Page 29 of Going Down Smooth: Part One

“What?” I ask. Did I say the last part out loud? Going by the predatory grin on Lox’s face, I must have. He appears proud.

“I think you have a point, Trey.” Lox finally sits next to Nate, who is wearing a worried expression. Neither he nor I are prone to violence, but I can see the stiff set of his jaw as he nervously bounces his leg up and down with pent up energy. He is feeling just as murderous as I am.

“We need to be vigilant. We don’t know anyone’s true intentions besides our own. Therefore, Mercy is with one of us at all times. This house is the only place she is safe, and I think that maybe we need to hire Dane full time as back up once Mercy goes back and forth between here and work,” Knight says with finality. None of us look as if we disagree, not even Lox. He always has something more to say but this time he nods his head in agreement.

“I want to protect Mercy. Plain and simple. Freeya as well. If they want to hurt Mercy, then they won’t think twice about hurting her best friend. Freeya is important to Mercy; therefore, she’s important to us,” Nate adds, and its then that I realize I hadn’t seen her leave with us tonight.

Sensing my question Knight beats me to it. “Avion, Omari, Vic, and Dex Savoy said they would make sure she got back to her place safely,” he reassures me, and I blow out a relieved breath. They are good men whose ideas about our society mirror our own. I mean, Freeya is a Beta, she will be fine, right?

“Are you sure about that? Omari was all over her tonight, he wouldn’t let the woman out of his sight. Vic seemed damn near bewitched. I think we need to check in on her tomorrow, our little Mouse will be worried.” Lox chuckles, making me second guess my belief that Freeya is safe in their hands.

“She has to be at the meeting with Mercy tomorrow afternoon, so if she doesn’t show. . .then we will worry. For now, I can’t keep my eyes open. I am going to bed,” Nate says as he yawns and stretches his long limbs. I roll my eyes and nudge Knight beside me. I think we all know exactly where he is going. I stand right along with him; Lox and Knight get to their feet as well as we all have a stare off. I feel like a kid again suddenly, transported back to a time where we would race to see who would win the last of one of Miss Seneca’s famous chocolate chip cookies.

“She hasn’t officially given us an invite into the main bedroom yet,” I say, trying to stall them all as I make a plan in my head to get to the stairs first. With a snap of Lox’s fingers all hell breaks loose at we all bound up the stairs to the third floor.

For a moment I laugh at Nate being shoved out of the way. Knight and Lox wrestle to get ahead of each other and I enjoy my brother’s playfulness. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them behave this way, and I know it is all because of the woman asleep upstairs. I don’t care about winning, not tonight anyway. Tonight, I am happy that we’re happy. No matter what happens tomorrow, I will do whatever I have to do to protect this peace we’ve found. To protect our Alpha, no matter the cost.

* * *

The next morning I find myself in a literal dog pile. I managed to make it to the bottom of the bed last night and I was fine with my lot in life, until I woke up with a foot in my face. Not the dainty foot of my lady love, but the hard calloused foot of one of my brothers. This bed is insanely oversized. How Knight managed to move this far down is beyond me.

“Move,” I groan, swatting his foot only to realize I’m trapped underneath a leg as well. What the fuck? I roll over to move away and find myself falling off the bed. My hips hit the floor first, making me curse. Did he just push me off? I jump up ready for a fight but think better of it, Mercy doesn’t need us squabbling like teenagers when she has so much to deal with today.Raincheck, bitches. I smile, knowing I will think of a way to get the three of them back. I always do.

With my hands on my hips, I search for my t-shirt, finding it on the floor beside the bed and quickly pull it on over my head. I look for Mercy amongst their arms and legs, praying no one is crushing her underneath them without knowing it. I’m almost alarmed when I don’t find her, but the soft sound of a piano catches my attention and I leave the room in search of my Songbird.

I follow the familiar sounds of “Für Elise” playing as I reach the ground floor, a warm-up her mother used to drill into our fingers with every lesson. I can almost feel the strike of the damn ruler she carried around like a metronome against my hand when I hit the wrong key. I smile at the memory, but it doesn’t stop my hand from rubbing the other as if it had just happened.

From the sound of her fast fingers and years of hearing her play, something is troubling my girl, making me eat up the space down the hall that leads to my music room. As I reach the doorway, I pause. Leaning on the doorframe, I watch as her bare legs and feet work the pedals, her hands reaching, seeking the right notes, her head tilted slightly, eyes closed as if she’s speaking to the baby grand without saying a word. Her hair is wild, sticking up more than usual, and I can only assume she got out of bed and came straight here.

My music room is situated at the back of the house, two large windows draw the sun in to light up the room with a soft morning glow, illuminating Mercy like a spotlight. The music shifts abruptly, almost like a sea change. Her mood moves to something more my style as she plays the first note of “In a Sentimental Mood”. My fingers itch, the need to walk over and join her calls to me but I can’t move, I’m glued to the spot, never imagining the day would come when I walked through this door to find her sitting there.

“Are you just going to watch me or are you going to join me, Trey Stevens?” Mercy taunts, using her mother’s voice, eyes down, trained on the keys in front of her like she didn’t speak at all. Shades of Seneca Smooth float around us both, making me laugh.

I push off the door and pad over slowly. The sight of her ass shuffling along the bench to make room for me sends all the blood in my head racing south. Cock hard in seconds and it almost feels inappropriate as I sit down beside her, adjusting my growing erection as I reach over her hand and hit the key she was reaching for before she got there. I change the song once more and she follows along seamlessly. I catch her side profile, beautiful, enchanting. My Songbird in her element. She smiles. Whatever was bothering her moments ago is gone as we play together with nothing but the trees outside blowing in the breeze as our audience.

When she suddenly starts to sing my fingers falter. I pause all together, letting her take over as she plays “Wrong Places”by H.E.R. My eyes blur with unshed tears that I refuse to let fall. The sound of her strong alto voice, a direct hit to my heart. I’ve missed Mercy for a long time, but my soul missed her voice the most. My Songbird, first and always. I close my eyes, listen to the lyrics, and wonder if she is playing this song just for me. The song speaks of loneliness, about loving again and finding that one person, the one you’ve been searching for, the one you lost. My eyes spring open as she plays out the end hauntingly slow, her voice fading on the last notes, then, the room goes quiet.

“You ever play that one at M. Bar?” she asks, keeping her eyes on the keys in front of her. Her hands find the hem of Lox’s t-shirt as she fidgets next to me. Is she wondering what I’m thinking? “I’m a little rusty, it’s been a while.”

She throws that in quickly when I don’t reply right away. I’m too stunned, too enamored, too everything, her mere presence prevents the words from forming. When she finally gets tired of waiting, she turns those brown eyes on me, and I pounce. Sliding the fallboard closed, I grab her around the waist, and instead of putting her on my lap, I place her on top of the piano instead. Her ass barely fits on top of the small surface making her grab my shoulders for balance.

“Trey, are you crazy? This is a baby grand—?”

I stop her, kissing her hard. I stand, settling between her thighs and the bench behind me. I groan as I take sips of her sweet lips, and she sighs as if she too has been waiting for me as long as I for her. She opens her mouth for me and I deepen the kiss, my tongue seeking hers. I pour my heart out through this kiss, showing her instead of telling her. Where my words and silence failed, my body hums a different tune as our lips and tongues dance to our own song. She relaxes, trusting I will hold her up as she teeters on the edge of the piano. Reaching up behind her I gently place the lid down. I know for a fact my baby grand was not meant for fucking on, but damn, the retuning will be worth it.

Breaking our kiss, Mercy licks her swollen lips and stares at me wide eyed.

“Trey, I know you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking,” Mercy sounds horrified, but I don’t care. I want her, right here, right now.

“Lie back, Songbird,” I say, keeping my eyes on hers so she can see how serious I am in this moment. “I want to imprint you on this piano. I want you to permanently mark it, like you’ve marked me. When you stroke these keys, I want you to think of me sinking my tongue, my fingers, and my cock into your pussy so you can do nothing but soak this bench with your slick.” I lean in and capture her lips again, slowly this time, savoring her and her delicious scent filling the air all around us. I feel it before I see it, a lone tear drips between us and I race to brush any more away.

“Trey,” she says my name, and the sorrow behind it both destroys me and rebuilds me at the same time. I know she wants to apologize, but there is no need. I don’t need her to relive the moment she had to walk away. I understood. As much as it hurt, I’m almost glad she did. What we have brewing between us feels more potent. What is it that say about parting makes the heart grow fonder? Well, I’ve longed, pined, and desired her, there’s been no one else to ever catch my eye.

“You are inside of me, Mercy Smooth. When I play, I play for you, not the people rooting for me in the crowd. Just you, only you. When I sing, I open my mouth and let my voice flow through the air for you. Just you, only you.” I press my forehead to hers as she pants, her arousal dripping from her thighs, coating the paint in her juices.I will never clean these keys again.

“I love you, Trey Stevens,” she whispers against my lips before she kisses me once more.

“Lay back for me, Songbird. Lay back and let me hear you sing for me.” I pull away and ease her back gently, her body moves easily against the polished wood. Lifting Lox’s t-shirt, I growl in appreciation as I peel back the fabric to find her glistening folds dripping for me.

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