“Cole, why don’t you sing?” Ezra asked, surprising me.
“I didn’t know you sing,” I said to Cole.
He returned a shy smile. “Sometimes.”
We switched spots so that he could be closer to the mic. I’d been singing on the songs we’d played so far today.
“Kick us off, Adeline,” Ezra said.
We launched into the song, and the decadent melody filled the small space of the garage.
When I first heard this, I thought it was the sexiest song ever written. The lyrics were so melancholy and heartbreaking, but the melody was pure sin. A lethal combination.
Cole started to sing. He had a powerful voice that reached higher than I would have expected—a perfect fit for this song.
I closed my eyes as my fingers moved across the fretboard, allowing myself to focus on the sound.
Images came unbidden to my mind. Wrists held down by strong hands, bodies tumbling between sheets, lips writing messages across bare skin. The sweet torture of an orgasm just out of reach. That’s is where my head went when I listened to this song.
It was pure sex.
The realization hit me when I was already too far gone.
I shouldn’t be playing this with them, but we were halfway through and stopping now would be a crime.
The earlier abstract images were quickly turning into a scene that could only be described as erotic. In my mind, we were tangled together, their strong hands moving down my flat stomach, closer and closer to the spot that ached for their touch. The fantasies I’d indulged in over the past few days were becoming tactile. I felt Cole and Ezra everywhere—my breasts, my lips, my neck, my hips—and my skin burned in their wake. But I was greedy—when had I become so greedy?—because soon it wasn’t just Cole’s and Ezra’s hands on me. It was all of them, every single one of the four beautiful men that had charged into my life and changed everything.
Torn between keeping my eyes closed or opening them to see two of the very men that were intruding my thoughts, I began playing the solo. When I shifted my stance, there was an unmistakable dampness between my legs. Could a song give you an orgasm? I didn’t know, but I thought I was about to find out.
A drop of sweat trickled down the valley between my breasts as I rolled my head back. I was burning up, and it had nothing to do with the temperature of the garage. My breathing was heavy, my clothes too tight. And still, I played, the music being both my torturer and my anchor.
The solo ended, and I dared to open my eyes. Cole was fixated on me as he began to sing once again, his gaze never once straying from my form. Ezra was glistening with sweat, the flexed muscles of his arms on a tantalizing display as he tore into the drums. When he saw me looking at him, he didn’t smile, but rather leveled me with a hungry look that nearly caused me to stumble back.
Fuck.
This song should come with a warning not to be played with people you’re not currently or imminently fucking.
I was nearly panting by the time we were done with the seven-minute performance. When the music finally stopped, a loaded pause descended.
There was no fucking way they didn’t know how worked up I was.
Carefully, as if afraid that any sudden movement would cause the garage to combust, I lifted the guitar off by its strap. Ezra and Cole shifted, the tension in the room easing by the smallest amount.
I cleared my throat. “That was great. It’s getting late, so I think I’ll be heading home.”
Ezra reluctantly turned to face Cole, reminding the latter about his role as a host. He jerked as if snapping out of a trance.
“Let me call Leo and get him to drop you off,” Cole offered, pulling off his bass and digging in his pocket for what I presumed was his phone.
“Thanks,” I said, pulling at the neck of my shirt to stop it from sticking to my skin. “I’m going to use the bathroom.” I spun on my heel and left the garage.
In the bathroom, I tried to calm myself by taking deep breaths. How had they managed to get so deep under my skin? Every interaction felt like an escalation to something I couldn’t even begin to understand. This little episode? How was I supposed to move on?
I’ve never felt this unbalanced, this confused about anything before in my life. Even after my parents had died and I struggled to find the strength when it came to become Molly’s guardian, some part of me had always known the right thing to do. But now, I was dealing with emotions that were tearing me into a million different tempting directions.
I splashed some water on my face and clutched the edge of the sink.
This was a job. Nothing more. If I kept my focus on doing what I’d been hired to do, surely, nothing could go that wrong.
