The Luminous Rock Series Box Set

by K E Osborn

  This kiss is more romantic, it’s calmer, and I know we’re going to make it. After everything we’ve been through. The ups. The downs. The crazy fucking roller coaster of a life, we’re going to be the lucky ones.

  “So, I’ve been thinking about buying another house for a while. And now we’re getting married, I want to make a second home in the States for when I’m not on tour with the band, so I can be with you and your family. I’d like to chat with a land agent and see if we can buy a house in Ligonier. What do you think?”

  His eyes light up then he closes his eyes, leaning his forehead against mine as he lets out a long sigh. “You really want that?”

  I smile. “Yes, Kaden, I really want that. I love it in Ligonier. I want a home there. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone bought a home in Ligonier, to be honest. We all love it that much.”

  He chuckles and opens his eyes. “Yeah, I can see that happening. And you know what? I would fucking love it.”

  “Well, if you’re buying in the States then I guess I am, too,” Alana calls out, and I grin. “Are there many homes for sale in Ligonier?”

  Mercs chuckles. “More than you’d think,” he suggests looking past me to Alana. “But there is land, and you can build if you want.” Everyone tilts their head like they’re thinking hard.

  “Well, if my two best friends are buying then count me in,” Kristy calls out.

  “If half the band is having a second home in America, then I guess we should, too. Right, Andi?” Casey asks, and Andi looks from Casey to Tank and back to Casey.

  “I guess I have a couple of reasons to set up another home in America,” Andi offers. Tank tries to hide his smile.

  “Do I get a say in this at all?” Luke blurts out as he walks into the room, and we all look over at him, his normally stern face seems a little shaken.

  “If we want to move our band forward, Luke, the best place to do that is in the States. Yeah?” I ask, and he cracks his neck to the side.

  “Yes… it is.”

  “Then isn’t this the best option for all of us? We can all have our holidays in Australia, but it makes sense to spend most of our time in the States,” I assert, and he lets out a long huff as Alana sinks into herself.

  “He has kids back in Australia,” she murmurs, and we all glance to Luke. We can’t lose him, but the band has to keep moving forward, and honestly, we will be spending most of our time in the States anyway for the foreseeable future.

  He shifts uncomfortably again. “Look, this is something I’ll need to discuss with you all in a more private setting. Now is not that time...” He rubs his fingers through his hair.

  I glance at the other girls, who all look as worried as I feel, but I decide to lighten the mood with my excitement. So, I hold up my left hand and twinkle my fingers. Everyone looks to my hand, and they all race forward. Alana jumps on the spot and giggles to herself. “Oh my God, Mercs, it’s beautiful,” Alana calls out.

  “I’m so freaking excited. I better be a bridesmaid,” Kristy demands.

  “Can’t believe she said yes. She must really be crazy,” Tank teases, and I turn, shaking my head.

  “Crazy in love,” I reply, and a resounding gagging sound echoes around the room making us both laugh as he leans in kissing my lips.

  “I’m so happy for you both. I know Kiera will be ecstatic for you, too. This is all she wants… for you two to be together,” Alana says.

  “I know, I wish she could have been here for this,” Mercs sighs while looking at her.

  “This calls for drinks… on me,” Luke offers.

  We all smile as he heads off to the green room, and I finally feel like everything’s falling into place.

  We have a great family. We may not be all blood, but all of us together—this Luminous crew—we’re bonded, and together we can achieve anything. Once this tour is over, I have no idea where we will be headed. New albums? New tours? Record deals? I have no idea, only Luke knows our schedule, but one thing I do know is we’ll be doing it all together. Each of us a valued member of the team. Not one of us more important than another.

  And now I’m engaged to the man of my dreams. Life couldn’t be any better than this!

  MERCS

  Two Weeks Later

  Getting back into the rhythm was easy. Although, I’m not able to go into the rafters like I used to, being on the ground and managing the rest of the crew has actually been a great way to see how things are running for the show and to interact with the other guys. It’s also good to let Tank step up and take charge, so he can get a feel for running his own shows. He’ll be great at it, he just needs a little more confidence. Things are running as smoothly as can be expected. Effa is performing to the best of her ability, the crowds are loving the shows, and we’ve moved into Canada to continue the tour.

  It seems everything is back on track and even I’m feeling a little better. I’m still not healed. Not by a long shot. My ribs hurt like a bitch, and sometimes just breathing is hard, but I can move around with more fluidity now.

  The tour is breaking up in a week, and I’ll be heading home finally to spend some much needed time with Gran and Kiera. I know Kiera’s been itching to see me. But I’ve been so tied up here that I haven’t been able to leave any earlier. Plus, I don’t want to piss off Luke any more than I already have, but more importantly, I don’t want to leave Effa. Even though she seems to be doing okay, I don’t like the idea of leaving her to fend for herself. Sure, we have medics around all the time who can support her if she needs it, and they helped give her the injections she needed when I was in the hospital, but still… I can’t be everywhere. As much as I want to be.

  Glancing at my cell, I see a text from Gran as I finish up the lighting from tonight’s show. Furrowing my brows with slight concern, I get texts from Kiera all the time, but hardly ever from Gran. She always calls me if she wants to talk. I glance to Tank as he goes about shutting down the stage lights. The crowd is all but disbursed, and I nudge him. “You good for a sec?” I ask, and he nods.

  I spin, turning my back to Tank and open the message, the time stamp reads 8:47 p.m., and I wince hating that I missed it for this long.

  Gran: Kaden, I know you’re busy with the tour, but I think if you can get a chance to come home early you probably should. We’d love to spend some quality family time together, and Christmas is such a special time of year. I know Kiera would love to see you right now. If you can, please come home. Love Gran xxx

  Furrowing my brows, I exhale tilting my head slightly as I re-read the message a few times trying to see if there’s something I should be reading into that. I glance at the time to see it’s past twelve and way too late to call Gran now to find out if everything’s going okay.

  I have to admit, I’m a little on edge.

  My heart begins to race faster, and I rub at my chin taking in a deep breath.

  Tank slaps my back and looks over my shoulder. “What’s got you going all quiet?”

  I swallow hard and turn my head to look at him as I pull my cell down out of his sight. “No, nothing. Just Gran asking when I’ll be home.”

  He smiles wide. “Bet you’re looking forward to seeing Kiera?” He pulls out a cord and wraps it around his elbow and hand.

  There’s an uneasy feeling shifting in my gut. “Yeah.”

  He glances at me as I turn and start to walk off. “Hey, where are you going?” Tank calls after me.

  “Sorry, I gotta go talk to Effa.”

  He chuckles. “Yeah, yeah. Getting out of cleanup duties to see your lover. Sheesh, Mercs. I need to break my nose and ribs too,” he teases as I ignore him and go in search of Effa.

  I head for the green room first, I’m pretty sure she’ll be there winding down from her show. Rounding the corner, I walk in to see her on the sofa, guzzling down some berry water. I weakly smile as she looks up and her eyebrows raise in what looks like surprise.

  “Hey, you. I thought you’d still be working?”

 
; I shrug. “I should be.”

  Her face falls as she stands up and grabs my hands. “Are you okay? Don’t you feel well?”

  I shake my head. “No. I’m fine. But I got a weird message from Gran and reading between the lines, I think something’s wrong.”

  She frowns and gnaws on her bottom lip, glancing around the room then back to me. “What do you mean?”

  “Gran seems very eager for me to come home.”

  Effa purses her lips and exhales. “Shit. Okay. Have you spoken to her?”

  My head shakes as I slump my body. “No. I only just saw the message, and it’s too late to call her now.” I lean over and show Effa the message.

  “Well, I’m not sure what that means, but honestly, I think it’s best to not panic. Wait until the morning when you can call and find out what’s going on.”

  “You think?”

  She nods. “I do. If something was going on, I’m sure Gran would have told you. And if she couldn’t get in touch with you I’m sure she would have texted me as well.”

  She’s right. Gran would.

  “How about we skip the after party tonight and go back to the hotel and go to bed. Try to have a decent sleep, and we can wake up at an early hour and get a hold of Gran in the morning and sort this out?” Effa asks.

  “Thank you. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “Probably fall in a heap.”

  I chuckle. “Probably, yes.”

  “Right, let’s go back to the hotel now. We’ll sleep it off and wake up refreshed.”

  I nod and grab her hand as we head for the door.

  We find Raoul easily, and he takes us back to the hotel without a fuss, while the others continue on to the after party without us. We made our excuses of being too exhausted, and they were all fine with it seeing as we both are not one hundred percent well.

  So now, we’re both tucked up in the hotel bed. Effa’s cuddled up against my chest as she sleeps soundly, and I lay here staring blankly up at the ceiling. I have no idea why, but I feel like something serious is going on like my world is changing. I feel like there’s a shift, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I’m seriously worried about Kiera and Gran, and I’m in half a mind to just make the damned phone call anyway for my own sanity. But then if everything is fine, I’ll wake Gran scaring her half to death for no reason at all. So I lay here and stare at the shadows on the ceiling wondering about why I have this concern buried deep in my guts.

  My jaw is clenched tight. My teeth almost grinding in apprehension. My muscles taut with tension. Effa is the only sense of relief I feel right now as I try to hold myself together. The unease washing through me is immense, and I can’t seem to get my thoughts together when suddenly, the room lights up to my cell ringing on the bedside table.

  What the fuck?

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  MERCS

  The ringtone startles me as I jolt from the loud noise. Effa stirs against me as her head raises from my chest, and I roll on my side to grab the call. I look at the screen to see it’s Gran calling and my stomach sinks through the floor.

  It’s 6:00 a.m.

  Why the hell is she calling me so early?

  I glance at Effa who’s rubbing her eyes when she looks at me to see fear etched on my face.

  “Who is it?” she murmurs.

  “Gran…” My voice cracks as I mutter the one word.

  Effa opens her eyes wide and swallows hard. “Quick, answer it.”

  I snap around and swipe the screen, bringing my cell up to my ear, albeit hesitantly, and sit up on the edge of the bed. My back is to Effa as my legs hang over the edge. “Gran?” I mumble.

  “Kaden, I hate to worry you, but I’ve been awake all night—”

  “Is Kiera okay?”

  She sighs, and I instantly tense up. “No. There’s some serious issues, she’s not rejecting your stem cells, but she’s so weak. The doctors aren’t giving me a great prognosis right now, and it doesn’t look good. She is slipping in and out of consciousness. I honestly think you need to come home as soon as you can. She needs you… we need you.”

  Panic wracks through me as I stand from the bed and bend over to pick up a T-shirt from the floor to begin packing. Effa rushes over to me placing a soothing hand on my back. “Fuck! I’m packing right now. Will be on the band’s jet as soon as I can get authorization to leave. Tell her to hold on, tell her I’ll be with her as soon as I possibly can.”

  Effa mouths ‘what’s wrong?’

  I don’t have time to reply to Effa before Gran says, “Kaden, hurry… please.”

  A shudder runs through me at the desperation in her voice. For the first time in my life, I am scared. Gran never overreacts. So I know this must be serious and Kiera is in trouble.

  “I’m on my way, Gran. I’ll see you soon,” I tell her and then hang up as I shove more clothing into my backpack. “Fuuuck!” I groan out loud in frustration not knowing what else to say.

  Effa cuddles into my side as she wraps her arm around my waist and pulls me to her effectively stopping me from packing. “Kaden, stop… talk to me.”

  My chest tightens, and I turn to look her in the eyes. Hers glistening with concern. “Kiera’s taken a turn… I don’t fucking get it. She was supposed to be getting better not going downhill.”

  Effa blinks a few times looking at me taking in the words I’ve just spoken. “Wait! What?”

  “It seems Kiera’s getting worse, not better. Gran is in a bad way, and she has asked me to come home. This is fucking serious, Effa. ‘Cause Gran would never beg me to come home unless…”

  She shakes her head. “No Kaden, don’t think like that. She will be fine. This is just a setback. Okay? Kiera will pull through this. I can feel it.”

  “I can’t take your positive vibes right now, Effa, I have to go… I need to leave. Can you get Luke on the phone and ask him to ready the jet for me? If you can’t that’s fine, I’ll get on the next flight.”

  Her bottom lip trembles, she nods and then she looks away from me. “Of course, anything you need… I’m here for you, Kaden. I’m coming with you.”

  “Shit… I’m sorry, baby. That came out all wrong. I’m so damn stressed right now, I shouldn’t take it out on you.” I link my fingers with hers and let out a long exhale as I pull myself together. “No. You need to stay here, make sure the tour goes without a hitch. You’ve already taken time out for your recovery. You can’t disappoint the fans again.”

  “I really should be coming with you. I want to come with you.”

  I shake my head. “Please, Effa, don’t fight me on this. I don’t have the strength. I just need time with Kiera and Gran. I love you, that hasn’t changed, but I need to be with them for a few days. Okay?”

  Nodding, she swallows hard. “Sure. But I want you to call me. Every day. Without fail. I hate that I won’t be there for you.”

  “You will be. I need you to make sure the band finishes up this leg of the tour, and then when you break next week, you can come and be with us like you were supposed to for Christmas.”

  “This is killing me, Kaden. I’m so torn. I want to be there for you and your family… but if you need time with them, I understand. Just know the second you need me, I will be there in an instant.”

  I reach out taking her in my arms and press my forehead to hers. “Thank you, that means everything. I can’t lose her, Effa, not after everything she’s been through.”

  “I know…”

  EFFA

  Eventually, Mercs found his strength. I helped him pack his things, and we said our goodbyes as I watched him leave for the band’s jet. I’ve already told Luke what’s going on. I had to. I needed to gain his permission for Mercs to use the jet. Luke has called everyone together so I can tell them all at the same time about Kiera, rather than having to tell the story multiple times. Which is better for me because having to tell Luke once was hard enough.

  We’re all gathered in Luke’s hotel room. It�
�s spacious, so we all fit. Some are sitting on the sofa, some on the bed, and some are just standing, as I sit on the bed next to Alana solemnly, while the rest all chatter amongst themselves like nothing’s going horribly wrong.

  “Okay guys, there’s a reason I called you all here for this emergency meeting,” Luke calls out gaining everyone’s attention.

  They all look up and quieten down. Tank looks around the room raising his brow. “Yo, where’s Mercs?”

  I sniff, clenching my eyes shut as I let out a long drawn out sigh, and everyone turns to face me in curiosity as the room shifts to an uncomfortable silence.

  “Hey, is something wrong?” Alana’s soft voice echoes through the silence as she reaches out grabbing my hand. I quickly link my fingers with hers needing her support, as I open my eyes to see everyone looking at me with frowns on their faces.

  “Is Mercs okay?” Tank queries, concern in his voice.

  I simply shake my head, as I prepare myself to say the words aloud.

  “Effa, you’re scaring me,” Alana croaks, sliding in next to me as I glance to Luke and he nods giving me the strength I need.

  Swallowing hard, I take a deep breath. “At six this morning Mercs got a phone call…” A lump forms in my throat and I clear it with a slight cough. “Kiera… Kiera is deteriorating in the hospital. Gran has called Kaden home because she isn’t sure how Kiera is going to continue faring in the coming days.”

  A resounding gasp filters through the room as my stomach churns and lurches while tears flood my eyes again. I hear a loud huff, as I look up to see Raoul’s face contorting in pain as he shakes his head and slams his hand onto the table, a loud bang echoes through the silence. He spins. His heavy feet stomping the carpet as he moves quickly through the room. We all watch as he heads for the door, racing through it and slamming it shut as he exits. The door shudders with the force, and I jump, my breaths coming in short and sharp as I try to hold in fresh tears. I look around the room, everyone’s simply trying to hold it together as all their eyes glisten and no one says anything.