Sticks (Black Addiction #2) (20 page)

“That’s it, baby.” Joey kissed me hard as I splintered, my legs feeling like Jell-O, barely able to hold my weight. I wasn’t worried about falling though, with his strong arms gripping me as he had his own detonation. Our bodies fused together with heat and sweat as they pulsed through the wave of euphoria.

“Mmmm.” He went back to the soft slow kisses that had started this escapade, his hands holding me tightly against him. “You’re more delicious than pancakes.”

“I hope that doesn’t mean I’m not getting breakfast because I’m still hungry.” I nibbled at his lower lip only partially telling the truth. Food could wait, but I wanted more of him.

“Then I’ll feed you.” His hands wandered from my ass, pressing gently as they moved up my back. “Pancakes, my cock—whatever you want, baby.”

“Holy shit.” Rusty let
out a low whistle. “That looks like it could be Joey, I’m not sure though. It’s been a few days since anyone has had visual confirmation.”

By a few days, Rusty meant five. Which is the exact amount of time I spent wrapped around Kenzie, both in and out of bed. It wasn’t all sex—although it seemed like we were making up for some lost time—we did lots of normal stuff too. Grocery shopping, a movie, dinner—respectable stuff with our clothes on. Of course most of the time I was imagining them off, but I’d had a lot of practice in waiting so the slow burn was worth it.

“I’ve been busy, asshole, and Max has kept me in the loop so I know I haven’t missed anything important.”

As much as I didn’t care if the world fell apart around us—seriously, who gave a shit if it ended right now as long as I was with her—I wasn’t going to be totally irresponsible. Max knew where I was and what I was doing and filled me in on any band stuff that was going on. Which lucky for me wasn’t much so I hadn’t had to tear myself away from her, that was, until today.

“How’s it all going?” Angie was multitasking with her son in one hand and a stack of papers in the other. The little dude giggled, giving his mom a hard time as his little fat fingers tried to grab at stuff. Jase was busy with his own band’s biz so the little guy was joining us today.

“Really good. Things are really good.” I couldn’t have hid my shit-eating grin if I’d tried. “You want me to hold him for you?” My head tipped to the kid who was squirming in her arms.

“Um.” Angie looked between me and Zack—the little guy a perfect mix of his father and mother. “Sure. That would be great.” She tentatively handed him over in a move I knew wasn’t easy for her. She was like a lioness with her cub when she was with him, and I was starting to understand why.

“I’ll be careful, Angie.” My arms wrapped around his little body and brought him in close. His wriggles tapered off as I rocked him slightly against my chest.

“I know you will.” Angie smiled, her eyes staying on her boy as she sat down in her chair, something she hadn’t managed since we’d started this meeting.

“Well, fuck me.” Rusty shook his head in utter disbelief. “Max, you feeling okay, buddy? Because the other two members of this band have been abducted by aliens or something.”

“Not sure, Rus. All of you guys pairing off and procreating, I’d say I’m the only one unaffected by this epidemic.” Max laughed as he leaned back into his chair. “Not that I mind, it’s kind of badass to see everyone happy. Might have to look into it for myself.”

“Just wait for the end of the tour,” Angie warned. “It’s going to be hard enough juggling dates around doctor’s visits for Kenzie, we don’t need any other complications.” Angie took a sip from her coffee cup, something else she’d been unable to do since we’d walked in.

“Kenzie isn’t coming.” The three heads of my bandmates snapped around to face me like it had been a forgone conclusion.

That had been another thing we’d discussed during our five-day reconnection. And each time I suggested the possibility of her taking some time and joining me on the road, she shot me down—flat out refusing. “Trust me, the idea of leaving her here and taking off is fucking killing me but she’s hell bent on staying. And short of tying her up and taking her at gunpoint, I can’t see it happening.”

“If she’s worried about us, I can talk to her,” Angie offered, her eyes went from me to her now settled son in my arms. “I’d love to have another girl on tour. Alison will even be there sometimes.”

“She won’t budge, saying that she won’t desert the Beauty Queens. I get it, they have a residency happening and that’s a tough gig to walk away from. I’m not back-flipping over it but I can’t ask her to give up her career because of mine.”

The big silence that bounced off the walls was the sound of me being reasonable. It wasn’t in my usual bag of tricks and to be honest, I wasn’t sure I liked the way it felt but I wasn’t going to be an asshole either.

“Aliens
have
taken Joey.” Angie smiled, a little too pleased that I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Yeah, well fuck you.” I smirked, unable to flip them off on account of my hands being occupied.

“All right, let’s go over the rest of this stuff. Tour starts in two weeks and I’m already having a panic attack over being stuck on a bus with all of you.”

Zack fell asleep in my arms as Angie went over the particulars of what our first headline tour was going to be like. The venues were a fraction of what we’d played when we were Power Station’s support, but we didn’t care. It was our gig and we were proud that we’d gotten to the point where we could sell out an arena solely off our own name and reputation.

The big time was right at our doorstep. So freaking close I could smell it, taste it and yet part of me felt unfilled.
Aliens.
Maybe Angie and Rusty were right.

After all the T’s and I’s had been dotted or crossed—whatever that meant—I opted to forgo hanging out at Angie’s with the crowd and headed back to Kenzie’s. After all, in two weeks all I was going to be seeing were those fuckers every single waking moment and I needed to soak up as much time with my girl as possible.

My girl.

And would you look at that. I somehow fell into a relationship. What’s more is that I could never remember being so hardcore about a girl as I was about this woman. I liked the way it felt—me and her being together. Not because we’d made a human, but because somewhere in my head and heart I believed it would have happened all along. Someone that fucking awesome had been under my nose this whole entire time and I hadn’t locked that down?

Fucking idiot.

World-class moron.

Biggest dumbass of all mankind.

And thank fuck for whatever shit was going on in the universe for hooking that up for me, considering I’d been too blind to do it myself.

Yep. My ass was owned.

“Hey Jo—”

I didn’t let her finish the sentence, preferring for my greeting to be a little less verbal. Talk was so overrated.

“Well hello.” She laughed when my mouth had finally let go of hers. “How was your meeting?”

“I missed you.” My lips got cozy with her throat, wondering if I was being a complete asshole but not wanting talk. Not when we had so little time.

“Hey, what’s got into you? You’re not dying are you? Because if you’ve knocked me up and leave me, I’ll kill you.” She laughed realizing how little sense she was making. “And death will hurt so much more the second time, I assure you.”

“Look at me.” I cupped her face and tilted her chin so she could look at me. “Not even the Grim Reaper stands a chance at taking me from you. Nothing is going to stop me from being here to raise our baby with you.”

Flat out it wouldn’t happen. I’d dig my heels in and tell that fucker to suck my dick before I’d abandon either of them.

“Joey, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?” She raised her hands to my face and swear to God, I felt like my life was flashing before my eyes.

“Nothing, just for the first time everything is really right.” I swallowed the urge to cry because it would A: Probably make me look like pussy and B: I didn’t want to worry her.

“O-kay.” She nodded completely unconvinced. Not that I blamed her, I wasn’t doing a really good job of selling the it’s-all-good. “You’re still coming to see me play tonight, right?”

“Hells yes I’m coming.” Like I would be anywhere else. “Rusty and Max are coming too. Angie is trying to work Zack into a routine so is out and Alison already had plans.”

“Cool, let me go see what I can still squeeze into.” She wrinkled her nose as she tried to pull away from me.

“Not yet.” My hands moved from her face to her hips, stopping her from leaving. “I’m not done kissing you.”

***

Kenzie and girls AKA
The Beauty Queens from Mars
had continued their usual gig. They had a standing spot at the Alley Cat and packed the place two nights a week. And an opportunity like that was more than a secure paycheck, it was a chance to build a fan base. Not easy to come by, especially in New York City where every dickwad with a hard-on had stars in his eyes wanting to be a rock star.

Max and Rusty had met us there, with Kenzie and I showing up a little earlier so she could sound check. Plus, I’d been pretty much monopolizing her time of late, for which I made no apologies.

It was nice to sit back and chill for a while as the girls warmed up, reminding me how much I missed it. We used to be regular fixtures on the bar circuit, checking out other bands—most of which were our friends—but like all things, shit had changed.

“Sperm donor,” Becca called from behind her kit, her smiling hinting that she would be giving me shit for most of the night. “What’s the chances you have a drum key in your truck? I can’t find where the hell mine is.”

“What are the chances if I hook you up, you let the insults slide tonight?” I walked across and handed her the one hanging off my car keys. I’d learned early on I couldn’t be trusted to remember the fucking thing unless it was attacked to something important.

“Steady on, homeslice.” She accepted the key and started tightening the lugs. “You see a halo above my head? Unlikely.” She went about tuning her drums as I laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Kenzie asked, walking over to where Becca and I were standing.

“Your boy here is chasing miracles, and there ain’t no saints hanging around this lot.” Becca grinned, warming up her double kick and hitting her crash.

“It’s a drummer thing, I’m convinced.” Sara weighed in, her short skirt barely within the confines of being legal. “All that banging makes you aggressive. It’s evolutionarily proven.”

“How about I
evolutionarily prove
your ass into next week.” Becca tossed a stick narrowly missing Sara. She’d found a new target to hang shit on.

“Stick to beating the skins, Becca. Your aim is fucking terrible.” I laughed, expecting a stick to come sailing toward me at any minute.

“Be grateful Kenzie likes you, daddy-o. You’re in my blast radius.” She spun her stick taunting me.

“Infinitely glad Kenzie likes me.” I slung an arm around my girl and brought her in close for a hug, the angle of her guitar almost clocking me in the nuts. “But not ’cause I give a shit what you think.”

“Who said I liked you?” Kenzie said as she pulled me across to her part of the stage, giving us no more privacy but at least a small buffer against flying projectiles.

“I sort of assumed.” I bowed my head so I could kiss her. “Good thing is, I like you too.”

“Seriously, if you two are going to kiss and talk about liking each other I’m going to barf all over the stage,” Sara shouted from behind us as I flipped her the finger. “And Kenzie just stopped doing that like maybe a week ago, so we’d like to keep it vomit free.”

“I’ll let you do your thing.” I gave Kenz another kiss despite the protests from the others, my girl giggling as I left her on stage.

She looked beautiful tonight.

Her hair pulled away from her face but left loose in the back, so it fell like a crazy dark-blonde waterfall. She’d bitched about her clothes being too tight so I gave her my Stone Temple Pilots T-shirt. She’d cut off the sleeves and somehow by tying knots in it at the sides she’d made it into a dress, topping it all off with a pair of biker boots.

And there wasn’t a girl on the planet who was hotter.

“You’re gonna get in a lot of trouble tonight, my friend.” Max came up from behind and slapped me on the back.

“What are you talking about? I’m not interested in trouble.” I kept my eyes locked on Kenzie despite my best friend standing beside me.

“I’m talking about this territorial look you have going on while staring at her. I hope for all our sakes no one is stupid enough to go anywhere near her tonight. Not in the mood for a bar fight.”

Fuck. I hadn’t even thought about that. My eyes scanned the room for anyone paying a little too much attention, my fist ready to lay anyone out who even breathed in her direction.

“All good, Max.” Rusty walked over carrying a couple of icy-cold beers, big shit-eating grin on his face. “I roofied his drink. He’ll be mellow and ready to be Kenzie’s bitch by the time she gets off stage.” A longneck thrust into my hand.