“It is,” Tate said, wiggling his eyebrows. “But we are going to have to get Erik extremely drunk before he tells it.”
I waited for her happiness to evaporate at the mention of booze. The entire time I hadn’t seen a single drop pass her lips, but she started giggling. Elodie might not be a party animal but she knew how to have fun. Even without a drink. It was kind of refreshing.
“Well then, drinks are on me, because I need to hear this story now.”
* * *
There wasa light rain falling when we reached the parking lot where the buses were packed up and waiting for us. Where Elodie was waiting for me. I could see her standing by some of the crew, laughing and joking, totally at ease in their company. It was amazing how she seemed to fit in with every part of us. Like she belonged. The only person who was slow on seeing that was me, and now I did see it, I realised how blind I had been before.
“Told you she’s amazing.” Dion grinned at me, a black marker in his hand. The fans, those that were waiting for us, screamed at him adoringly, mistaking his grin about Elodie for one at them.
“Yeah, I know you did.” I joined him, my own pen ready and waiting to sign the scraps of paper, posters and whatever body part the fans needed me to sign. “No excuses, I was fucking blind.” I cast a look behind me to where Elodie was bent over laughing with her hands on her knees. God, I had been blind.
“You see her now, right, or is this just you letting off steam…?”
I tore my eyes away from her, trying to give the fans my undivided attention. They deserved a few minutes of my time after waiting for so long in the rain. “Oh, I see her.”
Dion beamed, raising his hand to Elodie who straightened and raised her hand back, and even from across the lot I could see the confusion clouding her face. “Good, because she deserves to be seen.”
I couldn’t argue with him on that. She did deserve that. Elodie deserved a lot of things. Most of which I couldn’t give her in the long term. But she knew that. She knew… I threw another look behind me, my pen scratching across the clearly fake breasts that had been thrust in my direction. Signing tits was just part of the job. Usually, I would have maybe flirted a little, even invited the woman back to the bus. But that was before.
Now I didn’t even give more than a passing glance at the woman’s face and even less attention to her tits.
“Dion...” I didn’t want to be there. I wanted to be across the lot. Where Elodie was.
“I got you, brother. Go get her.” He plucked the pen from my hands, holding them both up with a flourish. The fans in front of him giggled at his theatrics. Dion had always had a way with them. Sometimes he was just too charming for his own good. But at times like this, I was glad of it. They wouldn’t even notice I was gone. Not when he was there.
“Oh, Jax?”
I paused, looking back over my shoulder at him.
“I’m going to ride with Tate and Louis tonight. Give you two love birds time to fuck in peace.” He winked, and I laughed as I walked away. The distance between the chain-link fence where we had been signing and the bus wasn’t far, but it seemed to take forever.
I curled my arm around her waist without any warning, lifting her squealing against my front.
“Jax, I was helping—”
“Not anymore you’re not.” Carrying her easily, I climbed the high steps onto the bus. Our bus. The one that we had been sharing for weeks. I had been relegated to a bunk because of it but I didn’t have a plans on fucking her in a narrow bunk. I needed, no, wanted more space.
The one bedroom at the back was neat and tidy. But Elodie had put her mark on it. It smelt of girly things. Of lotions and potions and whatever floral fruity stuff women liked to use. It looked a lot different to how it would if me or Dion were in it. A hell of a lot different. It came as a bit of a shock, but it shouldn’t have. It wasn’t like I had been invited into her inner sanctum before tonight.
Once more, my eyes drifted around the room, and that’s when I saw it. I dropped Elodie to her feet. I might not have been invited into her bedroom, but one of my band members sure as hell had.
“What the fuck is that doing here?” I jutted my chin out. My teeth grinding together.
Elodie looked around, confused. “What?”
“Tate’s guitar.” I knew it was his. I knew because our bassist had won it from me in an ill thought-out wager that involved streaking down the city centre in Liverpool. “What the fuck are you doing with that guitar, Elodie?”
TWENTY
Elodie
Istarted to giggle before I could help myself. It was just a few seconds before I realised my mistake and snapped my lips shut, but it was enough time to do damage. Jax was glaring down at me.
Shit. My laughter faded to nothing. Shit, he was serious. Tugging at my hair, I reached for him. “Tate gave me it… He—”
Jax didn’t let me finish. He was beyond angry, and I didn’t understand it. Was the guitar some priceless relic of bygone rock days and I hadn’t realised? Was that why?
