Superstar (3 page)

Her bright, cheerful smile was out of place
given the tension of the room, but she seemed to either not notice
or not care. He gestured for her to sit on a barstool near him. She
walked over, pausing to remove her instrument and then adjusting it
before sitting down. The nervous fiddling with the guitar was the
only indication that she might be feeling some of the friction, but
otherwise her face was perfectly serene. After a few moments she
began to strum the guitar and then to sing.

His breath caught in his throat when instead
of the sweet soprano the whole world had been hearing from her
since she won a very popular voice competition at the age of
twelve, he heard a gritty, raspy voice that was a near growl. The
effect was instantaneous. He couldn’t have been more aroused if
she’d been standing in front of him stark naked. After just a few
moments he was grateful his guitar was in front of him to save him
the embarrassment of having his reaction made evident. He was so
distracted it took him a long while to realize that she was singing
“Fever,” an offbeat song he’d written about a crazy relationship
he’d been in shortly after joining the band. Her voice was pitch
perfect for the out of control feel of the song. She sang two more
songs, all Storm Crow tunes. He looked at his band mates, wondering
if she was having the same effect on them. They seemed transfixed,
but more than that he couldn’t tell. He looked back at Sioux, who
was finishing the last note of “The River,” another song he’d
penned. He wondered if she’d done it deliberately. He’d had only
one hit, but she hadn’t sung it, he wasn’t sure what that meant or
why she was choosing his songs when there were so few of them.

She stopped singing, then smiled, but before
she could speak B.T. spoke up. “See, what did I tell you? She’s
amazing. Isn’t she?”

“She’s something, alright,” Bryan said.

“What happened to your voice?” Thad asked
before he thought it through. Anything to keep from thinking about
his response to her singing. “I’ve never heard you sound like
that.”

Her laughter rang out, a sweet trill more
like the singing voice they were all accustomed to. “No worries. I
haven’t cracked my voice out, if that’s what you’re worried about.
I stuck to needles and pills when I was using. I’ve always had that
voice, but my dad said it was too sexy for a young girl,” she said
with shrug. “Plus he didn’t want anyone to think I was trying to be
Tina Turner. I adore her. Don’t tell my mom, but Tina’s been my
idol my whole life,” she said with a sly grin. “Our voices are
different, but I can see people making the comparison. Dad was
right, and my higher pitch is better for the songs I used to sing
anyway. This voice goes with rock, don’t you think?” she asked, her
pitch dropping to a husky timbre.

Thad stared at her, his brain refusing to
register anything she said, while his body reacted as though she
was stroking his bare skin. Where was this coming from? Sure, she
was a beautiful woman, but for the most part he hadn’t thought of
her sexually until now. Until he heard her sing. If fucking her
voice were possible, he’d have her bare-assed naked right now.

Thad nodded, pretty much incapable of saying
anything more. Yeah it went with rock and a good steamy session in
bed.
His
bed. He shook his head as though to clear a
fog.

“That was terrific, Sioux,” he said. “But we
roll out next week. Can you be ready so soon?”

“I don’t see why not. I’ve been waiting for
this moment my whole life,” she said.

“Your people…” he began. Sioux was notorious
for traveling with a veritable brigade of hangers on, not to
mention enough luggage and "image maintenance personnel" to occupy
a small city.

“No entourage. No people. Just me. Unless
you want me to have a sober companion,” she said with a hesitant
glance toward Bryan. Her humility struck him. This girl was one of
the most famous singers in the world, but she was clearly
intimidated by them.

“No, you won’t need that,” he said earning a
sharp eye from Bryan and a snort of laughter from Twist, as well as
a derisive comment about Sioux having Thad by the balls. The
redheaded imp would never let him live this one down. He simply
ignored the abrasive drummer.

“We trust you, Sioux. Don’t let us down,”
Thad said.

She nodded. “I’d sooner slit my throat.”

He winced at her words, but the burning
intensity of her gaze spoke the truth of her words. She meant it.
He remembered how it felt to want a break so badly and being
terrified it would never happen. But she was hardly a newbie and he
was amazed that she was willing to take shit off Bryan for
this.

Bryan broke into their conversation. “Do you
have any songs of your own? I assume you don’t intend to open with
a set of Storm Crow covers. That would be redundant to say the
least.”

Thad frowned. Why was Bryan being such a
dick? True the girl had been a pain in the ass, but she didn’t
deserve this. She spoke up before he could defend her, which was
probably a good thing.

“Sure I do. I wrote all the songs for
Honeychile. They weren’t rock songs,” she hurried on before he
could interrupt, “but a lot of them were good.” Thad agreed. Girl
bands weren’t his thing, but their lyrics were tight. “But I’ve got
my song book. I’ll play through some stuff and see what you think
sounds right.”

“We probably should discuss this with
Rocky,” Jon said, referring to their road manager. “How long will
Crystal Clear be out?” he directed the question to B.T.

“From what I’m hearing their flu is more of
the narcotic kind. I’m sorry Bryan. I know you picked them, but
they’re definitely in trouble,” B.T. said.

Bryan gave Sioux a narrow-eyed stare.
“That’s what I was afraid of. They’re really good. I wanted them on
the tour so badly I overlooked the obvious signs. So we’re trading
three junkies for one.”

“I’ve been clean for two years,” Sioux said,
as she gave Bryan a malevolent glare, but B.T. talked over her.

“I’m thinking she could be with us until we
head to Perth. We’ve got an Aussie band to open down there. When we
get back in May for the Jazz Festival down in New Orleans depending
on what Crystal Clear is up to, we can get with them, get her or
someone else.”

“It’s August now. You want us to work with
her until the end of October?” Bryan asked.

“Not too bad. It’s only fifteen dates, man.
Why are you being such a hard ass?” Thad asked.

“I told you. I’ve been here before and have
no interest in going through that crazy shit again,” Bryan
said.

“It’s not the same as Brodie. She’s not
joining the band. We can let her go at any time,” Thad said.
“What’s the big deal?”

“Are you sure you’re not fucking her? It
wouldn’t be her first attempt to fuck her way into the band,” Bryan
said.

He heard Sioux gasp as he rounded on his
band mate. Before he realized what he was doing he’d grabbed Bryan
in the collar, lifting the larger man a few inches off the floor
catching him by surprise. “What the hell is wrong with you? That
shit was uncalled for. You don’t talk about women that way.”

Bryan brought his hands up breaking Thad’s
hold. They were of the same height, but Bryan had a few pounds on
him, still Thad was angry enough to grab Bryan again. “What are you
going to do Thad? Fight me over this girl?” At this point their
faces were so close he could see the hair follicles of Bryan’s
unshaved beard, but it was the upper lip curled into an
insufferable sneer that he wanted to wipe off the other man’s
face.

B.T. interrupted before Thad could respond.
“There’s not going to be any fighting. The two of you are worth too
much money to be acting like a couple of kids on a playground. If
you break your hands the insurance company will lose its ever
loving mind.”

Thad backed off, surprised by his sudden
anger. “You owe her an apology. And there sure as hell will be a
fight unless you give her one.” He stared Bryan down, refusing to
drop his eyes from the other man’s stormy blue gaze. Finally Bryan
looked away.

“You’re right. I just don't want this tour
to be full of drama and crazy shit. It’ll be our last one for a
while,” Bryan said. Most of the band members were working on other
projects and the time between albums kept expanding. It would be at
least five years before the next studio albums.

“A Storm Crow tour that’s not full of drama
and crazy shit? What a concept,” Twist derided from his seat behind
his drum kit.

“You’ve got to believe me. I’d rather die
than hurt Storm Crow,” Sioux whispered.

“For fuck’s sake, stop saying shit like
that,” Thad snapped turning around to face her. “Get your song
book. Let’s hear what you’ve got.” He looked at B.T. “Call Rocky
and get her in here. See what she thinks of all these changes.”
Bryan gave him a long hard stare before leaning down to pick up his
guitar. Thad knew what that look meant. He was more than a decade
younger than Bryan or Jon and only slightly less younger than Twist
so they had a tendency to treat him like a kid brother or even a
child. Bryan didn’t want Sioux around because he didn’t want her to
get her claws into him, but he’d been with the band for six years
now and was capable of taking care of himself.

Chapter Three

Sioux sat on the floor of the studio leafing
through the pages of her songbook. Her hands were shaking so much
she couldn’t focus on what she was doing. She was going on tour
with Storm Crow! But it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk. That didn’t
surprise her; she’d been following Bryan around for years now
trying to get him to listen to her. She knew all his misgivings and
then some. She looked up at Thad who was adjusting his guitar. She
couldn’t believe he’d jumped on Bryan like that. Thad idolized
Bryan, and the last thing she wanted to do was to create dissension
within the band. This was the realization of her childhood dream.
Her chance to finally do everything right. Of course, the best way
to do that was to do what she knew she was born to do, rock this
tour like she’d never rocked before.

It felt so strange to be at this point in
her career. To be honest she’d grown accustomed to having people
kiss her ass for favors. Over the years she’d been chasing Bryan
down for a shot at the band she’d lost every bit of the diva she’d
once been, or at least most of it. She’d had to humble herself. She
thought it would be far more annoying than it was turning out to
be, but she really didn’t care. She was with the band. Another
quick glance at Bryan’s tight features and Thad’s bright gold eyes
left her with the first misgivings she’d had about this adventure.
She’d have to be careful, very careful or she’d wind up tearing the
band apart.

Sioux adjusted the tuners on her guitar
until she had them just right. Thad sat across from her on the
flokati rug, flipping through the pages of her songbook. He’d come
over to her place to help her work out a playlist. They were
expecting a visit from Storm Crow’s road manager as well. Rocky
hadn’t been able to come to the studio earlier that day, so Thad
had agreed to help Sioux with her playlist after the rehearsal
ended. Now they were at her house in Santa Monica with the late
summer sunset providing a breathtaking backdrop for something she’d
been trying to accomplish for more than a decade.

“Well, you’re certainly prolific,” he
said.

“Oh, that’s just my current one. I’ve got a
whole box full of songbooks.”

“How long have you been writing?”

“According to my mama since I was a little
kid. She’s still got my first song, a riff on “I’m a Little
Teapot”.”

He chuckled. “I can just see it. What was
bigger, your voice or your hair?”

She laughed with him. “Probably my hair.
Mama was still touring then and my nanny was totally clueless. I
had 24-hour bed-head.”

“Are you just going to do a different set
every night?” he asked

“Yeah, that’s my plan. I’m trying out stuff
to see what flies for a CD. B.T. thought that’s the way I should
go.”

“Sounds good. All acoustic?”

“Yeah, I don’t have a band. Quite frankly I
don’t want to hire a lot of folks then have the whole thing go tits
up.”

“I doubt that would happen, you’re really
good. Besides, people are going to show up just out of
curiosity.”

“To see me fall on my ass you mean.”

“Well, that too. Are you going to start a
band?”

“Probably down the road, but right now I
don’t have any credibility. I haven’t met anybody I have any real
chemistry with, and I think that’s important.”

“Yeah, it makes all the difference. When I
auditioned for the band I knew I had the chops, but I wasn’t sure
if the guys would like me or if I would fit in. I was still a
teenager and I had a pretty sheltered upbringing. My mom was
overprotective because my dad died when I was little. I didn’t know
much of anything, so they took a real chance on me.”

Heat flooded her face and she had to force
herself to meet his gaze. Thad’s hazel eyes were absolutely
entrancing, the little specks of green and gold in what at first
appeared to be brown eyes kept her transfixed. For the first time
she realized just how attractive he was. Oh, she’d always known he
was a good-looking guy. He had a strong jaw and a high forehead. He
wore his thick, light brown hair at a length that grazed his jaw
and it was just shaggy enough to make a woman want to straighten it
up for him. He was a little taller than average height at about six
feet, but his shoulders were broad and well filled out, and she
loved the muscles in his arms and hands from years of guitar
playing. She drifted off for a moment thinking about a time when
she’d seen him at a party and he’d given her a hug in greeting. She
remembered the warmth of his body pressed against hers and his
woody, masculine smell. He was surprisingly fuckable and she
couldn’t help but wonder what he’d be like in bed. Would he be soft
and tender, or a pull her hair, spank her ass kind of lover. With
this guy she wouldn’t mind either option.