Elodie
I had been to concerts before, even rock concerts thanks to my dad and my brothers, but nothing prepared me for the nerve tingling energy that surrounded me as I stepped into the dressing room behind Erik. The air was thick with it. That and the pungent smell of weed.
The band, all of them, were talking animatedly, the joint being passed between them.
“Hey.” Tate thrust his arm out, offering it to me, but I shook my head mutely.
“Pass it here. We all know she isn’t going to.”
I shot a look at Jax. I didn’t know what had crawled up his ass and died, but it was clear that something was bothering him, and I had a sneaky suspicion that something was me. He’d been acting like a bear with a sore head since the moment Dion had told him he wasn’t swapping buses and I had to ride with them. There had been some heated words that I had tried not to listen to. Something about it looked suspicious if a certain woman saw. I had made a mental note to ask who the woman was, but any thoughts of doing so were soon squashed when the band were ushered out for rehearsals, and I was left alone.
On a bus that I would be sharing with two rockstars. If I had been any other woman on the planet, that might have held some very interesting possibilities. But I had been around smoking hot men my entire life. Hell, I had witnessed more than my fair share of orgies and three ways. None of that interested me. Not even if I was going to be the cheese in a delicious Dionysus Rising sandwich.
Plus, I was there to do a job and not party, although I was sure there would be quite a few of those in the coming weeks as well.
Jax continued to stare at me as he took a long drag. The burning orange end illuminated his face. “You gonna have a problem if I offer this to Dion?”
For a second, I stared at him. Yeah, it was clear he had a problem with me. I wasn’t even sure when it had started, but his whole attitude towards me was getting more and more combative as the hours drew on. If it carried on, it might even start being a problem.
I risked a glance at the hulking shadow of one of the security guys who stood by the far wall. His arms crossed over his chest, pulling the Black Dionysus Rising hoodie tight across his muscles. I knew what was under that hoodie; I knew what was under all of their hoodies.
I flicked my eyes back towards Jax, who seemed to be waiting for me to answer. “I’m not his mother.”
God, I hoped Jax wasn’t going to be a problem.
Jax said something under his breath that I didn’t catch. But I did see Dion snap his head around, though. Something passed between them, silently. Jax ignored it totally. “So, if you aren’t here to mother him, then why the fuck are you here?”
“Man…” Louis shook his head, but his eyes were firmly on me, clearly interested in what I was going to say back to that. I knew they were all interested in why I was there. Why Erik had dragged me across the world to tour with them. None of them knew me. Not even Erik really. Although we’d had several video calls before I had arrived.
“Leave her alone,” Dion muttered.
“It's ok, they have a right to ask.” I smiled sweetly at them all. “They have a right to know.” I levelled my eyes on Jax because it was clear that he was the one I needed to convince. If convince was even the right word.
Someone hammered on the closed door. Three loud raps and everyone started moving at once. Taking my arm, Erik moved me out of the way slightly.
“What?” Confused, I raised an eyebrow at him. What the hell was going on now?
“They are being called to the stage.” He grinned down at me. “You ready to watch the biggest rock band in the world live, love?” The excitement in his eyes made them shine. Gone was the polished, highly sophisticated businessman, in his place was a man excited for what was about to happen.
“Ok.” I muttered as a shot glass was thrust into my hands. Not that I got a chance to tell them that I didn’t drink. Erik plucked it from my hands with a small wink. I nodded my thanks. I wasn’t ready to explain to them all, but especially Jax, why I didn’t drink anymore. I had nothing against those that did, but personally, it was a hard pass for me.
“Watch…” Erik’s voice was cut off as Tate gripped him by both shoulders and planted a kiss straight on his mouth. My eyebrows rose into my hair in shock, but I didn’t get a chance to ask anything.
Louis pressed his lips to mine in a quick kiss.
Jax’s kiss was different. The moment his lips brushed against mine, heat rushed up my neck, across my face. It felt like I had been electrocuted. The feeling was so strong that I had to stop myself from touching my hair to make sure it wasn’t standing on end.
And then his lips were gone, and he was doing the same to Erik.
They kissed each other like they had done it a million times before.
“It’s just what they always do before a show.” Erik rumbled out a laugh. “You’ll get used to it.”
Used to it? I doubted that. Especially when I was pretty sure I had felt the tip of Jax’s tongue against my bottom lip.
***
If I had thought that the energy before the concert was skin tingling, nothing compared to the high-octane energy that assaulted every one of my senses when the band began to play. I had watched them on TV, of course. Who hadn’t? But nothing could prepare me for how it felt to be right there, watching from the wings, the heavy bass thrumming through with me. I vibrated with it, and before I knew what was happening, I was bouncing on my toes, half dancing in time with their combined energy and half because I just couldn’t help it. It was addictive.
Addictive and mind blowing.
Nothing could have prepared me for it. And Dion’s voice was even more panty wetting live than it was on their records if that was even possible.
It was over too soon. Much, much too soon.
And the silence afterwards seemed deafening, even when thousands of people were still screaming their name.
“You enjoyed that, huh?” Erik’s arm was heavy over my shoulders, and I jumped with a squeak before I could help myself. His laughter filled my ears. “It’s ok, Eli, everyone gets like that the first few times they see them perform. They’re good, aren’t they?”
Good? I watched as the band bounced off the stage. Louis brought up the rear, twirling his drumsticks as he came. I watched them fly through the air, mesmerised. And then my eyes locked with Jax’s. There was sweat on his tanned face, and the bandana around his head was wet as well. His vest clung to him.
Usually, sweaty guys just weren’t my thing. I liked my men clean shaven and professional. Men who looked like Erik. But at that moment, I felt my heart speed up just a little too fast. Yeah, they were good. Really, really good.
“Yeah,” I managed to mumble as they swarmed around us. “Yeah, they are really good.”
“Don’t look so shell-shocked, love.” Louis' arm went around from me from the other side, squashing me between him and Erik. “It's normal to cream your panties the first few times.”
My mouth opened, but no words came out. Cream my panties? I wanted to tell him that I wasn’t doing any such thing, but words failed me. I wasn’t creaming anything over Dionysus Rising. Not at all. It was one member in particular that was giving me trouble.
But I wasn’t creaming over him.
No, not at all.
I was just a little damp, that was all.
Jax“Why don’t you like her?”Dion’s words took me by surprise, and I almost dropped the cards in my hand. Playing poker was one of the ways we always unwound after a gig if there were no parties for us to attend, and especially if we had to get straight on the road. It was a small way to blow off the adrenaline generated by playing live in front of thousands. Fucking and partying were better, but none of us would get any of that tonight since we were already on the road. By the time the sun came up we would be well on the way to our next gig. It was always this way on tour. A mad rush. I had travelled the word several times over, and yet I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually explored a city. There was never any time to do that. The schedule was always brutal, and it was always the same.“Who are you talking about?” Even as I said the words, my eyes travelled to the back of the bus. To the one bedroom that Dion had given up for Elodie so she could have some semblance of pr
JaxI had no idea whether Elodie got back in time to watch us play. I didn’t see her before or after the gig. In fact, I didn’t see her at all until we had reached the after party. As always, the club was heaving, and it took several attempts before the crowd parted enough for our security guys to lead us through and up to the VIP section. That’s when I saw her. Not that I recognised her at first.All I saw was Erik talking to a curvy brunette in a black dress. “Who is that with Erik?” I asked no one in particular, because even from the back the woman he was talking to was interesting. Even as I watched, Erik’s hand came down to rest on the small of her back, leading her further into the darkened room. Heads turned as they passed. All of them male. And all of them were interested in whoever it was that Erik was leading back towards the bar.Next to me, Louis shot me a look that told me he thought I was the dumbest piece of shit on the planet, but he didn’t say anything as we followe
ElodieJax at least had the good graces to look afraid as I stomped towards him in my heels. And heels or not, I could certainly stomp. The small crowd in the VIP section parted before me almost like they could feel my growing anger.Jax watched me march towards him, most of his demeanour that of cock-sure, unaffected rockstar, but his eyes gave him away. There was definite trepidation in them. There should have been abject terror, because when I was done with him, he would never interfere in my personal life again. Or any other woman’s, for that matter.Twenty-four hours into starting this job, and I was done with him. I was done with his sarcastic comments and dirty looks. Hell, I was done with Jax full stop. This latest dick move was the last straw. What right did he have to get one of the Sons to drag me away from someone just because I was dancing with them? Neither Jax nor The Savage Sons had any hold over me. They never had and they never would.“Hey, Goldilocks.” Jax’s drawl
JaxChicago went by without a hitch, and so did the next three stops on the American leg of our world tour. To anyone who looked at us, we were the old Dionysus Rising. Even Dion himself seemed to be back to normal. It was only behind the scenes that the cracks were noticeable. And they were mostly cracks I had put in us. My band mates were unquestionably loyal to me, and they always would be, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t chew me out if they thought I was in the wrong.And they thought I was in the wrong with how I treated Elodie. It wasn’t even that I was openly hostile most of the time, although spending what seemed like every waking moment with her, I had snapped more than was normal for me. But there was a coldness between us. Although coldness might be putting it lightly. More like a nuclear winter. Elodie couldn’t even be in the same room as me without her lips thinning and curling, and personally I wanted to rip my own ears off every time she opened her prim and pro
ElodieI had never been to New York, and it must have shown because the band’s laughter filled my ears as I stood on the pavement (or was it sidewalk?) and stared upward with my mouth open. I had to crane my neck and peer around against the glare of the sunlight filtering down between the skyscrapers, but I still couldn’t see all of it. And I wanted to see all of it.“El?”Shaking away the daydream, I turned my attention to the man at my side and smiled, letting my hand drop to his arm for a second. He smiled back, a dimple in his cheek popping. It made him look more approachable to others, but I already knew that the rough exterior and foul mouth hid a true sweetheart. People might cross the street to avoid Chance, which was one of the reasons he was employed to take care of Dionysus Rising, but I knew him. I had known him my entire life. Hell, I think at one point or another I’d even had some girly teenage crush on the older man, back before he had left the London chapter and gone N
JaxAs much as I loved a rare day off when we were on tour, I knew there was always a catch. And it was no different now. Erik wanted us to be seen. Those were his words.Seen.Like we were new to all of this. Like we wouldn’t be recognised. But of course, that’s exactly what Erik wanted. He wanted the internet to blow up with pictures of us doing mundane everyday things. Like sight seeing and eating out in public. It wasn’t even the first time we had done it. And every time we did, we saw a huge rise in sales, and our already full concerts would have queues around the corner. “Why the face like a slapped ass… again?” Louis asked, his eyes darting every which way. It was like he was taking it all in, all at once. He looked like he wasn’t paying attention, but I knew that was a lie. In the years I had known him, and the months he had been playing with us, I had come to realise that Louis might look like a dumb air head but was far from it. He was stupidly intelligent. He was also a cl
JaxI had done a lot of foolish shit in my life.Like a ton.But I had never gone on stage so hammered that I almost fell off and had to be carried off before the set was even over. I had certainly never been as wasted as our lead singer was tonight. Hell, it wasn’t even just tonight. Dion, sex god and crooner extraordinaire, had been teetering on the edge of a total nervous breakdown since we had kicked off this leg of our world tour in Las Vegas ten days ago. Usually, I wouldn’t have been too worried. He was going through a rough time with the press since his relationship with our old drummer Isla had publicly combusted. But this was different. This wasn’t a rockstar having a good time and pushing boundaries. This was someone I cared about hurtling full tilt towards death, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it until the tour was over. And by then I was afraid it would be too late. Dion was going downhill rapidly. He was spiralling, drinking heavily between shows. Drin
ElodieJax Turner had just seen my tit. Sure, I had scooped the wayward appendage back in as quickly as it had popped out, but I knew he had seen. I had plainly seen the flash of interest in his eyes. There was surprise as well, which made no sense. Surely, he had been told to expect me?“You’re not Dion,” I mumbled. Sleep was taking too long to leave me, and it was making me dumb. “They told me this was Dion’s bus.”His eye roll was epic. Clearly something he had perfected over the years.“Up ya get, Goldilocks,” he said again, and this time my hand went to my hair, tugging the tangled curls into what I hoped was some kind of order. Without a mirror, I was facing a losing battle, but I had to try, because this was not how I wanted my first meeting with my new employers to be. “Dion isn’t here, and even if he was, he wouldn’t thank you for sneaking in and taking your clothes off.” The corner of Jax's mouth twitched. “Well, maybe in the past he would have, but not tonight. Maybe try on