by Mia Archer
Then again I never really thought of it as a competition. Maybe that’s why she was talking to me instead of any of a dozen girls milling around staring at her so intensely that I almost thought she’d need a cigarette when they were finished looking.
Ivy moved a hand up and ran it along my shoulder causing me to shiver. "One night to prove myself is all I ask."
Her hand ran down my shoulder until she was cupping my hand.
I looked up at her and arched an eyebrow. I came to a decision. I wanted to spend more time with her. Ivy obviously wanted to spend more time with me. Maybe I was more under her spell than I would’ve liked to admit, but I decided I would go with her.
Maybe I was being stupid, maybe I was letting a player take advantage of me, but I didn’t think so. If anything I was more worried about losing control than I was worried about Ivy trying to press her advantage once we were on her home territory.
Of course she didn’t have to know how completely she’d won.
"Does that line usually work on your fans?"
She blinked and laughed. "Usually it does. I take it it's not working now?"
I wagged a finger at her. "You're being naughty."
That wasn't a yes and it wasn't a no. I wanted to keep her guessing. I wanted to keep making this a game because she seemed to be enjoying the chase and it was so fucking sexy pretending I was still playing hard to get even if I knew she'd won and I was giving in.
Ivy held up her hands as though admitting defeat, though she had a grin on her face. "Okay, so you've got me. That used to work most of the time, but the reason I’m still here asking you this is because it’s so nice to meet a girl who isn't so star struck that she gives in right away."
"Well the night's not over yet," I said. “Plenty of time to dazzle me.”
"Oh really? So does that mean I could still interest you in a tour of my bus?"
"That could be fun," I said. She grinned and I decided to turn the screws just a little. "Besides, it's not like I'm going anywhere until my friend gets back with your buddy."
Her smile faltered for a moment but she recovered quickly. She laughed, a surprisingly genuine laugh as she wrapped her arm around mine and led me out of the room.
"Don’t worry. She’s with Gareth, so you won’t have too long to wait if you don’t want to. Of course in the meantime I just so happen to have a full bar on my bus."
I grinned. "Why Ms. Thompson. If I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to get a girl drunk to have your way with her!"
“So what if I am?”
My head was positively swimming as we left and I wondered what I was getting myself into.
Ivy's tour bus was pretty damn nice. And why wouldn't it be? She was probably incredibly rich. Rich enough that she had a bus all to herself. There were several others that stretched on behind hers, presumably for the rest of the band.
One of the girls I recognized from the group was walking towards one of those buses with a pretty girl who looked to be about the same age which was a good ten years older than me. I didn’t think she was a groupie though. She’d been in the meeting room before the crowds arrived. The way she held herself had wife or significant other written all over it.
An older looking dark-skinned gentleman who was built like a brick house with beefy arms and broad shoulders sat in a comically undersized folding chair with an ereader glowing and illuminating his face. He looked up and smiled at Ivy, nodded to me, then went back to his book.
The engine was running as Ivy opened the door and gestured for me to follow her up. I took her hand and felt an electric charge as our bodies made contact, even if it was just the short contact of a handhold as she pulled me up.
The thing was damn impressive. Like I'm talking it looked nicer than my own living room at the apartment I shared with Alice. A huge flat-panel TV hung on one wall with the promised fully stocked bar adjacent to the TV. It was all very nice, if very narrow. I suppose that was the one limitation of being on a bus.
"So you have this whole thing all to yourself?" I asked.
"Most of the time."
Ivy frowned for a moment, then shook her head and a grin was back on her face. "Occasionally the driver will come back and shoot the shit with me if it's been a long drive. Sometimes Gareth or one of the other girls from the band will ride with me if I'm in the mood for a game or something, but mostly they’re all settled down so it’s hard for me to tear them away from their women. Sometimes Jake comes in and I school him in a racing game."
“Jake?”
“My security guy. You just saw him. The one sitting in that chair securing his book.”
“Oh…”
Nice work if you could get it, I guess.
“I have to say the company tonight is much better than hanging out with any of the aforementioned.”
Ivy looked me up and down. Her eyes ran over my body like a lover's caress and it sent a thrill running through me just as intensely as that lover's caress would on any other occasion. I felt goose bumps rise all over my body. I felt my breathing pick up, and my nipples were straining out. There was no doubt in my mind that she could see them against the thin material of my top even through my bra. I was that turned on!
And the outfit Alice put me in was just that slutty.
Sure enough Ivy stared, but just for a moment. Then her eyes were back on my own and she had a smile on her face. I'm sure part of that smile was for the show I was giving her, but I didn't give a fuck. Let her stare.
I didn’t know what was coming over me, but I kind of liked it. Still, I couldn’t help but ask the question that was on the tip of my tongue.
“So what about all the girls you meet at these concerts?”
Ivy laughed and shook her head. “None of that on this tour.”
I cocked an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“Nope, but it’s the truth.”
“So what about back when you were touring the first time around?”
“Damn. When I said I wanted to be around you no matter what I wasn’t expecting an interrogation,” she muttered.
I looked down, a blush coming to my face. Ivy had a point. She hadn’t been anything but nice and I felt like I was trying to push her away. That wasn’t fair to her, damn it.
“You’re right, I shouldn’t…”
Ivy held a hand up. “No, you’re perfectly justified. It’s a fair question. Back then I tore it up wherever we went. I entertained on a bus very like this one in every city we stopped at, but I’ve left that life behind.”
She locked eyes with me and I was taken aback at the sudden burning intensity there as she looked me up and down. That was the look of a woman staring at a woman she desperately wanted. It didn’t hurt that I desperately wanted her too.
“Of course there’s been one exception so far on this tour,” she said, her voice sounding suddenly husky as though she was having trouble getting that out.
I couldn’t maintain that gaze so I glanced around the living area thinking about how much fun it would be to continue being the one exception on this tour, though something told me this living area wasn't where she would have entertained her lady guests. No, the only place that looked convenient for that sort of thing was a surprisingly comfortable looking couch, but it was small enough that it would be difficult for two people to really have a good time on it.
Not that I wouldn’t mind trying, if that was the only option.
I tried to sound as nonchalant, as noncommittal as possible as I said at my next words. I suddenly felt like I was walking in a minefield after the way she’d reacted to my “interrogation.” Plus I was still enjoying playing hard to get with the rock star who was used to women falling into her bed when she flashed that winning smile that had graced so many posters and album covers.
"So where would you take the second kind of company? Hypothetically speaking, of course."
I wanted to make sure to get in that
Not that the rational part of my brain was going to be in control much longer. I was so close to losing out to the more visceral parts of my mind that were begging to be taken by this delicious woman. I stomped down on those voices, but even mentally stomping down on them didn't do much. They were still there, they were still insistent, and the animal part of my brain, the part of my body that was motivated by pure lust, was definitely starting to win the battle the rational part of my brain had been putting up all night long. Desire was winning out over the part of me that was offended that I would be throwing myself at the lead singer of Sleepwalker.
Ivy seemed to get the hint. She walked over to me, put an arm around me and led me over to the small bar.
"Well of course we wouldn't start any hypothetical festivities by going to the back of the bus. That might be fun, but I’ve always found it’s more fun to draw things out a little.”
I arched an eyebrow and allowed her to guide me over to the bar where she poured a couple of drinks. Pure whiskey. I looked at her and blinked. I usually wasn't a whiskey kind of girl, but I figured I could make an exception in this case. Particularly if that was part of the groupie experience that I suddenly found myself wanting to experience even though that should’ve been the last thing I wanted.
"So this is your big move? You get girls drunk?"
The words might’ve been a bit harsh if not for the playful tone. I had a feeling that for most girls the fact that Ivy existed and was standing right in front of them in all her glory would be more than enough to get their panties to drop. No booze required.
Ivy kicked back her drink in one swallow and I blinked, both impressed and surprised. Though I'm not sure why I was surprised. It seemed that partying was at least a small part of her job description from what I saw at that after party. I had a feeling she could put away substances in a way that I couldn't possibly imagine.
She smiled after she got her drink down. "I'm Ivy Thompson," she said in a tone that was both a statement of fact and a slight challenge as she proceeded to echo what I’d just been thinking. "Do you really think I need to get girls drunk or slip them something get their panties to drop once I've got them on my tour bus?"
There was something loaded about the way she phrased that. The deal was sealed once she got girls on her tour bus. I was a girl, I was on her tour bus right now, though I wasn’t exactly a fan which put a wrinkle in the whole thing.
The line between playful resistance and conquest was thin, and it was constantly moving. Which side of the line was I on? I knew which side my brain told me I should be on and I knew which side my body was telling me I was on.
"So the booze is just to break the ice?" I asked.
Ivy shrugged. "Not really. It just helps to calm a girl's nerves. She's living the pop star fantasy. It happened to me all the time, but it was usually the first and only time for them."
Ivy looked me up and down again and a shiver ran down my spine. Something had changed about Ivy. It was as though here on this bus, here in her territory, she was suddenly confident in herself in a way she hadn’t been throughout the rest of the evening when she was slightly off balance around me.
I thought about how it must have felt ten years ago for girls who were fans, and my imagination was fueled in no small part by how Alice used to go on about Gareth even though the genders didn’t quite line up in that case.
The first time for them. It would be the first time getting the pop star experience for me. And I wanted nothing more than to be one of her conquests tonight. I could definitely sympathize with how those girls felt as they crossed the line from good girl to groupie.
I realized it was a line I was about to cross myself despite all the worries still running through my head. The worry that I was selling out by giving into the charms of a girl in Sleepwalker. More than anything the worry that I would wind up being just another notch on her traveling bedpost even though my body was screaming to let her carve that notch.
"So you're saying the only pickup line you've ever needed is to be Ivy Thompson?" I asked.
As I asked I was painfully aware of how close she was. I could smell her breath with just a hint of whiskey on it. I grimaced. Okay, so maybe there was more than a hint of whiskey which usually wasn't my thing but I'd make an exception in this case. I could feel the heat radiating off of her body.
Ivy shrugged. "Usually that's all it takes."
On any other woman that would be arrogance. On any other woman that would be a boast. Only with her it was nothing of the sort. She really could have her pick of just about any woman she wanted. Myself included.
I needed this so bad. My body was aching for her. I was completely overcome by the moment and completely gone. I didn’t care if I was throwing myself at her. No, I desperately wanted her to lean forward and take me, to shatter all of my boundaries and barriers.
Only she didn't. Maybe my game was working a little too well. So I decided to give things a push.
"So where did the date usually go from here?" I breathed out.
Ivy chuckled. I was being fucking transparent, but I didn't give a fuck. I had to have her even if I was giving up on playing hard to get and was throwing myself at her instead. She pulled back from me, turning towards the bar where she placed her empty drink on the wood paneling. She turned back to me and cocked an eyebrow.
"Do you really want to see?"
That was a loaded question. My breathing was picking up. My nipples were rock hard. I was so fucking wet. I paused to think for a moment, but I didn’t think for long. I wanted this. Needed it. So I was going to go for it. Fuck the consequences!
"Sure," I said. "It would be interesting to see where the magic happened. Back in the day."
Ivy grinned and gestured towards the back of the bus. "Then by all means follow me."
And so I followed. I followed temptation made flesh. It was time to see where the magic happened, and maybe make a little magic of my own.
14: Escape
Buzzing. Confusion. Light.
Yeah, my brain was kind of fuzzy right now. Please call back and try again later when Jessica wasn't suffering from a world-class case of confusion and maybe just a little bit of a hangover while still suffering from more than a little sleep haze.
Only that buzzing kept right up. The bright light kept flashing in my face. That was odd. Usually the sun didn't flash in my face in the morning when it was streaming through my apartment window which was conveniently located at a perfect angle to catch the sun greeting the world for most of the year.
What the hell was going on here?
I opened one eye. That seemed like a fair enough compromise. Just one eye. I could still be half-asleep if I could only see half of what was going on in the world, right? At least that was the kind of half drunken/half hung over logic that played through my brain.
So I opened my one eye. I looked down. The buzzing was my phone. The flashing light was my phone.
Of course it would be my phone. The only question was who was calling?
I squinted at the screen. It refused to resolve into a clear picture. Why did it refuse to resolve into a clear picture?
Oh, right. All the booze I had to drink at that after party. After the concert. When I'd gotten a little close and personal with…
Shit.
I have a couple of friends over the years who swore by their personal hangover remedies. One said that drinking Tylenol with a bunch of water would take care of things. I knew one girl who swore by tomato juice as a cure-all for what ails you when you had a little too much to drink the night before. She claimed it sobered you right up.
It didn't. All it did was leave you with tomato breath and a hangover. I guess whether or not that was a good or a bad thing depends largely on one’s stance on tomatoes.
I just mention that by way of comparison, because in that moment I discovered the perfect hangover remedy. The one thing that was guaranteed to sober me up in a flash. Waking up and seeing my friend calling me when I'd fallen into a drunken sleep in the back of some pop star's bus after I had one hell of a naughty tryst with her.
Damn!
I sat bolt upright and immediately regretted it. I might've thought I'd sobered up, I might've thought I'd gotten rid of the lingering aftereffects of getting drunk, but sitting up proved that wasn't the case at all.
No, it just made the headache that was threatening just behind my temples come roaring to the surface. It made me regret ever even considering putting a drink of alcohol to my lips. It made me wish I could crawl back up next to Ivy and go to sleep, but the insistent buzzing on my phone, Alice's name flashing at me in the darkness, meant that wasn't happening.
I swiped my phone and it opened.
Alice's call disappeared. My phone helpfully told me I'd missed about twenty calls from her. Great. She probably knew exactly where I was, and she probably had a pretty good idea of exactly what I was doing.
No, I corrected myself. She probably had a pretty good idea of exactly what I'd done. The fun part was over. Now it was time to deal with the hangover. Damn it.
I shifted around and saw her there. My breath caught as I saw her tight toned body. It was perfect. Ivy was perfect.
Light streamed in from that giant window along the back of the bus, illuminating her through the blinds. Horizontal bars of light ran up and down her body showing off her perfect form. Her beautiful face that looked so incredible as she was lying there asleep.
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