Believed (My Misery Muse) (5 page)

Chapter 8

Jules

When I got to my room, I quickly stripped then
shoved everything back into the duffle bag while simultaneously pulling out
clothes for tonight.  After a quick peek around the room, I was certain I had
everything, I tossed all three bags on the bed like I was told to.  I pulled on
a pair of boyfriend jeans, a Rise Against tank top, and slid my feet into a
purple pair of Chuck Taylors.  I quickly pulled my long hair into a bun at the
base of my neck, put some clear lip gloss on, then on my way out I grabbed the
hoodie I planned on taking with me.  Inside the venue, it would be roasting
hot, but once the show let out it was still winter in the desert.

I walked out into the living area where Seth was
sitting messing around with his phone, he looked up and stared then back at his
phone then back at me. “You’re ready?” he asked incredulously.

I looked down to make sure I remembered shoes,
then back up at Seth. “Yeah.”

I noticed my kit was still on the dining room
table so I went and put everything I was working on earlier away.  “The bags,
are we taking them with us?”

“Uh no, someone will come get them and put them on
the bus for us.”

I nodded grabbed my kit, I needed to put it in one
of the duffle bags.

“You’re seriously ready? You were in there for
like ten minutes.”

“Yeah, why is something wrong?”  I asked checking
to make sure I was wearing pants.

“No, it’s just that I’m used to waiting and
waiting some more for Devi.”

I grinned. “That’s because Devi is a diva.”

Seth tossed his head back and laughed. “Don’t tell
her that.”

“Oh I have, she’s a violent diva, but still a
diva.”

I went back in my room, opened one of the duffle
bags, and put my kit in, making sure that it couldn’t move around a lot, then
zipped it back up.  When I walked back into the living area, Sam was sitting
with Seth both gaping at me.

“What?” I snapped.

“Nothing,” Seth mumbled. “It’s just that I’m still
a bit amazed.”

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him.

“As much as your wife would love to turn me into
her mini-me, she hasn’t succeeded yet.”

I plopped down on the couch beside Sam and sat
with my legs criss-cross.  I leaned over and bumped his shoulder. “What’s up?”

He chuckled, it was a rare sound that I loved to
hear from him. “Nothing, just amazed.”

I cocked my head and looked at him. “Amazed, huh?”

He bit his lip and nodded. “Never met a woman who
can get dressed, pack, and be ready to leave before me.”

I sighed and leaned back into the cushions on the
couch. “You guys need to get over it already.”

“Why does Devi want to turn you into a mini-me?”
he asked.

“Because until I came around when I was sixteen,
Devi was living in a man’s world.  Here I come, some lost sixteen-year-old girl
who had no clue about anything, and she took me under her wing.  Helped me out
with a lot of stuff, including boys and make-up.  She’s like my big sister.”  I
looked over at Seth. “It’s not so much a mini-me, as it is she wants me to feel
pretty I guess.”

Sam blinked and stared then cleared his throat.
“You met Devi when you were sixteen?”

“Yep.”

“How old was Devi?”

“Twenty or so, Jaks was a baby, just a tiny
thing.  I helped out at the shop, ringing up customers, stuff like that, as
well as babysat for Devi while she was working.”

“Wait, how old are you?”

I looked over at Seth then over at Sam. “I’m
twenty-one.”

“Huh, I thought you were older, closer to Devi’s
age.”

“I never heard how you came to work at the shop,”
Seth said, probably noticing the strange vibe coming off Sam.

“I was living with Cris’s mom, she thought me
having an after school job would keep me out of trouble.” I shrugged.  “For the
most part it did, Cris gave me odd jobs and I took care of Jaks, it was fun.”

“Why were you living with Cris’s mom?” Sam asked.

I smiled sadly at him. “Another story for another
time.”

He nodded but was looking at me like I’d grown an
extra head, I wasn’t sure what his deal was.

I pushed up from the couch and headed to the
kitchen, I pulled a bottle of juice out of the fully stocked refrigerator.  I
twisted the lid and took a deep drink. I set it down on the counter then
dropped my head down beside it.  I didn’t exactly hide my past, but I didn’t
want to freely talk about it either.  I’d finally let it go and realized that
it wasn’t me that was unworthy but them.  What I did hate was the look of pity
on people’s face when they learned about my past.  I didn’t think I could stand
that look on Sam’s face, if he wanted to know bad enough he could always ask
his brother.  Though I didn’t think he would do that.

I’d been fighting with some of those same emotions
after Beau, I hated that he could make me feel unworthy of love, like something
was inherently wrong with me. I felt like a fool for staying with him for as
long as I had. Granted that for the first year or so it was amazing, I felt loved
and accepted.  It’s just the last eight months where things eroded and fell
apart around me.   I was an idiot for letting it get to the place it had.  I
never thought that I would ever stand for a man hurting me, but he would always
tear away at my walls afterwards.  Now though I saw through him, he didn’t give
a shit about me, his concern was cash for his next fix.

“Hey sugar,” X drawled. “You all right?”

I straightened up. “Fine, just thinking.”

He grimaced. “Careful that brings on headaches.”

“I’m good.”

He nodded and looked me up and down then frowned.
“Why the hell are you wearing a Rise Against shirt?”

“What, you don’t like them?”

“No, I love them, but that’s not the point.”

“I’m confused.” I murmured looking down at my
shirt.

“You cannot go stand backstage at a My Misery Muse
concert wearing another band’s shirt.”

“Uh, why not?”

He sighed and looked at me like I was dense. “It’s
just not done.”

I frowned. “Isn’t Seth wearing a Dead Kennedy’s
shirt?”

“That’s different.”

“Uhm how?”

“He’s not a fan, he’s part of the band.”

“Xavier, it’s just a shirt.”

“No, it’s the point.  Go put on a My Misery Muse
shirt.”

I looked up at him and blinked slowly. “I don’t
own a My Misery Muse shirt.”

He cursed, spun around, and stomped out of the
kitchen. I stood there dumbfounded, what the hell was that?

Sam

“Doesn’t own a fucking My Misery Muse shirt,”
Xavier muttered storming into the living room and began pacing.  I watched with
morbid curiosity, what the hell had gotten him so worked up?

Jules walked out of the kitchen looking at X like
he was a caged tiger about to attack.

“What the hell is going on?” Seth asked.

X pointed at Jules. “Her shirt.”

I looked at her shirt. “Okay, what’s wrong with
it?”

X growled then stomped back to his room muttering
the entire way.  I looked over at Jules and she just shrugged before sitting
down beside Seth curling into a ball in the far corner.  She looked so young
and I couldn’t believe that I never really thought about her age.  She looked
so sad right now, a frown tugging her lips, and I had this possessive urge to
make it all better.  Luckily though Eli and X came into the room which meant it
was time to go.  We had some things to take care of before the show started in
a few hours.

We walked through the hotel using the employee walk
ways so we weren’t stopped and surrounded by fans.  I was mentally going
through a checklist of things I needed to do as well as emailing with our tour
manager and the manager of the opening act.  I’d pulled one of the bands from
our new label to open for us wanting to get them some exposure before their new
album dropped in a few months.  I took a lot of flak from the old label since
they were the ones ultimately footing the bill, I just hoped it worked out to
be worth it.  I was in negotiations with a few distribution centers for the new
label, I agreed to let the old label pitch first.  I knew what they were
expecting; they wanted our new label under their umbrella.  I just had to
decide if it was worth it or not, they weren’t bad to us.  We even came out
with some friends and contacts, but the label itself was asking too much where
I was concerned.  It was time to cut ties, now it was just how many ties did we
cut.

Once we were in our dressing room, X went to his
clothing rack, Eli sat down on the couch and Seth started on his make-up.  I
noticed Jules standing by the door with a lost expression on her face.

“Jules, make yourself at home,” I said gesturing
around at the various gift baskets, alcohol bottles, and other items that were
sent to our dressing rooms.

She slowly walked over and grabbed a bottle of
water then sat down beside Eli and pulled out her phone.  I went back to
answering questions and emails while everyone did their normal pre-show thing.

Chapter 9

Jules

I sat watching as Seth lined his green eyes with
kohl with a finesse only an expert could do.  Xavier was pulling clothes out of
one of the racks before slamming the item back down mumbling.  Eli was sitting
on the other side of the couch drumming with his fingers on every available
surface. While Sam paced from one side of the room to the other frowning down
at his phone.  I stifled a giggle while trying to hide the fact that I was
videoing them, I wanted to know if this was normal behavior or not.  After a
minute, I sent the video in a text to Devi, I’d learned my lesson about posting
shit on Facebook, I didn’t want another phone call from Drake.

          Me:    sitting in dressing room

          Max:   having fun?

          Me:    not sure

          Max:   why not?

          Me:    are they always so antsy?

          Max:   YES!!

My phone pinged with a new message from Devi and
all their heads turned towards me, I smiled sweetly at them before opening it.

          Devi:  *snort* welcome to my world

I giggled quietly to myself while digging through
my messenger bag.  I pulled out my ear buds and sketchpad, I decided on a
playlist, when The Fratellis’
Chelsea Dagger
started playing I lost
myself in sketching, shading and filling, every now and then I’d glance up
under my lashes and take a peek at my subject before refocusing.  It was fun to
sketch someone without them noticing it. You were able to capture them purely. 
It also made it more difficult because they moved around, facial expressions
changed.  You had to focus on a feature at a time instead of the picture as a
whole.  I normally just focused on jewelry designs, but I didn’t have anything
in mind currently, and I had the urge to create.

When I was finished, I noticed that the guys had
moved around, Xavier was now working on his own make-up while Seth had
disappeared.  I took a quick picture of the sketch I’d made of Seth and sent it
to Devi.  I looked it over a moment longer, I was mostly happy with it.  I had
him sitting in a chair looking in a mirror applying kohl but the mirror image
I’d used a picture off my phone, one of him sitting with Jaks and Cait curled
on his chest while reading a book to them.

          Devi: DIBS!!!!!!

          Me:   
J

I looked back down at my phone and realize that
two hours had passed, I wasn’t sure what time the show started but I didn’t
want to interrupt them.  They all seemed so focused on what they were doing.  I
searched online for the shows info so I had some idea on what was going on when
Sam walked out.  He was rocking leather pants, a Dr. Who T-shirt was layered
over a fishnet long sleeve.  He looked hot, rock star hot, it was like a
different version of the Sam I knew.  The one I knew wore jeans that were
barely holding together and vintage band shirts.  I’d seen the guys play
before, but it felt different this time without everyone else here as well.

“What are you working on?” Seth asked breaking the
quiet.

“Just sketching.”

“Can I see?”

I felt my face flame and looked away. “Uhm sure.”
I was always nervous about showing the person I sketched my work.  If they
hated it would be awkward.

“Damn,” he breathed, “that’s… holy shit.”

I peeked up at him. “You like it?”

He stood there staring down at the sketch of him.
“I love it.”

“I’m glad,” I said finally smiling.

“Can I have it?”

“Your wife called dibs.”

“I want to put it up above my bunk so I can see it
before I sleep,” he murmured tracing the image of his two children. “I miss
them.”

I sighed internally and fell a little bit in love
with Seth Taylor and a whole lot of jealous of Devi.

“Just give it to her so she can have it when the
tour’s over.”

He looked up and flashed me that killer smile of
his. “You are extremely talented.”

I blushed. “Thanks.”

“Can you hold on to it until we’re on the bus, I
don’t want anything to happen to it?”

“Of course,” I said taking the pad back from him. 
“What time does this thing start?”

“The opening band goes on in thirty minutes; they
have a forty-five minute set then changing the stage around for ten minutes
before we go on.”

“How long are you playing?”

“Our set lasts two hours.”

“Thanks,” I said pulling my phone back out.

          Me:    You’re one lucky momma

          Devi:  Trust me I know

          Me:    a wee bit jealous over here

          Devi:  aww honey yours will come

          Me:    not holding my breath

          Devi:  I think it will happen before you
know it

          Me:    huh?

          Devi:  devil is in the details

          Me:    WTF if you weren’t preggers I’d
think you were hitting the wine bottle

          Devi:  HA

“You want to go out and see the opening band?” Sam
asked causing me to jerk up; I hadn’t noticed him walk over.

“Yeah,” I said collecting my stuff.

“Leave it, we’ll be back in here later.”

I nodded and shoved my cell in my back pocket then
followed him through a labyrinth of tunnels.  Though I wasn’t paying attention
to where we were going, I was too engrossed in watching Sam’s ass in the jeans
he was wearing.  They seemed to be molded to his ass and thighs.  I looked up
watching the play of muscles beneath his black T-shirt that was straining
across his shoulders.  While all the guys were hot, Sam was my wet dream.  He
had the whole looked like an angel but you knew the devil lurked below the surface. 
His blond hair was tousled in a just fucked look that made me envision being
the woman who had ran my fingers through it while he brought me to orgasm over
and over.

“Fuck,” I yelped when I ran into something.

Sam

I looked back and found Jules hopping around on
one foot while a stream of obscenities flew out of her mouth.

“You okay?” I asked while rushing over to her.

“Fine,” she gritted between her teeth. “Just not
paying attention to where I was walking.”

“What did you hurt?” I asked.

“Just my knee,” she grumbled.

“Let me see,” I said picking her up at the waist
and putting her on top of one of the black rolling boxes we used for stage
equipment.

“I’ll be fine. I’m a klutz and do this often.”

“Please?” I asked quietly.

She sighed, nodded then looked away, I gently
rolled up her pant leg so I could get a look.  An angry red mark covered it and
I could already see where it was starting to bruise.  I leaned down and
carefully kissed it, when I heard her gasp I pulled my eyes up to hers.  She
was staring down at me with a look of wonder and lust on her face.  I stood
quickly and pulled her pant leg down.

“You’ll have a bruise.”

She nodded while watching me closely.

“So what were you looking at that caused you to
walk into a four foot tall wooden box?”  I asked trying to distract myself.

Her cheeks turned pink, she looked down and began
playing with a frayed hole in the thigh of her jeans. “Just not paying
attention,” she mumbled.

I cocked my head to the side and watched as she
studiously avoided looking at me, and I couldn’t hide what I was sure was a
cocky grin.  “You were staring at my ass.” I said playfully.

“No I wasn’t.”

“Then why are you blushing?”

“Fine,” she snapped, “you have a great ass.”

I chuckled at the way her face went from pink to
red. “Come on, perv, we better get to the wings if you want to watch Warped
Morality.”

“Warped Morality?”

“They’re the opening band for the tour.” I grabbed
her hand lacing my fingers with hers.  “Just in case I need to pull you away
from equipment while you stare at my ass some more,” I said then winked at her.

“Shut up,” she growled.

I led her over to the left wings where the opening
band was waiting, they looked better than the first show they did with us.  No
one was tinged green, only pale and pasty.  I knew first-hand what it was like
walking out on that stage with over ten thousand people waiting to love or hate
them.

I turned, grabbed Jules, and sat her on a speaker
off to the side. “Stay,” I ordered and walked over to check on the other band.