Ballad:Rockstar 05(23)

I suck in a breath. "You can't promise that, Ben. There'll be times we  may argue or unintentionally hurt one another. It's human nature."

"I suppose that's so, but I'm going to try my damnedest to keep that smile in place."

"Okay. No more stubborn Ben."

"Nope, his dumb ass is gone," he says and I snicker.

"I wasted too much time, honey, and I want every minute we've got from here on out to matter."

"Every second with you matters," I admit. "I'm so afraid time won't be our friend-"

He cuts me off with a finger to my lips.

"None of that. We take each day as it comes, okay? We'll do our worrying later."

I nod and he leans forward, pressing his lips against mine, just a  gentle pressure and a caress of breath, but it's enough to have my heart  fluttering and my body responding, wanting more.

"Let's spoon," he tells me between soft, quick kisses, "before I can't control myself."

I wouldn't mind him losing control. I don't care if everyone on the bus can hear. If he'd touch me, I'd melt into his arms.

He urges me to turn and I can't bite back the sigh of disappointment.  Ben pulls my back to his chest, my hips back against his and, holy  Hannah, he's hard. Then he wraps his leg between mine, his arms holding  me tight, so tight, his breath wafting against my ear, causing my  nipples to pucker in arousal. Damn traitorous nipples, I think as his  arm moves down, over my breasts, his soft groan of approval in my ear as  he discovers the hard points.

"Honey, I want nothing more than to take you right here, right now, but I'm not going to. Do you know why?" he asks.

I shake my head. "No."

His hand lazily moves up and down my thigh. Gah. He's making me wet. Traitorous body!

"It's because I want to be able to take my time and savor every inch of  you, touching, tasting, kissing you from head to toe. And when I'm done,  I'm going to make you mine, but I'm sure as hell not going to make  something special into something cheap by fucking you in a narrow bunk  on a tour bus where everyone can hear you. Not our first time. You  deserve so much more than that and I'm going to give it to you."

I sniffle, unable to stop the tears. "Who knew you were such a romantic?"

He chuckles. "I'm not really. I just want to give you everything you  deserve. I want our first time to be perfect, something you'll always  look back at and never regret."         

     



 

"Ben," I whisper. "I would never regret it. No matter where, when, or how."

"I'd be ashamed of myself if it was less than that. You're like a princess."

I snort at that. "I come from a foster home. That's far from royalty."

"Don't talk like that. I don't care where you come from, Nicole. I just  care where you go from here and if you take me with you. You're special,  unique, and you don't even realize it," Ben tells me, kissing my neck.

"Ben..." I want so badly to tell him I love him. But I don't. I'm  afraid. I'm a coward when it comes to him. I can face down cancer, but  Ben Kingston? Pussy girl right here.

"Yeah, honey?"

I just shake my head and bite my lip. I can't hold back the yawn.

"Aww, my sleepy baby. Let's get some sleep," he whispers.

I snuggle back into him. He's so warm, so big, so mine. I close my eyes and smile. Mine.



Sera catches up to me the next morning on one of our fueling stops.

"Coley, my girl."

I smirk. "Sera."

"How was your first night with Benny?" she asks with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

I smile and blush. "It was good."

"Yeah? He didn't take advantage of you, did he?" she asks, frowning.

"No, no. We just slept."

She nods. "Good. He better treat you right."

I don't know what to say so I don't say anything.

Sera looks around. "Misty tried to come on to Ben yesterday and we  caught her. We let her know we knew she wasn't who she said she was and  gave her until the day after we get settled in New York to get picked up  by her sister and brother-in-law or she was out on the curb."

"Holy Hannah." I don't know what I was expecting, but that's not it.

"We didn't tell her we knew more." She emphasizes the word more so she doesn't have to elaborate.

I nod. "Okay."

"We're going to work that out when her fam gets here and we're in a secure location," Sera says with a distant look in her eye.

"Oh boy." I gulp.

"It won't be pretty and she won't be back, so we won't have to worry about her again."

Holy Hannah the Russos mean business.

"What about the others?"

"They won't be a problem anymore either."

I meet her gaze and see a blankness that usually isn't there. Cage walks  up and her whole expression changes when he puts his hand on her lower  back.

"Fee. Nicole," he says by way of greeting.

"Morning Cage."

"Everything all right?" he asks, not to me but to Sera, who's turned into his embrace. She pulls back and meets his gaze.

"Just fine, why?"

"There's more … "

"More?" she asks, her posture going rigid.

"Yes, and we need to talk with Damian and the others."

Sera's face goes hard. "Do I want to ask?"

He shakes his head.

"Shit," she mutters. "I have to … " she says, waving a hand at Cage.

"Go, go. Don't even worry about me."

"Lady bug, I'm always going to worry about you. Just not as much now  that you've got Ben," she tells me as she hugs me. Then in a blink  they're gone.

Something's going down. Something very, very bad.





Chapter 14




Sera



We step onto the bus and Damian, Ernesto, and a few others from the Famiglia crew are there.

"Tell me," I say before I even sit down.

Ernesto shakes his head.

Damian sighs. "They took one of Jesse's sisters."

I stand immediately. "What? Who? How?" Fear, anger, dread fill me.

"Jeni's safe at Lucy's house, but Jana went rogue. She went home, to her  house. We had eyes on her but not enough. They grabbed her at a mall  and there hasn't been any sign of her since," Damian tells me.

"Oh God," I say, rubbing my hands over my face. "Jesse …  Lucy," I murmur.

"We don't know-" Ernesto starts.

"Don't bullshit me, Nesto. You know as well as I do, the Manzinis take no prisoners. They just leave bodies," I state.

He nods grimly.

"There's no way to find her before it's too late?" I ask, looking to Cage.

He looks at me and I can see the sadness and anger in the depths of his gaze. "It's already too late."

"How long have they had her?"

"Since yesterday," Ernesto replies.

"And by the time we find her … " Damian trails off.

"She'll already be dead." Shit. Oh God, oh God, oh God, what this is  going to do to my sister and brother is going to be nothing short of  absolute carnage. "I'm going to kill a motherfucker," I state as I pound  my fist on the table.

Damian's eyebrows raise.

"I can swear if I want to," I tell him.

"And you do, just usually not that harsh."         

     



 

"There's a time and place for everything."

"True enough," he mutters and I turn it off. All feeling. All anger. All emotion. Only purpose fuels me right now.

I walk over to where Misty is sitting tied to a chair. She meets my gaze  and smirks. I turn to Cage and he ever-so-slightly inclines his head.  If you weren't looking closely, you'd miss his approval.

"You got something to smirk about, Misty?" I ask.

She snorts. "You're going to let me go or that bitch is dead."

I snort back. "Bitch, whether I let you go or not, she's dead and so are you."

Her face pales. "My brother-in-law, he'll have information … "

"Which we'll get from him … and your sister."

Her eyes widen.

"And when we're satisfied we got everything we need, they're going to  end up in the body bag right alongside you," I tell her, leaning down to  look her square in the eyes, almost nose-to-nose.

She gasps. "You can't-"

"Oh, I can and I will." I hold my hand out to Damian who, again, lifts a  brow, but doesn't miss a beat as he passes over his pocketknife.

I open it, testing the blade against my thumb even though I know it's sharp enough to cut through bone.

I whistle and wink at Damian, who winks back.

"Fuck," Ernesto mutters and Misty flinches.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you yet," I tell her, walking back  in front of her. I sit on a chair across from her. The look of relief on  her face is short lived when I tell her, "Besides, there are much worse  things than death."

"Please-" she pleads.

I run the tip of the blade down her bare thigh, her mini skirt barely  covering her panties. When it doesn't puncture her skin, she relaxes  just a bit, and it's that bit that reminds me that she smirked at me.

Taking the blade in my left hand, I point at her. "You smirked at me."

"I didn't," she says, shaking her head frantically.