Page 44 of Score
“I, um… I’ve never seen you wear anything like it,” I say.
“Don’t you want everyone to know you get to fuck a girl who looks likethis?” She leans against the wall, a temptress grin curving her lips. “Or don’t you like my body?”
“You know I love your body.” I wave my hand up and down the length of her. “It just isn’t like you.”
The door opens behind us and I draw in a calming breath.
“Yo, Monk,” Bret says, reluctance in his tone. “Sorry to interrupt, but time is money. We need to get back to the song.”
“Yeah.” I nod, but don’t turn, shielding Verity’s body with my own. “I’m coming.”
“Okay,” Bret says. “From the top?”
“Yeah, let’s take it from the top.” I turn back to Verity. “I gotta get back in there. We still have a few hours left on this track.”
“Can I stay?”
My confusion and annoyance dissipate at her question.
“Of course.” I cup her jaw and tilt her chin up, searching her eyes. I don’t know what I’m looking for. Is she high? Exhausted? Something is making her behave out of character. “You can sit here with me for as long as you like, but you’ll probably get bored.”
“I’m never bored with you.” She grins up at me, leans forward, and presses her lips to mine. The way my body responds to her, my heart picking up speed, you’d think it had been days since I’d seen her, not this morning when she left my bed. She deepens the kiss, reaching up to grab my neck. Her hand slips between us and she unzips my jeans.
“Babe,” I laugh into our kiss. “I gotta work and the guys are right in the booth. We can’t… no.”
“Spoilsport,” she sighs, rolling her eyes. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”
I’m frozen to the spot for a few seconds, disturbed by her tone and the look on her face. This isn’t my Verity. The last few days, maybe weeks, I’ve known something was off, but didn’t want to push it. Wasn’t sure if I was imagining it. I assumed it was this project that’s taken up so much of her time, but maybe I’m missing something.
“Come on.” I take her hand and lead her to sit at the soundboard beside me.
She slumps in the chair and crosses her arms over her chest, lips pushed into a pout.
“Hey, guys.” I press the talk-back button to tell them, “Sorry about that. Let’s take it from the top. You clear on the new stuff, Bret?”
“Got it.” He nods and takes his seat at the piano.
Verity reaches down to the backpack I hadn’t noticed on the floor and pulls out her ever-present notebook. She crosses her legs and props it on her knee. I have to force my focus to the booth, since now that she’s sitting down, her dress rides up to the tops of her thighs.
“Alright,” I tell the musicians. “Let’s get into it.”
After a few minutes, I lock in, my attention completely on the song and the nuances of capturing it. Engineering isn’t something I’ve studied, and it doesn’t come as naturally as playing. But I’ve picked up enough from the last few years working at this studio to be competent.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Verity go to her knees. She must have dropped her pen or something. I adjust the volume on the piano, pulling it up and taking the standing bass down. Bret touches one side of his headphones, points to Gary, and hikes his thumb up, so I give him more trumpet in his ears.
Movement on the floor at my feet drags my focus away from the musicians. Verity is on her knees, legs folded under her so she sits on her heels. The top of her head presses into the soundboard. Before I can ask what the hell she’s doing down there, she unzips my pants and pulls my dick out.
“Vee,” I snap, keeping my voice low, but unable to take my hands off the board while the musicians are still playing. “What are you doing? Get up.”
“You were right. Iambored.” Her grin turns salacious. “At least one of us should be having a good time.”
She bends to take the head between her lips and pleasure jolts up my spine. I’m so startled and unnerved, my fingers slide off the knobs I’m turning to adjust the levels. For a moment, I want to push her head down so she takes me all the way to the back of her throat, but reason kicks in.
“Babe, no.” My voice comes out as a furious hiss. “You can’t do this shit.”
“I’m doing it.” She shrugs and pushes down farther until the length ofmy dick disappears completely into her mouth. She bobs, smearing bright pink lipstick around me, her beautiful eyes not looking away from my face as her throat closes around me.
“Fuuuuck, Vee.” I slide back abruptly from the soundboard to get her mouth off and tuck my dick back into my pants.
