by Frank, Ella
Halo turned in my arms and brushed his palm over my cock, much like he had up there on stage, then he said in a voice designed to seduce only one, “Mhmm. Or I could just come on you to celebrate.” And damn was I glad that this teasing, sexy angel was all mine.
Twenty-Eight
Halo
I LOOKED OUT over the Atlanta skyline, and from the rooftop of the hotel I could see the Mercedes-Benz Stadium we’d played a couple of hours earlier. The exterior was still lit up like a gleaming jewel of the city, and as I took another sip of vodka, I stared in wonder that it’d been me up on that stage. Me in that colossal stadium, singing to a crowd of tens of thousands. Had that really happened? It felt like a dream.
“Still isn’t sinking in, is it, Angel?” Viper said, as he moved in close behind me, wrapping his strong arms around my waist.
“Not even a little bit.”
“You did it. And it’s the first of many.” He kissed the top of my shoulder as a warm breeze swept my hair across my face, and I tucked the strands back behind my ear as I turned to face him. After the show, we’d showered and thrown on jeans and T-shirts before joining the guys—and about a hundred others, all people attached to the tour or friends of those who were—up on the roof for a private celebration.
“You were so fucking hot tonight,” Viper said, grabbing the belt loops of my jeans and pulling my hips forward. “Always so fucking hot.”
He leaned in for a kiss, and his lips had barely brushed mine when I heard, “Are you two gonna suck face all night, or are we gonna celebrate? I ordered shots.”
I broke away from Viper’s tempting mouth to see Imogen standing beside us, her lips quirked in amusement. I’d flown her down for the first show, needing someone to keep me grounded and sane…and also because she threatened my life if I didn’t invite her.
“Oh, there you are,” I said. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“Well, you’re not gonna find me down Viper’s throat.”
Viper chuckled and muttered something unintelligible, and she turned her flashing green eyes on him.
“Trust me, I don’t wanna be there either.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “Are you two coming, or do I have to do these shots by myself?”
A sarcastic retort was on my lips, but Viper clapped a hand over my mouth and gestured toward Imogen. After he’d come over to my apartment one day not long after we’d gotten together, Imogen had made good on “the talk” she’d wanted to have with him. I hadn’t been privy to that conversation, but whatever had been said, Viper did not fuck with her. “Lead the way.”
When we reached the bar, a seemingly endless row of tequila shots greeted us.
“Jesus, how many did you order?” I said, suddenly grateful our next show wasn’t for a couple of days. My liver might need those forty-eight hours to recover.
“It’s not just for you.” Imogen turned and waved at someone behind us. “Slade, Jagger, come on! Where’s Killian? And Levi, too.”
That was my sister. Making friends wherever she went.
When the guys made their way over, Imogen did the honors of passing the shots around—two each—and then held one of hers up. “Okay, so I just want to say first off that you guys made the best decision of your lives hiring my brother.” When I groaned, she shot a look my way. “I can’t even tell you how amazing the show was tonight, but I think you already know. So cheers to a kickass first night and many more to come.”
“Hear, hear,” Killian said, and as we all tapped each other’s glasses, I shot Imogen a wink. No matter what, she always had my back…even if she occasionally took the opportunity to embarrass me. That was what siblings were for, right?
The first round of tequila went down smooth, and we all immediately downed another. But before we could scatter off again, Levi let out a shrill whistle.
“While we’re all here, I thought I’d share a bit of news,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels.
“It better be good, or we don’t wanna hear it,” Slade said.
“Would I be the bearer of bad news on a night like this?” Levi looked around the group and rolled his eyes. “Maybe the old guy would, but gimme a break here.”
“He’s right,” Killian said. “Brian would’ve enjoyed making us miserable, but you’re not that malicious. What’s the news?”
Levi turned to Imogen. “You might wanna make sure they have another round of shots ready.” Imogen’s eyes lit up, and when she leaned across the bar to speak with the guy on the other side, Levi said, “Nominations for the Music World Awards went out tonight. You guys picked up four nominations.”
A string of curses rang out among us, while I stood there, stock-still. It wasn’t until Viper threw his arm over my shoulder that I shook myself out of it.
“Did you hear that, Angel?” Viper grinned at me with pride, and when I couldn’t get any words out, he laughed. “Too much fuckin’ stimulation tonight?”
“Uh, yeah. But don’t think that gets you out of anything later.”
“I sure hope not.”
“Another thing,” Levi said, raising his voice over our excited yapping. “The producers called me personally to ask that you attend. That’s not something they usually do, so…”
When he didn’t finish that sentence, Jagger said, “So that means what, exactly?”
Levi shrugged, but his eyes were twinkling, and I knew that look meant he wasn’t saying anything more than what he’d just insinuated.
We were going to win a fucking Music World Award.
My legs almost gave out from beneath me, and then Imogen thrust another shot in my hands.
“I’m so proud of you,” she said. “You deserve every bit of what’s coming your way, Halo. Enjoy it, okay? You promise? And maybe try not to faint, ’cause you’re lookin’ a little pale right now.”
Viper wrapped his arm around my waist, holding me to his side. “Don’t worry. He’s not goin’ anywhere.”
She grinned at us before moving on to hand shots to Slade and Jagger. She’d been friendly with all the guys over the last couple of months, so maybe I’d get a T-shirt made for her: Official Mascot of Fallen Angel. She’d wear the shit out of that.
Something Slade said made her head fall back in laughter, and when she grabbed his arm, Jagger reached for her waist to help steady her.
I narrowed my eyes at the three of them. “They do know that’s my sister, right?” I said to Viper.
When he followed my gaze, he shrugged. “They’re talking, not fucking.”
“That talking better not lead to…that.” I couldn’t even say the words, because Imogen with anyone was not something I wanted to think about. And especially not with Slade or Jagger. Or anyone I knew, really.
Viper stepped in front of me, blocking my view. “Guess I need to do a better job of distracting you if you’re focused on what those assholes are doing.”
Mission accomplished.
I fisted my hands in his shirt and pulled our bodies flush together. “Oh yeah? How do you plan to do that?”
Viper lifted his hands to either side of my neck and slid them up to thread his fingers through my hair. Then he lowered his face to mine until it was a breath away and whispered, “Like this.”
And when Viper’s mouth crashed down on mine, as promised, the whole world around us melted away.
Twenty-Nine
Viper
A COUPLE OF hours—and many drinks—later, I was over having to share the angel with others. Not that I was doing a particularly good job at that anyway. It seemed as though everyone at the party wanted to shoot the shit with Halo, asking him how his first night had felt, if it was everything he’d thought it would be, and it took everything I had not to tell them to go the fuck away.
It may have seemed ridiculous to some—okay, most—but sharing Halo with the world for five or so hours was my time limit, and it was just about up. It was time to reconnect with the sexy man beside me in privat
e, and I was sick of being pulled away from him every time someone offered a drink or wanted to ask us for the umpteenth time how our night was.
Call me jealous. Call me possessive. Call me a goddamn asshole; I didn’t care. I missed talking to Halo when we weren’t glued at the hip, and judging by the way he always sought me out after someone had stolen his attention, he felt the exact same way.
As the latest thief finally left, Halo’s hand once again found mine, and I tugged him in close and wrapped his arm around my waist. He tipped his face up a fraction, his eyes a little glassy from the copious amounts of alcohol he’d consumed, and when a lazy smile tugged up the edge of his lips, I couldn’t stop myself from stealing a kiss.
“Looks like I’ve got a drunk angel on my hands tonight.”
Halo hummed against my lips as he pushed his hips up against mine, and when his hard cock rubbed over my erection, I groaned.
“You ready to head back to our room?”
“That’s too far…” Halo said as he angled his head and kissed his way up to my ear, his lips and words doing jack shit to help my current condition—the fucking flirt.
“Christ,” I muttered, and Halo’s husky laugh told me just how far he was gone. Out of the two of us, the angel was definitely the more discreet, though the hard cock grinding against my leg was making me second-guess that. “Unless you want to be all over social media tomorrow for fucking instead of singing to a packed stadium, you need to quit riding my thigh.”
Halo leaned back in my arms, his eyes roving over me, as a chuckle escaped him. “Maybe we’d sell more tickets if people thought they’d get to see that on stage. Did you see how crazy everyone went when I sang ‘Hard’?”
I had seen, and felt, Halo when he’d sung “Hard,” and I agreed. The crowd’s reaction to that song had been both to the lyrics and the visual stimuli. And I had to believe that after tonight’s performance, all of MGA’s fears about our relationship would be well and truly squashed.
“You’re probably right. But there’s no way in hell that anyone’s going to see how fucking sexy you are when you come. That’s for me, and me alone.”
Halo scraped his teeth over his lower lip. “That’s seriously hot.”
“It’s the damn truth, and you better not forget it.”
Halo grinned, and then leaned up to kiss my lips. “Viper?”
“Hmm?”
“Get me outta here. I want to be alone with you.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. Interlacing our fingers, I made a beeline through the crowd, determined not to get stopped along the way, but when I spotted Killian standing off to the side of the gathering smoking a cigarette, I decided I should probably let someone know we were bailing.
“Hey,” I said as I drew Halo to a stop beside me, and when Killian looked between the two of us, he smirked.
“Lemme guess. You’re leaving.”
“Aww, whoever said you’re just a pretty face?” I said, as he took another drag and then blew the smoke over his shoulder.
“If I’m honest, I’m surprised you both lasted this long. I figured you would’ve split hours ago.”
I wrapped an arm around Halo’s shoulders, and as he burrowed into my side, I said, “If it’d been up to me—”
Halo whacked a palm on my chest. “I was being sociable.”
“I was being frustrated.”
Killian laughed, but his eyes shifted past us, over our shoulders to the crowd behind us. I turned to see where he was looking, and when I spotted Levi standing on the opposite side of the party with a drink in hand and a bright smile for one of the guests up here on the rooftop, I turned back and eyed my friend.
“Something you seem to be familiar with these days.”
“Huh?” Killian said, dragging his eyes back to the two of us.
“Being frustrated. You seem…preoccupied.”
At my smug tone, Halo took another look over my shoulder and then his head whipped back around to Killian, who was glaring at me.
“I’m not preoccupied.”
“Could’ve fooled me,” I said, enjoying this a little too much. “You can’t keep your eyes off our new manager. Not to mention, you didn’t invite anyone here tonight. That’s very unlike you. Thinking about starting some intra-band relations yourself, huh?”
Killian stubbed out his cigarette and tossed it in one of the ashtrays. “The thought might’ve crossed my mind.”
“Uh huh,” I said, nodding. I knew Killian as well as he knew me, and when he zeroed in on someone, then all bets were off. “I fucking knew it.”
Killian shrugged, not disagreeing, and then we all turned to look in our manager’s direction. Levi was dressed in crisp white pants and a bright turquoise button-down shirt, and as though he could suddenly feel three sets of eyes on him, he turned and looked in our direction.
Levi’s eyes narrowed on us, and then he cocked his head to the side, likely trying to determine what the hell was going on and whether he was needed.
“Act fucking normal,” Killian muttered from behind us. “I don’t want you two to scare him off before I go over there.”
So with Levi’s eyes still on us, I indicated we were leaving with a thumb to the door while Halo—fuckin’ drunk Halo—started laughing.
“Oh my God,” Halo whispered as we both rounded back to face Killian. “You and Levi?”
“If I’m lucky,” Killian said, and then winked at Halo. “Now you two get the hell out of here.”
Halo clapped a hand over his mouth and looked up at me. I looked to Killian and said, “Do I need to tell you not to fuck up a good thing here?”
“I mean, you can,” Killian drawled as he shoved off the wall and stepped up by my side to look between Halo and me. “But you’ll get the same answer you gave me.”
I arched an eyebrow his way, and Killian shrugged. “It’s none of your damn business.”
Fair enough, I thought, as Killian said his goodbyes and made his way through the crowd toward our manager.
Who was I to tell Killian who he could or couldn’t be with? If I’d listened to anyone other than myself when I’d first gone after Halo, I wouldn’t be taking the angel back to our hotel suite now, would I? So if Killian wanted to chase after Levi, then my only words of advice would be to Levi: run, if you don’t want to get caught.
Thirty
Halo
“HALO! LOOK OVER here!”
I turned my head in the direction of the shouting photographers to let them get their shot. They were all crowded in behind a velvet rope, at least fifty or so squeezed together while the guys and I walked down the red carpet of the Music World Awards.
“Viper, go stand by Halo,” one of them shouted, and Viper responded by shooting the photographer a choice finger. Before coming out tonight, we’d decided to keep the attention on the band and not us as a couple, so Viper and I stood on opposite sides as we posed for photos, the other guys sandwiched between us. If I was close to Viper, I’d reach for his hand or his waist or any part of him I could get my hands on, and that was not where the focus needed to be in front of the cameras. Once we got inside and sat down, though? All bets were off.
Levi walked over from the sidelines and moved us down the red carpet. He was the one who decided which media we’d do interviews with and was basically in charge of keeping the five of us in line tonight. Well, every night, but especially tonight, since I had no idea what the hell to expect from an awards show. It was the first one I’d been to, though I’d watched them before, and it was such a different experience being on the other side of things. It wasn’t as glamorous as I’d expected with all the photographers yelling instructions at us and reporters clamoring for our attention.
Levi bypassed an entire group of media without a glance their way and brought us over to a podium manned by E! News. As we waited for the host to finish up their current interview, Killian leaned in. “Not what you expected, is it?”
“How’d you know that’s what I wa
s thinking?” I said.
He grinned. “I had a first time too. Wait till we get inside. It’s smaller than it looks on TV.”
Before I could respond, I heard Levi curse and looked over to where he was staring down the crowded red carpet. When he turned back to face us, he gestured for us all to move in closer.
“I was told he wouldn’t be here, or I would’ve given you a heads-up earlier,” he said.
“Who’s ‘he’?” I asked.
“Oh shit.” Jagger was looking past us, and I turned around to see who Levi was so worried about us running into.
At first, I didn’t see him, because a towering guy stood beside him, blocking my view. But then he moved to the side, revealing—
“Trent fucking Knox.” Slade let out an inelegant snort and shook his head. “What the hell’s he doin’ here?”
“He’s up for a few awards, but he wasn’t supposed to show tonight—” Levi’s words were cut off as one of the E! News producers tapped him on the shoulder, letting him know the host was ready for us. Levi nodded at them and then turned back to us, smoothing down his lemon-yellow tie. “Try to avoid questions about Trent, okay? Focus on your awards, the album, the tour—anything but that.”
Levi was looking straight at Viper when he said it, meaning someone had filled him in on past band drama. Or maybe it was that he knew if anyone was gonna get mouthy, it’d be my boyfriend. But Viper merely shrugged, like he couldn’t care less, and when he caught my eye, he winked.
We ran through the interview with no issues, and no questions about their former lead singer, while out of the corner of my eye I could see Levi running around doing damage control. In other words, making sure Trent and Fallen Angel didn’t come anywhere near each other tonight. I doubted any of the guys would make a scene in front of all these people, but I’d never met Trent, so who knew what his reaction would be to seeing us? I didn’t think he’d care one way or another that I’d taken his place, since he was the one who’d left the band. Part of me was curious about him, since he’d grown up with Viper and Killian and they’d been friends and bandmates for so long. And, yeah, regardless of the other guys’ opinions, I was still a huge fan, especially of his new solo stuff. Not that I’d ever tell Viper that, or I’d never hear the end of it.