Giving Up the Ghost

by Stella Price

  “Ok we are ready to do this…”

  Pulled from her musings she looked up from her padfolio and watched as the band was grouped on the far end of the studio. They were all dressed and the makeup was on them. She watched them, undisguised approval written on her face. They all looked great, the epitome of rock star, right down to the devil may care expressions on their faces.

  And dear god, did Rhys have to look so fucking good? Apparently it was scripture; Rhys Bellamy was to remain the single most interesting male on earth to her. She pulled her attention from him, checking over Tosh and Chandler, both of them standing behind and to the left of Rhys. Yes, she had to give it to them, they did look hot. Winter and Nyx were to Rhys’ right, and they too painted a pretty picture, Nyx the sole female and dressed to stand out.

  The pictures started snapping, and they moved, talked, and posed. Some were action shots, where Nyx was jumping around, piggybacking the guys, others were of her in Rhys’ arms, with him dipping her. It was all in good fun, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

  Soon after, the boys were dismissed.Nyx was left on set alone, so they could take some shots of her for her own pictorial.. She smiled as Nyx caught her eye and blushed. It was obvious that she wasn’t used to the attention, but she did deserve it.The woman was amazing for the fact alone that she dealt with four men on a daily basis and didn’t kill them.

  “So how did we do?” Winter asked as he approached her, a bottle of water in his hand.

  “Hot,” she said with a shrug. “I expected nothing less. Total wank material.”

  “As always…” he grinned.

  “Well you guys are done for the next thirty six hours. I trust you have a full agenda?”

  Winter nodded with a sly smile. “Indeed. Lots to do, less time to do it in. So what about you, you ever been to LA before?”

  Saffron nodded. “Twice before on tour. Nothing major.”

  “So what’s your plans then manager?” he asked and took a sip of his water.

  “Nothing exciting I’m sure. I’m thinking a long soak in my suite’s tub after a massage at the spa at the hotel.”

  “Don’t let Rhys hear you talk like that love,” he offered. “Or you will have him hiding in your closet, or worse, waiting for you au natural in that tub you talked about.”

  Saffron rolled her eyes, not giving away the fact that the idea, and the visual in her mind’s eye made her body clench in low places. “I am not worried in the slightest.” She looked over to the warehouse studio’s far side and nodded. “He’s already engaged it seems which is fine by me.”

  Winter looked over to see three girls all hugging Rhys and then looked back to Saffron. “Ah, that would be my dates, and only because he bowed out. Look Saff, some advice? Rhys sees you as a challenge, because you are playing hard to get. If you like him, I mean really like him, then keep it up, cuz it’s the only way you’re going to win his fickle ass. If you don’t, then accost him in his room, ride him like a pony and then fawn over him. Sure way to have him move on, believe me.”

  Saffron frowned at Winter. “And you’re an expert?”

  Winter shrugged. “How do you think Phaedra got him to adore her?”

  Saffron laughed. “Sure it wasn’t because she was uber hot and sexy?”

  “Oh she was, we are twins you know…” he winked. “But that wasn’t it.She was all those things, but when it came down to it? She spurned him, and it made him insane. You know those people that have to be liked by everyone? Well Rhys has to be adored by women. His ego will stand nothing else.”

  “Whose ego?” Rhys said as he stopped and stood in front of them.

  Winter grinned. “Explaining Tosh and Nyx to her.”

  “Uh huh. Well Sandy and the girls are nearly vibrating over there for you to pay some attention to them.”

  Winter licked his bottom lip. “Odds are because they are all stuffed with vibrators already.”

  Saffron choked on the water she was drinking, sputtering as she coughed.

  “And on that note, my job has been done. See you guys at sound check.” Winter strolled past them, towards the gaggle of women standing near the entrance.

  “You alright there?” Rhys asked and shook his head. “Such an ass.”

  Saffron coughed a few more times and shook her head. “Oh he’s paying for that.”

  “Once you get to know him you will realize that he does far too much to shock people. Being blasé about it is your only defense.”

  “I’ll remember that. So that’s him off, and it looks like Chandler has already left. Where is your entourage? No doubt you have some fun planned.”

  “I do, and I’m looking at her.”

  Saffron gave him an incredulous look. “Rhys, look I have too much to do.”

  “Horse shit. You just don’t wanna be alone with me.”

  “There is that. And I have some appointments.”

  “So I’ll go with you.”

  Something told her Rhys going with her for a massage wouldn’t work out well.Then second appointment, the one with her giant tub, would work out well for him, but she would still be stuck in the same hole she was in now, only deeper. No thank you.

  “Rhys don’t you have someplace you would rather be?”

  He shrugged. “Yes, actually. I was trying to ask you to come with me to the pier in Santa Monica. Come on, fun, rides, and games… and the ocean at dusk?”

  “What makes you think that just because I fucked you that I wanna spend any sort of time with you? I’m sure you have several women all fighting to be on your arm tonight.”

  His eyes narrowed at her insult and then shook it off. “Of course I do, but I don’t want them around. Look, I don’t wanna pretend. I don’t wanna be the jaded asshole tonight. I just wanna be me, and as much as you and I verbally spar, I’m the closest thing to me at home with you than with anyone else. Not sure why, so don’t ask. So what do you say? Do me a solid? Hangout with me, even though you don’t even like me, so I don’t have to play the part once again around people I could care less about?”

  Saffron was taken aback by his candid admission. She didn’t think he wasn’t playing a part with her, but apparently she was wrong. She looked him over, the glimmer of hope in his eyes as he waited for an answer. Truth was, if she admitted it to herself, she did wanna hangout with him, get to know the guy behind the voice.

  She sighed and then shrugged. “Maybe. I wasn’t kidding when I said I have things to do.”

  Rhys grinned. “Fair enough. How about I swing by your room before I head out? No pressure, though you would be saving me from walking around like an idiot completely alone.”

  Ah yeah, no pressure. “Fine.” She motioned over to a group of what looked like fans standing by the doorway. “I believe your adoring public is looking for you.”

  Rhys smirked. “Guess so. I’ll see you later then?”

  She nodded and watched as he sauntered over to the waiting throng; sure that he had a smug look on his face. She knew she got suckered in, but while he might have won this round, she would be the ultimate victor.

  ***

  The Santa Monica Pier was everything Saffron expected: hokey, touristy, and wildly overpriced. They had been there not an hour, the sun still on its path to setting far past the horizon, and she had already realized this little trip was going to end her. Rhys had picked her up at her room a little before seven, true to his word on giving her time to do everything she had to, including that massage and soak, though he didn’t know it. The man was a gentleman, so at odds with how he acted in Vegas, it got her guard up… initially. Even in the ride from the hotel in LA proper to the Pier, he was nice, never once mentioning their night in Vegas, and even had opened up about his past visits to LA that she relaxed. It seemed he did in fact just wanna relax and not have to play a part. If that was what he was wanting, then she could oblige, especially because it really wasn’t a hardship.

  They had missed the Aquarium by a mere hour, which had
Saffron quite sad. She loved seahorses and they had a very cool exhibit involving them so it was bittersweet. Had she known earlier she would have made plans around it. When she told Rhys he looked deeply put out that she missed it and then smiled.

  “Well shit, had I known I would have pulled you out of your room earlier.”

  “You wouldn’t have been able to. I was at the spa getting a massage.”

  He groaned at that, and then gave her a devastatingly sexy grin. “We do have tomorrow early. Could stop by and see it then if you want.”

  “Two trips out here in 2 days?” she asked and looked around.

  “It would be worth it though, don’t you think?”

  Saffron nodded. “Yeah, I do. Still, I have to be at the venue earlier then you guys.”

  Rhys waved it off. “I did say early didn’t I?”

  They walked towards the Carousel building, an old monstrosity out of the nineteen twenties, preserved through the ravages of time and the salt air. She regarded the building with interest, impressed with the upkeep.

  “You know, the only boardwalks I have ever been on are in New Jersey, and its nothing like this, not even Wildwood or Seaside Heights.”

  Rhys nodded looking up at the building before them. “Can’t say I have been to either. We did Bamboozle in Asbury Park one year, holy shit is that place the beach that time forgot. We had gotten there early, like three days since X was one of the promoters helping with the set up and all, and Jesus Christ, I’m not kidding, it felt like the place in general was lost to hopelessness. Everything was derelict, except the Stone Pony and the building the show was in. Kinda creepy really.”

  “Yes, Asbury Park is like a hole in the universe. Did you know you could hit the beach not 5 miles in either direction and everything is built up and touristy? Word has it Springsteen is trying to rebuild and shoot some new life into the town.”

  Rhys scoffed. “The only thing that’s going to do that is a hydrogen bomb. And don’t get me started on the spooks about the place.”

  He stopped talking and then looked down and shook his head, almost embarrassed, and sighed. “And you are probably wondering what the fuck I’m talking about right?”

  Saffron laughed. “I know all about your little ‘I see dead people’ thing. X told me, told me Winter was a demon too. While the entire thing kinda eludes me, well not everything, the Winter being a demon thing mostly, I don’t have a problem with it.” She moved closer to him and poked him in the chest. “So you can see the dead? Who cares? I mean there’s worse shit out there, you know?”

  Rhys looked at her with a jaundiced eye. “You’re serious? You’re not going to freak out?”

  “Hardly. Though I do reserve the right to freak out if Winter gets all horny and grows a tail.”

  Rhys laughed. “Not going to happen. Only full demons manifest physical changes. Winter just can use power, but you’ll have to ask him about that. I take it you met Dante then?”

  Saffron nodded. “He toasted her iPod dock just as I got to the meeting.”

  “Probably because she was playing some Norah Jones. He really hates that woman’s voice.” He grinned. “Fancy a soda?” he said and pointed to the Soda Jerks sign.

  She shrugged. “Why not? But you are not getting me on the carousel.”

  Rhys gave her a sly grin as he held the door open for her and she slipped through. “Just the carousel or rides in general?”

  “Just the carousel.” She said as she stepped up to the counter and started reading over the menu. “Wow they have Moxie.” She said and laughed.

  “What’s Moxie?”

  “Like the original soda. Kinda tastes like cough syrup with carbonation but it was all the rage back in the day.”

  “And I take it it doesn’t have the DXM that cough syrups now have?”

  “Opiate free, it just tastes like your getting meds.” She went through the listing of drinks again and then smiled. “Ooh and Phosphates too? I haven’t had one since Franklin Fountain in Philly.”

  “Again, lost me…”

  “You really know nothing about deserts do you?”

  He shrugged. “I know I like caramel and butterscotch, preferably off the stomach of a willing woman, but that’s about it.”

  She rolled her eyes. There was the Rhys she knew and was coming to expect. “Phosphates are acid soda’s, think carbonation, but a bit heavier. Crème soda, root beer, sarsaparilla, all made with phosphates.”

  “So that’s what you’re having?” he said as he motioned the clerk over.

  “Hell no, I respect my body!” she looked over and smiled at the clerk, who stood waiting patiently. “I’ll have a Cherry Lime Rickey.”

  “Same.” Rhys said and then sat next to her on the stool. “So what is it we just ordered?”

  “A yummy concoction of cherry syrup, lime cordial and soda water. I used to get them all the time at Astroland.”

  “Brooklyn?” he asked. “I have been there. We did a photo shoot for RADAR there. Weird place. Course, we were there in the fall, so there were few people about.”

  “Astroland, is fun in the summer, though you won’t catch me anywhere near the beach. No thank you.”

  The clerk came back and set the soda’s in front of them and doffed his hat. Rhys was lightning quick, paying for the drinks and then handed her one. She frowned. “You didn’t have to do that, I mean this isn’t a date or anything.”

  “Hell it’s not. You think I just take chicks to cool places like this?”

  She shrugged. “Whatever. So what’s next, after we consume all this sugar I mean. Aside from twitching that is.”

  Rhys got up from the stool and inclined his head. “Some games? Maybe a ride or two?”

  They walked out of the soda shoppe proper and stood watching the carousel as it loaded on passengers. A little kid with his mother sat on a large dragon, while a little girl and both her parents sat in a large booth that looked like a sleigh.

  “Sure you don’t wanna go on?”

  Saffron frowned. “You couldn’t pay me to get me on that thing.”

  Rhys looked confused. “It’s not like it’s scary or anything…”

  “I take it you never saw that Something Wicked This Way Comes flick? They had a carousel that went forward and made you get older, backwards, younger. No thank you.” She shuddered.

  Rhys laughed. “That is the most irrational fear I have ever heard of.”

  “Still a fear and it’s not something you’re breaking me of any time soon.”

  “Fair enough. So what else freaks you out, since hanging out with a guy that talks to ghosts doesn’t seem to have any effect.”

  She took a sip of her drink and purred in delight. “Ooh this was made really well.”

  “Answer the question Saff, and shame the devil.”

  Saffron turned to him, her back to the carousel as she considered him. “Fine. I don’t like heights, I have issue with bugs, mostly roaches, and I don’t like the ocean.”

  “Yet we are on a pier that juts into…”

  “I don’t mean the surf. There are things in the ocean that can and will kill me and I will never know what it was. That freaks me the fuck out.”

  Rhys nodded. “All ration fears, but that carousel one… I seriously think you need to let it go.”

  “Okay Mr. fancy pants, what the hell are you afraid of?”

  Rhys didn’t miss a beat. “That clown from Poltergeist. Ooh and bread pudding.”

  Saffron choked as she laughed at him. “And you say my fears are irrational.”

  “Please. Talks to dead people here, remember? That fucking clown, well one like it, we had one at my Grandfather Reemus’ antique store. And that fucker was possessed. So me and clowns?” he shook his head.

  “So you’re telling me you were harassed by a possessed spring armed clown?”

  “Yes.”

  “So you were really like that kid from that movie?”

  He shook his head. “Nope, I didn’t get my
seeing and hearing powers till I was eighteen, but necromancy runs in my family, and as a little kid I was sensitive, but not as severely as I am now.”

  “Makes sense. What about the bread pudding?”

  Rhys smirked. “Bread should not be pudding. Like meat should not be in loaf form.”

  Saffron laughed and shook her head. “Logical. But afraid of it?”

  Rhys shrugged. “Nothing made from bread should look like that.”

  “You are probably right,” she said and looked towards the open bay doors that lead back out to the pier. “Shall we walk? Finish these lovely soda’s far from anything that is going to screw with either of our psyche’s?”

  “As my lady wishes…” he said with a smirk. “How about hitting up Pacific Park? Some games, some rides?”

  “Why not.” She said and walked out of the building towards the dying light beyond.

  ***

  The pier was loud with whirling machinery, conversation and of course the shouts and screams of people having a good time on the rides and playing the games.

  They walked a while quietly, taking everything in. Rhys looked at everything, the games, the rides, the vendors, trying to figure out how the hell he was going to seduce her.

  Carnivals weren’t the sexiest of seductions, but then again, for the kinda girl Saffron was, she didn’t need sexy, she needed genuine, something that would show her he was interested in more than a physical relationship. So this was it. It was the same setting that sealed Dante’s fate with Xxieda while in New York, so it couldn’t hurt his chances, could it?

  “So when was the last carnival you were at?” she asked as she sucked the last of her soda from the straw.

  Rhys looked at her sideways. How she picked up his line of thinking he would never know. Was he that transparent? “Oddly it was a week before this tour started. I was in Shadow Heights with Xxieda and Winter and we took her.”

  “Double date with the boss? I didn’t think X swung down that avenue.”