The stadium was a hive of activity. A very large merchandise stand was set up right outside the main entrance to the stadium and the guys and girls were working feverishly to have it ready for the early arrivals that would come through the turnstiles hours before the show started. There were food vendors, beverage vendors, all working to be ready for the crowds. Jade took it all in as they swept over the stadium in a wide circle before coming down to land in the heavily secured area set aside for helicopters. Theirs wouldn’t be the only one arriving tonight.
The sound check went down without any major problems. Trace was happy with his sound and if he was happy the rest of the band was happy. He was a pain in the ass perfectionist where the band’s sound was concerned which was why they used the same team at every single concert big or small.
Using the hours before they had to leave for the stadium to laze around the roof top pool would have been great if it wasn’t for the damn helicopters buzzing the building when they least expected it.
Astrid had them all gathered in the dining room an hour before they were due to leave. She had organised a delicious spread that they nibbled on. None of them overloaded on the food, they just nibbled. Overloading would lead to sluggishness which would affect their performance. All of them were filled with nervous energy as LA was an important gig for them.
They were surrounded by security as they made their way from the helicopter to the stadium and down to the dressing rooms. They were one floor below the stadium where access could be ruthlessly controlled. Steele and Diego’s security were very visible everywhere.
Trace grabbed Jade’s ponytail as she followed Tag towards her dressing room stopping her in her tracks.
“Hey!”
“Be ready to blow them away Jay, we’re not taking any prisoners tonight.” Trace rumbled in that rock voice of his that sent shivers down a girl’s spine as he leant over kissed her cheek then followed the guys into their dressing room.
Her dressing room was a hive of activity. Mel and Sally were there along with two assistants. Jade decided to ignore the huge ass butterflies doing some kind of aerial acrobatics in her tummy and sipped the ice cold mineral water one of the assistants had shoved into her hand as soon as she stepped through the door.
“Strip.” Mel ordered in the voice she had copied from her badass dad, the Colonel.
She stripped.
Jade’s eyes were wide as she looked at herself in the full length mirror. Her outfit was stunning, more than stunning, it was outrageous. Mel had found a fabric that simulated leather but wasn’t anything like real leather. The outfit consisted of pants designed to look like jeans but so tight they fitted like a second skin all the way down to her ankles and they were high cut so no chance of her crack or guava making an unannounced appearance. The top was as tight and came to her midriff, leaving a band of skin visible. It looked like a variation on a halter neck nineteen fifties bikini top, only it wasn’t a halter neck. Straps crisscrossed her back and fastened down both sides with silver buckles, keeping the fabric tight against her body, leaving most of her back bare. The buckles ran down both sides of her back far enough away from her arms that she wouldn’t scrape against them while playing. She wasn’t wearing her usual bra because Mel had it built into the top and it was amazingly comfortable. She did some bends and stretches and grinned when nothing slipped out or moved, even when she jumped around.
She also had new boots. They were still calf length and flat but they were now fringed and studded to the max. She was still admiring them when Mel pushed her into a chair in front of the mirror to give Sally a turn. One of the assistants took her hands and buffed her short nails to a healthy shine while Sally got busy on her face. Her make-up was heavier than usual and Sally had done something to her ponytail that made it look different as well as trimming the hair floating around her face. She grinned as Astrid slipped into the dressing room and whistled softly.
“There, I’m all done, now you look like a rock star ready to knock the whole world on its ass.” Sally grinned.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.” She looked around at the five women who smiled back at her. “I would not have been able to get through tonight without your support and my new kickass clothes.”
“I’ll just go see if they are ready for us.” Astrid said and walked out the door.
Jade frowned at a grinning Mel. “If who is ready for us?”
“Now don’t get pissy Jay-Jay but your Dad wants photographs of the band tonight and he brought in Jacques Peltierre.” Mel was immediately on the defensive.
“Dad brought in Jake to photograph the band? Tonight? Why? Richie needs to be in the photo, not me.” Jade was puzzled.
“Part of damage control I suppose.” Mel shrugged as if it didn’t matter.
Jade sighed and slunk down in the chair. “I wish this was all over and I was back in the studio with Max. At least his shit has nothing to do with me.”
Mel didn’t answer, she just fiddled with a black garment bag that Jade had noticed hanging on a hook in the dressing room.
“What’s in the bag?”
“Clothes for the after party.” Mel mumbled.
Jade had no time to question her as right then the door to the dressing room swung open and Astrid ushered her out and into the other dressing room which was way bigger than hers. They had couches!
“Holy shit look at you!” Jimmy prowled around her checking out her new look.
“Damn woman how the hell did you get that shit on?” RJ asked with raised eyebrows.
“I suspect with help.” Trace grinned evilly. “Can we help you take it off later?”
“Not if you like living.” Jade grinned back as evilly as what he did.
Trace was suddenly dead serious. “Yeah, I do like living, especially right now.”
The photo session went down easily enough. Jake was an easy going photographer and had them all laughing as he took his photographs. He had them lounging on the couches and over each other as he snapped away. It all faded away for her when Diego stepped into the room, smiling at her as he stood behind Jake, watching him work. She didn’t expect it but she should have.
“Jake I want some shots of my princess and Diego as well please.” Her father ordered, and of course they all complied.
Jake didn’t want them on the couch. He posed them standing together, Diego with an arm around her shoulders and a hand resting on her hip, looking down at Jade as she stood with both her arms around his waist. Jimmy made some horrid comment and Jade laughed so hard she threw her head back against Diego’s arm that he had tightened around her neck as he smiled devastatingly down at her. She just heard Jake’s muttered ‘perfect’ as the shutter whirred away on his camera.
And then it was show time.
Nerves skittered through Jade as she made her way across the dark stage, climbing onto the drum stage with Diego and Tag’s help and settling behind the drums. The crowd roared out there in the gloom as only low lighting lit up the stadium, leaving the stage pitch dark. As her eyes got used to the dark she could make out RJ, Giv and Jimmy taking their places.
She pushed her foot down hard on the bass drum pedal and the sound reverberated around the stadium, deep and addictive. She kept up a steady rhythm and the crowd picked it up, clapping, screaming and shouting encouragement. She suddenly stopped, the stadium went silent as she silently counted then started playing. She played the first two bars alone and then the guitars were there with her, filling the empty spaces with crashing sound that they built up and up to an impossible high. Preparing for Trace who ran out as strobe lights lit up the stage. His voice filled the stadium as he launched straight into their first number with a deep growl.
The song came to an end with the stadium going wild.
“Hello LA!” Trace screamed out as he ran out on the runway on the front of the stage. The runway had been added to the stage set up for the last two shows only. He stood at the end of the runway laughing and throw
ing comments back at the girls then ran back as Jade counted them in. They played and laughed and joked with each other and the crowd joined right in. The adrenalin ran through all of them and they played harder and louder than on any of the other nights on the tour. Trace’s voice raged and cajoled and whispered through the stadium setting it alight.
Jade played so hard she broke two sticks, the second one shattering so completely pieces of it flew into the air and fell onto the front of the stage. Trace grabbed the pieces and lobbed them into the crowd as he ran out on the runway.
“Hey sweet thing how about a song?” He half turned back towards the stage as he spoke. “She’s a fuckin’ amazing drummer but you should hear her sing! Makes your palms sweat!” He laughed as Jade smashed her sticks down on the snare to interrupt him.
Suddenly Max was there right beside her and shoved at her to get off her drum stool. Giving in gracelessly she grumbled as she got out of her chair taking Tag’s hand to help her off the high drum stage. All the while Trace was chattering away to the crowd but she just wanted to shove a drum stick up his nose! They had not rehearsed this! Taking the towel Tag held out she dried her arms and patted the sweat off her face before walking out onto the front of the stage to screams of ‘sweet thing’ echoing around the stadium.
Trace was waiting for her.
“What are you doing?”
But he ignored the question, taking her hand and drawing her to the front of the stage.
“We’ve got some help tonight to get us through the next number. Give a big welcome to Max of ‘Killing Fields’! He’s going to play drums for this song. The song was written a few years ago by Max and Val Delgado and tonight Jay and I are going to sing it for you.”
Jade gasped as Max played the opening sequence of ‘Hypnotised’, a song that Val had written for her with Max. Max counted the band in and Trace was off and racing down the runway. Her heart was beating in her throat as she sang the opening lines while standing unmoving on the stage. But it moved her, moved through her and she could no longer stay unmoving as she stalked down the runway towards Trace while singing as she reached him he let rip and joined her.
It felt as if they were soaring as they sang, as they screamed the lyrics at each other. It came to a crashing end as Jade softly sang the last line while looking back at Diego where he was watching from backstage.
Waving at the screaming crowd Jade made her way back to the drums. Max wrapped her in his strong arms as she reached him giving her a hard hug then lifted her back onto the drum stage. They ended the night on an incredible high, doing two encores.
Backstage they were caught up by those VIP’s who had backstage passes and it took a while before they got to their dressing rooms. Jade felt like a sardine in a tin can squished between Diego and Tag as they guided her through the crush to the meet and greet. She signed various body parts, t-shirts, hats and anything shoved at her before the thirty minutes allocated ran out. Along with the guys she was again marched back to the dressing rooms where Mel waited with heaven knew what she was supposed to wear to the after party.
He was going to kill Mel! She had warned him that she was going to sex-up his woman’s clothes but it was hell trying to hold on to his temper. His woman looked so hot he wanted to grab her and leave. Her hair was loose and showcased her beautiful face, her make-up heavier than she ever wore it but shit she looked good! She was dressed in a very short black flirty skirt made out of some kind of lace that left her thigh high lace top hose exposed to all and sundry while her feet were encased in sky high calf length boots, an exact replica of the ones she had worn to play in, only with a heel. But that wasn’t the worst, her shirt wasn’t a shirt, it was made out of completely see through black netting tied on her right shoulder leaving the left bare and showcasing her tattoos that ran from her shoulder to her wrist. Her bra was a black and silver piece of sin that glimmered through the netting. He was definitely going to kill Mel Harris, right after he fucked his woman in those boots. Fuck! He was as bad as the assholes crawling all over her! Taking a deep breath he tried to calm down but it just wasn’t possible, he was wound up tighter than a damned clock!
The after party was in full swing and every fuckin’ asshole with a dick was coming on to his woman. He was going to break some heads if they didn’t back the fuck off. Letting his eyes roam he frowned as he saw a starlet he had had a short fling with a few months ago make her way over to Jade. He watched as she introduced herself and he knew the exact moment his woman lost it. Her back went straight, her shoulders squared and a hand was slammed down on her hip. Tag put a restraining hand on her shoulder but she shook it off as she leant forward and said something to the bitch in front of her. The bitch lost her smirk and went white under her heavy make-up as she hastily retreated. Tag shook his head with a resigned look on his face then turned towards Diego, meeting his eyes the man shrugged and Diego knew he was in deep shit. Whatever the bitch had said to his baby had her riled up and she was looking for blood. He laughed silently as he made his way over to her side. He looked forward to getting back to their bedroom, they hadn’t had angry sex yet and he knew it was going to blow his mind when they did.
“If one more of your bitches get up in my face telling me how good you are in bed I’m going to have the whole lot of them kicked out on their fat asses!” She snarled at him as he slid his arm around her waist and pulled her into his side.
“If another asshole comes on to you I’m going to rip his dick off and feed it to him, slowly.” Diego growled back at her.
His woman was silent for a beat and then she burst out laughing.
“Don’t want to see that babe it would be just too gross.”
His woman leant against him and he couldn’t resist, he lifted her chin with a finger and kissed her, long and deep. Fuck the rest, he knew the phones were out and taking pictures, this woman was his and he wasn’t averse to giving a demonstration making it crystal clear that she belonged to him. Her lips smiled against his as he ended the kiss.
“That’s to tide me over until we can get out of here. Going to fuck you long and hard tonight baby.” He whispered in her ear and he smiled as she shivered against him.
“I love you babe.” His woman whispered before she stepped back and slid her hand into his, knitting their fingers together.
He stood beside her, smiled and chatted to one after the other who wanted a piece of her and kept his temper tightly wrapped. His cold eyes sent more than one of the vultures scurrying away. The bastards all tried to finesse her into business lunches and dinners to discuss her future which she graciously turned down. When one slimy individual refused to take no for an answer she looked up at him and lifted an eyebrow. Diego looked down at the arrogant piece of shit. “Ms Gallado has representation, she’s not interested. Get yourself gone.”
The piece of shit did not listen.
“You are her bodyguard not her manager.” He said condescendingly. “I was speaking to Jay not to you. Leave us while we talk business.”
Before he could retaliate his lady exploded.
“Get the fuck away from me. I’m not interested in what you’re selling.” She snapped out, pulled on Diego’s hand and led them over to a watchful Michael and Astrid.
“Who the fuck is that and how did he get in here?” Diego growled at Astrid.
She watched the dick with a heavy frown before she answered. “He’s here with Luciana Grimaldi, her manager or something I think.”
“Who invited her?” Michael asked coldly, and Diego knew shit was about to hit the fan.
“If I remember correctly, she’s a childhood friend of either RJ’s or Jimmy’s, I don’t remember which. Whichever it is he should get her out of that slimeball’s clutches. The man makes me feel like I need a bath after speaking to him. Ugh!” Astrid said with an exaggerated shiver.
Michael just nodded and Diego knew it would not be forgotten, the slimeball was going to learn the hard lesson that you did not fuck with Michael Galloway�
�s girl. Or should that be his girls? Diego watched as Michael steered Astrid around the room with his hand low on her back. Hmmn, a possessive gesture. He wondered what happened with Michael’s girl toy, Holly. Not his business or his problem. All Diego wanted was to get out of this damned room and back to the penthouse.
“Have we been here long enough baby?” He whispered in Jade’s ear.
She grinned evilly. “Nope. I haven’t spent any time with Cat yet and I’m not leaving until I’ve seen her.”
Diego scanned the crowd of party goers, found Cat standing with Seth Radcliffe, a member of her band, and dragged his woman unceremoniously towards her. Coming to a stop just outside the circle of people around her he pushed Jade towards Cat.
“Talk to my woman, make it quick, I want to get out of here.” He growled at a laughing Cat.
He barely smiled as the two women hugged and whispered together. Then he hugged Cat, promised they would visit soon and dragged his laughing woman out of there, making a spectacle of them but he didn’t give a fuck. He wanted his woman and he didn’t care who knew.
Jade was grinning as she followed Diego through the party crowd, not that she had any other option. He had her hand in his and was dragging her along behind him, making for the exit. Every time someone wanted them to stop and talk he growled furiously and they melted away. The exit was in sight when he was summarily stopped by Rick and her brothers, she could see that they were going to tease and delay their departure just for the hell of it. That she couldn’t allow as she now wanted to get back to the penthouse as much as Diego wanted to. Leaning past Diego she whispered in Mike’s ear.
“Have to get out of here quickly, female problems.”
She wanted to cackle with laughter at the change in his expression. He couldn’t get them out of the room fast enough. Diego gave her a curious look as they rode up to the roof top where the helicopter waited to ferry them back to the penthouse. The ride was made in silence and quickly. She was ready to kick off the torture chambers masquerading as boots and get out of the barely there clothes Mel had coerced her into. The night still buzzed through her but she was starting to feel tired and achy.
Hard Rock Unrehearsed Page 25
