About to turn back towards Liam, I spotted Donovan at about the same time he spotted me. He paused, before starting to walk in our direction.
He came to a stop in front of me, and then got shoved from behind which brought him up close and personal, with me ending up wrapped in his arms.
He grinned down at me, which had me laughing. He was cute and I needed to get Callie with him.
"Hey, get your hands off her," Liam shouted, looking pissed.
Donovan's body went rigid against me before he relaxed and pulled me even tighter against him. "Make me."
They sure as hell were not going to fight over me. In fact I wasn't sure I had anything to do with what was going on.
Pushing out of Donovan's arms, I faced Liam. "Leave it, he got shoved from behind." I placed my hand on Liam's chest, hoping he'd leave it alone, before I turned back to Donovan who looked angry, but more relaxed than Liam.
"Look after Thalia." With that Donovan shoved his way through the crowd towards the stage where the band had already set up.
The lights dimmed slightly, someone jumped up on stage and the crowd started to shout.
"Shut the fuck up," came blaring out through the speaker system, which the majority found funny. "Okay, calm it down, I know why you're all here, so with that in mind here's 'Phoenix and Deception'."
Liam froze at the side of me with his beer half way to his mouth. I turned to look at him but he was fixed on the stage. Turning back I met the piercing blue eyes of Jack who stood in front of the microphone.
My heart began to drum against my chest and I felt like it was going to burst as we held each other's gaze, and then he started to sing; I melted. He had the most amazing voice as he sang about a hero who fell in love with a girl out of his reach, and the whole time his gaze stayed on me.
Liam moved closer and leaned into me using his thumbs to wipe my face, because unbeknown to me, there were tears flowing from my eyes.
When the song came to an end, without taking his eyes from me Jack said something to Donovan, and then passed him the microphone before jumping down from the stage with a look of determination as he headed in our direction.
Panicking, I shoved past Liam towards the back of the bar, which was easier said than done with all the people jammed into the place.
Coming to a stop in a hallway, I had no idea which door would lead me to the outside. About to try the one at the end, an arm snaked around my waist.
"It's only me," Jack whispered into my ear before he carried me through the door to our right. He closed it and I heard a lock slide into place as he turned on a low light. He wrapped his other arm around me and held me tight, snug in his arms. I wasn't complaining because it felt amazing being held by him. My body pressed against the full length of him.
He started nuzzling my neck so I moved my head to the side to give him better access. When he started to use his teeth to nibble the lobe of my ear and down my neck to my shoulder, I shivered; my nipples hardened and my sex pulsed. I pressed my butt into his groin and felt his erection, which pressed between my buttocks; he groaned and pressed closer.
"Thalia," he moaned into my neck, "we need to stop."
I took hold of his hands on my belly and held on tight. "What's happening Jack or can I call you Phoenix? Liam told me he used to call you that, and I love that name."
He buried his face into my neck while he tried to control his breathing. "Other than Ryder when he announces us, no one calls me Phoenix anymore...so yeah; I'd love you to call me that. In private though." He cursed at the same time that he pushed me away from him. "I can't be in private with you again, because I want you too damn much."
My tears were so close to the surface and as I turned to face Jack or Phoenix they leaked out of my eyes.
"Please talk to me," I asked. "On the porch you said the wedding wasn't going ahead and...now it is, and I'm a fucking bridesmaid." I was angry and smacked Phoenix on the chest as a sob broke free.
He grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his chest holding me tight. "I can't explain, but I have to marry her..."
He held on to me while I tried to struggle free.
"You're the one I want. I shouldn't tell you that, because I have no choice but to marry Mia, but it's you I want and seeing you like this hurts like hell."
I broke free of him. "You don't have to marry her. It's your choice...and you've made it clear whom you prefer," I practically shouted at him. My heart was breaking. "Just stay away from me, because it hurts too much being this close to you and not being able to have you," I whispered as I turned my back to him.
Chapter 37.
Jack Her words pierced my heart, making it feel like it was being squeezed in a clamp. This was all my fault, her pain was caused by me. Without a thought to anything or anyone, I took the four strides to Thalia, turned her around and placed my hands on either side of her face. Her eyes searched mine in question as she opened her mouth, but I sealed my lips to hers, trapping whatever protest she was going to say.
Her hands pressed against my chest trying to push me away before they went limp. After a brief pause, I felt her hands run up my chest and through my hair where she gripped it, and pulled me even closer. She pressed her body closer to mine while she chased my tongue in and out of my mouth.
She tasted of beer and my woman. I wanted her more than I'd ever wanted anyone and she was going up in flames in my arms.
Moving my hands from her face I smoothed them down her sides in a caress landing on her butt. Gripping it in my hands, I hauled her against me, which brought her pussy in line with my aching cock.
She pulled her mouth away from mine and let her head fall back on a moan. Not one for missing an opportunity, I placed tiny kisses along her jaw, nibbling on her lobe and licked down her neck to her shoulder.
"So responsive."
"Love me Phoenix."
When I heard Thalia say, 'Phoenix' in such a husky voice, I lost it completely and had her pressed against the wall, her legs wrapped around my waist and my hands on her panty-clad ass.
She had her hands on my head holding me to her chest while she ground herself against me. I was seconds away from ripping her panties off, and impaling her on my cock.
God. "Thalia, babe. You have to slow down."
"I can't. I need you."
With a groan, I hitched her further up the wall, ground my hips into her, pinning her against the wall because I wanted my hands free.
I licked along her lips and teased her by dipping my tongue in and out of her mouth as I slipped my hands under her top and found her breasts. The top I shoved above her breasts, opened the front fastener on her bra and watched as her magnificent tits tumbled into my hands. Two more strawberries.
Speechless, I rubbed my finger over the tattoos then around her nipples, using my finger and thumb I twisted and rolled them. Thalia acted as though she'd been hit by a bolt of electricity and writhed against me.
My breathing was ragged and I desperately needed to be inside her. I froze. I didn't have a condom.
Resting my forehead against hers I tried to catch my breath. "No condom."
"So close," she mumbled.
One of us might as well get off, although I'd probably come with her.
"I need to taste you," I told her, moving her slightly away from me and let her legs drop to the floor. Kneeling in front of her I pushed her skirt over her hips and stopped briefly when I caught sight of the tattoo on her hip. God, she loved tattoos. My hands held her tight as I moved in and pressed my lips against her mound.
Her legs quivered. "Phoenix."
I lifted one of her legs over my shoulder, moved her panties to one side and got my first look at her swollen bud, which was peeping out between her folds. Then I did what I'd wanted to do for a while, and leaned in to taste her. "God, your cunt's so fucking sweet."
She shuddered as soon as my tongue touched her clit. I licked from her mound back and forth to her sex, while I added a finger inside her. She was so wet and tight, my balls were pulled up tight to my body and my cock was ready to burst.
"No, Phoenix..."
"What..."
Before I had chance to think properly, she moved her leg from my shoulder, dislodging my fingers and had me hitting the floor with my butt. She quickly removed her panties then followed me down to the floor, yanked my zipper down, pulled my cock and balls free, before leaning forward to place a kiss to the mushroom head of my cock.
She lifted her head. "You're pierced?" Without waiting for an obvious answer she bent and licked me around the slit, with a quick flick of the silver with her tongue.
I gritted my teeth to stop my pending orgasm shooting forward. "No condom," I choked out, again.
Thalia hitched her skirt, straddled my thighs and brought her pussy into contact with the root of me. We both sucked in our breath.
Moving my hands up to her naked breasts, I massaged them as she started to ride the ridge of my cock, spreading her wetness all over me.
"Shit, Thalia," I groaned. "So good. God, I wish my dick was buried deep in your cunt."
At my words, Thalia started to come apart in my arms, I sucked her nipple into my mouth while she groaned and writhed around on my balls in the thralls of orgasm which set me off, ejaculating cum all over my t-shirt.
Thalia collapsed against me with her arms wrapped around my neck and within seconds she was shaking against me and my neck started to feel wet.
What the hell!
"Thalia, please tell me I didn't hurt you?"
She just shook her head while I stroked up and down her back.
"Not physically," she whispered.
I shouldn't have touched her, practically made love to her, but damn-it-to-hell I loved her.
"We need to dress, and then talk."
She pulled her face from my neck and met my eyes. "I don't want you to think I regret what we just did, because I don't. My only regret is that you didn't come inside me."
Thank God I was sitting down; otherwise I'd have ended up on my ass.
"I've said this before, but don't ever think that I don't want you, that I don't crave you, because I do and I have a feeling I always will."
Still sitting on the floor, I watched as she stood up pulling her panties back on and then smoothed her skirt over her hips, before fastening her bra and pulling her top down. She turned, caught my eye then offered me a hand to help me up from the floor.
As I stood, I whipped my t-shirt over my head and used it to wipe the semen from my belly and dick, which was on the rise again.
Sucking in a breath, I zipped and met Thalia's gaze again. She looked uncertain which made me sick. Although I couldn't say I regretted what we'd just done, I shouldn't have even touched her being engaged to someone else.
What a fucking mess. Mia and Liam in love with each other, me in love with Thalia, but having to marry Mia. I couldn't even tell Thalia about it, because then she might hope for a solution when I wasn't sure there was going to be one, unless I walked away from everything, but I'd have Thalia. Fuckin' hell!
"I need a clean t-shirt from the car. Come outside with me?"
She walked towards me and slid her hand into mine, and then held on while we went outside to my car.
Once I'd pulled a clean t-shirt on, I wrapped Thalia up in my arms and kissed her on the top of her head. "I don't want to let you go...but I don't have any choice."
She snuggled into my chest and held me so hard around my waist. "Don't let me go, please Phoenix."
Thalia made me smile when she used my nickname. I took hold of her face and brought us practically nose to nose, and had no clue about where to start.
We both moved to sit on the steps at the back of the bar, where I pulled her down beside me.
"Why didn't Liam tell me about this...that you could sing and that you did in...Deception?"
She looked at me waiting for an answer so I tucked her head into the crook of my neck and told her, "I love music and always have, but my parents think it's a waste of time and most of my life growing up was spent arguing with them about it and the fact that I wanted to be a rock star."
She chuckled and kissed my chest.
"As soon as I realized they planned on grooming Liam for the law firm, which he so did not want to do, I changed and started to follow what they'd set out for my brother so they'd leave him alone...and they did. I rebelled in my own way, hence the tattoos and piercings' that nobody knows about, that's why I always wear long sleeves. My parents would flip if they knew what I was doing here with Donovan and Reece. I know I'm a grown man and shouldn't worry about what they think, but having never had their approval for anything...I'm just used to staying silent."
Fuck, I felt like a girl admitting most of that to her, but I needed her to know what my life was like.
Chapter 38.
Thalia As I listened to Jack, who'd become Phoenix to me, I wanted to cry for him...and myself for falling for him when he wasn't free to be with me. Yeah, we'd just had the most amazing 'almost' sex...in a storeroom at the back of Kix, which shouldn't have happened, but was inevitable.
A giggle burst forth, which I tried to contain by slamming my hand over my mouth, but no such luck, as the giggle became a full belly laugh.
"What's so funny?" he asked with an unreadable expression.
I grinned. "Us, practically having sex in the back room, in there."
"We did have sex in there."
"You didn't come inside me, so it doesn't count...I still want you Phoenix, so much."
He shuddered against me. "You're driving me crazy. All I want is to take you home with me and keep you forever...but I can't."
Standing up he pulled me up with him and was moving in to kiss me when Liam appeared in the doorway looking pissed as hell.
"Where the fuck have you two been?"