Rock Hard: A Bad Boy Rock Star Romance Read online

  3: Poor Little Rich Boy

  Everything was blurry, but it was an unfamiliar blurry. It definitely wasn’t the view of the beach I was used to.

  Where the hell was I?

  I blinked and reality resolved around me showing my bed that ran the length of the tour bus. That was right. I was on the tour bus. Not as comfortable as the house overlooking the ocean, but then again that bed had felt unfamiliar back when we stopped touring and I started enjoying a less nomadic lifestyle.

  On instinct I rolled over and ran my arm along the side of the bed expecting to find some pretty young thing lying in bed next to me. Only my arm hit nothing but sheets.

  I grimaced. Right. That was another difference from when we used to go on tour. A difference because of a deliberate choice I’d made.

  No more. Never again. I wasn’t repeating the mistakes of the past in the present, damn it. Even if it did mean I didn’t have anyone to wake up next to in the morning.

  I checked my watch. Late afternoon. Late enough that there were probably already crowds gathered at a safe distance from the buses. Late enough that I should probably go ahead and make my first appearance of the evening. After I got ready.

  A half hour later I stepped off the bus and the screams started. I put on my sunglasses even though it was late enough in the afternoon and the surrounding buildings cast enough of a shadow that they weren’t strictly necessary. Rock Star 101. Don’t let them know which way you were looking.

  I nodded to Jake who was sitting in a folding chair reading a book. He looked up at me and grinned and then it was back to the book. Not that he was really needed with the fence doing the heavy lifting security-wise, but I’d seen what the man could do and I was glad he was there even if he wasn’t needed right now.

  I looked over to the chain link fence separating the buses from our rabid fans with a fake smile plastered on my face. That fake smile almost turned to a grimace. Those buses were something else that was very different from the last time we were on tour.

  Back then we all traveled on the same bus. We were like brothers. We’d hang out, play video games, drink, do stuff that was a little worse than drinking, and have fun with girls on that bus. It was my home when we first hit it big.

  There were times I missed those days, but they were gone. Everyone had their own bus for this big reunion tour. And I couldn’t blame them. Todd had his wife to travel with, though the kids were back home with their parents. Eric had his brand new wife to think of. They were always sneaking back to his bus under the dirty looks of fans who wished they could be in his new wife’s place. That bus spent a hell of a lot of time rocking, is what I’m trying to get at.

  The only one who was out here on his own was Blake. Still my partner in crime years later, but he insisted on his own bus too.

  That left me alone in my bus that didn’t do any rocking. No, I wasn’t going to have a repeat of my misspent youth.

  I gave a half assed wave to the women lined up at the chain link fence. I suppose I owed them at least that much. A wave of earsplitting shrieks followed my wave.

  I stopped to look at the crowd. The girls here were almost enough to make me rethink my policy about not cutting a path of broken hearts along the tour.

  “Damn,” I said under my breath as I looked at the selection. As I hated myself for thinking of fans as “the selection” even as it rose unbidden in my mind. More out of habit than anything else.

  I was surprised to see girls who looked like they were college aged. Definitely a decade younger than our prime demographic which was high school to college aged when we were first famous but had aged solidly into the mom demographic since. The MILF demographic if some of the thirty-something women shrieking at the fence as though they weren’t going home to hubby and the kids when the concert was over were any indication.

  Those younger girls, though. They were a surprise at every concert. Then the same thought occurred to me that popped up every time I saw them. They were probably in elementary school when we were famous the first time around and now that they were old enough to go to our concerts they were getting in on the fun.

  Damn I felt old. I gave one last wave that set off a fresh wave of shrieks. I knew I could have any one of those girls tonight, I was Grant Thompson. Lead singer of Twenty Promises. Only I wasn’t that guy anymore.

  I made my way inside and got directions to the green room.

  “Hey! Pretty Boy decided to grace us with his presence!”

  I grinned at Blake and flipped him off. It was a good natured flipping off though. He laughed and returned the gesture and then went back to picking at his guitar. The man was a god on that instrument.

  “How’s it going man?” Todd asked from across the room.

  “Doing great,” I said. “How about you?”

  “Living the dream, man. Living the dream.”

  Yeah, it sure looked like he was living the dream. He was sitting on the green room couch with his wife Lisa. She still looked as stunning today as when she first started hanging out with the band halfway through our first brush with fame.

  “Lisa,” I said with a nod. “How’re the kids?”

  “Supposedly driving grandma crazy,” Lisa said. “Though I’m sure having the nanny along to help out means that’s a little bit of hyperbole.”

  “Good to know.”

  Damn did she look good even after having two kids. Of course it wasn’t how hot she was that had me so jealous. No, it was just the fact that they were so happy together. It was a not-so-subtle reminder of the consequences of my lifestyle way back when.

  “Where’s Eric?”

  “Where do you think?” Blake asked, looking up from his guitar and making a rude gesture with two of his fingers and his tongue. Even Lisa laughed at that one.

  Of course they were back at his bus. They’d probably be there right up until ten minutes before we were supposed to be on stage, and they’d make a beeline right back to his bus as soon as they could make an excuse to get away from the after party. Assuming they didn’t get too worked up at the after party and just go off to some secluded corner where they could do what came naturally to newlyweds.

  Yet another reminder of what I didn’t have. Of what I could’ve had but decided that having a random girl in every city was more important. At least until the Incident.

  At least I had free food. Well I suppose in a way it wasn’t free. We were probably paying for it somewhere down the line in the contracts the legal people drew up, but I didn’t have to break out any cash or my credit card so that was as close to free as didn’t matter to me.

  “So how’s the food selection tonight?”

  “Dismal,” Todd said.

  “Yup. It’s just some chips and cans of soda.”

  “Ha ha, very funny you two.”

  Only when I made my way over to the table it turns out that wasn’t too far from the truth. There were a couple of bags of potato chips set out. Not even poured into bowls. There was a vegetable tray that looked like it was hastily snapped up from a supermarket and it had definitely seen better days. When I leaned in close to inspect the packaging I saw that it was a week past its expiration date.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said. My stomach rumbled as though to punctuate the statement. I was hungry, and I didn’t have anything back on the bus because I figured they’d provide a nice spread like usual.

  “Poor Pretty Boy,” Blake said, shaking his head in mock sympathy. “Rock star doesn’t have everything set out exactly like he wants it.”

  There was nothing for it but to flip him the bird again. He made the same gesture he’d made to illustrate what Eric and his woman were up to, though it took on different meaning directing it at me.

  “Tempting, but no thanks stud,” I said.

  “Your loss man,” Blake said with a shrug, not missing a beat as he worked his guitar.

  “Anyplace good around here I could sneak out to without getting noticed?”


  “They’re funneling all the fan traffic through the east side of the arena. One of the security guys said there was a diner over on the west side that would probably be pretty deserted if any of us wanted to get out before the concert,” Blake said without looking up.

  “Good. Think I’m going to check that out before we get started. Want to come with man?”

  He shook his head without missing a beat. I looked over to Todd and Lisa but they shook their heads too. It looked like it was going to be me all by my lonesome. I went off to find security.

  I’d long ago learned to be very nice to the security at these places because they usually had the skinny on getting out of the venue nice and quiet-like without worrying about crowds of groupies running me over and groping me to death. Not that getting groped to death had ever happened as far as I knew, but I didn’t want to be the first documented case.

  A few quiet words with the head of security and I was tossing on a hoodie and making my way out of a small out of the way door in an alley on the west side of the arena that was completely deserted.

  “I’ll have one of my guys waiting here for you to get back,” the guy said.

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  To show him how much I appreciated it I slipped him a couple hundreds as I was shaking his hand. “Let your guy know there’s some of that waiting for him if I get to enjoy dinner in peace without any fans or photographers mysteriously finding out where I am.”

  The security head grinned. “Sure thing Grant, though I’d prefer an autographed picture if you don’t mind. My daughter is a big fan. Says you guys are retro and all that.”

  “I think I can arrange that,” I said.

  I didn’t make a sour face until I turned away from the guy. Retro? I know he meant well, but yeesh. We’d only been out of the spotlight for ten years. Retro? Maybe that explained why some of the girls coming to our shows were so young. I wasn’t going to knock it if it put paying butts in seats, but it still stung just a little and made me feel old.

  I looked at my phone. The map said this place was just around the corner so I started walking. I kept my head down at first, but soon enough it was back up because why bother? This side of the arena was strangely deserted, mostly business stuff and businesses built to cater to business types. Definitely not the sort of place where you’d find concert-goers.

  It was nice going for a walk without worrying about paparazzi or crazy fans trying to chase me down. Not that I’d had to worry about the first all that much in recent years. At least not before the tour. Now that we were sort of back in the news people were interested again, but I was even less inclined to play along these days since most of the stories were of the “let’s all laugh at the aging wannabes on tour” variety.

  Yeah, fuck those guys.

  The diner was pretty nice. It had an old feel to it, though whether that was because it had been sitting here for fifty years or because they deliberately made it up to have an old-timey feel was anyone’s guess. I stopped at the front counter wondering if I was about to run into someone who might call the press. I breathed a sigh of relief when an older lady who looked like she hadn’t been in the Twenty Promises target demographic for at least the fifty years since this diner was maybe built came out from the back.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Do I need to sit at the counter here or can I take a seat at a booth?”

  “Whatever floats your boat hon,” she said in a raspy voice that said she’d maybe had one too many cigarettes over the years.

  I decided it would be more prudent to take a seat at one of the booths running along the front of the diner. Sure there were big picture windows along that side and anyone walking past could look in and see me or take a picture, but the area was so deserted that I wasn’t particularly worried. I’d long ago learned that it paid to sit in a nice quiet corner where I was less likely to be noticed even if the coast did seem to be mostly clear.

  My instincts served me well tonight. No sooner had the elderly waitress taken my order, a simple burger and some fries, than I heard the bell ring over the door and a girl walked in who was unmistakably dressed to go to a concert. She looked over in my direction and instinctively I put my head down.

  Damn it. I’d gone to all this trouble to find a nice out of the way place to have a quick meal and now a fan managed to find me anyways despite my best efforts. There really was no escape.

  I looked up once I figured enough time had passed that the coast was clear. Got a really good look at this girl for the first time, and…

  Damn.

  Like, seriously. Damn.

  This girl was hot. Sure I was only catching glimpses. She sparkled. Almost like there was an unspoken dress code for women at our concerts that included dressing up as a disco ball. Aside from that, though, damn. Long hair flowed down past her shoulders, a killer body that filled out that sparkly disco ball outfit in all the right places, and when she turned in my direction I saw a pair of stunning blue eyes to go along with the shiny dark hair and a smile that immediately had my cock standing up and taking notice.

  That was new for this tour. Sure I’d seen girls and thought they were hot, but I’d never gotten a hard on looking at any of them. No, that was the sort of thing that led to problems like the Incident, and that was the last thing I wanted on this tour. I just wanted to make some money, have some fun reliving old memories, and go back to my nice house on the coast where I could enjoy all the advantages of hitting it big young and having the good sense to come up with a nice investment portfolio rather than blowing it all on parties and cars and drugs or whatever the hell it was people did to spiral out of control and provide some drama for the VH1 documentary.

  Still. I’d only gotten one look at her but already there was something different about this girl. I knew it was a bad idea, but I found myself wanting to go over and introduce myself. I always loved the look girls got when they realized who I was, but that wasn’t a look I’d enjoyed in quite some time.

  Here was an opportunity to have that fun considering this was a girl who was here for the concert. Yeah, she’d know exactly who I was. It didn’t hurt that she was hot, or that she had a smile that made me feel warm all over for some reason.

  Besides, she seemed to be here by herself. I could have a quick conversation and duck back to the arena. I’d be gone before whatever she posted to social media had a chance to get very far, assuming anyone believed her in the first place.

  There was a voice in the back of my head whispering that this was a bad idea. I ignored that voice. I was just going up to say hi. That’s all this was. Even if she was getting me turned on in a way that a fan hadn’t in a good long while, it’s not like anything was going to come of a brief meeting in some diner. I’d have some fun with a fan, she’d get a thrill, and we’d part friends.

  I didn’t care what that little voice was whispering. I was compelled by a more powerful force. Whether that more powerful force was the universe trying to push me towards this girl or just my cock noticing a pretty girl and short circuiting the more rational thinking parts of my brain was anyone’s guess, but I was a slave to that force for the moment.

  So I stood and made my way over to give one lucky fan the concert experience of a lifetime. This was going to be fun.

  4: Pre-Concert Snack

  "This is spooky."

  "Tell me about it," Kayla said.

  "It's never like this during the day."

  "No way," Kayla said. "The whole place is packed with people."

  It looked like a ghost town now. The only people in evidence were a couple of homeless people packing it up for the night. My stomach grumbled and I looked around.

  "Is there any place we could eat that's open this late?" I asked.

  "Sure! There's plenty of restaurants around here," Kayla said. "Like…"

  Only I didn't see anything that looked like it was remotely close to being open. We were on the financial side of the big arena rather than the ni
ght life side. Most of the restaurants around here were a breakfast and lunch type of deal. Everything in this part of downtown shut down around 5 o'clock, except for the arena of course when there was a concert or a game, and so why the hell would any of the restaurants bother to stay open if there were no customers?

  "Maybe if we went to the other side of the arena?" Kayla said.

  "Maybe there's something behind the arena? Surely places right there would stay open for games and stuff."

  "I really kind of wanted to get to our seats. Can't you just eat there?" Kayla asked.

  "And pay an arm and a leg for my food? No thanks. I'm not made of money!"

  Kayla sighed. "Fine."

  I looked around again. It really was spooky how deserted this part of town that was after 5 o'clock. It was almost enough to send a chill down my spine. I could almost imagine people lurking in the shadows, lurking in the alleys, but there probably weren't even criminals down here. Criminals needed people to prey on. Even the muggers were probably off in another part of town where they could rob flesh and blood people rather than the ghosts.

  "How about this?" I said. "You want to get to the arena. I want to have dinner without paying fifty dollars for a cheap hot dog. Why don't you go ahead and I'll catch up after I've found a diner or something and grabbed a quick bite to eat."

  Kayla regarded me skeptically. "This isn't some attempt to get out of this? You're not going to turn around and go back to our apartment the instant I lose sight of you, are you?"

  I laughed and pulled Kayla into a hug. A hug that seemed to surprise her from the way her eyes went wide. Then she wrapped her arms around me.

  "Don't worry," I said. "I'll be there. I just need food. I had to skip lunch at work today."

  Kayla pulled back. "Fine. Have fun with your greasy food!"

  "And you have fun with all those older women trying to recapture their youth. Be sure to let me know how many forty-year-old women you see trying to squeeze into outfits they haven't been able to fit into for twenty years!"