by Kole, Lana
The imagery calmed her, and by the time she pulled the door to the living area open, she felt almost normal.
At least until she caught sight of her new tour manager.
“Hey, Lyric,” Adra greeted with a smile.
She sought comfort in his friendly, familiar demeanor, but lost every bit of it as her gaze bounced back to…
“Hey, I’m Henry,” he said, and stood from the couch to offer her a hand.
She shook it absently, his palm warm against hers, and nodded. “I’m Lyric, but I’m sure you already know that,” she said numbly.
Wow. Excellent introduction.
Henry was… hot. Like, really fucking hot.
Leather jacket, pants that cupped his ass like a pair of hands. Dark hair trimmed short on top and shorter on the sides. A pair of glasses rested on the bridge of his nose to frame his gray eyes, and the early stages of a beard highlighted his sharp cheekbones.
And he was an alpha. Even if she hadn’t already been aware from what the representative told her, she would have figured it out in a few seconds.
Her sense of smell might have been dulled, but not numbed, and she scented the alpha on him even before she scented him. Dark and heady, delicious and intoxicating. Like… tobacco and something more that she couldn’t quite place.
Even the slight hint of it she caught made her belly squirm, and she shifted in place. “I just got news that you’d be staying on the bus with us?” she asked, hoping, praying, maybe something had changed between her nest and here.
“That’s right,” he replied, wincing and running his hand up the back of his neck. “Is that okay? I don’t think we really have any other options, but… maybe we can figure something out.”
Lyric didn’t want to cause any more problems. But he was attractive—like, really attractive.
Her gaze shifted to Adra and Emerson. They were attractive too. Emerson’s prickly exterior and his light brown waves and matching scruff. Adra’s big bright smile and his big arms and all his rich brown skin.
Like a merry-go-round, she glanced from alpha to alpha to alpha, growing dizzy with all the possibilities and—
Mistakes.
Lots of mistakes.
“It’ll be fine,” she heard herself say. “This bus was fitted for what, ten people? And there are only six of us.”
Now.
“Plus, if it’s my understanding, these couches both pull out into an attachable king, or something fancy like that. So, plenty of room.”
Oh god, now she was thinking about all the ways they could put that big bed to use.
“I think there are a lot of nooks and crannies we need to find in here,” Henry said with a smile, glancing around the bus with approval stamped on his face. “I’ve been on my fair share of these things, and this is one of the nicest ones I’ve seen. You must be something special.”
Emerson snorted and sent her a teasing glance. She met him halfway with a glare, rolling her eyes at the silent jab. “Don’t even start,” she warned, pointing a finger at him. “You’re welcome.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he drawled, lifting his hand to study his nails as if he didn’t have a care in the world. But when his eyes slid to the corner to take one last glance at her, she knew better.
And it was a relief. Oddly enough.
Both Adra and Emerson had been quiet the past few days leading up to the tour. At first, she’d feared she’d done something wrong, rubbed Emerson wrong in one of the many sensitive spots he seemed to have. If it was just nerves setting in, she had the cure for those in a neatly packed airtight container.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts as Desi peeked her head in. “Oh. My. God,” she breathed, each word hissed with a step up the short stairs. “It’s… cramped. But I love it!” She squealed with excitement, and just having the beta there seemed to cut the tension in half. Even if it was just imagined on her behalf, Lyric was grateful for her appearance.
She came to a stop and narrowed her eyes at their newest addition. “Who are you?”
Henry stepped forward, repeating the same routine he had with Lyric.
“I’m the new tour manager, Henry.”
“Great, another alpha,” she teased with a wink as she shook his hand. “I’m just kidding. Mostly. It does seem rather… shoe-boxy with all you big guys in here.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh great, and we have Nohen too.”
“Someone called?” Nohen asked sweetly. Lyric heard his voice before she saw him. His boots clomped on the stairs as he joined them and came to a stop just inside the door. It was comical, watching him take it all in. He was tall too, though not quite at the same level as Adra and Emerson, or even Henry. But he was still taller than both her and Desi.
“Late, as usual,” Lyric greeted him.
“I know, I know. Who’s this?” he inquired and pointed his finger at Henry.
Lyric chuckled as introductions were made, and then silence settled as she realized the bus really did seem shoe-boxy with all of them in there. At least until Henry took a seat beside Emerson. It freed up the floor space a little, and Lyric glanced from couch to couch, to the compact counter, fitted with a sink and drawers, and to the right of that, a half-sized fridge filled with bottles of plain and vitamin water, plus coffee and energy drinks the others had requested.
“Wanna see the rest?” she asked.
She didn’t miss the look Emerson and Adra shared, and she rolled her lips in and turned her head to the side to avoid laughing.
“Are we sleeping in coffins?” Adra asked hesitantly, as if he was afraid of the answer.
Lyric fought and lost the battle to laugh, and waved her hand over her shoulder to motion for him to follow. “Come see for yourself.”
Once his footsteps sounded behind her, she gently slid the door separating the lounge from the bathroom and sleeping area into the wall. “Shower and bathroom here,” she said, and patted the front of the mirrored door.
“It looks small,” he commented, and frowned.
Lyric smiled and waited for him to walk forward a bit before she pulled the door open and pressed the light on. Immediately to the right in the compact space was the toilet, and to the left was a tiny, empty counter with white drawers above and below, each about two feet wide. The lights were thin LED bulbs that framed the square space and even trailed down the wall by the toilet for added illumination.
And they all shined on the glass doors that housed the shower. “It’s nicer than I thought it would be,” Lyric admitted. It had a detachable shower head as well as a regular shower head, and shelves were set into the walls with little bars across the middle to keep their items from falling out.
“Oh, wow. Not so bad,” Adra remarked over her shoulder.
She stepped back. “See? You’ll fit,” she promised.
He grinned and walked forward, gently easing the door open, and stepped down the stairs into the shower. “Okay, that’s perfect,” he said. “It even gets my hair.”
“The beds are more modern,” she told him as he stepped back into the hallway. “You’re right, usually they are a bit coffin-like, but since there are so many of us, they wanted to give us more space to breathe, I think? So besides the two beds in the main room” —she pointed over her shoulder— “there are eight beds in here.”
Adra glanced at the four dark gray couches dubiously. “Eight?”
She nodded, far too pleased to show off the bus and not caring one bit if she was bragging. The modifications were out of this world. Andi had really done a fucking fantastic job.
A fist of regret squeezed around her heart that her best friend wouldn’t be here to experience it with her.
“How?” Adra asked, pulling her out of her thoughts. He was beside the couch, running his palm along the wall and beneath the curtains that, at first glance, just seemed decorative.
“They pull out,” she said.
The couches pulled out into their own twin-sized bed, but above them was where the real magic happen
ed.
She slid her hand along the wall, above the curtains, until she could feel—there. Cold metal grazed her palm, and she ran her finger over it until it gave way and crooked it into the hook. “Find the matching one,” she said, and nodded at Adra.
“This just gets cooler and cooler,” he mumbled in awe.
“You’re telling me,” Desi breathed from the entrance. Nohen and Emerson peeked out behind her.
Together, they pulled down and out, pulling the twin bed out of the wall. The curtain moved with it, and once the metal feet were hooked to the floor of the bus, she unbunched the curtain and pulled it around the top of the bottom bunk.
“Privacy—kind of,” she said with a shrug. “But the best part about this setup is…” She pointed above her head and stepped back. “Will you grab the—yeah, thanks.”
Adra, looking very much like a kid at Christmas, reached above and pulled the handle. Above them, the entire ‘ceiling’ moved on tracks, much like a garage door, and rolled down the wall, creating yet another barrier between the eight sets of bunks. Four in each ‘room.’
“You’re kidding me. And there’s even a—” He gently unlatched the flimsy door and pushed it open to reveal Emerson on the other side, a grin on his face.
“Much bigger step up from the rocket vans we used to l—tour in, huh?” he asked.
Lyric beat back the urge to ask him what he’d been about to say, and let him keep his secrets for another day.
“You’re telling me,” Adra breathed. “We have rooms?”
“You have rooms. Kinda. You’ll have to share,” Lyric reminded him with a sheepish smile.
“Hey, don’t be like that,” Adra chided, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Heat infused her cheeks as he pulled her closer. If her face happened to press into his chest for a deep inhale of his sugary scent, it was by accident.
But the amusement in Emerson’s gaze told her he knew better.
“This is awesome. You’re spoiling us,” Adra murmured, his deep voice warm with affection.
“Well, we’re all gonna be stuck on here for six weeks. The least I could do was make sure it was a nice stay at hotel de tour,” she teased, thankful for the distraction.
“I call Nohen,” Desi yelled from the front room at the same time Nohen shouted, “I call Desi!”
The two of them broke off into giggles, and Lyric shook her head. “And we know how you two are rooming,” Lyric teased without sending the words through her brain to mouth filter first.
Her cheeks burned hotter as she imagined Adra and Emerson sharing much more than just a room, and she stepped away from Adra to escape to the front lounge. “Henry, when do we leave?” she asked to change the subject. Anything to get the deliciously sinful images out of her head.
Wanting those men, specifically the alphas, went against every rule and belief she led her life by. And she’d be damned if they’d change it for her.
Her gaze landed on Henry as he pulled out his phone.
No matter how hot they were.
Adra’s and Emerson’s murmurs reached her ears as they entered the lounge and sank down into the couch.
No matter how sweet they were or how comfortable she was growing with them.
Emerson glanced up at her, catching her gaze with his, and a slow, knowing smirk curled his lips.
I’m so fucked.
Nohen frowned at the burly manager as he barked orders into his phone before slamming it down on the table. The table, which was pulled from the floor to bisect the space between the couches. Nifty.
“Not as satisfying with a smart phone, is it?” he asked.
Henry arched a brow at him. “How would you know?”
Nohen shrugged off the backhanded compliment. He looked young, sure, but he had earned every bit of his twenty-seven years. “My grandmother was weird. She loved collecting phones.”
“Phones?” Lyric asked from the couch across from them, finally putting down her tablet and setting her attention on him.
“Phones,” he echoed with a nod. “Rotary phones, landlines, the old, giant cell phones. Going over to her house was like visiting some kind of museum. I loved the sound it made when you hung up a rotary phone. The metallic thunk.”
“I remember that sound. Haven’t heard it in forever though,” Henry admitted. He glared at his cell phone. “It’s just not the same.”
“What happened?” he asked at the same time Lyric inquired, “Is something wrong?”
Henry shook his head. “Nothing you guys need to worry about.”
Lyric narrowed her eyes at the alpha, but after a single, sharp nod, she turned back to her tablet.
Her fingers were flying across the screen, and he wished he could see what she’d been working on.
“We’ll be at the venue in about thirty to forty-five minutes. We’re on our own for dinner. I can order in, or you guys can explore the city and find dinner before the show.”
“Oh, let’s explore!” Lyric suggested and sat up. “Please?”
Henry arched a brow at her, then glanced to him. “Fine. After sound check. But don’t let Nohen set the schedule. I want you backstage at seven forty-five sharp. Show starts at eight thirty.”
Nohen placed a palm to his chest, affronted. “Excuse me?”
“I heard what Lyric said this morning,” Henry warned. “If being late is your trademark, find a new one.”
The growl in his voice paired with the snarky demand made Nohen’s dick twitch, and he narrowed his eyes. With a glance at Lyric, he confirmed he wasn’t the only one affected by the alpha’s presence. Though if he hadn’t been spending the better part of each day of the last two weeks with her, he wouldn’t have noticed the way her nostrils flared just the slightest bit, the lines around her eyes tightening for a split second before a visage of indifference took over.
“We’ll be back in time,” she replied softly. “No press tonight, right?”
He nodded sharply, picking up his phone again, fingers flying over the screen with an accuracy Nohen wouldn’t have imagined for someone with such big hands.
“Nor tomorrow. On the third day though, expect an—”
“Interview and quick photo shoot,” Lyric finished.
Nohen’s cheeks flushed as he glanced from alpha to omega, the challenge laid down by Lyric accepted with a wry smile.
Was Desi seeing—
No, Desi wasn’t seeing anything but the screen of her phone and whatever her stupidly cute girlfriend had sent her. The grin on her face said she was miles away from the challenge laid down in front of them.
“Exactly,” Henry said, approval stamped on his face.
Lyric narrowed her eyes at the alpha and went back to her tablet.
God damn. Did bossy alphas get under Lyric’s skin the same way they did Nohen’s?
If he was expected to put up with their tension all tour, he was going to be taking a lot of showers.
Nohen pulled out his own phone, shifted on the seat, and tried to blend into the background as he played a game and responded to a few text messages.
But then Henry’s deep voice broke the silence. “Since we have time to kill before we get to the venue, we should probably go over a few ground rules.”
Oh, man.
Nohen looked up just as Lyric arched a perfectly shaped brow, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Rules?”
“I’ve been on a lot of tours, and having rules and boundaries in place is the most efficient way to make sure there’s no drama between bandmates.”
“Do tell,” Lyric said softly. Dangerously.
Nohen swallowed and hoped she never turned that voice on him. Shifting in his seat, he drifted his gaze from Lyric to Henry, like a tennis match.
“We’re listening,” Emerson called from the bunk room. They’d put the bed back up into a couch, and they’d been lounging in there with the television for a few hours.
“Desi?” Henry questioned expectantly.
&nbs
p; She waved a hand in the air. “Listening.”
Henry took a deep breath. “Let’s dive right in. Since this space is shared collectively, I think it’s fair to say that there will be no groupies or fans brought on the bus.”
“Agreed,” Lyric said.
“Got it,” Nohen replied.
“Sure,” Desi murmured halfheartedly.
Two more affirmations came from the back room.
“Don’t go anywhere without a buddy, or at least without letting someone know where. That goes for all of you. I’ve lost a bandmate before, and the panic of trying to find them is not worth it. Communicate, please.” His request came out as a plea.
“Makes sense to me,” Lyric said.
Nohen, Desi, Adra, and Emerson echoed her, and Henry continued.
“No sex on the bus.” Henry laid out the next rule without apology.
No one breathed for a long moment. Nohen was frozen in his seat, afraid any movement would give away his desire to veto the rule.
But it was Lyric who glanced to the other room.
“Henry! I thought you were cool,” Emerson shouted.
“Sorry, guys,” Henry rumbled, not sounding very sorry at all. “But it’s a lot easier to work alongside someone when you don’t know how they sound in the heat of the moment.”
“Borinmph—” Emerson began, but his complaint was muffled, his voice overlapped by Odd’s deep tone of displeasure, though Nohen couldn’t make out the words.
“I can agree to that,” Lyric murmured softly, and glanced away, cheeks flushing.
Nohen nodded mutely. He had a feeling Adra and Emerson could get… intense, and trying to play alongside them while knowing what they sounded like together was just asking for a disaster. No one needed a photograph of him playing on stage with an erection.
And if Lyric ever did become intimate with one of them? Yeah, he could live without that too.
Especially if it wasn’t with him.
“So… when’s the next hotel stop?” Emerson called out.
Lyric burst into giggles, and Henry shook his head with a half smile.
“I’ll send you a calendar.”
Odd and Emerson got quiet before Emerson inquired, “What about sex in the venue?”