by Sand, A. J.
“Ow! Ow! Take it off, girl!” one of the women said in a drunken yelp as she bounced up and down in the middle of the pool.
“Cameras are off-limits tonight, Dylan,” Heath warned with a wink. “We made everybody give their cell phones to security. You count too.”
“I’m off the clock… don’t worry.” And she was glad for the “no camera” rule. The last thing they needed was for a video of a drunken pool party from a Kai White tour to end up on the Internet when he was supposed to be focusing on music. She soon spotted him in a pair of swim trunks sitting on a white chaise lounge directly across from where she was, and he was chatting with a woman who was sprawled on an adjacent one. Dylan wanted to vomit all over her as her jealousy instantly grew. Kai looked startled when he saw Dylan, and his gaze nailed her to the spot. He smiled in the way that always melted her heart, and the corners of her mouth turned up, too. The woman next to him turned her head and waved, recognizing her.
“Camera girl! Hey! Wow, didn’t know you were working with all of that,” she shouted, making the shape of an hourglass figure with her hands. Dylan shot a halfhearted wave at her, wanting to roll her to the concrete instead. Suddenly Xavier appeared out of nowhere and backed her precariously to the edge of the pool. His short, artificially red hair was drenched.
“If I’m going in, you are, too,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug. She didn’t actually have any interest in him, but Kai was getting a dose of what he was going to be doling out to her this entire tour. Dylan turned her head just enough to catch a glance of Kai. His gaze was burning into the both of them, and he had already stopped talking to the woman and was moving toward the pool.
“So we’re really going in?” Xavier asked, and she nodded. Dylan managed to suck in a quick breath before they splashed forcefully through the water’s surface. When she pushed up, Kai was sitting on the edge of the pool, and the woman was calling his name and waving her arms to get his attention. He licked his lips gently when Dylan brushed the water off her face and smoothed her hair back. She spied the soft glisten of water on his chest and arms. Jesus. This hookup embargo was going to get maddening.
“I’ve never gotten a girl wet that fast in my life,” Xavier said with a wink before enduring her rough splashing. They wrestled in the water for a few seconds before he locked Dylan in a bear hug from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. Kai’s face immediately twisted up into a snarl. She couldn’t help thinking that he was adorable when he was jealous, and it was good to know she wasn’t the only one that this was torturous for.
The girl from the chaise lounge dipped down into the pool next to Kai’s dangling feet, then she waded backward and curled her finger, beckoning him to join her. A moment of panic made Dylan think that Kai would take the bait, but he didn’t budge, he just looked more annoyed. Dylan looked down so he wouldn’t see her smiling.
“So are we going to play or what?” Xavier asked the group.
“Play what?” she asked.
“No, it’s getting late,” Kai snapped. “We should go.”
“Okay, mom. Or should I say, Ashley?” Heath teased, nipping at a giggling girl’s shoulder. They had been caressing each other and kissing intermittently since Dylan arrived. “Why are you in such a shitty mood all of a sudden? Oh wait, I know why.” Heath cocked his head at Dylan before turning back to Kai. “We’re playing.”
“I’m not fucking playing,” Kai announced. His annoyed stare daggered Xavier, and Dylan tried harder to keep a straight face. Heath swam over to the side, and Dylan noticed the basketball hoop on the edge of the pool. She laughed a little too loudly at something a girl next to her said, but she was really laughing at Kai. She watched his eyes narrow in aggravation when his gaze dropped to where Xavier’s hands were (on her hips). Xavier pushed away when Heath tossed the soft orange ball at him, and he started divvying up teams.
“Hey, Dylan, you wanna go film right now? Want to hear some late night confessions?” Kai offered her, his face softening briefly.
“Ask me after one game.” She could tell it wasn’t an answer he liked, and he slid into the pool to pursue the girl from before. Of course the plan to have the upper hand with him had backfired. She sighed and went to join her team in a huddle. Water basketball turned out to be much harder than it looked. Between the exertion of moving through the water, making sure her bikini top didn’t slide off and watching Kai as he chatted with the girl at the other end of the pool, Dylan was exhausted.
“Pass! Pass!” Heath yelled as the opposing team dove toward her, and Dylan managed to release the ball before she was clobbered and pulled under. From the sidelines, the spectators oohed. She broke through the surface of the water, coughing and nearly blind, but the others were already chasing the ball in the direction she had thrown it. It was the third time she had gotten dunked and she was completely over it.
Someone swam up behind her and locked their hands on her waist. “What is it about these things…” Kai said as his hands drifted down her hips to where the bikini strings were. “…That always makes me want to untie them?”
“Women wear them?” she said, laughing. Kai swam around to the front of her.
“Here…” he said, shaking excess water off his hands before he held her at the nape of her neck as he palmed pool water off her cheeks and eyelids. “Better?” He brushed one of her cheeks one final time, smiling down at her. The hand on the back of her neck slipped down to the small of her back.
“Yeah… thank you.” She patted him on the chest on impulse. When her hand lingered, Kai gripped it, raised her palm to his mouth and kissed it before Dylan could yank her hand away.
“You were terrible out there,” Kai said on his way to the steps, and she climbed out after him.
“Not my finest moments.” She retrieved her clothes but didn’t put them on. He threw a towel over her shoulders when they reached the doors that led back into the hotel, before they walked out to the elevator bank. Dylan caught sight of her bikini top in a mirror near the elevator. She was still completely covered up but gameplay had slackened the tie around her neck. As she moved her hands up to re-tie her bikini top, the towel slipped down to the floor, but Kai caught it before it landed. In the mirror, she watched as his gaze snaked slowly up her body until their eyes locked. Dylan thought her legs would go weak from the warmth growing between them.
“I can do that,” he said as he flung her towel over his shoulder.
“Repeat after me, ‘I’m tying it,’” she teased. She flattened her palms against her upper chest to keep the top from falling forward when the loose ends of the strings unfurled down her back.
“Brain got the message. Fingers might not,” he said, laughing, but he got quiet after picking the strings up. As she wondered what he was thinking, Dylan couldn’t take her eyes off him in the mirror, and heat enveloped her entire body. He had to know what he was doing, how crazy he was making her. Kai met her eyes after he laced the two strings together, tugging each end in opposite directions. Dylan pulled her hands away from her chest and his breathing picked up. His Adam’s apple bounced a few times as he gulped down, standing frozen with the strings between his fingers. Dylan bit her lip. The yearning for him was getting unbearable, miserable even. There was a flash in her head of being put against that very mirror, smudging it with her back, but she was trying her best to ignore it.
Kai bent one of the strings and looped the other around it, twisting it into a bow. Dylan was anxious and ready to have his hands off her before she went crazy. She considered that maybe there was such a thing as being sexually frustrated to death. She flinched when Kai slipped his finger between the horizontal string and her back and raised his eyebrows.
“How’s this one?” he asked. His lips were right at her ear, but his stare was locked to hers in the mirror.
“It’s fine,” she squeaked as she shook her head. His fingers trailed her spine down to the base before he tossed her towel onto her sh
oulders. She finally tore her eyes away from him, breathing faster than before, when the elevator slipped open, and they both stepped in.
“What floor?” she asked as she used the towel to fluff her hair dry. Kai didn’t answer. When she looked over, he was leaning against the wall, staring intensely at her. It washed her in a flush and sent tingles to every part of her body. Memories from fooling around on the tour bus needled into her mind, and she needed to get out of this enclosed space with him as soon as possible.
“Kai. What floor?” She spoke louder than before.
“Shit, sorry.” He walked over and pushed the number ten. “1014. Come and bring the camera,” he said when the elevator reopened.
Dylan took a quick shower, blow-dried her hair damp and slipped into her PJ’s before going to Kai’s room. She was nervous about being in there, especially because they seemed to be unable to exercise any manner of self-control around each other for very long, but Ashley’s scalding words were fresh in her mind.
It was a beautiful mini-suite with the bed and common areas separated by a partition that shot out midway across the room from the wall. Dylan didn’t trust herself near the bed so she opted for a loveseat, and he sprawled across the couch. He had showered but was shirtless, as usual.
“Kai, put a shirt on,” Dylan demanded. “And no more shirtless scenes. I promised Nina I’d make this somewhat wholesome. You get to curse, that’s the compromise.”
He walked around the half-wall and returned without any skin showing. She was a little disappointed, but it was better for his toned down image this way. And her focus.
“How come you don’t have any tattoos?” she asked after she turned on the camera. “I thought that was a rock star rite of passage.”
Kai lay back on the couch with his eyes closed and his fingers locked over his stomach. She moved to the floor directly in front of him, capturing a side view of his supine frame. “I’ve never really understood tattoos. Forcing permanence on something so temporary and fragile. Seems strange.”
“Are you saying I’m strange?” she said, laughing.
“I guess it’s a bit rebellious, too, the forcing permanence part.” Kai twisted his head toward her and opened his eyes. She lost her breath when he looked at her. If he smiles right now, I’ll be in trouble. “Very few things stand the chance of becoming immortal and permanent the way the written word does, though. I guess songs are my version of tattoos.” He smiled, and her heart clenched. “Happy?”
“So, the new song went over well. You were worried for nothing,” she said.
Kai shook his head. “I’m never worried for nothing. Maybe the next new song won’t, and there are other things. I overheard Ashley on the phone to Nina. We undersold in some places. My two New York shows… and a few others I have scheduled for next year. So I better enjoy this high while I can. I hope I can keep everyone’s morale up.” He looked so vulnerable she wanted to hug him. He had been so kind to her on the tour bus when she was talking about Mac.
“You want me to turn this off?” she mouthed, lowering the camera.
He shook his head slightly. “I worry about them… they’re all dependent on me… my whole crew. I don’t like disappointing them. They took a huge risk staying with me throughout everything. If I let them down… it comes with ramifications. They have families and people they have to worry about. And they’re living their dreams too. I was afraid we would have to cancel shows if we undersold too much. So there’s always worry.” Kai sat up, picked up his acoustic guitar and started playing something she had never heard before. “Speaking of new songs, I got part of one done today. So it’s making its worldwide debut...on camera. It doesn’t have a name yet…” Kai drew his fingers across the strings. “It’s not much. You want to hear it?”
“I do.” Dylan stood and moved back to get him completely in the frame.
Kai cleared his throat and played the opening chord. “Ready? It’s not much at all, but here goes. Last time I saw you, the whole world had broken your heart/ If I could, I’d find a way to collect all the parts/ Just to make you whole again/ Find a way to pull you back from the end/ ‘Cause I—I—I… There are a lot of I’s here,” he said, speaking briefly instead of singing. “I’d move mountains and part oceans/ Just for a minute of your smile.”
Dylan blinked before she could control the swell of emotion in her chest and her tears fell. She dropped the camcorder and scrambled to the bathroom. Kai came in right behind her, wrapping her up in his arms.
“It wasn’t really supposed to make you cry. I was trying to tell you that you don’t have to keep it all inside because I am here for you.” Kai squeezed her tighter.
Dylan lifted appreciative eyes to his. “You were singing about me?” Her heart jumped when she thought about what he had said about immortality through songs. She could barely remember when a guy had bothered to buy her flowers. In such a short time, he was turning out to be much more than she had expected.
Kai held her face. “I just want you to know that I’m here for you. Even though you’re trying to make me crazy. If I had ripped Zave’s arm off in the pool, you realize I’d be short my drummer, right?” He put his forehead against hers. “And I need this tour,” he said, laughing. “Need.”
Dylan squeezed him at his sides and realized it was a bad idea. She was reminded that he was so solid everywhere and so nice to hold on to. “I make you crazy?”
“In the best way possible. And it seems like the wrong time to say this, but I’m really sorry about almost getting us caught on the bus… but not really. I’m not sorry at all, actually, about what we were doing.” The two of them laughed. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“I would, too, but we can’t, of course, or we shouldn’t. Ashley pretty much accosted me with her theories earlier.” And they had managed to get through a whole conversation without tearing each other’s clothes off. Even though she really wanted to. We’re off to a great start.
“She’s a hard ass. I’ll tell her to back off—”
“Thanks. I didn’t like how she said what she said, but she was doing her job. I don’t want any special treatment.” Kai’s hands fell away from her face and hooked around her waist as hers slipped around his neck. His five o’clock shadow brushed her ear, and his fingers pressed a little deeper into her skin. He sighed like he wanted to say something as his hands slid down to her hips. Dylan knew she would never get tired of how it felt to be in his arms: Cared about and appreciated. Keeping her emotional distance from him would be impossible. He was just too sweet. She buried her face in the curve of his neck. And so damn sexy. Whenever she was around him, there was scorching heat in her bones, a call to him from deep in her body. Kai’s lips grazed the edge of her jaw and her knees wobbled. He swiveled her hips until her butt rested against the edge of the marble counter, and she knew he was thinking about lifting her to it. Stable, solid surfaces were either going to be a gift or curse for them.
“It was really fucking hot when you bit my shoulder,” he said suddenly. Dylan blushed, first at the statement, and then from the pressure of his erection against her pelvis.
“So you’re into that kind of thing?” she teased.
“I’m into you...” Kai inhaled her hair. “…Biting my shoulder.”
“Kai…you’re making this difficult,” Dylan said from between clenched teeth. Areas of her body responded to the words, and if he kept talking like that, she’d need him to touch them in a moment. Or maybe it was time to go before they did something stupid. She pulled away from the hug and walked back into the room. She picked up the camcorder. “I should get to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Kai followed her to the door and opened it to let her out. She heard it shut behind her, but it re-opened when she was down the hall. “…Or you can stay?” Kai said, his voice echoing in the quiet space. When she turned, he smiled. “…As a friend. For real. Can you stay a little longer?”
She didn’t want to leave either. As hard as it was
to be around him, she didn’t want to go back to her hotel room. Kai made her feel a way she hadn’t in a long time. Dylan walked back to his room and sat on the couch beside him. “Okay, what’s on your mind?” She folded her legs under her and leaned against the chair arm.
“How come you’re not doing the scavenger hunt this year?” he asked. “Yeah, I checked out your Facebook pictures when you finally accepted my friendship.”
Dylan laughed and shrugged. Both of the previous years, she and her friends had completed and won the school-year-long scavenger hunt in and around San Francisco. It involved a lot of kissing statues, wearing strange clothes in strange places and taking photos with random people. She had even made a short film to go along with it about the joy and disappointment of finding things in life. She missed being involved this year, but it hadn’t seemed like something she should’ve participated in this time around. Someone else was on track to win it this year, even though Dylan had hoped to take the trophy home the entire time she was at CSFC.
“Did you not do it because of your brother’s death?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I guess stuff like that isn’t really part of my life anymore,” she said vaguely, not meeting his gaze. She hoped he would sense her desire to change the subject.
“Tell me about Low and Katie.” Kai picked up the acoustic guitar and strummed a chord. “You’re always on the phone with one of them.”
“If you ever meet her, you can’t call her Katie; it’s reserved for best friends only. They’re my Lek.” Dylan touched her chest. “Good people. They haven’t let me push them away, even though I’m going through this rough patch. You’ve got a pretty good group too.”
“Yeah.” Kai absently plucked one string. “Lek and Ribs… Jamie and Dette… Abe and Wes, too. When I quit singing after Evernight, the Elliotts got me through that whole shit. We moved to Bali for, like, a year. Straight up just chasing surf.”