“I have missed you too, Owen,” she reached up and tucked his hair back behind his ear. “Your hair is getting so long. You all look so different after just a few weeks apart. Except for James. James is exactly the same.”“So, what was it like, hanging out with Vice and Victor?” He asked and there was a hint of jealousy in his voice. There was the core of the problem, she thought. He knew that Vice and Victor made her weak and the knees, and it made him jealous. They were still at the point where he was free to do whatever and whoever he wanted, but he wanted her frozen in time, waiting for him if and when he was done with his freedom and ready for a relationship.She met his eyes. It was not the question he had wanted to ask, she thought, but she wasn’t going to give him the answer so easily. She hadn’t, after all, after that one question about Cordelia, ever asked if he took anyone else to bed. “Great. They are just… so sweet, really. I know they seem like total partiers, but it is ju
Emily pulled open the fridge and inspected the contents. It was well stocked with lots of health foods, fresh fruit and veg, and alcohol. The contradiction, she laughed, was so typical of bands in general. Vice and Victor’s kitchen fridge looked exactly the same.The doorbell rang and James went to answer it as she pulled out a bottle of sparkling water out of the fridge and wrestled with the lid. After the day she’d had, she needed to rehydrate. She could see Jeremy still swimming laps in the pool through the windows. The pool looked lovely lit against the night, and she considered having a swim after dinner, but then decided to wait until morning, exhaustion and the comfort of her pyjamas winning.“Here, I will get that.” Owen entered and took the bottle out of her hands, the action so domestic and performed so many times between them, that she didn’t even think twice about it.“Thanks. The nails…” She held out her fingers to show the acrylics clicking them together.“It always amaz
In the morning, as she stepped out into the kitchen, Seb was at the coffee machine. “Not you too,”he shook his head in stern disapproval as he pushed a pod into the opening and waited for the machine to work.Owen met her eyes across the kitchen bench and raised his eyebrows. “Seb has a strong opinion about morning exercise,” he explained. He was dressed for a run but had apparently paused to have a flick through the daily newspaper on his way as it was open on the bench in front of him.“I have a strong opinion about all exercise,” Seb corrected, turning and resting his hips against the kitchen bench, cupping his coffee in both hands and blowing on it to cool it. “Other than the horizontal sort.”“If you do it in the morning,” she explained, stooping to adjust a shoe. “It is over and done with for the day.”“It depends entirely on what you mean by ‘it’,” Seb winked lasciviously. “I have no objections to certain physical activities in the morning, afternoon, or evening.”“You weren’t
Emily hesitated and then put her hand in his and let him draw her up the stairs to where the blanket was arranged. He sat, releasing the towel, so it only just covered him. She was going to have to do the same, she realised. Even if she tied the towel sarong like, it would work its way free quickly. They had skinny dipped together, had amazing sex, and now they were going to eat breakfast together in the bare.There was something delightfully naughty about that, she decided despite her misgivings, and she released the towel to fall around her as he opened the picnic basket. He grinned, sliding a look from the corner of his eye knowing that he had won this round, she thought.“An unanticipated advantage of this set up,” he commented cheekily.She was surprised into genuine laughter.He set a bottle of champagne onto the floorboards, and a small bottle of orange juice. “Mimosa?”“Why not?” She agreed. “Weak for me, though, please. Got to watch the calories.”He retrieved two glasses fro
The band was divided between two tour busses, these ones slick and expensive looking inside and out, a sleek, glossy modern black with Two-Way Street emblazoned in yellow script on the outside.The band stopped and gawked as they got out of the taxis.Roadies wearing black t-shirts with Two Way Street in the signature spray-paint looking script on their backs and chests moved busily between the two sleek busses and the less glamourous support vehicles that would accommodate the tour’s support staff and equipment.“Daddy, does this mean we have made it to heaven?” James wondered, saying what they were all feeling. This tour was no expense spared, the contrast to the last stark.“It sure does, Jimmy, it sure does,” Jeremy answered. “Or at least we have attracted the attention of hell. But I, for one, am happy to sign on the dotted line in blood if this is a sign of what is to come.”She was already in hell, Emily thought wryly. The sexual tension between her and Owen was so electric tha
They slept, still tangled, somewhere between dressed and not, in the bottom bunk, until day turned into night, and the bus pulled up at the first destination. The sudden stillness and quiet of the engine being turned off woke her, groggy, and lethargic from the nap.“Show, Em,” Owen encouraged as she found clothing that would see her to the changerooms.“Yes, I know,” she was grumpy in her sleepiness, but managed to get herself dressed and her suit bag and case in hand, trailing him from the bus and avoiding the driver’s eyes, embarrassed that he might have seen more than he should have. There had to be some type of hazard pay, she thought with flustered amusement, for the drivers of bus bands – she was pretty certain that sex in the busses was pretty common with horny fans and band members doing what came naturally to them.The shower woke her, and she grazed on a salad as she let the stylist prepare her for the show, the men’s conversation in the background rising and falling, the c
They played four encores – the two planned, and two additional call backs, before staggering off stage again. Owen caught Emily against him and kissed her, hard, the kiss salted by both of their sweat.“Watch it mate,” James clapped his behind in passing. “You will burst the money makers.” He pouted his lips blowing kisses over his shoulders.Emily threaded her hands through Owen’s sweat-wet hair, and kissed him back hungrily, caught up in the excitement of the performance. He lifted his head, his eyes on hers, the expression in them breath taking in its intensity. “I love you, Em,” he told her.“I love you too, Owen,” she ruffled his hair to lighten the interaction, unwilling to invest her heart into the declaration. “Let’s go have some drinks, and then hit the showers.”It took almost half an hour to make their way to the bus, through the photographers and reporters wanting a moment to discuss their tour and the fans wanting to mingle. Aaron selected a small group of fans and a repo
In the crowd, a familiar voice called her name, and she turned instinctually towards it, smiling. Something soft was thrust into her arms, and she met the man’s dark eyes, the smile falling from her face at his vulpine expression.“Who-?” The crowd jostled against the barrier, and he let it push him back so that she caught a flash of a grin before he disappeared.She looked down at what he had placed in her hands. She already held a bunch of flowers, and some other oddments fans liked to give her. This was a teddy bear, but… The stitching down its stomach had been cut open, and the soft white fluff within and the fur around it was stained a brownish red. There was something brownish red stuffed inside…“I will have that, thank you,” Aaron snatched the teddy out of her hands and dropped it into a plastic bag, which he ziplocked and passed to his PA. He put his hand on her back. “Keep going, Em, smile,” he encouraged. “Smile, Em.”Her expression had caught Owen’s attention, although the