AllFreeNovel
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She glared out of the window, her lips pursed.
Our manager, the marketing guys, and the execs at the label all thought the marriage would be a great way to get Clutch back off the ground. Our popularity took a massive nosedive with Goss’s arrest, and Bevel — the bassist who joined us three years ago after Goss’s trial and conviction — wasn’t as popular.
Fans liked Goss’s bad-boy attitude, his disregard for authority, and his over-the-top drama at parties. They never had to deal with overdoses and prostitutes and Goss constantly missing rehearsals and recordings because he was hungover — especially when he was more interested in doing lines than singing them.
Now that this marriage was going ahead, Carl, our manager, was preparing for more interviews and photoshoots, as well as the designers and various media rats that would follow us around for days. There was all the work going into preparing for the tour and we couldn’t book anything for the wedding yet. Bunny still needed to reveal me like a prize pig at her — sorry,our— wonderful engagement party. But as soon as the news was out, they’d descend on us like locusts.
I’d need to fight to get any free time between the party and the start of our tour.
Clutch was going on tour in two months, mainly Europe, though we were doing three non-stop weeks across America, which was sure to wipe us out. Then two months in Asia, a month in the Middle East, and back to Europe for a month before closing in London. The big bosses wanted to revamp our image, introducing new songs and styles to our already overworked brand. The songs were crap; the outfits looked like BDSM swimwear, and all four of us were dreading it.
I glanced at Bun as I pulled out of the parking lot. She was redoing her lips in the small mirror that followed her everywhere. She could barely go ten minutes without checking her reflection.
“So…” she said, snapping the gold case closed like a guillotine and dumping it in the black purse resting on her lap. “How long have you known Cat Fischer?”
Bunny clutched her purse, her bright pink nails looking ready to stab me if I gave her the wrong answer.
“What makes you think I know her?”
“Don’t bother lying to me.” she scowled, looking pretty underneath her seething glare. “I would ask you how long you’ve been fucking her, but she looked like she actually wanted to kill you. And anyone can see your hard-on a mile away. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out you guys have, like, major history.”
Bun and I had agreed our ‘marriage’ would be open. Secretly open, of course. We needed to be careful if we were going to pull this off, but neither of us wanted commitment or exclusivity. The only commitment here was to our image.
Which was all fine until Bunny introduced Catherine into the mix.
“I’ve known her since I was a child.” Bun continued. “I can tell when she’s ready to blow. Did you fuck her and ghost her or something dickish like that?”
She wasn’t far off, though we had done so much more than fucking. How do you put into simple words how deeply one woman can change your life? I tried, but the songs never captured the depth of how I really felt.
Bunny wasn’t getting the full story, at least not from me. I couldn’t trust her not to leak it or spread it around. I didn’t know her well enough yet to guess how she might react if she found out.
“No...” She tapped a finger to her lips, taking me straight back to the moment before Cat pounced. Lust hit me again, and I instinctively licked my lips, the heat of Cat’s breath still present. Fresh memories of her would be my new drug. I made myself focus on the road. “From how angry Cat was, it wasn’t just one night, was it Maxxy? What did you do? Did you break her heart?”
There were things about Bunny I enjoyed — her enthusiasm in bed, her determination to get what she wanted, her ability to bullshit the press. Her attention to detail wasn’t one of those things.
I stayed quiet. It felt easier to let her draw her own conclusions than try to explain, especially with Cat and Bunny’s relationship.
“Well, whatever it was, you fucked up. I’ve never seen her look like that, even when Jazz and her mum scream at each other.” Bunny turned, placing her hand on my bicep, making sure she had my attention. “Don’t fuck her.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. She was so perceptive. That’s all I’d been thinking about since I’d laid eyes on Cat.
“I’m not joking, Max. They’re family, all the Fischer's are. They’re off limits. You can fuck anyone else, just not them.”
“You can’t tell me who I can and cannot fuck, Bun.”
Her hand squeezed me tighter, her nails digging into muscle. “This isn’t just your image on the line. I’m literally putting my neck out for you. You can’t fuck it up. I will ruin you if you even try.” I didn’t need to look to know her expression was poisonous. “If you think I’m just another blonde bimbo, I’d be happy to show you how scary I can be.”
I preferred Bunny like this. Even if she was cruel, she was being honest. The chatty Bunny just felt like a distraction.
She was sharp enough to drag Clutch into her pursuit of fame. Part of the marriage agreement had her recording songs with us for her first album, which was the cover story for how we met. The songs were already number one in the charts and we’d only released them last week.
One hand glued to the wheel, I carefully removed Bunny’s nails, talking to her like a wild animal. “You don’t need to be so fierce. There’s nothing to worry about. We both know if something goes wrong, you’ll be the one to come out on top.”
The agreement was two years. Then she could break up with me in some fabulously dramatic way, and I’d never have to see her again. Unless we had children, which would never happen.
She nodded, satisfied. Bun believed my need for her was greater than her need for me.
I didn’t want her to see how much meeting with Cat had affected me. For now, Cat was my secret: one I refused to share.
