by TL Travis
“For your gross ass sandwich display, jackass.” He reached in, grabbing the bag of chips and shoveled a couple in his mouth. “Brett got the CDs done and shipped. The hotel said we can check in at eleven, but I know we’ll be at the arena setting up then. We should have enough CDs for tomorrow’s show, so we can grab those when we check in after we get done. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m jonesing for a shower.”
“Yeah, Diamond’s fucking ripe,” Mickey joked, and Diamond punched him in the arm. “Dude, I was joking,” he whined, rubbing the spot.
“Let’s finish watching the bands and try to get some shut eye and head out around two a.m. Does that work for you guys?” Stoli asked.
“It works for us, but if tonight is anything like last night, we’re screwed,” I added.
“Why don’t we head out after the last band and hit the first rest stop for sleep?” Diamond suggested.
“Good call man, let’s go with that plan. Agreed?” Stoli asked, looking to each of us in for affirmation. All agreed, so the plan was in place. We finished eating and headed back in to check out what was going on.
The remaining bands rocked the shit and it was clear to us they’d more than earned their spots on the docket. We came away with a lot of info for what we’d like to check into doing with our equipment, merchandise and what not so I’d say our first day was productive.
Stoli had already asked security to lead us out of the parking lot so they were ready to roll when we pulled up to the gate. An hour later we were tucked away at a nice, quiet rest stop and crashed hard as soon as our heads hit the pillows waking refreshed and ready for another day.
On the days we had back to back shows, we kept to the heading right out for the nearest rest stop plan. But when we had a day or two in between shows we tended to stay and hang out with the other bands. Sometimes it was good, sometimes not so much. I was the only one with a boyfriend/significant other which left me as the lone wolf who couldn’t hook up, but Diamond was buried tits deep in groupies. Mickey wandered off to who knows where, showing up in the middle of the night banging on the van door, and I’d even lost sight of Stoli occasionally. I hung out and shot the shit with guys from other bands, for the most part everyone was cool, but every now and again a dickhead would surface.
By the time we reached Denver, Sal and his son Easton, the management team Lucas had given us the card for showed up to watch our show. We were nervous as fuck, which showed when my voice cracked on stage a couple of times. But I quickly worked to tamp down my insecurities and put on the best performance I could.
They met us backstage, after grabbing towels to wipe away the sweat the stage lights baked out of us we introduced ourselves.
“It’s nice to meet you boys,” Sal said after shaking our hands. “Your dad sent me a demo and I have to say I liked what I heard.”
“Thank you, sir,” Stoli initiated. “Brett said he filled you in on what we’ve been doing and the shows we’ve been playing.”
“Yes, you only have a couple more weeks left on this tour. What were your plans after that?” he asked.
“Funny you should mention that,” Nate said, walking up on our conversation. “Our band manager has set us up with another tour after this one. Not much different, but he said he was looking to add a couple more bands and I mentioned you guys to him.” He handed a card to Stoli, “He asked that you call him for the usual Q&A.” After patting Stoli on the shoulder, he disappeared behind the curtain.
“What the fuck just happened?” Mickey asked.
“Well it looks like you boys have your answer and are well on your way. We’d be happy to represent you and I’d like my son Easton to manage you. I wouldn’t be hands off by any means, but I’d discount our fee as a way to introduce you as well as him to the game. I’d be available to all of you, but Easton would be your first point of contact. If you’re interested, I came prepared to offer you a contract.” He pulled it out of his briefcase and handed a copy to Stoli. “I’ve also sent a copy to Brett to review so please feel free to talk to him before you sign it. I know he’s already interviewed our references, so you boys decide and let us know. Say, within the next forty-eight hours? If you agree, we’ll proceed on a verbal agreement until our schedules will allow us to physically sign the contract.” He made eye contact with each of us, poor Easton tried his best not to look nervous, but wasn’t doing a great job of it.
“Thank you, sir,” Stoli reached over to shake his hand. “We’ll call him now. Will you be staying around to watch the rest of the bands?”
“No, we saw what we needed to see and have to head back to Seattle. If you accept, I’ll get on the horn to that guy’s manager and see what we can set up. Can I have the card or take a picture of it just in case?” he asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“I’ll take a picture and give you the card, so it doesn’t get lost,” Stoli said as he snapped a shot. “I’m sure we’ll be in touch by tomorrow and thank you again for coming to our show.” We shook their hands again before they left.
“Holy shit!” Stoli exclaimed, “We have to call Brett right fucking now. Diamond, you drive us to the hotel while I call him.” The four of us sprint walked to our van before jumping in and rushing out of the parking lot.
We only got one side of the conversation and were dead silent while he talked to Brett.
“Right on. Cool. Thanks again man,” he said before hanging up. “Looks like Sal’s on the up and up. He promised Brett he’d be watching Easton and keeping in touch with us until we were comfortable with his son running the show. Brett looked over the contract and had his friend who’s a paralegal also take look at it and she said it’s good to go. The references checked out and were happy with his services. So band vote, who wants to sign with them?”
With four hands raised, the deal was done. We pulled up in front of the hotel and unloaded, happily traipsing our asses in through the front door. Each desperately in need of a shower and a comfy bed to crash in. After checking in, we raced to the stairwell pitching dibs for who got the shower first. The shared bed arrangement was still standing, but it was every man for himself when it came to bathroom privileges.
While Diamond showered, Stoli called Sal and left a voicemail. “I need to head back to the concert after I shower. I wanna get Nate’s phone number so we can keep in touch with him. I think it’s cool as shit they suggested us for their tour.”
“Yeah, kinda mind blowing,” Mickey added, grabbing his bath stuff to head in as Diamond emerged from the steam filled bathroom with a towel around his waist. I had to admit, he had nice definition, but he was straight and one of my best friends which was not a road I cared to venture down.
“Everything good,” he asked, dropping his towel to throw on a pair of gym shorts.
Stoli caught me staring and gave me a raised eyebrow in return. Beyond embarrassed, I diverted my attention to my backpack searching for what? I had no idea.
“Yeah, we’re good. I’m gonna head over to the venue and talk to Nate after I shower. Wanna go with?” he asked, Diamond declined, but I said I’d go.
Mickey hollered from the bathroom that he was gonna stay back as well.
We got cleaned and the inevitable grilling I expected ensued as soon as we were on the road.
“What was that about?” Stoli asked, gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white.
“All what about?” Playing dumb was not my best choice, but I really didn’t want to talk about it.
“You know what. Why were you checking out Diamond?” He clenched his jaw just as tightly as his knuckles were.
“Fuck man, it’s been a long time. And you have to admit, he’s easy on the eyes.” I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to unknot it and avoid Stoli’s death glare. “Don’t worry, I’d never even think about trying anything with a band mate and I wouldn’t ever cheat on Lucas.” What was meant to be reassuring, only seemed to piss him off further. There was no way I was going to win t
his battle, so I resigned to keeping my mouth shut.
In dead silence we drove on and as soon as we were parked, Stoli bolted out of the van slamming the door behind him. I guess I must have broken some unspoken band rule. I opted to stay a few feet behind him, so I didn’t piss him off any more than I already had. It seems even looking at one of my band brothers was worse than I could have imagined.
Once inside, we found DD coming off the stage and Stoli called out to Nate.
“Hey, dude.” They one arm hugged. “Thanks for recommending us for the tour.”
“No problem, you guys gonna do it?” he asked, wiping the towel across the back of his neck.
“Yeah, we are. Sal, our new manager, is gonna call yours and get it set up,” he said.
I stood back and let Stoli do his thing. Probably best to keep my mouth shut since I was already on his shit list.
“Cool, well we still have some shows left on this tour,” Tommy added, walking up beside Nate and chugging down a bottle of water. “But glad you guys will be on the next one. Do you have a tour bus or just the van?”
“Um, just the van. We aren’t able to get a bus yet.” This was the first time I’d seen Stoli even slightly embarrassed. He never even turned red graduation night when I caught him balls deep in the face of one of our classmates. Why that thought popped into my head more than two years later was beyond me.
“You okay?” Tommy asked me.
I guessed my face must have had guilt written all over it. “Ugh, yeah sorry.” I wasn’t about to share those thoughts with anyone.
“Okay cool, you guys camping out in your van tonight? Wanna grab a couple of beers?” Nate asked as the rest of their band members joined us.
“Nah, but thanks. We got a room for the night. Needed to wash the road trip off us. I wanted to swap numbers with you guys in case we had any questions,” Stoli said, pulling his phone out.
“No worries, okay mine is...” Nate rattled off his number while Stoli programmed it in, shooting him a text so he’d have his in return.
“Sweet, we’ll catch you guys tomorrow,” Stoli told them before we headed out the door. He seemed to have calmed down, so I walked alongside him back to the van. “You wanna text the guys and see if they want pizza?” he asked me as he unlocked the van door.
“Okay.” I shot it off and they texted right back. Food was the fastest way to get their attention and pizza was a winner with all. “They said hell yeah.”
We found a pizza joint not too far from the hotel and went inside to order two large pepperonis to go and stopped at a convenience store to fill up the ice chest with drinks.
The remainder of the tour went as we’d anticipated, being on the road got to some more than others. One guy overdosed and had to be medevacked out from the Tucson show. Luckily that band had a roadie who could fill in for him. Others were continually fighting, at times it felt like we were at an adult day care center. We stayed out of the path of destruction and spent most of our time with the guys from DD to try and get used to each other since we’d be spending the better part of the next six months with them.
Chapter
Eleven
Lucas met me at my house, I’d texted him when we were about twenty minutes out. The other three unloaded the equipment and put it in Stoli’s garage while Lucas and I took my bags inside.
We were barely through the front door before we were shedding our clothing, and not very stealthily I might add. I tripped trying to get my pants off while attempting to go upstairs. Lucky for me, I didn’t break my neck. Lucas on the other hand had his clothes off and streaked past me and into my room, giggling in his wake.
“I’ll teach you to giggle at me,” I said, smacking his naked ass which only increased his giggles.
I tackled him down on my bed, sloppy kisses ensued as our tongues and brains were not on the same path. Finally, I gave up and nipped his collarbone and he thrust up against me as our erections bobbed together.
“Fuck, I missed you,” I told him, before sucking his nipple.
He hissed, “Mmm, me too. More.”
I reached down, wrapping my fingers around his shaft, stroking a couple of times while nibbling my way down his torso. I nipped the inside of his hip before licking a stripe up the underside of his dick. When I reached the tip, I swirled my tongue around the outside of it and dipped my tongue into the slit.
“Yes…” he murmured.
My hand on his shaft never deviated from its playful torture while the other worked its way up to his parted lips, sliding two of my fingers in his mouth. He knew where they were going. His tongue darted out, coating them in saliva. Once they were good and wet, I teased the part of him I had an uncontrollable urge to bury myself in with their tips before pushing both in to the first knuckle. But that wasn’t what I really wanted. I removed them, and he whimpered at the loss. But those whimpers were quickly silenced when I replaced them with them with my tongue.
“Oh fuck!” he exclaimed.
“I did nothing but think about eating this ass all the way home last night.” I swiped the sensitive area with my tongue before spreading his cheeks apart. “Look at that, waiting for me. Fuck, I’m so damn horny I’m gonna come just from eating you out.” I swirled my tongue around the rim once, twice before diving in. Lucas arched up and I had to push him down before diving back in. When he was a blubbering, incoherent mess, I released him leaving him breathlessly panting while I suited up. “You ready for me, baby? This isn’t going to be sweet by any means; I’ve had blue balls since I left.”
He nodded, and I tossed his legs over my shoulders, lining my head up and pushing through the initial resistance before pausing. “Fuck, so damn tight.”
Lucas sucked in his bottom lip as I pushed forward, not stopping until I was fully seated inside him. Fuck this feels so good.
When he opened his eyes, I drew back before thrusting in. He gasped upon impact, extracting his legs from my shoulders and wrapping them tightly around my waist, pulling me against him.
“Touch yourself.” I’m not sure where this bossy side of me came from, but I needed to get off so badly it felt like my balls were about to burst. But he didn’t argue and began stroking himself earnestly. It fucking turned me on watching him stroke off.
“Feels so good,” he closed his eyes and mumbled.
“Open your eyes, baby.” I leaned over to kiss him. “I want you to watch me fuck you.”
“Ungh,” he moaned, still biting his bottom lip as his stroking sped up.
“I need to come, Lucas. Come with me. Now!”
I slammed into him and he screamed, “Joey!”
I was in as far as I could be. The tightness in my balls matched that of his ass as he came, forcing my release as I growled, “Fuck!” and hoped and prayed the condom didn’t break with the sheer force of my impact.
Before I passed out on top of him, I managed to dispose of the condom before plopping back down to try and catch my breath. Reaching over, I took his hand in mine, bringing his knuckles to my lips.
“I missed you,” I said between kissing his knuckles.
“Me too. Nap?” he whispered, curling against my side.
“Yes, nap,” I agreed. After wrapping my arms around him, we crashed, hard. When I woke up, I carefully extracted myself from Lucas’ limbs to go to the bathroom. When I opened my bedroom door, I found our clothes piled up on the floor in front of it. Dad’s home. Fuck.
I grabbed the pile tossing it into my room before sliding into my jeans and ran face first into my dad in the hallway.
“Welcome home, son,” he said, eyeing Lucas’s still sleeping body in my bed as I pulled the door closed.
“Um yeah, hey Dad,” I ran my fingers through my matted hair. “We got back this morning.”
“I see Lucas wasted no time showing up.” He turned, heading back downstairs.
Wow, so nice that everyone in my family hates my boyfriend.
After taking care of business, I sat down on the be
d beside him, “Lucas, wake up, babe. My dad’s home.” He sat up so quickly that he damn near clocked my chin with his head.
“Oh shit, what time is it?” Jumping out of bed he grabbed his pants off the floor and stared at his phone, panicking, “I’ve got to go. I need to meet my dad.” I’d never seen anyone get dressed so quickly before. Undressed, yes and we’d just done that ourselves in record breaking time. But putting clothes back on? This had to be a first.
“Um, alright. I’m only home for a couple of weeks, when can I see you again?” Suddenly, it felt like I’d been used, which I shouldn’t be feeling that way. I mean he’s my boyfriend, so I should be okay with this. Shouldn’t I? But something felt off.
Seeing my change in attitude, he calmed down and kissed me before putting on his sweetest Lucas voice. “Walk me to the door, baby.” The voice he used to get expensive dinners, gifts, and now me…
I kissed him again at the door as we said our goodbyes then went to the kitchen where my dad was sitting at the table going through the day’s mail.
“Here’s your pile. Mostly junk if you ask me. Your hair’s getting pretty long,” he said, when he glanced up at me.
“Yeah, probably needs a trim.” I funneled through the mail, noting he was right, it was all junk.
“You got time to have dinner with your old man tonight?”
“Absolutely, we’re only home for three weeks, but I was hoping we could hang out. By the way, thanks for helping Brett burn those CDs. I know computers aren’t your thing and it meant a lot that you helped out. So, um, thanks.”
“Ha, yeah computers and me we don’t get along so well. But I was happy to help, son. So I guess the tour was a success since you got asked to do another one right away?” He seemed genuinely interested, which pleased me.
“Hey Dad, can I ask you a question?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer to it, but I needed to man up and listen to what he had to say. Try and put all the pieces to the Lucas hating puzzle together.
