Page 7 of Craved By You (Dark Desires Duet #1)

Colt

T he concert went as well as it could. Those who attended had an amazing time; you could tell by the way they kept cheering “Encore!” We entertained them for two additional songs but I couldn’t wait to get offstage.

Astrid had consumed my thoughts and I craved time with her.

I desperately wanted to get to know her outside of what I had discovered on her phone and from following her around.

So far, I had identified that she is single - good thing, otherwise I’d have my work cut out for me - and her life revolved around work and home.

Haileigh was about all she had. Her parents had passed, but even when they were alive, she avoided them like the plague.

Astrid also loved her plants, crystals, and enjoyed trying to beat her own high score playing Tetris.

As I approached her I could see the stars twinkling in her eyes.

????“You guys were great.” I couldn’t wait to see what lingered in her gaze once I had my way with her.

Testing my luck, I placed my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to me.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Astrid acted put off, but she didn’t pull away from me.

I could sense the hesitation building in her brain.

“ You want to meet the band, yes?” I tilted my head and gestured in the direction of the guys I spent the majority of my time with, all of them standing together just staring at us.

“I need them to understand that you are off limits.” I released her and took her by the hand instead, in case that made her feel more comfortable.

“Otherwise they will be all over you like a hyena on a wildebeest.” We walked over to them and I couldn’t help but notice her hands getting sweaty in my grasp.

“Guys, this is Astrid. Sunshine, meet the guys.”

“ Hi.” She waved at them casually. “You guys did amazing.”

“ You just gonna put up with him calling you sunshine?” Jax, our bassist, started to poke fun but I gave him the death stare and he put himself back into his place.

“ She is the sunshine on my cloudy days,” I blurted out, letting a glimpse of my feelings get the best of me. In my peripheral vision, I noticed Astrid staring at me. She was probably questioning how I could feel that way when we had really only met face to face for the first time, today.

Ryder, our drummer, took notice of Haileigh. “What about little miss cutie back there?”

“ Oh, Hailstorm?” I figured she would have followed us, so I waved Haileigh over.

“She’s married, so don’t even think about it.

” I heard an annoyed groan come from behind me followed by Chris muttering dammit under his breath.

Haileigh definitely ticked all of his boxes for the perfect woman.

If she ever became single, there’s no doubt that he would swoop in before anyone else got a chance… though Ryder would probably be faster.

You could tell she was still reeling from the adrenaline caused by the concert, and probably had a bit of alcohol in her system. “Great show!” She called out eagerly.

“ Glad you could come out.” Chris smiled at her. “Both of you. It’s not often we have anyone to greet us when we get off stage.”

Astrid glanced up at me with a confused look on her face and I knew that she had already pegged me as the guy who would have women lined up waiting for me once a concert ended. Normally, I only had people waiting for me after a gig if I was planning on ending their lives soon after.

It was easy. Much like I did with her, I would insert myself into their path, tell them who I was, and then provide them a backstage pass.

I’d ask them to be quiet about it because I didn’t want a bunch of people starting to harass me on the internet for passes.

They would show up alone. Idiots . Then after the show, we would go out, get drunk…

Well, they would. Then I could usually coax them back to the warehouse where we practice, offering to give them a tour of the studio.

Then after several hours of torture and harvesting, I would find myself preparing them before taking them home and shoving the parts that I deemed acceptable into the deep freeze.

The following day, I would sneak the rest of the parts that I didn’t use to my uncle’s farm and give the pigs their own special treat.

They were as happy to see me as I was them.

“ What are you ladies going to do with the rest of your night?” I couldn’t let this opportunity slip away.

Haileigh spoke up first. “I have to get home to my hubby, but Astrid is free.” She smiled and I could feel the daggers Astrid was mentally chucking at her without even seeing her face.

????“ What do you say, sunshine?” I could tell she was searching for an excuse as to why she couldn’t spend more time with me and was struggling to come up with a reason.

Astrid finally responded. “It’s getting late. I should get home, too.”

“ I understand.” No, I didn’t. There was a feeling building up inside me when she refused to spend extra time with me. No one ever tells me no.

Astrid quickly offered up an alternative option.

“We could meet up for coffee tomorrow?” She looked innocent but I knew there was a different side to her that only I would get to discover.

I loved that about her. A smile crept at the corner of my mouth, already thinking about tomorrow.

This was the reason she was my sunshine: easily making things better when they were starting to look dark.

If I ever killed for sport, she probably would have just saved someone’s life.

My voice was gravelly. “I’ll be counting down the minutes.”

“ Sweet!” Astrid shrieked with excitement.

“Then, I am going to walk to my car with Haileigh.” She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek unexpectedly.

“Thank you for tonight.” She beamed before the two scurried off, giggling.

I caught her glancing back in my direction a couple of times before they turned the corner.

Once she was no longer in view, my attention drifted back to my bandmates. They were all staring in disbelief.

Chris started to laugh. “Bro, you didn’t seal the deal?”

“ Shut up, Master Bates. Who’s going home with you tonight?” I shut him down before he could get too many jabs in.

“ That’s such a fucking childish nickname,” I heard him mutter as the other guys continued laughing.

“ C’mon Chris,” Ryder tried to add a positive spin to it. “It could be worse.”

“ Oh yeah?” Chris challenged. “Like what?” I watched as he puffed up his chest.

When no one responded, he took it as he had won this time. ????“Did you see the friend? What was her name?” Ryder stumbled over a short list of names that weren’t even close.

“ Haileigh,” Chris cut in.

“ She was fucking hot,” Ryder continued. “Too bad she’s married.”

Before he and Chris got into a brawl over who was next in line for Haileigh’s hand in marriage, I announced that it was time for me to get home. I looked around to ensure all of the stagehands were doing their jobs right. “Looks like all of us can get some real sleep tonight.”

????“You don’t want to go out with us and celebrate another successful night?” Jax inquired.

“ Not tonight.” I glanced down at my phone as a notification made my phone vibrate. It was the tracker letting me know that Astrid had arrived home. She only lived a couple of blocks away from the bar. “In case you didn’t hear, I’ve got a date tomorrow.” I waved my phone at them, and walked off.

“ Night man!” Ryder yelled at me, but it barely registered, I was already gone. Astrid was taking over, pulling me deeper into the abyss and I couldn’t wait to see what this journey had in store for us.

???

The next morning, I rushed out the door, wanting to beat Astrid to The Mean Bean. I wanted to ensure that we had one of the more private areas away from the horde of people.

The barista greeted me as soon as I walked through the door. “Hey, Colt.”

“ Hey Sarah,” I raised my hand in a fake wave, brushing her off.

That woman drove me crazy, and unfortunately for me, I couldn’t just kill her off to save my sanity.

Lucky for me the coffee shop hadn’t started getting too busy yet, so I sauntered over, hung my hoodie up on the back of one of the chairs, and went back to the counter to order.

In typical Sarah fashion, she was wearing a low-cut top.

It was low enough that even while wearing her apron she still exhibited an insane amount of cleavage.

She always tried flirting with me, no matter how many times I brushed off her attention.

It almost made me uncomfortable with how aggressive she was, which was saying a lot.

This was Astrid’s favorite place to go. One day, I would introduce her to another coffee shop about five minutes from here and hopefully convince her that the drinks were much better there.

I also found myself hopeful that my being seen with Astrid would give Sarah the final clue that would cause her to back off.

Sarah batted her lashes at me. “The usual?”

“ Yeah.” I paused looking over the menu. “I also need you to make a latte just the way that Astrid normally orders hers.” I hated that I wasn’t clear on exactly how she orders the drink she gets but I was hopeful that Sarah knew; she seemed to remember most of her regulars’ orders.

I caught the disgusted look on Sarah’s face just before she turned her act back on. “Astrid isn’t here.” Her words came across as annoyed.

“ She will be.” My voice was calm and collected. “And I would like her drink to be ready when she arrives.”

“ It will be cold.”

“ She will be here in the time it takes for you to make her drink, so I would like for you to make it.” I paused and observed Sarah’s mannerisms. “Please.”

Sarah let out a humph and turned around, probably rolling her eyes as I continued to stand there, waiting for her to remember that I still hadn’t paid.

Then the bell on the door rang and I turned to see Astrid standing there, staring in my direction like she was trying to convince her feet to move closer to me.

“ Astrid.” Sarah’s voice sounded harsh and unwelcoming.

“ Hey Sarah.” Astrid turned and looked at me with a what did you do? look. I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head to indicate that I didn’t know who had pissed in Sarah’s cheerios this morning.

Sarah set the drinks down on the counter. “Here are your drinks.” She didn’t even look up and quickly disappeared to the back.

??“Sarah, you forgot to finish ringing these up.” I was frustrated by her behavior. We stood there for a minute and when she didn’t return I just set the cash down on the counter and led Astrid over to where we were sitting.

“ What’s up with her?” Astrid seemed concerned, for someone who gave zero fucks most of the time, she sure didn’t like it when people didn’t seem to like her.

“ I’d imagine that she has a problem with us being here together.” I smiled and caught Astrid blushing again.

“ She likes you.” Astrid pointed out the obvious. “She’s pretty, too.”

“ You’re pretty.” I pointed out. “And I like you .”