Come Alive

by Madelynne Ellis

  No matter, the smell of syrupy pancakes was incentive enough for him to brave that hideous possibility.

  ‘Morning, roomie.’

  ‘God morgon.’ He worked his way around the table. There were currently three spare chairs. If he planted his butt beside Xane, Dani would probably shoot him with a death-ray stare, but if he sat next to Rock Giant that meant Ginny and Ash would have to sit apart when they appeared. Never mind death rays, Ginny would probably skewer his guts and eat him if he got in the way of her playing nursemaid to Ash.

  In the end, Xane pre-empted his choice, by pushing back the chair next to him with his foot. ‘Been for a swim?’ he asked.

  ‘A shower.’

  ‘Uh huh.’

  Luthor hung his towel over the back of the chair and sat. The moment he did, Xane squeezed his thigh. The gesture was more reassuring than sexual, but that didn’t stop his nerves from singing hallelujah.

  ‘Spook, pass this man some coffee.’

  Spook raised two pots. ‘Coffee or cloudberry tea?’

  ‘Definitely coffee.’ His days as a roadie had given him a taste for a nice, over-sweetened, tarry brew first thing.

  ‘There’s also porridge, fil, crispbread and caviar.’

  ‘And pancakes,’ Dani added with a grin.

  ‘And pancakes,’ Spook repeated with an accompanying eye roll. They definitely weren’t part of what was otherwise a very typical Swedish spread.

  ‘I might take a couple of those, actually.’

  She opened the foil-wrapped bundle beside her. Luthor speared a couple and transferred them to the plate that had materialised before him. He liberally topped them with filmjölk and blueberries, rolled them up and tucked in.

  Ash joined them a few minutes later. He took a seat while Ginny lingered in the doorway to the lounge with her mobile phone clamped to her ear. She’d been similarly posed every time Luthor had seen her since they arrived. Curiously, her side of the conversation only ever seemed to consist of frustrated ‘uh-huh’ noises.

  ‘OK?’ Spook asked.

  Ash shoved his long fringe away from his face and levelled a stare at him. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

  ‘Christ, I’m only saying good morning! There’s no need to bark at me.’

  Ash made a grizzly noise, whereupon Dani pushed a coffee cup in front of him and ladled in two enormous spoonfuls of sugar and a liberal splash of milk. She stirred it for him. ‘Drink up, sourpuss. You look as if you could use the kick to the head.’

  Rather than snarling that he could manage for himself, Ash accepted her offering gratefully, even summoning something approximating a smile, and a tiny twinkle in his eyes.

  ‘Don’t go getting ideas,’ Xane warned him. ‘She’s spoken for.’

  Ash cradled the cup in both hands and inhaled the aroma before taking a sip. A glow of warmth seemed to seep into him as the caffeine hit, making him appear less gaunt and the circles beneath his eyes a little less puffy. Mind you, looking around the table, Luthor was startled to note Ash wasn’t the only one looking worse for wear. Weeks on the road and the trauma Iain Willows had put them through had marked them all. Xane’s blond roots were starting to show. Ash’s brown ones had grown through at least an inch and he had enough scruff around his jaw for it to qualify as a beard. Rock Giant was also sporting more than a little facial hair as well as the bird’s nest on his head. Only Spook seemed unchanged, but he’d always had that haunted look about him.

  Ginny finally finished her call and joined them at the table. ‘Have you taken your pills?’ she asked Ash.

  ‘They do crap,’ he grunted.

  ‘Take them anyway.’ She plucked the blister strip from the back pocket of his jeans and popped out two tablets. ‘Here.’ She held them to his mouth, until he dutifully opened it. Then poured him a glass of orange juice.

  Ash ignored the fruit juice in favour of another swig of coffee.

  ‘The doctor said you needed vitamin C.’

  ‘He said a fuck of a lot of crap.’

  ‘You know if you actually obeyed instructions—’

  ‘What are people’s plans for the day?’ Luthor asked, hopefully derailing what was gearing up to be a major domestic argument. If making sweet, sweet music of both varieties was out, then he wasn’t sure what seven adults were supposed to find to do on a couple of acres of land in the middle of a lake, unless they were planning mainland excursions to tourist spots, which seemed unlikely, given they were trying to keep a low profile.

  ‘Ash has an appointment in Stockholm with a specialist this afternoon,’ Ginny informed him. ‘Spook and I are going with him.’

  ‘I don’t need babysitting.’

  ‘I thought I was the chauffeur,’ Spook remarked.

  ‘You’re not taking the boat all the way, are you?’ Dani asked.

  Spook pushed his chair away from the table, stood and began gathering dirty dishes. ‘Only as far as Mariefred. We’ll meet the security contingent there and drive the rest of the way.’

  ‘I’ll come.’ Rock Giant announced, to surprised looks that quickly became a chorus of ‘no’s.

  ‘There won’t be room in the car,’ Spook elaborated, patting the big guy’s shoulder. ‘And we can’t have you wandering around Stockholm unaccompanied anyway, so you’d be supremely bored. Seriously, this is a one-stop tour. We’ll be gone four hours max, and most of that will be spent on the road.’

  ‘I could drive instead of you.’ A huge grin stretched his mouth wide.

  Ginny flicked a blob of filmjölk at him. ‘I am never, ever getting into a vehicle that you’re driving ever again.’

  Ash looked as if he was about to say something, then apparently thought better of it. ‘Stop flinging food, Ginny. This is a civilised household.’

  ‘Sorry, Spook,’ she apologised, then got up and cleaned the blob of curdled milk from the arm of Rock Giant’s chair. ‘Do you want some help getting this lot loaded into the dishwasher?’

  ‘I’m fine. Finish eating. We’ll leave in ten minutes.’

  ‘What now?’ Luthor asked some twenty minutes later, after they’d waved goodbye to the outbound party. Arm wrapped around Dani’s back, Xane turned back towards the house. ‘Four hours is a long time to kill without a plan in place.’

  ‘We could take a walk in the woods,’ Rock Giant suggested. He’d combed out his hair, and it was now slicked back off his face like he was a 1950s rocker. Actually, he kind of looked like the Joker, with his green and purple streaks.

  ‘That’ll take all of ten minutes.’

  ‘Not if we go foraging.’

  ‘For what?’ Luthor asked, intrigued.

  ‘Mushrooms, berries. There’s nothing like a bit of natural produce to pick you up.’

  ‘Isn’t that dangerous?’ Trust Dani to be thinking of practicalities.

  ‘Don’t worry. King Fungus here knows his Amanita from his chanterelles,’ Xane reassured them.

  Dani laughed. ‘I have no idea what you just said.’

  ‘Someone knows more than he likes to let on.’ Rock Giant joined her in laughing.

  ‘All right,’ Xane agreed. ‘Let’s walk, at least until one of us thinks of something better to do.’

  Luthor could think of several things already, but they only involved three out of the four of them, and, even if Rock Giant did magically disappear, he still wouldn’t have a hope in hell’s chance of persuading Dani that the best use of four hours was to spend it rolling around naked on the lawn.

  Exploring the woods turned out to be something of a non-event; they simply weren’t big enough, and the trees were mostly evergreens. They didn’t find any mushrooms, not a single Kantarell, or Hedgehog, not even any Boletus pinophilus, which Rock Giant swore were common in pinewoods. At the north end of the island, the ground sheered away into the sea, while to the east and west the trees ran more or less up to the shore. ‘We could tiptoe around the edge and see who makes it the furthest without falling in,’ Rock Giant suggested to a distinctly la
cklustre response. ‘Hide and seek?’

  ‘What are we, twelve?’ Xane remarked.

  ‘Majorly fucking bored.’ Rock Giant complained. ‘I should have hitched as far as Mariefred and trekked around the railway museum or the castle.’ The dome-like turrets of Gripsholm Castle were visible in the distance. ‘There’s two security bods. Only one of them will have gone with Ash and Spook. The other is still here patrolling the waters and making sure naked groupies don’t swim over and offer to relieve our boredom.’

  ‘And there you give away your true intention, to find some poor unfortunate to hump. We’ve not even been here twenty-four hours and you’re already convinced your dick’s going to drop off through lack of action.’

  ‘Says the man who’s been getting laid on an almost hourly basis for the last six months, and has two people ready to tango with him right now.’

  Dani blushed. Luthor refused to look sheepish. Yeah, he desired Xane. He was past hiding that fact.

  ‘Why don’t you use your time to find out where the fuck Elspeth is?’

  ‘’Cause maybe I think she’s better off away from you.’

  ‘What the hell’s that supposed to mean?’

  Oh, dear, this sounded suspiciously like it was going to turn into a fight.

  ‘That she’s fucked up enough because of you, without having to spend time imprisoned with you and your fan club on a fucking island,’ Rock Giant spat.

  ‘I’ve fucked her up. What about what she did to me? Do you ever actually think about that?’ Xane took a step forward, fist raised, but Dani put herself in his path. When Rock Giant lurched forward, she planted her palm squarely in the centre of his chest.

  ‘Back off. You know what I’m sick of, Elspeth being the centre of attention even when she’s not fucking here. Yes, Xane, I swore without turning scarlet. Now will the pair of you stop winding one another up for no bloody good reason?’ She turned her head to face Rock Giant. ‘I get it, you’re bored, but I’m sure you can think of something better to waste your time on than picking an unnecessary fight. I know you don’t actually hate one another, I’ve seen the proof.’

  So had Luthor. Rock Giant had been all action when Xane’s life had been in danger.

  ‘Fine. I’m going to go answer my fanmail. May as well give my ego a wank, since my cock isn’t going to be seeing any action.’

  ‘That’s what fists are for,’ Xane muttered under his breath, but nobody took any notice. Rock Giant did as he’d suggested and trekked back toward the house with his rolling, long-legged stride.

  And then there were three …

  Luthor took a perch on a fallen log and entertained himself removing grass seeds from the inflorescences and blowing them away. Yesterday, before Sally had hijacked him and escorted him to the docks, he’d been high on the prospect of seeing Xane and Dani again. He’d stupidly been thinking of them as his two lovers, and had let his imagination run wild about how they would all be with one another. Reality was a very, very different place. While Xane was more or less ready to pick up where they’d all left off, Dani had taken five steps back and buried her head in the sand. She still wouldn’t look at him. It made him want to strip off and wave his tackle in her face, just to provoke some sort of reaction. What had happened to them being friends, and the spark of attraction – albeit a small one, at least on her part – that had existed between them? He hadn’t imagined that.

  Luthor drank his fill of her, while no one was paying him any attention, because none of them knew quite what the hell to say. He wondered what he’d find, if he ever managed to catch a glimpse of what lay beneath her clothing. A whole lot of curves and creamy flesh, he suspected. He found it curious that they’d shared a sexual encounter – Xane might have been the focus, but they’d both been there and both participated – and yet he hadn’t seen her undressed. Moreover, Xane had made no attempt to undress her, and that man liked skin. Luthor had to wonder at that. There had to be a reason.

  ‘I can entertain myself if you guys have something you want to do.’

  He didn’t want to leave, but he might as well accept the fact that he was surplus to requirements. Forget that they both turned him on and that he craved their affection and admiration in return. Nothing good was going to come of him lingering.

  Neither of them said a goddamned thing.

  Luthor pushed to his feet. OK, he definitely needed to move. Xane shot him a look as he walked past, which said he totally wanted to say, ‘Stay and let’s work this out,’ but Dani’s lack of response was holding him back. He got the fact the man was in love, but it was making him as indecisive as Dani. When he was on stage, he was all action and in control, but now Dani had him by his knackers and the result was less pleasing by the second. ‘OK, I’m going. Gone …’

  He didn’t even attempt to stay on the path but instead wandered between the trees and the clumps of undergrowth. This was all so fucking stupid. What’s more, if the situation didn’t change within the next day or so, his stint with Black Halo was going to come to a very swift end. It’d be too awkward sticking around if they couldn’t reach an accord. Not to mention the fact that the group dynamics were strained enough without him creating an additional burden.

  ‘You’re going to fucking break my heart, if it comes to that Daniella Fosbrook.’ He knew she could see what she was doing. She wasn’t dumb, or that emotionally naïve. She had to be aware how much this was hurting him, and how much it was screwing with Xane. But he guessed all she was actually thinking about was herself.

  Luthor didn’t walk far before he came to a stop and leaned against a tree. Hey, he’d found mushrooms, though not of the edible variety. A big clump of Flugsvampar, or Fly Agaric as his new British band-mates would call them. No way was he pointing those out. From what he knew of Rock Giant’s background, he was just the sort of nutty fool who would actually soak them in mead in the traditional Viking way and give them all the trip/hangover/headache from hell. Assuming he didn’t just kill them all outright. That said, a nice dose of trippy mushrooms might loosen Dani up and allow her to get over herself. For Christ’s sake, he was sure no other woman on the planet would be erecting barriers like this at the thought of taking two rock stars to bed. All right, one rock god and a rock newbie, but still … He was hot. He had skills, the face that stared back at him from the mirror was a relatively pretty one, and he was totally willing to treat her like a goddamned queen. She just needed to say yes for once, instead of dithering.

  Dani had always been indecisive and uptight, but the way she was currently pogoing back and forth between ‘Yes, it’s OK for you and Xane to get it on if I’m watching’ and ‘Don’t even think about touching him, in fact don’t go near him or even look at him sideways’ was making far too many knots in his brain. All he wanted was for the three of them to be happy. He was certain they could be, if she’d just give it a chance.

  He laughed as he shook his head, only for his chuckle to turn into a frustrated groan. He’d been in this exact same position, thinking exactly the same thoughts, three weeks ago. The only difference between then and now was a single morning spent in Xane’s arms.

  Luthor was so tied up in his thoughts, he didn’t realise Dani and Xane had plodded into sight through the trees, until the crack of a snapping branch and a cry of ‘Ow!’ alerted him to their presence.

  He turned his head in time to see Xane fall onto one knee beside Dani, who was lying prone.

  ‘Shit! Bugger. Bugger. Bugger.’ The expletives were Xane. ‘Are you hurt? Where are you hurt?’

  ‘I’m all right. Ow.’ She sat, rubbing at her backside. ‘I caught my foot on something. It twisted my ankle.’

  ‘OK, right then. Sit still. Um, I’ll pick you up, carry you back.’

  ‘So that you can misstep, topple over and get injured too? Don’t be silly. I’m fine.’

  She tried to put weight on the foot and must have grimaced, because Xane was suddenly flapping his hands in alarm and scrunching handfuls of his
long hair.

  ‘Ice,’ he said. ‘I’ll nip back to the house and get some if you won’t let me carry you.’

  ‘Just give me a minute.’

  ‘No. You stay there. Hold tight, I’ll be right back.’

  Luthor watched him leave. He didn’t want to seem grateful for Dani’s injury, but he couldn’t deny this was a great opportunity to corner her. She was sitting with her legs stretched out before her when he arrived, looking irritable and poking at the ground beside her with a stick. She scrubbed out what she’d been doodling as he approached, but not so well that he couldn’t still make out the rough heart-shape and decipher the names she’d written inside.

  ‘Anything I can do to help?’

  ‘Luthor … No, I tripped. It’ll be fine in a minute. Xane’s gone back to the house to fetch some ice. I probably don’t need it.’

  ‘Yeah, I remember what you’re like about injuries – big on the denial part.’ The time some overzealous fangirls had split her lip for her, Dani had insisted that she didn’t need a first aider, which had left him the task of trying to tidy her up.

  ‘I’m not like anything. Maybe … do you think you could help me up?’

  ‘I think I should take an actual look at your ankle before you attempt to walk on it.’

  His suggestion was met with a snort. She folded her arms across her chest.

  ‘Yeah, whatever, grumpus.’ He untied her shoelace and drew off her sock. Her ankle looked fine. There was no sign of any bruising or swelling, but he did find a section of prickly pine needles wedged inside her sock. ‘Is this the source of all your agony?’