Neither he nor the woman seemed to care where they were or who was watching. A mix of emotions caused Sky’s fingernails to dig into her palms. Stunned for the moment, she tried to look away, but couldn’t. Maybe she was as depraved as them. What did she expect? It was a night for celebration. Deafening music, rivers of alcohol, a sea of drugs—all were welcome tonight. But something inside of her felt dirty. She shouldn’t be in this room. Shouldn’t be watching acts that should have been private. She hated Dash at the moment for putting her in this position, while at the same time a pang of guilt cramped her stomach. Skylar closed her eyes for a moment, shaking off her feelings and focusing on the task at hand. Finding Dash.
Finally, she reached the worn, green door. As she knocked, chips of old paint clung to her knuckles. She brushed them off her hand as she waited, but there was no answer. She knocked harder. Again, no response. Pressing her ear against the door, she heard a man’s voice. It took a moment to determine, but he sounded like Dash.
Skylar balled her hand into a fist and pounded the bunched flesh against the wood. When no one responded again, she turned the handle. Tentatively, she opened the door and entered.
“Hello?” Her tone was soft and light. It certainly was no competition for the harsh sounds of the bass. The speakers had been manipulated to emphasize the sound. Her insides rumbled and vibrated, and, as she walked forward, she noted that a few people were in the back of the room. It was thicker with pot than the hall outside. Her eyes burned and watered, making it difficult to differentiate who was who.
She took careful steps through the room as she investigated the scene, looking from side to side as she searched for Dash. Lines of leftover dust from snorted cocaine made a white snowflake pattern on the glass tabletop in the center of three empty chairs. Off to the side were two guys sitting on the floor. She couldn’t remember their names, and couldn’t see them well in the near dark, but she vaguely remembered seeing them with the road crew. Two steps closer, and she nearly tripped from shock. One man sat with his back against the wall. His jeans were open, his cock unhindered, with a woman’s manicured fingers wrapped around it. She stroked up and down, eliciting sounds of pleasure from the man. He looked up, locking eyes with Skylar’s widened ones. “What can I do for you, sweet thing?” His voice was as deep as a dark pit, the question sounding filthy and suggestive.
Not waiting for an answer, he gave Sky an indifferent shrug. With a nod of his head, the woman took his dick in her mouth. He placed a hand on the back of her head as it bobbed up and down. A sinister grin widened his face, hooking one corner up into a sneer. “She’s trying to set a record. I’m trying to help her.”
Skylar looked at the man, entirely shocked by his cavalier attitude. Disgust narrowed her eyes. “Where’s Dash?”
He jutted his head in the direction behind him. “Takin a piss.”
As if on cue, the door opened. Dash looked at her as he fastened his belt, his eyes vacant.
“I waited for you.” Impatience sharpened her tone.
His smile was lecherous as he took her in. “If I’d seen you, I wouldn’t have passed you by.” Passed her by? What the hell?
Sky’s mouth fell open. Confused and speechless, she stared at him as he stuffed a hand down his pants to adjust himself. The intensity in his gaze burned through her, and, suddenly, the room started spinning. Her thoughts scrambled as she tried to make sense of this twisted scene.
“What the hell happened to you? You told me to wait for you, and you never came back.”
Dash leaned into her. He ran his index finger through her hair and pinched a lock with his thumb. He flicked the curl against her throat as he knitted his brow. “Sweetheart, we can go anywhere you want.”
Her thoughts raced as her heart beat out a warning. Sky closed what little distance there was between them, her muscles twitching beneath her rage. Dash had just spoken to her in the same way she’d heard these guys talk to sluts. Possessed by the anger of a thousand wrongs, her arm buzzed. Her blood bubbled and boiled. Muscles tightened. Fury ignited. Before she realized what was happening, her hand sailed through the air, a loud smack connecting with his face.
The room went deadly silent as everyone stilled in shock.
“You don’t talk to me like that. Ever!” Red colored her cheeks, loathing weaving its way through the color.
Dash’s eyes were vacant as he rubbed his cheek. It took a moment, but then he looked around the room as if he didn’t know what was going on. He stopped when his gaze met hers.
“Skylar?”
Instantly, she knew something was wrong. She pinned him with a stare, but his expression was puzzled at best. She had no time to address it. At the same time, a million questions swirled in her head, a disruption behind her caught her attention.
She jumped out of the way of the man who, a moment ago, had been getting a blow job. The woman he was with fell back gagging as he bolted up. He looked down at his pants, and Skylar’s gaze fell to his hands.
Grabbing the material at both sides of his zipper, he stared at the thick and slimy white coating. His nostrils flared. His neck and face turned red. He looked down at the woman, his expression thick with disgust. As he swiped both hands over his middle, he moved his shirt and wiped the sticky substance from his bare skin. “You stupid, fuckin bitch!” He spat the words, his voice angered and raised. He tore his gaze from the woman, looking around the room. Those guys close to him were laughing, but there was no amusement in his eyes. His jaw tightened and ticked as he filled everyone in on what had just happened.
“Damn cunt threw up on me! I’m wearin’ everybody’s jiz!”
Chapter 25
Once in the rental car, Dash's expression was pained. Neither of them said a word when they left. Though confused, Skylar tried to wrap her head around what had happened. The mayhem created at the disgusting display had sent Sky scrambling to gather their things and get out of there. At the same time, everyone else laughed and bantered, involving themselves in what would forever be known as the "up-chuck incident."
She couldn't make sense of much. In the last hour, she'd seen things that had left a bad taste in her mouth. A few of the women in the room had gagged and laughed at the same time. There were also those rare people that had offered assistance, grabbing napkins and passing them to the semen-soaked man, but Skylar had had something else on her mind. Dash.
The odd behavior followed by the blank stare. The loss of time. The sudden recollection of who she was and where he was and then him trying to shrug everything off. Something had happened in there that gave her a bad feeling in her gut. For a few, brief moments, Dash had been lost. Though he wouldn't admit it to her, she’d read it in his eyes.
The road ahead had few vehicles, giving them a leisurely ride and a time to talk. It was the perfect opportunity to gain some clarity. She looked over at Dash, placing a hand on his knee. "So, what happened, babe? Why did you leave me waiting all that time?"
"I honestly don't know." He shrugged. "I don't even remember hanging around. I went back to get the stuff and then planned to leave. Next thing I knew, I was taking a piss and eyeing up a pretty woman." His smile was weak. Reaching out, he grazed her arm with a light hand. "Sorry, babe. Maybe I've had too much shit on my mind. The only thing I can think is that I sat down and crashed. One of those "power nap" things." He yawned. "I'm tired as hell. I feel like I could sleep for a week."
She wasn't sure what to do. Should she bring up the blank stare? The empty gaze? The hollow expression?
Though the incident had dug in deep and sprouted roots, there were questions to weed and answers to pull out. She didn't know if she should press for clarity now or wait for a better time, when Dash had gotten some sleep and regained focus. The last two weeks on the road had been grueling. Maybe he did have a lot on his mind with the tour, upcoming meetings, his strained relationship with Ian, and their relationship. His appearance had suffered. As she looked at his handsome face, she noted the addition o
f a few more worry lines on his brow and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Also, he confessed that he hadn't been eating or sleeping right. That could be the crux of the problem. If she pressed, she might not get the responses she was looking for. Her heart demanded answers, but her head dictated she find a rational way to get them. If she waited, an opportunity for clarity would present itself in due time.
Resigned, she shrugged. She wasn't happy about what had happened, but it wouldn't do any good to overthink the incident. There could be a million reasons, and though she didn't like it one bit, a little patience wouldn't hurt. Besides, she needed to give her overactive imagination a vacation. There was no need to "borrow trouble," as her friend Lydia would say. That's one thing she and Dash didn't need any more of—trouble. Pressing the issue could only breed more of it.
"Are you pissed at me?"
Skylar stole her gaze from him to look out the window. "Maybe. No. Oh, I don't know." She gave him a quick glance. "I don't think so."
He gave her a questioning look.
"I probably overreacted, but, then, I did wait almost an hour for you." She turned, shifting in her seat, and mustered a weak smile. "I knew there would be lots of people more than willing to celebrate with you—if you know what I mean."
Dash placed a reassuring hand on her knee. "You know better than that."
A sarcastic chuckle puffed from her chest. "I do, but I'm still a girl in love with a guy who is adored by thousands. Even you know that some of the women in that room would be willing to cross any moral line without a single thought."
"I get that, but they would have to have a willing partner." He rubbed his hand up and down her thigh and patted her knee. "I'm not that guy, babe. You have nothing to worry about."
Sky let his words sink in just long enough for her shoulders to relax. Let it go, girl. It was time for a change and Skylar decided to change subjects. There was a topic Sky wanted to discuss before the next part of the band's tour, Ian. Sky wanted to know more about him. What was that saying? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? "Okay. Let’s move on to something else. Talk to me about Ian."
Dash let out a long sigh and settled back into his seat. He ran his thumb underneath the seat belt lying across his chest. "I'm not sure we have enough time. Ian’s a topic that could take days." He eyed her with a mix of humor and wariness as he exhaled another lengthy breath. "What do you want to know?"
What did she want to know? Skylar mulled over her many questions. Where should she start? Ian was a puzzle. One thing she did want to know was the origin of their friendship. She knew very little about Ian, but what was more interesting to her was the dynamic that he and Dash shared. Their personalities were yin and yang. Different but connected. Ian mattered to Dash, and if she and Dash were talking a long-term relationship, it might be in her best interest to learn enough about him that might make her care a little about him too. “Why don’t you start with where you met?”
A quirk raised the corner of Dash’s mouth. “Ian's . . . odd."
She smiled at his hesitation and the way he scrunched his face when giving his one-word description of his friend. She was sure he could read the "you don't say" expression on her face when she glanced over at him.
"We met in high school. Freshman year. He was kind of the class clown, you know? Funny, yeah, but outrageously so. You either loved him or hated him."
"Doesn't seem much has changed!" Her blurted words caused them both to laugh.
"One thing was for sure, you could always count on Ian to do something to get attention." He paused, looking over at Sky with a sardonic grin. "We met in detention."
Skylar lifted her eyes to the heavens, shaking her head in disbelief. "Why am I not surprised?"
Dash sighed while arching a brow. "I wasn't the kind of kid that found myself there often, but once I started hanging around with Ian, we became regular visitors. After a while, our teacher only showed up long enough to take attendance; he didn't want to be there any more than we did. Once he left the room, Ian launched into conversations about his drug connections. He was quite the opportunist. He even set up a private corner in the back of the classroom for girls who wanted to perfect their blow job techniques."
Shock rounded her eyes. "You're kidding, right?"
Dash laughed as he put up his hands. "Swear on my grandmother. There was a rolling chalkboard with adjustable legs. Ian put it as low as it would go and made a makeshift sex closet using the board as a privacy screen. Behind it was a chair for the guys. He used jackets to cushion the girl's knees."
Of course, he did.
Dash, visibly amused by his adolescent recollection, continued. "For an hour and a half every day we were in there. Ian never stopped talking. His list of willing girls was impressive, and guys started pulling all kinds of shit in school just so they’d get detention." He shrugged. "I mean, really, what high school boy wouldn't want what Ian advertised." He gave Skylar a look, admiration clearly in his eyes. "He was quite the entrepreneur. Supply and demand, babe. Ian was a high school legend. Still is to this day."
"Maybe, but it's a little extreme."
"To a sixteen-year-old boy? Hell, no, it wasn't extreme! It was worth the risk to get your rocks off. Growing boys. Active glands. What can I say?" Dash's face screwed up a little. "It was all good until I told him to fuck off in front of the whole class."
"Oh my God. Why did you do that?"
His look was matter of fact. "Ian was an asshole, and I was fifteen. He’d been trying to get this one girl to join in on the backroom debauchery. Her name was Halo and, I assure you, she was not an angel. Rumor had it she had no gag reflex and she sucked like a Hoover." He paused, looking over at her as pieces of a memory pinned his thoughts. "This sounds worse now that I'm older." He shook his head. "Anyway, Ian hooked me up with her. I was out of detention, trying to get my grades up, and I didn't want to go back there. You know?" He winked at her. "I wanted to graduate, not spend my life in high school." Dash's expression went blank. "I don't know why, but I kind of had a crush on her, and I thought she really liked me too. I found out the hard way that she wasn't interested in a one-on-one relationship." As Skylar stole a quick glance at him, she saw pain veil his expression.
"You mean you saw her with another guy?"
He nodded. "Several." He paused. "Anyway, once I wasn't there, Ian didn't want to be either. He stopped getting in trouble and didn't have to go to detention anymore. I think he felt terrible he’d exposed the girl for what she was, and he started following me around. I played the guitar and a buddy of mine asked me to play in a band he was putting together. We were about ten sessions into our rehearsals in Tommy's garage and Ian came along just to watch us practice. The guy playing bass guitar, Charlie, had a sore throat that night. We played a few songs without anyone singing, but when we got to "Kashmir" by Led Zepplin, Ian, just goofing around, turned into Robert Plant." Dash shrugged, his hands opening in a surprised manner. "He shocked everybody. None of us knew that boy could sing. We'd been hanging out for months, but that was the first time he came to band practice with me. We played a couple more songs, and Ian, just bullshittin', let his inner rock star take the stage. Really, he was just playing around, but it was brilliant. Something came over Ian when he sang. Before the night was over, he had taken over the persona of David Lee Roth, Steven Tyler, and Roger Daltrey." The memory washed pleasantly over his face, his eyes a warm glow as he reminisced. "It was . . . amazing."
And there it was. The pregnant pause indicating that the twist of the story was about to be revealed. "What happened?" she asked, a hush to her tone.
Dash shoved his back against the seat, his lips a tight grimace. "Drugs. Alcohol. I would say women, but he was always a ladies' man. High school girls were just the tip of the iceberg. They were nothing compared to all the women over the last fifteen years. Add tons of money and easy access, and you come to where we are now. None of us ever know what's up with Ian. We try to keep him grounded, but we aren't
his babysitters either."
"But you two are still close. Ian had a key to your house."
"Yeah. We are, and we're not. I can take just so much of him. We all have our limits. Every once in a while, he believes his own hype and his ego blows up so big it's hard to reel him in. The other guys might fool around a little, but if you notice, they don't hang around too long at Ian's after-show parties. It gets old after a while." He turned to her. "Know what I mean?"
If she didn't understand completely, she now had a damn good idea. Sky pictured all the articles that had popped up in her Google search. Ian had no trouble keeping himself in the top ten search results, that was for damn sure, but some of the other stories she read were just sad. Musicians, many of them family men, leaving wives or girlfriends, after meeting someone while on tour. Families were destroyed and nobody seemed to blink an eye. It was a tough life. A hollow existence. If you, somehow, happened to be one of the lucky ones and managed to keep your marriage and family intact while on the road making music, you were rare.
She exhaled a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I think I do."
Chapter 26
The sun slowly drifted down in the sky, its late afternoon descent painting the crystal waters in shades not found at the high point of the day. Dash had lied to her. He had no intention of jumping on a bike and taking off. He, indeed, did have a plan. An elaborate one. A surprise. A vacation in Key West.
Ripples of water made a quiet sound against the fiberglass boat and lulled Skylar into a deep state of relaxation. Their delicate sounds soothed her soul. The waves lapped against the side and gently swayed the vessel back and forth with its rocking motion. The sun's rays transformed the blue color to azure and silver as its angle shifted with the time of day. She followed a lone seagull with her eyes as he flew above her, looking for a late afternoon snack. It was a gentle reminder to never take the little things for granted, no matter how insignificant you might think they were.
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