Sinners On Tour 05 Double Time (35 page)

“I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong,” Reagan said to Dare, so frustrated she was nearly in tears.

“You’re doing everything right for Max,” Dare said. “You’re doing nothing right for yourself.”

“But I’m supposed to be replacing Max,” she said.

“No, you’re supposed to be our new rhythm guitarist. Let’s play “Bite” again. This time don’t try to be exactly like Max. Just play it. How you feel it.”

Play
it
with
feeling, Reagan. That’s how you win first prize. Not by getting it perfect, but by making the audience part of the music,
the advice her father had repeated to her before every competition entered her thoughts. Is that what Dare meant?

She started her part of “Bite” the way Max played it. She glanced at Dare, who yawned exaggeratedly. She made a face at him and then tried to give up on copying Max exactly. She relaxed her stance and let her fingers move with more fluidity.

“Better,” Dare said. “Again. Even looser this time.”

They played it again. And again, until she finally figured out what everyone had been trying to tell her. She wasn’t Max and shouldn’t try to be.

Reagan finally felt like she’d found the spark she’d been missing. It felt like the weight of the world had lifted from her shoulders and she loved Dare for helping her. Adored him. She one hundred percent understood why he meant so much to Trey. She supposed Dare was almost like her big brother too. Her very attractive big brother who made her think incestuous thoughts.

Dare squeezed her shoulder. “You’ve got it now. Don’t lose it again.”

She nodded.

“Go rest up for tonight’s show,” he suggested.

“Thanks, Dare.”

“No problem.”

She handed her guitar off to some roadie and glanced around backstage for Ethan. She checked behind the equipment cases. In the sound equipment pit at the side of the stage. In the empty stands that would soon be filled with tens of thousands of fans. He was gone. He bitched at her constantly about going off on her own and he was nowhere to be found. Maybe he’d gone to the bathroom. She supposed overprotective bodyguards had to take a piss sometime. She had finished rehearsing much sooner than she’d anticipated, so he’d probably thought he had plenty of time. Maybe she should just wait here for him.

After several fidgety minutes of waiting, she went to ask around. “Have you seen Ethan?” she asked one of Exodus End’s stage crew.

“The big, good-looking guy who follows you around?”

“Yeah. Him.”

“I think he went that way with Trey Mills.” The guy pointed toward the corridor where the dressing rooms were located.

She grinned, hoping they were waiting for her in her dressing room. Naked. “Thanks.” She could really use some alone time with her guys before she had to be onstage.

The corridor was blissfully empty. Ethan worried too much. She was perfectly capable of walking twenty feet to her dressing room without a muscle-bound hunk to defend her. When she reached the door labeled with her name, she opened it and paused on the threshold. Well, she couldn’t say that she blamed Ethan for wandering off. And they
were
naked, but hadn’t bothered to wait for her to join them. Ethan and Trey were tangled in each other’s arms, fast asleep on the sofa. They looked cozy and sexually sated. Reagan watched them sleep for a moment, a gentle smile on her lips. She hadn’t been sure how seeing them together without her involvement would make her feel. She hadn’t expected to feel giddy and full of wonder. In a little while, she’d wake them and demand to become part of their tangle of limbs, but for now she was content to watch them sleep. They seemed so content. Tender. Loving. She wondered what had brought on this change.

She caught her own reflection in the mirror and her heart skipped a beat. It stopped beating for several seconds as the message scrawled in lipstick on the mirror caught her attention.

You
took
what’s mine, Reagan Elliot. I will have it back.

From behind, a hand covered her mouth and nose. Startled, Reagan sucked a deep breath into her lungs. Something chemical accompanied her inrush of air. Her vision blurred. Head swam. “I’ve come to take back what’s mine,” a deep voice said in her ear. Familiar. She’d heard it before, but couldn’t place where. She managed to bang into the door—hopefully loud enough to wake her snoozing bodyguard—before she totally blacked out.

Ethan’s eyes flipped open. Trey flopped from sofa to the floor when Ethan sat up abruptly. Someone had slammed the door shut or something. Reagan would not be happy if someone had caught him in a compromising position with Trey.

Silence greeted his straining ears. It was not comforting.

“I don’t hear music,” Ethan said and jumped to his feet. He grabbed his pants and hopped into them, still zipping his fly as he darted into the corridor. Except for the bang of a hammer somewhere, the stadium was silent. Sometime between when Ethan had closed his eyes and the door had banged shut, Reagan had finished rehearsing. Some bodyguard he’d turned out to be. He wondered if she’d seen him and Trey together and had stormed off in anger. There was no guarantee that she’d approve of their romantic interest in each other just because she had no problem with their sexual relationship.

“Where is she?” Trey asked. He’d managed his pants and T-shirt but was still barefoot.

“She’s probably with the band.” Ethan glanced over his shoulder and caught his reflection in the mirror and the message scrawled above his astonished face in red lipstick.

“Do you smell something?” Trey asked.

Ethan took a deep breath through his nose. It was faint, but there was no mistaking the sweet chemical smell. “Ether.” He shoved Trey in the direction of the stage. “Go see if she’s with the band. I’ll go out behind the stadium. He’s been in her dressing room again. I’m afraid he’s taken her this time.”

Trey raced down the corridor while Ethan went in the opposite direction. When Ethan burst through the back doors, it took his eyes a moment to adjust to the bright sunshine. Even when he could actually see what was happening, he blinked several times because he couldn’t believe it.

“Get back or I’ll kill her. I’ll do it.” Some wild-eyed guy with bizarre burgundy-and-green-striped bangs had a guitar string wrapped around Reagan’s throat. She was unconscious and apparently heavier than she looked. He was having a hard time keeping the wire tight while he tried, rather unsuccessfully, to drag her backwards toward the parking lot. Her heels dragged across the pavement and slowed the wiry-framed guy down. While given time, the wacko could potentially kill her with the guitar string, Sinners’ road crew didn’t look ready to give him the opportunity. Jake had a guitar cocked like a baseball bat and was slowly inching his way behind the guy. Rebekah had a cymbal in hand and was looking for an opening to practice her discus throwing. Others hopped out of the back of the semitrailer with pieces of equipment and heavy tools.

“You don’t really think you’re going to get away, do you?” Ethan said. He placed his hands on his hips, trying not to look threatening. He didn’t want Reagan to get hurt any more than she already had and he feared if he rushed the guy, he’d do something drastic. “Let her go and you’ll only be charged with attempted kidnapping and I won’t be charged with homicide.”

Brian came out of Sinners’ tour bus, a few yards from where the guy was slowly dragging Reagan backward. “What in the hell is going on out here?” He took in Ethan’s partial state of undress before his eyes fell on Reagan who’d been dragged another few feet toward the parking lot.

The kidnapper, who was obviously no criminal mastermind, dropped Reagan on the asphalt. The guitar string went taut and Ethan could see it cut into her skin from a distance. “M-master Sinclair,” the man said. “It’s a privilege.”

“What in the fuck are you doing?” Brian said. “Let her go.”

They guy’s eyes widened as he realized he’d dropped his cargo. Ethan took a deep breath when the guy bent over and the guitar string around Reagan’s throat loosened again. The kidnapper wrapped an arm around her body just beneath her breasts and stood upright, dragging her backward several feet before pausing to catch his breath again. The guy had to be high out of his mind. Otherwise he’d realize there was no way his plan would succeed. Not with this many witnesses. Or maybe he was just crazy and had nothing to lose. Ethan just hoped he didn’t do anything even more stupid and hurt Reagan in the process. The sound of approaching sirens drew the guy’s attention. “Which one of you called the cops?”

Trey stepped out from behind Ethan and waved a cell phone at the guy. “That would be me. If you put her down now, they might not shoot you when they get here.”

“And Jace and I might not take turns punching you in the fucking face,” Eric said, coming out of the building to stand beside Trey.

Jace stepped out of the shadows and cracked his knuckles.

“And then there’s me,” Sed, who rivaled Ethan in build, said from the doorway. “No one messes with a Sinners’ girl and gets away with it.”

“I wasn’t going to hurt her. I just wanted her out of the way.” The guy’s wild eyes darted from one person to the next.

“Isn’t he with one of the opening bands?” Jace asked. “Hell’s Crypt?”

“Dim Reaper?” Eric asked.

“No, they stopped touring with us a month ago,” Jace said. “Hell’s Crypt is the new one. With the movie monster theme. Vampire, werewolf, Frankenstein. Kinda lame.”

“Really lame,” Eric said.

“Shut up,” the guy wailed. “We are not lame.”

“I don’t even know who you’re talking about,” Sed said.

“Wait,” Trey said. He snapped his fingers and pointed at him. “I know who this guy is. He was at Exodus End’s contest audition. The one that Reagan won.”

“I never even got the chance to audition,” he bellowed. “I was supposed to be the one onstage with Exodus End, not her. She took what was mine.”

Reagan moaned and slapped herself in the face with a clumsy hand. “What?” she mumbled.

The guy fumbled with something in his pocket. While he was distracted, Rebekah let the cymbal fly. It bounced off his head with a loud clang. Ethan took the opening and made his move, dashing across the parking lot as fast as his legs would carry him. Brian was closer. He got a hand on Reagan and slid his free hand under the guitar string to protect her throat as he wrenched her out of the kidnapper’s grasp. Before the guy could wrestle her away from Brian, Ethan tackled him to the ground. The dark part of Ethan tried to take the upper hand and beat the ever-loving shit out of this crazy bastard, but he breathed through the rage and just held the guy’s struggling body down to wait for the police cruisers to arrive. He turned his head to see how Reagan had fared.

Trey held her on his lap and stroked her hair as he spoke to her. She seemed groggy but coherent. “We’re going for a ride in an ambulance. Doesn’t that sound fun?” Trey asked her.

“I’d rather ride in the limo.” She groaned. “Damn, my head hurts.”

“How’s your neck?”

“I don’t know. I feel sort of numb. And tired. And nauseous.” She turned her head and stared at the guy who had Ethan’s knee in his back and his arms pulled up behind him at a sharp angle. He wasn’t going anywhere. Reagan shook her head and laughed. “I can’t believe I’ve been afraid of
Pyre
this whole time. In a fair fight, I could take him down myself.”

“I’ve got him pinned, if you want to take a cheap shot at him,” Ethan said.

“Maybe later,” she murmured.

“Are you okay, Reagan?” Sed asked, looking from her to Pyre as if he couldn’t decide if he’d rather comfort her or kick the shit out of Pyre.

“I’ll be fine. I’m just tired.” Her eyelids fluttered and Trey gave her a harsh shake.

“Try to stay awake. Okay?” he said. “I’m pretty sure that stuff can kill you if you breathe in too much.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt her,” Pyre said. “Just get her out of the way. So I could have my chance. I never even got a chance. I’m sick of being in the opening band.”

Ethan tugged Pyre’s arms up another inch, which shut him up immediately. A pair of police cruisers pulled to a halt near the tour buses. Two officers entered the scene with their hands at their gun belts.

“Ethan Conner, professional bodyguard,” Ethan identified himself. “I’ve subdued the perpetrator.”

“I’ll say,” one of the officers said as he removed a pair of handcuffs from his belt and grabbed one of Pyre’s wrists.

Pyre was handcuffed and pulled upright to sit on the ground. He didn’t look the slightest bit threatening now. More pathetic than anything. The officers started the interview process to get everyone’s story straight. Ethan had to talk to one of them while the paramedics looked Reagan over. Besides a severe case of nausea, a headache, and a few small cuts and bruises, she seemed to be fine. That didn’t mean Ethan liked to be interviewed for an incident report while Trey got to hold her hand and tell her everything was going to be all right as she recounted her own version of the events to the other officer.

When Ethan finally finished describing all of the details, several of the road crew came over to offer their take on the situation. Ethan went to stand at the end of the ambulance where Reagan sat. “Hey,” she said, a delightful blush staining her cheeks.

“I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am that I let him get his hands on you,” Ethan said.

She shook her head. “I’m okay.”

“That never should have happened. I allowed myself to be distracted and—”

“I did the distracting,” Trey said. “I’m as much at fault as he is.”

“So while I was being stalked, drugged, and strangled, you two were making love, cuddling, and sharing your feelings.”

That made it sound even worse. Ethan’s heart twisted with guilt. “Reagan…”

“While I was being dragged across a parking lot, beaten with a rubber hose, and stuffed into the trunk of a car, you two were kissing, touching, and playing hide the salami.”

“He beat you?” Trey exclaimed.

Reagan chuckled. “No, I’m just fucking with you. And once I stop feeling like I’m going to hurl, I’d say the two of you have a lot to make up to me.”

How could she be so forgiving? He’d put her in danger. She could have been seriously injured. She should be yelling at him, calling him names, firing him for being the worst bodyguard on the planet. Ethan stroked her hair behind her ear and brushed her soft cheek with the pad of his thumb. “I love you.”

“I know,” she said. “I love you too.”

Ethan glanced at Trey. It was the first time Trey had heard Reagan say those words to another man. Ethan wondered how he’d take it. Trey grinned and squeezed Reagan’s hand.

“Ethan, I need you to do something for me,” Reagan said.

“Anything.”

“Tell me how you feel about Trey.”

Ethan tried to read her expression to figure out what she wanted to hear, but she was staring down at her hand which was held securely in Trey’s.

“I love him,” Ethan said breathlessly.

She looked up at him and smiled. “I thought so.”

“You’re okay with it?” Ethan pressed.

“Under one condition,” Reagan said. She glanced at Trey. “Do you love Ethan?”

Trey nodded. “Yeah. I do. I love him.”

She smiled. “Good. And who else?”

“You,” he said without hesitation.

“And Brian?” she asked.

Trey chuckled and caught Ethan’s eye. “Who’s Brian?”

Ethan smiled. Trey had let Brian go for real this time. “He’s the guy I need to thank for grabbing Reagan so I could take that guy down,” Ethan said, glancing over his shoulder. Pyre was in the back of the cruiser now. He had a scrape along the side of his face where he’d hit the asphalt, but Ethan had somehow kept it together and not knocked him around too much.

“Are you going to go back on the force now?” Reagan asked.

Ethan gave her a questioning look. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you loved it and the only reason you left was because you protect the innocent a bit too violently. You were completely in control when you took Pyre down.”

“You don’t want me as your bodyguard anymore?” Ethan asked.

“You do suck at it,” Trey quipped.

Ethan scowled. “Yeah, because I was sucking you instead of guarding her.”

“Next time I’ll make sure I’m there when you’re sucking him so you can keep an eye on me,” Reagan said.

“I guess that would be safest,” Ethan agreed. He lowered his head and stole a kiss from her.

“What’s going on here?” someone said behind Ethan. He turned to find Dare staring at him with a mixture of confusion and anger.

Dare then looked at his brother in question. “You let some other dude kiss your girl right in front of you? No wonder you have relationship problems.”

“Ethan’s my boyfriend,” Trey explained.

“So the thing with Reagan is a front to hide your relationship with him?” Dare pointed at Ethan and looked even more confused. “But he just kissed her.” Dare’s pointing bounced from Ethan to Reagan.

“That’s because he’s her boyfriend,” Trey said, grinning his orneriest. Ethan figured it wasn’t often that Trey got to mess with his brother’s head. It was usually the other way around.

“I thought you said he was
your
boyfriend,” Dare said.

“He is.” Trey nodded.

“And hers?”

“Right.”

“And she’s your girlfriend?” Dare pointed at Reagan.

Trey pointed at Ethan. “And his.”

Realization dawned on Dare’s face. He made a circular motion with one finger. “So the three of you? All together?”

“Exactly,” Trey said.

Dare smiled and slapped his brother on the arm repeatedly. “That’s fantastic!”

Ethan could not imagine telling his brothers about his lifestyle, much less thinking they’d accept it, and they sure as hell wouldn’t be enthusiastic about it. Dare just seemed glad that his brother had found happiness, even if it was in an unconventional way.

“Are you feeling okay, Reagan?” Dare asked. “I heard some guy grabbed you.”

“I’m fine.” She snorted and shook her head. “Worst. Kidnapper. Ever.”

Dare squeezed her knee, his concern tangible. “You’ll be okay for the show tonight?”

She nodded. “I do think I need to lie down for a little while.”

“You should definitely get some rest,” Dare agreed.

“I’m bringing these two with me,” she said quietly. “Resting will not be on my agenda.”

Dare laughed and tousled her hair affectionately. “Rock on, little sister.”

Reagan looked into the back of the ambulance to the paramedic who was sitting on a bench along the sidewall. He looked a tad uncomfortable about what he must have overheard. “Can I go now?” she asked him.