What to Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection (WTRAFSOG Book 7) Read online

  The Leopards usually played the slow song before they took a break, so any minute I expected the speaker system to kick in with ‘Panic! At the Disco’, which was pretty good, or something else as Mick was the bar tender tonight and he loved the kind of music that had a bite to it. I was one hundred percent into Three Doors Down, which drove Callie mad, as she was more Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. I’d yet to admit to liking them as well.

  On my second bottle of beer, thanks to Callie, I continued to dance and grind against Jeff who wasn’t affected one bit with my ass rubbing against his dick.

  I placed my empty bottle onto a table at the side of the dance floor, before I practically threw myself into Jeff’s arms as we started jumping and singing along to ‘The Leopards’.

  After about an hour on the dance floor with Jeff, I turned to him and shook my head, to let him know I needed a break. Leaving him alone, I walked towards the table where Callie was sitting with Chase, David, Liam, Nadine and Kristy – some friends we occasionally hooked up with.

  Liam made room for me, so I slid into the seat. “You looked good out there,” he shouted, kissing me smack on the lips.

  My eyes flew wide open. Callie looked about as stunned as I felt. That was new. Liam had never shown me any affection in public before. Narrowing my eyes, I took his challenge. I turned in his embrace and straddled him, wrapping my arms around his neck and plunged in. I needed to see if there was anything between us once and for all. I put my all into it and maybe we had potential, because my blood started to tingle and Liam started to grow between my legs. I pressed against him. Liam broke the kiss and just looked at me.

  “God, you’re hot tonight,” Liam commented.

  Our breathing was labored while we continued to stare at each other in shock, in truth I felt confused. Liam was great to hang out with and we had been dating, kind of, for the past six months, but we hadn’t kissed like that before.

  “Wow, you two looked ready to get down and dirty,” Kristy said as Liam moved me from his lap with unsteady hands.

  “Thalia, do you want to leave?”

  I hesitated at Liam’s question.

  “I don’t mean to follow up with more than a kiss. I just meant because we have an early start tomorrow.” Liam practically had to shout in my ear to be heard.

  “Okay.” We stood to leave, the others giving us knowing looks, but Callie knew me better than anyone else and knew Liam wouldn’t be spending time in my bed.

  I leaned over to shout in Callie’s ear, “Are you coming or staying?”

  “Staying. I’ll get Jeff to walk me back.”

  We hugged, and then I let Liam pull me through the crowd to the outside. It was good to breathe fresh air after being squished in the sweaty bar.

  Liam grasped my hand, his grip sending tendrils of warmth up my arm while we walked back to my apartment in silence. He appeared to be as lost in thought as I was. He was probably replaying the kiss. The kiss, which had come out of the blue. Could I blame it on the alcohol? Probably not. He knew I’d only had two beers. The kiss had been hot; he certainly knew how to kiss.

  “Are you okay? You’ve been quiet since we left the bar.” His tone seemed unsure, but I couldn’t tell what he was unsure about.

  I reached up and touched along my tender lips with my fingers. His eyes narrowed as he watched me. “I was thinking,” I met his eyes, “can we try that again?”

  He shook his head, about to say something, but I didn’t give him time. I stepped into his space, took hold of his head, pulled him down to me, and sealed our lips together. I wanted to know if the kiss and reaction at the bar was a one off.

  Our lips met. Our bodies touched, chest to chest and… nothing. It was nice, but… nothing. I slowly pulled back and looked into Liam’s eyes. He looked flushed.

  “Thalia.” He reached up and brushed the hair away from my face. “I’m not ready to become intimate with you. I like you a lot and I can talk to you. I guess I’m afraid of losing that if we hit the sack. You know what I mean?”

  “I’d like that – a lot.” I nearly laughed out loud when I saw the look on his face. He looked as relieved as me.

  “When I take you home tomorrow, would it be okay for me to tell everyone that you’re my girlfriend? I mean we may end up together anyway. It would just stop my mom from constantly parading girls through the house,” he asked, looking hesitant.

  “Okay, I guess.” I glanced up to the dark window of my apartment, “I better head upstairs.” I turned away and started to open the front door.

  “Thanks Thalia, you’re great.” He came up behind me, kissing me on the cheek before stepping back. I watched him turn back towards Luke’s for his car.

  “Goodnight Liam, I’ll see you bright and early.”

  “That you will. Goodnight Thalia.”

  Chapter Four

  Jack

  Saturday night and I was knocking back a beer before it was Deception’s turn on stage. I lived for these nights. Deception being the group I’d started back in high school with a couple of friends. Reece was on the drums, while Donovan worked his electric guitar, which left me to sing solo, occasionally bringing my guitar out.

  Deception was also one of my big secrets. As far as my parents were concerned the ‘band phase’ had come to an end when we all left high school. Little did they know!

  I had another year of hard studying to do before I could get out from under them. It was going to be a hard year, not just because of the studying. I was going to piss good old dad off when he found out my program at college would be all geared to me practicing criminal law. All I had to do was get through summer before I headed back to school. A married man – Fuck!

  Kix had been open a couple of months and for the past couple of weeks, since we’d arrived home from college, Reece, Donovan and me had played on stage about three times. After our first appearance, people had been asking when we were coming back. Deciding it was a great way to spend the summer, we’d struck a deal with Ryder, and now we wanted to extend the deal to maybe a Wednesday night as well as the Saturday spot we already had. Ryder wanted to think about it.

  “You seen the chick over there?” Reece asked, pointing his bottle of beer in the direction of the blonde girl who looked to have melons for breasts.

  “Not interested.” The thing was I hadn’t been interested in close to twelve months, ever since I had Mia thrust on me. Mia my fiancée, the woman I was being faithful to. The woman I didn’t want, but was trapped with.

  “You need a distraction my friend, and that over there, is a distraction.”

  “Fuck. Reece, I am so not going there. If you’re that interested, you go for it.”

  After a minute of silence from me, he grabbed another beer and walked towards the ‘chick’. What my friends couldn’t understand was why I stayed faithful to someone I didn’t love and didn’t like spending time with. I may have allowed my family to push me into marriage, which would happen in about six weeks, but I wouldn’t cheat on the girl. I’d tried to tell my folks I wanted to wait until after college before I committed myself to her. I hoped she’d have changed her mind by then so I’d be off the hook. For some reason everyone, including my so-called fiancée, wanted the wedding this summer.

  I’d returned home from college to find the wedding arranged and to be told, all I had to do was show up. To say I’d gotten totally and utterly drunk that night would be an understatement.

  Why did I let my parents push me into a wedding I didn’t want? Well, I was so close to finishing college and my father had put my financial future on the line. I’d studied damn hard so the last thing I wanted to do was pull from the program.

  I tried not to think about it too much, and just hoped everything, including my feelings, fell into place.

  Looking at other women was out of the question, because I was frightened that if I did, I might find the woman I’d been looking for before my life got ‘arranged’. The one that I’d dreamed about. Regardless of
what my friends thought, before my life had taken a turn, I would have loved nothing more than to find the woman meant for me. Instead of the constant stream of women gracing my sheets, I’d just have the one woman.

  “I see he’s found some company,” Donovan pointed out.

  “I’m surprised you’re not with him.” I stated, turning away from Reece’s flirting and looked at Donovan who was in his usual black jeans and white t-shirt, which was stretched tight over his abs. He’d been my friend for about thirteen years, and he knew me better than my own family did. Usually he’d go in for the kill with Reece, even if it was just the one woman.

  “Maybe later. We’re up in a minute.” Donovan turned and leaned against the bar. “We have a good crowd here tonight. Do you think they’d come and watch us on a Wednesday as well?”

  We surveyed the bodies, which were packed tightly into the place, here to let off steam to our music; it felt damn good knowing they were here because of us.

  “Yeah, I do. Maybe not as many, but I guess the majority of them would. The only problem I might have is work.” I took a long swallow of beer, grimacing at the thought of spending the summer under my dad’s watchful eyes. It had been my idea so I couldn’t complain too much. “I can shift things around and work when I get home if I have to. I really want the Wednesday slot.” I drained the rest of my beer knowing I needed our music to get me through the week.

  I still dreamed of having a life of my choosing, but six weeks would be here all too soon and it took all my strength to stay strong.

  “Hey,” Donovan nudged me with his beer.

  “What?”

  “What?” Donovan repeated. “Where’d you go?”

  “Thinking about the shit I have to look forward too,” I replied with a heavy sigh.

  “Talking about shit, isn’t your brother home tomorrow?”

  I laughed, because neither, Donovan or Reece got along with Liam and vice-versa. “Yeah, he is and apparently he’s bringing his girl with him.”

  Donovan spat his mouth full of beer out, luckily onto the floor and not me. “You fucking with me?”

  I held my hands out. “Nope, he is. Moms been sprucing the place up, driving me crazy, following me around making sure I didn’t just dump my boots at the foot of the stairs. Trust me, I tried and within five minutes, they came flying in my room, with the door banging shut behind her. God, she’s driving me nuts.”

  “She always drives you nuts,” Reece pointed out, reappearing – alone. “They’re ready for us. Which song do you want to kick off with?”

  “Hero.” I’d written the song myself and it was loud with a bite to it. The crowd usually went wild when we sang it, especially when Reece lost his t-shirt towards the end, flashing his tattoos not to mention his muscles.

  “Okay, let’s bring this place to life,” Reece said, walking in the direction of the stage. “You girls coming,” he asked Donovan and me when we made no move to follow him.

  We finally started to follow Reece as Ryder climbed on to the stage.

  “Okay y’all, shut the fuck up,” came blaring through the speakers. Not one to mix words was Ryder, a thirty-year-old ex-marine with a bad attitude, who just happened to own the bar and for some reason liked us.

  “I know y’all are here to see my smiling face.” Half the crowd laughed and the other half whistled. “Sorry to disappoint y’all, but you’re going to have to put up with Deception.” With that he leapt from the stage as we climbed up on it.

  Chapter Five

  Jack

  As I placed the mic back into the stand, I couldn’t help but smile in pride. We rocked the place tonight and even ended our turn on stage with ‘Love, Lost and Found’. It was a slow number to give the guys in the crowd a chance to get their hands on the women.

  While I’d been singing, I’d had a front row seat watching the ‘chick’ from before going between the three of us with lust clear in her eyes. She had no chance with me, but I’d glanced at Donovan and Reece a few times and knew as soon as our stint was over they’d be all over her, and in her.

  I’d be a liar if I said I hadn’t been turned on with the sizzling glances she’d kept throwing at me, because I had been. The boner in my jeans could attest to that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t act on it.

  Walking towards the bar to distract myself from the throbbing going on below my belt, I bumped into a dark haired girl, who started to tumble forwards. Placing my hands on her hips to stop her from tipping over, her ass rubbed up against my groin.

  She turned her head. “Is that for me?” she purred, rubbing against my dick, which had gone hard as fuck.

  Taking a deep breath, I gently pushed her away from me, “No. Sorry.”

  I carried on walking, but changed direction towards the back where I knew the guys had taken the ‘chick’. God, I hated that word. I needed to come badly; otherwise my dick wouldn’t go down. I hadn’t had sex in forever, but my fist worked fine, although I was getting fed up with it.

  Donovan and Reece were in the storeroom, so taking another breath; I knocked on the door. “Guys, it’s me,” I shouted through the door, knowing it would be useless trying to open it since it would be locked.

  I heard the lock click before the door opened slightly. I pushed my way in, much to Donovan’s shock.

  “You’re joining us?” Reece asked, in disbelief from between the woman’s thighs.

  “Not exactly.” I wasn’t sure what the hell I was doing in the room with them. Sex was out of the question; since Mia I’d stopped with the one-night stands. Once or twice I’d watched the guys with women, jerking off to the show.

  This wasn’t a first. We’d done a threesome with a woman on more than one occasion with our cocks in her cunt, ass and mouth. Yeah, it had been hot as fuck, and with just the memory, my dick hardened even more.

  “I’m staying over here,” I said, backing up to the wall, resting against it. I had a first class view of the naked woman on the desk, who was already groaning, thrashing her head from side to side. I wasn’t surprised as Reece had his mouth buried between her thighs, with Donovan sucking her tits; then she came with a squeal, which Donovan moved to capture in his mouth.

  I stroked my cock through my jeans, then thought fuck it, unzipped and unbuttoned the denim that had been keeping me contained and let my swollen dick burst free.

  Both Reece and Donovan had their cocks out now and had suited up. Donovan was standing to the side of her, his junk level with her face, while she lapped at his balls like there was no tomorrow.

  Taking hold of my cock, I started to move my hand back and forth, rubbing the wet tip with my thumb. Christ it felt good. What I really wanted to do was walk over to her and soak my cock in her cunt juice.

  Fuck, I slammed my head back against the wall. Through heavy lidded eyes, seconds from coming, I watched as Reece thrust into the woman’s wet sex, rubbing her clit with his fingers, while Donovan fucked her mouth, squeezing her nipples between his thumb and finger.

  I knew the three of us were ready to blow, but we waited for the woman.

  Reece leaned over her while slamming into her like a fucking train, knocked one of Donovan’s hands from her tit, and started to suck her nipple; she came apart under him.

  Donovan started to come, followed by Reece, as they brought the woman up and over again, triggering my release.

  Biting my lip, I came all over the bottom of my fucking t-shirt, which I’d used to cover the tip of my cock, just before I blew. Coming back to my senses, I whipped the t-shirt off and cleaned up, before shoving everything back inside my jeans.

  Standing against the wall, I watched them dress the woman, who had a glazed, just been fucked, look on her face. As they walked her to the door, they took it in turns to kiss her, before patting her on the ass and sending her through the open door.

  Closing the door with grins on their faces, they both looked at me, and for once I was glad of the darkness where I stood, because I was slightly embarrassed, and prob
ably blushed like a fucking girl.

  “Don’t say a word,” I told them, as I walked out the room, slamming the door behind me.

  Chapter Six

  Jack

  It was late, but after jerking off to the show Donovan and Reece put on with the woman, who Donovan informed me was named Simone, in the backroom of Kix, I felt restless as hell. I thought I’d feel better after releasing the tension that gripped me, but no such luck. In fact, I felt worse than before.

  When our stint was over with, we’d loaded Donovan’s car with our gear, and then driven back to his place to chill for a while. I needed a place to relax before I could face going home.

  “Here,” Donovan pressed a bottle of beer into my hand. I took a deep drink from the longneck before stretching out on his porch.

  Both my best friends were lounging around with me, but it was Reece’s gaze that was starting to bug me.

  I turned my head full on to return his stare. “What?”

  “It’s been a while since all three of us have done anything like we did tonight. You should have joined in more. She tasted fucking good. She’d rubbed some strawberry stuff over her pussy.” Reece smacked his lips together.

  I groaned remembering what it was like to go down on a woman, which was a bad idea considering what that image was doing to my dick.

  “How long’s it been since you got your dick wet? Twelve months? I’m telling you, get rid of Mia and break the dry spell. God, Simone’s cunt was so fucking wet and tight.”

  Glaring daggers at Reece, I willed him to shut the fuck up. My dick was hard as a fucking spike again and there was nothing I could do for it. By the look of things, Reece and Donovan weren’t faring any better.

  “You’re a bastard,” I informed him.