Click (A Night Fire Novel Book 2) (8 page)

The first few pictures are the images I was drawing at the shack and yesterday, the rest I did tonight. Don't flick ahead to the end, okay?

xA.

I sat the book on my lap and opened the cover, looking at the first drawing. It was me sitting on the little platform at the shack, surrounded by the plants. The next was still at the shack, I was asleep on the bed. Had he committed the image to memory or had he stayed awake to draw it? Next along was me wading into the water in my bikini bottoms. It wasn't a crass drawing, it was from behind and showed off the curves of my hips and the long line of my spine. This one had to be from memory, he didn't have the pencils out at the lagoon.

“Oh my god Ab.” Monique sat beside me in awe.

I turned the page over to a familiar face.

The delivery boy, aka Jaxon. He mostly plays rhythm but sometimes does lead.

“God damn, he is a hottie. Make sure I get introduced to him.”

“He was at the door, delivered the box.”

“What?” she snapped. “Damn my mother and her poorly timed calls.”

I chuckled and turned the page to another drawing of a man.

Evan who likes to think he's a better artist than me. Plays lead guitar.

Monique lifted the corner, cooing at the images.

“I think I like his friends. The internet pictures were pretty damned good but these are way better.”

“Images on the internet?” I frowned.

She nodded at me, edging her way to the laptop. With a lifting of the top cover and a few clicks of the keys, I was looking at dozens of images of the band.

“Ugh, put it away Mon, I can't deal with that right now.”

With a shrug she closed the lid and dumped the laptop onto the coffee table. I turned the page over to another image.

Curtis, the drummer. Also sometimes referred to as a cousin.

“Oh baby.” Monique purred.

I turned another page and looked upon the fifth member of their band.

Fraser, bass guitar. Any rumors about a chick who wasn't really a chick are completely untrue... apparently.

I giggled turning over the page to a picture of a woman.

Mom, she will hug you as her hello while telling you that you are too thin. Just nod and say thanks for the variety of baked goods put in front of you because it's a battle you won't win, trust me.

“Aww, somebody loves their mommy.” Monique giggled.

“Yeah.”

And it was likely that I would be enemy number one for hurting their son. Because I had. I should have stayed and let him speak to me. Instead I ran away like an idiot. I turned over the page to the picture of his father. Austin looked a lot like him, his father was obviously older but in a more distinguished way. Age certainly worked well on this man.

Dad, he will probably give you an awkward hug type handshake that will result in embarrassment for everyone. Once you get to know each other things will be cool.

Monique lifted the edge again, gasping at it. She flicked it over to a picture of me.

“God, it's so detailed. He even got the scar at the hair line.”

Instinctively I rubbed the mark, a reminder that not all sibling rivalry is a war of words.

Abigail, beautiful inside and out.

I wiped away the tears, turning the page again.

This is the issue I have.

The reason I was at the island was to see my parents and have a holiday before I went on tour. I will be gone for a year at least, there is talk of doing more shows due to the ticket sales being so phenomenal. It means a year away from you unless you come with me. You've got your education to continue with and I can't be the one that stops you from doing what you love. It would be wrong and I could never live with myself and I would hate it if you looked at me with regret. Having said that, I don't think I could wake up a happy man tomorrow knowing that you weren't by my side. I dread the thought of a year away from you and it's left me with some seriously mixed up emotions.

There is a solution, if you are willing to have a little faith in me.

Come to the balcony.

My head darted to the French doors that lead to a little balcony. Beyond the glass was a darkening blue sky, night was easing into the world around us. A flood of light destroyed the picturesque view and the strain of a guitar sent my heart into a flutter.

Chapter Twelve

Monique lifted the book from my lap, gently placing it onto the table in front of us.

“Come on hun, you need to stand up.”

My legs wobbled as she helped me up, I feared what was going on out there. She opened the doors and it was like a wave of sound it us. Gently she pushed me out the doors first, the view below was crazy. The entire street had been blocked off, the barricades at either side had hundreds of people at each side. Mostly female and screaming for their attention but I guess that's normal.

A stage had been set up in the center of the street, covered with their equipment and of course, them. The lights had been lighting up the night sky like a wall of white shooting into the darkness. A light roll of the drums alerted everyone to the fact that we were watching, the crowd went a little wilder in that second.

“Boston!” Austin yelled into the mic “Thank you for being so patient.”

Girls screamed, Monique looked at me with dismay. I returned the look. This was crazy.

“I have to alert you to a theft.”

Now they were crying out no.

“I'm afraid so, it seems that someone has stolen my heart.”

“Shit.” Monique chuckled. “Talk about corny.”

“Shut up.” I elbowed her.

It was an accurate statement to say that the girls in the crowd were now officially crying. One little statement of love had broken their world. The front man for Night Fire was about to become unavailable for their little fantasies.

“But the punishment isn't so harsh. She could delay her life for a short while and become an official Night Fire photographer. Do you think she needs convincing?”

Jaxon nodded, turning to me with a flicker of amusement on his face. With a strum of the strings, Evan send a wave of ear piercing music into the not so quiet evening. It was powerful, consuming and left me hungry for more.

“I know this.” Monique frowned as she looked at me.

Evan kept moving through the song, followed by three members. Austin stood there with his eyes pinned to me.

“I played it just before. Damn it.”

Then she moved back into the hotel room, leaving me alone on the balcony. I turned back to the stage just a short distance from me. His hand wrapped around the microphone stand, the other laying over the microphone itself.

“Marry me.”

I turned to Monique who was standing at the threshold with the laptop in her hands.

“What?” I crinkled my face in confusion.

“The drummer wrote if for his girlfriend, the song is called marry me. FYI, she said yes. It made number one, probably because the fans liked hearing him sing the question to them.”

The words echoed around us, the girls screamed louder. Monique's speculation about the reason for the song making it to number one was probably accurate.

“Wait.” she frowned as she closed the lid and stepped out. “It's different. Same music but the words are different.”

Her frown increased as she shook her head. “No, I'm wrong. This isn't the song. It started off similar but it's not. I haven't heard this one though.”

Our mouths popped open with shock when Austin sang to Monique to shut up. Monique frowned and poked her tongue at him. With a chuckle I turned and listened to him singing. The whole group were amazing, they played in perfect unison. It was like they had spent a lifetime beside each other, they knew each other better than anyone else.

Monique appeared beside me again, this time she had my camera in her hand.

“Give him your answer Ab, he's asking you to go with him.”

“But my education?”

“It can wait, as if you can't get a deferment. Jeez Ab, it's a photography course. Ask yourself if you can wait a year for him to come back in favor of a stupid course. I know which one I'd chose.”

I swiped the camera and pulled the strap over my head, turning the camera on. She was right, as if I would ever pick a stupid course over an adventure of a lifetime with a guy that thinks so much of me.
More than 'so much' Abigail
my mind chided. I remembered the picture where he had written that he loved me in the cream.

The view from the first floor was a good angle, I could see all members without another getting in the way. Austin kept watching me, the smile never leaving his face. The song ended and silence hit Boston. It was crazy, I didn't think that crazy fan girls had it in them to be this silent. All eyes swung to the little balcony that held two rather embarrassed women. Well, one seeing as Monique managed to slink away. Bi-atch.

Evan leaned an arm on his guitar, twiddling with one of the knobs at the other end. Fraser was leaning on an amp at the back of the stage, talking to Curtis. And my delivery boy Jaxon was sitting on the edge of the stage, signing stuff for a few fans.

“Well Abigail?”

The dark and unsure voice softly spoke through the microphone, I watched as he gulped and felt the pain. He didn't know which way I was going to go on this and considering that I had just fled the island like it was on fire, I could understand his hesitation.

“I would be crazy not to go.”

I took another photo, a picture of a happy man.

“What?” he grinned.

“I said yes.” I yelled.

“Still didn't hear you.”

With a shrug and a sly smile, I turned to my side readying to walk back into the hotel room.

“If you can't hear me then you should come closer.”

“Ah, now that I did hear. Boys, you can carry on without me.”

There was a collective complaint from the crowd, I quickly peered over the edge to watch as Austin jumped from the stage and walked into the hotel room. My heart thumped hard, I don't think that I have ever been this freaked out about a guy before.

“Hmm, I think I might go hang out at the bar for a while maybe see if I can snag myself some bad boy rocker love.”

She opened the door and Austin stood at the door. His frame filled the space, dominating it and making it look like it was a narrow space. Monique edged past him as he stepped in, offering a wry smile.

“Hey Austin, Later Ab.”

I gave her a half-hearted wave, one that she wouldn't have seen because Austin was shutting the door fast.

I didn't want to fall straight into bed with Austin, we had issues that we needed to deal with first. But the way that he looked at me didn't help. It was the kind of look that made me think that I was the only woman on the planet and had been so for some time. Like the poor thing had been deprived for months, if not years.

Music bellowed loudly through the open French doors, I quickly shut them, ensuring that it was locked. I didn't want some crazy fan girl scaling the brickwork to get in. This was only the first floor, it was entirely possible. I turned back to Austin after shutting the curtains, casually walking around the lounge.

With one step forward I knew I was a goner, he slowly stalked closer to me as he watched me.

“We should talk.” I offered as I took a step back.

An eyebrow shifted slightly higher as he stepped closer.

“Uh, are you hungry?”

A wicked grin curled into his lips, his eyes lowering with a look of carnality.

“Not for food.”

Oh boy, I really set myself up for that one.

“Why are you freaking out Abigail? Nothing has changed.”

“I'm not.” I lied.

I pressed against the back of the lounge as he drew closer, even though he had a certain smugness I could see it was a mask. Below that air of arrogance was a person that was hurting.

“Why didn't you open the door?”

“Because you were so angry.”

“I would never hurt you.”

His hand gripped my neck below my ear, pulling me in for a soft and brief kiss. He sighed as he pressed his forehead to mine, staring into my eyes. Damn, I think I just forgave him. Or swooned. Not really sure.

“I freaked out okay? I could see you slipping away from me and I panicked. It was the wrong way to go about it but you wouldn't open the door, you wouldn't listen to me. Then you were gone.”

“How did you get off the island? I caught the last water taxi back.”

Austin chuckled lightly, tugging my hand to my bedroom. Oh dear.

“Helicopter. Tried to catch you at both airports but you are rather fast on your feet. Once we were in the jet coming up here our manager Jerry started talking about the tour, asking me what I was going to do.”

He flicked off his shoes and socks, making me sit at the head of the bed beside him.

“I like this dress.”

I bit my lip as I looked down at the dress I had bought today, when I got here I had showered in the pitiful attempt to wash away the pain and suffering.

“Bought it at the shops today.”

He nodded and toyed with the hem, the backs of his fingers crossing back and forth over my skin.

“Curtis is bringing Frankie with him so it's not as if you'll be the only girlfriend on tour. You'll like Frankie, she's a pretty cool chick. Curtis thinks the sun shines out of her ass though.”

“As he should.” I grinned cheekily.

Austin chuckled and wrapped his arm around me, pulling me against his chest.

“So Jerry's asking me all these questions that I don't really have answers for. You've got your education, I've got the tour. Sure we could wait but it would be absolute hell. I want you to come with me but I don't want to make you give up your education.”

“Austin I couldn't give a crap about it. If you went away for a year I'd be miserable so really there's only one answer. Except that I have an issue.”

The smile that he had died away, it had been a sweet and perfect smile and I knew his downturn in mood would only be brief.

“What's that?”

I sat on his lap and pulled my dress away, feeling the warmth of his hands on my hips.

“You've never seen beyond this. Well, the bikini version of this.”

His head nodded but the eyes were staring at my cleavage. I tipped my head over with a smart ass smile, trying to gain his attention.

“Hey, did you know I have eyes?”

“Really?” he murmured, still enthralled.

“Yep, if you look up at them for even just a small moment, I might lose more clothes.”

His eyes darted up as his hands slid a warm path up my back to my bra.

“I believe that we were up to here at the lagoon.”

The bra was off and cast to the floor with my dress. His hand curved around the swell of the underside of my breast, the other around my neck to pull me in for a kiss. We kissed deeply as his fingers ran over my breast, the movement sending them hard in an instant. My fingers trailed down his chest and over his taut stomach. I pulled his shirt up, lifting it away with little effort.

“We're going home tomorrow, Curtis and Frankie want to marry before the tour starts.”

“Okay. Where's home?”

“Vegas.”

Oh.

“Okay.” I smiled and tossed his shirt to the ground.

“You're coming with us, right?”

“If you want.”

“Abigail.” he chided. “Of course I want. Have you been listening to anything I've said?”

He paused for a moment as his eyes narrowed and his head tipped back slightly.

“I'm not going to do anything rash. Just because we're going to Vegas doesn't mean that we're going to get married.”

“Oh good. Well you know what I mean.”

The bastard chuckled.

“Give it some time, we should get to know each other a little better first.”

“So what, in a week then?” he casually put it out there. “Cuz Curtis and Frankie have known each other for like a month. Gotta break their record, right?”

I gaped at him, staring with my mouth wide open. Until he laughed at me again. I smacked him and folded my arms, pouting like a petulant child. Austin pulled at them and wrestled with me until I finally caved in, letting my arms go limp. He rolled me onto the bed and pushed my legs open, settling himself in the most perfect position. I could feel him dig against me, it was one of the best feelings that I have ever felt. To know that I affected in him in such a way that he was so aroused made me giddy with delight.

His hair flopped against the skin of my breast as his tongue ran over me, I gasped as it swirled around the hardened nipple. The other breast was being massaged with great care, ensuring that this was pleasurable to me as well.

“These are awesome.” he grinned as his tongue ran over the hardened tip.

His fingers curled around the thin scrap of material sitting on my hips, tugging them away as he stepped off the bed. As he knelt back onto the bed, his tongue darted out and wet his lips with anticipation.

“So hungry.” he whispered against my inner thigh.

The warmth of his breath caressed the skin, making it sensitive with need. Slowly he dragged his tongue up the center, the thrill rocketed to my head making me flush. His arms wrapped under my legs, pulling them apart. As his tongue circled around me, his fingers pulled the skin taut, opening me further.