Dawson shrugged. “Because when I mentioned him that was when you got your epiphany. And he did save your life.”
“No. Beckett saved my existence. Healed my physical body. But you, Dawson, you saved me. You healed my heart, my soul. I was taking up space before you came back into my life. My world was grey, quiet, safe. And then I came downstairs at my parents’ home, and the air shifted. There you were. And when you took me in your arms, you resuscitated my broken heart. Color rushed back in like a tsunami, decimating the grey that had over washed everything. My painting needed you. Like I needed you.”
Dawson
I squeezed Izzy’s knee as the plane landed. Excitement coursed through me. I’d always loved Vegas. The lights, the liveliness, the adrenaline rush. But that wasn’t why I was so giddy as the desert air filled the plane’s cabin when the door opened. Being here to celebrate our upcoming nuptials made my heart soar. I didn’t plan to participate in any sort of debauchery as a way to say goodbye to the single life. I had no interest in any of that. The other guys could go have their fun if they wanted. I’d happily bury myself in my wife-to-be rather than bury myself in booze and lust. Add to that the meeting we flew here to take, and I was still floating in the clouds. The prospect of a residency in Vegas was perfect for us.
The long tour we’d done before leaving Matthews Melodies had exhausted all of us. A new city every day or two, non-stop for nearly three years had wrung us dry of energy and creativity. But we all loved our fans and performing for them. There was little that could compare with the rush that came from a crowd chanting our names. Being able to perform several shows a week for six months to a year while staying in one place held great appeal. It would be a great way for Izzy and me to start married life.
We wouldn’t be home exactly. But we could create a temporary home while we were here. If everything worked out. And honestly as long as Izzy was with me, I’d be home.
But I was getting ahead of myself. There were a lot of details to work out. But my hopeful heart didn’t care. This could be the answer to having everything I wanted without any headaches.
The guys all stood and stretched. Gina was still asleep next to Maddox. He stooped to try and wake her.
Tansy and Cleo were bouncing near the door, ready to get off the plane. The girls had talked excitedly the whole flight. It was odd to have Cleo as part of our circle. Not that she wasn’t a nice girl. But with her previous attachment to me, I never expected her and Izzy to become friends. It was more a testament to the type of person my girl was than anything.
Izzy’s phone dinged as soon as she turned it back on.
“That’s probably Britt,” she said as she unlocked the screen.
“Britt’s coming?” Wilder asked with fake nonchalance like I hadn’t already told him Brittany would be here, clasping his hands behind his back as he rocked on his heels.
“Yeah. She should be landing soon,” Izzy said as she tapped away on her phone, unaware of Wilder’s odd behavior. “Soon-ish, I guess I should say. She had a delay due to weather. But she should be here tonight.”
Joy briefly lit up Wilder’s face before he schooled his features. Hmmm. I’d never asked Wilder what happened between the two of them after the music awards. When Izzy and I had left the after party, the two of them were still cutting up the dance floor. Maybe they’d continued their own private party afterwards.
Over by the exit, Joe cleared his throat. “Car’s ready.”
I grabbed mine and Izzy’s luggage then steered her to the set of stairs that would deposit us officially onto Vegas soil. Staff scurried to meet us and take our bags to the waiting limo. While we settled inside the cool interior, all of our group’s stuff was loaded into the trunk.
“I’m not sure all of Cleo’s stuff is going to fit,” Jett teased as he slid in next to us.
She promptly flipped him off and blew him a kiss. “I believe in being prepared.”
“It’s not like we didn’t have a whole plane of space available for you to fill,” Izzy said in a laughing tone.
“Men just don’t understand,” Cleo said with faux annoyance in her tone.
Everyone else piling inside halted the conversation.
Joe popped his head through the privacy glass. “We still waiting here for Brittany to land?”
“No. Her flight was delayed. She’ll be arriving at about the same time as Sky. So she can catch a ride with her,” Izzy answered.
Gina’s head jerked up at the mention of Sky. “I didn’t realize anyone else was coming on this trip with the guys,” she said with a frown. She turned to face Maddox. “Did you know?”
“Yeah. When I spoke to her days ago, Sky mentioned that she and Jarrod would be meeting us in Vegas. I thought I mentioned it to you,” he answered with a shrug.
“You didn’t,” Gina whispered.
“It’s no big deal. Sky’s cool. I know you haven’t had much time to get to know her. But you’ll love her,” Maddox tried to smooth things over.
“Jarrod’s not coming,” Izzy mentioned, causing Maddox to glance over at us. “Sky told me yesterday that he wound up getting stuck working some new project or something,” Izzy continued.
“Oh … Well, that’s too bad,” Maddox said with a strange expression on his face.
“We’ll make sure she has a blast,” Izzy chimed in, no doubt assuming Maddox was worried that Sky would feel like a third wheel.
“Of course, we will. She’s family,” Wilder said.
Everyone murmured in agreement.
As the car moved away from the airport, I tugged Izzy tighter to my side and pointed out the window, anxious to share the sights with her. Whenever she’d accompanied me on tour, I’d always loved showing her the tourist attractions, the hidden gems, everything. As a boy, I’d wanted to show her the world; that was why we’d created a bucket list in the first place. As a man, I was able to do it.
The driver easily slipped in and out of traffic as he maneuvered down back roads, through neighborhoods to get to our destination as quickly as possible. He wasn’t trying to rack up a high fare since we’d hired the car service for the duration of our stay.
“Is that the Strip?” Izzy asked when a flash of neon flickered to our left.
“No. You’d know if we were driving down the Strip. I promise,” I answered with a chuckle. “The Strip isn’t really on the way to Hard Rock. That hotel isn’t one of the ones on the Strip. But I promise, we’ll go explore the Strip while we’re here.”
“Great. And I did send your friend Luca a message with a couple of things I’d like to check out,” she said with a sly grin on her face.
“I hope you told him we wanted to go to the Magic Mike show,” Cleo clamored.
“Not exactly. But I’m sure it can be arranged if that’s something you really want to do,” Izzy hastened to offer when both Tansy and Cleo’s faces fell.
“What exactly did you line up?” I asked, quirking my brow at her.
“You’ll see. I think everyone will enjoy it,” she hedged.
“Give us a hint,” Cleo demanded.
“It’s a show. That’s the only clue you get.” Izzy mimed zipping her lips.
The back doors opened before we could discuss her secret any further. Joe stood on one side holding the door open, while the hired driver waited on the other. Systematically we filed out of the vehicle. People strolling around outside the hotel glanced our way. And while some pointed and held up their phones to snap photos, they stayed a respectful distance away. Vegas was frequented by so many celebrities that the novelty didn’t exist there. For the most part anyway.
Still, I tucked Izzy under my arm, keeping her safe by my side. A man in a suit rushed out the glass doors. He strode right up to me. “Dawson, I’m Luca. It’s nice to meet you in person.”
I took his offered hand and gave it a shake. “Good to meet you too. This is Izzy.” I squeezed her hip.
She quickly shook his hand.
“Isabelle, I got y
ou VIP tickets to the show you requested. Enough for everyone. Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll get you all settled in,” Luca said, holding his arm out indicating which way we should go. He snapped his fingers in the direction of a couple of hotel staff members and silently communicated with them. In seconds, they’d rolled a couple of huge luggage carts over to the limo.
As we entered the shiny lobby, I rapidly took in all the iconic musical memorabilia that was scattered throughout the space—costumes, instruments, posters, antique equipment. I was in musical heaven.
Luca led us past the registration desk and over to an elevator tucked in the corner. With a wave of his keycard, the doors slid open, revealing a cavernous space.
“We should all be able to squeeze in,” he announced as everyone slipped inside.
Once the doors closed, he used his keycard to gain access to the panel. “Your keycards will grant you access to this elevator. While you’re guests at the Hard Rock, no one will have access to your floor without the keycard. The front desk can assist you should you wind up locked out of your floor. They have copies of everyone’s driver’s license on file already. Because of the renovations, you’re the first guests to ever occupy the new suites.”
The elevator stopped on the eleventh floor. “I’ll give you a tour of the whole floor first. Keep in mind the renovations aren’t complete and won’t be until we’ve confirmed things with you. We like to tailor the residency accommodations with the signed band.”
When we stepped out of the elevator, it was onto a dark carpet lined with a musical staff stretching the entire length of the corridor.
We followed him down the hallway. The first room we encountered was a large conference room. The table inside could seat at least twelve people. “We figured that any band in residence would potentially need to be able to conduct business while here. This room serves as a multi-purpose room. We can easily change things to accommodate larger groups, do press conferences, meet and greets, whatever you might need. Restrooms are right over there,” he said, pointing to a set of doors in the corner.
Luca led us to a door a little farther down the hallway. “This is tentatively called the Dear Universe suite.” With a wave of his keycard, he opened the door. There are three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a large living area, a gaming room, a full-sized bar, hot tub and pool. We figured this suite would be the place where you’d hang out as a group and have parties. It’s the biggest of the suites.”
The entire suite was decorated in black, silver and red. The large wall in the living area featured a huge image of the us performing. The connecting wall showed a crowd going wild at a show. Huge leather sofas were arranged in a semi-circle, facing a giant TV.
“The bedrooms in all of the suites haven’t been fully decorated because we’d like to customize the space to whoever is actually going to call those rooms home. For your stay this time, I have Jett, Wilder and Maddox in here,” Luca said, passing each of them keycards.
We each peeked into the bedrooms. They were large and similarly furnished with king-sized beds, a couple of chairs and dressers.
“My girlfriend, Gina, will be in here too,” Maddox said, taking a card for her.
We left that suite for the next one.
“Next up is the Lovecoaster suite. It has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. There’s a hot tub, a picnic area on the balcony and another large living space, plus a huge formal dining room.”
Inside, we were met with mostly silver, white and blue. A swirling keyboard swooped up and down across the walls of the entire suite. This space had a more relaxing vibe to it. The other suite definitely had the party feel.
Once we’d checked out each part of the suite, Luca handed keycards to Cleo and Tansy. “I also have cards for—” He checked his list. “—Brittany and Sky.”
“They’ll be arriving a little later,” I offered.
“That’s no problem. Ready to see the rest of the floor?”
We all nodded eagerly then trailed down the musical carpet. “There are five executive suites. Each has a bedroom, living room and kitchenette. We wanted to be able to accommodate any guests you might have, as well as managers, security and any PR personal who occasionally needed to be in town.” Luca opened the closest door so we could check it out.
Though they weren’t as large as the suites he’d already shown us, they were spacious and very nice. They’d be perfect for anyone who might visit us should we accept the residency here.
“They’re great,” Jett chimed in after he’d walked through the space.
“Much nicer than so many of the dumps we stayed in when we were first starting out,” Wilder added with a laugh.
“Yeah. Back then I never imagined we’d stay anywhere this nice, much less somewhere like the suites down the hall,” I admitted humbly. This life seemed pretty surreal sometimes.
“Let me show you the last suite. It’s the door at the end of the hallway.” He moved soundlessly toward the last door, the one at the end of the carpeted song. “We call it the Makin’ Me Dizzy suite,” Luca said as he pushed the door open.
With my hand on the small of Izzy’s back, I urged her in first. When the lights flickered on, she gasped. Her eyes were wide as she moved into the space that could become a sort of home for us if we agreed to this deal. A thin, glittery red swirl of paint danced and twined its way all around the suite. It graced each wall we could see. The walls of the living room and dining room were adorned with framed reprints of the twelve paintings of Izzy’s that made up her Fate’s Thread series.
I glanced over at Luca, who wore a pleased smile on his face. He’d pulled out the big guns for this suite.
Though the original paintings hung in our house, Izzy still walked up to one of the images and slowly reached out to stroke her fingers along the sliver of red. Giving her a minute, I wandered over to the piano sitting in front of a huge wall of glass.
“We added soundproofing to this suite and the other large suites, so you can give it a whirl,” Luca encouraged.
I couldn’t help myself. I eased onto the bench and settled my fingers on the keys. There were so many songs I could’ve played. So many melodies I could have coaxed from the glossy black piano for her. Ballads I’d written for her, written for us. But one instantly started from sheer muscle memory. I’d probably played this one song more than any other one ever. The Calling’s “Wherever You Will Go” was the only logical option to play when I could only play one song.
As soon as the first words left my lips, Izzy found her way over to me. She lowered herself to the bench next to me and leaned into my side. Though our friends filled the space around us, no one existed in that moment but the two of us.
When the final notes faded, the girls and Luca clapped, shattering the bubble we’d hovered in for a few precious moments.
I turned my head and captured Izzy’s mouth with mine. Mindful of our audience, I kept the kiss mostly chaste, barely dipping in to taste her. “How did that sound?” I murmured against her lips.
“Like home,” she answered back.
I tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, then stood. “Let’s go see the rest.”
Lacing my fingers with hers, I led her over to the wall of windows. The sun hadn’t set yet, so we could see for miles.
“I know you guys have had your privacy invaded numerous times in the past. I wanted to let you know that all the windows are reflective from the outside. So you can see out, but no one can see in,” Luca said.
“That’s good,” Izzy said.
We walked through the kitchen in the direction of a hallway. As I pushed open the door to what I figured was a bedroom, Luca said, “We repurposed one of the bedrooms into something we figured would be more useful to you.”
Natural light flowed in through the large window. The floor was tiled. A large artist’s desk lined one wall. The opposite wall was covered in a giant watercolor butterfly.
“Wow,” Izzy breathed as she spun around in the center of the room,
appreciating the easels, the space for storage and a computer. “This is perfect.”
“We reached out to another artist for his assistance in designing this room with you in mind.”
“You thought of everything,” I complimented Luca.
He beamed. “The room next to this, I figured you could use as a guest room,” he explained, showing it to us.
Our families would definitely be comfortable if they ever had the occasion to visit us here.
“Your room, or what I assume will be your room, is this way.” Luca spun on his heel and marched back through the kitchen, past the huge sectional sofa in the living room to a short hallway. He halted there and let us continue on our own.
The bedroom was massive. The walls were painted a soft grey and had the red thread winding around the top edges in a decorative swirl. A grey and pink comforter covered the king-sized bed. Izzy leaned forward and pressed on the edge of the mattress, testing its firmness.
I stepped closer, gripped her by the hips and tossed her into the center of the mattress. A giggle tumbled out as she bounced a couple of times before settling flat on her back.
“It’s so soft and comfy,” she said, sliding her arms around like she was making a snow angel.
“But still nice and firm,” I whispered as I eased onto the mattress and lowered my frame over hers. Like magnets, my lips drifted to hers. Hers parted beneath mine. Her soft tongue stroked against mine, making me moan and yearn for more. Each kiss shared between us was familiar like home, yet new and exciting like a never-ending adventure. “I can’t wait to test this bed out later,” I mumbled against her mouth before I pulled back.
“Me either.” She allowed me to tug her to her feet. “Let’s check out the bathroom.”
The bathroom was actually a series of rooms. The front space was open to the bedroom. A hot tub sat in the middle of the floor, the water already bubbling. Water overflowed one end, trickling into an infinity pool that extended from the bathroom and out onto the balcony. A long counter with a pair of sinks was positioned on the far wall. A small room was tucked to the side with the toilet. And at the back was a frosted glass shower that made me envious. It was the utmost in extravagance with a bench lining two sides. Two rainfall shower heads were suspended from the ceiling, and there were at least ten jets positioned everywhere along the walls.
Lyrical Odyssey Rock Star Series: Box Set 1 Page 83