Rockstar Secrets (Forbidden Chords Book 1) Read online

“I can’t risk not knowing. I have Cameron on me about staying detached from women. I have Devin on me about getting good press. I can’t add one more expectation to my full plate.”

  His fist clenched, dropping his head. “What if she’s another front-page story waiting to take me out again?”

  “You have us.”

  “Yeah, I’m a blessed dude.”

  “No doubt. How about this? I want you to think about it. I’ll hit you back in a few days. Keep your eyes open and call me if anything changes.”

  “Okay, I will.” He let out a frustrated sigh. “I’ll wait. I’d rather she tell me.”

  “That’s always the best way to do it. I can’t admit to being the most patient man in the world, I almost lost my lady to my determination to protect her. My heart was in the right place, but my methods were all wrong.”

  “Would you change it if you had to do it over again?”

  “No.” They laughed. “I will protect her at any cost. But don’t tell her I said that.”

  “You got it.” He chuckled. Imani tamed the shark. He shook his head. “Thanks, Damian.”

  “You’re welcome. Family…"

  “…over fame.”

  They disconnected. The light in the stateroom flicked on then the lounge. Brione was standing in the doorway wearing his t-shirt. Marques walked back to the bus.

  “What happened to everybody?”

  “They have the night off.” He glanced at his phone. “They’ll all return in about three hours.”

  She crooked her index finger beckoning him forward. He stepped onto the bus in a trance, shutting and locking the door behind them. She grabbed his hand and led him back to bed. She pushed him back on the mattress. She tossed the shirt aside, revealing the naked glory of her flesh.

  He removed his clothes not taking his eyes off her beautiful brown skin, full breast and hips. He pulled her forward by gripping her thighs. She straddled his legs. The scent of her was intoxicating. He brushed his lips over her taut stomach, darting his tongue around the rim of her belly button as his hands palmed her glorious backside.

  She lowered to his lap with a knee on either side of his body. He pulled them further back on the bed as skin met skin. She cupped his head and kissed his lips. Slow, deliberate, his arms encircled her. In one forward motion his back hit the bed, she raked her nails down his chest, down his ribs and his stomach, until her hot hands found him rock-hard and ready.

  “I think he likes me.” Her eyes sparkled as though she were playing a game.

  “What makes you say that, counselor?” His shaft jumped and jerked in her hand as she smiled with wicked pleasure.

  “Your Royalness…” her hand started moving in a steady rhythm, up and down with a slight swirl, “I could prove it to you. Based on the cold, hard facts.”

  “I’m listening.” Her skillful hands were working him into a frenzy.

  Brione sat back with her bottom against his legs and cupped him fully and took him into her mouth.

  Never had such an act crossed her mind until she felt the absolute power of holding his ridged flesh in her hands. She watched his face loving his reaction. He’d teased and taunted her, and it only seemed fair play to join in his heated game. Something once clouded in hurt and confusion felt wondrous and right with him.

  “Objection…” he hissed gripping the back of her head.

  “Overruled…” She forced him deeper.

  “Court is adjourned.” He flipped her over with one arm.

  Marques sat back and reached for protection before he blacked out from need. Her eyes clouded in a sexual haze as he tore the condom wrapper.

  They put it on together. She wiggled slightly placing his head near her entrance, spreading her thighs wide to receive him. Bold and insistent she guided him into her most intimate place. The tightness of her surprised him.

  “How long has it been?”

  “Four years.”

  He eased out of her.

  “Don’t.” Her eyes pleaded with him, legs locked around him, holding him captive.

  And in that moment she became his woman. He slid back in slowly with deep, steady strokes. Thankful he decided not to pursue the investigation with Damian. They would find a way to work out their relationship. Her insistence to leave this moment on the road was overruled with each thrust.

  Body to body, mouth to mouth they moved as one.

  She met his strokes eagerly with thrusts of her own, and he was home, in the warmth of her body. He felt her walls squeeze and he knew the end was near. The need to explode built in him as she whispered for more.

  There were no more words, just the sounds of pleasure. He lifted her hips and pressed harder, deeper. He thrust rocking the bus as he covered her mouth hungrily capturing her soft whimpers in his mouth. Her passion took his breath away, a tremor shook, and he didn’t know if it was from him or her, but it sealed the deal.

  “Are you ready princess?”

  “Andrew.” Her face contorted in sweet agony.

  “I’m here love. Now come for me.” He anchored a hand over her shoulder and pressed sending love through her body hoping the remnants entered her soul. She opened her eyes, and he saw everything he needed in their depths.

  No woman had ever felt so good, so perfect. He rocked them to sweet completion.

  Marques fell in a heap next to her, pulling her close. She wiggled closer wondering if her heart would ever function normally again.

  “Thank you,” he whispered, his hot breath against her ear. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It didn’t matter.” She glanced up into his kind eyes. “It wouldn’t change anything. I’ve never felt so special and loved in my entire life.”

  “Hot damn,” he joked. She playfully slapped his chest. “I’m kidding.”

  He looked down into her eyes, and she saw her heart reflected in his tender gaze. With him she felt wanted, desired. Could she have them both? Kayla and Andrew?

  She hoped so because she planned to give it all she had.

  “I’m curious.”

  “About?”

  “How you do it?”

  “Do what?” He propped up on his elbow with a hand on her stomach.

  “This.” She gestured to the bus. “This world of yours. The crowds, noise. The constant pull. Constantly having to be on for a picture, an autograph.”

  He shrugged. “It comes with the territory.”

  “I can’t imagine this being my daily life.” His eyes bore into hers. How could she possibly remain private with his career?

  “It’s not that serious princess.” He rubbed at the space between her brows, and she kissed the palm of his hand.

  “I want to understand.” He kissed her so softly that she almost missed it.

  “I was birthed into an extraordinary family. I’m carrying on the legacy of—"

  “Level with me.” He laid back and pulled her with him.

  “I guess I’ve always lived in front of people. It’s all I know. The thought of being a nobody or invisible would be a living nightmare. But worse for so long I was the celebrity kid that screwed everything up.”

  “You?”

  “Yes, me. I was a walking, talking, drinking, disaster. I felt lost in my father’s world. Cameron and Kyle found acceptance in the business world. But I always wanted to sing. Music is in my blood. But the media only saw my father.”

  “So what did you do?”

  “I acted out determined to be the life of the party. Ran the streets. Partied hard. Somehow I landed a recording contract. I was in a drunken haze until the night I lost it.” His voice dropped.

  He shook his head in disgust.

  “All of my so-called friends sat back and watched me, including my then girlfriend, Sam.”

  “From last night?”

  He nodded.

  “What about Cameron and your parents?”

  “I think that is the worse part. I drank myself into a stupor once my parents cut me off. They put me out. My
father said no more. That night I learned who my real friends were.”

  She leaned forward and brushed her lips against his.

  He continued, playing with the curls at the nape of her neck. “We went out celebrating, and I got behind the wheel. I couldn’t even walk straight, but I decided to drive. Thank God no one was hurt but I wrapped my car around a tree and Sam captured it all.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She captured the entire story, video, and pictures, and sold it to the tabloids. Then she used her earnings and newfound fame to start her blog.” His voice was distant.

  “Have you forgiven her?”

  For an instant, his gaze sharpened. “There’s nothing to forgive. Sam's happy as a celebrity blogger, and I’ve moved on.”

  “Moving on and forgiveness are not synonymous.”

  “It is for me,” he said with finality.

  Brione recalled Sam’s parting words with a fresh perspective. Marques' baggage had nothing on hers.

  She searched his eyes. “From that night, that mistake, how did you move on?”

  “My brothers.” His voice cracked. “Cameron and Kyle dried me out and cleaned me up. Then they shipped me off to Bruce. By then, I’d lost my recording contract; Sam left me, I had no friends. I was as low as humanly possible, and music brought me back.”

  “How?” She rested her folded arm across his chest and her chin against her wrist. The pain in his eyes made her heart sink.

  “I was reborn.” He rubbed her back, his large hand spanning the width of her lower back. “Bruce put me in the studio every day. I helped him write music for other artists at first. It was a creative punishment.” He laughed. “He’d drag me kicking and screaming. I felt it was useless since I didn’t have a record label. But he didn’t budge. We’d record for hours. Hours turned into days. Days turned into months. Then years.”

  The serene smile on his face told it all.

  “Then one day Bruce and Cameron gave me back my dream.”

  “It’s like a real-life fairy tale.”

  “Nah princess, more like an urban legend.” He leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

  “Then what happened?”

  “Rockstar Entertainment happened. They came together and started the record label.”

  “Just for you?”

  “Yeah, pretty much. Cameron left the business world, sorta, since he manages all the business affairs for the label. Bruce handles the music. And you met the fellas. All of them are his friends. I grew up running behind them, and now we’re business partners.”

  “Fairytale.”

  “You are delirious. You need more sleep.” He chuckled.

  “What I need is more of you.”

  “I think we can squeeze in another round before the band returns.”

  “Well stop talking and get to wooing loverboy.” Using Bruce’s word to taunt him made his eyes flash, and she looked forward to him fulfilling every naughty act reflected in his eyes.

  “Oh, you’re going to pay for that princess.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “What you working on over there? If you smile any harder, I’ll think you’re checking out another man.” Marques teased sitting across from her at the table. Their favorite spot to work on the bus. After six weeks of traveling, they’d developed a rhythm.

  “Not when I have the prince himself in my bed every night.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” He winked.

  “Someone is full of himself," Brione mumbled, rolling her eyes.

  “Are you complaining my love?”

  Brione did the standard sign for zipping her mouth. No, she was not complaining. The man knew how to love her and love her thoroughly. His laughter filled the bus. He leaned over and kissed her senseless, something he did often, and she loved that too.

  She looked over at her handsome lover, “I’m working on your social influencer spreadsheet.”

  “My what?”

  “Social influencer spreadsheet.” She turned her laptop in his direction. “I created a spreadsheet to present to Cameron and Devin after the tour is complete. I have some of our major non-revenue indicators here.” She pointed to the left column. “Each of the golden ticket videos. Fan posted Youtube videos. Videos from your Facebook live posts. Then at the bottom, I have hashtag impressions, popular tweets, and such.”

  “Let me see that.” She passed him her laptop.

  “I’m adding blog post comments today.” The idea came to her last night. Comments were much like website impressions and video views each offering more exposure.

  By day they got to know each other, and by night he performed to sold-out crowds, ending with them making passionate love. The work seemed endless and demanding. But Marques brought out another side of her, a lighter, happier side, that wanted nothing more than to see him fulfill his goal.

  Nothing is that serious princess helped her loosen up and enjoy the road life, not sure she would ever one hundred percent embrace screaming fans but the look of pure satisfaction on his face night after night made it all worth it.

  Man, what a journey.

  “We have over twenty million views collectively,” he said.

  She nodded. “And that’s only on our official videos. I had to separate the fan video numbers from ours so you could see it. It’s amazing.” His shocked expression made her heart sing. “You, Mr. Prince of R&B, are no longer an underground Sinsation.” She heard the ringing of her phone from the back. She walked towards the chime as he stared at the screen, eyes unblinking, mouth hanging open. She shuffled to the room and smiled as she glanced at the screen.

  “Hey Peanut! Are you still attached at the hip with Marques?” Eliana chuckled. Brione glanced over her shoulder.

  “Hey Honey. Did you call to harass me or to hear my lovely voice?”

  “Both, of course.”

  She lowered to the bed watching him clicking around on her laptop, which reminded her that she needed to place a call to Devin to get the numbers for album pre-orders to add to her spreadsheet and the update for media. His popularity during the other stops opened doors for mainstream media. He sat with local news channels, music bloggers, and there were rumors about a feature on Billboard’s blog, which should help sales too. They were alone again with the week off heading straight to South Beach. White sand covered beaches and clear blue water.

  “Humph, humph, humph.” Him, shirtless, in swim trunks. The Secrets cover in living color.

  “Did you hear anything I said?”

  She blinked several times. “I plead the fifth.”

  “This is not the court of law, and you’re not under arrest. Not yet at least. I’m sure he has some handcuffs planned for Miami.”

  “Handcuffs? You read too many of those steamy romances.” Her cheeks tingled at the thought of being bound beneath him.

  “Don’t act like an angel. I know you’ve been tossed from side to side on that bus and I want to hear the details.”

  “How are you? So glad you asked.” She’d have a full discussion with herself while waiting for Eliana to get her mind out of the gutter. “How am I feeling? Exhausted. But I’m loving this experience. How was Essence?” Her voice rose in curiosity. “Girl I got to see—”

  “I’m starting to remember why I had to kick you out,” she mumbled on the other end.

  “Kick me out? Lies!”

  Eliana bubbled in laughter. “Brione Nicole Allen.”

  “Okay, so you locked me out. Once.” It was their first year in college, and Brione was having a long marathon session of talking to herself. Eliana, in a less than diplomatic way, locked Brione out until she learned to talk like an adult. “I’m used to dwelling alone. I’m my own best company.”

  “What about now?” Eliana teased.

  “This is…different.” Brione looked over at Marques. He glanced up and winked.

  “How so?” The joking texture of her voice was replaced by a caring, calmer tone. It was almost motherly. She knew ho
w to coax Brione from her shell.

  “He is different. Kind and caring. Extremely talented. A perfect gentleman.”

  “Have you told him?”

  “No.” She shook her head as if Eliana could see her. She rolled the hem of her shirt between her fingers. She’d thought about it more times than she could count. How would she tell him about Kayla? Stewart? She shook away the dread creeping up inside.

  “You can’t keep everything in those invisible boxes without it all getting messy. Before things get too deep.”

  Too late.

  “I know,” Brione whispered. Somewhere down one highway or another, she’d given him her tattered heart. She was in love with Andrew and Marques. The man on stage and off.

  The thought of loving any man terrified her. But not him, loving him felt natural like she’d done it for a lifetime and her heart knew the drill. But her brain felt unequipped to entertain the conversation.

  Now she could sing every song along with his fans. She’d been in the red chair a few more times, and she was having the most fun of her life. Collecting a six-figure check in a couple of weeks felt like robbery. She owed him for this experience.

  City after city the concerts grew bigger and bigger. She had to decline several requests for additional golden tickets for the backstage pass access. Devin managed to upgrade the venues as they neared Florida. The next show, in Miami, would be their biggest venue since New Orleans.

  “Can you talk?”

  “Hold on.” Brione motioned to him before closing the door. He had his headphones on, no doubt working on new music. His dedication to perfecting his craft was yet another item on her list of things she loved about him. She grabbed the remote and turned on some music to drown out her voice. She didn’t want him to overhear them.

  “I’m back.” Brione settled on the bed crossing her legs. The luxury of the bus still intrigued her. His room had become a haven.

  “How’s it going, really?”

  “This is the best job I’ve ever had. I’m learning with every stop, and my previous experience with campaigning helped but I don’t think I’ll look at another musician or artist the same. Touring is the same but different.”