In Plain Sight (WeHo Book 11)

by Sherryl Hancock

  “Can’t believe you’re gonna leave me for a week,” Devlin said as Tabitha signed off on the hotel bill for the MGM, handing it to the hotel manager.

  “You’ll be fine,” Tabitha said, grinning. “You and Dad have been itching to work on new music for weeks now—this’ll give you all kinds of time to do that.”

  “Right, and I won’t miss you even once.” Devlin sounded far from sincere.

  “Maybe once?” Tabitha smiled up at her husband, a man she’d loved since she was sixteen.

  “Maybe once a second,” Devlin said softly as he reached out and hugged her to him. He kissed the side of her head. “I love you.”

  “I love you,” she said. She looked up at him, her eyes, so much like her father’s, shining with unshed tears.

  “Don’t start that…” Devlin groaned softly, then leaned down and kissed her gently.

  Kieran, who’d been trying to give them privacy, turned her head and caught sight of Memphis talking to Quinn. She could see that she still had a headache from earlier in the morning. Memphis had overdone it drinking the night before, and had a fairly nasty hangover.

  “Okay, I think we’re ready,” Tabitha said, waving to Devlin as he got into an Escalade with BJ and the rest of the group going back to LA on BJ’s plane.

  On the bus, Kieran practically dragged Memphis back to the bunks and made her lie down after giving her some Tylenol.

  “Is this what I have to look forward to for the next two months?” Memphis said, grinning.

  “If you drink and get hungover every night, then yes, it is,” Kieran said, smiling sweetly.

  Memphis chuckled, nodding as she lay down. Kieran made her way to the front of the bus. Quinn, Xandy, Remington, and Wynter were sitting at the table, talking.

  “She okay?” Remington asked, looking mildly concerned.

  “Yes,” Kieran said, nodding. “She just overdid it last night.”

  “Didn’t we all?” Wynter said, looking mildly hungover herself.

  “Not me,” Quinn said, grinning.

  Remington laughed. “You’re Irish—I don’t think your people even know the word.”

  Quinn nodded. “True.”

  “I know I overdid it,” Xandy said, shaking her head. “My stomach is very unhappy this morning.”

  “You keep thinking if you stick to that girlie sweet stuff you’re safe, love, and that’s not how it goes,” Quinn said.

  “Girlie sweet stuff? Just because I won’t drink that rotgut you drink!”

  “I beg your pardon. Guinness and Jameson’s are not rotgut.”

  Xandy shuddered. “I tried it once,” she told Wynter and Remington. “It was awful!”

  Quinn laughed. “I grew up with that stuff. Hell, I think my mum put Jameson’s on my gums when I was teething. It’s in my blood.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Xandy said, smiling fondly at her.

  “Well, Remi drinks bourbon, and I can’t even handle that,” Wynter said, shuddering. “Give me a margarita and I’m good.”

  “Till you drink four,” Remington said mildly, her hazel eyes sparkling humorously.

  “Ugh! Don’t remind me!” Wynter snuggled against Remington’s shoulder. “Just wake me up in seven hours.”

  “We’ll be there in six,” Remington pointed out.

  “But sound check isn’t for seven,” Wynter said, her eyes closed.

  Remington moved to put her back to the curve of the dinette, putting her leg up on the seat and gathering Wynter against her chest with both of her arms.

  Kieran watched as Wynter snuggled closer to Remington and sighed contentedly. She glanced at Quinn and Xandy to see that they too were watching the couple with smiles on their faces. It was one thing to see a love affair from afar in newspapers, tabloids, and news clips; it was another to see it up close day to day. It was obvious that Remington was very used to holding Wynter, and it was obvious she thoroughly enjoyed doing so.

  A sudden exclamation from the back of the bus had Kieran and Quinn jumping up. Kieran, who’d been at the end of the dinette, versus Quinn, who’d had to move around Xandy, got to Memphis first.

  Much like after the nightmare the day before, Memphis was as white as a sheet, and she was panting. Even as Kieran got to the bunk, Memphis practically launched herself out of it to run to the bathroom. Her retching made Kieran and Quinn wince.

  “She do that yesterday too?” Quinn asked quietly.

  Kieran shook her head. “No, but I woke her up yesterday, so whatever she was dreaming about scared her awake this time.”

  Quinn curled her lips in displeasure. After a few minutes of silence from the bathroom, Kieran ventured in. She found Memphis on her knees, her head against the wall next to the toilet. She was still breathing heavily.

  Kieran knelt down, sliding her hand over Memphis’ back soothingly. Memphis reached her hand back, touching Kieran’s leg. Kieran reached down with her other hand and took Memphis’ hand in hers, squeezing it gently. They sat that way for a few minutes. Finally Memphis levered herself up to stand. Kieran was there quickly to support her weight, and Quinn moved to help. When they had Memphis lying back down on the bed, Kieran got onto it next to her, pulling her into her arms and holding her. Quinn stood watching for a few minutes, thinking Kieran was indeed a godsend. She went back up front.

  “Is she okay?” Remington asked, her voice low so as not to wake Wynter.

  Quinn blew her breath out. “She looked completely freaked,” she said, “and she threw up…” She trailed off as she shook her head. “She’s got something eatin’ her up, Remi, and I wish to fuckin’ God she’d let us in.”

  “Maybe Kieran can get something out of her,” Remington said hopefully.

  Back in the bunk, Kieran was stroking Memphis’ hair, holding her against her. She felt worried for her friend.

  “Can you tell me about the dreams?” she said softly.

  Memphis shook her head vehemently. “Talking about it makes it worse.”

  “Are they dreams, or are they flashbacks?”

  Memphis didn’t respond at first. She rubbed her face against Kieran’s shirt. “Second one, most of the time,” she said quietly.

  Kieran pressed her lips together, feeling tears sting her eyes. Just the idea that something in Memphis’ past was that terrifying made Kieran feel sick.

  “Have you ever talked to anyone about it?” she said gently.

  Memphis shook her head.

  “Would you be willing to?”

  “No.” Memphis moved away from Kieran and turned over on her side, facing away from her.

  Kieran grimaced; she knew it was Memphis’ way of shutting down the conversation. She moved to lie behind her, not too close, but putting her hand out to stroke her hair again. She didn’t ask any more questions. When Memphis was asleep again, Kieran carefully crawled out of the bunk and went back to the table.

  “Did she say anything?” Quinn asked.

  “She said that the dreams were flashbacks for the most part,” Kieran said, sitting down.

  “Jesus…” Quinn grimaced. “Whatever’s in her past is that bad?”

  “She’s a kid—how much can be in her past?” Remington said.

  “She’s twenty-five,” Kieran said. “That’s not too much of a kid.”

  “I didn’t figure her for that, even,” Quinn said, shaking her head. “Maybe twenty-one, and even then only because she’s DJing in bars.”

  The rest of the ride passed without incident. Memphis woke up when they were just outside Provo, Utah. She walked into the media area, where Xandy, Quinn, and Kieran sat. Remington had taken Wynter to lie down in their bunk.

  “Anyone know where we’re at?” Memphis asked, even as Kieran reached for her hand to pull her down onto the couch next to her.

  “’Bout two hours out,” Quinn said. “How ya doin’?”

  Memphis nodded, reaching up to rub her eyes.

  “I’m going to get you something to eat,” Kieran said, leaning over to kiss M
emphis on the cheek.

  “Okay.” Memphis smiled softly and watched Kieran walk toward the kitchen.

  “That’s a good one there,” Quinn said, smiling as she nodded toward the kitchen.

  Memphis looked back at Quinn for a long moment, then nodded. She leaned her head back against the couch, blinking slowly. Xandy reached over to touch her on the shoulder. Memphis looked at the singer, her eyes searching Xandy’s as Xandy looked back.

  “You look so haunted,” Xandy said softly.

  Memphis pressed her lips together in consternation. “I’m just tired,” she said softly.

  Xandy gazed back at her for a long moment, her eyes reflecting doubt, but she nodded. “Okay.”

  Kieran came back with a sandwich for Memphis and a bottle of water.

  “Thank you,” Memphis said, smiling.

  The tour proceeded over the next few weeks without too many incidents. There were more nightmares on Memphis’ part; Kieran calmed her every time and managed her as she did. Quinn and Remington became more and more concerned.

  The night before their first break, Quinn, Xandy, Remington, Wynter, Memphis, and Kieran—quickly becoming known as the Super Six by the rest of the tour—were hanging out in the hotel bar. It was nasty and raining outside so they hadn’t wanted to go out to find another bar, and since they were in Omaha, Nebraska, they didn’t hold out any real hope of finding a gay bar anyway.

  To everyone’s surprise, however, there were a few women in the hotel bar who were very definitely “family,” which to the LGBT community meant gay.

  “Maybe ’cause they know we’re in town?” Wynter said, shrugging.

  “Maybe,” Remington said. She grinned. “Two openly gay headliners probably bring the few gays out of the woodwork around here.”

  Kieran had taken her turn at going to the bar to get drinks, since the waitresses seemed to have other things to do besides serving the gays in the corner. On her way back, one of the women sitting at a nearby table gave Kieran a very definite come-on look. So much so, Kieran almost tripped.

  “Whoa,” Memphis said, chuckling as she reached out to steady her.

  “Sorry,” Kieran said, shaking her head.

  “S’okay.” Memphis looked over at the woman, who was still looking in Kieran’s direction. “She’s still checking you out.”

  “What?” Kieran asked, sounding shocked. “Why?”

  Memphis laughed, shaking her head as she took the drinks out of Kieran’s hands. “You’re hot, babe. I told you that.”

  “Oh, please,” Kieran said, rolling her eyes.

  Even as she sat down, however, the woman walked up to the table, her eyes skipping from Kieran to Wynter, then to Xandy and back to Kieran.

  “Hi,” she said, smiling at Kieran. “I was wondering if you’d like to dance?”

  Kieran opened her mouth to say no, then saw Memphis glowering at her. She nodded instead. She followed the woman to the dance floor, which contained a few other couples, even one lesbian couple.

  “Why’d you do that?” Quinn asked Memphis.

  “Do what?” Memphis said, reaching for her beer.

  “Encourage your girl to dance with someone else.”

  Memphis looked back at Quinn for a long moment, then shook her head. “We’re not exclusive. We’re basically friends with benefits.”

  Quinn gave her a look that said she thought she was crazy, but she shook her head, glancing at Remington. Remington simply raised an eyebrow, looking slightly amused. As the group watched, the woman moved up to Kieran and actually kissed her on the lips. It was obvious that Kieran was shocked by the kiss, but then she seemed to enjoy it.

  Quinn’s eyes flicked to Memphis to see her reaction. Memphis’ expression was impassive as she took another drink of her beer. Quinn shook her head, still thinking Memphis was insane. The evening proceeded with Kieran spending a lot of time on the dance floor with “Sabrina,” who was staying in the hotel, and yes, had been at the concert that evening.

  “She invited me back to her room,” Kieran told Memphis when they went to the bar for more drinks.

  “So do it,” Memphis said, grinning.

  “You really think I should?” Kieran said, looking unsure of herself.

  “Hell yeah. She’s hot. Go for it.”

  “If you think I should…” Kieran said, still hesitant.

  “I think you need to check out other women, Kier. How else are you going to know what you want?”

  Kieran nodded.

  An hour later, she left the bar with Sabrina.

  Memphis lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Sleep just wasn’t coming. She turned over, reaching for her phone, and switched on her Bose, turning on music. Another hour later, she still couldn’t sleep. She lay on her back, doing her best not to imagine Kieran with Sabrina, and thinking that she probably should have just kept her mouth shut.

  She heard the door then, and sat up. Kieran walked around the corner and saw Memphis sitting on the bed.

  “Uh,” Memphis said, grinning. “Either she’s really fast or…”

  Kieran shook her head. “I’m going to go change.” She turned to go into the bathroom.

  Memphis lay down on the bed, perplexed. She heard Kieran washing her face. She waited, curious now. When Kieran walked back into the room, she lay down on the bed with her back to Memphis.

  “Kier,” Memphis said, moving to turn the music down and leaning over to look at Kieran.

  “What?”

  “What happened?”

  “Nothing happened.”

  Memphis put her hand to Kieran’s shoulder, pulling at her until Kieran was on her back, looking up at her.

  “Tell me what happened,” Memphis said, worried now.

  Kieran put her hand to Memphis’ cheek. “Nothing like that,” she said, seeing the worry in Memphis’ eyes. “I just realized something tonight.”

  “What did you realize?”

  Kieran bit her lip, looking up at Memphis, her expression unsure.

  “Tell me, Kier,” Memphis said softly.

  “I just…” Kieran began, turning her head.

  “Hey.” Memphis leaned down to kiss her neck. “Tell me.”

  Kieran shook her head.

  Memphis kissed her neck again, moving lower, sucking at Kieran’s skin until she felt Kieran’s throat vibrate with a soft moan. She slid her hand up Kieran’s body and under her T-shirt as she continued to kiss her neck, biting at her skin as her fingers slid over a hard nipple.

  Kieran moaned as she slipped her hands around Memphis’ head, holding her to her neck, grasping at her. Memphis shifted, her body lying partially over Kieran’s as she moved to kiss her lips, both hands sliding over her skin, pressing, grasping, stroking, making Kieran moan and gasp. Reaching between them, Memphis lifted the edge of Kieran’s shirt, pulling it off over her head and tossing it aside, then pushed at Kieran’s panties. Moments later she had her completely naked under her. She kissed Kieran’s lips, pressing her body closer to Kieran’s, moving over her. Kieran pulled off Memphis’ tank top and pushed at her underwear as well.

  Memphis obliged her by getting off her long enough to remove everything. Then she moved up between Kieran’s legs, kissing Kieran’s skin as she did, her hands sliding up her body, touching her and caressing, her mouth moving lower. Kieran cried out as Memphis’ mouth closed over her, sucking at her until Kieran was coming, her body bucking against Memphis’ hands and mouth. Memphis moved back up over her, pressing her body to Kieran’s, her mouth reclaiming Kieran’s sensually.

  Kieran grasped at Memphis, pulling her close, desperate for the pressure of her body. Memphis kissed her lips, moving to her neck, sucking at her skin and biting at it too, exciting Kieran all the more. Kieran moaned over and over, pulling at Memphis.

  “Please…” she moaned softly. “Please, I need you… I want you inside me…” she said then, huskily, surprising herself with the demand.

  Memphis moaned at hearing that phrase from Kier
an in her so proper English accent. She slipped her hand between then, sliding her fingers over Kieran’s wetness, pressing, moving.

  Kieran pushed against her fingers. “Memphis, please… please…”

  Memphis flexed her fingers, sliding her middle finger inside Kieran. Kieran instantly let out a cry of pure ecstasy, pressing her body harder against Memphis. Her hands slid around Memphis’ back, pulling at her, wanting her so close, wanting everything all at once, her body straining against Memphis’. When Memphis began to move her hips, her finger moving with her body, Kieran lost all sense of reason and came with a loud scream, grasping so hard at Memphis’ body her nails left bloody trails on her skin. Memphis hissed in pain but continued to move inside Kieran’s body, making her come over and over again.

  When Memphis finally allowed herself to come, she did so with so much ferocity her voice and the shuddering of her body caused Kieran to come again. Afterwards, Memphis lay over Kieran, bracing her weight on her forearms.

  Kieran pulled at her. “I want your weight on me,” she said, desperate to have every inch of Memphis’ body pressed against her skin.

  Memphis responded by kissing her lips, even as she eased her weight onto Kieran, moaning at the feeling of her body under hers again. Kieran’s hands slid up Memphis’ back—that was when she felt the wetness on her skin, at about the same time Memphis jumped and hissed in pain.

  Kieran remembered then what she’d done.

  “Oh God, Memphis!” she exclaimed as she looked at her hand and saw blood. “Let me see… I’m so sorry…” She craned her neck to see Memphis’ back.

  Memphis obliged her by moving so Kieran could sit up to look at the damage she’d caused.

  “Memphis, I’m so sorry…” Kieran said mournfully, even as she moved to kiss Memphis’ back.

  Memphis jumped slightly at the pressure on the scratches, but then Kieran’s hands were touching her, and Kieran was pressing her bare skin against her back.

  “Mmm…” Memphis murmured, her body still feeling electric from the power of her orgasm.

  She felt Kieran’s velvet-soft skin against her, pressing hard nipples against her, her body over her back and between her legs. Then Kieran’s lips were on her back, her hands sliding up into Memphis’ hair, grasping, her nails grazing her scalp as her body pressed closer. She began moving down Memphis’ back, kissing, caressing, careful to avoid the scratches. She could feel Memphis responding and that excited her even more. It made her bold.