’t exactly the rock star image I had floating around in my mind.

There must be an odd expression on my face, because Trip asks, “Something wrong?”

“No,” I answer, shaking myself out of the thought. “I guess this isn’t exactly what I expected.”

He chuckles and winks at me. “Yeah. We’re a rowdy bunch of rockers on this bus.”

Tyke opens the refrigerator door. “Do you want something to drink, Holly?”

“Sure. Do you have a bottle of water?” I ask.

Lanie and Aubrey look at each other knowingly and smile, before Lanie says, “I think Holly is going to fit in just fine around here. If she’d asked for a beer, she wouldn’t have been the girl for you, Trip.”

“Like I’d let the two of you decide that for me,” Trip says with an amused tone.

“You’re like a brother to us,” Aubrey says. “We’ll always watch out for you. We want to see you settle down with a nice girl—not one of those party-girls.”

“Don’t worry.” Trip throws his arm around my shoulders. “My girl here isn’t even a fan of our music.”

I smack his stomach. “Shush,
Trip!”

“What?” He laughs while his eyes twinkle. “That will earn you points with these two.”

“That’s true,” Lanie confirms.

I shrug. “I’ve only ever heard one song.”

“Which one?” Aubrey asks.

I grimace. “
Ball Busting Bitch
.”

Another round of laughter fills the bus as Noel begins shaking his head. “I’m never going to live that one down, am I?”

Lanie shakes her head and kisses his lips. “Afraid not.”

“What’s so funny about that song?” I whisper to Trip.

“It’s actually funnier to hear Noel explain it,” Trip replies.

“Yeah, Noel. Why don’t you tell Holly about how you love to dedicate that song?” Riff says with a snicker as he returns, rocking a baby in a little pink blanket in his arms.

Noel launches into the story just as Tyke hands me a bottle and grins. “Welcome to the family, Holly.”

And just like that, they accepted me into this down-to-earth group full fold. I might just fit in here after all.

––––––––

TRIP

I
pound out the end beats to one of our hits on the foot pedal as I stare out into the sold out crowd. It’s good to know this race has brought in enough money to put this place back in the black for a long time. Bill has thanked me about a million times this weekend while we watched the semi-finals and the final heats run through. He even allowed me and the rest of the Black Falcon members to award the prize money.

It’s good to know everything is working out. I glance over and wink at Holly while she stands next to Lanie, watching the show from the side of the stage. Lanie and Aubrey plan on taking turns coming to the shows since they’re moms now. They are built-in babysitters for each other since they are best friends. The arrangement works really well for them.

I wipe the sweat from my brow and take a quick chug of water while Noel talks to the crowd, amping them up for our most popular song.

Noel readjusts the guitar so it’s resting on his back and pulls the microphone off the stand. He waves to his wife just before he says his trademark line. “This song goes out to the girl who shredded my heart back in high school. It’s called
Ball Busting Bitch
, and Lanie, this one’s for you.”

I shake my head and laugh as I watch Holly’s amused expression. We love to give him shit about the fact that he still has to say the line, even thought things have been great between him and Lanie for a long time now.

I kick up the base drum and hammer out the signature beats. Sitting behind all the guys is like watching their performance from the best fucking seat in the house. Noel’s signature growl lights up the crowd, while Riff’s saucy guitar licks, along with mine and Tyke’s dirty beats, add sex appeal to the song.

It’s funny how life works out sometimes. I’ve been through hell and back when it comes to love to finally find my own little heaven on earth. If things could always be like this, life would be fucking perfect.

I stare at the back of my brother’s blond head, and sigh as I slam my drumstick into the high-hat, praying he wasn’t serious about leaving the band. Somehow, some way, I’m going to have to convince him to stay—he’s too fucking important. He’s the fucking glue that holds us together.

I twirl one of my sticks in the air during the last few lines of the song to hype-up the show, before pounding the shit out of the bass drum and symbols as the last note is sung.

“You’ve all been a hell of a fucking crowd. On behalf of Mountain Time Speed Track and Black Falcon, we want to thank you all for coming out tonight. We love you all and we’ll see you on the next trip!” Noel says, while pushing his sweat-drenched hair back from his face. “Good night, Tucson!”

I lay out five more timed beats and the lights cut off on the stage. The crowd of ten thousand people chants for the band to come back and play an encore, even after we finish throwing guitar picks and drumsticks out into the sea of people.

I step off stage and into Holly’s waiting arms. “Wow. You were amazing!”

I grin down at her and pull her tighter into my sweaty body. “Thanks. So now you know what I do for a living, you think you’ll be okay with it?”

She glances out into the crowd for a long moment before her gaze returns to me. “I’ll admit that this is a little insane, but it doesn’t change the fact that I love you. All these people just see you as a badass drummer. They don’t know the real you, just the idea of you. But I know you. I know this.” Holly places her hand over my heart. “I know it belongs to me, and I want you to know that this,” she takes my hand and places it on her chest, “belongs to you.”

“It’s yours. All of it. Always,” I tell her as I cradle her face in my hands.

“Then that’s all I’ll ever need,” Holly says before I crush my lips against hers and we fade into our always.

I
t Will Rain—Bruno Mars Closer—Nine Inch Nails I Knew You Were Trouble—Taylor Swift Rude Boy—Rihanna

Good Girls, Bad Guys—Falling In Reverse I Wanna Be Bad—Willa Ford Love Crime—My Darkest Days I Said It—Nonpoint Bringing Down the Giant—Saving Able She Will Be Loved—Maroon 5

Gorilla—Bruno Mars Radioactive—Imagine Dragons Kiss Quick—Matt Nathanson Same Old Trip—Chevelle One More Lie—Aranda It Is What It Is—Lifehouse Light Up the Sky—Thousand Foot Krutch Between the Raindrops—Lifehouse/Natasha Bedingfeild