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Beat With Me: A With Me in Seattle Universe Novel
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Beat With Me
Anna Edwards
Contents
Beat With Me
Quote
Preface – Yivi
Prologue - Liam
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue - Austin
The With Me in Seattle Universe
Also by Anna Edwards
About Anna Edwards
Beat With Me
A With Me In Seattle Universe Novel
Anna Edwards
BEAT WITH ME
A WITH ME IN SEATTLE UNIVERSE NOVEL
ANNA EDWARDS
Copyright © 2020 by Anna Edwards
https://authorannaedwards.com
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect are appreciated. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Cover Design by Kari March
Editing by Tracy Roelle
Proofreading by Sheena Taylor
Published by Lady Boss Press, Inc.
How can you not love a man banging on the drums? He knows how to keep a rhythm.
Malin Akerman
Preface – Yivi
#WhatAmIDoing
The unflattering white linen dress hangs clumsily over my curves. Even though I’ve witnessed this ceremony so many times in my life, this isn’t how I pictured my wedding day. I wanted something different…a man I loved at my side for a start, not a means to an end—not a man I barely know, chosen to be my husband because of what he can bring to the world in which I live.
Isn’t the union between two people supposed to be something special? The result of a courtship where the couple have been able to learn about each other and discover their similarities and differences. This is nothing like that. I only set eyes on the man I’m to marry a few hours ago, and I don’t know anything about him. It will only be when the officiate reads out his name I’ll learn what it is. It’s not right. This isn’t how it should happen.
I want a man who makes my heart melt with his love and protection. I want a man who excites me and is my equal.
This is not the right way.
The priest says something to me, but I don’t hear it. I’m too busy running back down the aisle and out of the makeshift church—the wooden building my family calls the center of our community. A community that’s been established in a small holding in the middle of nowhere.
Our Leader follows me, and guards chase after me, but with sheer determination, I flee the compound.
I don’t want to be this person.
I run. I race breathlessly for my life, and I don’t stop until the bright lights of Las Vegas loom large in my vision.
I’ve escaped.
But will I ever truly be free?
Prologue - Liam
#ImNeverDrinkingAgain
Shit, my head hurts. I was drinking motherfucking cocktails until the early hours of the morning to celebrate Tate and Zoey’s engagement.
Given everything that’s happened with Zoey’s mother, our two lovebirds didn’t indulge as much as Austin, Cameron, and I. When they disappeared upstairs for their own private celebration, the rest of us painted the Strip red, and now I’m suffering for it. I’m going to throw up—I’m sure of it.
Having money to burn in Sin City isn’t good when it leads to free drinks. Thank the lord we don’t have a concert tonight. I’ve no plans to get out of this bed. Even an earthquake couldn’t shift me at the moment.
Scrap that! My bladder has other ideas. I’m going to have to struggle to the toilet or piss the bed. I don’t think Zoey would want to deal with the fallout of that particular story hitting the press, and Tate would have my balls for making her work extra hard.
Reluctantly, I climb out of bed. It takes a while. I don’t try standing, because I know I’ll vomit. Instead, I slide onto the floor and crawl slowly along the plush carpet. Every movement is agony, and my body groans, telling me I’m too old for drinking—I’m only twenty-four. It really does go downhill after you turn twenty-one. Another couple of years, I’ll probably be downing Viagra to get it up. Not the most inspiring thought when you’ve got the mother of all hangovers.
Finally reaching the bathroom, I realize I’ve got no choice now but to stand up. I have a vision of Zoey looking disappointed as she fends off the press, following my drunken exploits in a posh hotel. Beside her is Tate with a look of thunderous rage written all over his face. Jesus, I’ve turned into a nerd overnight.
Using the porcelain bowl of the toilet to steady myself, I push up to my feet. The world spins, and my stomach churns, but everything stays down.
“I’m never drinking again,” I tell no one in particular, but it’s a promise I plan on keeping this time. Well, maybe for a week or two.
I’m naked so don’t need to pull my dick out of my clothing. I reach down and aim. It’s probably the best piss I’ve ever taken, long and warm. On and on it goes until I shake the last few drops and flush the toilet. Cleaning up, I contemplate a quick shower, but I really don’t have the energy. Instead, I splash some water on my face and head back to bed. But as I walk out the bathroom, I’m stopped in my tracks by the vision of a stunning brunette sitting up in my bed with the sheets wrapped around her. Damn she’s gorgeous. I may be dying on the inside, but my dick has other ideas and stands to instant attention.
“Hi,” I manage to say with a voice sounding gravelly as hell.
“Hi,” she returns, looking terrified at my dick.
He’s my best attribute, long like my drumsticks but much wider. The woman shifts on the bed. I can just make out she’s testing for tenderness between her thighs. Yes, if I’ve fucked her, she’ll know all about it. She pales. Yeah, we had sex.
“I-I...” she stammers not knowing what to say.
She doesn’t seem like a usual groupie. They’d already be out of the bed and on their knees in front of me. Is that why I let her stay last night? I don’t normally do that, but then I don’t remember coming back to the hotel room, let alone having sex with her.
“It’s okay. I know it’s a little awkward. Do you need the bathroom?”
She nods quickly, still not having said anything other than ‘hi’.
I swing my arm to the side, motioning for her to go. She tentatively slides from the bed with the sheets wrapped tightly around her body.
“Can you er…”—she bites her lip—“put something on…some pants or something?”
I look down at my exposed, hard dick.
“Yeah, sorry.”
Looking around the room, I find my discarded underwear from last night. I didn’t unpack yesterday as w
e were running late for the concert. They’ll have to do until I can find something a bit cleaner. I slide them over my muscular legs as the woman races into the bathroom. She shuts and then locks the door behind her.
She’s an intriguing little thing, and I find myself not wanting to chuck her out immediately like I normally would do with a groupie. I notice her conservative dress folded over the back of a chair. There’s no sign of the leather or glittery top I would usually expect. Very strange.
Her bag sits open on the floor, next to the bed, with a piece of paper sticking out of the top. I know I shouldn’t look, but something draws me to it. Reaching down, I pull the paper out and open it. But before I get a chance to look at it, a feminine voice comes from behind me.
“What are you doing? That’s my bag.”
“Sorry.” I swing around to face her, and the room sways with me, reminding me of my hangover. “I didn’t mean to snoop. I don’t know why I did.”
I go to hand it back to her but stop when I see the words written on it.
‘Marriage License.’
I’m not sure I can keep the bile down this time. Have I just spent the night with a married woman?
“What is it?” the woman asks.
She comes over to me as I continue to scan the license. Gradually all the blood drains from my face, and I feel a need for the world to swallow me up.
“Are you Harmony Ward?”
“Yes.”
“Then, according to this, we got married last night.”
Chapter 1
Liam
#IFeelLikeATotalDick
“Have you lost your ever-loving, frigging mind?” Tate stares at me with red tints of anger staining his cheeks. His presence seems to fill my suite room at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. “You got so fucking pissed you got married to a stranger?”
Zoey comes up to her fiancé and places her hand on his arm. “It’s all right—we can deal with it.”
“Deal with it?” Tate stomps his feet like a petulant child. “Zoey, he’s married. We know nothing about the woman. She could take him for all the money he has, and it’ll affect Saving Tate. Why didn’t you have a bodyguard or someone with you?”
I’ve been standing, but the swirling effect from my hangover gets the better of me, and I slump down into a white fabric covered chair.
“I know…I’m sorry. I thought I did have a bodyguard with me, but I don’t remember what happened. I must have lost him at some point.”
Austin returns to the suite, having gone to his room to get me some painkillers. He hands them to me, and I swallow them down with the help of a bottle of water from the table in front of me.
“I have to say it’s probably the most stupid thing you’ve ever done,” Cameron adds.
The dark glasses covering his eyes shield them from the brightness. He too appears to be nursing a hangover, but his doesn’t seem to have left him married to a stranger.
I’m such a dick.
“I’m not going to argue with that,” Tate moans, and I realize I must have spoken my thought out loud. “We need to get a lawyer here and get the marriage annulled immediately. Did you consummate it?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I honestly don’t remember?”
Tate puts his head in his hands, and Zoey strokes his back. They’ve been through so much recently—Zoey’s had to deal with her mother’s suicide attempt and Tate has finally confronted his parents about the way they’ve hidden the drug related death of his sister, Heidi. I feel guilty I’ve now added to their stress, especially as we’re in the middle of a world tour.
Tate, Cameron, Austin, and I make up the four members of the rock band Saving Tate. Several of our recordings have gone platinum. We’re taking over the music world with our heartfelt lyrics, compassion, and resilience as a clean band at a time when a lot of rock stars are losing themselves in the drugs flooding into the industry.
Zoey smiles warmly at me. “Did the woman say anything this morning?”
“What do you mean?”
She bites her lip. “Did she mention being sore in her feminine parts?”
I gulp. “I…er… I think we might have. She checked herself and must have felt something because she went pale.”
Austin chuckles. “You really don’t do things by halves do you?”
Damn, I wish I could remember what happened.
“If you’ve fucked her, it’ll make the annulment harder, but we’re in Vegas… nothing is impossible here,” Tate explains.
“That’s part of the reason Las Vegas is one of the most volatile places on Earth for bands,” Leo Nash interjects over the phone.
Leo’s our mentor and the lead singer of Nash, the biggest band on the planet. He’s been listening to the entire conversation ever since I first told the guys I was married. Tate phoned him straight away, needing his input before we tell our manager and Zoey’s boss, Fred Wilder.
Leo continues, “It’s a stupid thing to have done, Liam. You’re going to have to put a lot of money into getting it fixed, and it’s not really the kind of press you need with all the good publicity you’ve been getting with the Saving Tate Foundation.”
The Saving Tate Foundation was set up by the band and Zoey after what happened to Zoey’s mother and Tate’s sister. It’s to help those less fortunate than us get back on their feet and deal with addictions and other issues at home. We’ve been widely praised for the amount of time and energy we’ve put into the Foundation, and switching newspaper headlines to me drunkenly eloping in Las Vegas is not going to be good for the band as a whole or our charity work.
“What do you suggest we do?” Tate asks Leo.
“I think Liam needs to suck it up and inform Fred. He’ll get a lawyer out there today to sort out an annulment. Meanwhile, you need to be polite to the girl, Liam, and preferably keep your dick in your pants. How did she seem to you when you discovered the two of you were married?”
“Terrified,” I blurt out.
“That could be a good thing. She doesn’t sound like she knows who you are and therefore what she can get out of you. I know this sounds callous and is purely my mistrust of the world of fame at large, but try to keep it that way as much as possible,” Leo advises.
Leo is very much a voice of reason to us as a band. We trust him implicitly because he’s already been through so much of what we‘re experiencing. Hard times and good. He advises us on the best way to protect the band’s future, ensuring we preserve both our fame and sanity at the same time.
“I’ll get a hotel room booked for her, so we can keep her close until we find out what’s happening with the lawyers,” Zoey informs us all. “Unless she already has one booked at the hotel? Do you know? Has she traveled here with anyone?”
I shake my head again. “I don’t know. She’s not mentioned anyone.”
I remember looking in Harmony’s bag. I saw the marriage license so distinctly because there was little else in there. No phone, no wallet, no key card for a hotel room, just a bit of change and the official looking document.
That can’t be a good sign, can it?
My stomach sinks. I try to think back to the bag. Was it designer? I only recall it was tatty and looked like it’d seen better days. I’m not sure rich and Harmony Ward go together. But I remember the look on her face when she first saw me. She was so scared. It wasn’t the face of someone who was after a drunken marriage in order to secure a financial payout.
When I look up, I see Harmony standing there, hiding as best as she can behind the door. She looks sad and scared again. Zoey follows my line of sight. She lets go of Liam, and bending down to my height where I sit in the chair, she says softly, “Let me go and talk to her. This will be as much of a shock to her as it is you if it’s a genuine drunken mistake. She’ll probably want someone to talk to who isn’t a big strapping man covered in tattoos and piercings. No offense, but you guys can be a bit scary on first impression.”
“And extremely hot on the second,” Tate adds, a
llowing his anger with me to dissipate for a few moments.
We all laugh and then fall silent.
“Please,” I reply to Zoey.
She kisses Tate on the lips. “Be nice.”
“Aren’t I always?” he replies and smacks her on the ass as she leaves.
I watch Harmony as Zoey approaches her. Her eyes go wide, and she quickly disappears back into the bedroom. Something tells me I haven’t married a deranged fan but a scared little girl.
“Dickhead.” Tate slumps down into his own chair.
“I know,” I reply.
“You are okay, though?” Tate offers.
I nod.
“Listen, guys, I’m going to head off. I’ll speak to Fred for you and get a lawyer to sort out the annulment papers,” Leo speaks from the other end of the phone call.
“Thank you,” I offer, grateful to have his support.
“Don’t beat yourself up too much, Liam. It’s one of those things that can happen in Las Vegas. It’s the lure of the city. Be grateful it’s something we can fix easily and not a tattoo on your backside of a Disney princess, which takes months of painful laser treatment to remove.”
I raise an eyebrow at my fellow bandmates as we all listen to Leo’s words.
“Was that you?” I question.