DOUBLE TREBLE (A TWIN ROCKSTAR ROMANCE)

by Nikki Wild

  Neatly caught in the rubber sleeve, I dreamed of the day that we would cast that protection aside and fuck each other with no limitations…

  Panting, gasping, we crashed together into bed. Aiden pulled me close, and I slid easily into position beside him with my hand on his sweaty, hard chest.

  “I’m always so out of breath afterwards,” I puffed, knowing full damn well that he was only going to let me have a brief reprieve. “You’re fucking incredible.”

  Aiden smirked into the darkness. “You’re goddamn right I am,” quickly adding: “And so are you. The way you feel against me is insane. I live for this.”

  “I think I do too,” I nodded against him.

  We lay in silence briefly, reconstituting ourselves for another fresh round of lovemaking when Aiden turned to face me.

  “I love you, Phoenix Flynn.”

  A smile crossed my lips as I repeated the pledge, like a promise between us. “I love you too, Aiden Carpenter.”

  “Good,” he grinned. “Now, let me free so I can make you go through that all over again.”

  I planted my hand harder against his chest, and he looked at me curiously. I nestled closer against his sculpted, naked frame, so much taller than mine. I felt small against him… small, but protected.

  “Not just yet,” I whispered. “I like this.”

  “You know what?” He nodded, releasing the strength from his limbs as he settled another few inches down on his back. “I like this too. You and me, just like this…”

  We lay like that for who knows how long, two sweaty, satisfied bodies belonging to a pair of unlikely but committed lovers.

  And when he pulled free a long time later and began to kiss me passionately, his fingers sliding down to my glistening sex, I knew that there was nothing that would stop us now.

  Phoenix

  Two Days Later

  None of us knew what was coming when we all joined up for the urgent meeting.

  The five of us were all sprawled around the den on the tour bus. Jeremy leaned over the kitchen counter nearby, while Nicole stood in the middle of the room with her phone out.

  “Alright, kids, now that we’re all here…”

  A few knowing looks went our way. Aiden and I had needed a few minutes to pull our clothes back on.

  “We’ve been hitting a solid stride on this national tour thing, and Steven Stone is incredibly impressed with the numbers. You guys sell out every show; Snow Leopard is already reprinting band merch; the photo shoots and interviews have been one home run after another.”

  A few of us cheered, but she silenced us quickly. “Yeah, yeah, feel great about yourselves. But there’s a new opportunity on the horizon, and I need you guys to seriously think about it.”

  “Why, what’s up?” Aiden asked.

  Nicole let loose a triumphant grin.

  “Madison Square Garden.”

  We all shared an insane look.

  “The Madison Square Garden?” I asked.

  “Unless you’re familiar with any others, then yes,” Nicole grinned sardonically. “The singular Madison Square Garden in New York City.”

  “There’s no goddamn way we’ve been booked for Madison Square Garden,” Carter chimed in. “That’s the most iconic rock temple in the goddamn country. Absolute legends of every genre have played there…”

  “But how?” I asked. “How did we get offered this spot?”

  Nicole tilted her head slyly. “I mean, I could stand here and explain the complex, specific chain of events that led up to this happening, or you can just presume that I’m a goddamn wizard, give me the yes right now, and let me get this set in stone.”

  We all exchanged a look.

  “Wizard,” the band spoke in unison.

  “Glad to hear it,” Nicole chuckled, pulling up a swivel chair. She began swinging to the sides as she looked up at all of us.

  Well, she might have spent a little time lingering on Dylan first.

  “If I can get real for a second, this is a real make-or-break situation. If you guys don’t think you can’t handle it, I can pull the plug and we can let this thing happen without us. There’s no shame in that.”

  “Why?” Trevor blurted out? “Why couldn’t we handle it?”

  “Because Madison Square Garden has a general concert capacity of 15,000 seats, give or take,” she smiled innocently. “It’s a goddamn arena show, and it’s one of the most famous ones around. If even half those seats are filled – and just so we’re clear, that’s a tremendous ‘if’ – then you are officially hitting the mainstream and hitting it hard.”

  Everyone went completely silent.

  Even Aiden was uncharacteristically quiet, brooding on these words.

  “There’s another thing,” Nicole added. “The royalties are set low for concerts with your existing contracts. I’m gonna go to bat for you guys when the next wave comes, but that’s not going to be until after this tour ends… which means that the label is absolutely getting the lion’s share and beyond of what happens at this show. You’re getting paid, don’t get me wrong, but this is going to be more for the exposure than the bank balance. I can’t change that. Not yet.”

  “Who cares about the money?” Dylan blurted out. It took us all a second to realize he wasn’t asking rhetorically.

  “I sure as shit don’t,” Aiden spoke up.

  “Screw the money,” Trevor added.

  “Well…” Carter thought aloud.

  All of us turned to him.

  “What? This bus is nice, but it’s not ours, is it? Do you have any idea what we could do with a share of that ticket money?”

  We held our stern gazes.

  “Fine, fine…”

  “I’m just happy to be here,” I added. “As long as we’re comfortable and happy, I can skip the crazy cash this time.”

  “Are you guys sure?” Jeremy stood up straight. He’d been quiet all along, but was flying into benevolent boss mode. “Hell, if a tenth of that place fills for your show, you’re talking about ignoring a lot of cash…”

  “I think I speak for all of us,” Dylan replied, “when I say that this is a beautiful chance to get our name out there and get the recognition. Besides, look around at everything the label has given us so far. We’d still be in that shitty van without this contract.”

  He turned to Nicole.

  “You said you can negotiate something better for next time?”

  “I know people, and I know how to handle Steven,” she nodded. “We can make some magic happen in the fine print.”

  “Good enough for me,” Dylan turned to Jeremy again, “and I’m pretty sure that’s good enough for the rest of us.”

  His gaze fell over the rest of us. We were all nodding our support, but it was Aiden who was watching him with a proud grin on his face.

  “Couldn’t have said it better.”

  Jeremy held his hands up in mock defeat. “Alright, so long as you’re fine with it, I’m fine with it. Honestly, this is the kind of exposure every musician on the planet spends their career begging for, so I get it…”

  Nicole was still swiveling in her chair, thinking about all of this. “The fact that it’s a unanimous decision is good. Honestly, I can’t guarantee that this will happen again… it depends on how this show goes. I can tell you is that Steven Stone is a pretty shrewd businessman. It’s how he built his empire in ten years. If you’re willing to not even try and fight him on the revenue, he’s the type of man to remember that… and the day will come that he makes goddamn superstars of you all. He’s big on reinvesting profits.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Aiden nodded, his arm slipping around my shoulder. “We take one for the team this time, and play our fucking souls out. Hopefully he remembers that when we’re up for renewal.”

  Nicole stood up from her chair with a triumphant grin.

  “Don’t forget, bitches: I’m your fairy fucking godmother! Put me in your corner and just watch the magic happen.”

 
At this point, none of us could argue that.

  “And on that bombshell, I’ve got some phone calls to make, arrangements to book, and all sorts of shit to do.” Nicole slid the chair back across the room with a foot. “Maybe I should get my own goddamn assistant. I swear, this is turning into a full-time gig all on its own…”

  Dylan

  Two Weeks Later

  The packed stadium cheered as we walked out under the blinding spotlights. For the first time since we put this band together, I felt the pressure to perform.

  Couldn’t think of a better place than to debut that song I’d written. Only Carter had heard it, because I knew I needed his help to make it happen.

  But that worry could wait until later.

  I couldn’t begin to fathom the magnitude of what Nicole had managed to pull off. Not only were we playing Madison Square Garden, but she’d managed to put over ten thousand ticket-buying asses in over ten thousand fucking seats.

  Turning as I walked, my eyes gazed up the three massive screens that were focused on us. I could see our stunned, smiling faces in glorious high definition.

  No wonder the makeup girls had been such sticklers for making us look “perfect.”

  The five of us paused, staring out onto the scene in front. We were at the bottom of a gorge filled with screaming fans who were chanting our name.

  “Decadent Desires!”

  “Decadent Desires”

  “Decadent Desires!”

  “Well, hot fucking damn!” Aiden chuckled in stunned appreciation, his hand rolling through his hair as he turned to me. “Look at this goddamn crowd!”

  I shook my head in awe.

  “This is fucking unreal.”

  “Guys, if you thought I had stage fright before,” Phoenix gasped, waving out to the crowd as we walked out to the instruments, “this is beyond anything I thought I’d ever see in my entire life.”

  “I think I have just the remedy for that,” Aiden spoke in that halfway-menacing voice of his.

  In the instant, he grabbed Phoenix by the shoulder and whirled her around, practically sticking his tongue down her throat.

  I heard the crowd go wild, and turned up to the screens. The moment was on full display to the entire auditorium, and every seat in the place was eating that shit up.

  They pulled away hard, pressing foreheads and whispering something to each other. Phoenix quietly giggled, nodded, and pressed her lips to his one last time.

  All of us pulled together into one massive, circling bro hug. This was our last huddle before we took the stage and tried to live up to the crippling expectations of this huge crowd.

  “Alright, bitches, we all know how this is gonna go down, right?” Trevor shouted at us over the chanting crowd.

  “Fuck yeah,” I nodded with a big grin.

  “Damn straight,” Carter smiled.

  “Straight from the top,” Phoenix added.

  Aiden turned to me. “Let’s do this shit.”

  We broke apart to go to our prospective spots. Aiden and I walked past each other, but not without an epic goddamn fist bump. It turned into a clasp that pulled each other close into one last hug.

  “Make us proud, man,” he whispered.

  “Fuck you, asshole, I’m doing this shit for me,” I laughed in his ear.

  His sincere grin was response enough.

  I walked over and scooped up my guitar, carrying it over to the front microphone. Aiden wandered into my old spot and took a power stance, grabbing the stand with both hands and lowering his head.

  “Hello, Madison Square Garden!” I called out over the microphone.

  The crowd boomed with excitement.

  Personally, I didn’t care how many of them realized that I had never taken the lead on a concert before. Aiden was always front and center for this shit…

  But not tonight.

  Tonight was mine.

  “We are Decadent Desires, and we couldn’t possibly be prouder to be up on this fucking stage! Are you guys ready to rock?!”

  The resounding roar answered the call.

  Underneath that light, I glanced around at everyone on this stage. Phoenix looked up with a nervous but supportive grin. Trevor was flashing me the thumbs up. Carter had already regressed into his manic persona, and was bobbing his head with a wild grin.

  My twin brother looked up, hands still on the mic stand, and flashed me the proudest smile I’ve ever seen on his face.

  Everything had clicked into place.

  This was where we were meant to be.

  “Carter!” I called out to him over the microphone, spreading my feet while readying my guitar pic into position. My eyes trailed the massive screens – oh shit, we actually look like we know what we’re doing – and I turned back to the crowd. “You know the drill. Take us away!”

  “A-one!” He called out.

  “A-two!” Everything slowed down.

  “A-one, two, three, four!”

  The music pumped into my veins, and I tightened my stance and played.

  I heard once that most Olympic athletes perform the same events and movements over and over, training their bodies to go through the motions without them. Meanwhile, they visualize everything as it is on the day of reckoning: the quiet crowd, the announcer holding his breath, the team watching from the sidelines…

  When the moment they’ve been training for finally comes, there’s still pressure, but that pressure comes with confidence. They can do this. They know they can do it. After all, they’ve already physically played out the scenario thousands of times.

  That’s exactly what this felt like.

  There wasn’t a moment, jumping into our set on that legendary stage, where I choked. Not a second where I felt petrified, or afraid, or like I needed to be anywhere else than right here, on this stage.

  The melody poured through my fingers and moved my pic against the strings. The hand I held further up the guitar moved my digits into place at breakneck speed, pumping out a rapid-fire blaze of note after note.

  It was perfection.

  The first two songs were all me. For all his faults, all that arrogance he’d held in his heart, Aiden had chosen the best moment to finally let go.

  My brother’s willingness to turn away from the spotlight – at the peak of our career, no less – was evidence enough that he was a changing man.

  I was pretty sure I had Phoenix to thank for that one.

  We went straight from our first song into our next without skipping a beat or addressing the cheering crowd. I stayed in my spot up front and jammed out, focusing on just keeping rhythm and performing like a true rock star.

  But I couldn’t get into the zone the same way as before. Something was nagging at the back of my head, and I couldn’t figure it out.

  It started making me a little sloppy. I could feel my professional grasp slipping. I flubbed a note or two but covered it up, and even briefly missed a cue.

  Something felt wrong.

  What’s the matter?

  When Aiden took over after the second song, he briefly clasped me on the shoulder on the way to the mic.

  “You okay Dylan?”

  I nodded, exasperated.

  It didn’t feel like I was nervous. I mean, I had every right to be, just like all of us did. Hell, we were holding our shit together surprisingly well, given the intense pressure to look and sound the part on this stage.

  He didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t have the time to pull me aside and pick my brains. Hell, even I wasn’t convinced.

  I wandered back to my spot and shook my head, barely listening to him address the crowd and rile them up. This was unscripted, so I knew he was just trying to buy me time to get my headspace together.

  What is it? I asked myself.

  My gaze turned over to the side of the stage. I could see Jeremy standing with a stage manager and a few of the crew, watching intently and cheering me on.

  Wait, where’s Nicole?

  The dawning
comprehension hit me like a freight train. I scanned everywhere I could see, but she was nowhere in sight.

  Nicole…

  That song I’d written. The one I was about to sing…

  I hadn’t written the song for Phoenix.

  I’d written it for Nicole Fisher.

  I knew what I had to do…

  Nicole

  Thoroughly disgruntled, I sauntered back up to the sidelines. Since this one show had been so huge, and such a startlingly large gamble, my people at Snow Leopard were needlessly blowing up my phone.

  “Was that Mr. Stone?”

  “Yeah,” I shook my head bitterly before gazing out over our friends on the Madison Square Gardens stage. “I swear, if these guys knew half of what I have to put up with to keep this gravy train rolling…”

  “That’s our job,” Jeremy shook his head sympathetically. “Holding back the bullshit so they can focus on what they do best.”

  I grumbled to myself.

  This would have been easier to pull off if I’d been a part of this thing from the start. Snow Leopard was borderline moving mountains around this band, but they had intense expectations. Jeremy had even almost lost his job failing to meet them, although I doubted any of these guys knew that.

  Now, it was squarely up to me to make those expectations a reality. Which was fine. I work well under pressure. Still, their people were committed to some pretty bad ideas, and since I didn’t have a whole lot of leverage against them…

  Yet, watching Decadent Desires own that stage was enough to make me forget about all the crap I had to deal with.

  Usually, I hung out in the merch stand with Jeremy and tried to sell their gear. It occurred to me that this was the first time I was able to watch them play up on stage.

  Dylan looked hotter than ever.

  Well, I smiled slyly to myself, if I were to pick one venue to have seen him play…

  My phone buzzed in my hand again. Typical. Jeremy glanced over piteously as I groaned and started walking away, down the stairs and towards the back hallways. I was checking my latest email from the Snow Leopard people when I heard Dylan’s voice over the microphone.