Spirited Ride (16 page)

“She also told me about the women from before you even left. I’m not a groupie and I won’t be part of some fucking harem of yours… I’m a one woman show. You buy a ticket for this bitch… that means you’re there for me and me alone. There’s no opening act or side show… just me,” she spat angrily.

“Look, I think you were fed some bullshit and I think I know why,” he managed to choke out, waving his hands in an attempt to calm her anger some.

If Gina were nearby he’d very likely take a swing at a woman for the first and perhaps only time in his whole life. The bitch had ruined everything. All because he’d chosen Sherri over her… and even Tommy had thrown his vote behind Sherri.

Jealousy was a very ugly thing. He and Sherri both had apparently taken more than just a
sip
from the flask that Gina drank from. Gina had offered it to them and they’d drunk their fill. Between the two of them, they had polished off the entire bottle, erasing any chance they ever had of a successful relationship.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, skeptically.

“Gina…” he started. Then deciding they might need to sit down for this he pulled her inside the tiny little bedroom and then sat down on her bed. She slowly joined him.

Her scent rose up to meet him from the sheets and a need to consume her like nothing he’d ever experienced before slapped him brutally across his already broken heart.

“Before you met all of us… me, Tommy, Bobby, and Gina… she… Gina,” he tried to explain and then just quit. How could he explain something so outrageous about a woman who’d proclaimed to be her friend for the past decade?

“Gina and I… we were never really together… but people thought we were. Having people look up to her or admire her was everything she wanted. That’s why she liked singing in the band… it got her the attention she craved. Anyway, by being the lead singer and having other women think that we were an item back then made her pretty popular around here. Then when I met you… she decided it was time to make her move, I guess. She came on to me one night after band practice and I told her I wasn’t interested… that I was with you. The next day she apologized and said it was all a mistake and that she’d had too much to drink… that Bobby was really who she wanted. Then suddenly the two of you were friends and everything seemed to be good… normal again. I never really thought anything more about it. At least not until I went to Nashville… and again just now,” he finally managed to explain.

“What are you saying, TJ?” Sherri asked, understanding beginning to glisten in her eyes as unshed tears.

“When she came to Nashville… she came on to me again… this time wanting me to admit that you had been the wrong choice for me. She told me that she’d been in love with me for years,” he confessed.

“She kept rambling on about how she originally thought she liked Bobby but she’d been wrong… that it was me she wanted,” he said. “I felt bad throwing him under the bus, especially after he used to avoid her like the plague whenever possible, but she was like physically… you know… trying to get with me. So I told her that I still didn’t feel that way about her… but I was pretty sure that Bobby did…”he finished.

“What?” Sherri asked in shock and confusion.

“As soon as I told her that she stood a chance with Bobby, it was like turning off one light switch and flipping on another one. She just gave up on me and focused on him instead,” he said. “I truly thought I’d dodged a bullet with her once again and that this time would be it. No more declarations of love and trying to get with me. That she would chase after Bobby. I know it was wrong and I’ve apologized to Bobby since then… but that’s not the worst part. After I managed to throw her off my trail and on to his, she told me that as my friend she thought I should at least know the truth about you. She said that the minute I left you started seeing that guy from the bar that was always coming in… sniffing around… and flirting with you when I was on stage.”

“What guy?” she asked defensively. “I was so over the moon for you… how could I have even
noticed
another man? How, TJ? Why would you even think that?”

“I don’t know… I guess at least that gave me some explanation as to why you didn’t want to come with me to Nashville… why Florida held more interest for you than I did,” he admitted. The first tear slid along her cheek and he reached out and traced it down her face with his finger.

“No… it wasn’t Florida or working at the bar. It was you, TJ,” she nearly whispered. “My parents… they were always off chasing some dream… leaving Lilly and I with friends or a nanny. That’s how they died in an accident, in a whole other state from where their children were. When I figured out that they wouldn’t be coming back from that trip. I made a decision that I would be the parent to Lilly that they had never been. She was always more forgiving about them leaving us. They would bring her back a gift… some token they picked up while traveling and all was forgiven,” she choked out around tears that she angrily swiped away.

“I resented them not being there. I was the responsible one, the caregiver for Lilly while they were gone. When you started talking dreams and traveling… I didn’t want to go through that again. And I didn’t want to be like them… just packing up and taking off when the next shiny thing appeared off in the distance,” she finished in a whisper.

“Why didn’t you tell me that back then?” he asked.

“I didn’t want to hold you back. I thought if I did I would lose you for sure. I guess I was secretly hoping that you would pick me over the gold at the end of the rainbow,” she said. “It was selfish, I realize that now… but I was young back then… still grieving over the loss of my parents and feeling like I was slowly losing Lilly to the same upscale lifestyle that they’d led. Here… in this dinky town… I’ve barely got a pot to piss in but I’ve got friends who will be there in a minute if I need them. It’s never inconvenient to call one of them or just stop by… they are the type of family that Lilly and I never had. Even Lilly figured that out within a couple of months of being here.”

“You should have told me, Sherri,” he said, wiping another tear away from her beautiful face.

“When you didn’t come back… I figured out that without you… I was even lonelier than I had been whenever my parents were out of town. For the first time in my life, I understood what made them follow each other off on some big adventure rather than staying at home to be with their children. They were each other’s world… we were just an extension of that world. I stopped blaming them in that moment and I too was willing to follow the person I loved… no matter where that might lead. Then Gina…” she stopped and a flash of pure rage passed her face. “She fed into my jealousy and my need to protect and look out for number one…
me
… and I bought it… hook, line and sinker.”

The silence was deafening between them. As much as he could barely breathe after having absorbed the fact that if they’d been as good at talking back then as they’d been at making love, they might have been able to work things out. Sherri was struggling with it just as bad, if not worse, than he was.

“This place… please tell me that you didn’t sell the bar too... because there is no way you were able to afford all this just from the profits from the sale of the house,” he finally said in an effort to break the silence.

“Nah… just a loan from one of those friends who’ve become my family… he just happens to be filthy rich with a heart of gold. Seems that the first love in his life is really into music and he was thinking that the garage band she started might need a new place to rehearse since I sold the house,” she laughed.

Then her face took on a serious look and she stood up to walk over to the doorway. “I meant what I said. I’ll be out of here in a week. I’ve only been staying here so that I could get the place put together during the morning hours and keep working at the bar during the evening without having to worry about finding an apartment on top of it all.”

He didn’t really know what to say with so much having been said already. Plus, he didn’t want to ruin the subtle truce they’d managed to come to finally.

“Thank you, beautiful… this place… it is absolutely amazing. I’ll be the one paying Chuck back for that loan though… not you. You’ve done enough for me,” he said, standing up as well.

“Well if that’s the case, then I guess you won’t need me to take you back to your apartment then?” she teased.

“Are you kicking me out of my own store?” he teased back.

“No… just out of my bedroom,” she replied. “We’re divorced now… remember? That means a whole new set of rules… or so someone once said. I believe those guidelines involve no more hanging out, going places together or stopping by for visits… especially in one another’s bedroom. Sound familiar?”

“Whenever did you start paying attention to the boundaries anyone set, Sherri?” he asked, approaching her. Then he stepped up close to her and watched as she backed away from him. “I thought you purposefully broke the rules just to see what kind of trouble you’d get in to… what the punishment might be.”

When her back hit the wall, her face lost its teasing quality and she said, “I can’t do this, TJ. We should go… All kidding aside, we
are
divorced. Divorced people typically
don’t
hang out, go places together and they certainly don’t fuck each other. So this should stop now.”

“They also don’t buy businesses for each other. Do you remember when I told you that I didn’t want you making new memories with some other man in my grandmother’s house?” he asked.

“Yeah…” she said, swallowing hard as he pressed his body against hers, flattening her out nicely for his touch.

“I lied…” he whispered, bending down to suck the skin of her neck into his mouth. Damn, she tasted amazing. “I don’t want you to ever make new memories with another man… whether in that house, here, the bar or any other place for that matter.”

Reaching down he unbuttoned and unzipped her pants. Kissing her neck again, he flattened his palm against her smooth stomach and then slid his hand down into her pants to the very center of her. Feeling that she was already wet for him, he sighed into her mouth.

“This here… this is mine, Sherri. I don’t give a fuck if we’re married or not… this will always be mine and as much as you don’t share well… neither do I. Got that? Mine…” he growled next to her ear after finally breaking the kiss. “You’re mine.”

God… why couldn’t she be stronger where he was concerned? She’d tried to stop this before it really got started. Now with him touching her in that way that only he could, which made her stomach clinch, her legs shake and her entire body come alive, she didn’t stand a chance.

Especially when he said things to her that made her heart want to explode right along with the lower half of her body.
Be strong… it was over between them.
She’d done what she’d come here to do today… she’d made things right between them… but that’s where it should end.

“Please, TJ?” she said, closing her eyes to try and pull her thoughts and feelings back from the brink and fight the absolute bliss his touch was creating. Then turning her head away from his nearness she said, “You have to stop now… making love with you will kill me. This is supposed to be over between us, remember?”

Leaning his forehead against the side of her head, he whispered against her cheek, “Never, Puppet. Now be quiet. No more talking.”

His use of the nickname he’d given her within the first month that they’d been together made her wonder how much longer she could even remain standing, let alone resist him.

What had once started as a form of foreplay years ago had grown into a pet name for her that could bring her right back to that time and place. Making her beg him for what she wanted somehow excited them both. Ten years hadn’t changed that for them either.

“I mean it, TJ. We shouldn’t be doing this…” she whispered as his fingers found a rhythm she was all too familiar with, making her body conform to his will. She tried to find a hold on his shoulders to use as leverage as he stroked her, but was suddenly too weak as blood rushed to the spot he tormented.

The fingers of his free hand reached up and threaded through her hair, pulling on it almost to the point of pain, forcing her to look up at him. Oh God… he was serious… that look told her so.

Why did he have to look so good whenever he watched her? All hungry like that? Her knees took that moment to become a jelly like substance and the only thing that prevented her from sliding down the wall was his carefully placed knee between her legs.

“What did I tell you, Sherri?” he asked angrily.

The whimper escaped her mouth as the first shockwaves of pleasure flowed down her thighs and then right back up to center where his fingers continued their exquisite rhythm against her already heated flesh.

Pulling a little harder on her hair, he leaned down close to her mouth and said, “Shhh… quiet. I mean it, Sherri. Don’t push me about this. Give it to me… don’t make me force you. Tell me you want this as much as I do.”

“I… I do. It’s just… we shouldn’t…” she managed to gasp out as pleasure shot in all directions at once causing a strangled moan to escape her mouth.

“Wrong answer… Puppet,” he whispered, removing his hand from her pants.

She’d been right at the edge of heaven. He’d withheld it from her because she wouldn’t give him what he wanted. Admitting that she wanted him… and not holding back from him… was something he’d always insisted on.

He would get what he expected from her or she would be given nothing more than a glimpse of the pleasure he was capable of providing.

She would be left wanting just as much if not more than him. Weakness, desire and a soul consuming need for him kept her from just walking out and leaving him standing there.

“Please, TJ…” she said quietly. Her body was inflamed and he knew it. How she could have thought that she’d be able to handle this now that she was older was beyond reason. She was just as sexual now as ever and he was just as willing to wait her out.

“Please what?” he said, reaching up and placing his fingers against her lips and gently pulling them apart.

“Open up for me, Sherri. Kiss me and show me how much you do want me. Then you can explain to me why you are so wet right now and why you taste so good if we shouldn’t be doing this?”

When she opened her mouth to try and dissuade him, he touched her tongue with his fingers forcing her to taste her own essence before bending and capturing her mouth with his.

After heating her to the boiling point with open mouthed kisses that made her as needy as his touch did, he released her briefly to judge her reaction to him and how turned on she was, before his mouth crashed down on hers yet again.

He pushed her harder against the wall and ground himself against her so she could feel how much he wanted her in return. If they did this now… would she
ever
be able to get over him and move on?

When he finally broke the kiss, he just stood there staring at her until she met his gaze. She gasped and then said, “If we do this… I will have to start trying to get over you all over again. Is that what you want? I thought this place would allow us to go our own ways with some good memories of each other. It was supposed to be a peace offering…
closure.
If that’s not enough then I’m sorry but making love with you isn’t the kind of closure I can endure.”

Then her resolve was gone and tears flooded her eyes, making it hard to even see him. Backing up from her a step, he shed his t-shirt, kicked off his shoes and closed the door to her makeshift bedroom.

Did he not understand what she was saying? Could he not understand that they had come full circle and forgiven each other for wrongs done, lies, distrust and other perceived slights? Making love wasn’t necessary to finish whatever was left between them. It could truly be over now… just by walking away.

“I don’t want closure, Sherri. I want you. That divorce paper doesn’t mean shit and you know it. Do you honestly think some judge’s signature on a piece of paper can really end what’s between us? You were mine well before you became some name on a piece of paper that says that I no longer have the right to love you and to pleasure you the way I want to. You think by filing those papers with the courts that somehow it will make us not want each other anymore?” he asked angrily. “Do you?”

“That’s just it… the papers
don’t
mean shit. It’s up to us to end this thing! Asking the courts was just a legality. For it to be truly over means that
we
are the ones that have to make it official… and I can’t do that when you tell me to stop coming around in one breath and then touch me with the next one. I can’t stop being yours… if you don’t let me. You signed those papers just as well as I did. If you want out, as your signature indicated that you do… then get out… but don’t play with my heart in the process. I can’t take it anymore,” she said through her tears.

“Your heart belongs to me, your soul belongs to me and by God your body does too… divorced or not,” he said, stepping up close to her.

Reaching out he raised her hands above her head and then slid her t-shirt up and over her head. He tossed it aside and reached behind her, undid her bra and threw it aside as well. “Now say that you want me… married or not. Tell me that you want my touch.”

“You know I do, TJ. My question is do you really want me? Do I have your heart, soul and body in return? If not… this has to stop now. No more games…” she said. “We’re either divorced or we’re not.”

“You’re obviously not listening to me, Sherri,” he said angrily. He slid his hands along her lower back, down into her pants to cup her bottom. Then he used his arms and wrists to drag her pants and panties down around her knees.

Bending down he lifted her legs one at a time and pulled off the remainder of her clothes. Then he stood and stripped his own jeans off, leaving them both bared to each other.

“You will always be mine… married or not… and I will always be yours. We both may have screwed up royally these past ten years but I for one meant it when I promised to love you forever. I still mean it. I was with other women while I was in Nashville, I won’t lie, but it was like eating tasteless food in order to survive. I kept thinking eventually I would find someone I would like just as much,” he said.

“Then seeing you again in the auditorium that day I realized nothing and no one would ever replace
you
. Watching Chris Anderson of all people enjoying what was
mine
nearly made me crazy. I know that I will never find anything in this whole world that satisfies me like you do and I’ll be damned if I ever again let you think that you can replace me with some other man. This time I intend to mark you as my own and I won’t need some fucking piece of paper to tell the world you’re mine… your whimpers will do just fine,” he said with conviction shining in his eyes.

Then he was kissing her, mating his tongue with hers as he lifted her up to wrap her legs around his waist.

He carried her over to the bed and eased them both on to it. Then he unhinged her hands from around his neck and pulled them over her head.

Kissing her again briefly he finally released her mouth and said, “Keep your hands right there and your eyes on me. Don’t close them even for a second. I want to see myself in their reflection.”

His long hair tickled her neck and shoulders as he slid down to suck one of her pebbled nipples into his mouth, flicking and biting at it. Then he released it and slid lower to kiss her waist and hip bone until she was writhing. He rolled on to his side and used his fingers to trace every inch of her shoulders, breasts, stomach and waist. Always stopping just short of where she needed him to touch her most.

“Please, TJ” she shuddered at his caresses.

“Shh… Puppet. This is mine and I’ll have it just the way I want it… beautiful skin all glistening with sweat, eyes shining with need, and pink folds of perfection all wet from wanting its owner. Now stop talking… I mean it this time,” he whispered, leaning down to bite and suck at her rib cage and nipples making her entire lower body quiver.

“I can’t take much more… TJ. I want you so bad already. How much more?” she begged, her body betraying just how much she enjoyed his touch as she flinched, twisted and cried out as his hands and mouth continued to enjoy her like a favorite treat.

“How much more… until what? What is it that you want?” he asked against her belly button where he then dipped his tongue in before nipping at it with his teeth.

“I want you to make love to me… please?” she choked out between whimpers. Her skin broke out in a flush from the pleasure of his mouth sucking relentlessly on her inner thighs, leaving the marks he’d spoken of earlier. “Can I at least touch you now?”

“You can play with my hair but nothing else. As for making love, not until you’re ready for me,” he said as he shifted positions so that he was kneeling on the bed between her legs.

Then without warning he slid his hands beneath her bottom and lifted her up. Leaning down his lips latched on to the very core of her. Sucking at her heated flesh while raising her entire bottom up off the bed to meet his hungry mouth.

She tried to reach for any part of him that she could grasp and unable to find anything, instead had to hold on to the sheets beneath her raised bottom. Her legs began to shake as they were forced to help hold her up for his enjoyment. She could only watch helplessly as he made her body sing for him.

When the first waves of orgasm hit she began to plead with him. By the time the last tremors faded and she could feel the build of a second one she was begging and pleading. Finally he lowered her bottom back down to the bed and reached for her hands, looping them around his neck. Then he helped her sit up and straddle his body.

“Ride me, Sherri,” he ordered as she gently lowered herself onto his erection. Her breath caught at the fullness of him this way. He was almost too big, especially when she was already swollen from having been pleasured so thoroughly.

“Wait… let me get used to you for a second,” she shivered against his mouth.

“No more waiting… I want you now… I can’t wait anymore,” he insisted breathlessly. Then his hands grasped her roughly around the waist and she knew he had made yet another mark on her. Branding her for himself.

Then he owned her body and she owned his in return… face to face… skin to skin… and mouth to mouth. Never would she love someone else like she loved this man… husband or not… he belonged right where he was. He was right… no piece of paper could deny them this.

“Cum for me again,” he said as he slammed her down on him. “God, I love you, Puppet. No one else can handle all that spirit inside of you except me… you know that, right?”

“Only you… I love you, TJ. I always have,” she said as her body came apart again, this time from the inside out. He followed her into oblivion.

When they could finally breathe again, he captured her lips for a soft kiss and brushed her hair back from her face and said, “Where are your things?”

“I put everything in storage for now until I can find an apartment,” she replied around his kisses.

His fingers trailed up her spine but he held her firmly to him with one hand when she attempted to move off of him. Then his other hand found its way back into her hair as he again began to move within her. She wasn’t sure she could take much more but he was slow and gentle as he guided her on how he wanted her to move with his hand that moved from her hair to the back of her neck.

“You belong to me… don’t you, Sherri?” he asked as his mouth found the delicate skin at the front of her neck.

“Yeah” she sighed as her body again made a liar out of her… proving that she could indeed handle more of him.

“Come home with me then.
Where you belong.
Let’s do things right this time… I’ll never take someone else’s word over yours again… nor will you. We’ll talk about stuff, plan stuff, and make our lives…
together
. You and me… master and puppet. Come on, baby… please? One more time… one more try,” he whispered into her mouth as his lips found hers again.

“One more try,” she said around his kisses and her tears.

Several hours later, a knocking on the door to the shop had them scrambling to get dressed as quickly as possible and worrying that someone had called the cops on account of the noise they were making. When they finally managed to make it to the front door they were surprised to find Carla Sanders’ boys outside. Unlocking the door Sherri held it open to them and said, “Is everything okay boys?”