Treasure Lane Dragons: Complete Series (BBW Paranormal Dragon Shapeshifter Romance) (38 page)

Apollo’s gaze burned through her, making her wet and wanting within a fraction of a second. Suddenly, she understood all of those fan girls who were willing to go through fire and ice just to be at one of the Gold Dragons’ shows. How couldn’t she? They’d only have to ask and she might just throw herself at them.

Snap out of it. Play it cool, dammit! Or at least play
something
!

Jade averted her eyes and took a few determined steps towards the raised platform. She had been planning on having some witty banter with the brothers, exchanging jokes and maybe complimenting them on their show last night, but she couldn’t do it. The words just wouldn’t come. She’d watched them all night, but somewhere far from the center of the crowd, undulating back and forth with the adoring masses and feeling every bit as taken by their powerful sound as the people around her.

But she’d been too far to make out their faces or see the miniscule details of their body language – the way Alexander’s chin squared as he leant back in the seat or how Apollo’s eyes twinkled with mischief as he exchanged a look with his brother before his attention centered on her again.

It was like being caught between twin beams, both pulling her with equal force, and she wasn’t entirely sure she could withstand the pressure.

“Quiet one, isn’t she,” Michelle commented.

Jade loosely noted that the older woman sat down on the armrest of one of the couches, flipping through the sheets of paper in her arms.

“I like them a bit quiet,” Apollo noted with laughter in his voice.

Jade couldn’t help but grin a little at that. He wasn’t making fun of her, and she appreciated the banter. She fished her heavy bass out of the case and set it aside. Plugging it in, she made a few experimental plucks and fiddled with the levels until she had them where she wanted them.

“What are you going to play for us?” Michelle asked, sounding a bit impatient.

Jade looked up at her and smiled, feeling like she had stepped into a force field now that the bass was around her neck and her hands safely on the strings. Whatever happened, she could deal with it now.

“Whatever you want,” she said confidently, not letting her determined expression falter for a second.

Michelle was about to bite back with a comment but Alexander spoke up first.

“Do
Late Night Road
,” he said, his deep voice seeming to make the walls shudder a little.

She couldn’t blame the walls – she felt that delicious vibration all through her, right down to her core.

Damn. He should sing more,
she thought to herself, while her hands were already going to work.

She knew every single one of their songs by heart. Gold Dragons had started when she was still a teen. In fact, she had picked up her first instrument – a guitar – after listening through their first album,
Double Trouble.
It escalated until her parents threatened to take away her laptop if she didn’t stop blasting the damned angsty rock all over the house. But that just meant she shelled out the money she’d earned over the summer for a pair of headphones – right after she’d booked her very first guitar lesson that is.

She’d ditched the guitar for the earthier bass quickly enough and hadn’t regretted it for a second, even if most of her contemporaries never understood the appeal of the relatively simple instrument. To Jade, it was exactly what she needed. A way to enjoy music, to control its tides and turns without getting into the foreground where she may have been subject to more immediate attention than she was willing to handle.

Her fingers plucked the chords smoothly, and she closed her eyes, letting the music suck her into its own little world. Honestly, it may have had a little to do with the fact that she didn’t want to focus on the Goldplains brothers and that they were damn hard to look past. For now, she just had to give it her best.

When the small solo part came up – a rarity in the Gold Dragons’ repertoire – Jade’s shoulder slumped forward a bit and her teeth grazed over her lower lip, feeling the vibrations of the chords reverberate through her. She loved that song. When she plucked the last chords and let the long echo of the bass fizzle out, she finally opened her eyes again and the serenity she’d just felt evaporated within a moment’s notice.

Apollo was staring at her with that primal gaze of his, like he could peel every stitch of clothing off of her with just his eyes, and Alexander looked at her like he’d just seen an apparition and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Not too bad,” Michelle said, cracking an uncharacteristic smile.

Jade relaxed a bit, unplugging the lead from the amplifier and bunching up the chord in an effort to do something, anything, but getting lost in the golden-hued oases that were the Goldplains brothers.

“When can you start,” Alexander said abruptly.

She could feel his blue eyes considering her, trying to make up his mind about her, and she wasn’t sure what he was hoping to find. What she did know, though, was that she’d been given an opportunity, and she wasn’t about to squander it.

“Right now. I’ve got my gear in my car.”

“Good. We leave for Albuquerque in an hour. Michelle will get you hooked up,” Alexander said, giving her a pleasant, if a bit distant smile, and nudging his brother to join him.

“Wha… Okay,” Apollo started and then quickly quieted, hopping up.

He shared a look with Michelle, and Jade could almost see both of them mentally shrugging, before Apollo turned towards her again.

He strode across the room and stopped in front of the stage, reaching out a hand to her. She grabbed it, and they shook hands, his touch sending a thousand fire bolts skittering through her veins and lighting up her body from the inside out.

“Welcome to the Gold Dragons, Jade,” Apollo said, flashing her a private smile that told her that he was more than glad to have her join.

She gulped again, not finding the words to reply. When he let go of her hand, she couldn’t shake the immediate feeling of loss that went with it. Though they’d hardly touched at all, it almost felt like she’d have to give up a part of herself now that he’d gone.

Straight into the lair of the beast. Well played, Jade,
she thought numbly, watching the Goldplains brothers leave.
How the hell am I going to tell them why I’m really here?
 

CHAPTER FOUR

Jade

Michelle was a whirlwind of action. Jade had serious trouble keeping up with the small, spritely woman as she blew through the Gold Dragons crew, directing what gear should be packed where for their departure, while also holding a conversation with Jade. With her guitar over her back and both hands loaded with suitcases, holding all her worldly possessions in messily packed containers, Jade kept bumping and piling into the rushing roadies as she tried to keep up.

“Alexander must really like you,” Michelle said, sounding a bit terse. “Hey, those do
NOT
go there. I’ve told you a million times, Jimmy. Unless you want Clay to smack you over the head with one of his percussion drums, you’re going to stop separating his stuff, or so help me god, you’re going to have to deal with me.”

“I guess so,” Jade said with a small voice, ducking as two microphone stands whished by far too close to her head.

“Anyway, we got the contract signed, so now it’s all legal. You’re part of the Gold Dragons, and girl, you better keep things clean. No getting off your ass drunk, no funny business. We work hard, and we play harder, but only when we’ve earned it. You understand?” Michelle asked, all the while giving an evil eye to some hired local help who were making a mess of the elaborate set designs they needed to fit into the countless trucks that made up the Gold Dragons’ Great Expectations tour convoy.

“I understand,” Jade said, relieved when Michelle came to a stop in front of one of the big tour busses.

“This one will be yours. Clay, the drummer, and Tayo, the second guitarist, are in there as well, along with some of the assistants and production crew. I got you the back bunk, right above Shelly. I bet you know her – she’s the Amazonian-looking back-up singer.”

Oh yeah, everybody knew Shelly. She, along with Maya and Phoenix, made up the Gold Dragons’ back-up singers. At least for now, as the trio seemed to change quite often, except for Shelly, who seemed to be a semi-permanent fixture. All Jade knew was that the back-up singers were always picture perfect, thin, long-legged and beyond gorgeous. Nothing like her if she had to judge – Jade was on the shorter side and had curves that were lush and proud, but not exactly Cosmo cover worthy by conventional standards.

“If you need anything, let me know. I’d rather deal with your bullshit before you fuck up, rather than after, either way it’s usually my time that you’re wasting. And treat this like a job, not something that’s rightfully yours – Alexander may like you, but if you fuck up during one of the shows, you’re out of here as fast as the last guy. Capiche?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jade answered.

Michelle snorted, but thankfully enough more good-naturedly than anything else.

“Look at you. You’re shuddering like a leaf. It’s okay, they have that effect on everyone who meets them. You get used to the ‘Goldplains’ charms’ after a while,” Michelle said, making air quotes.

Jade cracked a smile. They were awfully charming, yes.

“I’ll leave you to it. You’ve got my cell if you need anything. For the love of all that is holy, I’m going to shove my foot so hard up your ass you’re going to taste the puke I walked through last night, Jimmy!” Michelle yelled, shifting from perfectly pleasant to scary in less time than it took Jade to blink.

Note to self, don’t piss Michelle off.

Jade looked at the big bus painted in the Gold Dragons’ white and gold, with their trademark swirls of two dragons flowing and weaving past one another. It didn’t take much from her to figure out where the inspiration for the illustration came from. Smiling to herself, Jade angled herself through the door of the bus, turning sideways so she and the big luggage she was carrying would fit in at all.

Hauling the bags and guitar up, she had to stop at the entrance.

“Wow,” she muttered.

The bus was spectacular. Gleamingly clean, decked out with wide chairs and counters in the Dragons’ colors, looking like it had every amenity she could ever wish for. On a bus!

“Nice, right?” a chuckling voice called, revealing itself to belong to Clay Anderson, who was lounging on one of the wide couches that ran down the side of the bus.

He was flipping through some kind of magazine. Jade returned his smile, and when he reached out a hand in greeting, she dropped one of the suitcases to grab hold. He was handsome with his big arms and boyish grin, but when their hands touched, she didn’t feel anything near what she’d felt when she’d touched Apollo.

Hot and hot came in different variations, it seemed.

“I’m Clay. And you must be the new bassist. Let me help you with that,” he said, grabbing both of her suitcases and easily navigating the tight space of the huge tour bus.

“I’m Jade. And yup, that’s me.”

“Another lamb for the slaughter,” a spiky-haired man said sullenly, giving her a slight nod as she and Clay passed.

“Don’t mind Tayo. He’s just pissy because he can’t play an instrument to save his life, so he has to do backup guitar to one of the best guitarists in the world. Sad life, really,” Clay teased, getting a noncommittal snort out of Tayo.

Jade’s stomach was in knots. Sure, she’d been in big bands before, or at least relatively big, but this was the Gold Dragons. The best of the best, and somehow she’d been allowed to join them – insane!

“Oh, I know what the Dragons do to their bassists if they’re no good. I have no intention of being just another discarded guitar,” Jade said as they came to a stop at the very end of the sleeping bunks.

“That’s the spirit. Apollo’s all flare, no flame, so he isn’t usually the one to worry about. Just look out for Alexander. He’s the one really calling the shots. But don’t tell him I told you that.” Clay winked and Jade could do little else but nod awkwardly.

She didn’t want to end up on the bad side of either of the Dragons, and she’d try her damndest to keep that from happening.