Halo (Fallen Angel, #1)(35)

“Make yourself comfortable,” Viper said. “Sit if you want to.”

Comfortable? Fat chance of that happening. I didn’t need to get comfortable at Viper’s place—I needed to fix my part of this song and get the hell out, so I stayed standing.

Viper shrugged. “Or not.”

Cutting the small talk short, I began to sing, but I’d only gotten as far as the second line before Viper interrupted.

“You’re starting it wrong. Yeah, you need that frustration later, but you’ve gotta build to that. Really think about the words here. You’re turned on as fuck, and you’re not about to apologize for it.”

I swallowed and dropped my gaze back down. I heard what he was saying, but it was impossible not to think about Viper writing these lines. Blocking it out completely was the only way I could get through the song, but it wasn’t giving Viper what he wanted. When I tried again, I closed my eyes, but he didn’t let me get through the first verse before stopping me.

“Halo, I’ve seen you onstage practically fucking the mic stand, so what’s the problem here?”

“I…don’t know.” Another lie, but what was I supposed to tell him? The truth?

“That’s bullshit. You know how to bring it, but you’re holding back. Why?”

I ran a hand over my face and sighed. “It’s just not coming.”

Viper sucked his lower lip into his mouth as he studied me, and then he pushed up off the chair. “Okay, we need to try something different. Tell me about your last fuck.”

I coughed in surprise. “What?”

“Let me clarify: the last hot fuck.”

“And that’s important why?”

“Because that’s what this song is about. A hot fuck. Or at least the promise of one.”

Fucking was the last thing we needed to talk about, especially since the last hot one on my mind involved my fist and the man in front of me.

Viper let out a low whistle. “Damn. No hot fucks recently. That’s a shame.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to, Angel.” He began to walk a slow circle around me. “Okay, what about this. I want you to close your eyes. Go on, do it.”

I hesitated for a moment before doing as he asked.

“Good,” he said. “Now think about what turns you on. If you were at home right now, what would get you off? Porn? Maybe a picture you keep in your bedside drawer? Or someone forbidden…someone you shouldn’t want, but you can’t help yourself.”

Closing my eyes from having to look at Viper should’ve been enough to block him out, but with the way I could feel his breath on the back of my neck, and with the image he’d asked me to conjure in my mind, it was impossible to think of anything but him. Think of someone forbidden? There was nothing more off-limits in my world than getting myself off to Viper, for several reasons.

“Whatever you’re thinking right now, go with it,” Viper said. “Now try again.”

Something in my expression must’ve given me away, but it was a good thing Viper couldn’t see anything beyond that. Keeping my eyes closed, I thought back to last night when I’d lain in bed, stiff cock in my hand, and even now, I could feel the deep ache, the hunger I’d felt about someone I’d never expected.

The lyrics left my tongue, punctuated by soft moans that told the listener exactly how far gone my desire for the forbidden one went.

When I finished the verse, without interruption this time, I opened my eyes to see Viper staring at me with that same lust-addled expression I’d seen at the bar last night, but it flickered out, and he gave me a nod.

“Better. Much better. Keep going.”

I hadn’t memorized the chorus yet, so I looked down and kept on the same way, since Viper hadn’t seemed to find fault with it, but three lines in and he waved his hands to get my attention.

“No. No, no. That’s all wrong again. You did the verse right, but that hard edge you had earlier was what we need here. Like I said, you need to build it throughout the song.”

I tried again, but even I could feel the way I shied away from owning the words. For fuck’s sake, the chorus included the words “blue balls.”

“Again. Harder this time.”

But no matter how many variations I gave, Viper shot them all down, until finally he growled in frustration.

“No, it’s just not right—”

“What the fuck do you want from me, then?” He wasn’t the only one getting annoyed as shit.

Viper spun to face me and pointed. “That. That right there. Get pissed.”

“Not hard to do around you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “No?” He reached for the back of his shirt and pulled it up over his head, and as he dropped it to the floor, I took a step back.

“What are you doing?”

With a shrug, Viper stepped toward me. “It’s hot in here.”

“No, it’s not. Put your shirt back on.”

“No.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d seen Viper half-naked—he ripped off his shirt during almost every show—but it was only the two of us here, and I didn’t need any more images of Viper to add to the erotic slideshow in my head.

“Viper. Put it back on.”