Rise by Cassandra Robbins

 

 

 

 

GIA

Present – Twenty-five years old

Venice Beach, California

I hear music. Loud music, like it sounds right next to my head. Groaning, I roll over and blink at the morning sun shining into my room. And consider the fact that I wasn’t dreaming about hearing music.

“Who’s playing Peter Gabriel at shock volume?” Julianna grumbles next to me.

My heart leaps to my throat as I slap her awake and bolt up. “Holy fuck.” My stomach flutters and my face heats up as I hear it.

“Gia. Gia Fontaine?” It vibrates around my small bedroom as I try to breathe.

“Oh my God, Julianna. It’s him.” My hand goes to my neck. I try to swallow.

“Wait. What’s happening?” She sits up on her elbows. Her mascara and the residual makeup we forgot to remove last night makes her look a bit like Harley Quinn.

“Gia Fontaine, please come to the front of your house.” His gravelly voice is loud and clear as Julianna grabs me.

“Oh. My. God. It’s Granger. Outside your house playing ‘In Your Eyes’!”

I blink at her because holy fuck. What do I do? I might have said that out loud because she yells, “Get out there.”

“I’m going to throw up.” I slap her hand away as she tries to fix my hair. Taking a deep breath, I open the door.

And there he stands like the Rock God he is. He can’t be real. He’s so beautiful my heart aches. Our eyes lock and I shiver at the intensity I see. Goose bumps trail down my arms and my nipples harden as his eyes dip to them.

I can’t think straight. I can’t breathe right. All I can concentrate on are his full lips that I wish were on mine. And his big, pierced cock that I need inside me.

Jesus, what’s happening to me?

“Come here, Brat.” The rumble of his voice brings me back to the now and the fact that he’s actually here.

In my front yard. Playing “In Your Eyes.”

I stare at him greedily. He looks tired, but it works for him. Nothing has changed. It can’t change. He will always be the Rock God. But somehow that doesn’t matter anymore.

Ammo stands next to him playing the guitar. Nuke is pounding on his drums in my next- door neighbor’s yard as Sebastian walks around filming all this mayhem.

“What are you doing?” I yell.

Cash is on the keyboards. I almost do a double take. Is he actually smiling? I think this might be the first time I’ve seen Cash smile in ages.

“Come over here and find out,” he demands into the microphone.

“Gia, honey? Are these men for you?” Mrs. Darcy yells at me from her porch as Nuke pounds on his drums, tossing his sticks in the air, though he doesn’t miss a beat. And I almost start to cry, and I have no idea why, except that Rhys is here. All of them are.

He came for me.

“Are they?” she yells again, forcing me to break Rhys’s hypnotizing stare. She’s wearing one of her homemade tie-dyed dresses. Mrs. Darcy, or Sunshine as she prefers to be called—but she’s in her mid-seventies so I feel uncomfortable calling her that—is the best neighbor. Peace, love, sex, and drugs is her motto. I think she used to be seriously into selling LSD, and has lived in the same house for over fifty years.

“They are.” I smile at her. Behind me, I hear Julianna talking on the phone. More than likely it’s Axel, since yesterday was a shit show. But that’s Julianna’s problem.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go to him.” Mrs. Darcy’s hands shoo me away.

“Holy shit, it’s The Stuffed Muffins.” People start to run up to see them. Most have their dogs out for their morning walks as they start to film them.

“Granger, Ammmmo, Nuuuke,” a surfer screams as he walks by in his wetsuit, a surfboard under his arm.

“Brat, if you don’t want me going to jail, I’d get over here.”

Licking my lips, I close my eyes, and suddenly I’m free from all the self-doubt. I know where my destiny lies. Have always known but lost sight of it for a while. He is and always will be my one true love. For as long as I can remember, I’ve known that I belong to him.

One.

Two.

Three.

I breathe in and out, then run to him, throwing my arms around him. He drops the microphone with a loud screech.

“Took you long enough.” His voice is rough as his eyes caress my face, which I’m sure looks like shit. But whatever. He thinks I’m beautiful.

“You fucking ran again. Left me when you knew I couldn’t stop you.” His strong hands hold my face.

“I’m sorry.” My eyes fill with tears, but I blink them back and tell the truth. “I was going to come back.”

“Fuck that. I came for you.” He fists my hair and brings my lips to his. “What do I have to do, Gia?” He shakes his head. “Don’t you get it?” His mouth claims mine as I lean into him and let him carry me away.

“My heart beats for you.” I blink at him through my tears.

This is our moment.

I groan and let his tongue take mine in a kiss that leaves every other one lacking. Our tongues twist and join as I taste bourbon and my own salty tears. Excitement snakes down my stomach and I cling to him, digging my nails into his neck.

He lifts his head. His eyes, like deep amber crystals, make my breath stutter as he allows me to see his pain.

His voice cracks. “Don’t leave me again.” His hand tightens around my hair.

“I won’t.” I tremble beneath his lips.

He’s a man, not a god. He bleeds like all of us. Somewhere along the line, everyone lost sight of that. He’s a master at verse, turning words into magical rhymes. But he’s also the scared boy searching the streets for his mother. The musical genius sleeping in our garage. The boy who makes all the girls cry.

“Rhys?” I place my hand on his heart. It’s strong and fierce and it beats for me. “I love you. I’ve loved you forever.”

“Let’s go,” he says softly as Ammo starts playing “Untouched.” All I can do is hold on to his warm, strong hand while he reaches down and scoops me up in his arms.

Helicopters circle around us. The crowd seems to have multiplied. Sirens fill the air as Ammo’s guitar and Nuke’s drum drown it all out.

“This is the LAPD. You all need to go home,” a voice says over the police department’s microphone. “This concert is over.”

A loud roar of “No” is the crowd’s answer. People are running toward us. Cars are honking. Crowds of people stop and abandon their vehicles. I look up and see that one of the helicopters is KTLA News. Great, that ought to go over well with my brother. I tuck my head into Rhys’s neck as he walks.

“Rock God, can I have your autograph?” They circle around us until he stops. And I slide down his hard body as he tells Ace to go. I slide in, watching the small mob scream, “We love you!”

They do, and they should. He’s given them his life up until now. He slides in next to me, pulling me onto his lap. “Take us to the Four Seasons.” Then he pushes the partition closed.

“Fuck me.” His rough hands pull the bottom of my dress completely off, then snaps my string panties off too. I grip his shoulder as the limo starts to move.

Sinking to the carpet, I grab his pants and unbutton them. Jesus, my hands are shaking. He lifts his hips as his hard cock spills out. I pull down his jeans and freeze at the sight: My name is tattooed on his thigh. Thorns and roses snake through the letters.

“Not now.” He fists my hair. “Suck hard,” he grunts, filling my mouth with his thick dick. My eyes instantly water and I gag, taking him in as far as I can.

“Fuck, I missed you. That’s it, Gia, baby, suck the tip.” With my hand, I pump him while I pull and suck on his piercing.

He jerks my head off him and lifts me up and onto the seat. “Spread those legs.” His mouth goes straight for my clit as I moan and scratch the leather seat. He pulls me to the edge and lifts me up so that both his hands are holding me open. Looking up at me, he grins.

His tongue goes straight for my ass and twirls around my rosette hole, making me moan.

“Why does it feel so good? I’m getting ready to come,” I whimper.

He moves up to my clit, licking and sucking while his finger goes into my ass. I start to pulse as he sucks my clit hard, his middle finger going in and out of my ass as my orgasm builds. I grab his hair and prepare to ride the wave.

Then I do. My body contracts and pulses in his mouth and on his finger. He lifts his head and reaches for my pierced nipple, tugging as he rubs it.

Sitting, he spreads his legs, his velvety cock standing hard and thick. I don’t wait for him to tell me. I straddle him and in one fast, exquisite thrust, I impale my wet pussy on him.

“Fuck,” he rasps. While he watches me, his nostrils flare.

I’m beside myself. Don’t even think I know my name. All I know is he’s inside me. And that I love him.

“That’s it, Brat, fuck me.” Up and down I pound as he slaps my ass, the sting making my core grab hold of his cock. While his piercing rubs inside me, he shoves my breast into his mouth.

“I’m gonna fill this cunt of mine up. I want you off the pill,” he growls, and I’m so consumed, I chant, “I love you” and “Yes” as I ride him hard.

“Yeah, baby, ride me. Rub that clit on me.” His thumb flicks over it.

I thrust against him so hard I can feel the piercing on that tender spot.

“I’m…” I hiss, my body is climbing as he grabs my ass with one hand, holding me still, his cock so deep inside me I throw my head back and convulse. Pulsing pleasure makes me scream his name. While he holds me still, I watch him come undone.

He’s beautiful, hips jerking as his thick cock pulses and fills me. When he pulls out, I can barely move.

Our breathing is harsh. He pushes my sweaty hair, which is stuck to my face, out of the way.

“I love you,” I moan.

He leans down, his tongue swirling around my clit, and I groan because I’m so sensitive but it also feels so good.

“Gia.” I sit up. His mouth takes mine and I can taste us. My hand snakes down to his rock-hard cock. What the hell?

Rhys can stay hard but not this hard. Usually, he just stays inside me and grows as he slowly fucks.

“I’m sensitive.” I groan as his fingers take my wetness and rub it slowly on my clit.

“I know, baby. But I need the truth.”

“What?” I try to shut my legs.

He stops me with his hands. “Why did you run?” I close my eyes, and he inserts two fingers inside me, letting his fingers go deep, slowly pumping. When I arch my back, his mouth hovers around mine.

“Look at me.”

Slowly I open my eyes and tell him the truth. “I didn’t want to lose myself completely, and I was scared.” I grab ahold of his wrist. His fingers go deeper, fucking me.

“You were scared that I wouldn’t take care of you? Protect you? What?” He watches me as I lean my head back and open my legs farther. If he thinks this is torturing me, he’s sadly mistaken. I’m getting ready to come.

And just like that, his fingers are gone. I sit up almost dazed as he pulls his jeans up angrily.

“Don’t do this. Are you kidding me?” I yell.

“You fucking left me. I love you. I needed you, and you ran. That woman is after Nuke. It has nothing to do with us. What the fuck is wrong with you?” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his cigarettes as my mind tries to process everything he said.

“This. Rhys.” I turn toward him. “All of it. I left because I was scared. I left because the thought of you tiring of me and being with another makes me physically ill.”

He shakes his head as if I’m a crazy person, so I fire right back. “Don’t look at me like that. You fucked her. You act like I’m insane because I don’t want to stick around while you put your dick in anything that’s warm and wet.”

“That’s not the issue, Gia.” His voice is quiet, and for some reason that makes me shiver. “You don’t trust me. If you did, you would have stayed and we could have saved ourselves a lot of regrets and agony.”

That makes me falter. “I… I knew you would touch me and then I’d start rethinking everything.” I can’t get a good breath as we stare at each other, our desperate energy bouncing around us like recycled air.

He nods and his eyes narrow while he lights up the cigarette. “Babe, I’m not gonna lie to you and say I haven’t fucked a lot of women.” He brings the cigarette to his full lips as I watch.

Consumed. That’s what he does to me.

“You can’t possibly hold that against me. This life that I’m so fucking blessed to have is not perfect.” He motions at us. “We’re not perfect.”

I take a deep breath. “I was scared, Rhys. I didn’t think I could survive you getting tired of me. But if I’m honest, I was scared of what I felt for you,” I whisper.

His eyes caress my face. Inhaling deeply, he lowers the window enough to toss the cigarette out before turning to me. “Do you think I’m not scared, Gia? I get up every day terrified that this is the day I go insane. And when I don’t, it’s in the back of my head that it will be tomorrow, or the next.” He leans back against the seat, his dark eyes holding mine.

“That is my world,” he continues. “I hear music in my head. I can play any instrument because I can hear it in here.” He motions to his head. “But when I’m with you…” He looks out the window, then back at me, his eyes almost black with a fury that ensnares me as my heart starts to bleed. “When I’m with you, it’s gone, baby. I know you love me, Gia.” He rubs his heart as if it hurts. “That’s why I got on the plane. You’re mine. My muse, my fucking lifeline. And if I wake up one morning and I can’t get out of bed, I know you’ll be there to hold me through it.”

I cover my mouth and nod, realizing how strong and tortured he truly is, how me leaving him brought up all his abandonment issues with his mom.

“I will always be there.” I don’t care that I’m crying, or that I’m still naked. I climb onto his lap and straddle him as I kiss his face, his eyes, his mouth.

“I love you. I always have.” I smile at him, not caring that I can barely see him through all my tears. “And if you go crazy, Rhys, I’ll go crazy with you.”

He grabs my face with both hands. “You’re gonna marry me.” When he brings my lips to his, I cling to him, letting his mouth and love pour into me.

“Of course, I am,” I say into his warm lips. “I told you that when I was seven.”

He frowns as I watch the play of emotions on his face.

“Christ, you did, didn’t you?” He laughs and slaps my ass just as Ace’s voice carries back to us.

“Granger, we’re here. I’m gonna try to clear the lobby.”

“Thanks, brother,” he yells as I crawl off of him to grab my red dress, slipping it over my head.

“Feel better?”

I nod. We both look like we’ve been through hell and back.

“You need to trust me. I want it all with you. But right now, I want to order room service, fuck, and sleep. Can we do that?” He pulls me onto his lap again, and I rest my head on his chest.

“I can feel your heart beating.” I look up at him.

He flashes me that grin that I’ve decided is only mine. “Of course, you can. It beats for you.”

He opens the door and I step out. We both look down at my bare feet, and I squeal when he lifts me into his arms. He smiles at the small crowd of paparazzi waiting for us. Snuggling against his neck, I let him carry me inside.

He’s tortured, talented, and fierce. And I will love him until the day I die.