Songbird Freed Read online

  Nicole grinned at me nervously. “Tara, this is still a bit rough but we’ve been working on a few routines to show you. I hope you like it.”

  Apparently Cole hadn’t only been playing love songs on the new piano, he’d also been writing songs with Jay for the burlesque show. The piece they decided to show me was upbeat and raunchy. Nicole sang, and I was surprised at how good her voice was. The lyrics made me smile, they were cheeky and sassy, and I loved them. All the girls were amazing dancers. They were a similar height and build to Nicole, so the movements looked uniformed. What Nicole had called rough, I thought was good enough to perform in front of a paying crowd, and I was so overwhelmed by the effort that everyone had put in, I was speechless.

  At the end of the routine, those of us not on stage gave the girls a raucous round of applause.

  Nicole skipped over to me. “What did you think? Was it what you had in mind?”

  “Absolutely!” It was exactly what I had envisaged, and I couldn’t believe that after so long, the vision was coming to light.

  “We had another girl who was really good. She’d worked in Paris as a burlesque dancer, but she was—”

  “You don’t need to worry Tara about that, Nic,” Cole butted in.

  “No, that’s okay. Can we get her back? Was she not happy with the hours, or the money?” I asked smiling at Nicole.

  She gave Cole a wary look before returning her focus to me. “She was more interested in Marcus and Cole than in learning the routines. I told her to back off.” She glanced back over at Cole, who was standing there with arms crossed over his chest. “Cole fired her,” she blurted out. “You should have seen him; told her she had no respect for people’s relationships, and that she didn’t fit into the Songbirds family.”

  I could just imagine how that conversation would have gone down, but I was so proud of him for doing it.

  Cole wrapped an arm around me and leaned in. “She was probably the best dancer, but she had to go.” He shrugged. “The show will be great without her.”

  Cupping his face in my hands, I planted a big kiss on his lips. He frowned at me for a moment, not quite sure why I was kissing him for firing the best dancer, and I couldn’t really explain it either. He had grown so much, changed so much for me.

  “I love you for defending us,” I told him, kissing him again.

  “I will always defend us. You and me, we will always come first, babe, because nothing else matters if we’re not together.”

  It was exactly how I felt. Everything we were doing for the bar, for the show and the band, none of it mattered if at the end of the day we weren’t together.

  IT WAS nearly time for the band to go on stage, and the bar was packed, as always.

  We made our way downstairs and perched on stools at the bar while Cole and Jay met Ethan and Mitchell, and started setting up.

  Kelli was looking tired¸ leaning up against Jason, eyes half closed.

  “Why don’t you head home, Kell? I can drive you,” I offered.

  “No, you have to stay.” She bit her lip, squeezing her eyes closed tight for a moment. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you, but he’s going to sing you a song so you have to be here.”

  Instinctively, I looked towards the stage where Cole was talking to Jay. As soon as I looked his way his head turned towards me, as if he could sense I was watching him. He gave me a beaming, sexy-as-hell smile, making my heart skip a beat. Smiling back, I blew him a kiss. He laughed, caught the kiss and placed his hand over his heart.

  “Oh my God, you two make me sick,” Kelli droned. “How am I going to live with this lovey-dovey crap twenty-four-seven?” She burst out laughing. “I’m so jealous!”

  Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I gave her a quick squeeze. “You’ll meet someone when the time is right. You have little peanut to focus on for now.” I rubbed her shoulder. “Just give it time.”

  Her head rested against me. “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready, or find anyone who compares to Coop. What if my once-in-a-lifetime has been and gone? What if there’s no one else out there for me?”

  It was a thought I didn’t want to entertain. Kelli was still so young with so many years ahead of her. She deserved to find love again and be happy, and her little peanut deserved to have a dad. I knew Kelli would be an awesome mum and we would all be there to help, but I wanted her to have everything. If I could give her the world I would.

  The Sons took to the stage and I looked over at Victor who was eagerly watching Cole as he stepped up to the microphone.

  “How’s everyone doing tonight?” Cole greeted the crowd with his trademark swagger, making eye contact and touching hands with the girls down the front. He had changed into a tight black T-shirt, showing off his tattooed sleeve, broad chest and ripped abs. His whole demeanour was larger than life when he was on stage. He was always confident, but he had such a presence when he was performing, it was hard to take your eyes off him.

  “How are you?” someone shouted back to him.

  “Hey, I’m great, thanks for asking.” He chuckled. “You may notice that I’m smiling again,” Cole said as he strolled up and down the stage, engaging the audience. “Seems I’ve been a bit of a misery guts the past couple of weeks.”

  Cole’s eyes flicked up in my direction. “But I got my girl back today.” He ran his hand up over his abs sensually, lifting his T-shirt just enough to show some skin. “So I’m all loved up.” The crowd cheered and whistled. I sunk down in my seat as a few people turned to look in my direction.

  Cole chuckled again. “I’d like to sing something a little different tonight, if that’s okay?” More cheers followed as Cole picked up his acoustic guitar and slung it around his shoulders. With one look at Jay to check if he was ready, the two guys started playing.

  “This is for Tara. She’s my addiction. The more I get of her, the more I want.”

  The bar fell silent as ‘Addicted to You’ by Avicii filled the room—not the upbeat dance track, but something slower, with so much more feeling. Cole’s voice was deep and seductive, and the sexiest thing I’d ever heard. His eyes scanned the crowd briefly from time to time, but returned to me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Both Jay and Cole were amazing guitarists, but it was Cole’s voice that did things to me. By the time the song was over I was virtually panting. He knew it too. The song finished, and he gave me a panty-dropping grin and a subtle wink, before counting in one of their faster rock numbers.

  The set went back to normal and Nicole and I weaved our way onto the dance floor, jumping up and down with the crowd while Cole sang his heart out. There was only one more song left, the make-out song, and I wondered if Cole would pull anyone up with our dads there, watching.

  “So as the diehard fans will know, this is the part of the show where we play the make-out song,” Cole’s voice boomed through the microphone.

  Girls hooted and waved to Cole, trying to get his attention so he would call them up on stage with him.

  “Hang on, hang on,” he said, laughing. “It has come to my attention that there have been some complaints because I no longer make-out with anyone during the make-out song.” He looked over at me and bit his lip seductively. The girls screamed. “So we’ve decided that tonight, we’re going to do the song the way we used to.”

  What did that mean?

  “I’m going to call someone up and do what I used to do.”

  My head was screaming, I couldn’t believe he would do that now that we were together.

  “Because after tonight, we’re going to retire the song and start introducing some new songs to the set.”

  There was a mixture of cheers and boos, all I could think of was where could I hide while Cole made out with someone on stage in front of our dads and me.

  “So there’s been someone I’ve wanted to call up on stage since the first time I laid eyes on her.” He raised his eyes again to me, and he gave me a subtle nod. “My little bro Jay told me I wasn’t allowed to touch her, b
ut I’m allowed to touch her now.” He crooked his finger and beckoned me up to the stage. “For the final performance of this song, I’m doing it with my girl, Tara.”

  My head was shaking no, but hands were pushing me forward.

  “What’s that, babe? Would you rather I did it with someone else?”

  That was all the motivation I needed. I couldn’t get up there fast enough.

  “That’s more like it,” he whispered. “Can you remember how I used to do this?”

  I nodded. Of course I could remember. He used to be all over the girl, making them dizzy with the final kiss. Music started playing and he scooped me into his arms, holding me firmly against his body.

  “Relax, it’s just you and me,” he murmured in my ear before nuzzling my neck. “It’s just us. It will always be us. I won’t do anything to embarrass you, I promise.”

  I decided not to look over at my dad as Cole started singing and his hand started wandering over my hip and down my thigh to the hem of my very short fitted dress. Believing that he wouldn’t take it too far, I let myself be guided by his body. The slightest movement of his hips, the smallest twist of his shoulders told me where he wanted me to go next. Standing in front of him and facing the crowd, I let my eyes close, my head dropping back onto his chest as his hand ran up my stomach.

  At the bridge, he turned me to face him, taking the opportunity to kiss me lightly on the neck, trailing soft lips along my jaw and towards my ear.

  “Little secret,” he whispered, “I never used to really kiss them until the very end, it was all for show, but with you I can’t resist.”

  His lips were on mine, softly teasing me, tempting me to go further. It was working—as his hips ground against mine I could feel he wasn’t pretending. He drew me in and I felt the desperate need for more when he pulled away to sing again. My hands ran over his chest, tracing the chiselled muscles through his T-shirt, down his abdomen to his jeans, my fingertips lightly running up and down his sides, making him shiver.

  When I tugged on the waistband of his jeans and ran a finger around the inside, he forgot the words, instead groaning into the microphone. Luckily the song was almost over because his hand tangled in my hair, pulling my head towards him, his mouth on mine. Gone was the soft teasing, this was a passionate, full-throttle kiss that I felt through my entire body.

  The crowd went crazy, cheering and whistling, but it didn’t matter how many people were watching us, I wanted Cole. With my heart galloping in my chest, I ran my hands into his hair, fisting it tightly. I couldn’t get close enough, virtually climbing up him, his hand in my hair running down my back until it reached my ass and squeezed. Lips caressed my neck before sucking the skin below my ear, the pleasure blocking out everyone else around us. There was only us.

  It wasn’t until Jay tapped us both on the shoulder that I remembered we were standing on stage with more than two hundred people watching us. Burying my face in Cole’s chest, I took a moment to compose myself before looking up at him, smiling embarrassedly.

  “We’re definitely continuing this later,” he said with a grin, before running his finger over the area on my neck he had been sucking on. “Sorry about this. It’s going to leave a mark.”

  “Did you give me a hickey?” I asked, laughing, “That’s a classy look.”

  “I’ll give you another one in a different place tonight. Somewhere that no one else will see.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” I told him playfully.

  Jumping down off the stage, I made my way back over to the bar on still shaky legs. Cole’s kiss was still making my lips tingle.

  “Well, that was way too much insight,” Nicole cackled.

  “Tell me about it,” Kelli chimed in, “Try sleeping in the room next to theirs. They can go all night.”

  “Okay, you two.” I gave them both a cheeky grin. “We do stop to come up for air occasionally.”

  At the end of the set, Cole came over and slung an arm around my shoulder, examining my neck once again. Victor came over, beaming at Cole.

  “You were wonderful, son. Really great.” He looked at me with the same cheeky grin I’d seen from Cole so many times before. “Quite a show, I must say.”

  I buried my face in my hands. How embarrassing to have made out with Cole in front of our dads. Cole, however, wasn’t embarrassed.

  “Thanks, Dad. Thanks for coming to watch tonight.” From the gleam in his eye, he really was thrilled to have Victor there.

  “I should have come to hear you sing years ago. I guess I let your mother’s disappointment in your not going to the School of the Arts prevent me from recognising your true talent. You’re a born entertainer, and a wonderful musician.”

  Cole’s chest swelled with pride. “Thanks, Dad. That means a lot to me.”

  Victor rested his hand affectionately on Cole’s shoulder. “It’s quite a life you’ve immersed yourself in. You have great friends, you get to sing and write the kind of music you enjoy.” He looked at me. “Not to mention a lovely girlfriend you obviously care for very much.”

  “I love her, Dad. I love my life.” His eyes were boring into Victor, those few simple words meaning so much more than anyone around us could understand. “This is where I want to be. Right here.”

  Victor gave a knowing smile. “I understand that, son.”

  Cole exhaled sharply, his shoulders visibly relaxing.

  “But you know this is bigger than just you. It affects all of us.”

  It was my turn to slump as I realised that as much as Victor liked me, he wouldn’t be going in to bat for Cole and I to be together. It was up to Cole to make a stand once and for all to end his mother’s stronghold over him.

  Looking up into his eyes, I could see the strain of what he knew he would have to do if he was going to live the life he wanted with me, because I would never stay with him if he didn’t. I would never be a kept woman while he fulfilled the charade of playing Victor, no matter how much I loved him.

  “You need to do something,” I whispered pleadingly.

  “I know and I will.” He pulled me in to his chest. “I can’t lose you, babe, but I have to work it out. It’s complicated, and there’s a lot at stake.”

  I already knew this. It was the standard response every time the subject was raised.

  Burrowing my face in his chest, I tried to convince myself that Cole would find the strength to stand up to them. He always said “it’s you and me”, but that only seemed to apply when his family weren’t in the equation. When they were, for some reason that was yet to be explained, they came first.

  LOOKING AT the bed-head, I couldn’t help smiling at the memory of Cole snapping the slat. I was also rather proud of myself that he was so worked up from what I was doing.

  “Try not to break anymore furniture please,” I joked, as I stepped out of my dress and threw it over the chair in the corner.

  “I’ll try, but if you keep walking around like that, I can’t promise anything.” Cole’s hands ran up my sides, stopping only when they reached my breasts. He squeezed, then leaned down and playfully bit my nipple through the thin lace bra.

  “I’ve decided,” he said, now focusing on the other breast, “that tomorrow is a no-clothes day. From now on, every Sunday is Stripper Sunday. The only things you can wear are stilettos.”

  Chuckling, I undressed and started to make my way over to the bed. “And why’s that?”

  “Because I need to see more of this.” He slapped my backside playfully. “And I can’t get enough of your body. The way it moves, the curves and contours, the way it tastes, and your scent. All of you.”

  We climbed into bed, and I snuggled into Cole. It felt so good to be back beside him, breathing him in, feeling his warmth. He leaned up on one elbow, looking down at me, studying my face. One fingertip ran around my hairline and across my jaw to my lips.

  “I missed you.” The finger on my lips ran down to my chin, lifting it until it was at just the right angle. “
I love you, Tara.”

  Soft lips pressed to mine, gently at first, coaxing me to him. My arm hooked around his neck, trying to pull him closer. Warm breath was against my cheek as he lifted his face from mine to look down at me once more. The world stopped for a second as our eyes locked. My heart pounded against my chest. Reaching up, I took Cole’s face in my hands holding it captive, then raised my head, hovering my lips a hair’s breadth away.

  “Show me how much you love me.” My lips brushed against his as I spoke.

  His eyes flashed for a moment. With a slight nod of his head, one arm snaked around my waist, pulling me tight against him. I loved the feel of his hard body and I pressed against him, trying to get as close as possible, wrapping one leg over his hip.

  The warmth of his body was nothing compared to the heat of his kiss as his tongue worked at parting my lips and exploring my willing mouth. As groans of pleasure rumbled from his throat, I pushed up harder, pulling him towards me at the same time with my leg.

  His hips tilted, pushing his erection against my entrance. The hand that was snaked around my waist travelled down to my hip, lifting it slightly from the mattress, fingers gripping tightly. Then he was inside me. The feel of him filling me, stretching me, made me gasp. He sat back on his heels, gripping both my hips in his hands as he drove into me, watching my face with a smouldering smile. But then he pulled out.

  “Don’t stop,” I gasped breathlessly, feeling the emptiness instantly.

  One hand lifted my leg until it was over his shoulder, tender kisses trailing from my knee up my thigh. He slinked down onto the mattress, settling between my legs.

  “I told you I’d leave a mark where no one else would see it.”

  My hips rose to meet him as the other leg was placed over his shoulder and he latched on to my inner thigh, licking and sucking the delicate skin. Warm breath passed from one thigh to the other, only stopping briefly in between. I ran my hand through his hair, subtly trying to steer his face back to where I wanted it.