Page 91 of Syncopation
Chapter Nineteen
The concert at the venue near Salt Lake City nearly left Ray naked. He’d jumped into the crowd and bodysurfed, but it had gotten pretty damn rowdy and he’d lost a good part of his pants and had been felt up more in those few minutes than all his times cruising bars.
By the time he’d make it back on stage, he’d been laughing and high with adrenaline, but after theshow, he’d realized just how lucky he’d been not to be dropped. Still, he loved running out into the crowd.
Carl, predictably, was furious. “You so eager to show your dick, Ray?”
“Not particularly.” He was also too damn tired to get upset with Carl or get down on himself. Plus, there’d be a hotel bed tonight. Two. One for him and one for Zavier. Which one he’d end up in, he didn’t care,as long as Zavier was there.
“Seems like it to me.” Carl crossed his arms.
Ray shrugged. “I’ll admit stage diving was probably not the best plan, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Every singer does it once in their career,” Mish said.
Carl threw up his hands. “You don’t even fucking care about your image, do you? They think you’re a slut, Van Zeller. A—”
“Drunk?That hasn’t been in the news for a while. And they don’t think I’m a slut, they think I’m fucking Zavier.”
Carl stared at him.
Ray rolled his eyes. “I’ve been keeping track of the scandal sites. It’s all about sex and rock and roll now, not about drunk, mean Ray beating up on his poor ex-drummer. Or about my uncontrolled temper, or any of that.”
Hell, even Kevin had issued a statementthat pretty much debunked Ray’s violent personality and outed himself as being in rehab. Ray had gotten an email from him.Couldn’t stand them saying that about you. I know we had our differences, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. You were a jerk sometimes, but I was more of one.
Yeah, maybe they were in debt to the record company, but they were also screaming up the charts and a name onmany,manypeople’s lips.
Ray sighed. “Look, I don’t plan on crowd surfing again. That was a littletoointense.”
Carl grunted and almost looked satisfied with that answer. “I guess you do have a brain after all.”
Ray didn’t even bother answering that, just grabbed a bottle of water and chugged it back. “We gotta go do the signings.” With that, and completely unrehearsed, the wholeband rose and walked out of the room.
Zavier hooked an arm over Ray’s shoulder. “I guess I don’t need to ask if you lost your balls out in the crowd.”
Mish’s laughter echoed down the hallway. “If anything, he’s grown them back.”
“I don’t need to hear about Ray’s balls.” Dom tugged at his studded collar. “But the look on Carl’s face during that whole convo was priceless!”
God, Rayloved this band. Loved them all. Zavier’s warmth seeped into his skin and a cheer went up when they walked out near the crowd like that.
The signings went well. So many people had stories or hopes and dreams they wanted to share. The delight of the fans bolstered and carried Ray through the night and straight to the hotel. More press and fans as they entered, then they were on the elevatorand to their rooms. Once more, they had a good portion of the floor for the band and crew. Or maybe all of it, he wasn’t sure.
When the band got to their rooms, Mish held up her hand. “Wait a minute, who’s in which rooms?”
Turned out Ray and Zavier were across from each other.
“Nuh-uh.” She snatched Zavier’s keycards. “You’re next to Ray. I’m not putting up with listening to you guysgoing at it all night.”
Dom was trying not to smile. Zav, for his part, took her keycards. His smile threatened to melt Ray’s bones. “I’ll try not to be too loud.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about, hon.” Mish winked at Ray, then vanished into her room.
Shit, he didn’t need to blush that hard. But with the way Zavier looked at him, and Dom smiling at the floor...yeah. His cheeks werehot.
“You guys have fun,” Dom said, then entered his room.
That left Ray and Zavier in the hall. “Go in and relax.” Zavier nodded at the room. “I need to call down to see about getting my package anyway.”
