All Fired Up

by Madelynne Ellis

  ‘I’m not carrying any sort of torch for him, if that’s what you think.’

  She shook her head, denying she believed that. ‘I didn’t say you were. Just that he … Xane was the one who blew your mind and left you confused.’

  ‘There wasn’t anything confusing about it. He’s an addict. It was one time ’cause the ladies bailed. Need to know more details than that?’

  Absolutely. She wasn’t Dani. She didn’t have a meltdown over the idea of two blokes getting one another off. In fact, she got off on the idea. She danced in front of Ash, and cuddled up to his front, halting him. She met his gaze and bit her lip. ‘Tell me everything. How it happened. How you feel about it. All the really juicy and totally perverse details. Whether it was just a blowjob or something more.’

  ‘Babe,’ he replied, kissing her off, ‘I’m not nearly drunk enough to relate that episode.’

  ‘Phooeey! Why’d you need to be drunk? I’ve never even seen you tipsy.’ She wrapped her arms around his waist and slid her hands inside his clothing. ‘Don’t be a spoilsport. You know it’ll turn me on.’

  ‘Will it?’ He cocked an eyebrow, seemed to consider, but shook his head.

  ‘I’ll tell you about the time I happened to bump into a rock star in his dressing room and ended up spending the night with him and his two mates.’

  Ash shook his head, making his long hair fall over his face. ‘I already know that one. I don’t want to talk about it, Gin.’

  ‘But why not? It’s not something to be embarrassed about. You shagged one of your best friends, so what, I married … hope to one day marry one of mine.’ His eyebrows skyrocketed. ‘Too soon to admit that?’ She massaged the knots that had suddenly appeared in his shoulders, noting he didn’t answer either question.

  They had walked all the way over to the stage before he said anything. ‘He made me come like it was as easy as breathing, Ginny. There aren’t many people I can say that about, and he was the first post-Connie to make me feel something other than empty afterwards. The thing is, and here’s the rub, the whole episode meant nothing to him. I was just his fix for the night.’

  ‘But you didn’t actually want it to mean more than that, did you?’

  Ash’s face scrunched into a mass of furrows. ‘No. Dealing with Xane’s libido is hell enough from a distance. I just felt sordid and used. And fucking flabbergasted over exactly how hard he made me come.’

  ‘Bet I can make you come harder.’

  His impish grin re-emerged. ‘I’ll bet you can too.’

  ‘Of course, I might need a little run-up to it.’ Ginny buried her face in his neck and inhaled the delicious mix of man, leather and shower gel. ‘He fucked you in the arse, didn’t he?’ she whispered into his fragrant skin. ‘I’ve only let one man do that to me. He liked it. I didn’t. It was fucking painful.’

  Ash kept his lips sealed, only opening them when she prompted him to do so with the tip of her tongue as she sought to deep-kiss him. No matter, his silence and the vivid darker-blue ring around his irises told her everything she needed to know. Pain had not been a factor.

  * * *

  Having walked all the way to the Pavilion stage, they decided to stay there. They listened. They chatted. Drunk Alien Funk – or Fuck, as Ash branded them – weren’t too bad, although their major gimmick seemed to be a giant inflatable six-breasted alien that their vocalist regularly pretended to hump.

  Iain turned up after a little while, claiming the party at the Deanna Rädsla van had broken up, and that Spook had suggested they check out some of the smaller acts as potential support groups for future tours. Ginny wasn’t sure she believed he’d just happened upon them, but since he brought beers they let him stay, though she only sipped hers. She was far more interested in getting Ash naked and down to the onsite swimming lake for some wet and wild fun than she was in getting intoxicated. Also she wasn’t keen on the way Iain seemed to sideline her. She and Ash had been cosy before he’d arrived, cuddling close and teasing one another with illicit touches that made them both giggle and the folks around them prod one another and point out what they were doing. Ash still had his arm around her waist, but his attention was on Iain, who kept talking about things she had no interest in or knowledge of.

  ‘I’m going to use the little girls’ room,’ she said after a while, leaving Ash to hold her beer bottle. She left them talking, leaning against a set of barriers that were supposed to delineate pathways but had been knocked askew earlier in the day. When she returned, Iain was waiting for her alone, his red and black hair artfully masking one eye.

  ‘Where’s Ash?’

  ‘Went for a slash. He’ll be back in a tick.’ Iain held out her beer to her, coaxing her closer by giving the neck of it a gentle shake. She took it, and a couple of swigs. She hoped Ash was only going to be a tick, because, no kidding, she didn’t like the way Iain’s fathomless black eyes glittered when he looked at her. After a moment or two, she perched upon the railing.

  ‘Have you played here before?’ They needed to talk about something, didn’t they? The silence was just too awkward.

  ‘Yeah.’ He scratched his head. ‘A couple of times. This isn’t my first band. I’ve played in the big leagues before.’

  ‘I know that. Ash said you used to live together, you and some other guys you knew in college, and that you all used to jam in your kitchen.’

  ‘I didn’t realise he’d spoken to you about me.’

  ‘He hasn’t said much.’

  Iain tapped his beer bottle against his lip. ‘I guess I’m just surprised he said anything at all. It’s not like he’s wanted to hang with me since I agreed to save his band from ruin. Can you believe they were going to try and tour without a drummer? They’d have been so shit …’ ‘Shitter,’ she swore she heard him murmur under his breath. ‘They’re lucky I was free to help out. Not that any of them see it like that. Kind of wish someone would pop their over-inflated egos sometimes.’ He gave her a pursed smile. ‘I know, I should keep my remarks to myself, but they’ve been shitty to me from day one with the exception of Ash. Steve Matlock was a decent drummer, but you’d think he was the only person who knew how to keep a rhythm from the way fucking Xane talks about him.’

  ‘He lost his best friend,’ she said in Xane’s defence. ‘You’d be looking for someone to take your anger out on if the same happened to you.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he agreed, bristling so much she felt obliged to concentrate on her beer until he’d retracted some of his spikes. ‘That’s the funny thing about this. I did lose my best friend. I lost him five fucking years ago, right when we were due to make it big. Ash ever tell you how Xane and his arty bunch of losers poached him? He was the hottest up-and-coming guitarist the UK had seen in decades, and they just had some shit guy who could barely play, so they shmoozed the fuck out of him until he jumped ship.’

  ‘I’m sure that’s not quite how it happened.’ It certainly didn’t tally with how Ash had described his first meeting with Spook to her.

  Iain didn’t appear to be listening.

  ‘We were supposed to make millions. Would have made millions. The deal was already on the table.’

  ‘You’re doing that now, aren’t you?’ Black Halo were at the top of their game, they’d just rocked a crowd so big she had trouble comprehending the scale of the numbers. There’d been thousands, millions of them …

  Iain scowled and his nostrils flared. ‘They’re not my band. You think I want to be one of Xane Geist’s fucking minions, or part of his slut circus? I’d rather choke.’

  Ginny did choke, on a mouthful of her drink, which she sputtered down her front. Did Iain imagine she wouldn’t relate this stuff back to Ash and the rest of them? Maybe he assumed he and Ash were so tight Ash wouldn’t believe her. ‘You don’t want to be a permanent member of Black Halo, then?’ Surely he did. Who wouldn’t want to be? If she had any musical talent, she would be.

  Iain clapped his hand into the railing she was perched upon, ma
king it wobble. ‘You have to be kidding me. No way, not that they’re going to be around long enough for that to even be an option.’

  She knew things had been strained between various members of Black Halo, you could still see it when they were all together, but she’d honestly believed they were slowly improving. They could all sit in the same room and chill together without anyone throwing a strop or walking off, which was a vast improvement on just a few weeks ago.

  ‘Wankers.’ Iain slapped the railing again, making it shake and knocking her off-balance. She reached out to grab the metal, which somehow seemed to jump away, so that her hand closed on thin air and she toppled backwards with a yelp.

  Iain grabbed hold of her blouse. ‘Gotcha.’ He righted her, so that she had her feet on the ground. ‘Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself. Are you all right?’

  ‘No. Yeah …’ Actually, no. He was far too close and completely out of focus. She reached out to clutch the railing to steady herself and somehow ended up clutching Iain’s arm instead.

  His thick black brows pulled down so tight that they almost met in the middle to form one enormous monobrow. The image tickled her, making her giggle.

  ‘Maybe you’ve had enough of that.’ His voice sounded like an old-fashioned cassette tape being stretched and then suddenly fast-forwarded. She shook her head and his face came back into focus, but her brain was full of static. He kept on saying things to her and standing too close, but the buzzing in her ears meant she had to decipher each utterance as if it were a cryptic crossword.

  ‘Shit! I don’t feel good.’

  ‘Really?’ He pried the beer from her fingers and put it on the ground with his and the one he was saving for Ash. ‘You seemed fine a moment ago. I didn’t take you for someone who couldn’t hold their drink.’

  She didn’t recall drinking enough to feel this sloshed.

  ‘Maybe you shouldn’t have downed that last one so fast.’

  She hadn’t downed it. She only recalled drinking about half, and in any case one beer … two or three even … shouldn’t make her this woozy. She tried pushing against him so that she could get some air and find some water. ‘I need a drink.’

  ‘No,’ he insisted. ‘No, you don’t. There’s something you need, but it’s not that.’ His thigh lodged between her legs, further destroying her balance. Fear raised the hairs on her skin. ‘What are you … let go. Where’s Ash? What did you do to him?’

  ‘He’s having a piss. I didn’t do anything to him.’

  ‘Why are you holding onto me? Get off.’ Panic welled behind her eyes. Her brain throbbed with the effort of thought, but her limbs wouldn’t cooperate enough to actually shove him away. Every signal from her brain seemed to go out scrambled and come back further masked by noise. Why did he need to be so close with the stench of beer on his breath and that alligator smile?

  ‘If I let go you’re going to fall over and hurt yourself. Ash would never forgive me.’

  ‘You’re hurting me.’ His grip on her arms was too tight.

  ‘Don’t be silly, Ginny. I’m just doing what you asked me to. What you’ve been begging me to do the whole time Ash’s been gone. Remember you wanted this. You’ve been giving me all the lines.’

  What? What the hell was he on about? She’d not asked him to do anything. Shit! He was creeping her out.

  ‘You’re a right flirtatious tart, aren’t you, and so very forward.’ He moved her hand so that it was sandwiched against his crotch, and somehow she couldn’t seem to move it away again, as though he’d superglued it there. ‘See, you’re loving it.’ He laughed, then took possession of her breast and rolled the nipple until it stood taut. ‘You’re very into this, aren’t you, Ginny? So very, very affectionate, and see, I’m affectionate too. I’m willing to give you what you need.’ His cold lips pressed against the heat in her temple, then on each of her cheeks just below her eyes. ‘I’m not handing over Ash though. The first chick was bad enough and she didn’t even put out, but you’re an even bigger distraction. He needs to see you for what you are – a groupie, with no shame and no loyalty. You’ll do anyone, won’t you, Ginny, and you’ve just begged and begged to do me.’

  ‘No,’ she managed to slur.

  But Iain took hold of her head, and made her nod instead.

  ‘He’s here,’ he told her. ‘Heading right this way. Let’s show him your true colours.’ He roughly shoved his hand up her skirt and straight between her legs. ‘Fuck, you’re even wet. No wonder he loves shoving his dick in you so much. I bet you make a real sweet ride.’ His teeth rasped against her earlobe. ‘I’m not going to compete for him, Ginny. It’s bad enough having to claw him back from Xane’s fucking clutches. We’re going to have our band, just as soon as he realises there’s no life left in the current one and that it was a mistake to walk away all those years ago.’

  Chapter 20

  ‘Oh, my God, it’s Ash Gore. You’re Ash Gore, aren’t you? I just watched you rock! Did Xane really stick his hand down your pants and fondle your cock?’

  Whoa! Ash raised his hand in a bid to get the shapely blonde to slow her tongue for a moment so that he could reply. ‘Um, yes, it’s me.’

  The blonde and her three girlfriends performed some weird little tap-dance-cum-stomp then closed in around him, leaving the guys they’d been with watching from a short distance.

  ‘That’s really great that you watched the show. Good performance?’ He rolled his thumb from side to side questioningly.

  ‘Fab.’

  ‘Completely awesome!’

  ‘You rocked so bloody hard.’ One of them slapped him on the shoulder. He stiffened, expecting a second touch to follow, and one of them to shove something or other inside his pocket, or else grab his arse.

  In fact, two of them tried it, from different angles. Ash clasped both of their hands and brought their knuckles to his lips instead, which satisfied them enough that they didn’t immediately try to grope him again.

  ‘What about the last part, about you and Xane?’ the blonde girl asked him again. She was wearing shorts and wellies, and came up to just below his shoulder, much like Ginny. Except his Ginny was lighter and lither, and dark-haired instead of blonde, and he ought to get back to her. He was going to share his bed with her tonight. Fuck lying on the cold, hard ground. He could draw the curtains across his bunk and they could pretend they were in the Dome of Delicious Delights, and to hell with what anyone on the other side of the barrier thought.

  ‘Did he?’ One of the friends prompted him, as she snuggled up to his side, and her other friend took a picture with her phone.

  Ash decided that tactfully avoiding giving a straight answer was probably the best course. Xane had only actually stroked his lower abs, but the minds of fan-girls did like to wander along homoerotic pathways, and he didn’t want to flatten their fantasies. On the other hand, he didn’t want to end up on the front of tomorrow’s papers having come out as gay.

  ‘Can I have your babies?’ one of them asked him.

  ‘Uh, ’fraid not. Wasn’t planning on any.’

  ‘Oh! OK, how about a kiss?’

  That he could manage. He pecked her on the cheek.

  ‘Not something a little less superficial?’ She grinned. ‘I’m free all night.’

  ‘But I’m not.’ Damn, his reputation preceding him. ‘Got to get back.’ He attempted to extract himself from her grip upon his waist.

  ‘Are you guys partying? Can we join in?’

  ‘Um, no. I was on my way to bed, actually.’

  And that was totally the wrong thing to say, as he immediately received four offers to tuck him in.

  ‘You know it’s really lovely talking to you ladies, but I’ve left somebody waiting, so I really ought to get back.’

  ‘Oh!’ He faced four pouty faces. Six if you included the two guys, who were beginning to look kind of bristly.

  ‘Nikki, let him go,’ the long-haired guy said, allowing Ash to wriggle his way out of the group, his a
rms raised above his head to stop anyone latching onto his hands and trotting along behind him. He’d learned that one long ago. If you didn’t want to leave a room with someone, you had to make sure your arms were out of reach.

  ‘See you around.’

  ‘Absolutely,’ they agreed.

  Ash chuckled to himself as he jogged back to where he’d left Iain. That was another thing he’d learned: if you were already running, people didn’t tend to pursue you, whereas if you were strolling then it was no effort at all for them to tag along behind.

  He was rather surprised when he couldn’t immediately see Ginny. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t returned yet, even allowing for the fact that the queue for the ladies’ was always twice the size of the one for the gents. Iain had been busy in his absence. He was cosied up tight to some lady he’d picked up. God was obviously smiling on him tonight, because that got Iain out of his hair so that he and Ginny could get smoochy. He had an idea or two he’d been mulling while she’d been at home, inspired by their many sexy phone conversations, about one or two things he’d like to try involving some buzzy toys and her pussy.

  ‘Where are you, Gin?’

  He scanned the nearby crowd, wondering if she was dancing. Ginny wasn’t the green and prickly type. If she’d arrived back to find Iain making out, she’d have given him some space, just as he was doing. Though he was going to have to intrude in a minute to find out where Ginny had gone.

  Ginny, he realised. His gaze jerked back to Iain. She wasn’t keeping her distance at all; she was the one making out with Iain.

  ‘What in frickin’ hell!’ Protests, even the odd reciprocated shove, didn’t slow him as he covered the ground between them in ten long strides. And no, he really didn’t give a toss whose drink he’d just spilled.

  ‘Ginny? What in God’s name is going on?’

  Iain peeled himself away from her, mouth open as if in shock, and, seeing Ash’s clenched fist, raised his hands as if in surrender. ‘Whoa! Man … Ash …’

  ‘What are you doing?’

  Ginny just looked at him gobsmacked, her mouth forming a perfect O.