Let me take you back to my place

Where I'll make you fall in love

Take it back to basics, no ego in the way

P

ut this cookie on your face, to remind you of your place

In the back seat of your car, where I know I hit it first

Have you losing all control, when I whisper to you

I just wanna play with your body

-Rendezvous at two

M A R N I E

The text read,

I smiled never realising that I had gotten inside the car and Will had been staring at me for a solid minute.

"What?" I ask smiling still.

"You're so lost." She chuckles and I roll my eyes leaning forth and kissing her soft cheek.

"Are you excited?" I giggle waving goodbye to Val.

"Yes." She says grinning.

"You look so fucking good." She looks at me and I clap my hands together

"Thank you, you look great too," I say and she opens her mouth to say something but then closes it again.

"What is it?" I ask and she shakes her head.

After repeating the question twice she finally gives in.

"The thing about that girl and Arthur- I must've misread it-" She says and I place a hand on her shoulder.

"I know what you're trying to say. And look Will, you're a great friend. But as long as I haven't seen it with my own eyes I would not like to jump to conclusions." I say and she sighs nodding.

"That's exactly what I was going to say, okay so good. Now tell me all about your trip. Did she go down on you? Did you go down on her? Omg, did you guys do the whole primitive "we're in the wild" thing?" She asks and my eyes widen as I choke out a laugh.

"Will!" I exclaim and she smiles.

"What?" She laughs and I huff.

"I am not answering anything." I laugh and she groans.

"You're so annoying." She huffs and I smile.

"Welp." I shrug, I fix my clothes as we near cameo. The bass of the music is making the entire car shake.

"Okay, let's go." I clap my hands excitedly as I fix my dress and exit the car.

"I'm so excited." Will hooks her arm around mine as we cross the road and after having our IDs checked we head towards the VIP lounge where I know Arthur will be.

"Oh my God, am I going to meet your girl?" She whispers yells in my ear and I laugh.

"She's not my girl." As I say that something in me aches for her to actually be my girl.

"Sure." She laughs and I roll my eyes as the door is opened for us and I see the whole band just checking their instrument.

"Mer." I hear a husky voice from the bar and I turn to my side to see her.

Arthur's dark eyes roam over my entire body and I am frozen, I don't smile nor do I move.

"Hey." She whispers standing up, it sounds like she has a cough because of how thick her voice seems.

"Hi," I whisper moving towards her.

"Uh, this is Willow." I blink before freezing midway.

"Will, this is Laila, that's Ronan, Elias, Seren. And that's Arthur." I introduce her to everyone.

"Hey." Art says lazily and Will waves back.

"Yay, more people! Come on drink with us." Ronan calls her over.

I motion her to go before whispering that I'll join her soon. I turn around as Will and the others start speaking and drinking while I walk toward Art.

"It's been a long time." My voice is so soft I barely recognize it.

"Sorry about that." She matches my tone.

"It- what work did you have?" I say because it's not okay. It was not okay for her to just leave me alone like that but then again she is not obliged to speak to me all the time.

"There were some issues with the shipment again, we're fucked. Big time." She sighs and through her beautiful dark eyes, I see the worry lining them.

"What do you mean?" I ask sitting down.

"Well, we were supposed to receive some stuff but that never happened. The shipment never came." She sighs and I place my hand on hers.

"So is it figured out yet?" I ask, it's a valid excuse but it doesn't take more than a second to tell someone that you might be busy. But then again, I sound toxic.

"Someone is coming from Sicily to figure it out." She answers finally letting up a little smile.

"Did I tell you how pretty you look?" She asks and I shake my head.

"Tell me," I whisper leaning down smiling.

"Sei così bella amore mio." As she says those words my lips land on hers and I kiss her softly.

Arthur is still sitting and I'm standing so this is my only chance to take all control.

I hold her face in my hands as her hands grip my waist tightly.

"God I missed you." Art groans as we part and my heart warms at her words.

"I missed you more." I did miss her to death.

"Show starts in a couple more minutes I need to change." Art says sighing and I look at her outfit and I agree.

It's plain sweatpants with a tank top, it's not a bad outfit but it's just not something Art would wear to a show.

"Also, I have to tell you something." She smiles grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the room at the back of the lounge.

"What is it?" I ask grinning as she takes off her shoes and socks.

To respect her privacy I turn around as she rummages through her back to get her outfit out.

"Since that show in Sicily, you remember the Saints?" She asks and I nod humming.

"Well our socials have been blowing the fuck up, we have decided to put out our music on streaming platforms and maybe that would lead to something more. Like I can make my living out of it Mer, that is very exciting." She says and I grin.

"That does sound great, but don't you already make a living out of performing?" I ask as I hear a zipper being pulled up.

"I do, but the drugs-" She sighs and I nod swallowing.

"They are a huge part of the money I make, if you get rid of the whole drug dealing thing I am basically broke." She says and I nod slowly.

"So I was thinking." I hear her approach me, her hands around my waist as they slowly wrap around it. The side of her face is pressed to mine.

One of her hands trails up my torso and wraps around my throat as I gulp I can feel her grin.

"If we can get our music out and do all that, we could be big." She whispers kissing my collarbone and I sigh.

"It sounds magical," I whisper closing my eyes as she continues the torture.

"Let me finish getting dressed real quick." She whispers before pecking my cheek, I nod gulping.

The lights in the room were dim and set to fit the sultry mood of Cameo. I wouldn't lie, being in Sicily in presence of Lorenzo scared me. Scared me more than I could admit.

It wasn't my ego not letting me, it was just that if I say it out loud I would have to face it, and deal with it. That was something I couldn't do. I could only pretend as if I was strong. But I was a sheltered girl.

All my life everything that I have ever wanted was handed to me on a silver platter.

All my life I never had to worry about doing the dishes, sweeping the floors, cleaning my room, helping dad by washing his car, trimming the grass in our yard, because we had people for it.

We weren't rich, we were just comfortable. And that was enough to me.

But what scared me is that I don't know the world. I don't know how to pay taxes, I don't know how to pay the bills, hell I didn't even know that there was fire insurance. And I know saying this or even thinking this makes me look like a brat but I didn't care.

I tried to sit down with my dad in his office trying to figure out how to pay the bills, how to do taxes. He just didn't care enough to teach me.

But right now, what I hate is that no one taught me how to be brave, how to be strong, confident, smart not just book smart but also street smart. No one taught me that, and that's what scares me.

If someone pulls a gun on me, I would run the other way, I would beg to not be shot or hurt. I would never even think of defending myself because I didn't know how to.

That's what scared me and that's what I hate.

But standing right here, listening to Art hum and her clothes slipping on her body, under the dim lights with my hands fisting the fabric of my skirt, I was terrified.

Terrified that I may be giving my heart away too quickly.

"Darling?" I hear her whisper and I hum flinching in surprise.

"Yes?" I call out my voice shaky.

"Can you help me tie this?" She asks and I nod turning around.

Her back is to mine and she is dressed in lingerie.

I'm dead serious.

It's a black lace slip dress, with a low back. I step forward and with shaky hands, I tie the silky lace.

"Tighten it a bit." She says and I nod pulling on it more as she jerks back before regaining her posture.

"That enough?" I whisper my breath hitting her neck as goosebumps appear on it.

"Yes." Art whispers back and I tie the lace as she turns back.

"Do I look okay?" She asks and I blink as I look at her.

"You look fucking divine," I answer as she grins before leaning down and pecking my cheek.

She's so tall.

"Hold on, I think your eyeliner smudged a bit." She holds my face in her hands leaning towards the vanity and grabbing a wipe and eyeliner before fixing it for me.

"Come on the show starts in a couple of minutes." She answers, lacing her fingers through mine as we walk out.

"Come on! Ronan button your pants." A girl yells and I look toward the source of the voice.

Her hair is golden blonde and her skin is porcelain. Her body looks like it was carved out by the gods.

I look around the room for Willow only to find her chatting with Elias. Ah, her love for the golden but mysterious boys.

She looks up as if feeling my gaze on her, and smiles at me before turning her gaze to the blonde and glaring at her.

"Who's that?" Blondie asks, I turn to look at her.

"This is Marnie." Art answers, her tone not so uninterested.

"Hey," I mutter putting out my hand for her to shake and she does so never once smiling.

"I'm Zara." She introduces herself and I nod.

Art clears her throat as everyone stands up from their seats.

"In a month our contract with Cameo ends. So let's make sure that the last four shows are fucking extraordinary." Art says and Ronan hoots.

"Let's this fucking show started." Art calls out and as everyone cheers take a couple of shots, we're out there.

Me and Willow part to get our seats near the bar trying new drinks as The Badlands perform.

As the intro to a familiar song played, Will leans to whisper something in my ear.

"Zara was the same girl I saw." She informs me and I grit my teeth.

"I'll fucking kill her if she advances towards Art," I mutter and Will squeezes my hand.

"I don't mean to start a fire, I just thought you should know." She whispers and I nod smiling. Easing a bit.

"I know," I whisper back trying to remember what song was playing.

"I had a vision, a vision of her nails in the kitchen,

Scratching countertops she was screaming." Her eyes are closed as one holds the mic while the other trails down her body.

What the fuck?

"Her back arched like a cat." Her voice was a sultry whisper in the mic as her eyes met mine, shining under the red lights and mine widened.

My back arched as I almost screamed while Arthur let out a breathy chuckle.

"Come on tesoro, give it to me. You can do it, baby." She whispered in my ear as I kissed down her neck.

"Oh, Arthur." I whimpered my hips rutting harder.

"Her position didn't stop, she was rutting it." She sang changing the words and my eyes widened harder as Will cheered.

"And I shouldn't cry but I love it, starboy." She smiled switching back to the original version. I could feel eyes pierce the side of my head. Blondie was staring at me.

People were swarming near the stage and I grinned as Art took out her lighter, lighting the cigarette of a random man.

"I just wanna see you shine 'cause I know you are a stargirl." Art and Elias sang as we continued cheering. Her hand trailed along her hip, pulling the flimsy material of her lace slip dress up. Showing off her lace underwear.

Fucking hell.

Marnie's outfit