“Briar?”
“Yes. Hayden calls you Ets.”
I started to put out my hand for him to shake, but he crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. My spine stiffened as he did a once-over, starting at my feet.
“Can’t say I think you’re that special.”
“You don’t have to,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “I’m here to see Hayden.”
Ets smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “That’s the rub of it. Ben found me. And I’m not letting you in.”
I raised an eyebrow but my heart slammed against my ribs.
“You’re a cool one, I’ll give you that.” He leaned forward. “But you’ve fucked with Hayden’s head. He can’t keep it in the music. That’s because of you, and I don’t like what you’ve done to him.”
In all the possibilities I’d considered, this wasn’t one of them. I knew the situation between Hayden and Ets was strained, but I didn’t think he’d try to stop me from seeing Hayden.
“Look, I don’t want to cause any problems between you,” I started. My phone beeped and I resisted the urge to look at it.
“You already have. Everything was fine before he went to Seattle.”
“Are you really going to try to stop me from seeing Hayden?”
“No. I’m not trying. I’m doing. He’s sandwiched between two groupies and looks happy as a clam. So turn around and go home.”
He shut the door in my face. I blinked, disbelief warring with anger and shame. The shame won and my face burned. People saw that—heard him talk to me that way. My phone beeped again. I pulled it out.
Lia said simply, Text Hayden.
But—two groupies? Of course I knew how easy it was to get sex. Still, he’d told me he loved me. Last time Ets pulled something like this, Hayden stayed up all night to ensure he told me his version of the story.
I’d believe him. Hayden wanted me here.
I pulled up his name. I’m here, at Melkweg. I wanted it to be a surprise, but Ets just shut the side door in my face. Maybe because you told him to? If you want me to leave, I will.
“You’re Briar. Hayden’s Briar.” I turned to find a young girl looking at me.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re Hayden’s girlfriend. Why didn’t Ets let you backstage?”
The girl’s friend asked her a question, eyeing me. She answered, and the groupie’s gaze turned apprising. “Marie wants to know if you can get us backstage passes.”
I shook my head. “The security guard took mine,” I said. My chest ached.
“Why would the security guard take your pass?”
I glanced over and saw a growing group of people surrounding me. Someone snapped my picture. Another flash.
“Why aren’t you backstage with Hayden?” someone in the crowd called—probably a reporter.
“Did you break up with him because he was cheating?” another asked.
“Are you angry he didn’t come to your friend’s funeral?”
“Do you like to do threesomes?”
The questions shot at me, so rapid-fire they landed over each other, hard to tease apart and understand. More flashes as more people took my picture. I was hemmed in, surrounded. I pressed against the wall. Stupid move, and I regretted it immediately. The crowd leaned in, pressing closer. The camera flashes caused my head to ache.
“Please, back up. I need some space.”
“What brings you to a Jackaroo concert?”
“Did you and Hayden get married in Seattle?”
“Back up!” I yelled. One of the men grabbed my arm.
“Look this way,” he said.
“Let go!” The fear, anger, and frustration overwhelmed me.
Coming here was a mistake. A big one. I whirled around and ran straight into the security guard who’d taken my pass. I stumbled back, trying to keep my balance, but my purse slid off my arm, its contents spilled onto the floor. The security guard gripped my biceps to steady me. More flashes. More intrusive pictures. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what the papers would print this time.
“Don’t touch me,” I said, close to hysteria. “This is your fault.”
“Look, lady, you need to calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.” My hand dashed at the tear sliding from my eye. “I just traveled five thousand miles to see my boyfriend and you took away my pass.”
“What are you talking about?” He sounded shocked.
“You took away Briar’s pass?”
“Did Hayden tell you to do that?”
“When did you break up with Hayden, Briar?”
I dropped to the ground and picked up my purse, shoving back in my phone, my passport, lip gloss, and my hotel key card.
Ben snatched the card from me, turning it over. “Only the band’s staying at this hotel,” he said, eyes fixated on the card.
“I know that.” I snatched the key card from his hand and managed to duck out from under the crowd hemming me in.
“When did you check in to the hotel?” a reporter next to me asked.
“How long are you staying with Hayden on tour?”
I couldn’t breathe. Flash. Flash. This was worse than anything I’d dealt with before. Flash. I bolted toward the exit.
“Hey! You can’t leave now.”
Oh, yes, I could, and I was. Albeit slowly. The crowd was larger, maybe triple the size of when I’d arrived. Moving back through the melee was nearly impossible. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the headlines for tomorrow’s papers, but with the crowd of reporters here, I knew I’d be humiliated. Again. Especially now that Hayden hadn’t answered my text.
He’d made his point.
I’d misunderstood. Somehow, I’d gotten our relationship wrong. Sandwiched between two groupies.
An image I’d never, ever get out of my head. I swiped at another tear. So much for my grand gesture.
Finally, I could see the exit. I sucked in another breath. My credit cards and passport were tucked into my purse. I’d go home, crawl into bed with Princess, and never get out again.
39
Hayden
“Maybe he’s being told off about all the passes he’s handed out,” Flip said, raising his chin to indicate Ben and Ets, who were in the hall backstage. I saw Ets take a pass from Ben before he glanced in at us then walked down the hall toward the side entrance of the venue.
“Picking up another woman, more like,” Jake said, his voice laced with disgust. “Mila leaving like that hurt him, sure, but he’s become a complete man-whore.”
I shrugged. “Keeps him from bothering me. You haven’t seen my phone, right?”
“You already asked. No,” Flip answered.
I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. I’d never gone this long without checking my messages, the sites.
I grabbed a bottle of water from the table. We’d be on in about fifteen minutes. Once I got back to the hotel, I’d call Briar again. I needed to hear her voice, for her to give me a reason to continue to fight for us.
The local band opening for us, an indie group called Berg, filed into the room. “People listened to us,” Jonah, the lead singer, said.
“Well, that’s kind of the point.” Flip chuckled.
“We’ve been to plenty of gigs where the audience didn’t even show until the main act went on. This was better.”
“Until that girl started screaming,” Topi said. He shook his head. “I don’t like the idea of a woman being molested. The crowd really hemmed her in.”
“Here?” I asked, throwing my empty bottle into the trash. “Did security get involved?”
“One of your security guards was talking to her, but she was upset. Cameras were all over her. Pretty thing.”
“Tall,” Jonah said. “Her dark hair was nice in those big curls. Looked a bit like your girl from the papers.” Jonah raised his chin toward me.
“Couldn’t have been. She’s in Seattle,” I said.
“Glad the show went well for
you guys,” Jake said.
I stretched, searching the room once again for my phone. Suspicion nagged me. I glanced back toward the door. “Where’s Ets’s bag?” I asked.
Jake pointed. I went over and opened it. Sure enough, my phone was there, buried under his picks, a T-shirt, and a box of condoms.
“Your brother is a complete wanker,” I said, rising. I turned on my phone and walked toward the door. “He and I are having words.”
“He took your phone?” Jake asked. “Shit. I’m coming with.”
“Hayden, don’t do anything stupid, mate. The press is out there,” Flip said.
I glanced down, a thrill running through me when Briar’s name popped up. I read the message as I walked.
“Bloody hell,” I yelled, and started running.
“What now?” Jake asked.
“Briar’s here. Ets wouldn’t let her backstage.” Jonah had said the screaming girl looked like Briar. Crikey. “If she’s hurt . . . ”
Rounding the corner, I nearly plowed into Ben.
“I didn’t recognize her,” he panted.
“You met Briar out there?”
He nodded. I sidestepped around him and started running.
“She’s crying. I couldn’t get her to come back. She headed toward the front exit.”
“Bloody hell,” Flip shouted.
Exactly. I burst through the doors, Flip following close behind, out into the venue, and immediately saw the group of reporters near the groupie door. Aw, hell. They’d mobbed her. The crowd turned as one to stare at us. Girls started screaming and bodies pressed forward, touching. I craned my neck.
“Briar!” I bellowed. My voice was drowned out by the screaming.
Flip grunted, cursing. “I’m going to the stage.”
I nodded once, pushing my way through the grasping hands, panic pressing hard against my chest. “Briar!”
My shirt ripped at the shoulder, fingernails scored my arm. I kept pushing forward. My eyes scanned the crowd, and I kept yelling for her. This, even for Ets, was too far. She’d been crying. Fear built in my chest, pushing out.
“Briar Moore, if you’re still here, Hayden is trying to find you.”
Ah, Flip was on the stage. Good.
“Anyone seen Hayden’s girlfriend?” Flip asked. “She’s tall, dark hair, blue eyes.”
Realizing I wasn’t out to socialize, people began to step back, letting me through. Everyone craned their necks, searching for her mink-brown hair.
“Briar!” I bellowed.
I scanned the sea of bodies but kept pushing toward the exit. Ben said she was heading toward the taxi station when he’d come backstage. She might already be gone.
I was most of the way through the auditorium now. My insides curdled. She wasn’t here.
Then I saw a glimmer of that mink brown I missed so much. Yes! She walked back into the building. Her dark hair rioted around her head in thick ringlets, her long, athletic legs clad in tight jeans that showed off her trim thighs. As I got closer, her pretty pink lips parted in surprise. Her eyes were damp, the lashes clumping together.
I pushed around a guy in a hoodie and a girl in a tiny red dress and then my palms were on the soft skin of her cheeks. I bent my head, my lips settling over hers.
She opened her mouth, and her taste rushed over my tongue. I moaned, wrapping one of my arms around her hips and pulling her tight against me as my other hand speared into her hair. I kissed her and kissed her, drunk on her essence.
Finally, I was whole.
“All right now, Hayden. You have a different kind of show to put on tonight.” Flip’s voice. Through a mic. Right-o. I was on the floor of a music venue surrounded by at least two thousand people. Flip stood on the stage, smirking.
This wasn’t the place for the kind of kissing I needed, much as I wanted to continue. With one last moan, I pulled back slowly, loving the way my lips clung to hers.
“You’re here,” I said. My voice was raw, pulsing with lust.
She blinked up at me. I wiped my thumbs under her eyes, clearing away the smudged mascara.
“Supposed to be a surprise.”
I leaned my forehead against hers. “The best one.” Unable to resist, I placed a soft, chaste kiss at the corner of her mouth. She shivered.
“Ets said you were with two women,” Briar said, her voice uncertain.
“How could I be? All I can think about is you.”
I pulled back and the crowd around us roared its approval—stamping feet filled the auditorium. Some people whistled, others catcalled. I didn’t have to look to know Briar’s face was suffused in color.
“This turned out to be more challenging than I’d expected,” she said as she snuggled into my side. I smiled, everything clicking into place. This, now, this wasn’t a moment I’d forget.
“Stick with me, love. I’ll keep life interesting.”
“You always do,” she said, tipping her face back to smile at me. I kissed her again and the crowd clapped and screamed.
I glanced around, unsurprised to see reporters closing in around us. Briar raised her eyebrow a little at my gaze and sighed.
“They surrounded me,” she said.
“We didn’t get much of a story,” one of the men grumbled.
“Love doesn’t sell many newspapers,” another said.
“Why can’t someone get high? Or smash things. We need another Liam Gallagher. He was interesting.”
Briar shook her head, a wry smile flipping the corners of her mouth. “Thank God. I plan to be really boring for a long time.”
“I’m as boring and in love as they come,” I said, kissing her under her eye, in my spot.
The crowd began to roar, “Briar’s song! Briar’s song!”
The chant got louder, more demanding. I pulled her forward, toward the stage. Briar balked, shaking her head frantically, but I kept pulling her up toward the stage. I boosted her up onto the raised platform and followed. I grabbed her hand and bowed deep, laughing when Briar curtsied.
When the noise reached an even higher level, her eyes sparkled and her mouth twisted up in a mischievous grin.
“This is kinda fun,” she said.
“I’ll make a performer out of you yet.”
She rolled her eyes, the grin growing on her face. “That’s a no.”
I positioned her on the end of the piano bench, farther from the crowd. I shucked my button-down, shaking my head when Harry offered another. I threw the ripped shirt into the screaming crowd. Briar’s big blue eyes widened as I untucked my black T-shirt before sliding onto the piano bench next to her. “Never stripped onstage before,” I said with a wink. “Or played with a woman on my bench.”
She smiled, her eyes as soft as her mouth. “I missed you,” she whispered as I positioned the mic.
“The song is called ‘Between Breaths,’” I told the crowd. Picking up Briar’s hand, I pressed a kiss to her palm. “And this one’s for you, love.”
Being onstage with Briar here was a different kind of high. Flip hit his drum kit hard and I smiled. Jake raked through his chords, charging in on his bass while Ets held a long, powerful note. I leaned into the mic, singing the words I’d been holding in.
The guys revved on my energy and it spilled over into the crowd, feeding back to us. This was what a concert was supposed to be.
40
Briar
After the song, I slipped off the piano bench and headed to the side. Hayden’s gaze followed my progress, but his fingers never missed a key or a note. I shook my head, and he winked. So I blew him a kiss.
“Sorry about earlier, Ms. Moore.” The security guard who’d taken my pass rubbed his hands over his bald head. “Hayden’s going to kill me, no doubt there. At least fire me.” He shrugged. “I didn’t recognize you.”
Nice eyes. Light brown. Not as rich as Hayden’s.
“What’s your name?”
“Ben Carr.”
I extended my hand. He took it carefully,
and I knew he wondered if I’d yell or bite or something equally as horrible.
“Nice to meet you, Ben.”
His thin lips curled up, sardonic and apologetic all at once. “You don’t mean that. But I appreciate the thought anyway.”
He let go and stepped back. I realized why when I noticed Hayden glaring at him. I crossed my arm over my body, clasping my far elbow.
“Why don’t you tell me more about the situation?” I asked.
“Not much to tell. Your tag—or at least one like it—black markets for about ten G’s. The girls who get ’em think they’ll automatically get one of the guys to, er, you know, do stuff together.”
I bit back a smile. “They expect sex?”
He swallowed hard, his whole head turning red. “Most of the time.”
“So your job is to keep the groupies from the band.”
“In a nutshell.”
“I’m not a groupie,” I said.
“No, ma’am. That’s why Hayden’s going to kill me.”
“Ets said Hayden was with groupies,” I said.
Ben snorted. “Hayden hasn’t been interested in a woman since he came back from Seattle. That’s another reason why I figured your tag was black market.” He shook his head. “I shoulda realized it was you. I’m so sorry.”
I turned back to watch Hayden, relief at Ben’s confirmation easing the last of my concerns. “I’ll worry about Hayden as long as you keep the other women away from him.”
“He does a good job on his own.”
I smiled at Ben’s reply. Harry, Hayden’s manager, came over and offered to take me to the front row, but I declined. I stood there for the rest of the concert, happier each time Hayden glanced my way. The band nailed their songs, and they came off the stage euphoric.
“Best show yet!” Flip said, man-hugging Hayden, Jake, and even Ets. Jake’s smile was wide, guileless, but Ets . . . I shivered as a cobra-like darkness uncoiled in his eyes.
“Good show,” I said to Hayden.
“Better with you here.” Hayden kissed me near my eye, in that spot that drove me wild. I shivered and laid my head against his sweaty chest. He nodded his thanks when Harry handed him a fresh T-shirt.
Seattle Sound Series, The Collection: Books One to Five Page 51
