Page 26 of Accidental Fire
I glanced down at his bare feet. “Where are your shoes?” He started to get up, but I wrapped my hand around his wrist and pulled him back down.
“They blew off the dock. I’ll be fine. I’ll just get another pair at the gift shop.” He stood and pulled his guitar case on like a backpack, but as I looked at the uneven wooden dock leading back to the resort, all I saw was the possibility of splinters.
I stepped in front of him and bent my knees a little. “Hop on. No way am I letting the star of the show get an ouchy on his foot. You can’t prance your sexy ass around the stage if you’re limping.”
I smacked the back of his knees with my hands, so he gave up fighting it and jumped up. I balanced him and the guitar and made my way down the dock to the sand. Instead of putting him down, I carried him into the lobby and over to the elevator, pressing the up button. “Duck,” I insisted as we got on, and I pressed the button for the penthouse. I could feel his hard dick against my back, and I wasn’t sure what to think. However, my dick got hard as if in solidarity with his.
The inside of the elevator was gold-toned with a reflective surface. It was easy to see the smile on both of our faces as the car climbed to the twenty-third floor. When the doors slid open on the top floor, I said, “Duck,” and hunched down a bit, taking us out of the car.
I let him off, and when he stepped in front of me, my gaze landed on those gorgeous blue eyes that were even with mine. “Ilike the song.” The urge to take his face into my hands and kiss him again was hard to fight.
“You think my ass is sexy?”
I leaned forward and smacked said sexy ass. “Yep. I’ll see you at the venue. Break a leg—well, not really. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to say to people in show business?”
River laughed. “That works. I’ll see you there.” The temptation to kiss him was nearly overwhelming, so I stepped back.
“Uh, good. See ya later.”
Instead of heading back to the elevator, I went to the stairwell and ran down to my floor, using the keycard to access it. I went into my room, seeing that the housekeeper had kept her promise not to come back.
The bed wasn’t made, so I did the creepiest thing I’d ever done. I walked over to the side of the bed where he’d slept and sniffed the pillow. It smelled faintly of his body wash andhim. Never in my life had I been so moved by anyone’s perfume, body lotion, shampoo, or natural scent. My mind went blank.
Chapter Ten
River
“Let’s start with ‘Broken Pieces,’” I suggested as we sat in the fancy van with Clancy driving us out to the Riviera Cultural Center for Beer Fest 2025. We were on at five that night and would be playing for ninety minutes. I was giddy with excitement over the concert because, for once, we were all sober, rested, and ready to rock.
“Here’s the set list we used in LA and San Diego. Do we want to change it up?” JD asked as he air-dropped the list to each of our phones.
I opened the document and read through it, not remembering most of the list. No wonder those concerts had been so fucking awful. I noticed the harder rocking songs were at the end of the set list, which was a fucking stupid move on our part.
I turned to Goldie. “Do you want to move the final three up to the top or maybe the middle? Can your voice hold out to the end?” I asked.
Goldie had been saving his voice all day, so he texted us in the group.
I think we should pepper those songs throughout the set list, between the songs where we all sing, so I can save my voice. I’m sorry, I didn’t think about it last night. Never again, I promise.
I turned to look behind me at Goldie in the back with a plant mister in his hands. “That thing helping?” I asked.
We asked the concierge at the hotel to track one down for him after we researched online how to help him recover from vocal strain. JD said he shouldn’t be singing at all, but we had made a commitment, and Goldie saidno waywere we breaking it because he’d behaved like an idiot.
Goldie nodded and sprayed more of whatever was in the glass decanter, giving me a wink.
The previous night, my bandmates had lost their fucking minds and smoked more pot than I’d probably smoked in my life. They’d downed two bottles of expensive tequila and smoked three packs of cigarettes, which would be hell on anyone’s voice alone. All three together was a death sentence to a singer.
Meanwhile, I was snuggled in bed with Kit Hansen, drunk off my ass, though I’m sure the sexy man wasn’t excited about me being there. God, I hoped someday I could find a guy like Kit to keep me warm.
Arlo finally spoke up. “How about this? We do the first half acoustic to change it up and then shred the hell out of the last half. That way, Goldie, you can hit those soft moments in these songs, but…what if we juxtapose the songs? Sing the shredders as acoustics and the acoustics as hard rocking metal?”
I gave his suggestion some thought, and I honestly loved the idea of mixing things up for each show. “I think that’s a fantastic idea. We should change things up in every show. We just rotate which songs we go balls out on and the others we go acoustic. It’s a great idea, Arlo.”
“We’re here, gentlemen.” I glanced out the window of the van to see that we were arriving at the venue.
Clancy stopped at the backstage door, and we hauled out of the van and headed into the building. Kit’s big red semi and trailer were backed up to the dock. The roadies were carrying in our equipment, and Kit was helping.
We watched as they carried in our instruments, speakers, and wheeled out the backdrop. It would be the first time we’d be able to use the set, and I was excited, having only seen drawings of it when we were trying to decide what we wanted our image to say to an audience.
