Page 2

I leave the bathroom intent on having this out with Lyric, because I’m not letting him run away this time.

As I enter the living area section of the bus, my friends are standing there, looking at me like I’m an idiot. Danny Wells—or Raven, our lead singer, is shaking his head in disapproval. He has nothing to talk about. He ended up hooking up with one of our security men, Tobias Grant, when Danny had a stalker. And now they are in a committed relationship.

Connor Wild—or Wildman, the drummer for Warrior Black, is clucking his tongue. He too has nothing to say. He ended up sleeping with John Brand, another one of our private security guys, when Connor’s psycho uncle was obsessed with him. And now, they are in a serious relationship too.

“Shut up.” I scowl at both of them.

Connor smiles wide. “What? I didn’t say anything.”

“Neither did I,” Danny jeers.

“You both can go fuck off,” I growl at them.

Then I glance over at Callum Fitz, who is all but eye-fucking his lovers, Pen Gallagher and Dominick Rossetti, two more security guys. They, on the other hand, aren’t looking at Callum. No, they are looking at me and chuckling, goofy grins on their faces. “You three are no better,” I say, pointing at them.

Bobby Hicks—my best friend, and our band’s keyboardist, waltzes back from the front of the bus and glances around. “What did I miss, D’Angelo?”

“Nothing,” I shout.

“Fuck. Whatever,” Bobby grumbles, and then shoves a large round sucker into his mouth. I swear his teeth will be rotten by the time he turns forty.

The high from the euphoria is now completely gone from my body, and my thoughts go to Lyric. I need to talk to him about fleeing the second he orgasms. Then I want to ask him if he wants to come with me to Las Vegas after Rocktoberfest and spend some serious time between the sheets.

But I don’t get a chance, since he isn’t in the living room area on the bus. I peer out the window and groan. Sometime while we were fucking, the bus arrived at Black Rock and is now parked in our assigned spot. Who knows where Lyric disappeared to. My shoulders droop, since I’m pretty sure I won’t see him until our concert is over. While I’m not surprised that he’s hiding from me, I don’t like it.

“Come on, Rafe, get your stuff ready,” the band’s manager, Dante Ross, says with a knowing look. Does he know?

“Where’s Lyric?” I ask them.

They shrug. “I’m not Lyric’s keeper. Focus on the concert, Rafe. That delay yesterday cost us, and you’ve got no time for anything but prepping for the concert. You’re on stage in an hour and half.” Our illustrious manager strides to the bus door and steps out, the heels of their black Louboutin stilettos looking more like spikes.

I shudder at the thought of what those things can do to a ball sack. Then chuckle as I picture them trying to walk across the dust and packed down dirt of the festival site. Those spikes might sink right in.

“Dante’s right. We need to focus more on this concert than our dicks. There’s new pyrotechnics with our performance. At least the crew and equipment got here on time yesterday,” Danny says as he unscrews the cap of a tube of lip gloss and swipes the doe foot applicator across his lips.

I sniff. “Watermelon?” And my mind immediately thinks of Lyric’s plump lips.

“Yes. Lyric gave me this one. It’s from Korea. It’s supposed to be beneficial for my lips. Plump them up. And it seems to be working.” He looks into a hand-held mirror, presses his lips together and then purses them. “How does it look?”

“Beautiful,” Tobias says, as he leans down and begins to devour his boyfriend’s mouth with hungry desperation. “It tastes better than some of the other lip shit you use.”

“Lip shit?” Danny rolls his eyes and tucks the stick in his pocket. “But, thank you, babe.”

“No problem.” Our lead security looks around the space, meeting each of us in the eyes. “The crowd is crazier than usual tonight. We got you, but even so, be mindful where you are walking.”

“Aw. I love you, too.” Danny gets up and wraps his arms around Tobias’s neck. “One final kiss for luck.”

“Jesus, here they go again,” Bobby mutters and walks away. “I’ll meet you outside.”

Callum snickers and follows his lovers out of the bus. Danny and Tobias break it off and follow our throuple. Connor high fives his lover, John and they leave too. I stand there, alone, for a solid three seconds before I bolt out of the bus, and catch sight of Tobias and Danny macking on each other again.

For fuck’s sake. I’m surrounded.

Eventually I manage to put Lyric out of my mind and focus on the concert.

Tobias was right. The crowd this year seems triple to that of last year. People are screaming our names and our band’s name, and it can be heard across the entire venue. It’s fucking awesome.

This will be our fourth time playing this venue, and this year we finally get to play on the big stage. We didn’t care and Dante didn’t tell us who we are following or who plays after us, although I would guess it was one of the big metal bands, like Social Sinner, Grindstone, or even Chaotic Abyss.