by Sadie Grubor
From the corner of my eye, I watch Corbin tense. Even so many years after his death, Corbin feels it like it was yesterday. Being twins, I'm sure there's a connection I could never possibly understand. And the disappearing act Ethan pulled right before he died puts another twist on the whole thing.
"Only where Neurofibromatosis is concerned. The NF Network is one of our chosen charities, so it will be a topic, but we won't be going into more than that," Red says.
"The questions will still happen." Corbin's voice is even, too even, and emotionless.
"We'll field them," Randy joins in, surprisingly being selfless. "You won't deal with shit you don't want."
I nod my agreement.
"Okay, assholes," Red announces, "it's time to get to The Garden. We've got some rehearsals to do before tonight."
"I know Chris can handle things. Are you sure his woman can?" Randy asks.
We all stand from the table.
"Randy, I can't wait for you to meet Mia." Red grins and I chuckle.
"I've got to admit, I'm not so sure about a female voice," Corbin adds.
I clasp his shoulder and walk him out of the private dining room.
"This is going to be fun," I chuckle.
As if they have a mind of their own, my eyes move around the backstage area, seeking her out. I know she's back here, having listened to Red call her multiple times to give instructions or her contacting him to bitch him out. And just like the teenage boy she inspires inside me, the sound of her voice makes my dick twitch to life.
"These are the dressing rooms," Red motions to a row of red doors. "Each band has their own."
He taps the signs on each door as we pass and stops at the last door.
"Of course I gave us the largest." He shrugs, opening the door before walking into the room.
Memories flood me.
We'd been in this one years ago. The door had been gray then and the furniture different, but for a moment, I hear Ethan's voice echoing off the bare walls.
"I know," Red says low, his head down.
It snaps me out of the haunting moment and I realize Red and Randy are just as affected as me. When my eyes land on Corbin I find him stoic and pale before he turns and leaves the room.
"I have a smaller room for him," Red says, brushing by and hurrying after Corbin.
"At least the bathroom looks nicer," Randy states, entering and closing the door.
Part of me suspects he's using.
I sit on one of the chairs next to a mirrored table, put my elbows on my knees, and hold my head in my hands.
"Hey, man." Christopher's voice stops me from falling back into the memories of a whole Corrosive Velocity.
Standing, I put out a hand, and say, "Hey."
"Where's everyone else?" Elliott's voice booms into the room.
As if on cue, the bathroom door opens and Randy steps out.
He starts to smile, but drops it the moment Chris has a hand around his neck.
"Hey, Chris, come on, man," Randy pleads.
I don't want to step in, but it needs to be done.
I half-heartedly place a hand on Chris' shoulder.
"He's not worth it," I say next to his head.
"You stay the fuck away from Jackson," Chris threatens. "If you so much as look at him wrong, I will fucking kill you."
"Fuck," Red groans, stepping between the two of them.
"I know how you feel, Chris. I really do, but this bastard isn't worth going to jail." Red places a hand on both their chests and pushes them apart.
"Chris…" Mia's voice resonates and Chris releases Randy's neck before turning to face her. She cups his face in her hands and smiles.
"Let it go," she says.
Leaning into her hand, he kisses her wrist.
The moment feels too personal, so I take two steps back.
"What did we miss?" Jimmy asks, entering the room with Jack and Liza at his back.
The sight of Liza makes me smile.
I bet Sid won't be too far behind.
"Chris defending Jack's honor," Elliott blurts. "I'm still not sure it's just brotherly love between them."
"Shut the fuck up," Chris growls.
Elliott beams, plopping down onto a couch.
"Already causing shit?" Serena, Elliott's wife, the drummer for Hush, stares him down from the door.
"Always," he boasts. "Now, come to daddy."
He puts his arms out expectantly and Serena purses her lips, but walks to him. She allows him to pull her onto his lap, but smacks the side of his head as he does it.
"Damn it, what have we talked about with the head slapping?"
"Stop acting like a child and I'll consider less smacking," she counters.
Kat and Laney, the remaining members of Hush, enter, taking a seat together on the couch. Corbin enters quietly, obviously not wanting to draw attention.
"Corbin," Jackson says in a surprise greeting.
"Hey," he nods to the room.
"Holy gray fox," Kat purrs, causing me to grin.
Corbin overhears this and grins his smile that has a ridiculous effect on women. Fuck, it was a well-known pussy magnet for years—the years before we lost Ethan.
"I think my ovaries just exploded," Laney sighs.
"Perfect," Red calls out, "Hush, meet Corrosive Velocity, and vice versa."
Heys and hellos fill the room, but my eyes stay on the door.
"She's not with us," Jack whispers to the side of my head. "I think she's dealing with all the shit she's doing for Red."
Instead of denying it, I just nod.
"Now that you've met, Corbin, I'd like you to meet Mia." There's no way to miss the cocky grin on Red's face. "Mia, Corbin and Randy aren't so sure you can handle the songs," he says, laying that shit out in front of everyone.
Chris is the first to laugh.
Mia crosses her arms over her chest and eyes Randy, then Corbin.
"Care to test me, gentlemen?" she offers.
"Oh, fuck, you guys are idiots," Chris says, striding to a chair and getting comfortable. "Baby, why don't you just give it to them a cappella?"
"You're an asshole," Randy growls at Red, just as Mia opens her mouth to start the first chorus to one of our songs.
Randy's eyes move to Mia as she takes the bridge and makes it her bitch. Corbin leans against a wall, watching her intently, but Mia's in the zone. Her body sways and she moves toward the rest of her band.
Serena scoots forward, drumming on the table. Kat and Laney offer background vocals. Then Mia turns to Liza and motions for her to sing.
Liza shakes her head no, but Jack nudges her forward.
Closing her eyes, she opens her mouth to sing with Mia and I swear to God my dick just got hard.
They end on an unpracticed harmony.
"Fuck, why aren't we having you two sing together?" Red bursts forward, looking between Mia and Liza.
Mia throws an arm over a very nervous Liza.
Swear to God, Liza is such a sweet little thing in person, but you put the girl on a stage and she's the most commanding, sexy woman. The switch she can turn off and on is amazing.
"You will be happy to know," Mia says, "I've convinced her to perform onstage with me, but it's a surprise appearance."
"Fuck that, we need to promote that shit," Red argues.
Mia narrows her eyes at him. "Not tonight. Tonight, we get the surprise factor, then you can use it for the other concerts."
"Wait, I thought I was doing a one-time—"
"You got a deal," Red cuts Liza off before turning to her. "Look, gorgeous, you get your ass out on the stage and we can promote the shit out of you, the club, and everything else."
She furrows her brow and purses her lips.
"Didn't we have the bullying talk?" she asks.
Red's face flushes and he rolls his eyes.
"Fine, will you consider performing for each concert?" he mumbles.
"She's got Red by the balls," Randy laughs out, earning Red's middle fin
ger.
"Yes," she answers.
Then, her eyes move to Randy.
"But keep him away from me or you will need a new act for the club," she threatens before turning to Jackson.
Grinning wide, Jack pulls her against him and kisses the top of her head.
"We only have a few hours, let's get on with the sound checks and stage rehearsals," Red instructs.
The room moves in a familiar choreographed motion.
Sidra
Stop looking for him, I mentally yell at myself.
The moment Red confirmed he arrived, my body has been on hyper alert knowing Xavier will be with him. I look down at a clipboard of things needing to be done this afternoon, and shake my head. I have everyone's show schedule on my phone. Said phone is burning a hole in my ass cheek, demanding I check it again to see if I can find a way to intersect him.
After the way I left, why would I expect him to come looking for me? Why do I want him to? Frustrated, I slam my pen on the clipboard and growl, causing Kel and one of his volunteer buddies to look at me.
"What?" I snap.
"You okay?" Kel asks.
His friend looks back at the laptop where he's getting familiar with the live feed and donations website.
"Yeah, just frustrated," I admit.
"Maybe you should take a break," he offers. "We've got this."
"What about the phones? Does every—"
He holds up two iPhones and his friend holds up two more.
"We're testing them now, making sure they all post to the correct accounts. Then, we'll pass them out and give instructions," Kel explains.
Slipping my phone out of my back pocket, I pull up the Twitter page for the event and see distorted pictures of things going on backstage. They don't give away anything, but they show just enough.
I nod and look up to Kel. "Good job."
"I haven't spent most of my life around you and not picked up a few things." He winks.
Taking a deep breath, I leave Kel to the social media so I can find Chantel to compare schedules.
I come out of one hallway and turn right just as the sound of Hushed Mentality fills the air. Mia's voice carries through the empty space, making me feel like like I'm caught in a sound tunnel. I bob my head and make my way to find Chantel.
An hour of going over the schedule…and for some reason the approved discussion list—Red somehow gave her the impression I could make calls on this too—I finally leave the meeting room.
The guitars and voices echo as I walk down the hall. I stop by to check on Kel, but he's out organizing our social media team. Grabbing my backpack from the floor, I leave in search of Liza—it's time I say hello to my cousin.
The closer I get to the dressing rooms, the more crowded it gets. There are so many people working. My eyes snag on a few scantily clad women lining the wall and in some corners…okay, working and loitering.
"Oh my God," one woman exclaims, running up to the group in the corner. "I just saw Christopher," she pants. "He nodded to me."
The group giggles.
I scrunch my face and it takes everything in me not to snort.
I've been around Chris enough to know he doesn't pay attention to the random women hanging around. Hell, I'm pretty sure she's lying about the nod.
"Well, Elaine and I just saw Xavier Stone going out to the stage," she boasts, catching more of my attention than I should allow.
I slow my roll so I can listen. Yes, I'm pathetic.
"He said 'hey' to both of us and smiled."
"Oh my," another woman interjects, "you all know about his habit right?"
This makes me completely stop in the middle of the hallway.
"What habit?" a new voice asks.
"Well, rumor has it—"
"It's a fact," someone interrupts. "I was at one of their concerts years ago and watched it go down. The man plays hard on stage and comes off so amped with adrenaline, he takes a girl or two into the dressing room to work out all that energy. I was this close to him, but he grabbed some tramp next to me instead," she pouts.
"But he was married." At least one of them sounds like they have morals.
"It was after his divorce," the other brushes it off. "He was totally fair game. Besides, he didn't stray when he was married, from what I heard."
"He's so big. I wonder if he's big all over," she purrs.
I almost turn around to tell them he's definitely packing, but I shake myself before I have to explain that I've woken up with his hard-on pressed against my ass.
I push myself to start walking and stop eavesdropping, but I can't get this dressing room rumor out of my head. I wonder if all musicians come off stage amped up and ready to fuck. Hmm…
Rounding a corner, I come face to chest with the oversized coloring book.
"Hey, Sid," he greets, gripping my shoulders.
I lift my backpack strap higher, look up, and respond, "Hey. Where's my girl?"
He moves aside and motions to the first room on my right.
"Thanks," I say, slipping by him and into the room, where I find most of The Forgotten and Hush.
"Sid," Liza squeals, pushing out of a chair and taking me in her arms.
"Hey, let me set my bag down."
Placing my backpack on a desk at the back of the room, I pull out my laptop, get it started up, then I return to my cousin.
When their conversation starts to die down, I finally ask what's been on my mind.
"Do you come off stage all horny and raging to go?"
The room falls silent and eyes turn to me.
"What? I heard people talking. Inquiring minds need to know," I explain, pointing to my head.
"Yeah," Elliott answers with a nod. "After a full set and the crowd getting into it, you're pretty full of adrenaline. No better way to ride that rush than on a hot chick."
I expect Elliott to get slapped, but instead, Serena nods. "It's true. The adrenaline can get you worked up and if you've got someone to work that out on, it's pretty fucking amazing."
She turns to Kat and gives her a wink Elliott can't see.
"Shit, you remember that guy during our first tour?"
"You were with me during your first tour," Elliott sits up, frowning.
Serena turns to him, a look of innocence on her face. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she says, "It was early in the tour. We weren't together, together."
"The fuck you say?" he growls.
Her hand slips away when he stands up.
Serena and Kat fall into a fit of laughter.
"You Neanderthal," Kat teases, "you were the guy."
They laugh harder and Elliott's eyes narrow on his wife.
"Woman, get up or I'm lifting you up," he orders.
"Bite me," she taunts.
Leaning down, he grabs her waist and lifts her into his arms.
"Put me down," she laughs.
"You will pay for that," he informs, stalking over to the bathroom and slamming the door behind them.
"I'm not fucking you in a bathroom," she yells.
"Then I'll fuck you," he shouts back.
There's a clatter before it falls silent.
I look back to the rest of the group, who all sit shaking their heads and smiling.
"So, they're just gonna have sex in there?" Liza asks, her eyes still on the door.
"Those two have angry sex, happy sex, hate sex…" Kat starts.
"Don't forget, I'm hungry sex, you looked at me sex, and I'm sad sex," Laney interjects.
Kat points at her and nods before finishing with, "And they have it everywhere. Serena will pretend she's mad about it, but truth is, she loves every damn second of him wanting her no matter the mood or location."
A loud moan draws all our attention to the bathroom.
"Huh," is my only response, before I turn to Mia. "What about Chris?"
They all laugh.
"What?" I ask.
"Chris is different," Mia says, pursing her lips.
&n
bsp; "Yeah, like bi-polar different," Kat quips, earning a glare from Mia. "Chris is torn between the urge to bend Mia over on stage and show every man and woman who she's with, and wanting no one to see his Mia naked or her O face," she explains.
The scowl is off Mia's face as she nods.
"I've gotta admit, you kind of nailed it," Jimmy joins the conversation.
"What about Jack?" Mia leans forward, elbows on her knees.
"No," I put my hands out. "I've heard them," I thumb toward Liza, "going at it for months to know what Jack's like. He doesn't mind showing, but he'll be damned if anyone comes near her."
"So, you're saying he'd let me watch?" Kat raises her brow.
"No," Liza blurts.
Everyone laughs.
"What the hell is so funny?" Jack asks, entering the room.
Red and two unfamiliar men follow.
"Elliott and Serena," Kat says.
"Bathroom," Laney points without looking up from a magazine.
"Ahhh," Jackson nods before pulling Liza out of her chair, taking her seat, and placing her on his lap.
"Sid," Red draws my attention.
My throat goes dry and I fight not to look just beyond his shoulder.
I thought I was prepared to see him. I'm not. Emotion burns in my chest, slowly creeping up my neck and crawling low in my stomach. In a weak moment, my eyes flit to him. He's half smiling and staring at me. Damn him.
Looking back at Red, I respond, "Yeah?"
"We all ready to go?"
I nod.
"Did Chantel get with you?"
His question snaps me out of my inner turmoil.
"Yeah, about that…" I stand, marching toward him, "why am I going over the press conference topics with her?"
Red gives me a small grin before trying to change the subject.
"Have you met Randy Glenn and Corbin Crowne?"
He motions to the two unfamiliar men.
Now that I take a better look at them, I remember them from album covers and videos. My eyes linger on Corbin, taking in the length of his lean body, olive skin, dark eyes, and long fingers before bringing my eyes up to meet his. He quirks a brow at me.
"Hi." I smile.
He smiles back.
Oh, sweet baby Jesus, that smile. My lower body gives a little clench and my knees want to hit the floor in worship.
I grip Red's arm and focus once again on Corbin.
"That shit should be illegal," I accuse. "Just unleashing it on an unwitting girl like that. Does the tooth fairy know about your abuse of power?"
