LUCKY'S EYES NORMALLY glacier blue burned like twin butane torches. His gaze dipped to my chest for a brief moment seeing the red marks JGB had left behind from his frustrated flailing earlier. When he raised his eyes again, they brimmed with barely restrained fury. "Let her go. Now,” he commanded voice full of menace.
I couldn’t see JGB. He remained behind me, but my hands fell free. I immediately jackknifed into a seated position and wrapped my arms around myself.
"You ok?" Lucky's gaze landed on me, and his expression softened only slightly when I nodded. He jerked his head to the side. "Go to Marsha." I scrambled off the couch, sprinting for my best friend's open arms, avoiding the retributive fire in the frontman’s eyes. The other Dragons appeared equally inflamed. Shoulder to shoulder, fingers tightly curled into fists, they flowed beside him as soon as I ducked by, forming a wall between us and the Steps From Hell crew.
"What's the problem?" I heard JGB ask as Marsha tucked my head into the side of her neck and folded her arms around me. "We were only having a little fun. She's that Rock Fuck Club chick..."
A loud whack silenced him. I lifted my head wanting to see, but the wall of Dragons blocked me.
"Motherfucker,” JGB complained, his consonants slurring as if his jaw had been loosened. “Take her then. See if I care. Get the fuck off my bus, asshole. And take your fucking posse with you."
A shuffle of movement in the Dragon line afforded me a sliver of a view. JGB's mouth had a big gash in it from one of the metal rings on Lucky's fingers I guessed. The lead singer stood out in front of his friends, toe to toe with the rock rapper whose busted lip was swelling fast. Satisfaction blazed through me.
"Hey, man,” the Steps from Hell’s guitarist said in a placating tone. “Be cool." The brim of his ball cap bobbed. "This was JGB's show.” He shifted his feet nervously. “His call. We're just the hired help, you know?"
"Are you the only one who touched her?” Lucky stared down JGB. “Are you the one who put those red marks on her chest?” His back all tensed muscle, his spine rigid, the inked dragon on his skin seemed poised to strike.
I had a defender. The deep tug I’d first felt toward Lucky reemerged, only stronger now.
"So I touched her," JGB admitted. "But the bitch asked for it."
"I don’t think she asked for those bruises," Lucky disagreed. "And I don’t think she asked to be held down while that git shoved his dick in her face." Fists locked and loaded, he took a step in the direction of the drummer.
"Just following orders." Reg waved his hands in front of himself, wanting no part of the angry frontman.
Lucky spit at his feet. “You’re a fucking useless tosser and an even worse liar than your friend." His movements fluid, one hand holding the drummer in place, Lucky reared back with the other delivering a powerful punch that doubled Reg over and dropped him to his knees.
"Hey man, I’m sorry." The ball capped guitarist took a step backward when Lucky turned toward him and advanced. "Tell her I’m sorry."
"Is this wanker’s apology acceptable to you, Raven." The Dragon frontman didn’t look at me and his stance didn’t soften. "I’m ready to beat the shit out of him. But it’s your call."
"He's a prick. They all are." Arms over my tits, I tried to press my shoulder between Cody and Alec.
"Wait,” Alec said, stopping me. "Where the bloody hell do you think you are going?"
"To get my necklace. They took it from me when they held me down." I curled my fingers into tight fists, my nails biting my skin. "It’s mine. It belongs to me." I started to shake. The adrenaline rush. The tequila high. They evaporated as the shock set in. What they had done to me, what could have happened made the room spin. The floor rose up to meet me.
VOICES. FAINT AND undistinguishable. Humid night air. Suspended in strong arms. My cheek against smooth skin. My lids too heavy to open. My hands curled over flexed biceps. My body rocked against a hard chest with the steady pace of his strides. I felt the cool metal of my necklace, the ring pendant returned to its proper place at the center of my chest.
I heard a door open.
"Get out." Lucky's accented command crackled in my ear disturbing the soothing effect of the metronome of his heartbeat.
"But..." a feminine protest.
"You heard him, ladies." Welsh accent. Rocky. "Clothes on now and out. If you hurry you might have time to catch a ride on one of the other coaches before they pull out."
I cracked open my eyes as blue motion lights flickered. Jostled inside the bus bathroom, my head lolled back. Lucky's gaze hit mine. The blue flame doused. No mocking sparkle. Only concern remained. He stroked a long finger down my cheek.
"Is she going to be ok?"
"Marsha," I whispered and turned my head toward the sound of her voice.
"Raven." The latch rattled, and the door cracked open a sliver, but jammed against the slab of Lucky's shoulder precariously close to where my head rested.
"There's not room for three." The frontman's deep melodic voice resonated, an acoustic dream in the confined space.
"Then you come out and let me in with her."
"She needs to bathe and sleep it off, tigress. She's practically dead weight right now. I don’t trust her to stand by herself. You can wait right outside the door if you’d like. I’ll bring her out as soon as she’s finished."
"That ok with you, honey?"
"Yes,” I croaked dryly. My gaze went from the closed door to my rescuer’s unyielding visage. "I can bathe alone." Thanks to him nothing more had happened beyond the consensual foreplay with JGB. But every single inch of me felt defiled. I desperately wanted to be clean.
"Let's see how you do." Lucky released his hold. My body slid slowly along the hardened contours of his before my toes reached the cold floor. My vision tunneled. I clutched his forearms, swaying. "No way, Angel." His arms twisted beneath my hold as he unbuckled and unbuttoned his jeans. They didn’t slide to the floor. The way they fit he had to do some tricky contortions to remove them. He curled his ringed forefinger under my chin to crank my gaze up. Lucky in only jeans was one thing. Lucky in silky black boxers that outlined his length was another. The chemistry between us couldn’t be ignored, and my interest piqued. My nipples drew tight. My pulse began to beat strongly between my thighs. His full lips curved as he studied me and noted my reaction. "You'll be alright, Angel." His expression approving, his words reassured me. Heat flooded my cheeks as his large hands framed my face. Rings cold. Skin warm. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. His eyes beamed like twin spotlights exposing all my deepest darkest secrets. "I'm going to take your shorts off." He waited a beat to see if I would protest. "Would you prefer to leave your knickers on?"
His gaze heated me as he awaited my answer. "Yeah." I bobbed my head against his palms.
"Probably a wise choice,” he whispered studying me as if memorizing my features. He stroked my cheeks gently with his thumbs. The roughened pads caught on the outer edges of my mouth. My lips parted, and my pulse raced burning through the fog of the remaining alcohol in my system. His eyes dipped to watch his thumbs’ movements, and I was tempted, oh so tempted to flick my tongue out. I wanted to know how Lucky tasted. "Alright, then." He cleared his throat, removed his hands, tucked me under his arm and opened the shower. Once he had the water on, he set me back a bit and reached for the button on my shorts.
"I can do it," I insisted, lowering my head. His hands were so large. Mine were tiny against them as I swept his aside. I shivered and not just from the feel of his warm skin brushing against my belly, but from thoughts of having those hands all over me. I knew what they said about the size of a man’s hands matching his member was true where Lucky was concerned.
My fingers fumbling, my heart sputtered when my shorts hit the floor. Now I stood completely naked but for a tiny scrap of lace only inches away from a man I had been attracted to from the moment I had first met him, mocking grin and all.
"I suppose you can at that." Voice gruff, Lucky’s finger's flexed on my upper arms for a moment before he lifted his head, shifting slightly his hips brushing against mine as he opened the shower door. Steam basted my skin. Fire heated my blood. Desire pounded hot and heavy in my veins. "Here. Step up." Lucky ushered me into the stall and closed the door. Made for only one, inside it we were immediately soaked, our bodies warm, wet and plastered together.
"Lucky." I sucked in a ragged breath. His cock felt huge wedged in the cleft of my ass.
"Angel, you're so fucking sexy." He smoothed his hands down my upper arms. Water pelted my front. His cock pulsed against my rear, desire not just pounding between my legs now but pooling. I leaned my head back against his shoulder and lifted the tight nipples of my aching breasts toward his questing touch. I moaned when his hands closed around my tits and his thumbs flicked the tips at the same time that he pressed his warm lips into the hollow of my shoulder.
"Not me. You." I couldn’t recall any reason at all why he shouldn’t fuck me right there, right then in that shower. Wanting my breasts crushed against his hard chest, his lips on mine and his cock inside me, I started to turn, but a voice froze me.
"Raven,” Sky called. The heat of passion froze to the ice of realization. "You can use my shower gel and shampoo if you want to."
"Um, yeah. Thanks." Every muscle that had been complicit stiffened with remorse. I twisted away from him edging as far away as I could. Water sprayed in my eyes temporarily blinding me the way he had temporarily blinded me. I had momentarily forgotten it all, the menacing rapper and his bandmates plus the fact that Lucky had a girlfriend. Everything wrong felt right when he touched me.
"Raven." Lucky placed his hands on my shoulders.
"Don’t. Fucking don’t. I'm not that type of girl. Don’t you fucking make me one. Get out. I’m ok. I can stand on my own. I don’t need your help."