Come Together

by Madelynne Ellis

  ‘Barely,’ Xane muttered. It seemed as if Luthor had been right: the rest of the band weren’t happy. ‘I don’t know what you were playing, but it sure as hell wasn’t the track I wrote.’

  ‘What?’ Iain snapped. He turned his head as if expecting one of the other band members to stick up for him. ‘I gave it my fucking all.’

  ‘You were all over the place.’

  Ash stepped forward. ‘You were too heavy in the first half and kept fading in and out during the second.’ Dani guessed he thought Iain would take the criticism better from him as an old friend.

  For a moment, Iain’s lip trembled. Then he plastered on a smile and relaxed his shoulders. ‘OK. I can work on that with the sound bods so it’s fixed in time for Antwerp.’

  ‘Maybe you should have left the drum set-up alone instead of feeling you had to fiddle. Steve had everything perfectly arranged.’

  Ash planted a hand between Iain’s shoulder blades and encouraged him to move in the direction of the dressing room, thus forestalling what Dani suspected would have turned into a giant argument.

  ‘I thought you were great.’ She tugged on Xane’s belt again to draw his attention, not wanting him to remain fixated on Iain, whom she definitely blamed for Xane’s lack of interest in her body. ‘The audience did too. You did three encores.’ And, despite the lights having gone up, the fans were still in the auditorium baying for more.

  ‘Last night we did four.’

  ‘You could have done four tonight.’ There was no missing the crowd’s appreciation.

  Xane shook his head. ‘Nah, I’m beat, and Spook’s made this restaurant booking.’

  She’d forgotten they were supposed to be going out for dinner. Would they all turn up? She doubted Elspeth would make the effort, and without her Rock Giant’s commitment became unlikely. He claimed he didn’t like to leave her on the bus alone, as if he feared she’d meet with an unfortunate accident if left unattended. Dani suspected it was more that Rock Giant fancied Elspeth and was hoping that, if he hung around her long enough, she’d tumble into his bed and magically be healed.

  Xane had laughed at her when she’d voiced that opinion. ‘They’re both folkies,’ he’d explained. ‘They’ve known each other for ever and are like brother and sister. Besides, Elspeth’s the complete antithesis of everything Paul goes for. Trust me, there’s no chance of anything happening.’

  There didn’t seem to be a whole lot happening between her and Xane either. ‘I hope the fact we’re going out doesn’t mean you intend to skip getting naked with me.’ She jiggled against Xane, as undoing his belt didn’t seem to be having the desired effect.

  ‘I told you, I need to shower first.’

  ‘Can’t we shower together?’

  All right! That got his attention. Xane’s eyes snapped towards her, instead of burning holes in Iain’s back. He cracked a smile. ‘You’re eager tonight. Something got you fired up.’

  ‘You. Seeing you on stage. The prospect of spending a night in a decent bed with you.’ Not a bunk bed, where they’d be overheard, and where her thoughts would now be infested with images of Luthor listening in or, worse, lying alongside them.

  ‘Dinner, then a hotel,’ Xane said, obviously recalling his earlier promise. He noticed his belt was partially undone, and smacked her fingers. ‘Naughty.’

  ‘Is it bad that I want you, and that I think we should skip dinner?’

  ‘No skipping dinner,’ Spook said, breezing past them. ‘Save each other for dessert.’

  ‘Can’t I have her as a main?’

  ‘Starter, main and dessert,’ Dani suggested, feeling him warm to the idea of quality time together.

  ‘Perfect,’ Xane agreed, sliding his hand under the hem of her skirt to squeeze her upper thigh. ‘We’ll be ready as soon as I … we’ve showered.’ He lifted her into his arms and carried her to his dressing room.

  The moment the door slammed shut, Xane had her pressed up against the wall. OK, so she’d managed to start things, but he’d definitely taken charge.

  Dani raised her arms and he tugged her top off over her head.

  ‘Did my music make you this wet?’ Xane pushed his fingers inside her panties.

  ‘You make me wet.’

  His thumb found her clit. Dani mewled and arched towards him. ‘There’s not a thing about you that doesn’t get me horny.’

  ‘Nothing? I think we both know that’s not true.’

  ‘Do we?’

  ‘You get freaked out by the fact I like –’

  She cut off his words by covering his lips with her fingers. ‘Don’t talk now.’ She claimed his lips, then helped him out of his damp shirt, while Xane tackled the fastening of her bra.

  ‘Yuck, I smell rank,’ he muttered.

  ‘I like the way you smell.’ She pushed her nose against his armpit. Actually, although perspiration peppered his skin, he still mostly smelled of his expensive aftershave, with only a faint undercurrent of body scent.

  ‘Seriously?’

  She stuck out her tongue and licked him. His skin tasted of salt.

  ‘Shower. Right now.’ Xane marched her backwards into the closet-sized bathroom, stripping off her clothes as they went, and not giving a fig about where they landed. He turned on the spray and pushed her under it.

  ‘Are you getting in with your trousers on?’

  ‘Nope.’ He shimmied out of his boots and leathers, leaving them in a mangled heap for somebody else to pick up. Naked – well, almost: for some reason he kept his underwear on – Xane was a delight to behold. His perfectly delineated abs beckoned her touch, so too did the intriguing line of golden hair that disappeared into the top band of his figure-hugging shorts.

  ‘Didn’t you forget something?’ She plucked at his underwear.

  ‘I can’t imagine what you’d find in there to entertain you.’

  ‘Can’t you?’ She released the elastic so that it snapped against his skin, and cupped her hand over the growing bulge in the front of his shorts instead. Even half hard he comfortably filled her hand. Unable to resist, Dani gave him a couple of encouraging squeezes.

  Xane’s eyes closed and he exhaled sharply.

  Encouraged, she rolled her thumb over the tip of his erection. ‘I want to watch you come.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said, though she wasn’t sure if he was responding to her question or simply approving of her stroking.

  ‘I liked seeing you masturbate, but this time I want to do it for you.’ She peeled his shorts down, just far enough to expose his cock, and then worked him in a quick, steady rhythm.

  Xane sagged against the wall, fingers clawed against the tiles, while his breathing quickened. The closer she brought him, the harder he fought to keep his eyes open and looking at her. He watched the swift movements of her hand. ‘Oh God, you were serious.’

  The concentration presumably showed on her face.

  ‘Dani!’

  ‘Don’t you like this? Don’t you want my hands all over you? My lips?’ She kissed his chest, sucked hard on one of his nipple rings, which she knew he’d react to. Predictably, his cock jerked in her hand. ‘How turned on do I make you? Am I going to make you overheat?’ She wanted him too, needed him too. She craved the reassurance that he was genuinely into her and wasn’t harbouring thoughts of someone else.

  Damn Luthor and his illicit thoughts about Xane.

  ‘Keep doing that and you’re going to find out very quickly exactly how hot you make me.’

  ‘Do you love me, Xane?’

  ‘You know it, but I’m sure you’d rather hear me say it when my brain isn’t half scrambled. Sex has a habit of muddling things.’

  He had a point. If he said, ‘I love you’ now, wasn’t he really saying, ‘I love your hand on my cock’? Which was not the same thing at all. Not that it changed a thing about wanting to see him come. Xane was beautiful, and never more so than when in the throes of passion.

  He cried out as he came, his seed jetting from him. It made
him seem both powerful and so sweetly vulnerable.

  Dani stroked him, massaging his seed back into his skin, until he was fully spent.

  Xane dragged her forward into his arms, and tucked her tight against his warm, wet body. ‘You’re going to have to give me a few to get my breath back after that.’

  ‘Oh, I know how to get you excited.’ She put her mouth to his neck and sucked.

  Xane groaned and hugged her closer. ‘Fuck, yeah. Harder. Mark me. I’ll wear my shirt neck open, so that everyone can see that I’m yours.’

  ‘Are you mine?’

  ‘You know I am. Never doubt it.’ He threaded his fingers through her hair. ‘For as long as you’ll have me.’

  She wished she could see his irises instead of his coloured lenses, but Xane was a man of masks. It was only occasionally you caught a glimpse of the soul that hid beneath.

  Dani found a facecloth and wiped away the smudged kohl from around his eyes.

  ‘Let me do something for you.’ He captured her, one hand on the back of her neck, while the other encircled her waist, locking their wet bodies together.

  ‘We’ve a dinner date, remember. Save it.’

  ‘It could be hours before we can get a room.’

  She pressed a finger to his lips to quieten him. ‘Then think how eager I’ll be.’

  ‘How eager are you now?’ He made circles over her bottom. Dani was sure that, were she to let him, he’d follow up by slipping a finger or two into her pussy. A shiver of expectation rolled through her at the thought. His fingers, lips, tongue … She could see him on his knees, water droplets beading his skin as he sucked her to the sort of climax she’d only imagined before they’d met.

  Maybe Spook would forgive them for being slightly late.

  ‘Let me help you wash up a little.’ He covered her in his favourite shower gel, and then rubbed against her to get them both clean. It wasn’t the most efficient method, but it was a hell of a lot more fun than using a flannel.

  By the time he was done, he was half-hard again and she was eyeing the dressing-room couch as a potential place to pin him down and straddle his lap. Only three stops into the tour and she was already feeling the effects of being locked into a tiny space for most of the day with too many other people. They had no privacy. After what Luthor had just told her she wouldn’t dare make a sound when they next made love in his bunk. Not that she’d ever manage to hush Xane. He simply didn’t share her fear of being overheard. Xane wouldn’t give a damn that the entire retinue of people involved in putting Black Halo’s shows together knew he was having his mind blown every night.

  He lifted her out of the shower and wrapped her in an enormous bath towel.

  ‘We can share,’ she offered, when he looked around and failed to find another.

  ‘I’ll air dry.’ He turned the desk fan in his direction then flopped naked into an armchair.

  Dani stared at him. It still astounded her that she could lay any claim to him. Naked he was magnificent, all washboard abs and ink, so, despite making a thorough effort to dry herself, she still remained moist between her thighs.

  Dinner! The only appetite she had was for him. She’d burned into her memory the image of him coming, and now wanted to stamp a second image alongside it: of him making desperate love to her.

  She might not be able to annihilate her thoughts of finding him entwined with another man, but she could bury them beneath a mound of evidence that he desired her above anyone else.

  She threw Xane the towel, so she could reach for her clothes. Xane ignored it and watched her, seeming to delight in seeing her wriggle into each item. Dani moved to the mirror and helped herself to his cosmetics to perk up her appearance a little.

  Xane only roused himself from the chair when someone knocked on the door, then he took cover in the bathroom, leaving her to answer.

  ‘Delivery.’ Liam, one of the roadies, thrust a bottle of single malt whisky and an envelope into her hands.

  ‘For Xane?’

  He didn’t answer, just shrugged and walked off. So far on the tour he’d not answered a single question she’d asked him. But then, according to Luthor, Liam was firmly in Elspeth’s camp and thought that Xane was being an insensitive prick by flaunting his new relationship.

  ‘What is it?’ Xane called from the bathroom.

  ‘Booze … whisky.’

  ‘From who?’

  To her astonishment the envelope bore her name, not Xane’s. ‘For me,’ she squeaked, casting a glance at the still closed bathroom door. Why would anyone send her whisky? She hardly drank. It didn’t even make sense for Xane, who generally opted for vodka if he planned on getting tanked. Presumably the present-giver didn’t know her very well. Nevertheless, she ripped open the envelope.

  The smile immediately dropped from her face, as a dozen photographs scattered across the floor. Every one of them showed Xane wrapped around another man, and some of them were so graphic they made her blush.

  ‘Don’t think you can hold onto him,’ read the accompanying note. ‘No woman ever will.’

  Chapter 18

  In a daze, Dani gathered the photographs, shoved them back into the envelope and left the dressing room. She simply knew she had to determine where that package had come from. It was a gut-level reaction. Establish the facts, then confront the problem head-on before it had a chance to fester. Well, maybe.

  She rushed past Iain in the corridor, but backstage was quiet, except for the road crew dismantling equipment.

  ‘What’s up?’ Luthor looked up from the crate he was packing as she sprinted past him.

  ‘Did you see where Liam went?’

  ‘He’s outside, helping to load the van.’

  ‘Thanks.’ She took off again in the direction of the nearest exit.

  ‘Dani?’ Footsteps sounded loud behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find Luthor jogging after her, still holding the electrical cable he’d been winding into a coil. ‘What’s the matter? You seem agitated.’

  She stopped, but only because it was necessary to open the external door. She searched in her clothing but had left her security card in Xane’s dressing room. Luthor took his card from his back pocket and swiped it through the lock.

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’

  A bleak, black expanse of tarmac lay outside the door, with the van and tour bus parked some distance away. She hesitated, remembering her experience a few days ago. Given that someone was obviously out to upset her, or worse, perhaps ploughing into the night wasn’t such a bright idea. Maybe this was exactly the response whoever had sent the card was looking for. ‘It’s nothing,’ she lied, for it was something. A very horrid something. She closed the door again. ‘Xane just wanted me to check who was going to be driving which vehicle tonight.’

  ‘Cave Troll’s on the bus, Tony the van and I think Liam’s been co-opted into driving Graham and Sally’s motorhome. Is that a problem?’ He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

  ‘No.’ She stepped back from his touch, still not entirely happy about his earlier remarks.

  Luthor let her reclaim her space without remarking upon it. ‘Are you going to tell me what the issue is? Something’s obviously got you riled. What is it?’

  He noticed the envelope she still held in a fierce grip, and held out his hand for it. ‘What is this?’

  Dani let him take it. Her fists and jaw both clenched tight as he flipped through the photographs.

  ‘Where did these come from?’

  ‘Liam delivered them, along with a bottle of Scotch. That’s why I was trying to find him. I need to ask him who gave them to him.’

  ‘He won’t know, Dani. They’ll have been on the table with everything else. There have been gifts turning up all day, enough lingerie to stock a small shop, and heaps of condolence cards and flowers for Elspeth. Liam and Tony were tidying it up. Whisky is useful, unlike most of the stuff. This is probably from some fruit-loop fa
n trying to stir trouble between you and Xane, because they don’t want their sex god to be taken.’

  ‘Then why are all the images of him with men?’

  ‘Because you’re homophobic.’

  ‘I am not.’ She threw a vicious scowl in his direction, which only succeeded in making him roll his eyes. ‘Luthor, this isn’t your idea of a joke, is it? After what you said earlier, you’re not trying to prove a point or get rid of me or something?’

  ‘Dani, that’d be seriously underhand. I’m not that Machiavellian. I’ve been straight with you. I fancy your boyfriend, all right, but I’m not about to deliberately split you up in order to claim him.’ He flipped through the photographs again. ‘Look, I don’t understand why you’re riled by this stuff. They were probably taken aeons ago. It’s not like you aren’t aware that he’s had a long and varied sexual history. See here, isn’t this one of him and Steve Matlock?’ He fell quiet a moment as he studied the rather graphic image more thoroughly. ‘I guess the rumours about those two were true then?’

  ‘Yes, but …’

  ‘There is no but, leastways not about the content. He swings both ways, so what? He’s chosen to be with you right now. What’s important is to work out where they came from. Who knows you well enough to realise images of Xane with a bunch of men would irk you more than pictures of him with girls draped off every limb?’

  ‘A minute ago you said you thought they’d been sent by a fan.’

  ‘Then I changed my mind.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said huffily. She wasn’t sure having Luthor interestedly flicking through the images was really helping. ‘Xane, I guess, and you.’

  ‘I already said I didn’t send these. Who else?’

  ‘My mum.’

  ‘Your mum!’ He gaped at her incredulously.

  ‘Yes, maybe. I don’t know. She’s not very sane all the time. She thinks Xane’s a hedonistic wretch and he’s corrupted me.’

  ‘OK.’

  ‘I don’t think it is her, though.’ While her mother and her cronies at the Sisterhood of St Agatha’s were crazy enough to do something like this, it wasn’t really their style. They, like Luthor, favoured a direct approach. ‘I guess any one of the band or roadies might have realised, since you seem to think it’s so obvious. And I don’t know if Xane’s discussed it with anyone.’