This Love of Mine (Raine Series #1)

CHAPTER 16

Madison

Words failed to explain how breath-takingly beautiful she looked when I saw her standing at the end of her drive. I wanted to swoop her up and run far away from everything, and have it just be me and her. I knew I looked like a complete idiot standing there waiting for her to say something. I felt like a coward when she made the first move, but I needed her to do it. I was following her lead on this one, and I wasn't about to push her to do something that she didn't want to do.

I was relieved when she pulled me into her. My body reacted instantly, betraying me at every turn. There was no way I was going to be able to hide what her close proximity did to me for much longer. She didn't say anything once we started heading towards town. Not that I expected a full blown, heart wrenching conversation, but something would have been better than the silence that was strangling the air right out of the truck.

I kept an eye on her every move out of my peripheral vision, so when she placed her hand on the seat between us, I knew exactly what she was doing. I didn't hesitate to set my hand on top of hers, when that was all I had wanted to do the entire ride. I thought we were finally on the same page, and I would have continued to think that way, had she not copped some shitty attitude once we got to the bar. I wasn't exactly sure what happened between the time I picked her up to now, but something was seriously off.

I knew I was going to have to sneak her in, so I turned on my serious face and hopped down to fetch my lil' country girl. Only when I reached her side of the truck, she had all but shut down, again. Holy hell, I couldn't win with this f*ckin' girl. When she called me cowboy, my dick twitched and made its presence known. The things this girl did to me with just a word, was out of the ordinary. I caught Glenn out of the corner of my eye and nodded in his direction. When I pointed towards KJ, her back was turned the other way and he shot me a wide smile and a thumbs up.

Dumbass.

He ran over to us a second later, after helping Brandon and Bryce with our equipment. We had all known each other since we were little and it just so happened that over the years, we all fell in love with the same kind of music. Brandon and Bryce were brothers and I swear if you didn't know them, you would have thought they were twins.

They both sported short blonde faux hawks and had brown eyes. They were the exact same height and only a year apart in age. Brandon was definitely the nicer of the two, but once they started talking it didn't really matter. Girls were drawn to their heavy Texas drawl and there was usually a few that fought over both of them.

Glenn came running up to us and introduced himself to KJ promptly. "Hi, I'm Glenn. You must be Kayla." His shit eatin' grin made me want to beat the shit out of him where we stood, but I knew he was just being polite to the girl that I couldn't shut up about.

"Hi Glenn. Yes, but please call me KJ." I noticed her wink and shoot a flirty smile in his direction.

"Okay, so now that we have that out of the way. Can we please get her inside so we can set up?" I was only slightly irritated, but I must've come off like a dick because when I reached for her hand, she quickly pulled it back to her side. Damn it, why couldn't she just let me touch her, without consequence?

"Yeah, bro lets go. Ryan is around the side, waiting for us."

Glenn led us over to a side entrance that I didn't even know existed until now and sure enough there stood a huge bouncer. I had never met Ryan before, but Glenn said he was a good friend of his brother, so I let him make the introductions.

Man, I felt dwarfed in comparison to Ryan. He had to be at least six foot five, probably around two hundred and fifty pounds and solid f*ckin' muscle. Goddamn, he was huge. He was wearing a short sleeved black t-shirt, and was covered in tats just like I was, but his traveled all the way up and around his neck and throat.

Shit!

"Ryan this is my buddy Madison and his girl KJ. Guys, this is Ryan."

I reached out to shake Ryan's hand and noticed just exactly how many tattoos he had. They covered his entire hands, top and bottom. Impressive. He had a stoic look on his face as he shook my hand in return, but then placed an easy smile on his coarse face as he looked over Kayla. I was jealous instantly, and wanted to pull her back to my truck and drive her straight home, but I ignored the small flare of jealousy and watched her closely as she held her hand out to shake his. What happened next, was not what I expected at all.

This hard as shit man in front of me, bent down and scooped her up into one of the biggest hugs I have ever seen a guy give a girl. I wasn't sure if maybe they knew each other previous to now, but I got my answer when she responded with a, "nice to meet you."

Glenn eyed me a few times, gauging my reaction to the scene playing out in front of me, I'm sure. When my hands balled into fists at my sides, he aggressively patted my shoulder.

"Alright, let's get her inside, so we can finish loading the equipment on stage, yeah?" He whispered.

"Yeah." Was all I could manage to strangle out of my dry throat.

"Don't worry about it fellas, I'll take good care of your girl here." He reached his hand out for Kayla to take it, and when she did, Glenn had to hold me in place as he walked her inside.

I quickly turned and glared at Glenn. "Who the f*ck does he think he is?" I growled.

"Bro, you need to calm the f*ck down. He knows she's only sixteen. He won't f*ck with her."

"Seventeen." I mumbled to no one apparently, because Glenn had since run over to the van. I caught up with him and said my hellos to Brandon and Bryce, before we started moving our stuff inside. I wasn't exactly sure about the emotion coursing through my veins, but I was damn sure going to get to the bottom of them by the end of tonight.

I pushed the cart of drums over the lip of the side door, when I caught sight of a very scantily clad Taryn, headed in the direction of sweet, innocent KJ. I was about to drop everything I was doing to go intervene, but it looked as though Ryan was taking his babysitting duties to the extreme. I watched as he whispered something in Taryn's ear and then shook his head. She quickly retreated and headed back to the bar. That was definitely not a situation I wanted to deal with tonight.

When I reached the stage, Brandon was already reaching out for me to hand over his drums. So much for trusting your friend and band mate huh? I quickly handed off the rest of his gear and then made my way over to Kayla. She glanced up from her cell phone and gave me a quizzical look.

"Hey pretty girl, whatcha doin'?" I sat in the seat right next to her and placed my hand on her exposed thigh.

"Nothin' much, cowboy. Aren't ya supposed to be helpin' those boys out?" She pointed in the general direction of the rest of the band.

"Nah, I'm the singer." I winked at her and could instantly see the blush creep up her cheeks.

"I see." Her voice sent my blood pressure through the roof and I knew if I didn't walk away now, I was going to do something very inappropriate for public.

I placed a small kiss to her head and then went in the direction of the stage. I needed to start warming up and I was in desperate need of a cold shower. I could feel her eyes on me as I turned the corner and I let out an audible sigh as I almost ran right into the back of Glenn.

"Sorry, bro."

"It's cool. What's got you all worked up?" He started laughing and I couldn't help but find the irony in it all. I was always using girls, and now I was caught up in a girl that was all but using me at the present moment.

"Funny." I sneered.

*****

About an hour and half later, a couple beers and some extra time with KJ, and I was geared up and ready to go. The crowd started filtering in and it was definitely much larger than we had anticipated. Good to know Bryce had been doing his job getting the word out. I leaned over and kissed Kayla right on the lips, leaving her breathless in my wake. I smiled at myself and headed up the side of the stage.

To my surprise, it was Ryan who would be introducing us and despite that, I was still pumped. Every time I hit that stage, everything else ceased to exist and I could be, me. It was my small escape in a world full of uncertainty. I lived for this shit, oh and baseball. Baseball was the only other thing that could get me going the way performing did. That was until I met Kayla.

I stood behind the mic, waiting for Ryan to announce us and for the curtains to fall to the side. I shook my head, clearing all other thoughts out of my mind. Suddenly, remembering that Kayla was out there was making me nervous like I had never been before.

"Thanks for coming out tonight, y'all. We have an amazing band ready for your pleasure. Give a big hand in welcoming, Restless Youth!"

I grasped the mic between my hands as it sat on the stand and closed my eyes just as Bryce began playing the bass. Our first song was a fast one that started out slow and I always kept my eyes closed through the first chorus. That was until I remembered who was watching me. I scanned the crown and caught her eyeing me, and I smiled.

The first few lyrics came out soft and smooth and I could tell by the look on her face, that she was surprised. As I got a few more words in, I could see her practically melting into the floor and it pushed me harder than I had ever pushed myself before. This concert was for her.