Phil
We were getting ready to go for dinner when I walked into the bedroom and stopped.
“Wow.” My pulse skyrocketed.
Sophie was trying to get her dress zipped up. It was a side zipper and had gotten stuck. She wore a silver mini-dress that had sleeves but no back, black stilettos, and long, dangly crystal earrings. Her wrists had a bunch of black bangle bracelets. She must have flat-ironed her blue hair, because she wore it pulled back into a straight, sleek ponytail.
She glanced over at me and blushed.
I walked over to her and kissed her shoulders while I fixed the zipper on her dress. “You’re going to drive me crazy all night dressed like this.” I pushed my body next to hers.
She reached down and stroked my hardening cock through my pants. “Maybe we’ll have to find a dark, quiet corner.”
I licked my lips at her and grinned. “That could be arranged.”
She leaned into my ear. “Don’t make me promises if you can’t keep them.”
“Is that a challenge?”
She laughed. “Maybe.”
I pulled her into me. “You seem really tall tonight.”
She laughed again. “I think my shoes are six inches.”
I pushed my cock into her. “I think I could get used to you wearing these.”
She pushed me away. “Don’t get me all worked up before we even get out the door.”
“It’s only fair if I get to look at you dressed like that all night.”
“Ha, ha!”
I grabbed her and pulled her into me. “Mmm, my lips are closer to you, too.”
She pulled me down to her, and her luscious, sweet lips were once again on mine.
“Your lips are the best lips on earth,” I murmured in between her kisses.
Her tongue teased mine and inched slowly in and out of my mouth. My hands were already on her ass, and I pulled her closer into me. She ground against my hard-on.
“You’re a vixen,” I whispered.
She gave me a naughty laugh.
“Phil, Soph, you guys ready?” Ethan’s voice called out.
I groaned. “We could just stay here.”
“But then we wouldn’t have our dark little corner.” She smirked at me.
I gave her a cocky stare.
She grabbed my hand and started to lead me out of the room. “Come on.”
Tom, Liv, Claire, and Ethan were waiting for us. We left the room and followed the bodyguards down the hall and into the elevator. Things were all good until we stepped out in the lobby.
At first, no one seemed to notice us. Two bodyguards had been in the elevator with us, and four were waiting for us to step off the elevator. We were halfway through the lobby when I heard, “Carlotta Ensign! Tom Marko!”
I pulled Sophie closer to me. Tom and Ethan did the same with Liv and Claire.
Suddenly, crowds of people were rushing toward us, and the bodyguards didn’t know what to do. There hadn’t been a path cleared, and we were swarmed.
Sophie started to tremble in my arms as people reached out to touch her. She looked at me in fear as one man grabbed her waist and tried to pull her away from me.
“Let go of me,” she shouted.
I pulled her back to me, and the bodyguard stepped in front of her to create a shield.
It took us over thirty minutes to get into the safety of the car, but the outside was swarmed as well. David had picked us up in a limo, and he had to wait for the police to come and pry people off the front of the car.
The limo rocked from side to side as fans tried desperately to get in.
Sophie was shaking on my lap. “It’s okay, Petal. It’ll be okay,” I whispered to her.
Liv sat on Tom’s lap, keeping her cool composure, but Tom’s leg was twitching. Claire sat on Ethan’s lap. She was shaking like Sophie.
The privacy window was down. David reported, “The police are starting to clear the area for us. Just hang tight back there.”
I nodded. “Thanks, David.”
We had another twenty-minute wait in the car before we could move. The car finally started driving forward.
I looked at Tom. “Security was unprepared. They didn’t have a cleared path ahead of time. Do we know for sure this restaurant is safe?”
Tom let out a big sigh. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
The car slowed down and then sped up. David called out, “I’m pulling around so you can see what you’re getting into if I stop. I don’t think you’re going to want to put yourself in that situation.”
“The restaurant must have leaked the reservation,” Ethan said.
Paparazzi and fans lined the streets. The entire block was covered with blue-haired women and kids, Carlotta Ensign signs, and even a few that said Tom Marko.
Sophie started to shake on my lap again.
I wrapped my arms more tightly around her. “We aren’t stopping, David,” I called out.
My blood was boiling. This shouldn’t be happening. I owned a security firm and should be able to keep Sophie and my friends safe.
I looked across at Tom; he was boiling just as much. We stared at each other with unspoken words of disgust and frustration.
Sophie fidgeted with her fingers and quietly said, “We can’t go back to the hotel, Phil. They’ll be waiting. We’ll never get in, and if we do, we’ll be trapped.”
“Sophie is right. David, do you have any suggestions for quiet, off-the-beaten-track restaurants, or even hotels with anyone you trust?” Liv asked.
“We own a bed and breakfast. There’s a quiet pub attached to it, but it’s out of the city, about thirty minutes,” David said.
“Great. Do you have any rooms free?” Liv asked.
“It’s a quiet time of the year for us. We don’t have reservations until Christmas week,” David said.
“Would you like some guests?” Liv asked.
David laughed. “We would love some guests.”
“Great! We’ll take three rooms, and if you’re able to provide a luggage transportation service for us, that would be appreciated.”
“Good idea, Liv.” Tom kissed her.
“My son could leave now to get your belongings, if you wish.”
“David, how busy will your pub be?” Ethan asked.
“It won’t be that busy, but anyone in the pub is like family to us. They can keep it under wraps,” David said confidently.
“Great. I say we don’t let this ruin our evening and we turn this into an adventure,” Ethan said.
Claire laughed. “I didn’t really care for that hotel anyways. It was a bit snobby. I’m sure our next stop is going to be a lot more friendly.”
“David, has your pub gotten into the gin craze yet?” Sophie asked.
“Oh yeah. We’re full of ale and gin.”
“Well, I guess we’re going to have to check it out.” Sophie grinned at me.
“David, what’s your son's name?” I asked.
“Oliver Bailey.”
I picked up my phone and called the hotel. I told them to pack up our belongings, and that Oliver Bailey would be arriving.
Tom called the bodyguards and told them to continue to follow us.
David called his son and also his wife and told her they would be having guests.
It looked like we had a new location. I prayed this one would be safe.
After we met David’s wife, he walked us over to the pub. There were only a handful of people, and they were older.
It was a traditional English pub. It was dark inside, with a wooden bar and a handful of tables. There were dartboards and a pool table, and a DJ and karaoke machine.
Sophie saw it and grabbed the music book. “Bet I can make you get on stage tonight.”
“Bet you can’t.”
“Challenge accepted.” She gave me a cocky grin.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about our other challenge,” I promised her.
She bit her lip, smiled, and blushed.
I grinned at her like a schoolboy. Every time she blushed, I got a rush of endorphins through my system.
We all sat down at a table. Tom, Ethan, and I decided that we were going to do an ale taste. Liv, Claire, and Sophie decided to do a gin taste.
David boasted that they had twenty ales and fifteen gins, so we decided we wouldn’t be lacking for alcohol.
“You guys want dinner, or just stuff we can share?” Tom asked.
“I want fish and chips and mushy peas, but I’ll also eat whatever else you order,” Claire declared.
Ethan laughed. “I should have guessed that.”
“Hey, when in England…”
He reached over and kissed her.
The first round of drinks came. Sophie held up her glass in a toast. “To bad security!”
Tom’s and my face went red. Everyone else laughed, and we clinked our glasses and drank.
Sophie leaned into me. “I’m just trying to make the best of it. I didn’t mean any harm.”
I kissed her. “I know that. But I’ll still spank you later tonight.”
“Once again, don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she said in a sultry voice.
I licked my lips at her and gave her another cocky stare.
She started to flip through the music book.
“What’s your favorite song to karaoke to?”
She shrugged. “Anything with a good beat.”
“So you’re basically not picky?”
“Nope.”
“Do you even need the words?”
She laughed. “Not usually.”
“So if I just picked a random song, you would know the words?”
“Probably.”
“Do you need to know the title?”
“Nope.”
I grabbed the book, fanned the pages, slid my hand between the plastic sheets, and opened up the book. I didn’t look at it and walked up to the karaoke guy and put the book down. “In about an hour, please call Petal up here for this song. Don’t say the name of the song—just play the music.”
“Is Petal the Carlotta Ensign lookalike?” he asked.
I grinned. “Yes.”
He whistled and nodded.
I went back to the table. “The karaoke guy thinks you're a Carlotta Ensign lookalike.”
Claire threw her hand over her mouth and laughed. “No way!”
“Really?” Sophie looked at me.
“I’m not kidding you. He’s going to call you up in about an hour.”
“Why an hour?”
“Thought you might want to have a drink or two first.”
Sophie laughed. “I don’t need liquid courage. I’m a professional singer.”
I held my hands up and laughed. “I was just being polite.”
Tom motioned for more drinks to be brought to the table.
The DJ started to play music, and our food came out. Claire’s plate came out with mushy peas on it. Ethan looked at her. “Are you really going to eat that?”
She laughed. “Yes, why wouldn’t I?”
“It looks pretty gross.”
I made a face at her. “I have to side with Ethan on this, Claire. It looks like green baby food.”
“Have you tried it?” Claire raised her eyebrow at me.
“No.”
“Don’t knock it until you try it!” She shoved a big forkful in her mouth. “Mmm.”
We all laughed, and she scooped up another forkful and held it up to Ethan’s mouth. “Try it.”
He hesitated but tried it. We all stared at him.
“It’s not bad," he admitted.
“See, I told you!” Claire gloated.
Another round of drinks came to the table.
Sophie stood up and sat on my lap. She grabbed a piece of bread and tore a bit off and popped it in her mouth. After she chewed and swallowed, she said, “This is way better than anywhere we could have gone tonight.”
Liv held her glass up, and Sophie grabbed hers and clinked it. “Totally agree.”
The song “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton came on. Sophie put the piece of bread down on her plate and her body tensed up. Ethan was laughing and stopped. They slowly looked at each other.
My hand was rubbing her thigh when it happened. She put her hand over mine, and I stopped.
Oh shit. She’s about to lose it again. I figured it was a song that reminded them about Ethan’s brother Eric.
She surprised me by slowly turning toward me and giving me a quick kiss. Sophie bounced off my lap, walked over to the DJ, and said something to him. She grabbed the guitar that was against the wall and slung it over her body.
The DJ stopped the song, grabbed the microphone stand that was in a corner, set it up on the floor, then put his hand in his pocket. He pulled out a guitar pick and handed it to Sophie.
I watched her, not knowing what she was going to do. My pulse was racing, and I realized I was holding my breath.
She adjusted the microphone. “This is one of my favorites.” Her hands started to strum the guitar, and I recognized it as Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”
Ethan’s head jerked, and she looked at him. They exchanged sad smiles as she started to belt out the song. She glanced over at me, then started to look around the rest of the room.
I didn’t move, and couldn’t take my eyes off her. I had only heard her sing her own songs before, and she took a song I had heard hundreds of times and made it more beautiful, more powerful. Her face and voice were full of emotion as she continued to belt out the lyrics. Her voice lowered further, almost to a whisper, as she sang the bridge. I blinked back tears as Claire wiped Ethan's cheek.
She finished the remaining verses and sang the final chorus. Everyone in the bar stood up and clapped and shouted out.
Instead of coming back to the table, her fingers started strumming the guitar again. The tune of Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” filled the room.
She started to sing, and Tom’s head snapped and looked at Ethan. He raised his eyebrow to him.
“What?”
“She wouldn’t listen to any of those songs. She used to get mad if someone played it,” Tom told me.
"Why?" I asked.
Tom shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. She would never say."
My eye caught Ethan’s, looking for answers, but he gave me none. He looked away and back at Sophie, who looked at him.
She strummed the guitar and sang, and I had never felt so much emotion listening to someone sing before.
There was pain.
There was love.
There was hope.
She finished the song and got another standing ovation. I expected her to sit down again because she pulled the guitar off her shoulder and set it against the wall. But she walked over to the DJ and had a short conversation with him. He handed her a second microphone, and she walked back to the mic stand.
“Ethan.” She pointed at him and made a Come here motion with her finger.
He shook his head. “I haven’t had enough to drink yet.”
She turned toward the bartender. “Can you get my friend over here a shot of Jägermeister, please?”
“Oh shit. I’m not getting out of this,” Ethan muttered.
Claire laughed. “You drink Jäger?”
“Used to. A very long time ago.”
The bartender was quickly at the table with the shot. Ethan gave Sophie an evil glance. She laughed, and he muttered something under his breath and threw the shot back. She motioned for him to join her, and he rolled his eyes and went up to the stage.
Sophie handed Ethan the second microphone, pulled her mic out of the stand, and moved the stand against the wall. She looked at the DJ. “We don’t need the words, just the instruments, please.”
Liv laughed. “This is going to be good.”
“Whooo!” Claire shouted, and the rest of us stood up and started to holler and clap with her.
Sophie pointed at him and screamed something out to him about destroying his life.
Ethan’s face got red, and Sophie smirked at him.
Tom started to crack up. “Haven’t seen this in years. This is going to be awesome!”
Sophie pointed to the DJ and Ethan, who grinned and shook his head at her. The music for Twisted Sister’s “I Wanna Rock” started up.
Sophie pointed at him when the first line was coming up. Ethan sang the first line into the microphone.
Sophie put her finger in the air and shouted out, “Rock!”
They both started to bang their heads to the beat of the song.
“You have to be shitting me,” Claire laughed.
Ethan was banging his head, and Sophie was jumping up and down with her blue hair flying all over the place.
The two went back and forth on the song. When it was over, the pub guests were all once again on their feet.
Ethan pulled her into a hug and left the stage. But Sophie wasn’t done. She pointed over to the bartender. “Can you send another shot of Jäger for the blond guy over there?”
Tom’s eyes went wide. Tom Marko would do anything to stay out of the spotlight.
Ethan got back to the table. Claire pulled him down for a kiss. “Didn’t know you were so talented,” she teased.
“Ha, ha!”
The bartender brought a shot of Jäger over and set it down in front of Tom.
He looked at Sophie and shook his head. “No way!”
She grinned at him and nodded. “Time to pay the piper, Tom.”
Ethan laughed. “Your turn. Get up there!”
“No way!”
Liv grabbed the shot, held it in front of him, and taunted, “Come on, Dad.”
I started to laugh and raised my eyebrow at him.
Sophie went over to talk to the DJ. She turned back to Tom. “I double-dog dare you, Tom.”
It was pretty well known that Tom couldn’t pass up a dare. He sighed and shook his head. “God help me if this gets recorded and out in the press.” He downed the shot and walked over to Sophie.
“We don’t need lyrics for this one either, do we, Tom?” She smirked at him.
He rolled his eyes and looked like he wanted to die. But then I saw the determination in his eyes. Tom wasn’t one to not go all in, either.
Our table started to whoop again.
Sophie cued the DJ, and Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” came on.
Sophie grinned at Tom and starting humming the word bomb.
They started to bob their heads.
“Whoo!” Liv shouted out.
“Yeah, get it!” Claire screamed.
I looked at Liv. “Is this seriously happening right now?”
She laughed. “We really should record it.” She pulled out her phone and started to video it.
Tom started singing the main part, and Sophie belted out the backup lyrics. After a few lines, Tom started to loosen up and really got into it and started swinging his hips.
“Whoo!” Liv shouted again.
Sophie and Tom ripped out the chorus, and Sophie started clapping her hands over her head. Liv and Claire pulled us out to the floor in front of where they sang.
Tom went up to Liv and sang. Liv rubbed her hand on his chest and down his torso, grinning.
The chorus came back on. Sophie came over to me, rubbed her ass against me, and glanced back at me while singing.
I licked my lips at her and slapped her ass. She winked, and she and Tom walked back to the front and finished the song.
Once again, the pub crowd was on their feet.
Sophie walked up to me, and I wrapped her in my arms. “You’re amazing.” I went to kiss her, and she pulled back.
She grabbed my hand. “Come on.”
I gave her a curious glance as she led me to the bar.
“Shot of Jäger, please.”
I laughed. “Oh no you don’t.”
The bartender handed her the shot.
She held it to me. “Take the shot, Phil.”
“I’m not going up there.”
She pressed her body close to mine. “Tonight I sang two songs I hadn’t been able to listen to or sing in twenty years. Take the shot, Phil.”
Guilt. That was how she did it—she guilted me into it. There was no way I couldn’t do it after she revealed that to me.
“I’m a terrible singer,” I warned her. I grabbed the shot and slammed it back. The taste of black licorice hit my tongue as the hot liquid burned my throat. I grimaced.
Sophie laughed. She leaned into my ear. “Don’t worry, you don’t have the singing part. Let’s go.” She slapped my ass and pulled my hand as she led me up to the front.
Crap. She’s going to make me do this, but if I’m not doing the singing part, then what am I going to be doing?
Everyone was back at the table, and they all started to hoot and call out my name.
My face was already red. I was sure of it. Sophie leaned into me. “Let’s see your rap skills.”
My rap skills? Is she joking?
Sophie went over and talked to the DJ and came back. She handed me a microphone.
“Underestimated” by Maestro Fresh Wes started to play. She grinned at me and winked. “Take the rap part.”
The rap part was most of the song. I gave her a look like I wanted to kill her.
“Just look at me,” she told me.
Guess I wasn’t getting out of this.
She started singing about being underestimated and looked at me.
I took a deep breath and started the rap part.
She licked her lips at me and put her body right up next to mine as I continued the song. From time to time, she would sing, “Ugh,” or, “O,” or, “underestimated."
The entire song she kept her body near or on mine, her eyes glued to me and a grin on her face.
The others were shouting, but I never looked at them. She kept me focused on her and the song.
Being so close to her—watching her sing and move her body so effortlessly—consumed me. The words flew out of my mouth, and my body started to move along with hers without even thinking about it.
Sophie was so focused on me, it was like we were the only two people in the room.
The song ended, and she pulled me into her, gave me a hot kiss, then smirked at me. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
I laughed. “Not with you.”
“Didn’t know you had such mad rap skills,” she teased me.
“Ha, ha!” I couldn’t help it—I was buzzing from her energy and grinned at her like a teenager.
She leaned in and whispered, “That got me hot and bothered. I made good on my challenge. What about yours?”