Looking Back From L.A. (3 page)

The memory of watching Charlotte leave the bar, and making the split second decision to follow her made me laugh out loud. I must have looked like a man demented, but I didn’t care. The guys had cat-called after me, but I ignored them and followed her out onto the street. For some reason, unknown to me, I felt I had to speak to her again; even knowing she was a fan, judging by her phone wallpaper, didn’t bother me as much as it should have considering I didn’t just want to get her naked and in my bed.

"Oh lord, he has that look on his face again." Callaghan commented in his dry and often condescending way.

"What look?" Eli looked at Callaghan, completely deadpan; clearly not in the mood for his shitty sense of humor.

"His 'I'm thinking about Charlotte' look." He crossed his eyes and made kissy lips at me, which actually brought a smile to my face. As idiotic as the guy was, he always knew how to diffuse a tense situation.

"Dude. The day you got married, what was the one thing you could think about?" Drew was forever playing peacemaker between Matt and me, even when we were getting along.

"Karina, of cou-. Oh." I didn't even grace him with an answer as there was a knock at the door; instead, walking across the room to open the door to let my parents in. As soon as my mom saw me, the tears started. I hated seeing her cry, so I wrapped my arms around her.

"Oh, honey, you look so handsome." She indicated my suit, with my green tie and vest— Charlotte insisted they would match my eyes. Dad handed her a handkerchief to dab at her eyes, and without a word wrapped an arm around her, pressing his lips to her forehead. Theirs was a marriage I aspired to emulate; thirty three years and still crazy in love.

"And you look beautiful mom." I kissed her gently on the cheek, hoping I wouldn’t get too emotional before the main event.

"Well, my only boy's getting married; I think that deserved me making a bit of an effort. Now, before I go to see to Charlotte, your father and I want to give you something." Sensing rather than seeing the guys leave the room to give us some privacy, I made a mental note to buy them lots of whiskey later in thanks.

Bitch about them I might, but they were the best friends a guy could wish for. Well, I was going to reserve judgment on Callaghan until
after
his best man speech. I was actually scared shitless at what he was going to say. That man had way too much information about me, and if it all came out in his words, I would cheerfully feed him Absinthe until it came out of his ears as I knew he reverted to a dribbling baby when he drank that shit.

"You don't have to give me anything. I know I have your blessing and support, and that is more than enough." Mom started crying again, despite the wide smile plastered across her face.

"Gage Charles Weston. We
are
giving you something special on your wedding day, so shut up and accept it with grace." That told me; I sat down and waited.

"Yes ma'am." I watched as she pulled a small box out of her purse and held it out to me. "These belonged to your Gramma and Grandpa on your daddy’s side. Your dad and I wore them for years, now, it's your turn." I took the box off her and opened it. Nestled inside were beautifully ornate wedding rings inset with jade. I remember growing up seeing them on my parent’s fingers, but now plain gold bands rested in their places.

“Don’t even consider refusing them boy, this is our gift to you and one day, they will be your gift to your son or daughter on their wedding day.” My dad’s voice was thick with emotion, which caused tears to fill my eyes.

Unable to speak, I hugged them both tight before Mom untangled herself and went off to another room in the hotel to help Charlotte get ready. The jade in the rings reminded me of when I first noticed her eyes at the show in Houston.

Inventive Remedy was getting good responses, as they always did, while the guys and I worked out our set list. I was adamant that I wanted to play Family and Friends. Not knowing why, I just wanted to play it at the show tonight even though it wasn’t a song we performed that often any more. The guys were already pissed at me for skipping out on them to go out with Charlotte for the day, but they let me put it on the list just before we took a break. Matt passed some comments about me knowing that the song showed off the bass in my voice, and that I was fixin’ to impress the Wings fans , looking for my ‘next conquest’ but, being the better man, I flipped him the finger without saying a word.

We burst out on stage and launched into The Blind Man and I was soon lost in the performance to think about the nerves that had set in while we’d been waiting. I always suffered with mild nerves before a show, but tonight was different, and I couldn’t pin down a reason why.

Song after song, the crowd was fueling our energy, and we fed off them more and more as time went on. Soon, I was slowing things down for a while; the audience was full of people videoing the performance of a song we rarely performed. No doubt, the internet would be overflowing within hours, which made me smile as I sang. We loved seeing the reactions our fan’s videos got when they were uploaded online— made all the travelling and crappy motels worthwhile. Making the most of the low lighting, I scanned the crowd as I did every night. Usually, this was when I assessed the chicks in attendance. I spotted Charlotte recording me with her camera. Maintaining eye contact with her I sang the song, ramping up the emotion behind the words. Knowing I had written it during my time in the UK back in my college days gave me some weird sense of connection with her, which I wouldn’t tell Matt about because he would have never let it lie, ever. He wasn’t one for sharing emotions and shit like that, unless he was drunk and was telling us how much he loved us.

Watching her walk towards the venue entrance with her friends as we lay down our instruments for a ten minute bathroom break, I made a swift decision. Telling the guys I was heading out for a smoke I started to follow her; the guys trailed after me needing fresh air and began to mingle with the fans that were outside. I only had eyes for her, a chick I’d spoken to a couple of time. Yeah, I liked the ladies, and made the most of the life I was living, but... This woman was all that and more; and then I noticed what she was wearing. Holy crap. I'd grown up around girls wearing boots and shorts, but they never affected me the way the sight of her ass in those itty bitty scraps of denim did; and her legs seemed to go on forever as I made my way to stand directly behind her, my cock hard as a rock.

I may have picked up girls from the crowd after a show before, but that was a matter of making the most of the opportunity offered to me, but this chick, no this woman had a completely different hold over me. There was no way to comprehend what was going on, but I needed more; as much as I could get.

My time talking to her went too fast, but there was enough to arrange to meet her after the show; I couldn't stop myself asking her, I needed to experience her as much as I could. I'd never hooked up with anyone in the venue before, but she had invaded my mind. Maybe this was the only way to get everything clear. There was no way I’d ever see her again, but I could make this night memorable for the both of us. Knowing she had a guy and two kids waiting back home in the UK for her bothered me, but the itch needed to be scratched, and she was the only one capable. I’d never been with a woman almost ten years older than me, and the curiosity was driving me insane.

The second half of the show was a blur and I didn’t pay attention to what was happening. My mind and concentration were both being overruled by my now painful erection that was a struggle to hide. I remember pacing the stage a lot trying not to think about what was possibly going to happen after the show. Also, I scanned the crowd as much as I could through the bright lights to see if I could see her, but I couldn't; maybe that was a good thing considering the pain I was in.

As soon as we emerged into the bar area after the show, I was swamped by fans; as ever I managed to play nice and sign what was asked of me, flashing my smile and trading some harmless flirting made the fans’ night. It was usually great fun watching them blush and get tongue tied, but tonight I went through the motions on autopilot, my mind elsewhere. As I had yet another photo taken with a fan I saw both Eli and Callaghan head over to the table where Charlotte and her friends were sitting. Finally, I managed to get myself clear and was able to join them, unsure what was going to happen. When I was mere yards from the group, Jenny— the chick who’d introduced herself brazenly the night before, spotted me and made Charlotte have a photo taken with me, making me grin. Careful how I positioned myself near her, my dick was still hard and I didn’t want to ruin the moment.

Right before the flash went off, I squeezed Charlotte’s waist so she would look up at me. As she did, I felt a ridiculous tingle deep in the pit of my stomach and I have no idea why. There was nothing ‘in’ the look she gave me, but it still had an effect. What was it about this chick that had me in complete knots? I never got like this, especially not over someone I'd only known for two days.

As Charlotte passed me on her way outside for a smoke, I asked her to meet me when she came back in; I really needed to get whatever this... feeling was out of my system. I sat down as I watched her walk across the room, imagining those long legs wrapped around me as I pounded into her.

"Dude?" Canon's single word was loaded with a million questions as he looked at me. He didn’t approve of how Callaghan and I dipped in and out of the pool, as it were, but let it slide when we left town.

"I have no idea my man, but I need to find out." Standing back up, everyone looked at me. I was restless with anticipation. What if she turned me down flat? "I'm going to the bathroom."

Once I got to the men’s room, I washed my hands and face; pacing in front of the mirrors for a while, watching my reflection. I didn’t recognize the look in my eyes, and it worried me for some reason. When I emerged from the bathroom, I saw that Charlotte was back at the table, so I waited just behind the stage to see how it would play out; that’s when it hit me. I was nervous as hell— for once in my life, I didn’t know what was going to happen, something I wasn’t used to.

I didn't have to do this, did I? My head was starting to question my actions while my cock was still raring to go, and I couldn’t blame it if I was honest with myself. Not only was Charlotte hot as fuck, and boy was I shocked when I found out she had kids and was older than me, but there was the whole no strings angle with her living in the UK. Yeah, I felt like a shit for encouraging her to cheat on her guy back home, but from what she told me about that relationship, it was on the way out anyway. The way I saw it, she could always say no, as disappointing it would be, I would be cool. A quick hand job over the thought of her ass in those shorts would be just as effective at getting rid of this erection.

She walked past me towards the bathrooms, and just the sight of her in that outfit made my dick throb. I gently grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back into the dark corner, whispering to let her know it was me so she wouldn’t yell out. Jesus, that first kiss... I had to get inside her before I exploded; sitting her on a convenient table was a genius move, and I was finally able to get my hands on her smokin’ body. When she began to stroke my dick, my legs almost gave out from under me. It was true what they said about older women and experience, her hands were amazing and I could just imagine what she could do if we had more time than a quick fuck behind a stage of a dive club in Houston.

As much as I adored the shorts she was wearing, I couldn’t wait to get them off her. As I undid the button, I made a side comment about getting them framed, and I would have. I’d always been a fan of itty bitty cut offs, but these... damn.

Disappointment rushed through me when she pushed me away from her, thinking she’d changed her mind at the last minute, but hearing her call me ‘cowboy’ and telling, firmly, to wrap it before I tap it made me smile. I had always been careful in these situations; many 'fans' wouldn't even think to stop me. Many wouldn’t care about the risks or consequences, so Charlotte went up in my estimation as she rolled the condom onto me then allowing me to bury myself to the hilt inside her. She wrapped her legs around my waist as I pounded into her as hard as I could. My orgasm hit me like an eighteen wheeler; there was no way I could only experience this once.

Getting caught by another fan should have bothered me more than it did, but I was unable to muster even an ounce of a fuck. Listening to some chick rag on to Charlotte about her working her way through the guys angered me. There was no way I was ever going to let her near the other guys. She was mine, even if only once.