Sioux walked down the hall as quickly as she could. Though not trying to hide, she thought it best if the other band members didn’t see her slipping into Thad’s room. The band always took at least one floor of a hotel, sometimes more, depending on how many family members were with them. The crew was on various other floors. Storm Crow didn’t have a large entourage. A Honeychile show usually had a minimum of two hundred roadies. Storm Crow had less than half that. Thad had given her a key to his room shortly after they checked in and she used it now.
She gasped as before she could flip on the light she was grabbed and pushed up against the closed door. She took a deep breath to scream and inhaled a lungful of air. Thad-scented air. Before she could ask what was going on, his mouth was on hers. His kiss, if she could call it that, was all consuming. Devouring. He took her mouth with total desperation as though he had to have it. Had to have her.
He held both her hands in one of his over her head as he pressed her against the door. The kiss seemed to go on for hours until she began to wonder if she would lose consciousness from lack of oxygen, but then he groaned and his slipped his hands under her hips to lift her up until she could wrap her legs around his waist. He ground against her and she cried out, closer and closer to her orgasm. He tilted her hips until her clit was pressed directly against his hard arousal, his lightweight pajama pants providing no barrier to the intense heat she needed so desperately. She ground against him harder and harder until suddenly he pulled his lips away from her and bit her right where her neck met her shoulder. The sudden pain seemed to arrow directly on her clit, setting off a blinding orgasm bursting over her in a storm of deliciousness that left her nearly unconscious.
He lay her down on the bed, still kissing her, sucking and biting on her mouth.
Finally when she finally had enough breath to do so, she pushed him far enough away to ask. “What on earth got into you?”
“I was watching you tonight. It was like you were singing directly to me. It was all I could think about. I have no idea what I played tonight. Bryan totally lost his shit because I was all over the place. I can’t do this anymore. I want you too much.”
“Well who said you had to? I told you it was ridiculous from the beginning,” she said before kissing him again. He groaned against her lips before pushing her away.
“That’s what I mean. We can’t sleep together anymore. It’s just not going to work.”
“Are you serious?”
“Sioux, you know this is absolutely crazy.”
“Yeah, I do. You’re the one acting like a scared virgin. I promise to be gentle, baby,” she teased reaching for the snap on his jeans.
He grabbed her hand with a speed born of desperation. Then caught it again when she slipped nimbly away.
“Don’t do that. I’m serious Sioux.”
“You mean you won’t sleep with me, and now you won’t even sleep with me," she said.
“Now I know I’m going crazy. That sentence actually made sense.”
“Well, that’s one of us. None of this has made sense to me for weeks. Why can’t we just…”
“Because we can’t. I don’t do casual sex. I told you that. I don’t think you should sleep with me anymore.”
She stared at him. Rage pure and unceasing welled up so quickly that more than anything she wanted to throw a tantrum like a toddler deprived of a toy. She couldn’t believe she’d let him do this shit to her again. Well this was it, the hell with his geeky ass. Unable to find words to vent her rage, she simply stormed out without a backwards glance.
Chapter Six
Sioux slipped into the band’s dressing room. The show was finally over and more than anything she just wanted to go back to her room for some sleep. But some fans had won backstage passes, and while she was sure they weren’t there to see her, she felt obligated to show up anyway. She passed behind Thad who was talking guitar speak to a fan who was apparently as much of a guitar freak as he was. The backstage area was larger than most she’d been in with room for a couple of sofas as well as some over-stuffed armchairs. A table had been set up with refreshments ranging from soft drinks to beer, as well as a variety of snacks. After grabbing a bottle of water, she was about to find a corner of the room she could hide out in until this was over when she saw a familiar face.
“Topher!” she cried out, genuinely thrilled to see an old friend. Topher was a local celebrity who was one of Honeychile’s biggest fans. He always showed up whenever they were in Seattle. She had no idea how he managed backstage passes so easily, but he was always there. Strange how it hadn't occurred to her he'd show up here. Topher was slim with long locks of dark chestnut hair and azure blue eyes. She often teased him he was pretty enough to be a model
Topher turned and grabbed her in an enthusiastic embrace lifting her clear off the ground, which wasn’t particularly difficult as he was a full head taller than she.
“It’s so good to see you. I am totally loving your new sound,” he said.
“Thank you. I’m so glad. I was really worried the fans wouldn’t be feeling it,” she said.
“Come on Sioux, you know you could sing anything and folks would be lined up around the block to hear you.”
They drifted across the spacious room to the plush chair in the corner that had caught her eye earlier. Topher sat down and Sioux perched on the arm of the chair as they continued to chat for a few moments.
“Hi Sioux, who’s your friend?”
Sioux looked up, surprised that Thad had joined them. She stared at Thad. He looked and sounded…jealous? There was a tightness to his smile that read fake to her.
She made the introductions and continued to talk to Topher, pointedly ignoring Thad. She hoped he would take the hint and leave, but of course he didn’t.
“So, Topher, what do you do?” Thad asked when there was break in the conversation.
Sioux frowned. Why didn’t he just go away? If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he was jealous. Fortunately, Topher was very good-natured, though she could see the amusement in the smile he directed toward Thad.
“I’m a club deejay, and, of course, a Honeychile groupie.”
Sioux had unfortunately just taken a sip of water when Topher finished that statement. Even in her struggle to catch her breath she was fascinated by the dark color that rose in Thad’s face. Topher had a puckish sense of humor and had apparently decided to take it out on Thad.
“Which one?” Thad finally asked.
“Which one what?” Topher asked as though confused, but the glint in his eye and half smile told their own story.
Thad was all but visibly counting to ten before speaking again. “Which member of Honeychile were you a groupie for?” he finally got out.
Topher’s grin broadened. “Fortunately, I’ve never had to choose.”
Sioux opened her mouth to read her friend for his implication that he could have his way with all the members of her former band, but Thad cut her off before she could speak.
“Oh, that is fortunate for you, but things have definitely changed.”
Sioux stared at Thad now, wondering if the extraordinarily high level of testosterone had finally unhinged his mind.
“What are you talking about?” she asked, forcing her voice to be as pleasant as possible. She wouldn’t give him what he was obviously asking for, which was her fist upside his head.
“Just that Topher might be interested to know that we’ve been sleeping together since the tour began,” Thad replied.
Topher, ever the game one, managed to look enraged and amused at the same time. “Is this true, Sioux?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake…” she began when Thad interrupted.
“Of course it’s true, ask anyone in the band.”
Topher was doing such a good job acting the jealous boyfriend that if she hadn’t known better she would have actually believed his performance.
“Will you please shut up?” she yelled at Thad. “What exactly is your problem?”
At this point, she realized they had the attention of the whole band. They all had suspiciously bland expressions, except for Twist who was leaning against a dressing table doubled over with laughter. Even as she watched, he collapsed to the floor laughing helplessly.
Sioux stared at the drummer, barely restraining an urge to kick him in the ribs. She gave Thad a disgusted look while resisting the impulse to do the same to him. Instead she jumped up from the chair and grabbed Topher’s hand.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” she said. He followed and she walked out of the room, refusing to look at any of the members of the band.
***
Sioux stopped in the middle of the corridor, staring at the door to her room and scarcely believing that Thad was sitting on the floor outside her door.
“What on earth are you doing here? It’s two in the morning. Have you been here all night?”
He rose to his feet in one elegant motion. “Wanted to make sure you got home okay. I was worried about you. I tried to call…”
She knew that. She’d deliberately ignored his calls and texts. “I was otherwise occupied.”
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
Sioux pressed her head against the cool wood panel of the door to her room, resisting the urge to bang it. Hard. “Why on earth would I do that? Didn’t you just kick me out of your bed?”
“You know why I did that.”
Actually she didn’t have a clue, and at this point she was beginning to wonder why she gave a damn. “So why are you here?”
“Just because we’re not sleeping together…”
“We never were sleeping together. I still can’t believe you told Topher that!”
“You slept with him, didn’t you? Is that why you’re so worried about what I said?”
“That’s right Thad. I slept with Topher. I slept with Bryan. I slept with Jon. I slept with Bobby Tom. I slept with Rocky. And yes, they all had bigger dicks than you do.”
“Really? Even Rocky?” he asked with a raised brow.
“Especially Rocky,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Ooh, that’s harsh,” he said with an amused twist of his lips.
Sioux sucked her teeth, he had to be the only man on earth who would find that funny. “Did I leave anybody out? Maybe the cabbie? The doorman? The bellman was really cute. We had an adorable waitress at dinner last night.”
He stared down at her. “What about Twist?” he asked, amusement giving his eyes an unholy glow.
“Fuck no, I didn’t sleep with that psychotic leprechaun. A girl has to have some standards,” she said with an eye roll for added emphasis.
His laughter echoed down the empty hallway. “Look, can I come in? Do you really want to have this conversation out in the hall when anybody can come by?”
“Apparently you didn’t care. You’ve been sitting out here like my mother.”
“Well, unlike you, I couldn’t talk the desk clerk into giving me a key.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t ask Rocky.”
“I considered that, but I thought maybe you didn’t want everyone knowing about us.”
“Us? There is no us. You made that plain the other night.”
“I’d like to talk about that. Can I please come in?" he asked again, his voice had dropped in pitch to a husky whisper that was hard to resist.
She leaned her head against the door; the cool surface soothed her nerves and helped her resist the urge to take him up on his offer. But that was the problem, what exactly was he offering? No, she'd had enough. “Why are you so deranged? No Thad, you cannot come in. I’ve had enough of your crap. Blowing hot and cold like I’ve got nothing better to do. Either you want me, or you don’t. When you decide maybe then I’ll let you in. Then again, I might not.” And with those words she opened the door to her room and went inside, closing it softly behind her.
***
“You look like hell.”
Sioux peered up at Thad with eyes that felt as though she’d spent the night driving through a sandstorm. Maybe she had. She certainly hadn’t spent it sleeping. They’d got to Vancouver the previous day and this morning’s sound check wasn’t going particularly well. She coughed, wincing at the hollow sound before she replied.
“Thanks Thad. I know I can always count on you to tell me what I already know.” The sharpness of her retort would’ve been more effective had it not ended with another spate of coughing.
“You can’t sing tonight.”
“I’ve been a professional singer since I was twelve. Do you think this is the first time I’ve had a cold?”
“Yeah, but you’ve got a fever,” he said placing a cold hand against her forehead.
Sioux closed her eyes briefly and leaned against his hand. His cool dry palm felt so good. Then she moved away. “Your hand is not a thermometer. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine and you’re not going on. Where’s Rocky?”
Sioux grabbed his arm before he could walk away.
“Wait, you can’t do this. If I don’t go on tonight everybody will think I’m using again,” she said.
“What? We’ll just tell them you have a cold, or they can just look at you and tell.”
“You know that won’t work. Do you know how many “colds” and hospitalizations I had for “exhaustion” that last year?” she asked making finger quotes. “Everyone knew. If I start that again it’s all over. This is my last shot, Thad. You can’t take it away from me.”
Thad wrapped his arms around her into a close embrace.
“Jesus, Sioux, you’re burning up.”
“I’ll go back to my room. Lots of rest and fluids and I’ll be fine by tonight. We have only one show here, then it’s back to L.A. I’ll have plenty of time to recover. Just let me have this one night. Please,” she begged looking up into his gaze. He took a long time to answer and she almost panicked. Just when she thought he would refuse he finally responded.
“Okay, I’ll take you up to your room now,” he said.
“But what about sound check?”
“They’ll manage. They can finish without us.”
Sioux stood on the stage the crowd singing along with her, but it seemed like they were far away through a dimly lit tunnel, the walls of which kept spinning in one direction then reversing to spin in the other. The lights were behaving oddly too, and she wished they would stop flickering the spotlight on and off, or at least get in sync with the spinning of the walls. The dichotomy was nauseating. The sound rang hollow, as though underwater and she strained to hear them. She could hear her own voice in the headset and she wondered at her ability to sing when it felt as though her throat was on fire and her head had ballooned to twice its normal size. The last was the worst, though feeling as though she had a furnace scorching her flesh from the inside challenged for a close second.
Just one song. Just one more and she could rest. She looked toward the wings where Thad waited for her. For some reason he looked frantic then he began running toward her. She swayed on her feet as clammy sweat beaded her forehead. Just one more song. Then rest…
The floor felt incredible. The irregular boards of the stage's hardwood floors were cool beneath her fevered cheek. From around her she could hear voices. So many voices. Shouts. Screams. Whispers. Then hands were lifting her from the floor. There was a hollow thud. Wait. Her guitar. Had she fallen on it? Damn it, she loved that guitar. Her folks had given it to her when she was just a kid. Despite her distress she couldn’t muster the will to protest the abuse of the favored instrument.
She knew immediately it was Thad who was carrying her backstage with Rocky walking and talking a mile a minute beside him. She turned in his arms until her head rested in her favorite spot, between his neck and shoulder. There, surrounded by evidence of his sinewy strength she rested. Thad would take care of her.
“Let’s get her to her dressing room. The ambulance should be here any moment,” Rocky said.
Ambulance? No. Wait. He
r voice barely came out in a croak as she tried unsuccessfully to raise her head.
“It’s okay, baby,” Thad said. “We’re getting you to the hospital.”
She tried again. “No ambulance. The paparazzi—”
His stride didn’t slow. “Jesus, Sioux! That shit again? I should never have listened to you in the first place. You are going to the hospital," he said in a tone that brooked no argument. Sioux tried to think of something else to say, but it was all she could do to remain conscious. Thankfully they reached her dressing room before long and Thad placed her on a small sofa.
“Lie here until the ambulance gets here,” Thad said as he handed her a bottle of water. It felt so good, so refreshing. She was so thirsty some of it dribbled out of her mouth as she gulped it down.
She knew he was there before she even opened her eyes, though for a moment she wasn’t sure where she was. The whirring of machinery and the antiseptic smell were the only clues she needed. Hospital. She wished she wasn’t so well acquainted with them. She opened her eyes slowly, grateful that some kind soul had dimmed the lights. Her gaze landed on Thad who was slumped down in a bedside chair, dozing. Then she became aware that her mouth felt as though she’d been eating cotton balls. She pushed the button to raise the head of her bed. The sound brought Thad immediately awake. Momentary confusion clouded his amazing eyes, then he smiled
“Welcome back. I’ll bet you’re thirsty.”
“A bit,” she said not sure what to make of his presence. They hadn’t been on the best of terms lately.
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