We hadn’t gotten far when a petite girl with dark blonde hair approached me, and I recognized her immediately. She was affectionately known among the bands we hung around with as Band-Aid. “Sawyer?” she asked, bending cutely like she was amazed to see me, her palm resting on her chest like she could hardly believe she’d ran into me.
“Yes?” I replied, like it was a question and I had no recognition of her. Band-Aid was one of the most prolific groupies on the West Coast, and as her nickname suggested, she was happy to offer her body to any band member at a loose end, to help them feel better. Throughout my career I’d made it a point never to hook up with a circuit groupie so I’d never personally gone there, but I knew two of my other bandmates had.
“Why are you acting like you don’t remember me? I find this insulting,” she snapped, her eyes flashing wide when she looked at Billie before glancing back toward me.
“Who’s this?” she hissed the S out like she was a snake impersonator.
“I’m sorry? What does it have to do with you?” I asked, not wanting to deviluge Billie’s name, concerned it would make her a target for Band-Aid.
“Isn’t he a bad liar,” she said through a chuckle, glancing at Billie then raking her eyes up and down her body.
“Excuse us, if you don’t mind, I have someone I need to see,” I said, sharply.
“Let me think, from what I can see it’s an eye doctor, you need to visit, right?” she spat, still staring at Billie and I felt her arm go stiff as her hand tightened on mine again.
“Maybe so, but I bet he’d rather see an eye doctor than a urologist like he’d need after being near you.” My eyes swung to Billie, a look of shock on my face before I let out a belly laugh. “Darlin’, that takedown was worthy of the best WWF match ever fought.”
Security had obviously had eyes on the groupie and moved in as soon as they saw she was targeting me and stepped between us as I moved Billie away. “Horrible side effect of loose morals,” I muttered, and glanced down at my wife who had continued to look over her shoulder at the girl who had tried to cause trouble.
“Tell me you didn’t—”
“I wouldn’t dare,” I shot back, my hands held up at my chest in surrender.
“Thought not, you have more taste than that,” she replied with smug conviction.
“Talking about taste, I’m wondering how quickly we can get out of here.”
Checking her watch, she glanced back up toward me and smirked. “We’ve only been here twenty-five minutes.”
“Twenty minutes too long if you ask me. Let me call a car and get us out of here. I’m not wasting another minute since I’ve achieved what we came here for.” Pulling out my cell, I hit the car app for the company I’d used earlier in the day and made my way back toward Flynn and his wife, with mine in tow.
“Thanks for the invitation, Flynn, we appreciate you considering us for the touring gig, but if you don’t mind, my wife has only got the weekend, and I’m sure you understand as attractive as you are I’d much rather be elsewhere,” I informed him with a grin and lifted Billie’s hand to my lips.
“Fuck, dude, trust me if this wasn’t my party, my wife and I would be joining you. It’s too fucking hot in here.” I raised an eyebrow and Flynn recognized his mistake and chuckled. “I can see we’re going to get on just fine when we hit the road.”
After saying our goodbyes to the man of the moment, we slid quietly out of the ballroom and headed back to the privacy of the little home-away-from-home I’d found us for one more night before Billie had to go home.
The moment I got her into the car I kissed her, and she looked stunned. “What was that for?”
“Flynn used the word hot, but I figured he was right. It was too hot and crowded in there, and I prefer any heat we have should be generated between us and for our kisses to be uninterrupted when Colby isn’t around.
Chapter Twenty-Five
For some reason the rest of the tour appeared to drag, the days were long and my nights without my wife had felt even longer. I had felt as if the closer we had gotten to the last gig date, the slower the time went.
All I had in my mind was two more performances, and I’d be on the red-eye back to New York and home by lunchtime at the latest. On Thursday we hit a run of bad luck when our tour bus hit a discarded fender and blew a tire, fortunately our last two gigs were Friday and Saturday, but the three-hour delay because a wheel was stuck fast grated on my last nerve.
The searing heat made us all cranky, and we bitched relentlessly at one another until eventually help arrived. Not only did the driver look embarrassed, we almost lynched him when all that was necessary was a single squirt from a can of WD-40 to free the damned thing.
“Hey, darlin’, how’s your day going?”
“It’s going,” she replied, softly and sighed. “Three more days,” she added, sounding wistful. She had really missed me.
“By this time on Sunday, I’ll have had you flat on your back and we’ll be eating lunch.”
“Remember Colby comes back at 5:00 p.m.,” she said, like I needed reminding when in my head I was wondering how I’d squeeze in all I wanted to do to her by the time he came home.
“Aren’t you supposed to be traveling today?”
“Yeah, bus wheel is busted. We’re waiting for someone to find the inspiration to get the locking lug nut off.”
“Sounds like a joke. How many band members does it take to mend a busted nut?” she offered, and I chuckled.
“Okay as we have nothing better to do, I think today is naughty pictures day.”
“Sawyer, I’m working, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Makes it all the naughtier. Get your phone, open your legs and take a picture. I want to see what color panties you are wearing.”
“Nope.”
“Yes, Billie, we agreed, remember? Just keeping our romance alive.”
She snickered into the phone and lowered her voice. “I can’t, you’re talking to me on my cell—” Click. I cut the call and chuckled as I wondered if she would do as I asked. Less than five seconds later I had a text alert.
My heart skipped a beat as I opened the picture text and saw a tiny white triangle of material between two milk colored thighs. Immediately I had another text.
Billie: enjoy…your turn.
Grabbing a banana from a fruit bowl on top of the fridge, I went into the bedroom dropped my jeans and laid it beside my cock. Snapping a selfie, I checked it out and chuckled, before I sent it over to my wife.
Me: Which one is your favorite fruit?
We continued with various items we found close at hand, and I had no idea my wife could be so creative with some of the ideas she came up with. However, the funniest one had to be when she had taken off her small triangular thong and punched holes in her panties.
Billie: Peep holes.
For a few minutes I lacked inspiration, until I saw a couple of Sharpies on the nightstand and smirked as I drew two black eyes on the end of my dick and then smirked as I trapped it in the top of my briefs. I sent the image and followed with the text.
Me: Peek-a-boo
When I heard a strange voice I knew a mechanic had arrived, and knowing they’d be lifting the bus to take off the wheel, I pulled up my jeans and went out to see what was happening. There was no response from Billie and I figured she must have gotten busy.
It only took minutes to get the wheel off and fix it, but it was almost 3:00 p.m. by the time we finally set off from San Diego for the penultimate destination of Phoenix, Arizona.
I found the six-hour journey tedious in the extreme, but I’d looked forward to calling Billie and Colby once they had gotten home from Colby’s baseball practice.
The clock appeared to stand still until I lay on my bed and put my earbuds in. We’d made a playlist of our favorite songs and as I lay listening to Billie’s favorites from Sam Smith and James Blunt, although they weren’t exactly my kind of music, their dulcet tones helped me drift off t
o sleep.
Waking shortly before 7:00 p.m. as if I had some internal alarm clock, I crawled off my bed, hit the fridge for a bottle of water, and informed the guys I was making a call home. Although I had spoken to Colby regularly, Thursdays were the one evening each week when I focused the call mainly on him. It was Little League day and we always dissected the practice and what he’d learned.
Crawling back onto my bed, I set up the call on Skype and when I connected I was surprised to see James in the background when Colby answered.
“What’s he doing there?” I snapped, my chest instantly tight when I recognized my brother.
“Hi, Sawyer, Uncle James picked me up from baseball.”
“He did what? Why? Never mind. Where’s your mom?” Hearing how clipped my tone was, I drew in a deep breath and tried to control my exhale. A knot formed in my stomach at the thought of James with my family and I was a thousand odd miles away.
“On her cell phone in the laundry room,” he replied.
“Who is she calling? Don’t answer that, can you go and tell her I need to speak to her, buddy?” I asked, my anxious heart raced as did my mind as I wondered why the hell James was involved with them when I was away.
“No, it’s my call tonight, remember? I’ve got homework to finish and if you start talking to her now, I won’t get my time because Mom has talked Uncle James into staying for dinner.”
“She’s what?” I barked in disbelief, because Billie knew I didn’t completely trust James. “Just get her for me real quick,” I snapped again, as frustration rose from my belly and fear gripped my chest.
“Mom, Sawyer wants you,” he called out without moving, and continued to stare toward me through the screen. I’d seen him have a few tantrums when he wanted something, but the look on his face was different, and I hadn’t missed the flash of anger in his eyes, like I had chosen his mom over him. Obviously, this hadn’t been the case, it was that she was the only person who could explain James’s presence and help me rationalize his need to be at our home on a Thursday evening.
“Hey, Sawyer,” Billie cooed, her sweet smiling face full of love, which looked in stark contrast to the anger that had built inside me while I’d waited for her to come and speak with me.
“What’s he doing there?” I ground out, my jaw locked tight and the pissed-off tone left no question of how I felt about this. My brother being at my home while I was gone had felt like a betrayal.
“James was kind enough to pick Colby up from baseball today.”
“He picked him up? How did you even have his phone number?” Colby had gone over to where James was sitting on the edge of our couch with a beer in his hand, looking awkward, which was most likely due to me catching him there, I thought.
“I don’t want him there when I’m not there,” I blurted out, sounding forceful and demanding.
“Stop this. What’s with all this suspicion? I’ve had it since the wedding when I asked him for it to text him Tricia’s number.” She huffed out a breath in frustration. “Why do I even have to explain this to you? While you’re away, I still have a job to do here. Today I was due to have a meeting with some clients who are remortgaging their portfolio of houses. They live a couple of hours out of town and were delayed in reaching the office. As it was a complex set of circumstances, the meeting ran late and I had no one to pick Colby up. I tried Logan several times, but it went to voicemail and when I tried his parents, neither of them picked up.”
“Why not ask, Tricia?”
“She had already left the office and was on her way to her parents’ place. I was desperate, you were gone, and I made a decision to prevent my son from being stranded alone in the dark. If you can’t understand that then there’s something wrong with you.”
“Sorry that happened, but you know how I feel about him after—”
“Then you don’t trust me, Sawyer Michael Wild,” she snapped back.
“Of course I trust you, but—”
“There are no buts, you either do or you don’t,” she snapped. “You choose to go away to do what you do, and I support you one-hundred-percent. Meanwhile, when you aren’t around, I need to be free to make decisions in the best interests of all members of this family.”
“I agree, but James—” I began and knew I sounded irrational, but sometimes despite reassurance, I still had a nagging doubt that just wouldn’t go away.
“Indeed, but what would you have had me do, given the circumstance? James did us a favor today and I, for one, am grateful. Now I’ve asked him to stay for dinner, but he looked nervous and hadn’t felt it appropriate, if you must know, but it’s at Colby’s insistence he’s still here. I knew you’d react badly to this and to make the situation more comfortable for all concerned, I just called Tricia at her parents’ place and invited her as well.” She sighed, heavily and I knew she had grown tired of explaining herself.
When she huffed out her breath, I knew my reaction had exasperated her and I felt certain this had been the first time I’d really disappointed her. The thought of it knotted my stomach.
Without another word, she turned on her heel and left me. Fuck. “Colby, Sawyer’s free if you want to talk to him.” My heart hurt for arguing with her, but I couldn’t be blamed that I felt nervous about James being around my girl, while the rational side of me argued Colby was there. And she was right, I believed in Billie.
Colby came back to the screen with a moping look on his face. “I don’t have time to tell you what happened now. I’ll tell you about baseball on Sunday when I get home from my dad’s house, but right now I need to do my homework and wash up for dinner.”
Calling his mom back to the screen he wandered off, and I got the feeling neither wanted to continue the conversation. When Billie came back to her laptop there was so much I wanted to say to her; so much more I could have said, but I knew if I stayed on the call I’d most likely have challenged her again about James being there.
The parallels were scary; I had gone home two days early when I found James and my ex Charlotte, together in the home I shared with her. I had two days until I was due home and it felt like déjà vu when I knew James was there with Billie.
To say I performed badly during our gig that night would have been a kindness. My timing, concentration, and vocals were off, not that the audience noticed, but the rest of the band had.
“What the fuck was that?” Wiggy screeched when we finally left the stage.
“Not feeling well,” I mumbled, glancing at Hammer who saw right through my lie.
“Are you going to be feeling unwell tomorrow?” Wiggy asked, his sarcastic tone grated and I knew he was irritable since our schedule was thrown off with the bus incident the day before.
“Don’t fucking tempt me, Wiggy. Not today,” I warned, my voice so low and threatening I hardly recognized it myself.
Hammer puffed out his chest and stepped forward. “Okay, and that’s your cue to reel it in and get changed. I’m not getting on that fucking bus with hostilities brewing between you two. I want a good night’s sleep and we’ll wake up in Las Vegas. We have the whole day there before the last gig. It’s been days since I’ve gotten laid, and if either of you get in the way of that there’ll be hell to pay.”
Strings shoved past Wiggy and bumped his shoulder with his. “You heard the man, move,” he ordered, making space and pushing Wiggy in the direction of the dressing room. As soon as he was out of earshot, Strings turned and looked at me with a deep frown creasing the center of his brow.
“All right, out with it. What’s eating your nuts?”
“Nothing,” I snapped.
“A big fucking nothing. Give it up, what the hell’s going on in there?” he demanded, pointing at my head.
“When I called home this afternoon, James was at my place.”
“James?”
“Yeah, I know it’s stupid and Billie loves me, but, dude, I know him. I’d like to think he’s changed, but I dunno … I haven’t been able to shake t
he knot in my stomach and my guts have been churning ever since.”
“Billie’s mad about you. Seriously, you have nothing to worry about there. That woman would never do you wrong.”
“I know. But … I’m not so sure James wouldn’t try if he had—”
“Now you’re being ridiculous. Look at what your brother went through, you do remember what he told you, right? And as for Billie, she is definitely no Charlotte.”
“Right,” I agreed, heaving a deep breath and letting out a sigh. “I’ve gotten all bent out of shape for no reason.”
“Agreed, now as soon as the kids go to bed,” he said, nodding toward where Hammer and Wiggy had gone, “you and I are hitting the bar.”
In all the years we’d been together, Strings had been the person I’d connected least with until Wiggy began to have issues. He and Hammer had always been close and as Hammer and I were close I had tolerated Strings, although back then he had tended to rub me up the wrong way. It was only when the rest of us were united about handling Wiggy that a true friendship had grown between us.
“Thank God this tour has gone smoothly, I was ready to bounce if we hadn’t pulled this one off. You talking to Flynn about the gig has really helped. I was being honest when I said I’ve had more than a few offers this past eight months, and I’m getting to an age when I need to be thinking about the future.”
“Don’t think I’m not aware of this. You’ve been the only one in the band who has kept sight of what needed to be done. I love Hammer like a brother, but I thought we were finished when he went through his addiction, but Wiggy…I’m still not convinced we’re out of the woods with him. He does appear different this time, like he’s having a period of reflection, but who knows how long that’ll last.”
Strings fell silent, like it wasn’t what he needed to hear and threw back his neat whiskey in one. Grimacing at the burn I knew he felt as it went down, he narrowed his eyes and shook his head as anger rose and I saw him roll his shoulders.
“That’s what makes me nervous, and I don’t know if I can take another financial hit while he sorts through his shit again…or if one day, God forbid, we find him stiff in his bunk.” I thought for a long minute about what he said and I had to agree if I was in his position, I’d likely have left DisKord behind by now.
Dare Me, Part Two Dare Duet Sawyer and Billie: Unchained Attraction Series Page 21