Jax
Chicago 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 proper mouth.
Not that either of us came right out and said we hated each other, though. We were nothing but professional. But our aloofness was putting a strain on the rest of the band. And it was beginning to show.
Still, there were only two more weeks, that’s all. And then we would be flying home. Dion could check into rehab or whatever the plan was, and I wouldn’t have to see Elodie’s smug little face ever again.
Two weeks and I could...
“God, Jax. Either go knock on her door and pin that girl down on the bed, or go elsewhere and get laid. Your constant moody fidgeting is starting to make me want to drink again.”
Guiltily, I tore my eyes from the back of the bus. From where she was. Bristling, I drummed my fingers on the table. Slowly, I raised my eyebrows to Dion, and instantly wanted to wipe the smug, knowing look from his face. “Not exactly a lot of opportunity to get laid here, unless you fancy it.” I raised an eyebrow suggestively and was rewarded by a small chuckle.
He sounded so much like his old self before all the shit with our old drummer Isla had gone down, before our newer drummer’s little sister had done some kind of number on his heart.
After a day, he had fallen for her, after a damn day, so it might have been a number on his ego and not his heart, because not even a hopeless romantic like Dion could fall in love that quickly. At least I hoped not. He sure as hell hadn’t acted like that over another woman in the entire time I had known him, which had been years. There had just been something about Lola, something that in his fragile state he had latched on to. Like he had told me, she was good, and he needed some of that in his life.
I had no idea if he still craved that light in his life. He hadn’t mentioned her for a while. But I suspected he did, and he was just playing it cool, trying his best to get clean, so maybe when we got back to the UK he would get a chance.
Still couldn’t fucking believe he had asked her to marry him, though. The very thought didn’t sit right with me.
Except part of it did. Being loved was part and parcel with who we were. We were loved and adored the world over. But it wasn’t the same as having someone who actually loved us for us. Someone that actually wanted to be with us because of the men we were and not the rockstars the world saw. That’s what Dion had seen when he looked at Lola. A chance for someone to like him for him, not for his fame or his money. And I wanted that for him.
I wanted it for myself as well.
One day.
Without meaning to, my eyes wandered back to the closed door. Behind it, Elodie would no doubt be sleeping. Or whatever else it was she did when she locked herself away so she didn’t have to be in the same vicinity as me. If it had been just Dion out here, I had no doubt she would have been out here chatting, laughing, playing cards, which I had caught them doing several times over the weeks she had been with us.
They were friends.
We weren’t.
“As tempting as that offer is, Jax, we both know I’m not the one you want to get naked with.”
I didn’t turn to him, mostly because I didn’t want him to see how true his words were. I didn’t know when it had started to occur to me that Elodie got under my skin because I wanted her. Sometime around the time I had pulled her on my lap and so much blood had rushed from my head and headed south that I thought I was going to pass out. Before that? I didn’t know, but it was starting to drive me and everyone around me insane.
“I’ve seen you naked plenty of times. You’re hot,” I told him with a wink. Goofing around with him was easier than thinking about Elodie, and the fact that having loud, angry sex with her might be the only thing that would clear the air. Bad idea, but, God, it was tempting. “I’d do you.”
Dion threw back his head and laughed. “Yeah, I know you would, brother, but wouldn’t you rather do…” He didn’t finish the sentence, instead he nodded his head towards the closed door. His voice was loud, and it would carry. All I could do was hope she was asleep.
“No.”
His laughter grew louder, or at least it felt like it did. Angrily, I threw a look at him, warning him without talking that I needed him to shut up now. The last thing I needed was for her to be listening in. Because she would love it. Maybe not the fact that I wanted to fuck her until her eyes rolled back, but the fact she had gotten under my skin.
“You’re going to go out fighting, huh?” Shaking his head, Dion reclined backwards. “Not even going to admit to me that you like her?”
“Not even going to admit it to myself, Dion, because it’s not true.”
“Sure, sure. Of course not.”
I frowned. Why did it sound like he didn’t believe me?
“So, this thing between you two isn’t pent up sexual attraction?”
“No.” Maybe, I added silently. Although there was no maybe about it.
“And you’re not acting like a schoolboy pulling the pigtails of the girl he likes? You know she’s pretty awesome, right? You could just knock on her door and tell her that you fancy her.”
Staring at him, I felt my lips twist into a grin. “Is that what you did with Lola?” It was a low blow, and I knew it. Especially when I didn’t know everything that had gone on between the two of them. “How did that work out for you?”
“Kind of shitty to be honest, but,” he gave a shrug, “I don’t regret it. I’m pretty sure mine and Lola’s paths will cross again, and at a better time.”
“Not giving up on her, huh?” Leaning forward, I gave him my entire attention, and all thoughts of Elodie and what she might be doing behind that closed door were momentarily forgotten.
“No, I don’t think so. There was something there, you know? She made me feel...” He waved his hand around for a second, not able to find the right words.
“You fucked her, right?” But I already knew he had. I had caught them sneaking down from his hotel room together, hand in hand, acting and giggling like teens. I remembered the dark heat in my best friend’s eyes and the blush that had crept up Lola’s cheeks when seen together. He had been swept away by her after only a few hours. Crazy but true.
Dion didn’t answer me. He didn’t need to.
“She that good?”
Levelling his eyes to me, Dion glared. “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”
“That’s a yes then…and Dion, you aren’t a fucking gentleman.” I meant it as a joke, but his lips thinned, almost disappearing under his teeth.
“For her, I kind of want to be. She makes me want to be a better man for her.”
I rolled my eyes. “Never pegged you for a romantic.” Although that wasn’t entirely true either.
“You should try it sometime, you know, telling a girl how you feel. You might even like it, Jax.”
“I tell women how I feel all the time. I would show them as well if I ever got the chance of getting the bus to myself, or a dressing room or…” Waggling my eyebrows, I grinned, leaving him in no doubt what I was talking about.
“Dude, you haven’t touched a woman since Eli got here. Are you really going to sit there and tell me it’s because you can’t get alone time?” He scoffed. “That’s never stopped you before, so why now?”
I opened my mouth and snapped it shut again. There was no way he would believe me if I told him that it was because I was trying to be respectful. I wasn’t even sure I believed my own bullshit anymore.
“Fuck off.”
One dark eyebrow arched. “Hit a nerve, have I?”
“I’ll hit you in a minute if you don’t shut the fuck up.”
In answer, Dion just laughed more. “Are you gonna do something about it? Even Erik is getting fed up with the tension between you two now, so I doubt he would mind. “
“Let me spell it out for you, Dion, because it seems you’ve gone a little hard of hearing now you’re sober and shit.” I leant across the table. “I do not and will never want to bang Elodie.”
“Then you won’t mind if the rest of us give it a go, right?”
I froze. My knuckles turned white as I gripped the edge of the table. “Fuck off, Dion. Just fuck off.”
His laughter followed me to my bunk. It seemed to echo in my head as I dragged the curtain across. They could all fuck off.
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
Jax“Just a few more minutes and we can get started.” As always with Erik, there was no greeting as he pushed the takeout coffee cups towards Dion. The delicious smell hit me like a punch to the gut, and I reached for one before I could help myself. It was Dion who slapped my hand away. His fingers greedily curled around one, and I had to admit that he needed it more than me. He looked a mess: his eyes bloodshot and drooping. I hoped he was hurting after the stunt he’d pulled the night before, but I wasn’t man enough to say it. That would all change quickly, though, if I didn’t get some caffeine inside of me soon. Erik dragging us all together at eight in the morning after a show was a low blow, and I knew the others were feeling it much more than I was. The perks of going to bed early for once in my life. Well, relatively early anyway. I might have had a half decent night's sleep if that groupie hadn’t shown up and ruined my alone time. But it was hard to feel too cross about the
ElodieI 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 o
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