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Fin drags him away and they come off stage hyper, sweating, and on a total high. I try to high five them all instead of offering hugs, hoping the bottles of water and towels I’m pushing at them provide a bit of a buffer, but they grab Jude and I in a group hug love-in anyway.
“Sweet Jaysus boys, get off us.” I give them all a gentle push with the towels in my hands.
“Momma G,” Fin shouts, grabbing a bottle and tipping it over his head, “Backstage parrrrttaaayyyyyyy” and sets off towards the old dressing rooms. The others all follow along behind, grinning like maniacs.
One look towards the merchandise stand reveals they’re inundated with people buying t-shirts, caps, and all other manner of B4d Intel goodies. I smile knowing Jax is going to have a field day if it all sells.
“Are you braving the dressing rooms?” Jude asks me with a laugh.
“Yeah, I will early on, but I’ll get off after that. I don’t want to see anything I can’t erase from my mind. Especially considering I birthed one of those hellions. Who’s in charge of who comes back?”
“Darryl. He does a good job and vets ages and everything. We’ve not had any issues since he started with us,” Jude assures me.
“Great. I’ll get back there before it goes a bit mental, but I’ll stay for a drink front of house. Get me one of those famous mojitos!”
We go our separate ways as Natalia, part of our staff for the night, comes towards me from the merch table. “Hey Evie, I need to grab some ladies’ t-shirts. Do you know where they are?”
“Yeah, in the dressing room.” I drop my voice to a conspiratorial whisper and roll my eyes at her. “Are you brave enough? Keep your eyes closed as much as possible and we’ll go in together.”
She laughs with me. “I’m sixteen now, Evie,” she states with confidence.
“Yep, that’s what I’m worried about,” I say. “And stay away from Bucky. He’s a menace post show.”
We go towards the dressing room, elbowing our way through a growing group of young guys and girls trying to get to the backstage party. I see Darryl controlling the flow, checking IDs like a policeman, and smile at him as we cut through the throng. I take off my cap and plonk it down low on Natalia’s head. “Might need to hide your eyes.”
She does not look phased at all. “They’re good guys, Evie. You worry too much,” she says smugly.
I huff out a breath and open the door with one eye shut. I spot the boxes in the corner of the room but try not to look at the room at large. Unfortunately, the boys are hard to miss, and in various stages of undress. Bucky is still shirtless and now trouserless. Fin is also shirtless, but at least has jeans on. Nicci is shirtless and his hands move towards his jeans. “Stop!” I shout. “Wait ‘til we get this stuff then you can carry on.”
Bucky smirks at us and sings, “Tally, Tally, Tally, where have you been?” He moves towards her and touches her hair. Poor Tally is struck dumb and just stares up at him.
“Back off, Bucky, while we get the t-shirts.” I point at him but he just laughs and drags poor Natalia into a hug. I dig into the boxes and start to rummage around. The faster I find what we’re looking for, the faster I can rescue her from this lot.
“Where’s James?” I hear Fin ask the room at large.
Nicci’s muffled response comes out from under the clean T shirt he’s just pulling on. “Getting changed next door, I think.”
I hold out loads of ladies’ t-shirts to Tally and keep digging through the box, practically falling into the damn thing it’s so big. I’m going to kill Jax for his mass buying spree.
The crowd outside starts to scream louder and I assume James is on his way back in. The door slams open and I look up through my arms as I am still literally headfirst in the box. It’s the two large men in suits I saw earlier—short buzz cuts, shades (indoors for the eye roll), fit, and wearing earpieces—Yep, definitely security. God, has it gotten that bad that James needs these two?
My thoughts pause and my eyes widen when I see the two men following them in. I whirl around and stand-up, staring, holding armfuls of t-shirts.
The first one is tall, broad shouldered. Short, raven-black hair, striking blue eyes like a summer’s day sky, easy ready smile. White t-shirt with a sloppy neckline, revealing a hint of the tattoos on his chest, moulded to his very fit body. Jeans and boots. The leather bands on his wrists accentuate his contoured forearms and a few silver rings adorn his fingers. His mere presence is enough for the boys to go quiet.
He turns and looks at them. “Hey, I’m Xan.” His smile is easy as he seemingly addresses them all individually but at the same time.
I stand, stock still, as the man moving behind him makes me draw in a breath. Dark blonde hair cut short at the sides and messy on top. It looks like he just rolled out of bed after some lucky woman spent the entire night running her fingers through it. Six foot three inches tall, broad shoulders and a tapering waist. Tight black t-shirt clinging to muscles beneath, tattoos peeking out of the neckline and running down his arms. Jeans hanging low on his waist and dirty Blundstone boots on his feet. Necklaces, wrist bands, rings, all the trimmings. I can’t move or look away. He is simply one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen.
He turns his gaze to me and the unusual green eyes with the virtually black limbal ring around the edge lock with mine. No smile, chiselled features, sharp cheekbones, and full pouty lips that on another face could be feminine. Not on this one. He stops for a fraction of a second and then moves to face me, not looking anywhere else. He starts towards me and just keeps coming. I’m rooted to the spot; I need to remember to breathe.
I look him up and down as he stalks me with the purpose of a hunter towards its prey. He stops in front of me, getting into my space, stands chest to chest, looking down at me, crowding out the room. In an instant, he grabs the back of my head, pinning me gently in place.
He looks over my face and into my eyes and says quietly, “Where the fuck have you been?”
Before I get any chance to answer, he slams his lips onto mine, hard and hungry, kissing the hell out of me. Totally consuming me with no regard to any surroundings or who is in the room.
I’d like to think that I stopped and pushed him off, kicked his shins and pulled his hair to stop. But no, my traitorous body betrays me and my mind. My muscle memory of electricity kicks in as it leans into the kiss, savouring the renewal of amazing sensual memories. Parting my lips at his insistent tongue, demanding me to open up and let him in, just as I had all the other times.
