Suddenly Together

by JA Low

  “Shh, don’t tell anyone. I don’t want them to know, it will ruin my reputation.”

  Vanessa gives me a weak smile.

  “Come on, pack a bag. I can get Isla to organize the rest of your shit, we can be roomies.” I joke, hoping to put her at ease.

  “Thank you,” she says, wrapping her arms around my neck.

  ***

  “I can’t believe you and Vanessa are still roommates. I thought she would have moved out running and screaming after a week,” Axel laughs as we head toward the studio to wait for the other boys to join us. Vanessa has been living with me for the past couple of months and it’s been great, well for me anyway, having someone else to knock around the house with. Being a twin sucks because you are always so used to having someone with you, but there is no way in hell I could live with that fucker anymore. It’s hard enough working with him.

  “She’s not much of a cook which sucks because I thought all women could cook.”

  Axel chokes on his beer. “Seriously man, how the fuck are we related. I can’t believe some of the shit that comes out of your mouth sometimes.”

  I flip him the bird. Eventually the rest of the boys join us and we can start the jam session in my studio.

  There’s a knock on the door and Vanessa enters the room. The boys all say hello. “Christian, do you have to leave your strays around the house? Because I just found a naked woman in the fucking pool.”

  My eyes widen. Shit, I thought I got rid of her this morning. How the fuck did she get back in?

  “Y’all, I have to go see this,” Evan laughs and runs out the door.

  I can see Vanessa isn’t impressed and I feel bad because she doesn’t need to see my conquests naked in the pool.

  “Sorry, angel, I thought I got rid of her.”

  Vanessa just shakes her head at me. “Next time make sure Sammy escorts them out of the house. You don’t know what these women can do. They could be stalkers, they could be press, they could go through your shit and sell it on eBay.”

  She’s right, it was fucking stupid. Jumping off my chair, I head out to the pool to deal with my situation. I find the blonde doing laps in the pool as if she belongs here. Who does that after a one-night stand? I walk over to where she is trying to catch my attention. “Hey, darlin’, um…whatcha doin’?

  Her chocolate eyes look up at me then behind me when she realizes she has an audience. “I was just cooling down waiting for you to finish so we could continue again.”

  My eyes dip down to her naked breasts in the pool, she was a very enthusiastic lover, bendy as well. She’s a dancer, not a stripper, as she liked to point out. Even though her job requires dancing in a club on a pole, she’s an entertainer.

  “Well darlin’, I’m kind of busy. I explained this morning when we said goodbye, I thought you understood.”

  I feel someone beside me. Sammy, his stony face not giving anything away except the twitch on the side of his cheek as he tries to hold back a smile.

  “You’re really kicking me out?” Her cheeks glow red looking at the stony faced Samoan bodyguard. She swims toward the steps, pulling herself out of the water, her amazing body on display as she grabs a towel to wrap around herself.

  “Sorry, it was fun while it lasted.” Really what other words could I say?

  “But we are meant to be together, Christian. You told me last night I was the best you ever had.”

  The boys behind me snigger as Sammy escorts her out.

  “You’re making a mistake, Christian. I’ll let you stick it in my ass next time…please.” Her declaration makes everyone laugh.

  “Seriously, Christian, how could you turn that offer down?” Vanessa adds.

  I shoot them all the bird as I walk away from the commotion. Fucking groupies.

  A year ago

  “Derrick,” I greet, answering my phone. I look at the time as it has to be early in Australia. It’s the night of Sienna’s thirtieth birthday party. They’re probably drunk dialing me letting me know how much fun they are having without me while I am stuck touring with the boys. These boys have been grumpy as fuck lately; the never ending traveling is wearing them all down. The constant paparazzi, the fans, the microscopic attention is full on. Once the boys finish this American tour they only have the European tour to go before their contract with Montgomery Records ends. Hopefully they can move onto bigger and better things, whatever that may be. While I am sad about our time ending as the past five years I have been devoted to these boys, it will be fun to start working with a new band.

  “V, somethings happened.” Derrick’s voice cuts through my daydream. Shit, he doesn’t sound good.

  “What’s happened? Is everyone okay?” I could feel the panic rising through my body.

  “Si just busted Beau with another woman.”

  I drop my phone. Shit! “Sorry, D, are you still there?” I ask, picking it up off the floor. No way, there is no way in the world what he just said is true. “Are you joking right now?” Derrick is a trickster but this is low if he is drunk dialing me with some kind of bullshit.

  “Fuck no, I wouldn’t joke about something like this. It was with Diana. Beau’s been fucking around with Diana,” Derrick yells down the phone.

  Fuck, of all the people Beau could cheat with, it had to be his high school ex-girlfriend. During Sienna’s entire marriage she has had to compete with that woman. Beau’s parents always wanted Diana to be his wife. Fuck, he is a fucking bastard.

  “I’m going to fucking kill him, D.”

  “Well I almost did. We got into a fight, it felt so good punching the son of a bitch in the face,” Derrick laughs, he’s such a loyal friend. Shit, I wish I could be there with her.

  “Good on ya, D. I am high fiving you through the phone. How is she?”

  There is silence on the other end of the phone, I pull it away from my ear to check if he is still there. He is.

  “I think it’s really going to hit her tomorrow. She told him to fuck off when he came running after her, telling her it was a mistake but she wouldn’t listen. Then when she found out the woman was Diana she lost it. There is no way she will take him back after this.”

  “Fuck, D, I wish I was there, but I can’t get away,” I groan into the phone, feeling totally helpless. Maybe I could get there for Christmas while the boys have a break.

  There is a knock at my hotel room door. “Shit, D, I have to go, keep me posted okay.” He agrees and I hang up.

  “Come in,” I call out and in walks my assistant Sarah.

  “Ness, um…we have a problem.” She hands over her tablet to me, the black and white article blinking in my face. It takes me a moment to realize what I am looking at. Of course this would happen now, I am going to fucking kill them.

  ***

  “What the hell is this?” I yell, shaking the tablet at the Dirty Texas boys. They are all looking at me bleary eyed after I woke them up. I am greeted by silence, yeah with the mood that I am in now I am ready to fucking castrate each of them. “How many fucking times do I tell you boys to be vigilant of your surroundings.”

  “Queen V, I’m sorry but how was I supposed to know that there would be cameras in the VIP section of the club.” Christian smiles and I hate that even after all these years the way he looks at me still has some affect.

  “You shouldn’t be having your dick sucked in the middle of a club, Christian.” It doesn’t get any easier after all these years seeing him with other girls.

  “If you helped a brother out, I wouldn’t have to find groupies to do it. Which means I wouldn’t get myself into trouble all the time; see win-win, V,” Christian laughs.

  Rolling my eyes, I shriek, “Seriously, Christian, I’m surprised your dick hasn’t fallen off from any diseases, it’s a fucking miracle.” I hide my feelings through sarcasm especially where Christian is concerned. It sucks having feelings for your best friend. It sucks watching him get blow jobs under a table in the middle of a club. It sucks that I want to take up
his offer to help him out. Goddamn stupid morals, they truly suck sometimes. “Just because you’re Dirty Texas doesn’t mean you can keep getting away with this shit.” I shake the tablet in my hand again. I’m over this bullshit as I begin to pace around the living room of the suite. “Do you guys realize how much work it takes looking after you?” They stay silent—typical males. “Cleaning up the same shit every day. Repeating it over and over?” God, Ness, don’t crack now. I try to hold all my anger in but it doesn’t work as I feel my eyes begin to water. Not in front of the boys I think to myself. “You’re not twenty year olds anymore. You can’t keep doing this immature shit; people are getting sick of it, namely me.” Fuck, I can feel myself begin to crack.

  “V, are you okay?” Axel asks, his hazel eyes reminding me so much of his brother’s. His question breaks me and the flood gates open as tears run down my face. Shit, I never cry and especially never in front of the boys. Embarrassed I rush out of the room away from five pairs of freaked out of eyes.

  ***

  I felt better after Evan came in and checked on me. Poor guy looked like he wanted to be anywhere else rather than dealing with a teary eyed woman. I did notice his interest piqued when I showed him photos of Sienna. It would totally make her day knowing Evan Wyld checked her out. She’s always had a crush on him. There’s a knock at the door. “Come in,” I call out.

  “Hey, I heard what happened, are you okay?” Christian asks, walking toward me.

  “Yeah, poor Evan, he copped most of it.” I give him a weak smile.

  “That guy sucks at rock, paper, scissors.”

  This makes me laugh.

  Christian sits down beside me on the couch. “Evan says you want to go home for Christmas.”

  I nod, it’s the truth. Sienna is like a sister to me and I need to be there for her.

  “That sounds like a good idea, but it’s going to suck not spending Christmas with you this year. You know Mom and Dad are going to be disappointed that they missed you.”

  Over the years I have spent Thanksgiving or Christmas with the Taylor family, seeing as mine live thousands of miles away. I love Christian’s family; they are so amazing and welcomed me with open arms. His mom confessed that I was the first girl either of the boys had brought home so she was excited, even if it was as a friend. Viv is so lovely; anytime she is in LA we always spend the day shopping up a storm.

  “I know, I’ll miss them too but I can’t wait to go back home, it’s been too long.”

  “So how’s your friend doing?”

  “Not sure yet, I spoke to Derrick, he’s one of our friends who she is crashing with. I guess I will hear from her in a couple hours when she wakes up.”

  Christian’s whiskey colored eyes sparkle at me. “You know I’m here for you,” he states, putting is arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his side. “If you need to talk or anything I’m here.” He places a kiss on my head. “I promise I’ll stop doing stupid shit so I don’t add to your stress, okay?”

  Looking up at him I reply, “You should stop doing it for yourself as well. When you eventually find the right woman she is going to have your past conquests thrown in her face at every turn.”

  Giving me a cheeky smile he says, “Who’s to say I haven’t already met the right woman.”

  I could feel my heart start to race with the way Christian was looking at me.

  “I’m talking about someone to marry, to have babies with, to do all those things.”

  He rolls his eyes at me. “Why can’t we do all those things.”

  “You can’t tell me you are ready to settle down, to give up everything for one woman?”

  He just shrugs. “Maybe.”

  I have to laugh because in all honesty I don’t believe him. I mean last night he was getting his dick sucked by groupies under the table. He is so not ready for commitment.

  “How about we revisit this conversation when we are thirty-five? If we are both still exactly where we are now, why don’t you and I have a baby together?”

  Has Christian been drinking the crazy Kool-Aid? Babies together? I am in shock.

  “V, just think about it. My parents aren’t getting any younger and I want to give them grandbabies, they deserve it. I don’t want some random who I have to put up with for the rest of my life. You’re the only choice, you are already part of my family, I know I can trust you, I know you’re not after my money, you wouldn’t sell me out to the press, plus we already live together.”

  Maybe I am high because Christian is making sense. “But…” I have no words.

  “We have five plus years till we reach thirty-five, who knows maybe you’ll find some hot shot, fall in love and leave me behind.”

  Rolling my eyes at him I doubt his statement to be true. “I’m not looking for love, you know that. After Kane I can’t ever trust myself to fall in love with someone ever again.”

  Christian tenses when I mention Kane’s name. He eventually got put away for his crime a couple of years later. The paparazzi caught him hitting his new wife while on honeymoon. It blew up into a major scandal. Sponsors dropped him, the team dropped him; the evidence was crystal clear. The images splattered all over the media were unmistakable. It wasn’t long after that exposure that a couple of ex-girlfriends came out saying they too had been hit by him. That is when I finally stood up too. I gave my statement with the support of the band and the label. Seeing him again was hard but I told my story, and even though the court case gave me closure, I still feel like I can’t trust my instincts when it comes to men.

  “I wish I could have taught that motherfucker a lesson,” Christian growls.

  I rub his arm in comfort, because I know seeing me bruised and battered changed him.

  “Justice was served. He lost his career, he went to jail and his wife divorced him and got all his money.”

  He looks at me giving me a weak smile. “I promise I won’t ever let that happen to you again.”

  I snuggle into him. “Chris it wasn’t your fault and believe me it won’t ever happen again.” I quickly change the subject because I hate talking about Kane.

  “I’m going to be missing Evan’s thirtieth in Mexico. I am going to need you to behave,” I order, elbowing him in the ribs.

  “Come on, V, it’s Mexico,” he says, giving me a large smile.

  I raise my eyebrow at him because I am not amused.

  “Okay, fine. I promise to make sure anything crazy we do is in the privacy of our villa and not public.” He puts his hand on his heart.

  “Fine but please be careful, okay?” I stress, giving him a stern look. Christian just laughs and nods.

  “Welcome to paradise, boys.” We enter the private house we have rented out for Evan’s thirtieth and our New Year’s Eve celebrations. Waiting to greet us are a couple of gorgeous women wearing nothing but bikinis, holding a tray full of tequila shots.

  “Hope they are my birthday presents,” Evan chuckles, making the girls blush as he takes a shot from the tray.

  “Actually, man, your present will get here a little later and I think you might enjoy it a little bit more.” Little does he know I have organized for the two hottest porn star twins to be his birthday present for the weekend. If you have enough money you can buy anything.

  “You guys are disgusting!” Isla pipes up picking up a shot glass from the tray and walking toward the pool area. Isla should be used to it all by now, fuck, she’s been our assistant from day one, plus she’s known us just as long as we have known Oscar. Isla’s only two years younger than her brother. Her and her girlfriends have always hung around watching us play. From day one Oscar warned us not to touch his little sister or we would see his fists. That was fine by me, even in high school he was this six foot six guy built like a linebacker. He looked like he just stepped off the set of Vikings with his long, blond hair and beard. His parents are Scandinavian, they moved over from London at the start of high school, his dad working in the oil industry. They were exotic to us Texan
s; we came from totally different backgrounds. When we all met up in music class we could see that he played bass like a pro. We knew then he would be an awesome addition to our band.

  “Your sister is such a buzz kill, man,” I groan to Oscar.

  He flips me off and heads toward Isla. The house is spectacular; it opens out onto the pool which leads directly onto our private, white sandy beach which leads directly into the ocean. I promised Ness when she left for Australia that we would behave and so I found, actually Isla found, the perfect place for us to party paparazzi free in paradise. Speaking of Ness, fuck I miss her. I’m so used to having her around I feel like I am missing a limb now that she isn’t here. Pulling out my phone, I have no idea what time it is in Australia, so I quickly check. It’s 6am, fuck that’s early. Ness is half way across the world and she can’t hurt me from there so I FaceTime her. It rings and rings and rings until finally it picks up and I can hear a groggy Ness on the other end.

  “Morning, gorgeous.”

  Vanessa let’s out a groan, the room is dark so I can’t see her.

  “Do you have any idea what time it is, Chris?”

  “Yep it’s about 6am I think, give or take. Get up lazy bones.”

  Another groan as she jumps out of bed, I watch her move around the room and pull open the curtains, bright sun light fills the room and my jaw drops. She is wearing a white slip that is so thin I can see her nipples through it. I suppress a groan as my dick twitches to life, her caramel hair is all messy from sleep, she rubs her eyes and walks out of her room and sits down outside.

  “So you made it to Mexico then? I’m guessing that’s why I got an early morning wakeup call.” She’s smiling now so that’s good.

  “Yeah. Hey, Ness, I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” I catch her off guard with my random comment.

  Vanessa raises her eyebrows until she realizes what I mean. The view, she turns her camera around to show me where she is staying. Her parents own some exclusive health retreat in the rainforest somewhere in Australia and she’s currently there with her best friend, Sienna. I can see lush green valleys and the ocean in the distance. Swinging my camera around I show her the white sandy beach and turquoise ocean.