Chapter 14

 

Elle

 

The incessant chimes from my cell phone woke me. 

I was cuddled up in Levi’s arms and someone was disturbing that.  Considering the frequency of the chimes, I knew something was up.  I rolled over in the bed and sought out my phone on the nightstand.

I looked at the screen and watched as the texts poured in.

They were from two different people.

Both were expected, but one had me slightly concerned.  That person was Charley.  She was texting me because, apparently, she found out about what happened last night.  The other person was Leah.  She, too, learned of the events following my performance last night and, obviously, wanted to check in on me. 

Charley’s texts started off as her showing concern for me and wanting to make sure I was alright.  Then, the tone of the texts changed because Wes found out.  He was currently losing his shit about the situation and Charley’s texts were serving as a warning.

Did I mention I loved my sister-in-law? 

She had the forethought to at least warn me that a call from Wes was imminent so I could prepare myself.

“What is it, El?”

Levi was beside me in bed and, unfortunately, my phone had woken him up as well.

“Leah and Charley.  Somehow, they know about last night.  They wanted to check in on me,” I answered.

“Fuck.  It’s got to be on some news media outlet,” he hissed.  “Let them know you’re ok so they can stop texting.”

“There’s a problem, Levi.”

He lifted his head and asked, “Which is?”

“Charley said Wes just found out and is losing his marbles.  A call is going to be coming from him any minute now.  I can pretty much guarantee you that.”

He acknowledged this with a nod of his head and asked, “How are your hands today?”

“They don’t hurt.  Whatever that ointment was you put on last night had some pretty serious pain relief stuff in it.  The burning stopped almost immediately.”

“Let me look at them,” he said, obviously still concerned about the well-being of my hands.

I held them out to him and allowed him to remove the bandages.  The redness surrounding the scrapes last night was non-existent this morning.  He kissed both palms and I felt my belly flip at the sweet gesture. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to bask in that too long because just then, my phone rang. 

Wes.

Shit.

I stared at it knowing he was not going to be happy and wondering if I should avoid picking up the phone until later when he had some time to cool off.

“Answer it, sunshine.  Don’t make him worry any more than he already is.”

Good point. 

I answered the call and put the phone to my ear.

“Hi, Wes,” I greeted as I sat up in the bed and rested my back against the headboard.

“Dear God, Elle, please tell me you weren’t hurt.”

“I’m ok.  I just have a few scrapes on my hands and bruising on my neck.”

“Everything I’ve read says that you were abducted after your show last night in Tucson,” he began.  He went on to recount all the details of last night’s catastrophe.  I was surprised at how accurate it all was.

“That’s the basic gist of it.  Where did you read this?”

“The fucking internet, Elizabeth Blackman,” he roared.  “And I’d like to know why that is?  Why did my baby sister not call me last night the second she was safe to tell me what happened so I wouldn’t have woken up to this terrifying fucking news that someone held a knife to her back and tried to kidnap her?”

Fuck. 

He was using my full name. 

This was a pretty good clue, as if I didn’t already have one, that he was pissed.

“Wes, please calm down.”

“Maybe I could do that, Elle, if I had any indication that when shit happened you’d call me and let me know.  I read that shit this morning and I wanted to fucking vomit thinking something had happened to you.  Where the fuck was Levi?  I thought he was with you.”

“Levi was there.  After performing for the last three nights I just wanted a few minutes to relax and have a drink.  In fact, Levi and Pierce were both there.”

I continued and filled in the holes in the story for him so he knew what happened from start to finish, including the stop at the station to give my statement.  I ended, “By the time it was all done, I was exhausted, scared, and no longer running on adrenaline.  I should have called you, but I didn’t.  I’m sorry.”

“Jesus Christ, Elle,” he clipped.  “Are you sure you are ok?”

“Physically, it really is just some scrapes on my hands.  Levi actually got a first aid kit last night from the hotel and bandaged them up.  I have bruising on my neck where the guy gripped me and held me against the car, but that’s all.  I’m not going to lie to you, though.  I’m scared.  I don’t know why someone is doing this to me.  Last night, I felt scared and helpless.  Even though I know Levi and his team will do anything to protect me, I told him I wanted to learn self-defense.  I didn’t like feeling scared like that.”

“I wish you’d cancel the tour and come home until this situation gets resolved,” he confessed.

“I appreciate where you are coming from, Wes, but I can’t do that.  It’s not fair to me and it’s not fair to my true fans.  On the bright side, I don’t have to perform again until Tuesday night so I have some time to relax.  Levi is actually going to drive me out to LA instead of flying.  I don’t really want to fly and he told me he’d have no problem driving me if that’s what I preferred.  Dom is going to be meeting up with us out in California after the LA show.  Pierce was supposed to fly back to Wyoming, but after what happened last night, he decided to stay for the remainder of the tour.”

“Please be careful, Elle.  And if anything else happens, please don’t make me read about it on the internet, ok?”

“I promise to call next time.”

“Appreciate it.  Charley misses you and wants to talk with you.  Can you spare a few minutes for her?”

“Of course.  I have things to share with her anyway.”

“You can share them with me,” he offered.

“No.  No, I cannot.  This is girl-talk territory.  I absolutely will not share it with you.  Trust me, you’ll thank me for not sharing it with you.”

“Fuck.  I should have known better.  What you just said is more than I care to know about.  Hang on, I’ll put Charley on. Love you, Elle.”

“Love you, big bro.”

While I waited for Charley to get on the phone, I looked over at Levi.  He had a look of adoration on his face.

“Do I need to make myself scarce during girl talk?” he inquired.

“It’s up to you.  I don’t mind if you stay, though.”

He gave me a grin and shifted his body closer to mine.  Draping an arm over my thighs, Levi rested his head in my lap.

“Elle, honey, I was so worried about you,” Charley’s voice filtered into my ear.

“I’m ok, love.  Levi’s with me and has taken such great care of me.  I promise, I’m good now.”

“I assume you gave Wes the details of your whole incident last night?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll get the details of that from him then.  What I really want to know is how things are going with you and Levi?”

I looked down at Levi’s head resting in my lap, his eyes closed as he held on to me.

“They’re perfect,” I sighed.

“Is it getting serious?”

“It is for me…” I trailed off.  I thought a moment and continued, “I’m in love, Charley.”

The hand on Levi’s arm that was draped over my thighs squeezed my leg.  It was gentle and sweet.  I put my free hand to the top of his head and lazily ran my fingers through his hair. 

“Oh, Elle.  I’m so happy for you.  I knew it.  I knew that day you first met him here when he was covering Emme that you two were going to end up together.”

“Well, I’m happy you were right about that,” I admitted.

“So,” she started.  “Is the sex good?”

“That’s the best part.  I’ll spare you the details right now since Levi’s here and I don’t want his ego inflating, but trust me when I say that it’s absolutely fabulous.  He’s great at finding and fighting bad guys, but sex easily tops the list of his talents.”

I felt Levi’s body vibrate with laughter.

When he settled down, his fingertips began traveling up my thigh.  He lifted his head and brought both hands to the hem of my nightie.  The next thing I knew, my nightie was up around my waist, Levi’s hand was at my knees separating them, and he was moving to settle his body between my now parted thighs.

Charley was talking, mentioning something about telling Emme and Zane the good news.  I was agreeing with her up until Levi put his face between my legs and put his mouth on me.

“Oh God,” I moaned.

His head shot up and he gave me a wickedly sexy grin.  Then, his mouth was back on me. 

“Elle?  Are you ok?” Charley said into my ear.

“Perfect,” I squeaked out.  “Listen, love…” I trailed off because Levi was distracting me with his tongue.

I fought to remain silent, but it was useless.  I moaned again into Charley’s ear. 

“Oh my,” she said.  “Go get some love from your man, honey.  Stay safe and call me later.”

“Ok,” I panted.  “Later.”

I tossed the phone back onto the nightstand.

Levi did not stop.  He continued to kiss, suck, and lick my sex.  I kept my hand in his hair, not wanting to let him move from me.  This only motivated him further.  He grew hungrier, his tongue working me faster, deeper.

“Levi,” I gasped.

He kept at me, taking me higher and higher.

It was like magic. 

One hand began traveling up my body to my breast.  His thumb circled my nipple over the satin fabric of my nightie as his mouth continued to feast on me.  The sensation was divine and it took mere moments for me to feel the familiar feeling deep in my belly.

I had one hand at my other breast, the other at the back of his head.  I moved my hips against his mouth.

He growled and relentlessly ate. 

Seconds later, I was calling out his name, clutching his hair in my hands as my sex trembled against his mouth.

Levi pulled back slightly and pressed a soft kiss there before trailing more soft kisses up my body.

He eventually made his way to my mouth and kissed me there.  I tasted myself on him and grew more turned on, not even understanding how it was possible. 

I pressed my hand to his shoulder and pushed him to his back.  Straddling him, I allowed my mouth to make the same journey on his body, only I was headed south.  He slept naked next to me last night, which meant I didn’t need to fuss with the removal of any clothing.  I crawled down his body and wrapped my hand around his length.  Wanting to waste no time in bringing him pleasure, I immediately wrapped my mouth around him. 

“Fuck,” Levi groaned.

I pulled back, looked up at him, gave him a coy smile, and put him back in my mouth.  My hand fisted the root of his cock while my mouth and tongue slid along the rest of his length.  I worked him just as hard as he did me.  The hunger I had for him surpassed anything I’d ever experienced before.  My free hand came up and massaged his balls before I slid my thumb down to the skin just beneath them.  I lightly brushed my thumb back and forth across the skin there before applying a bit of pressure.

“Jesus Christ, sunshine.”

His voice was thick with emotion.

I loved that I did that to him.

Levi allowed me to continue playing with him for a bit, until finally he pulled himself from my mouth, grabbed me under my arms, and hauled me up his body.

“Don’t want to come in your mouth,” he informed me before used one hand to position himself at the entrance to my sex.

With my lips next to his, I whispered, “Then you better do it between my legs, love.”

He growled again and slammed me down on him.

“Ride me, sweetness.”

I did as he wished and rode him.

Levi lifted my nightie over my head and tossed it to the side before bringing his hands to my thighs.  I moved my hips, rolling over his length slowly.  He gave me time to work and build myself up, but soon took over.  He gripped my hips and thrusted mercilessly into me. 

It took about point two seconds of him doing that for me to be on the verge of an orgasm.  I think he knew because he slowed his pace.

“Levi,” I called out, begging him to bring me there.

“You want to come?” he asked, thrusting slow and hard into me.

“Please,” I pleaded.

He picked up his pace.  “Tell me, Elle.”

I threw my head back. 

He stopped.

“Give me your eyes and say it, sunshine.”

My head fell forward.  I tried to lift my hips, seeking out the friction I was so desperate for, but Levi held me still. 

I whimpered as I brought my eyes back to him.  He held firm in his position, saying nothing and not allowing me to move.

“If you don’t finish fucking me, Levi, I may have to reconsider how much I love you.”

A devious grin spread across his face.  “That’s my girl,” he beamed as he began moving inside me again.

It didn’t take long, and before I knew it, he had me there. 

“Come with me, Elle, but give me your eyes when you do.”

So I did. 

I came with Levi.

And I gave him my eyes. 

When I finally collapsed on top of him I realized that, like last night, life might not always be all rainbows and sunshine, but with Levi by my side there wasn’t anything that I couldn’t endure and move beyond. 

“I love you, Levi.”

“I love you, Elle.  But for the record, you will not reconsider how much you love me.  That shit can grow as much as you want, but it never dies.  You got me?”

“I’ve got you.”

Levi’s hands traced gently up and down the skin of my back for a bit.  I basked in the feeling of having him like this. 

“Do you want to get on the road early this morning?” he asked.

I lifted my head to look at him and answered, “Yeah.  I was hoping we could stop and sightsee a little on the way out to LA.”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll make sure you get it.”

“Thanks, love.”

“You keep calling me that, there isn’t much I won’t do for you.”

I cocked an eyebrow and teased, “Good to know.”

Levi and I stayed in the bed for a bit longer before we got up to get dressed and pack up our things.  He called Pierce in that time and let him know that we’d take him to the airport before we got on the road.  I needed to call Leah, but figured it’d be best to wait until we were driving.  I knew she’d want the scoop on everything that had happened in my life over the course of the last three days and, because she was my bestie, I wanted to share it with her without feeling rushed.

An hour and a half later, we had dropped Pierce off at the airport and were on the road to LA.  This is what I loved.  Being carefree with a relatively loose schedule.  I had to perform on Tuesday night, but it was still early on Monday and there was plenty of time to go at my own pace.

The best part of it all was Levi.  He was with me and didn’t mind a roughly seven-hour drive in the car with me to take me where I needed to go.  Him making a sacrifice like that made me fall just a little bit deeper in love.

“We’re stopping for gas at the next exit,” he informed me after we had been driving for a while.

“I need to use the bathroom, so that’s perfect.”

“I figure we’ll fill up and see if we can find a decent place to grab lunch.  Then, we’ll get back on the road.”

“Works for me.”

Levi pulled off at the next exit and filled up the rental.  While he did that, I searched my phone for restaurants that had good ratings.  I found a place that was only twenty miles away.  We had to get back on the freeway, but it was on the way to our destination.

Perfect.

Levi filled the tank and then walked me to the bathroom.  He was still not real keen on letting me out of arm’s reach and, considering what happened last night, I had no issues waiting for him to walk me. 

When we got back in the car, I gave him the address to put in the GPS and we were off again.  I figured I’d use the drive to the restaurant to call Leah and fill her in on everything.

The phone rang once.

“I have texted and called you several times since this morning,” she offered in the way of a greeting.

“I know, LP.  I’m sorry.  I wanted to wait until we were on the road and I’d have uninterrupted time to talk to you.”

“On the road?” she wondered.  “Wait.  What time is it?  Did you miss your flight, E?”

I laughed. 

“No, Leah.  Relax,” I started.  “I was talking to Levi earlier in the day yesterday and told him how much I hated flying and deadlines and he told me that since I didn’t need to be in LA to perform until Tuesday night that he’d be more than happy to make the drive with me.  So…we’re road tripping it from Tucson to LA.”

I was sure she could hear the excitement in my voice.  I loved exploring new places like this.

“What a colossal waste of time,” she retorted, quickly diminishing my cheerful mood.  “Why would you ever want to spend that many hours in a car when you could fly to your destination and spend more time there?”

“There might be wonderful things to see and do at the destination, Leah, but do you realize how many places I get to see by road tripping?  Think of how much beauty I’d be missing out on by flying over all of this.  Besides, you know me.  I like to go with the flow.  I don’t like having every single minute of my life planned and scheduled.  It’s good to be spontaneous.  You should try it sometime.”

“No thanks.  I like being in control, knowing what’s going to happen and when.  God, Elle, how do you function like that?”

I took in a deep breath.  This was a never-ending battle with her.  It was one of those things that she always had to make comments about.  Leah believed in order and time lines.  She would plan a vacation and account for every single second of her trip.  I couldn’t ever do that.  Vacation, to me, is a time to relax and enjoy myself.  Sure, I’d select a few things I’d want to do while on vacation, but I wouldn’t plan my days out from the minute I woke up until the minute I went to bed.  Leah was that extreme.  Sometimes I wondered how we ever became such close friends because in so many ways we were so very different.  Somehow it worked, so I tended not to dwell on those differences.

I let out the breath and said, “Moving on.  I wanted to update you on the situation last night.  I’m guessing that you must have read about it online as well?”

“I was horrified when I read it, E.  I can’t even imagine how you must have felt.  Was the story online true?  They said a knife was held to your back.”

I closed my eyes and recalled feeling the point of the sharp metal pressing into the middle of my back last night.

“Yeah,” I whispered.  “It was terrifying.”

“So, what was it about?  Was is just some obsessed fan?”

I went on to tell Leah the story and all the events as they happened last night.  I hated reliving it, but she was my best friend.  I knew if something like this ever happened to her, I’d want to know.  She was alarmed at what she learned and was concerned for me.  I told her she didn’t need to worry because thanks to our spontaneity at least my stalker didn’t know I wasn’t on a plane right now.  To add to that, I went on to tell her that not only was Dom meeting us in California on Wednesday, but also that Pierce decided he would be staying with us for the remainder of the tour. 

“There’s going to be three of them and one of you?” she asked.

“Yep,” I answered.  “And I told Levi I want to learn self-defense.  He said Dom can start training me as early as Wednesday.”

“Self-defense?”    

“I was petrified last night, LP.   I don’t ever want to feel that way again.  Maybe I won’t be able to fight off all the bad guys always, but at least I’ll have some skill to try to defend myself.  I know that Levi and his team are going to do everything necessary to keep me safe, but it won’t hurt for me to be able to at least put up a good fight in case something like that ever happens again.”

“I can understand that.  It’s just that you’re not the self-defense type.”

“You might be right about that, but I’m also not the type to sit down and let someone torture me either.  It’s bad enough this jerk is tormenting me with notes and flower deliveries.  Last night, it went to another level.  I refuse to feel like that ever again.”

“Well, I’m meeting up with you in California on Wednesday.  We need to do some serious catching up.  I’m pretty sure there’s more to the story that I haven’t yet been told.  I’m also certain that it involves Levi.”

“You would be correct,” I responded.  “But you’re right.  It will be better if I fill you in in person in a few days.  In fact, I’ve got to go because Levi is pulling off the exit now and we’re headed for lunch.  I’ll see you when you get in on Wednesday and give you the full rundown then.”

“I’m looking forward to it.  See you soon!” she shouted before she disconnected the call.

I pulled the phone from my ear and tossed it into my purse while I fished out my lip balm.  I looked toward the driver’s side of the car and found Levi had come to the stop in the parking lot of the restaurant that was just off the exit and was looking at me.    

“What?” I asked, as I applied the strawberry-flavored moisturizer to my lips.

“I love you,” he confessed.

I smiled back at him and replied, “I love you, too.”

“Hungry?”

I nodded.

“Then how about you let me taste the lips quick so I can get you inside and feed you?” he suggested as he brought a hand up to cup my cheek.

I nodded my agreement. 

Ten minutes later, Levi made good on his promise to get me fed.