Page 49 of Rock Out Together
“Ronan,” she whispers my name this time.
One thought solidifies in my mind. She might not like it, in fact she’ll probably argue with me, and I sincerely look forward to that.
“I’m not letting you go, Cora.”
And just like I thought, her brow arches. I thrust into her. She melts, along with any argument.
Later, after a shower and some snacks, I lay behind her, soothing a hand over her hair as she toys with my fingers on her stomach. The sky is going pink outside the window. This moment is perfect.
“‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’,” she says. “That is the next song.”
I know it, a song from the late nineties. The meaning isclear, at least, I hope it is. This could be the start of something.
It’s too fast. I don’t believe in falling for someone this fast. We’ll both fight it, but it will be futile. Something is happening here.
Because she’s Cora, the unapologetic, self-aware woman that she is, she tilts her head back to look me in the eye. “It’s perfect. Just like me.”
epilogue
. . .
Cora
Is thereanything sexier than watching a man performing at something he loves? No, not working his tongue or dick between my thighs, although he’sreallygood at that.
The beat of the drums reverberates through my chest just as hard and loud as it fills the stadium. Without a second thought I raise the camera to my eye and focus on him, snapping picture after picture.
I’m supposed to be photographing the band as they perform to this record-breaking crowd in Vancouver. Sue me, my man is fucking hot.
Yeah, that happened. Like a fucking bolt out of the blue, a feeling I tried, and failed spectacularly to ignore. Ronan andI fit together like two pieces of a puzzle. I may have played hard to get, but we circled one another’s orbit for a mere few weeks before I admitted to myself this was more than the scorching hot sex we kept having.
It was the lingering looks, the need to be near one another. The music we put together on ‘Cora’s Mixtape’ and the growing stockpile of polaroid photographs he proudly put on the wall beside the Bonham portrait.
Well, the ones that could be in places where people may see.
I’ve done plenty of boudoir shoots in my time but nothing like the pictures Ronan keeps locked up in a box under his bed. I taught him how to use my cameras, and he was an avid and studious pupil.
He’s possessive, but not in a stifling way. He likes having me nearby. Especially now they’re touring. I hated to think the only reason I got this gig, official photographer for the tour, was because of our relationship. Even though I’d shot all the images for their new album, both the cover and promo images. Perry’s wife soon put those thoughts to bed.
She works at the record label Velvet Echo are signed too. She’d been through it all with people accusing her of things that weren’t true. Using him to get ahead.
“Your work speaks volumes,” Dru told me one night after a small party at their place.
The guys were in the basement, jamming with another rock band that blew my mind when I was introduced to them.
“Nobody believed they could make it work without Christopher.”
“That isn’t down to me.”
“Not directly, but all the small things add up. You make him happy. That, in turn, affects the people around him. Ronan kept them together, his positivity steered Caden into the place he was always meant to be.”
Apparently, Caden used to be the singer of the group, way back when it formed. He didn’t believe he had the presence to be a front man so slipped into the position of guitarist.
Ronan said it happened slowly without anyone really questioning it.
He didn’t take away from what they achieved with Christopher, but they’d gone from strength to strength since his firing.
The fans never stopped believing, and the album released to critical acclaim and accolades.
