In Too Deep Read online

  “Please.”

  I spanked her ass playfully then squeezed it.

  She moved her lips to my ear and whispered dirty things.

  I was already turned on and didn’t need further stimulation. But I didn’t mind it in the least. I rose to my feet and carried her with me. Her legs wound around my waist and squeezed me.

  I lay her on the bed then undressed myself. “Can I tie you up?”

  “Like I’m going anywhere.”

  I grabbed two ties, one for her wrists and the other for her eyes. I tied her to the headboard then covered her sight with the other. When she lay underneath me with her dress pulled up and her panties gone, I did everything I wanted to her.

  All night long.

  ***

  “I’m glad you changed your mind about that piercing,” Dad said as he looked through the files on my computer.

  “I haven’t changed my mind.”

  He kept his eyes glued to the screen. “I thought Trinity said no.”

  “She didn’t totally say no,” I said. “Actually, she just said she didn’t like how long the healing process was.”

  “So, she did say no.”

  “Not really.”

  He turned my way. “Yes, she did.”

  “If she just let me do it, she would like it. I know she would.”

  “Just do as your wife asks.”

  I raised both eyebrows. “Those are words I never thought I’d hear you say. I didn’t realize you were such a pussy.”

  “I’m just trying to save you some time—and some headaches.”

  “I know we should make all our decisions together but…I really think she would like it.”

  “Just let it go, Slade.”

  “You’re the one who brought it up.”

  “Only to make sure you’re making the right decision.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I can handle my marriage—but thanks.”

  Dad continued to check on the files.

  “You don’t need to double check everything,” I said. “I did it right.”

  “Just making sure,” he said. “If you don’t account for everything you can get really screwed over during tax season.”

  I returned to scribbling on my paper.

  Dad didn’t look at it. “What are you drawing now?”

  When I examined my drawing, I realized it was of Cayson—again. “Nothing.” I turned it over.

  “Miss him?” There was no accusation in his voice.

  “No…”

  “When Cortland went on a three-month honeymoon I missed him. But, three months is a lot longer than eleven days…”

  “I guess I miss him more because I know he’s leaving.”

  “Yeah…that’s rough. But at least he’s doing what he wants.” Dad scrolled through the files. “Be supportive.”

  “I’m always supportive.”

  “Always?” He released a faint laugh. “You didn’t seem supportive when Cayson didn’t want you to marry him and Skye.”

  I rolled my eyes at the jab. “It’s in the past. Leave it there.”

  Dad closed out of the files then pulled out his phone. “Anything else new with you?”

  “Trinity and I are buying a house—or apartment. Whatever it is.”

  He put down his phone and gave me a look of excitement. “You are? That’s great. Congrats, kiddo.”

  “Thanks.” It was actually more of Trinity buying the house than me. I didn’t have much to contribute.

  “Do you have any in mind?”

  “No. We’re supposed to start looking today.”

  “That’s great,” he said. “You’ll love having your own space—something that is really yours.”

  “I’ll have more space for my guitars.”

  “How’s the band going?”

  I shrugged. “We haven’t done much since I got married. I need to call them up.”

  “Yeah. Never give up your passions in life. It keeps you sane.”

  “Well, spending time with Trinity is a passion.”

  “But you have to have more than one.”

  “What hobbies do you have?” I asked. “It seems like all you ever do is work then go home to Mom.”

  He laughed. “Then you obviously don’t know me very well. I love sports, drinking, playing ball, seeing my friends, spending time with my kids, and last but not least, seeing the wife.”

  “Eh,” I said with a shrug. “You still seem boring to me.”

  “It’s good to have a boring parent,” he said. “Stability and reliance is something every child needs.”

  His words made me think of Arsen, who didn’t have parents at all. And when they were around, he never knew how long that would last for. “I guess you’re right.”

  “So…if you’re buying a place does that mean kids are on the way?” Dad didn’t look at me as he asked the question.

  My throat went dry. “Not sure. Trinity hasn’t said anything.”

  “And you do whatever she says?” There was a teasing note to his voice.

  “Pretty much.” I knew that made me a pussy but I didn’t care. “That’s what I promised her the day we got married.”

  Dad scrunched up his eyebrows. “I don’t remember you saying that.”

  “Well, I said it to her before we got married…” I never told my dad she almost left me. The only people who knew about it were Skye and Cayson.

  “At least you stick to your word.”

  “Yeah…”

  “So, you still don’t want kids, I take it?”

  “It’s not that I don’t want them. I’m just not sure how good of a parent I’ll be. And if I have a girl, shit, I’ll be worse than Sean.”

  He laughed. “No one in the world is worse than that guy. He needs a Xanax.”

  His words didn’t brighten my mood.

  “Hey.” He gripped my shoulder and squeezed it. “You’ll know how to be a good parent when the time comes.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I promise.” He patted my shoulder then dropped his hand. “But that time doesn’t seem to be now so relax. Go buy a house, play in your band, and continue arguing with Trinity until she lets you get that stupid piercing.”

  “It’s not stupid,” I argued. “Chicks dig it. I read online that a girl is twice as likely to climax with a dick piercing.”

  He grinned from ear-to-ear. “You don’t know how to satisfy your wife without it?”

  I glared at him. “Of course, I do. But I want to maximize her pleasure.”

  “There are other things,” he said. “Toys, role-playing, and BDSM.”

  “We aren’t into that,” I said immediately. “I don’t get off to hurting my wife and I’m not sure who does.”

  “It was just a suggestion,” he said quickly. “Do whatever you want.”

  ***

  I made some calls to get the band together. Razor, the drummer was down to jam. Scotty, the bassist was available too. But Hawk didn’t seem interested anymore.

  “What do you mean you don’t want to play anymore?” I asked over the phone.

  “Dude, I live in the real world now. I got a real job, bills, and a girlfriend. I don’t have time to fuck around.”

  “It’s not fucking around,” I argued. “We’re really good.” He was the second guitarist and backup vocalist. I couldn’t afford to lose him. His fingers naturally played with the strings like he was born to do it.

  “I’ve just gotten out of it. We didn’t hear from you for a few months and I just lost interest.”

  “Sorry, I got married,” I hissed.

  “And now that the honeymoon phase is over you want to pay attention to us again?” Condescension was in his voice.

  “It’s not over,” I snarled. “And it’s not like that.”

  “It doesn’t seem that way…”

  I was getting sick of his attitude. “I don’t have time for this. You want to play or not?”

  He was quiet for a long time. “Nope. I’m out.” Then he hung up without saying goodbye.

  ***

  We put out a few flyers, postings on Facebook, and even put a request on Craig’s List. New York City was full of artists and talented people. There was a good chance we would get someone good. But there was also a good chance we wouldn’t get anyone at all.

  We had the auditions at the shop after it closed. It was the only space we had, and it wasn’t a bad location. We got there early and started setting up.

  “Hawk just quit?” Razor asked. “Just like that?”

  “He’s a dick,” Scotty said. “I didn’t like playing with him. He was always so arrogant. Slade is a better guitarist than he is, but he’s not an asshole about it.”

  “True,” Razor said.

  I leaned back in my chair and sighed, hoping these auditions wouldn’t be totally pointless.

  “What’s your problem?” Razor asked.

  “I just hope we find someone good. Hawk is a piece of shit but I can’t deny how good he is. He’ll be difficult to replace,” I said.

  “Whatever,” Scotty said. “We’ll be fine without him.”

  An hour later, people started to line up at the door.

  I grabbed my keys then unlocked it. “It’s show time, boys.”

  ***

  It was a huge turn out. Three hundred people came out to audition. The line reached passed the shop, the pizza joint, and a few stores over. I couldn’t believe our ads. But while we had a high quantity, we didn’t have a high level of quality.

  Some people didn’t even know a few chords. They acted like a rock star and jumped around while they banged their heads. But they weren’t playing music. It was just noise.

  There were a few guitarists that had some talent. It was clear they learned music by studying with a self-help book. But they were too traditional for our songs. When we asked them to play our music, they couldn’t get the hang of it. It simply wasn’t going to work.

  After we went through a hundred and fifty people, I was totally hopeless.

  “It’s just not meant to be,” Razor said. “Maybe we can go to some shows and find a guitarist that way.”

  “But if we go to a show, he’ll likely already be part of a band,” Scotty said.

  “This sucks.” That was all I had to say.

  “Let’s just get through everyone else and call it a day,” Razor said.

  “And end this nightmare,” Scotty said.

  Now I just wanted to go home and have dinner with my wife. I’d rather be with her instead of listening to the worst guitarists of all time.

  “Next,” Scotty called.

  A girl appeared from the line and approached the center of the room. She had long brown hair, wore skinny jeans, and had a tattoo of a bear on her arm.

  “A girl?” Razor whispered.

  The only people who had auditioned this far were dudes. And I assumed only dudes would audition. I just never imagined having a girl member of the band. I wasn’t sexist or anything, but the thought didn’t even cross my mind.

  “Shit, she’s hot,” Scotty said.

  “Man, she’s a ten,” Razor said.

  She is? I didn’t see it.

  She stared at us and waited for us to give her the cue.

  “What’s your name, sweetheart?” Razor asked with a smug grin.

  “Dee,” she snapped. “Not sweetheart.”

  “Ouch,” Scotty whispered under his breath.

  “Get on with it,” I said. The sooner she finished, the sooner I could get her out of there and away from my two moron friends.

  Instead of playing her guitar, she started to sing. It was acapella, and she sang a song by Adele. She was a tiny girl with a slim waist and thin legs, but damn, she could really belt out a tune. Her voice boomed with power, and she hit every note like she was Adele herself. The girl really had a voice.

  When she finished, we all stared at her with mesmerized faces.

  I rested my fingers on my lips while I stared at her. Her voice would be great for the band. She could do great back up vocals, and she could even have her own tunes too. And it would be great for the fans because people loved female musicians.

  But she couldn’t play the guitar.

  “Man, she’s an angel,” Razor said.

  “Dibs,” Scotty said immediately.

  I ignored them. “Dee, you did a great job. We’re all really impressed. However, we’re looking for a guitarist. But thank you for coming out today.”

  “Well, you haven’t heard me yet.” Dee held the guitar and got her fingers into position. Then she played “Foxy” by Jimmie Hendrix.

  She nailed it.

  I stared at her in shock, unable to believe this was real. This chick was better on the strings than I was. She didn’t even need a band. She could be her own one-woman show.

  “Oh. My. God.” Razor turned to me. “She’s the one we’ve been looking for.”

  “I want her,” Scotty said immediately. “She’s in the band.”

  I even wanted to give her a job on the spot. She was awesome. I couldn’t think of one criticism for her. But then I reminded myself I couldn’t be hasty. Hasty decisions were stupid decisions. “Dee, you rocked our socks off. You’ll definitely be hearing from us. But we need to listen to the rest of the auditions.”

  “Thank you.” She didn’t seem smug about it. She approached our desk then left a business card. It was for a music lessons shop. She must be an instructor. “I look forward to hearing from you.” She walked out, and all the heads turned her way.

  Once she was gone, Razor turned to me. “That was my future wife.”

  “Uh, actually she was my future wife,” Scotty said.

  I examined the business card.

  “Dude, she’s mine,” Razor said. “She would never go for you.”

  I interrupted them before it could become more heated. “You do realize you can’t date her if she’s in the band, right?”

  “Why not?” Scotty demanded.

  “It’ll ruin the dynamic,” I said. “We need to keep it professional.”

  “There’s nothing professional about being in a rock band,” Razor snapped. “If she’s in the band, I’m going for it. And she better be in the band.”

  I had a feeling we wouldn’t meet anyone better. She was the best of the best.

  Fuck, she was even better than me.

  Chapter Three

  Conrad

  Theo sat on the other couch while we watched the game. He went through more beers than I did, but I didn’t give him a hard time about it since he wasn’t in the best place. When I was depressed over Beatrice, all I did was drink.

  “Nice play,” Theo said as his eyes remained glued to the TV.

  “Yeah.” Actually, I didn’t catch it. I was thinking about Lexie and that pretty blonde hair I loved to fist so much. I didn’t talk about her around Theo because I didn’t want to bum him out. Of course he wanted me to be happy, but he didn’t want me to rub it in his face either.

  “What’s Lexie up to tonight?” he asked before he took a drink of his beer.

  “Not sure.” I tried to play it cool like there were other things to think about besides girls.

  “You can invite her over if you want,” he said. “I don’t mind.”

  If he did mind, he would never admit it. “I’m sure she’d rather do something else than drink beer and watch baseball.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Isn’t that something she would love to do?”

  Dammit, I set myself up for that one. “It’s a guy’s night. Let’s forget about her.”

  Theo released a sigh. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do but you don’t have to completely hide your relationship and your happiness just because of me.”

  “Happiness?” I mocked. “I’m not happy…relationships are overrated.”

  He rolled his eyes. “You aren’t fooling me.”

  We fell into comfortable silence and continued to watch the game.

  My phone rang so I quickly glanced at it and hoped to see Lexie’s name. But it was a number I didn’t recognize. I usually took every call because I never knew if it was work related. Most of the responsibility had been placed on my shoulders, and my dad was a mere figurehead now.

  I took the call. “Conrad Preston.”

  “Ooh…you sound sexy when you talk like that.”

  I stiffened in my chair as I heard the woman’s voice. I knew it wasn’t Lexie. Her voice wasn’t as high-pitched. But I didn’t know who it was. “Who is this?”

  “You can’t figure it out?” she asked. “Or do you have so many girls call you that you can’t keep them straight?”

  Seriously, who was this? “I have a girlfriend—and I keep her straight.”

  “Well, I’m here to make you…bend.”

  My brain searched for a possible answer to her identity. There was no one at work that might possibly speak to me this way. They definitely wouldn’t randomly call me like this. And it wasn’t an ex-flame…why would they call me out of the blue like this? And Beatrice wouldn’t make a call like this if a gun were pointed to her head. Then it hit me like a slab of bricks. “Macy?”

  “So you do remember?” A smile was in her voice. “Like you’d ever forget my pretty voice.”

  Lexie’s sister was calling me? This chick was a freak. “Don’t call me again. I mean it.”

  “Don’t be a jerk,” she said playfully. “Just talk to me and tell me about your day.”

  “I’m hanging up now.”

  “Wait. I like the sound of your voice. It gets me hot—”

  I hung up and tossed the phone on the seat beside me.

  Theo watched me with a raised eyebrow. “What the hell was that? Phone sex?”

  “Hell no,” I said. “It was Lexie’s sister.”

  His eyes widened. “You’re fooling around on Lexie with her sister?”

  “No,” I blurted. “Fuck, of course not. But she keeps trying to sleep with me.”

  “Even though you’re with her sister?”

  “It’s terrible,” I said. “I know. She’s just doing it to piss off Lexie. But right now, I’m the only one she’s pissing off.”