Come Together

by Madelynne Ellis

  Xane left off playing with the silver hoops and moved his hands down his abs. Then he slipped open the top button of his fly.

  Dani sat up straight.

  One, two, three more. He could almost hear her mentally counting as he released each fastening, doing it slowly in order to raise her level of anticipation. There was a reason Black Halo had a massive following, and it wasn’t purely because their music was awesome. He knew how to capture and hold a person’s attention. He did it all the time when he sold himself to his audience on stage.

  Buttons released, he inched his black jeans down a fraction, but splayed his hand over the front of his loins so her view of his assets was blocked.

  Was he a big tease? Oh, yes, ma’am, most definitely guilty.

  ‘If you want to see more, you need to give me something in return.’

  She glanced warily at the door again. ‘I’m not undressing here.’

  ‘You’re wearing a skirt today,’ he reminded her. Skirts could be lifted. Panties easily came down.

  Her fingers curled against her thighs, snagging at the skirt’s hem. She inched it up a little, but not far enough for him to see anything.

  ‘Open your legs.’

  ‘Move your hand,’ she countered.

  Frankly, he was raring to do exactly that. ‘Move it how?’ Yes, he knew she’d only meant out of the way so she could see exactly what it was he was sporting, but he didn’t plan on this game being purely visual.

  An idea seemed to strike her. Her brows furrowed momentarily, and a pink blush spread rapidly across her cheeks. ‘Like you hinted you were going to do in those text messages you sent me when you were stuck at the studio.’

  ‘And why would I want to do that when you’re here with me?’

  ‘Because …’ She wet her lips again. Her cheeks were bright red now. ‘Because I’ve not seen you bring yourself off before.’

  He wasn’t sure that was entirely true, seeing as he wasn’t shy about touching himself, but maybe she hadn’t seen him do it to completion before. He had to admit he liked sinking himself inside her a little too much for that. ‘Will you touch yourself while I do it?’

  ‘I can’t.’

  He knew she’d be resistant. She had body hang-ups he simply didn’t possess, though she was getting better in that regard. ‘Not even a little bit? You know it turns me on seeing how pink and flushed you get.’

  ‘Xane, I’m … OK, maybe, but you first.’

  No problemo. Xane cupped his shaft near the base and drew his fist upwards. The mere act of enthralling her got him hard, so there was no need for any warm-up. Interest sparked immediately in her eyes at the sight of his erect cock. He stroked himself lazily, slouching against the wall and watching her through slitted eyes.

  ‘Do it as if I wasn’t here,’ she urged.

  ‘What makes you think I’m doing it any differently to that now?’

  ‘You tease yourself like this. I thought you’d be more … more focused.’ She seemed to be having trouble getting her tongue to co-operate. ‘Aren’t you worried about being overheard, or caught out?’

  ‘No.’ Xane couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone out of his way to be circumspect about his sexual antics. He’d spent too much time living on a tour bus to worry about what other people thought of him wanking. Sometimes you just had to. And he had to often. Well, all right, correction: he didn’t specifically need to tug himself silly, but if he went without release for three or more days he tended to go a bit doolally. He didn’t know how the hell Spook managed it. He’d never once heard him jerk off or known him to have sex in the entire time the band had been together, which was more than a few years now. His head would have flown off by now from the damn build-up of pressure.

  ‘Did you and Steve ever do this for each other?’

  Where the hell had that question come from? He stilled momentarily, until he realised that pause probably spoke volumes.

  ‘We did lots of things.’

  ‘But did you do this for one another?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did Elspeth do you both at the same time?’

  Oh, fucking hell! He really didn’t want to get into the details of what the three of them had and hadn’t done together, not least because the mere thought of Elspeth killed any feelings of arousal, and he couldn’t prod too hard at his memories of Steve without falling to pieces. ‘Yes, probably,’ he admitted, ‘but can we not explore the details right now? I’d rather be thinking about you.’

  The tip of her nose coloured in response. ‘What are you thinking about me?’

  ‘Stuff that’ll spread that rosy blush of yours all over.’

  ‘Such as? And I think that it might already be all over.’ She flashed him a glimpse of her pussy, the lips plump and pink, wet with moisture.

  ‘Do you really want me to say? Wouldn’t you rather I did?’

  She shook her head, and when he moved to close the gap between them she planted her palm in the centre of his chest to hold him off. ‘If you do, then I won’t get to watch. I like watching you, especially when you’re doing things that I know you don’t let anyone else see.’

  He took her point, even if it wasn’t entirely accurate. She’d obviously forgotten all those photographs his cousin Ric the erotic photographer had taken of him flaunting his wares.

  ‘Make yourself come over me.’

  Whoa, OK. He couldn’t say that idea didn’t tickle him. ‘Where over you?’

  ‘My pussy.’ She shuffled forward an inch or two so that her bottom rested on the very edge of the countertop, lifted up her skirt and spread her legs wide around him.

  Xane didn’t waste time. He speeded up, rubbing himself hard as he raced to give her what she wanted.

  ‘When you’ve come will you rub it in?’

  Oh, boy! He loved how she turned from prim and timid to a sexual deviant when aroused. He aimed at her pussy as he came, so he could enjoy rubbing the silky mess into the hard nub of her clit. He kissed her neck as he did so, knowing that when more than one set of nerves were involved in the stimulus it made the result that much sweeter.

  Dani mewled against his shoulder, her head turned away from him to give him better access to her neck. He tried hard not to mark her. Unlike him, she objected to sporting huge hickies, even if, in the heat of the moment, like now, she didn’t mind the process that led to them.

  Xane slid a couple of fingers inside her, and used them to drive her fever up while he continued to work her clit with his thumb. God, yeah! She was slick with need and squeezing him tight. Her fingers clawed against his biceps as the first shudder rolled through her. ‘That’s it.’ He loved holding her at the point of climax, feeling her body pulse in response to his touch. ‘I love you,’ he whispered against her skin. ‘I want to do this for you always.’

  He did. He absolutely did.

  To his left the wastebin toppled with a crash, spewing empty milk cartons and beercans around his feet. They both turned their heads to find Elspeth in the doorway, her face white with outrage. ‘Bleeding Christ,’ she swore, and gave them a vile glare. ‘How can you? He’s barely in his grave. You were supposed to love him. You said you loved me.’

  Xane was pretty sure he’d never told her that. Nevertheless, he let the accusations wash over him. He refused to let her spoil the moment he’d just shared with Dani by poisoning it with her vitriol. He knew she was hurting over Steve. He hurt too, but that didn’t mean he had to give up living. It didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the love he’d found with someone else. Both she and Steve had given him up. Besides, the only way to get Steve out of his fucking head was by doing this.

  Rock Giant arrived in the wake of Elspeth’s screeching. ‘Aw, grim. Cover up, will you. Can’t you do it somewhere private?’

  In fact, neither of them was showing much that needed covering up. It wasn’t as if he didn’t walk around with his shirt off sometimes anyway. For that matter, Rock Giant didn’t have a shirt on either. ‘It was
private until you barged in. Why d’you think the bin was against the door?’

  ‘Well, she doesn’t need to see it.’

  ‘What, I’m banned from sharing a cuddle with my girlfriend?’

  Rock Giant didn’t bother quibbling over the details, namely that they’d been doing far more than cuddling, because the real issue here was that he and Dani were being affectionate. Elspeth didn’t like it. Jealous bitch would just have to get used to it. He refused to tame anything down for her.

  Rock Giant ushered Elspeth away as if she’d just witnessed a car crash and not something she’d seen dozens, maybe hundreds of times before.

  ‘I told you we shouldn’t have done this here,’ Dani said, pushing him back so that she could climb down from her perch and reclaim her knickers.

  ‘Yeah, we should,’ he said rubbing himself against her butt as she leaned over. ‘I’d do it all over again, just the same. I can’t only have sex with you on the bus while the rest of the guys aren’t present. I’ll be tearing my hair out.’

  ‘Don’t do that.’ She turned and straightened to stroke his long hair, her expression ever so serious. It didn’t last. She laughed when their gazes met. ‘You’re hot when you come.’

  He cuddled her to his chest. ‘Only hot?’

  ‘I like your big O face.’

  ‘Only like?’

  She tiptoed to reach his lips and kiss him gently. ‘I love you, Xane.’ She peeped at him from under her feathery eyelashes. ‘But you make me naughty. I never would do half these things otherwise.’

  He grinned, showing off his teeth. He fully intended to make her a lot naughtier by the end of this tour. ‘There’s another three hours still before the show. What do you say we go off and find ourselves another bit of the bus to christen?’

  ‘Where did you have in mind?’ she asked somewhat hesitantly.

  ‘Sofa, dining table,’ he suggested. ‘Someone else’s bunk. Against the rear bumper?’

  Dani shook her head. ‘Maybe we should save it until after the show. I wouldn’t want you to be too tired to perform.’

  There wasn’t a chance in hell of that. Sex didn’t make him feel tired, it made him feel alive. ‘What about in the dressing room?’

  ‘Is there a lock?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’ He held out his hand for her, and wondered exactly how much of the next few hours he could spend between her thighs. ‘Let’s go and look.’

  Chapter 16

  Paris

  By the end of the first week they’d reached Paris, and Dani had pushed her encounter with the idiot girls to the back of her mind. To her relief, they weren’t among the cohort of fans currently trailing the Black Halo tour bus across the continent. Cave Troll, their driver, actually named Troels, had pointed their entourage out to her on the motorway. He seemed to know them all on a first-name basis and had told her not to worry because Xane had already screwed them all, aeons past.

  She wasn’t quite sure how to take that, other than to write it off as part of his former sex addiction or maybe a big fat exaggeration. A lot of details about the band seemed to get hyped out of all proportion. For example, there was no evidence to suggest that Ash had screwed anybody besides Ginny since the tour began, whereas his reputation had him banging a minimum of four girls a night. Also the guys didn’t squabble all the time. Most of the time they got on fine, and it was only when Elspeth emerged from her room that things became fraught.

  ‘Daydreaming?’ Xane asked her. They were in his dressing room, getting ready for the show. He shucked off his old grey T-shirt and beat-up jeans, and she watched him draw on leather jeans instead. His stage shirt was torn to shreds and threaded with beads that caught the light. Dani smiled in approval. It revealed far more than it hid, and made her want to shove her hands through the holes to reach his torso.

  Over the top, he added a full-length leather coat, which she knew from previous performances he’d shed part-way through the second number to howls of appreciation. Xane knew how to work the crowd, and that included shamelessly turning them on, a fact she tried hard not to let irritate her. He was her man. It didn’t seem right that he flirted with whole audiences full of people. She kind of wanted to keep all his magic for herself.

  His cat’s-eye contact lenses went in next. Then on went the layer of white foundation, topped by black lipstick and smudges of kohl around his eyes.

  ‘You’ve more make-up on than I have now,’ she remarked. He looked amazing, though.

  ‘You’re not about to perform for a bunch of baying hounds.’

  No, and thank God for that. She could never do what he or any of the Black Halo guys did. She got stage fright just walking across the boards when the auditorium was empty.

  Xane stuck out his hand so she could help strap leather cuffs around both wrists. He added a spiked collar around his throat, which nicely covered up the marks she’d made the previous night, and then put on his hideous claw rings: three on the left hand, one on the right. By the time he was finished, he’d completely transformed himself from handsome man into ghoulish nightmare.

  ‘I’m sure it’s wrong that I want you more than ever when you look like this.’ She curved her palm against the back pocket of his leather jeans.

  ‘Later, babe,’ he chastened her, though still encouraging her touch. ‘And, you know, we can play dress-up any time you like.’

  ‘What will you dress up as?’

  Xane curled his lip and gave her a completely carnal grin. ‘Name it.’

  She thought a moment, but decided she really only wanted him to be himself. Xane Geist was her ultimate fantasy. ‘I think I like it best when you’re undressed.’

  ‘Yeah, I like you that way too.’ He teased the tip of one of his metal claws under the strap of her vest and inched it off her shoulder.

  Dani jigged uncomfortably. While she loved him naked, she still wasn’t keen on nudity for herself. ‘You know I don’t like to undress completely.’ She was always worried that someone would walk in and see her scars. She tugged her strap back onto her shoulder.

  ‘But if we were in private, in, say, a hotel room, then you wouldn’t mind stripping off for me, would you, Dani?’

  ‘A hotel room – is that possible?’ Could they go somewhere else and be alone?

  ‘We don’t have to be in Antwerp until the day after tomorrow. I don’t see why we can’t indulge in a little bit of privacy.’

  ‘Ahem,’ Spook interrupted. He was so light on his feet neither of them had heard him enter. ‘Before you start making plans, I thought we could all go out tonight post-show. We’ve not properly sat down and talked to one another yet. We ought to do that.’

  ‘We’re getting on OK, Spook. I don’t think that’s really necessary,’ Xane quibbled. He scowled so that one side of his top lip curled upwards.

  ‘What you mean is that we’re all good at pretending everything is hunky dory. It’s not, and you know it. Please. I’ll pick a restaurant. It’s neutral territory. We can all sit down, enjoy a meal and engage in some adult conversation.’

  ‘X-rated. Sure, why not.’

  Spook flicked his white-blond hair over his shoulder in irritation. ‘Will you take it seriously, please?’

  As they stood side by side, Dani realised that Spook was almost Xane’s exact opposite: a creature of purity and light in contrast to Xane’s prince of darkness. She’d never noticed that about them before and wondered if it was deliberate. Knowing Xane and how he analysed every aspect of their image and performance, it was. That wasn’t to say Spook wasn’t sporting a fair amount of leather too. It was just that his elfin good looks lent a softness to him that didn’t exist for Xane. It made him adorable, if enigmatic.

  The other guys she’d easily pinned down personality-wise. Ash, with his playboy pout, was all about fun but wanted desperately to be taken seriously. Rock Giant liked to act the tough guy and, boy, did he look it, but it was obvious from the way he treated Elspeth that he was genuinely quite cuddly underneath.
Elspeth herself was busy playing the grieving widow, and only emerged from her room on the tour bus for soundchecks and the actual shows. Dani couldn’t claim she wasn’t relieved. She didn’t relish the thought of having to talk to her. What did you say to your lover’s ex?

  Iain Willows she didn’t yet count as part of the band, but he seemed kind of ordinary, if ambitious, and a little sly. She’d seen him poking into other people’s cupboards on the bus.

  ‘Very well –’ Xane agreed to the idea of a sit-down meal ‘– as long as I don’t have to sit next to Iain.’

  Obviously relieved, Spook sank onto a nearby chair. He held his favourite purple guitar, which he rested across his knees. Luthor had told her that Spook insisted on tuning up himself, unlike the rest of the band who left it to their technicians. Also, that he guarded that guitar with his life and refused to let anyone else touch it.

  ‘Not Elspeth?’ Spook enquired.

  Xane threw him a dirty look. ‘Dani’s not to sit next to Elspeth.’

  ‘She can sit next to me. You can sit by Ash, with Iain on the other side of him. You know you need to give him a chance, though.’

  ‘I thought that’s what I was doing.’

  ‘Debatable.’

  Xane rapped his metal-encased knuckles against the surface of the dressing table. It was clear from his reflected pout that he remained uncomfortable with Iain’s addition to the team.

  ‘We’re not going to get the best out of him if you’re making him antsy all the time.’

  ‘It’s still raw, Spook.’ Xane didn’t speak very often about Steve Matlock’s death, but, masked as he was by his stage make-up, Dani felt the wave of pain roll off him. ‘Iain being here is an intrusion.’

  Spook looked at his guitar, blinking away emotions of his own. ‘I know that. No one’s ever going to truly replace Steve, but to work as a band we need a drummer, and Iain’s OK. He’s not stupendous, but give it time, he might surprise us.’