by Sand, A. J.
“I don’t even wanna know what else you guys were chasing,” she teased, rolling her eyes. “The three of you… all that dreaminess….”
Kai laughed. “Ah, yes. There’s only one thing Abe and Wes love more than surfing.” Kai started playing a song she didn’t recognize. “I was actually dating Lee back then though.”
Dylan gasped quietly. If her quick calculation was right, he and Yeardley had been together more than two years, maybe even closer to three. “Really? Just her?”
Kai stopped playing and gave her an incredulous look of offense. “You gotta stay off those websites, baby. I don’t even know half those girls. I always tell people, if someone lined up everyone you’ve ever hung out with who was of the opposite sex, regardless of the relationship, everyone you’ve ever dated—seriously and not so seriously—and threw in some randoms, people would think you slept around, too. One of the perks of being a celebrity, I suppose.”
Dylan raised her eyebrows, almost not believing still. “Wasn’t she in California? That’s a real long distance relationship.”
“Yeah, but stability with one person beats just fucking everybody any day of the week, Dyl. Wes Elliott doesn’t believe this but, for me, it’s true. And she visited a lot. We usually never left the room when she did.”
Dylan smiled but that information was too much friendship for her. Of course, she knew he had sex (she had more or less witnessed Tiffany’s afterglow), but she didn’t want to think about it. Unless she was thinking about him and herself.
Kai set his guitar down. “You wouldn’t do the long distance thing?” he asked, staring at her.
“I’ve never really thought about it. Every guy I’ve ever dated has just always been… there…” Dylan shrugged as she straightened the waves of her hair between her palms. “…Right where I was, so it never really came up.”
“Makes sense.” Kai nodded and placed his hand on her knee as he stared off at the bedside clock across the room. “Maybe we should head to bed.” He flashed a quick smile, but he looked anxious to get her out all of a sudden. She was just glad they were finding a way to get close as friends, even if it was somewhat awkward. When Dylan stood, Kai followed her to the door, where she paused.
“Goodnight, Dyl,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
“You too. And profit aside, I don’t care what your record label says, Kai. The people who don’t come to your shows…they’re the ones who are missing out. It’s not you.”
Feeding the Monster – Chapter 14
Being on a tour bus was like attending a mobile summer camp: a lot of bonding and hours upon hours spent together talking, eating, sleeping, laughing, dancing, and playing video games. She and Kai spent most of the time doing some of those things as a pair, even when she wasn’t filming. Kai played Washington D.C. for two nights when he performed at the 9:30 Club. He played to a nearly packed house on both nights, and Kai and the band that opened for him even joined forces after his show and did an impromptu mini-concert for the straggler audience members.
Dylan’s family came to the show the first night, and the crew taunted her when her mom insisted on cheering for her before the show every time she walked by. She made up for it, ironically enough, by stopping home quickly during the afternoon before the second show and picking up freshly baked cookies for everyone. Kai even left tickets at the Will Call for Taylor and her friends the second night because she didn’t want to be there the same night as her parents.
The tour crew left immediately after the second show for New York City. A gray sky hurled needles of raindrops at the tour bus’ windshield, coating it nearly opaque on the ride. Dylan hated to think of it as a bad omen, but the heavens had suddenly let loose without ceasing, and the mood from everyone else was somewhere between somber and death. Dylan was anxious too. As Ashley had explained, ticket sales in New York had exponentially increased for the first fourteen days after pre-sale, and that’s why they had added a second show, but they had tapered off suddenly, and the last minute buyers over the past few weeks weren’t enough to fill the venues.
Kai was definitely on edge, and she felt the need to comfort him, but not under Ashley’s watchful eyes. The way Ashley kept looking between them, even though they were on opposite ends of the bus, meant that she had no intention of dropping her suspicions until she could prove herself right. Dylan refused to give her that opportunity, even as she felt herself weakening to the temptation when she and Kai hung out in the dressing room before the show while Ashley was busy doing what she did best: yell at people. It was just the two of them in there as the others mingled in the venue. Kai kept pulling shirts out of a garment bag to ask her opinion as she flipped through some old magazines sprawled across a coffee table. It was a pretty dull dressing room, free of any real extravagances. Kai wasn’t as demanding as she imagined some celebrities could be. His only requirements were always lots of Skittles (the red bag kind), water and vodka.
“…And your dad caught you sneaking back in?” Kai asked, holding a gray plaid shirt against his bare chest. She nodded her approval. They may have found a way to be friends, but she would never get used to Kai being shirtless. The attraction was too branded on her.
“Yeah! I was grounded for, like, two weeks. He never told my mom though. She just thought I wanted to spend more time at home. He knew I had been helping out a friend,” Dylan said. She watched, tantalized, as he slipped a tank top over his head and shoved his arms into the sleeves of the gray shirt.
“A little help, please?” he asked with an innocent smile after he was done buttoning it. He wanted her to roll his sleeves up. They had found these sneaky ways to come into physical contact even when they didn’t need to. Kai had rolled his sleeves on his own tons of times. She took in a deep breath after she walked over, still loving the scent he carried, when she turned the sleeve of his right arm up. Kai stared intensely at her, and it made her shiver and get warm all over.
“Becky caught me sneaking out a few times. Wasn’t doing anything as noble as you though,” Kai said.
“Girls, huh?” Dylan said with a soft smile.
Kai nodded. “Mmhmm. When you’re a fifteen-year-old boy, do you have another reason for getting up in the morning?” he asked rhetorically. “It was these senior girls Ribs and I were trying to impress. Friends of Jamie’s pot-smoking cousin. They had their tongues pierced, smoked cigarettes and one of them had a yellow smiley face tattoo right above her butt.”
Dylan gasped then giggled. “Do I want to know how you know that?”
Kai smiled mischievously. “She wore really low jeans and these shirts that never seemed to go any lower than her bellybutton. I wrote “I Like (Trouble)” about her. I saw her at a show in Oahu not too long ago, and I’m pretty sure she knew. She was singing the lyrics really passionately.” Suddenly, he leaned down, and his lips were affixed to her ear. Dylan froze for a beat when his facial hair grazed her cheek. “I like what you’re wearing tonight,” he said, and she pressed her cheek back against his. “You look beautiful.” She was wearing red skinny jeans, black platform pumps and a thin black sweater.
“Thanks. You tell me that every night,” she said in a whisper.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t mean it every time,” Kai whispered back.
She gulped down and tried to ignore how sensitive her body had gotten, like all her nerve endings were preparing for his touch, as she finished pushing the material the rest of the way to his elbow. Kai’s gaze trailed her when she took the small step to his left arm. The staring was so sexy, and she really didn’t know why. Maybe it was because he always seemed to want to be looking at her, like he desired her so much that he didn’t want to stare at anything else. She rolled the left one slower this time, and they didn’t break eye contact until he dropped his lips on her cheek.
“Thank you,” he said. He pressed his lips against the apple of her cheek again, then her jawline. If his mouth hit her neck, they were going to end up naked, and they were going to r
ip each other’s clothes off to get there; she was sure of it. She was clutching his sleeve with all her might when his lips hit the corner of her mouth. Dylan’s eyes closed, she let out a faint moan, and her knees nearly buckled.
Kai’s lips brushed her ear again when he cradled the back of her neck. Then, he let out a slow, low growl. “Dylan, if you make that sound again…” He let his voice trail off, and Dylan stepped back, her entire body clenched in warmth and need, her rapid heart rate vibrating her entire body. She ran her hands up his arms and shoulders and squeezed the back of his neck.
“What are you going to do, Kai?” she asked anxiously, her chest heaving. “What are you going to do if I do that?”
“I’m gonna hope I can give you a really good reason to make it.”
“Kai! Need a picture for the wall!” someone yelled, and the two of them jumped apart. She went out first, fled the room actually, and went straight for the bar where Xavier was sitting. She was in dire need of something very cold. To drink, definitely, but maybe to pour it down her pants, too.
The crowd at the Laser Factory was already riled up as the stage crew and the techs did their final check of the instruments, and someone under the cover of the shadows was heckling them from the audience. The crowd was substantial, but it wasn’t a packed house by any stretch. The introduction of alcohol had seemed to lighten everyone in the entourage’s mood, but a rowdy group of guys kept attracting everyone’s attention with shouts every few seconds, and Dylan suspected that they were the hecklers.
She had filmed a jam session on the bus and was holding off on filming again until the show started. Her cell phone pinged the notice of an email. It was from Nina saying that she had approved the first video and that it was going live. Her heart turned to goo and dripped down into her stomach. Was it already time? “Wow, as if I weren’t already on edge…”
Xavier nudged her with his knee after he swallowed down some of his beer. “What’s going on?”
Dylan repeatedly dipped her straw into her glass of ginger ale. “Everyone gets to see my masterpiece tomorrow, the first episode. They’re going to hate it.”
“Don’t worry, darlin’. This face is too pretty for anyone to hate,” Xavier said, rubbing his chin between his thumb and forefinger.
“Especially when you’re wearing an Evernight shirt.” She rolled her eyes jokingly and tugged on his sleeve.
A guy, who Dylan hadn’t noticed before, suddenly slapped Xavier on the back roughly. He resembled someone she knew but she couldn’t place his face. He was a boyishly handsome blond, older than his face was showing probably, with slightly spiked up hair. “Still using those lame ass lines on chicks, I see.” He squeezed in between their stools without acknowledging Dylan or apologizing.
Xavier’s expression was one of surprise but it darkened quickly as familiarity sunk in. He shifted uncomfortably. “What the fuck are you doing here, Chase?”
“Came to show my old friend the same respect he showed my brother. The same way, too. All of us did.” Chase spun away from the bar and motioned at the group of unruly guys, the ones who had probably been making all the noise.
Brother? Of who? Jeremy? Dylan gasped, taking in the man’s face again to be sure. With her phone, she searched for a Google Image of Jeremy Bunyan and found a picture of him with the same guy standing in front of her. Coincidentally, it was attached to a story about the fight in the alley because Chase had been there. Chase had tried to push the prosecutor to file weightier charges against Kai even when Jeremy had opted not to press them. Her pulse was pounding, but she was cemented to the stool and scared out of her mind. Chase was out for vengeance. He was irate, and he shot a spiteful glare at Xavier.
“We just came to put on a show…this isn’t the time or the place for this, Bunyan,” Xavier said calmly, cautiously. His eyes darted to Dylan just for a second and he looked worried. “No need to cause a scene, but you guys should go before I get security. Dylan, come on.”
Chase turned toward her, leering maliciously. “Not fucking going anywhere.” As she stood, Chase yanked her back down by the arm with a violent pull, nearly to the floor, and pain seared through her shoulder.
“Get off me!” she yelled. With the heel of her other hand, she rammed his nose as hard as she could, and Chase’s head snapped back. He screamed out in pain.
“Don’t fucking touch her, asshole,” Xavier shouted, and he shoved Chase back too. Two of Chase’s friends charged toward the commotion, and Dylan manage to hop off the barstool before they got there. Xavier pushed her behind him protectively. She grimaced at the sound of the chairs scraping across the floor as people leaped out of them. When Dylan looked around, there was a frenetic clump amassed near the bar area. It continued to grow until Dylan and Xavier were trapped in the middle, but she noticed that Kai and Heath and some of the roadies had also joined the thick of the impending chaos.
“What the fuck?” Kai pushed his way to where they were standing, parting the crowd forcefully. “Is Jeremy here?” Kai asked Chase angrily. “He better not fucking be here.”
“He wouldn’t come to your shitty show. He’s gearing up for his tour,” Chase said smugly. “He only plays arenas, remember when you used to do that?” There was light amusement in his voice, even as he was clutching his nose. Dylan didn’t see any blood, but she hoped she had broken it.
“Break it up,” a bouncer yelled from the fringes. He started dispersing the edges of the crowd, but the core of the mass hadn’t budged.
Kai clenched his jaw. Chase’s jab had gotten to him, but he quickly brushed it off. “Okay, Bunyan, you’re mad. You had all the chance in the world to hit me that night and you didn’t. Guess you wanted an audience, so go ahead. You better just fucking land the hardest punch you can, dude,” Kai said calmly.
“You had your little guard dog, Lek, that night,” Chase spat back. “I would’ve messed you up otherwise.”
“Okay, this is stupid, Chase.” Kai smiled before he sighed, and he held up his hands with palms forward, ready to make a peace offering. His stance was casual, but the tone of his voice was toeing pretty close to annoyance. “Because I want to play tonight for the people who came to see me, why don’t you just stay and enjoy the show? You guys bought tickets, right? And I came to sing. Let the people get what they came for. Let’s all just back down, okay?” A group of people clapped in favor.
“Everyone needs to get out…show’s over. Cops are on the way,” a bouncer shouted as he thrashed the beam of a flashlight at their faces, attempting to push himself to the middle. The crowd was grumbling, and sharp movements from people on the outside of the horde jolted those in the center, but no one was heading for the exits. Dylan’s breaths quickened; she was afraid of what was coming next. The whole atmosphere was teetering on the edge of complete bedlam.
Kai turned to one of the roadies and grimly said, “Get Dylan and Ash outta here.” When the roadie gripped her arm, Dylan realized for the first time that she and Kai were holding hands. “Get them out, and have the other guys get girls in the audience out.”
“Kai, it’s not worth it. Let’s just go outside,” Dylan whispered, attempting to pull him with her. “Please.”
“Why do we have to leave? He fucking grabbed Dylan!” Xavier said excitedly. “Make him leave.”
Kai’s head whipped toward her, and she saw rage suddenly build in his face. “He touched you?” he asked with clenched teeth. “Did he put his hands on you?”
Before she could respond, Chase said, “I didn’t touch that bitch.”
There was a pause, or maybe Dylan just made it up in her head, where Kai’s eyes went wild like instinct, and not reason, had taken over. As he swung around, one of Chase’s friends slugged Xavier in the chest, and then the entire place went nuclear as the fight spread outward. People scattered like broken glass, and the crush at the bar suddenly became embroiled in a brawl. Kai wrapped his arms around her, she felt his body absorb violent hits from the melee, and he pushed a path
through the crowd, but something suddenly pulled him back into the madness, causing him to lose his grip on her. When she turned, the space between them was already filled with people.
“Go! Get out, Dyl!” Kai shouted. She screamed when Chase punched Kai in the chin. Kai recovered and smiled in what looked like satisfaction, before he smashed his fist into Chase’s mouth twice, drawing an ocean of blood. As she was thrown to the ground by a shove, she saw Kai slam Chase down on top of the bar, sending everything on it flying. Dylan landed palms down, thankfully avoiding beer bottle glass, and she scrambled to the side of the wooden bar for fear she would be trampled. She felt warmth in her ears and she trembled in horror, watching tables flip over and people toss each other across the room.
Someone was screaming her name, but it sounded too far off and she wasn’t moving until there was actually a way to get out. A guy collapsed near her feet, taking a chair down with him. Dylan offered him a hand and helped him slide out of the way. A sea of frenzied bodies rolled out of the exits, some of them falling in the process. As if in a song canon, glass shattered repeatedly, one after the other. It wasn’t until she heard the echo of sirens that she finally decided to get to her feet and help the guy out the door. She turned back once, and the scene behind her was an absolute mess of liquid, glass and broken furniture.
Some of the police officers entered the club to scope the inside while others were securing a boundary around it with caution tape as they instructed attendees that they couldn’t leave without giving a statement. Paramedics were already administering aid to anyone needing it, so Dylan walked the man over to an ambulance, squinting against the camera flashes from the people outside the police-established boundary.
Dylan looked around for Kai and the others, but there were just so many people in front of the club. It reminded her of a school of minnows darting around behind an aquarium glass. Thankfully, no one was on a stretcher, but tonight’s events would be all over the media. Even though she was dreading the criticism of her video, she hoped the video would overshadow whatever damage Kai’s image would sustain.