by Zane Morrow
The bouncer hailed a cab as soon as he saw us exit the club. He hurried towards it, but not before some paparazzi jumped in our faces and snapped a series of pictures. The bulbs were blinding. I wrapped a protective arm around Lydia and helped guide her as she buried her face in my chest.
Once we were safely settled in the back seat, I didn’t talk to her the whole ride back to hotel. Instead, I stared out the window, watching the people walking the streets of Chicago. For a brief second, I was jealous of their anonymity. I wanted to go see Navy Pier without fans trying to get a picture or cameras flashing in my face.
“Is everything okay, Damien? Did I do something?” She broke the silence with her barely audible questions and I instantly felt guilty for treating her like shit all night.
“No.” I sighed and turned to her. Again, I was struck by how fucking gorgeous she looked tonight. “You’re fine. I’m tired and I might even try to do some writing. I feel a little bit inspired.”
She smiled and bounced a little in the seat. “That’s great! I would love to hear some new stuff from you.”
We managed to sneak back into the hotel unnoticed and took the elevator up to our rooms. She yawned before the doors opened. “Man, I slept all day, but I’m still tired. Someone wore me the hell out.” She peeked at me from the corner of her eye to see if I was paying attention.
I chuckled and when we reached our floor, I almost asked her to come to my room. But I couldn’t. I had to quit her cold turkey or I wouldn’t ever be able to let her go.
Before inserting the key in my door, I turned to look at her. “Good night, Lydia. Sleep well.”
“Thanks. You too.”
I opened my door and went inside before I changed my mind. I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, closing my eyes. I couldn’t remember the last time I came back to my room early and alone.
I took a beer from the mini fridge and then found my guitar and notebook. I sat down on the bed with them and before I knew it, I had a couple songs written. The time had flown by, but most of all…the words and notes flowed from my fingers. It was a creative high I hadn’t felt in forever. Writing music was its own drug.
I had no idea where it all came from, but I was full of ideas. Of course, one song was about Lydia. Okay, a couple of them were--all from being angry about having a guardian watching over me to how it felt to sleep with her in my arms.
I paused as it hit me. Lydia was my muse. Shit. I would have never been able to write like this if it hadn’t been for her and our night together.
I ran my hand through my hair. I had to tell her. She had to know what she meant to me. I didn’t want to lose this feeling. Hell, I didn’t want to lose her.
I set my guitar on the bed and walked next door. I raised my hand to knock when I heard voices. More importantly, her voice and a man’s voice. It didn’t sound like Zeke, so who the fuck was in there with her?
I was about to leave when the door opened. There stood Lydia with her hair up in one of those messy buns she always did. She still had on her make up, but she was dressed in a plain v-neck t-shirt and her yoga pants. She was barefoot.
“Damien!” She seemed surprised to see me.
I glanced over her shoulder and saw the tour manager coming out of the bathroom. He nodded when he saw me. “Hey Damien! How are you?” He walked up and shook my hand.
“Good. I was going to get room service and was wondering if Lydia wanted anything. If you guys are busy, I’ll leave you alone.”
“No, you’re good. I was just leaving.” He leaned over and kissed Lydia on the cheek. “Thanks for tonight. Sweet dreams.”
She beamed up at him and I looked away in disgust. “Well, I hope I helped.”
“You did, for sure.” The guy grinned.
“Good. See you later. I’ll expect a full update.” Lydia crossed her arms over her chest.
“You got it.” He turned away from her. “See you later, Damien.”
He left and we stood there awkwardly staring at each other. Finally, she spoke. “Do you want to come in?”
“What was that about?” I began pacing frantically. She opened her mouth and I stopped her. “Never mind. It’s none of my business.”
“It’s fine.” She took my arm and pulled me into her room so she could close the door. “He’s having relationship issues and he wanted to talk to someone, get a fresh perspective.”
We sat down on her bed. “When did you two become so close?”
“I don’t know. We’ve talked a lot.” She bumped me with her arm. “You know he’s gay, right?”
A feeling of relief washed over me. “He is? For real?”
She laughed. “Yes. I’m sorry if I’m speaking out of line, but you looked like you wanted to bash his head in when you saw him in my room.”
“Well, I kind of did,” I admitted as I rubbed the back of my neck.
“I’m not your girlfriend.” She frowned.
“I know.” I stood up and started pacing again. “Would you think I was crazy if I told you I sorta wanted you to be?”
“What?” Lydia studied my face probably for any sign of doubt or deception. She’d find nothing because for once, I meant it. “Really?”
“Really. I think about you all the time and I hate the thought of anyone else with you.” I sat back down on the bed and cupped her face in my hands. “I wrote some songs tonight. Lydia, I think you’re my muse.”
She reached up and touched my hand. “You can’t be serious. Me? Your muse?”
Suddenly, my heart raced with nervous excitement. “Yes. Do you want to hear them?”
“I would love to!” Lydia nodded enthusiastically.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her off the bed, out of her room, and over to mine, anxious for her to hear what I’d written tonight. Thanks to her, Damien Cross was back in the song writing business.
12
Lydia
Damien Cross called me his muse.
He had me walking on cloud nine. I don’t think my feet even touched the floor when he brought me back to his room.
Once inside behind closed doors, he played his songs for me. Soon after, we ended up naked in bed. He proceeded to play me music in between love making sessions all night long. By the time we finally fell asleep, he had almost a whole album under his belt.
The last few days had been a crazy whirlwind since we’d arrived in Chicago. First was the incident with the bouncer, then my night with Damien, followed by him ignoring me, and then finally this muse bit and spending another night with him. It all made my head spin.
I wasn’t naive enough to think I was suddenly his girlfriend despite him admitting his feelings for me, but it thrilled me to hear him admit it, and I was excited to see where this went, if anywhere. Maybe we would only have some fun while I was on the tour. That was okay with me too. Anything was better than the horrible ache in my chest when he ignored me.
The ring of Damien’s phone woke us. He rolled over to answer it and I threw my arm over my head. I don’t think we fell asleep unit the sun was starting to come up, so we’d only had a couple of hours of sleep at most.
“What the hell?” Damien flew up and out of bed, giving me an eyeful of his naked ass. He turned around and shook his head at me while scowling. “Okay. Thanks. Yeah, I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up and tossed his phone on the nearby table. His eyes were dark and a muscle in his cheek was twitching. He was definitely pissed off.
“What’s going on?” I sat up in bed and held the sheet to my chest. I ran my fingers though my messy hair, trying to tame the crazy mane I was sure I had going on.
“So, do you remember when we left the club last night?”
I nodded. “Yeah?”
“You know how our picture was taken by some asshole?” He sat down on the bed beside me, leaning against the headboard.
“Right.” I frowned.
“That picture is all over TMZ and Perez. People are wondering who the mystery lady is and others are c
oming forward to say they’ve seen you hanging with the band. Some of the headlines are asking who my new girlfriend is.”
I started laughing hysterically. The thought of me being the subject of Hollywood gossip amused the crap out of me.
“What’s so funny?” He stared down at me.
I finally calmed down enough to answer him. “I don’t know. I guess I find it funny that people think I’m worth talking about.”
“You don’t care that people are calling you my girlfriend?” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“I’m honestly surprised you’re so pissed. I would think you’d be used to rumors flying around you.” I sighed.
“I am, but I don’t like it when other people are dragged into it, especially innocent people.” He moved onto his side and smoothed my hair back.
“Don’t worry about it.” I shrugged. “I’m fine.”
“Okay, but I want you to promise me something. This is probably the first time you’ve experienced the media. You’ll see things and hear things. If you ever have a question about it, please ask me first. Don’t assume anything you see or hear is the truth.” He pursed his lips while staring at me.
His tone was so serious. It gave me a little more insight into his world and what it was like for him. “Of course, I know how those gossip rags work.”
“You say that now, but the first time you hear of me involved with another girl and you knew nothing about it, your heart will sink. You’ll be furious because it’s hard not to be when you see that shit.” He took my hand in his and smiled wryly. “Are you sure you want to sign up for this life?”
I squeezed his hand. “Relax. It’s not like we’re getting married or anything. Let’s take this one day at a time and see what happens, okay?”
He kissed me passionately, but we were interrupted by his phone--again. This time it was a text from Zeke reminding him of the meet and greet they had today before the show.
“I have to go,” Damien groaned.
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you take advantage of me later.” I winked at him, then I climbed out of bed and found all of my clothes. After I was dressed, I wrapped my arms around his waist and looked up at him. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
He reached down and squeezed my ass. “I can’t wait.” He kissed my forehead and walked me to the door.
I remembered I left my room the night before without a key. I went down to the lobby to get a new one and when I finally managed to get back inside, my phone was dinging with texts. I sat down to read them. I smiled when I saw the one from Mia, demanding I call her immediately and fill her in on what was going on.
Then I read the ones from Mr. Ryan. He had seen the picture. He did state that they thought something like this might happen if I was seen with Damien often, but he expected a call as soon as possible to explain.
I wasn’t sure what kind of answer he was looking for. He never said I couldn’t get involved with Damien, but I thought he’d be thrilled. What better way to tame a bad boy and improve his image than to have him get involved with a good girl?
While I planned my response, I decided to take a shower. It would calm my nerves and help me organize my thoughts. Maybe the best approach here was for me to be honest and let the cards fall where they would.
After my shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and called Mr. Ryan. It was best to get it over with. He answered almost right away.
“Lydia! I’ve been waiting for your call.”
Great. I braced myself for whatever was to come.
“Please tell me you’re involved with Damien Cross.” I could hear his fingers drumming on the desk.
The best-case scenario I hoped for had come true, but why was I so guarded with my answer? “We’re friends, Mr. Ryan. I guess that’s all I’d like to say about it.”
“That’s good enough for me, Lydia. I know what we’ve asked you to do couldn’t be easy and if you two are getting along, it only makes the task easier for you. You’re doing a great job, Lydia. When this tour is over, we’ll sit down and discuss your future here.”
I fist bumped the air in silent celebration. “Thank you, sir. If that’s all, I have to get to the band’s meet and greet.”
“Yes, that’s all. I’ll touch base with you soon. Hopefully I won’t have to hear from you beforehand. Take care.” He sounded positively jovial.
“Talk to you soon, Mr. Ryan.” I hung up and almost skipped to the bathroom to get dressed and do my makeup. I wore simple jeans and a Demons from Hell t-shirt. I threw my hair back in a high pony tail and found my Chucks at the bottom of my bag.
I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror on the way out the door and found myself wondering if I dressed sexy enough to be a rocker’s girlfriend. Damien didn’t complain yet about my wardrobe, so I wasn’t going to worry about it. Besides, I didn’t care.
When I arrived, the meet and greet was pretty much over. I found Damien talking to some girls and watched as he put his arms around them for a picture. Before they walked away, one of the girls slipped a piece of paper into his pocket and I felt wild with jealousy. Being involved with a rocker might be harder than I thought.
“Princess!” Damien’s face lit up when he saw me. My jealousy instantly melted away. How could I be upset at that greeting?
I smirked at the dirty look the girl gave me when she overheard him. That’s right, he called me Princess. I fought the urge to stick my tongue out at her. That probably wasn’t the most mature thing to do.
He rushed over and greeted me with a kiss. “I was wondering where you were.” He left an arm around my waist, holding me close to him and not caring who noticed.
“Well, I didn’t have a key when I left my room last night so I had to go down to the lobby to get one before I could get back into my room. Then, I had a text from Mr. Ryan that required a response.”
“Uh oh, did he see the picture from last night?” Damien bit his cheek.
“He did,” I nodded.
“What did he say?”
I put my hand on his stomach. “Let’s just say we have his approval.”
He sighed loudly. “Great.” Then he leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Not that it mattered anyway.”
“Right. I told him we were friends. I didn’t want to give too much away. He thinks I can keep a better eye on you anyway if we’re getting along.” I shrugged.
“Well, he’s right, but I know you won’t tell him about the naughty things I do to you. Or are you that kind of girl?” He cocked an eyebrow at me.
I pretended to punch him in the stomach, but I loved it when he teased me like that. “He is right and that’s the reason he’s in charge of the label.” We laughed and he leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“What do you say we go back to the tour bus and continue what we started this morning? I have a little time before the show.” He waggled his brows at me.
“Sounds perfect.” I leaned into him.
We walked out to the tour bus with his arm still around me. If looks could kill, I would have been dead twenty times in that short distance. It seemed like rock music’s most eligible bachelor wasn’t interested in the groupies anymore. Too bad ladies, he was all mine--at least for right now.
I had no idea what the future would hold for us tomorrow, or next week, and for sure not after the tour was done, but I was going to enjoy every moment with Damien Cross right now. Because right now, it felt so good.
Books by Zane Morrow
The Best Man, Harper’s Island: Book One
http://amzn.to/2lJiCb8
The Princess, Harper’s Island: Book Two
http://amzn.to/2nkPROs
The Wedding, Harper’s Island: Book Three
http://amzn.to/2lJf4Wt
The Harper’s Island Trilogy
http://amzn.to/2nbWL9k
Damien, Demons from Hell: Book One
Zeke, Demons from Hell: Book Two
Ace, Demons from Hell: Book Three
The Demons from Hell Tri
logy
About Zane Morrow
After watching the way his girlfriend melted from reading romance novels, Zane decided he wanted to be the one to elicit those emotions. In an effort to make her feel all the feels, he finally found his voice and an outlet for all the words he was too scared to speak out loud. Now he makes a living sharing his fantasies with the world.
Come experience love through a guy’s eyes.
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