by Amity Cross
“Let’s get out of here,” Sebastian whispered into my ear. “I just want to bury myself inside you.”
“Already?” I trembled at the thought of being alone with him after the performance he’d just given on stage, but I shook my head. “Not yet.”
“Huh?” He pulled back and searched my expression.
“We have to stop and talk to everyone,” I said. “I just showed up out of nowhere and after what happened in the Point with the press… I don’t want to cause any trouble. I’m an anomaly.”
“You’re not,” Sebastian said. “Fuck all that, I want you to myself.”
“Yeah.” I sighed, knowing exactly how he felt. “But I don’t want to end up being Yoko, you know?”
He scoffed, “No one’ll accuse you of trying to break up the band.”
“Sebastian.”
“Are you sure you want to stick around?” he asked. “These after gig parties are just an excuse to get drunk and pick up.”
“One drink.” I didn’t like the sound of it, but I didn’t want to be accused of stealing Sebastian away, especially since he’d just returned.
“Okay, okay.” He wound his arm around my waist and tugged me against his side. “One drink and we’re out of here. I still need to make good on my promise.”
“What promise?” I asked, knowing exactly what he meant.
“The one where I fuck you from every angle until we drop.”
“Oh, that promise.”
We walked through the venue, retracing the path he’d led me on earlier. The whole place was alive with activity as we passed. Equipment was being dismantled and packed into cases, meters and meters of leads were being rolled and stowed, and crews were ferrying it all outside to a waiting semi-trailer. It was a whole production and the scale gave me the chills. The concert had just wrapped up and people were still leaving the venue, but everything was already half dismantled.
The party had spilled between Damon’s dressing room and Nate’s, and people were spread out into the hall as well. The alcohol was flowing—beer, wine, and spirits—and I was surprised how soon after the gig they’d gotten into it.
“Who are all these people?” I asked as we approached.
“Fucked if I know,” Sebastian replied. “Some are record label people. Most are hangers on. I guarantee half the women are groupies.”
I hesitated, my stride shortening along with my confidence. Ahead, I could see Josh had wasted no time and had zeroed in on a pretty blonde. Her back was against the wall and he had his palm resting on the wall beside her head, leaning into her with all the subtlety of a car crash. The woman’s eyelashes were fluttering and every so often, her teeth tugged suggestively at her bottom lip.
Sebastian’s grip tightened, and he led me into Damon’s dressing room.
It wasn’t much better in here. The room was already packed, and rock music was playing from a Bluetooth speaker on the counter.
A woman with a rough grunge look—smeared black eyeliner, itty-bitty denim shorts, and matching tank top—was straddling the back of the couch and combing her fingers through Damon’s hair. Her gaze flicked up towards Sebastian and a smirk pulled at her maroon lips. Better pickings had obviously walked into the room and I scowled at her blatant lap hopping. She hadn’t even registered Sebastian’s arm around me.
“Hey,” the woman said, sidling up to us.
Her eyes locked on Sebastian and I rose my eyebrows.
“Wow,” I drawled.
The woman’s gaze finally found its way to mine and she looked me over with a sneer. “Who are you?”
“Exactly. Who are you?” I returned her snotty look. When she didn’t answer, I snorted. “Well?”
Sebastian started to laugh, and the woman flushed, swearing under her breath as she stalked off.
“They wouldn’t even know the difference between fucking and love if it hit them in the face,” he murmured into my ear, easing some of my anxiety.
“Does this happen often?” I asked. “Dumping one guy when a better one walks in?”
“Am I the better one?”
I slapped him on the arm and rolled my eyes.
“So here’s the infamous Juniper,” Damon declared from his spot on the couch. He spread his arms wide. “Where’s the honey, Seb? I thought she was dripping with it.”
Beside us, Nate turned and eyed me curiously, and I noticed he’d been talking to my new favourite mean girl, Vix.
“Juniper, this is Nate and Damon.” Sebastian pointed to the two guys I’d just seen on stage. “This is Vix, our road manager.” He gave my waist a gentle squeeze, confirming he had told me about her. “And you know dickface here, otherwise known as Josh.”
“Watch who you’re calling dickface, dickface.” Josh rolled his eyes and gave me a sweet smile that had devil written all over it. “Don’t listen to him, darling.” He had his chosen blonde in tow and thrust a drink to her hands. “Here you go, sweet thing,” he said to her. “Down the hatch.”
“So what do you do, Juniper?” Vix asked. “Apart from that cute little bookshop you used to own. Wasn’t there a dog? I’m sorry, I stopped reading the articles.”
I froze, my mouth flapping uselessly. If she was trying to humiliate me in front of the hottest rock band in the world, she was doing an excellent job and it’d only taken her two seconds.
“Shut it, Vix,” Sebastian snarled.
“I’m just wondering what she’s going to do when we go on tour in the US,” she said with a shrug.
“What tour?”
“The new album is dropping next week,” Josh said. “Surprise!”
“And when were you going to tell me about this?” Sebastian asked, turning on Vix.
“Right now. You were busy earlier, remember?”
“What about marketing and pre-sales?” he fired back.
“It’s a surprise release, thanks to you fucking around,” Vix replied, glancing at me. “No offence, sweetie.”
Sebastian’s scowl deepened. “We just finished a tour.”
“And now you’re going on another one.” She held up her hands and laughed. “Don’t shoot the messenger, Seb.”
“Just because you want to shack up with your bird.” Damon glanced at me as he added, “No offence, Juniper. Your boy there caused a lot of shit with that stunt he pulled, you know.”
“This is how we fix things,” Vix said. “We need to let the world know Beneath isn’t going anywhere. Otherwise your stock is going to plummet, Seb. Be a good boy, huh?” She glanced at me, pursing her lips in a clear display of disapproval. “You can come too, but only because I know Seb will throw a tantrum otherwise.”
“Vix,” Sebastian snapped.
“It’s okay, Sebastian,” I said narrowing my gaze at Vix. “I understand. Beneath is a business after all. She’s just looking out for her asset.” I smiled at her. “Businesswoman to businesswoman.”
“If you say so.” Vix snorted, rising to the occasion. “Aren’t you selling your business because it was failing?”
By this stage, we’d attracted a few eavesdroppers, and they sniggered—at me, not Vix. I was the outsider here and she was having a damn good time making sure I knew it.
“There’s a marked difference between a failure and a disaster in business.” I tilted my head to the side. “The difference is knowing when to keep fighting and when to get out while the going’s good and still make a profit.”
Josh let out a laugh and tipped his cup towards me. “I like her.”
Vix pouted and shook out her blonde curls. Turning to Sebastian, she said, “The announcement is going out tomorrow. I’m sure a press and tour schedule will find its way to you tonight.” Reaching for a beer on the table, she twisted off the cap and walked away, calling out cheerily to someone across the room. “Babe! There you are!”
I glanced at Sebastian, who looked furious about being kept out of the loop. This was his punishment for ditching the band and taking up with me and I couldn’t help but feel
partly responsible.
“Hey,” I said, poking him in the side.
His scowl faded and he smiled down at me. “Want to get out of here?”
“Oh, go fuck her already,” Josh said.
“Nice to meet you, Juniper,” Damon said, waving at me with a knowing grin on his face. “See you around, huh?”
Nate nodded and didn’t add anything, but I got the feeling he was the tall, silent, and handsome type.
“C’mon,” Sebastian said, pulling me from the dressing room.
I smiled and waved at the guys who were his extended family, completely at his mercy.
“I’m leaving,” he snapped at someone in the hall and grasped my hand tightly in his.
“I’ve got Vanessa’s car,” I began.
“Where’s the keys? I’ll get someone to bring it to the hotel.”
I blinked, confused by the mechanics of such an operation. “Someone will do that?”
“Yeah.” Sebastian held out his hand and I slipped the car keys onto his palm. “Where did you park it?”
I rattled off the make and model, and the general whereabouts. My directions were vague, much to his amusement—down the street, turn right at the overturned shopping trolley, go half-way down the lane, and it’ll be wedged between a white van and a telephone pole.
I stood to the side as I waited for Sebastian to relay the details to another unfamiliar face, and my best friend’s car keys were handed over.
“C’mon,” he said to me and we were off again.
I had no idea what was going on, so I let him sweep me through the venue to the stage door. The bouncer, who’d slammed the door in my face earlier, paled when he saw Sebastian’s hand in mine.
“Sir,” he said, opening the door for us.
“Sebastian!” someone called out as we stepped into the night.
“Is that Juniper?” someone else asked.
A group of photographers scrambled for their cameras as a black sedan with tinted windows pulled up in front of us. An unknown man opened the door and Sebastian ushered me into the back, following as the first flashbulbs popped.
“Fuck,” he cursed, rubbing his hands over his face. “I can’t believe it.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said settling next to him. “I’d be a fool to think there wouldn’t be some kind of fallout from everything that happened in the Point.”
“It’s no excuse for Vix’s behaviour. Bitch.”
“You warned me about her and everything you said was true. If we’re going to really do this, we have to deal with her.” I looked out the window as the car moved through the city. “I came prepared.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, resting his palm on my thigh. “I know I asked you to leap, but…”
I turned toward him and drank in his strong profile. “I love that you want to protect me, but I’m a big girl. I’m not going to go down without a fight, believe me. People like that are only as strong as you allow them to be.”
“Fuck, maybe you should be a philosopher.”
“Where’s the money in that?” I asked with a laugh.
“You don’t need money. You’ve got mine.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Seb,” I teased.
He leaned his head against the seat back and sighed. “Another fucking tour.”
“It’s the life,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder. “I knew what I signed up for, groupies and all.”
“I just wanted you to myself for a while,” he murmured.
“Well, you’ve got me for tonight. We can work out the rest as we go.”
“Philosopher is a good career choice, you know.”
“I’m not sure about that,” I said with a laugh.
“We’ll figure it out.”
“I know.”
There were still so many uncertainties between us and the world, but there was one thing I was sure of. If Beneath was going on tour, I was in for one hell of a ride.
3
Sebastian
The moment I closed the door to the penthouse at Crown Towers, I heaved a sigh of relief.
As soon as we’d arrived at the hotel, I’d been handed the schedule Vix had used to punish me with, and it wasn’t good. The elevator ride to the penthouse was tense, but Juniper’s hand in mine had calmed my rising anger.
I didn’t want to think about the fucking surprise album drop, the release party the label was throwing, or the tour. Shit, the tour in America would last months. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to go—performing was the thing that kept me alive some days—but I’d just hoped for some time alone with Juniper. This thing we were doing was still so new and unknown.
I watched her with hungry eyes as she walked across the carpet. Her steps were gentle, like she was tiptoeing on eggshells.
Finally alone. I’d hoped we’d have this moment, and for a while I wasn’t sure it was going to happen.
I was used to the death threats, the foul names, and the fake rumours, but Juniper wasn’t. The way she’d freaked out when the paparazzi appeared in Point Mambie was frightening. That was the thing. She was scared, and things were going to get wilder the moment we went on the road. That was, if she still wanted to go…
Still, she was here now despite it, and that made her the strongest woman I knew.
“This room…” She plastered her hands on the windows and stared out at the Melbourne skyline. It was lit up with a million sparkling and endless lights.
“The room’s in here,” I said with a chuckle.
She turned and pressed her back against the glass. “It’s seriously posh.”
“You’re like a kid on Christmas.”
“I’ve never been in a penthouse before.”
“You’re so the person who looks through every drawer the moment you walk into a hotel room, aren’t you?”
“I’ve never really been in many hotels, but my palms are itching.” Her gaze shifted towards the bedroom. “It’s like a full-on apartment up here.”
I nodded, her excitement refreshing. I’d seen the inside of so many hotels that they’d lost their shine a long time ago, but through her, it was like experiencing them for the first time again. Only this time, it was better.
“Just wait until you see the bathroom.” Her eyes lit up and I laughed. “Make yourself at home. I’ve just gotta make a call.”
“Are there any drawers I shouldn’t open?” She pursed her lips together and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Knock yourself out.”
As Juniper started wandering around the sitting room, I took my phone out of my pocket and dialled one of my assistants, Harry. At least that was the name in my contact list. They changed so often, it was hard to keep up. Maybe staff retention was something I should work on.
“Mr. Hale,” came his stiff, yet polite voice, “how are you?”
Fuck, I hated it when they talked to me like that. It made me sound old.
“Juniper’s going to need a change of clothes,” I said. “Something casual.”
“Of course. What size is she?”
“Uh…” Glancing at Juniper, I asked, “What size are you?”
She stared at me and blinked, obviously confused. “Twelve?”
“Twelve,” I said into the phone. “Have them delivered as soon as possible. Oh, and we don’t want to be disturbed tonight, so I’ll call in the morning.”
“Is there anything else you need?”
His tone implied the usual requests, but I was done with that. My assistants were used to going out to get condoms and alcohol, or driving random conquests home, not getting a change of clothes for the woman I was in a legitimate relationship with. Stopping off at the local designer boutique was an alien request compared to just-fucked women with mascara-laden tears crying that they were sure they’d captured my heart as they were ferried out the door.
“No,” I said, looking at Juniper, “that’s it.”
“Goodnight, Mr. Hale.”
Ending the call, I
tossed my phone onto the side table and stepped towards Juniper.
“What was that about?” she asked.
“It’s called being a rich douchewad to impress the girl you like.”
“You’re getting a poor intern to get me clothes?” She made a face. “Undies, too?”
“First of all, Harry isn’t an intern. I pay him, I think.”
“You think?”
I shrugged. “You haven’t seen the clothes yet.”
She took off her jacket and laughed, the sound travelling straight to my cock. She was wearing a loose fitting black T-shirt underneath, but the material hung off her breasts, accentuating their fullness. My gaze raked over her and my balls flared.
I prowled towards her and slipped my palms over her waist. Her fingers dug into my hair and we joined, her mouth taking mine.
No more waiting.
“I need a shower,” I said against her swollen lips. “Wanna shower with me?”
Juniper smiled and pulled her tee over her head. Her bra was gone an instant later and I cupped her breasts in my hands, massaging her already taught nipples between my fingertips.
“You have the most incredible tits, you know that?” My cock flared as she fumbled with my belt.
“Good to know,” she replied, sliding her hand into my boxers.
I hissed through my teeth as I pressed my erection into her palm, shoving my jeans down as I walked her backwards toward the bathroom. My boots came off, as did hers, and our pants followed suit. We left a trail of clothing in our wake, and when we made it to the fancy shower with its marble tiles and rainwater showerhead, we were naked before one another.
I turned on the shower, testing the warmth before tugging her underneath the spray. Her hair soaked through and I kissed her, my tongue demanding entrance. She tasted sweet as the water beat down on our skin, her body soft as she ground her clit against my thigh.
“I wanna taste you,” she said as she eased to her knees.
“Juni—” I moaned as she took my hardness in her hands.
