The Beats in Rift (18 page)

I feel myself hyperventilating. I knew he had a crush, but I didn’t expect him to lay it out there like that. I don’t know what to do with the information. I kind of knew it was coming but didn’t prepare myself to have a reply for him.

He studies my face for answers, a crease etching his forehead. Reaching for my face he tries to soothe me. “It’s okay, don’t panic. It’s not a marriage proposal, Beats.”

I get myself under control before speaking. “I know. It’s just not what I expected you to say. I have two toddlers, Drake.” He starts to interrupt but I put my finger to his lips and carry on. “I know you know that already but I can’t offer you much of me right now. I have to be a parent first and you are going to be so busy being a famous rock star, and that will come first for you. Neither of us can commit to anything right now.”

I lower my finger from his lips, hoping my answer sates him. He grasps my hand. “I know all of that and I’m not asking for commitment. I just want to date you when we both have time. I want to spend that time with you.”

I fake a smile. “Okay, I can do that.” His face lights up into a grin before he leans forward and takes my lips again.

Crystal, the girls and I stayed for two more nights, but over the few weeks that followed, Drake and I went on a few dates. He flew out to see me or I drove down to see him. It was nice, but with him becoming more famous, we started getting attention from fans and paparazzi when we went anywhere, and that made me uncomfortable. Drake seemed to enjoy putting on a show, touching me and kissing me in public. My face appeared on entertainment websites, which Crystal thought was awesome. Me? Not so much.

I’ve been avoiding Drake’s calls for the last two days, texting him to say work is keeping me busy. In reality, I just don’t feel that spark with him, and when I’m not working or with the girls, I spend my time playing the guitar Rift bought me. Unlike last time he left, when I couldn’t face playing, when I got back from Mom’s wedding all I did was play. I love that guitar. Everything I ever felt for Rift always flows when I play it, helping me to write my best work. It’s like a blanket coating me in memories, in comfort, in love.

NO FUCKING WAY. I storm over to Kitty sitting with her skinny ass on Ice’s lap, flipping through a girly magazine. I snatch it from her and roam my eyes over the front page.

“Front man Drake Martin from the band Fury, who has been sitting at number one in the charts for the last three weeks, has been pictured on numerous dates over the past few weeks with an unknown beauty.

Drake was quoted as saying he is single only last month in an interview for an online entertainment website, but since then he has remained tight-lipped about his current status. On the identity of the woman he’s been pictured with, he has only revealed, “She’s an old friend who has always been special to me.”

So, get out the tissues ladies, if the cosy pictures are anything to go by, it seems Drake’s heart is taken.

Fury crashed into the charts shooting straight to number one with their single, ‘Change Me’.

I’ve read enough. I throw the magazine into Kitty’s lap. She and Ice look at the front page I was reading.

“What the hell, Rift? Why are you interested in girl gossip crap?”

“I know the dude on the front,” I reply curtly.

Kitty’s screech makes me flinch with annoyance. She jumps from Ice’s lap and begins bouncing in front of me like a moron. “You know Drake from Fury?”

I glare around her at Ice who slaps her ass. “Bitch, sit your ass down. You’re in a biker bar, not a high school.”

She actually pouts. “Fury rock. And I
am
in high school.”

My eyes dart around her again to see Ice’s face pale. “What the fuck, Kitty? How old are you?”

Please say eighteen, please say eighteen
, I chant in my mind.

“Eighteen last month,” she says, sitting back on his lap.

Thank fuck!

Shaking my head, I throw a warning glare at Ice for the close call. Ice is twenty-three but still, we don’t need this kind of heat. Eighteen is cutting it pretty close considering he’s fucked her in every hole she has for the past two weeks.

“Shit, bitch. You said you were twenty one.” He pushes her off his lap, making her squeal.

She gets to her feet and puts a hand to her hip. “That was my sister, Misty. She’s twenty one.”

“Whatever. It’s time for you to roll out,” Ice tells her.

“What?”

I feel his demeanour shift in the air around us, leaving it chilled and thick. He’s rapidly losing his temper and once Ice does that, it isn’t fun. He’s finished with Kitty, and once he has finished with a chick, he turns cold, hence his nickname. Ice is a cold motherfucker, and for someone so young he has already paved himself a one way ticket to hell and doesn’t give a shit when that time comes. He’s scary but loyal, and someone I trust with my life.

“I said we’re done. Get out.”

Her mouth drops open as she glares at him. She sticks her tits out, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. “You going to call me?”

Un-fucking-believable! This chick is dense.

“Yeah, sure I am.”

She accepts his lie with a clap of her hands and waves her fingers at me as she leaves.

“Her age was too close. You fucking check their I.D if you have to, just don’t play that close to the fire.”

Rubbing his hands down his face and letting out a string of cusses, his eyes lock onto mine. “Agreed.”

The drama with Kitty makes me temporarily forget the fact that Drake is plastered on the front of a magazine with his arm wrapped around my woman. A trip home is needed.

I didn’t stop thinking about Beats since the day I came home after the night she was here. After receiving a call from one of my boys who got himself into trouble, we ended up spending the night in the cells. I stewed over the fact Beats was at home in my bed and I was locked in a fucking cell. Once I got out, I made it home to find a bleeding Tessa and no Beats. My friends told me Tessa burst in on her, waking her up, calling her a whore and sending her packing. Tessa is a pain in my ass, faking pregnancies and miscarriages, trying to hook herself an old man, but no one wants that bar bunny on the back of their bike so why she thought she could trap me was a joke. I always wrap it, never failed, and with a bitch like her, I wrapped it twice. The only person I have and would ever go bare in is my girl.

I searched every hotel to try and find her but got nowhere and haven’t been able to locate her since. Until now.

THE GROWL FROM my Harley fills the air as I pull up outside Jay’s. It looks the same as it always has; a red banner in the window saying Sale Now On, and a green flashing neon sign stating the shop is open.

Memories crash into me as I push the door open. The bell rings above my head to alert him of a customer. Jay’s eyes come straight to me and a smile tilts the right side of his face. “Look what the cat dragged in,” he shouts down the store at me.

“Actually it was the gossip magazines that dragged me here,” I retort and watch his eyes take on understanding.

“He waited a long time for a shot at her, Rift.”

My fists flex. “She belongs to me, Jay. He knows that.”

“Fuck!” he mutters under his breath but I hear it.

“I want his number or address.”

“You can have his number.” He pulls out a pad and pen and scribbles down some digits before handing it over to me. Pulling out my cell I key in the numbers and hit the green icon. It rings three times before he picks up.

“Yo.”

“Is that how you answer a phone?”

“Yeah, when I don’t recognize the number and I have crazy ass fans blowing up my phone.”

“How do they get the number?”

“How did you?”

“I’m not a crazy ass fan.”

“That hurts, man.” The smile in his voice is evident as he speaks.

“So, you’ve been spending time with someone that belongs to me.”

His sigh sounds like I just got sucked into a wind tunnel. “She doesn’t belong to anyone, Rift. She’s a person not an object.”

“She’s my fucking person, Drake. You knew she was off limits.”

“This is bullshit. We aren’t in school anymore, and you can’t keep her off the market so you can come and go as you please, picking her up and putting her down.”

“Now who’s making her sound like an object? You don’t have a clue what me and her have so I’ll let this slide. Now give me her number and address.”

“The fact you don’t already have it should tell you something.”

“Don’t play games with me, Drake. I will get her number from you either way.”

“You threatening me, Rift? After all these years of friendship?”

“I have business with her I need to get sorted. I won’t tell her how I got her information, but I will get it Drake. As a friend, I’m asking you give me it so I don’t have to threaten you.”

“I love her, Rift.”

I want to kill him. The sheer weight of his declaration makes my heart squeeze in my chest.
What if she loves him too? What if I’ve lost her forever? Why does fate keep dragging us apart?

“Yeah, get in line,” I growl

“I did and I waited my turn. I’ll give you her phone number but not her address, her numbers even more than I’m comfortable with, but if she doesn’t want anything to do with you, I won’t be waiting anymore. I will make her officially mine.”

My stomach threatens to eject the coffee swishing around in there. The anger has no outlet because this asshole is on the other end of the phone, and not the end of my fist. Rage twists my insides. “Number,” I demand.

I PULL UP across the street from the address, Samuel, a club contact had got from the number Drake gave me. You can find anything out these days when mobiles where on contracts with phone companies and when you had friends who can do illegal shit. The cute two storey house screams Meadow. It’s quaint and charming and stands out amongst the rest. It has a small wrap around porch in yellow, contrasting against the white, giving it a little quirk. Totally Beats.

The shutters on the windows are open, and the lights are on.

I swing my leg over my bike and take a few moments to just look over at the house. Shadows move across the windows so I know she’s in there. I inhale some much needed air and walk over.

I come to a halt when Beats pulls up in a black Lexus. She steps from the car and my breath catches in my throat; damn this girl affects me like no other. Her hair is tied neatly into a low ponytail and she’s wearing a pencil skirt and fitted blouse. She looks like a sexy school teacher; all she needs is a pair of glasses.

She reaches back into the car, giving me a nice view of her rounded ass. She collects her handbag, swings it onto her shoulder and shuts the door.

I swiftly cross the street before she makes it to her front steps. “Beats.”

Her hand rises to her chest as she turns with a jump. “Oh my God, Rift! What are you doing here?”

She looks edgy, her eyes shifting to her house then back to me. Her skin has lost its color.