Come Together

by Madelynne Ellis

  ‘Is there one of the band that dislikes you enough to want to get rid of you?’

  ‘You’re joking, right? Elspeth hates me. She won’t even acknowledge me. And I bet I know where she got these from too.’

  Luthor waited patiently for her to enlighten him.

  ‘Spook. He has scrapbooks full of images.’ Though she refused to believe he was the one trying to scare her off. He’d been perfectly lovely to her.

  ‘Then I guess you’d better tell Xane. If one of his bandmates is threatening you, he ought to know about it.’

  Dani shook her head. ‘I’ve no hard evidence it’s her.’ And she knew what would happen if Xane found out, or even suspected Elspeth were behind this. The band would split again. There’d be no tour, no more albums and definitely no chance of Luthor ever playing drums for them. They were only together now because Steve died. Maybe splitting them up was what whoever had sent these things intended. ‘I think I should just pretend this didn’t happen, and so should you.’

  ‘Seriously, you’re going to keep this from him?’ He stared at her as if she’d grown another head. ‘What if things escalate? You’ve already been attacked once.’

  ‘If anything else happens, then I’ll tell him,’ she said, not at all sure if she meant to keep that promise. She didn’t want to be responsible for Black Halo’s demise, and photographs couldn’t really hurt her. They were just bits of paper, and, as Luthor had rightly pointed out, these were incidents from Xane’s past. It wasn’t as if he was seeing someone now behind her back.

  ‘Dani?’ Xane’s arrival caused them both to jump. His sensual mouth pulled into a grim pout as he set eyes on Luthor. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Nothing,’ she gasped. ‘Luthor and I were just talking. I thought there might have been a card with your present, but there wasn’t. Are we set to go to dinner now?’

  Xane nodded, though he continued to eye Luthor suspiciously. ‘The taxi’s supposed to be outside.’

  * * *

  Luthor stared mournfully at their retreating backs, sorry that he wasn’t invited and part of their plans for the evening. He couldn’t help it. He experienced two kicks every time he set eyes on Xane, the one that set his pulse racing and turned his internal thermostat to forty, closely followed by the boot in the butt as he realised he didn’t stand a chance. Xane was over him. If he’d ever really been into him, and imagining otherwise wasn’t going to do his sanity any favours. It couldn’t stop him dreaming, though.

  Once they were out of sight, Luthor took a moment to reassess the photographs to make sure none of them featured him. It was unlikely. He and Xane had only spent one night together and that had been three years ago. Still, he breathed a sigh of relief when he established he wasn’t among the men depicted, although, if he had been, perhaps that wouldn’t have been so bad. He hated keeping things from people. It amounted to lying and he was all for being open and honest. If it were down to him, then he’d have told Dani that he and Xane had met before. Pretending otherwise simply turned something relatively minor into a ticking bomb.

  And it wasn’t as if Xane was interested in repeating the experience.

  Not that he was completely without hope. That brief kiss they’d shared a few days back had sure as hell burned.

  As for Dani’s assertion that Elspeth was responsible for the photographs, he had to admit she made an appealing suspect, being both Xane’s ex-girlfriend and slightly unhinged after her recent bereavement. The thing was, he couldn’t quite convince himself she was to blame. What was her motivation? From what he’d heard, she’d been the one to dump Xane. Also, she was too wrapped up in her own grief to be capable of orchestrating anything.

  No, he suspected that whoever was responsible was counting on Elspeth taking the rap.

  He glanced around at the few members of the crew still working, suddenly suspicious. Maybe this wasn’t about Dani and Xane’s relationship. Maybe it was about the band. They’d almost come apart completely not so very long ago. Perhaps now someone wanted them to come apart for good. It was a horribly sobering thought.

  Chapter 19

  Xane felt a sense of deep unease weighing down his shoulders as he and Dani joined the rest of the band in the mini-bus taxi waiting to take them to the restaurant. She and Luthor had been too intently focused for him to be able to believe they’d been talking about anything mundane. Witness the way they’d leaped apart, for God’s sake.

  What had they been whispering about? What the fuck had Luthor said?

  He’d promised to keep his mouth shut, but when was that any guarantee? There were about two people in the world Xane implicitly trusted: himself and his cousin Ric.

  ‘Is everything all right?’ he asked three times in quick succession. He received three affirmatives. So presumably whatever it was that Luthor had said hadn’t pissed her off. It couldn’t be anything about his and Luthor’s past, then. She’d definitely have been up in arms about that.

  Xane’s irritation wasn’t improved when they all packed into the taxi and Ash and Iain co-opted Dani. They sat either side of her on the back seat, leaving a space beside him that Elspeth slid into.

  ‘You know she’s too sweet for you?’ his ex-girlfriend remarked. She rested her hand upon his thigh, which caused his balls to retreat. He resisted the urge to squirm as they attempted to climb back inside him. ‘I know the things you like and what gets you all hot and bothered. Xane, she isn’t it.’

  ‘You don’t know me half as well as you think.’ He’d never shared that side of himself with her. Their relationship had been all about sex and not a whole lot of anything else. Having emerged from it, he was glad of the fact. He didn’t trust her not to blab, or use anything he’d said against him. ‘What do you want?’ He moved her hand from his thigh. ‘And keep your hands to yourself.’

  She folded her arms. ‘We should talk.’

  ‘Elspeth, we don’t have anything to talk about.’ He hadn’t even wanted her along on the tour. She was only here at Rock Giant’s insistence.

  ‘Steve,’ she replied. ‘I know it all went horribly wrong, but we need to properly talk it through in order for us to move forward. And I still care about you.’

  ‘No,’ he said vehemently. She didn’t give a hoot about him. She was only out for herself, and to make him as miserable as she’d ended up. ‘We don’t need to discuss anything. There’s no spark between us that’s about to rekindle. You screwed me over in the worst way imaginable. I’m not about to forgive you for it. I never will. The only interaction we need to have is with regard to the music. That’s it. Got it?’

  He didn’t wait for her to answer, knowing she’d probably object or just pretend he hadn’t spoken. Instead he turned to the window and watched the landscape roll past. By the time they reached the restaurant, his jaw ached and he had a tension headache. All he wanted to do was grab hold of Dani and run away with her.

  Matters didn’t improve much once they all sat down to eat. The food was good, but Iain’s all-out attempts to ingratiate himself were annoying. He’d related a series of showbiz anecdotes, each more ludicrous than the last. Currently he was telling Dani a story about some music-award ceremony at which Black Halo had allegedly sent Elspeth up to collect the award alone because the rest of them were being fellated by groupies they’d smuggled in and hidden under their table. It was total fiction. There’d only been one woman involved, it’d been at a totally different event, and she’d targeted Spook, who’d gone ballistic about being felt up and had her carted off by security. Oh, and they hadn’t been receiving an award. Elspeth had been on stage alone because she was presenting an award.

  ‘Does he ever shut the fuck up?’ Xane leaned over and whispered to Ash, who was busy composing surreptitious texts under the table and didn’t seem to be paying much attention to his motor-mouthed friend.

  ‘Iain always yammers when he’s nervous. Give him time, he’ll settle.’

  Xane reckoned Iain had five minutes left on the bullshi
t meter before he got something hurled at him. He pre-emptively eyed a bread roll. It might not be what Spook had in mind for the evening, but he reckoned a Black Halo versus Iain Willows food fight might go a long way to reducing the tension. Nothing brought people together better than something to unite against. Of course, Ash might not be too impressed by them pelting his buddy with bits of food, assuming he even noticed.

  Xane was about to prod Ash again when Ash shoved back his chair, leaving behind a plateful of food. ‘Listen, I’ve got to go.’

  ‘But you’ve barely touched your meal,’ Spook observed. It was highly unlike Ash not to wolf down everything in sight. Typically, food even won out over pussy. This girl – he didn’t doubt that Ash was headed between some girl’s legs – was obviously something special. Not that it made it OK for him to leave. They’d all promised Spook faithfully that they’d attend and stick it out for three courses. Given the headache Xane was currently sporting, he was prepared to tie Ash to the chair, if necessary, in order to get him to comply. If he had to be stoic about this, then so did every bugger else.

  ‘You’re skipping out on us?’ Rock Giant remarked, before Xane could make a similar protest. ‘I thought there were rules to this meal. Everyone stays the distance being the primary.’

  ‘Yeah.’ Ash offered them his most piteous grin. ‘But something’s come up. I’d love to stay and hang with you guys, but I’ve got to deal with this right away, and I’m totally available any time tomorrow for a heart-to-heart, should anyone feel the need.’

  ‘With you, something’s always up,’ Elspeth mumbled. ‘I’m surprised you don’t routinely faint.’

  ‘You’re just jealous you’ve never had a sample.’ He blew her a kiss.

  ‘Babe, you wouldn’t know how to satisfy me. I go for experts, not dabblers.’ She shot a glance at Xane, which he endeavoured not to notice.

  Beside him, Dani’s whole body stiffened. He wanted to reassure her that he and Elspeth were never going to be an item again. His skin crawled at the mere thought of it. Lord knows what he’d been thinking when he hooked up with her the first time around.

  ‘Ash,’ Xane growled.

  ‘Seriously, I need to leave. It’s fucking important.’

  Xane nearly remarked that someone had better be dying, but then thought better of it. Deaths … Steve dying was the last thing they all needed to be thinking about.

  ‘Company?’ Iain enquired, looking hopefully at Ash. He scraped his chair back in anticipation.

  Ash clapped him on the back, forcing him back into his seat. ‘I think you should stay and bond with the guys some more. I’ll catch you all later. Play nice, everyone.’

  Ash left, and Iain started on another story. Fuck it, this was pants. Xane seriously needed some time out. He was about to bail too, when Spook caught his eye. ‘Please,’ he mouthed.

  Xane settled back down. OK, he’d stay and support Spook’s effort to get them all working together as a happy team again, but he was going to indulge in a few minutes’ respite. He leaned towards Dani and stroked a finger across the back of her hand. ‘Go to the restroom. I’ll follow you in thirty seconds.’

  ‘Xane?’ She peeped at him without fully turning to face him.

  ‘Remember Monte Carlo?’ He’d been having a drink with some fans there when she’d accused him of making plans to meet one of them in the toilets for a quickie. A quickie sounded like a very glorious thing at the moment.

  She hesitated. ‘Everyone will know. What if we get caught?’

  He inched his pierced eyebrow up a fraction. ‘What, are we not allowed to visit the bathroom at approximately the same time?’

  ‘OK.’ She stood. ‘Back in a moment,’ she apologised to the group. No one paid her departure much attention. Xane remained in his seat for a minute or two, then got up.

  ‘Going somewhere?’ Elspeth asked. Her pale eyes narrowed upon him like she could fire laser beams.

  ‘Yeah, call of nature. Sorry, I didn’t know I need to ask your permission, mum.’

  ‘As long as you’re not sneaking off. It’s bad enough that Ash can’t respect Spook’s wishes.’

  ‘If I was leaving, I’d have said so. Honestly, what’s the big deal with me taking a leak?’ He gave Spook’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze to make sure his friend understood he intended to return. ‘Back in a few.’

  ‘Is this what she wants?’ Spook murmured to him. ‘Be careful, Xane. We’ve all seen the habits you fall into. I know it’s new love and all that but …’

  Xane frowned as if he didn’t know what the hell Spook was talking about. What habits? This wasn’t remotely the same as the times in his past when he’d sneaked off with some random stranger. He was just taking five to enjoy a bit of one-on-one time with his girlfriend, that’s all. Why wouldn’t he do that? She was hot and pretty, and the conversation around the dinner table sucked. He was sick of Iain blabbing and Elspeth giving him shitty looks. Dani soothed him. When he was with her he didn’t have to pretend everything was fine, because everything was fine. All that mattered was her and him – his hands on her and her mouth on him. Dani made the shit in his life disappear. And she was totally into him in the same way he was into her. Spook didn’t have a fucking clue what he was talking about. ‘Back soon,’ he insisted.

  Chapter 20

  ‘What are we doing?’ Dani hissed at Xane the moment he appeared. She was waiting in the short stretch of concealed corridor outside the restaurant washrooms.

  He turned his lip ring with his tongue. ‘Wasn’t I explicit enough?’

  ‘I didn’t think you were serious.’ She’d expected him to suggest they slip out the back door or something and make their way to whichever hotel he intended to be their home for the night. She hadn’t expected them to get frisky in a public washroom. Although, thinking about it, she ought to have known he’d have no qualms about such a thing. The man was a total exhibitionist.

  ‘Xane, anyone might walk in.’ Like literally anyone. One brush with the media was enough for a lifetime as far as she was concerned. Xane took that sort of attention in his stride.

  ‘No one’s going to walk in.’ He grasped her hand. ‘Come on, admit you’re tempted.’

  ‘How are they not going to walk in?’

  He grinned broadly. ‘Because everyone else obeys the rules.’ He tugged her towards a third door off the corridor, one she’d previously overlooked, owing to the fact that it was marked PERSONNEL AUTORISÉ SEULEMENT.

  ‘Xane, it’s out of bounds.’

  ‘Exactly.’ He tugged her inside the cupboard. A spare chalkboard rested against one wall, along with an assortment of mops, buckets and brooms. A long shelf ran the length of one wall, stacked with napkins and other linen. Xane flicked the light on, then changed his mind and turned the stark single bulb off again. The dark seemed more sensual somehow, and it was frighteningly dark once he’d pulled the door to, with only the faintest glimmer of light from the corridor visible around the edge of the frame.

  Dani felt around her and found Xane. Immediately he drew her into his arms, so his hands rested against her lower back. Whatever doubts she sometimes entertained, she couldn’t deny his continued interest in her. He seemed determined to love every inch of her at every opportunity.

  ‘Was Elspeth hitting on you earlier?’

  ‘Hm.’

  She wished she could see his expression. ‘Should I be worried?’

  ‘About Elspeth? God, no!’

  ‘Other things?’ Her mind produced those blasted photographs again. She knew Luthor was probably right and they’d been taken ages ago, long before they’d met, but it was hard to dismiss something quite that graphic. The ones of Xane with his arms around other guys, pecking their cheeks, she could file away without too much concern. It was the full frontal, graphic nudity, I’m hardcore fucking this guy and loving every second of it, ones that had her insides in knots.

  ‘Dani, the only thing you need to be concerned about is what I have planned for you r
ight now.’

  ‘Which is?’

  His palm curved against her derrière. ‘Wouldn’t you rather it was a surprise?’

  ‘I don’t know. Will it involve things that’ll make me blush, played out in a location not meant for such a purpose?’

  His hands circled over her rear. ‘Could be.’

  ‘You want to do dirty things in a closet?’

  ‘No, I want to do dirty things with you in a Michelin-starred closet.’

  ‘I don’t think they awarded the chef his stars for his cupboard.’

  ‘I didn’t think you were interested in the chef.’

  ‘I’m not,’ she agreed. ‘I’m only interested in the star lurking in the closet.’ She moved her hands from his waist and slid them under the waistband of his leathers, deciding she needed to roll with this and have some fun, and not question his motives or past too intently. Their relationship had already lasted far longer than she’d expected.

  ‘Ah, ah.’ Xane caught her wrists and replaced her hands on his waist. ‘I think we know what happens when you go exploring there.’

  ‘You get hard,’ she said hopefully. Nothing drove away her doubts as effectively as seeing how turned on he was by her efforts.

  ‘Hmm,’ he sighed, pressing his nose and lips to the top of her head and breathing in her scent. ‘I’m not sure that’s true yet. Maybe you’d better check.’

  It was too dark to see what she was doing, which forced her to rely on her other senses. She found him through heat and touch and the scent of his skin.

  Dani loosened his belt and slid down his zip, so that the top of his leathers grew loose. He was hard all right, and slick with his need for her. She bent, intending to kneel and take him in her mouth, but Xane caught her beneath her arms and held her upright.