Strung(41)

Micah looks down at me and rubs his thumbs over my cheeks. “I deserve to get my ass kicked and I’d gladly take another beating for you. I’m sorry, baby. You better believe that letting you walk away for a second time is the last thing I’ll ever let happen. I promise.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and pull down until his lips meet mine. “Good. Because if you tell me to walk away again I’ll slap you.”

He laughs against my lips. “You know where that will lead, right?”

“Okay . . .” Whitney holds her cup up to us. “I’ll be outside drinking this tasty beer so you two can catch up . . .” She clears her throat. “In private. I’m glad you’re here, guitar guy.”

“Me too,” he says, tangling his hands into my hair. “Now I need to make up for lost time.”

Before Whitney has a chance to walk outside Micah is lifting me up and carrying me through the house with his lips against mine.

I grab the doorframe when he almost passes my room, so he backs up and steps inside, closing the door behind us.

Within seconds we’re both fully naked, our bodies tangled together as he makes love to me.

It’s rough at first, both of us unable to be gentle. But by the second round it’s sweet and gentle, the two of us taking our time on each other’s bodies.

Everything with him feels perfect right now, and I know without a doubt that there’s no way I’m not getting on a plane with him once he’s ready to go home.

As much as I hate to hurt my parents, I belong with Micah and I’m not letting anyone keep us apart this time.

It’s time I think of myself and do what makes me happy, and there’s nothing that makes me happier than being with Micah.

We love each other and I have to believe that everything will work itself out in the end, because I know we’re meant to be together.

Him coming here proves that . . .





Three weeks later . . .

I STAND HERE WITH A satisfied smile on my face as I take in all the bodies filling the room.

Express is at its capacity and there’s still a small line of people waiting for others to leave so they can come in and watch the performers lined up for tonight.

I couldn’t be more thankful that Tegan has been here by my side since the doors opened a few hours ago, because I seriously don’t think I could enjoy this moment as much without her here to experience it with me.

Stepping behind the bar, I grip her waist and lean in to speak against her ear. “Thank you.”

She laughs and turns around to face me. “For what?”

“For being here. It means so damn much to me. You mean so damn much to me.” I move my hand up to caress her cheek. “And I appreciate you working the bar for a while. You really didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to,” she says, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Everything needs to be perfect tonight and I really don’t mind. It’s sort of fun.”

“It is perfect.” I swipe my tongue across her lips, before kissing her. “You being here assured that.”

“I know,” she says with a cocky grin.

I laugh and kiss her again. The more she’s with me the more I wear off on her and I love it. “I should go greet some more guests before my performance.”

“Okay, babe.” She moves her hands down to grip the top of my shirt, before she pulls me in and playfully nips my bottom lip, and then kisses me. “You’ve got ten minutes before you’re up. Don’t be late or I’ll have to punish you.”

I smirk, before running my tongue over my lips. “I have a feeling that I’m going to love you being in charge.”

She watches me with a playful smile as I hurry away and get lost in the crowd, wanting to make my way around to as many people as I can before my show.

“Thank you for coming.” I smile and shake the hand of another guest, welcoming them to Express.

I’ve shaken too many hands tonight to count and I still haven’t made it around to everyone.

I’m just about to hold my hand out to greet the next person when I look up to see who’s standing in front of me.

Alexander is standing there dressed all sharp in a blue button-down shirt and a pair of black slacks.

As happy as I am to see he decided to show up for the opening, I don’t know what to expect from him.

We haven’t spoken much since I returned home with his sister, so I assumed he still hasn’t come around to the idea of us dating yet.

“Micah.” He holds his hand out and I take it, giving it a firm shake.

“Thanks for coming.”

He nods and releases my hand. “I see you have my sister working for you.”

I look over at Tegan to see her watching us from behind the bar with a small, hopeful smile.

“Yeah.” I can’t help the smile that takes over as she blows me a kiss, before turning away to help a guest. “I hired her as management. I wanted someone I could trust, and well . . . you know me.”

He nods and reaches for his glass. He watches me over the rim as he takes a drink. “She seems happy. Really happy.”

“And I plan to keep her that way. I don’t care what it takes and I want you to know that.” I meet his eyes, wanting him to see the truth in them. “I fucking love her and I’d do anything for her. Whatever it takes. I want you to fucking see that.”

“I know.” His lips curl into a small smile as he sets his glass down. “I realized that the day you showed up at my doorstep when you were supposed to be here opening the damn place you’ve worked so hard on. I know more than anyone how long you’ve worked to get this place up and running. You wouldn’t have walked away unless you truly loved my sister.” He pauses to look over at her again. His smile broadens as he watches her laughing with someone. “I was a hothead. I needed some time to be pissed off at your dumbass for going behind my back. I didn’t want to give in too quickly. I’m not a pussy.”

I chuckle and grip his shoulder. “I think your fist slamming into my jaw about ten damn times proved that you aren’t. The fucker still hurts if moved just right.”

He grins and hands me one of the shots in front of him. “Sorry about that, Man. I lost my shit when I saw you two together. I just want what’s best for her, but now I know that’s you.”

We tilt back our shots at the same time, and just as we set them down Tegan wiggles her way in between us with a smile. “I see you boys are playing nice,” she says, wrapping her arms around me. “This has totally made my night.”

Alexander releases a breath, while looking us over. It’s the first time since the night he caught us that he’s seen us together. “I suppose you two do look nice together. I do kind of already like him. But I’ll still kill Micah if he hurts you.” He cracks a smile, which has Tegan moving to give him a hug.

“It’s that time,” she whispers, after moving back in to hug me. “Are you ready?”

I nod and kiss the top of her head. “Yeah.” I drop my hands down to cup her face, and then move in to kiss her long and hard. “As long as you’re watching me, babe.”

She nods and moves in close to Alexander as I walk away and head toward the stage.

My heart is racing with a mixture of nerves and excitement, because tonight I’m performing a song I wrote for Tegan when she was gone.

I want her to feel every word of the pain I felt without her in my life.

And now that she’s here, there’s no way in hell I’m ever allowing her to leave me again.

I may not have ever experienced love before, but I’m damn sure that not everyone gets as lucky as I am. I plan to hold onto this feeling for as long as I can, because I already know what losing her feels like and it’s something I never want to live through again.

Tegan Tyler is mine and I’ll spend every day making sure she knows that . . .



Tegan

Excitement fills me as I watch Micah make his way through the crowd and up to the stage. Jealousy is the last thing on my mind, even though random girls still make attempts to get his attention.

It’s different now, because I know that he’s mine, when before I only wanted him to be.

He doesn’t offer the girls a second glance as he grabs his guitar and takes a seat on the stool. He looks down at his guitar while he tunes it, before looking up to see if I’m watching him.

I smile to let him know that I am. It’s always been impossible for me not to.

After staying in Wisconsin for a few days I took Micah over to my parents’ place to meet them and break the news that I was moving to California.

They were upset at first, but after seeing how happy Micah made me I think they finally warmed up to the idea of me leaving with him.

Apparently my brother had talked about Micah to them over the years, telling them all good things about how he’s had his back and really helped Vortex get going in the beginning.

I’ll admit, I was a little annoyed that even my parents knew about him when I didn’t, but I guess it ended up being a good thing in the end, because my parents were quick to trust him with me. They ended up loving him, which made me extremely happy.

I was hoping that by the time we arrived in California Alexander would be ready to talk to Micah and work things out, but he found ways to avoid him for the past three weeks.