“Anyone want to tell me what that was about? You’re still unaligned, so that wasn’t fucking amazing sex slamming into us like a Mack truck.”
“Fucking felt like it,” Jake said, resting his head on Liam’s shoulder, only to have it shoved off.
“You asked me to start orientating her to this life. I was showing her how we share energy, using Aen as she seems more comfortable with him.” This earned Johnno a growl. “I dunno what happened, if it was him, her, or something else, but it damn near fried my brain.” He flexed his hands, as if he was shocked he still could, then twisted them into a gesture I couldn’t follow. A great lariat of golden sparkles shot out from his hands, flicking out in a loop over the rest of the band’s heads and sending points of light skittering over their skin, much to Jake’s delight, before yanking it back.
“This you?” Liam asked Aen.
He looked down at me, tipping my chin up and then brushing a thumb over my lips. I wanted to open them up, suck him inside, something that made him smile wickedly.
“Some, but not all. You don’t understand what you have, wannabe Lord of Hartley. Kira’s something beyond measure.”
“Care to let me know what that means?”
Aen finally looked Liam’s way, his fingers tightening around mine. We all tensed, wanting to hear his answer. As if aware he had a captive audience, he just smiled, bright and brilliant.
“You haven’t earned that yet, Hartley. You have a small fledgling thing of a court that you want to build into a real power. You want to throw off the yoke of the Rutherglen, presumably due to a litany of petty and not so petty insults. But you are brutish and ham-fisted in your dealings with Kira. You think you can force…what? An attraction? A pull? I don’t think you even know. You just reach for her, clumsy as a child, wanting to snatch up a toy before anyone else does.”
“You’re in my territory, whatever the hell you are, and so is she. I need to know whose side you’re on.”
“Hers,” Aen replied simply.
“Why?” I said finally. While I loved that Aen was standing by me, and seeing him slap down Liam was well worth the price of admission, I was beginning to feel like a bone fought over by dogs. The surprise on the band’s face was a given, but I hadn’t expected it of Aen.
His brows twitched for a moment, then he said, “Because you woke me up.”
I didn’t get a chance to reply or investigate that further, as he kissed my forehead, leaving a burning sensation in its wake, before he said, “Look after her until I return,” to Johnno and then disappeared.
Liam just blinked at this, then fixed me square in his sights for the first time since we’d emerged.
“Fuck this,” he said, eyes running over me. “It’s time to start working out what we have.”
He got to his feet, obviously going to approach me, but Johnno was up and blocking his way before he could get any closer.
“No.”
“No, brother?”
“No. Not like this. You don’t have to break everything to see how it works.”
They were evenly matched, in height, power, even intensity. They stared each other down, before Liam finally broke away.
“Fine, but on your head be it. Make her ours and soon. We can’t afford for that little powder keg to go off and pull in all the things with sharp teeth wanting a taste. I’ve already been informed that Duke Franklin and his crew are coming on board for a few guest spots, and that was from just having a quick sniff at her. We need to get some sleep. We’re performing tonight.”
And with that, I watched the other members of the band move towards the bedroom at the back, Johnno shaking his head and smiling when I couldn’t help but watch shirts get pulled off over heads and shoes toed off.
“I need my camera,” I mumbled without even thinking about it. That urge to record the pretty was a welcome impulse that had been missing for too long.
“And something comfortable to sleep in. You’ll need to be sharp tonight. Rutherglen wants promo shots on the website pronto, and anything else you’ve got besides. We’ll be up to a ridiculous hour with the first after party. It’s always a big one.”
“How do I sleep? In a strange bed, with The fricking Changelings and a whole new job?” Johnno took my hand when he heard the waver in my voice and rubbed my knuckles. “And what the actual fuck was that with Aen?”
“Grab your camera and something comfortable,” he insisted. “Your gear will be in the spare bunk. If you can’t get to sleep, I’ll help.” My eyebrows shot up at that, but he just laughed. “Magic, love. I know some soothing spells.”
“Magic Valium? You definitely need to teach me that one.”
“When we test your power a bit more. Don’t want you sending whole cities to sleep for a year and a day.”
I looked down at what Marlow had provided for pyjamas, tugging down at what felt like ridiculously small shorts again, but it didn’t produce any more fabric. The old band shirt I was wearing as a nightshirt was almost longer than the shorts. I shook my head, grabbing my camera that I’d left on the bathroom sink, then opened the door and went to the bedroom without pausing. Otherwise, I’d never make it.
That lasted as quickly as it took me to open the door, because damnnnn… Just as I’d imagined, there were half-naked bodies everywhere, the guys having stripped down to underwear or shorts in my absence. The late morning light caressed their bodies, picking out the details of the many tattoos and the long lean shapes of their muscles. I raised the camera without even thinking about it, causing Liam to scowl.
“Get on the bed,” he said, tossing a blanket and pillow over to Johnno. “There’ll be time for photos later. More than you’ve ever wanted to take.”
“Liam doesn’t like anyone knowing what goes on in here,” Jake said with a grin from where he rested his head against the man himself’s ribs.
“Anyone finds out what we’ve done…” Lucas growled.
“That’s strategic,” Liam replied. “Gay doesn’t—”
“Sell records,” several of them chorused.
“Gotta feed the fantasy to the female fans that they have a chance of getting in here,” Liam said.
“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, Kira?” Lucas said with a smirk, Billy chuckling as he picked idly at an acoustic guitar.
“You’re assuming seeing the five of you making out wasn’t a part of that fantasy,” I replied, getting on the bed and crawling over to Johnno. When I settled back against him, I saw everyone’s eyes were on me, even Billy’s fingers having slowed, then stopped. I stared them down as Johnno put his arm around my waist. “So, are you gay?”
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. Liam grinned from where he lay. “Our sexual habits surely aren’t of interest to you, Kira, seeing as you’ve made your choice. Or are they?”
“If you’re going to fuck each other in the bed I’m sleeping in, then yeah, it’d be good to know. It’d also be good to watch and photograph,” I shot back, not letting his dig get to me.
He liked that for some reason. Liam fucking Hartley, my dream lover, smiled when I smart mouthed him. Then his eyes dropped to Jake, and he dragged the other man closer. Both of them looked at me, sly as cats, before Liam pulled the other man’s head down. They were slow and deliberate about it, edging nearer, almost warily, like this took some kind of silent negotiation. Or perhaps it was this—a performance of a different kind. I’d moved forward, my fingers going for my camera without even thinking about it, and only Johnno’s restraining hand made me aware of it.