The Devil's Lair (4 page)

“Sorry we’re late,” Mandi says, as we join them in the back of the restaurant. The girls exchange hugs, the guys insults.

“We’re used to Trey being late. He runs on his own time zone,” Jack says before giving Mandi a hug.

Trey shakes his head and says, “Nah uh. Wasn’t me. Tell them why we were late, Amatto.”

“I forgot we were meeting tonight.” I scan the menu and quickly add, “Let’s order. I’m starving.”

As they all loudly discuss their meal options, I lean into my wife’s ear and ask, “You mad at me?”

She meets my eyes and shakes her head. “Of course not. You can’t help it that you’re a perv, or that your friends are even worse.”

“So true.” I kiss her neck and push my luck, “So, we’ll resume when we get back to the hotel?”

Her response is to shake her head and sigh.

JACK

Leila leans over and whispers in my ear, “I’ve never been this nervous before. This is scary as hell. What if they hate us?”

I laugh at her statement. She’s literally said this before every live show we’ve played, whether it’s back home or on the road. She’s
always
nervous before a show.

We’ve had our rehearsal, we’re all dressed and ready, and we’re waiting for show time. We have an hour to go. The guys are all chilling with a beer, the girls are all bundles of nerves. I understand Leila’s nervousness since her ass will be up on stage with us. I really don’t understand why Patti, Mandi, and Tara are so nervous.

“Babe, relax. They’ll love you.” I pull her closer to suck on her neck.

“Easy for you to say,” she breathlessly admits as she squirms on my lap from the assault of my lips on her neck. The more she moves the more things start to churn in my pants. “Your Lair Lovers adore you.”

“Yeah, they do.” I smirk, not able to argue with her. She frowns, as she always does when the topic of my Lair Lovers comes up. They do love me. My wife constantly struggles with the hoards of females that are very vocal with what they’d like to do to me and with me. I’ve received enough panties in the mail to open my own
Victoria’s Secret
store. Some were too hot to throw away, but I couldn’t convince Lei to wear them, no matter what I tried.

When I pull her face to mine to kiss her passionately, she quickly forgets she’s irritated with me.

“Pregnant yet?” Hunter calls out across the room. “I don’t understand how two people who fuck like rabbits can’t get pregnant? Do you need the name of a doctor?” Everyone laughs at his annoying as fuck questions. Every goddamn day he asks her, and when he has an audience, as he does now, he gets more obnoxious with his line of questioning.

Leila sighs. She knows what’s coming. Trey will jump in at any moment with his attempts to embarrass her.

“I bet Trey a grand that Mandi gets pregnant before Lei,” I respond to the jackass who is now counting off months on his fingers.

“What the fuck?” He stops long enough to throw us a dirty look, and then resumes his counting.

“Hunt, maybe you’re the one who needs a doctor? Are your swimmers slackin’?”

“Mandi and I are still on our honeymoon phase. You already have kids, so what’s the big fucking deal if you have another one?”

“I don’t get it,” Scott admits, shaking his head. “Really, why the obsession with Lei’s womb? This can’t be about our stupid hundred-buck bet. You’re up to something.”

Hunter looks guilty for a flashing moment before he says, “You’re nuts.”

“Nah uh. Scott’s right. What are you up to?” I call him out on this new development.

“Babe, what did you do?” Mandi asks with her hands on her hips. Since she joined our group, she’s become much more vocal. Gone is the shy, demure girl who barely spoke. I argued with Leila that it must be because she can’t get a word in edgewise with Hunt. She needed to learn to speak up, and learn she did. “Hunt, spill it!” Mandi demands.

All eyes focus on Hunter. He looks at each of us, feigning annoyance. This prick is definitely guilty of something.

“Fine. If Lei gets pregnant before the twins turn three, Joe forks over his
John Bonham
signed sticks.”

Leila gasps, “My Joe?” Hunter nods sheepishly. “He loves those sticks.”

“I know…and I want them.”

I’m stunned. Not only is Hunter betting on my wife, Joe is?

“And if you lose?” Mandi asks, her arms now folded across her chest.

“He gets a video endorsement from me, posted on all my social media sites every day for a month, stating that – Joseph Torrone, from Cliffhangers, is the best drummer I’ve ever met.”

Trey loses it. He starts laughing uncontrollably. Scott soon follows. Fucking idiots. Leila stares at me like she wants to stab each of them.

“You’re a sick fuck, you do know that right?”

Hunt shrugs but doesn’t deny my accusation. “It’s
John
-fucking-
Bonham
, man. He is, by far, the best drummer that ever lived! Those sticks belong with me since I’m taking over his legacy.”

“Oh my God, that’s classic,” Trey hoots. Tara bites her bottom lip to keep from laughing. Everyone gets a good laugh at Hunter’s expense. Leila shakes her head over and over, failing to hide her own grin. I have to give the jackass that much. He successfully distracted my wife.

Jen walks in during our impromptu “Hunter Roast.”

“You guys ready to kick off Europe?”

We all immediately stop laughing and nod robotically. She can effectively kill a mood quicker than Hunter can run from Trey.

“Good. I have someone I’d like you all to meet. I’ll explain it all after the show.”

We all exchange questionable looks as she leaves the room. When she returns, a petite brunette follows her in, along with a little boy. He’s probably around four or five. He grips the woman’s hand tightly as he searches the room wide-eyed. When his gaze lands on Trey, his mouth gapes open in shock.

“Guys, I’d like you to meet Paula Elliot and her son, Shane.”

Paula smiles shyly while Shane continues to gawk at Trey. Trey leans forward, staring at the little boy with obvious curiosity.

Leila moves toward Paula, extending her hand, “It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Leila Lair. Can I introduce you to the guys?”

Paula nods and says to Shane, “Would you like that, Shane?”

He nods slowly, still gripping her hand.

“This is my son. He loves you guys so much. He wants to be a rock star when he grows up. Right, Shane?”

Shane nods and says, “A bass player.”

This kid is adorable. He looks a lot like his mom with his dark hair and dark eyes. Leila squats in front of Shane and asks, “Do you want to meet Trey?”

He nods frantically, looking at her hopefully.

Leila smiles and offers her hand. He takes it and walks with her over to Trey. Trey remains seated, a small smile playing on his face. When he comes face to face with Trey, he waves and says, “Hi.”

Trey leans forward, offering his hand. “Hey, bud. It’s nice to meet you. So, you want to play bass, huh?”

“A black one. Like you play.”

“Is that right? Do you know how to play a guitar?”

“I’m learning. Mommy lets me take lessons every week.”

“Well, I was older than you when I started playing. If you keep playing, you’re going to be the best bass player ever.”

Shane beams at Trey’s words. “I know that I will be,” he confirms, nodding his head without a doubt.

Trey laughs at his words and ruffles his hair. “Hey, this is my wife, Tara.” Trey leans closer and asks, “Isn’t she pretty?”

Shane focuses on Tara and smiles. “Yes, she’s very pretty. So is Leila.”

“Thank you, Shane,” Leila says with a wide smile.

In my peripheral vision, I see Jen standing awkwardly at the door. She’s actually fidgeting, which is very rare for Jen. I walk over to her as Shane continues to chat with his obvious idol.

“What’s this about?”

Jen looks up at me with a small smile playing on her lips. “Paula wrote to me about a year ago. She and I went to school together. We were close back then, but we lost touch. I was very surprised to hear from her. We reconnected, picking up where we left off. She recently asked me for a favor.”

“Wow, Jen. You do have a heart?”

She ignores my dig and stands quietly, her brow puckers in concentration.

“What’s wrong?”

She pauses a beat before continuing, lowering her voice when she does, “Paula’s sick. She’s alone. Shane is all she has. She doesn’t have much time. She wants to make all his dreams come true while she still can.”

My throat closes with emotion as I watch Paula beaming at her son interacting with the rock stars in the room.

“What will happen to Shane?”

Jen shrugs. “I don’t know.”

Shane climbs onto Tara’s lap and Trey pretends to be angry. Shane belly laughs at Trey’s facial expressions and whatever it is he’s saying to the little guy.

Jen turns to me and says, “I cleared it with the studio. They’ll be touring with us. Paula’s my assistant while on the road. Louis never batted an eye and approved the whole thing.”

“Will she be well enough to travel?”

Jen shrugs again and repeats, “We don’t know. She’s determined to give him this. She wants to as long as she physically can. She’s scared to death when he’ll be thrown into the system and it’s consuming her.”

“She has no one? Not a relative, a friend?”

“She has distant relatives in Philly, hasn’t spoken to them in years. When Paula reached out, she wasn’t received very well.”

“Shane’s father?”

“Not in the picture. He took off when they found out she was pregnant.”

“My wife is going to be devastated over this,” I voice what I’m thinking.

“It’s sad. I promised her we’ll do everything possible to make him happy.”

Shane sits with one of Trey’s guitars on his lap, demonstrating what he knows. His audience is completely captivated by him. Leila looks over and smiles at me. I give her one in return, but her frown tells me she knows I forced it.

“Does Shane know she’s sick?”

Jen nods. “He doesn’t know details, but he knows his mommy is sick.” She turns to face me. For the first time since knowing her, I can see emotion in her eyes. This is upsetting her. I guess you’d have to be hard as stone to not be affected by this story.

“Show time. I was supposed to introduce them to you guys this afternoon, but their flights were delayed. I apologize for doing this to you before a show.”

“Don’t apologize.”

“Maybe keep it to yourself until afterwards. No need to upset all of them minutes before you go on.”

“I agree. Jen, we’ll figure this out,” I lie out of necessity.

“Yep. We will.” She walks over and says something to Paula. Paula smiles and picks Shane up off Tara’s lap. This kid is a charmer. He has everyone wrapped around his little finger already.

They stop before me on their way out. “I’m going to be in the front row,” he says to me proudly.

“You are? Well, I’m going to have to say a great big hello to you during the show. Would you like that?”

“Yes, please.”

I hold up my hand for a high five. “You got it, bud.”

I remain where I’m standing after they leave the room. My wife comes over seconds later. “What’s wrong?”

“Cute kid.”

“He’s adorable, such a great personality. Paula said they are traveling with us and that she’s helping Jen out. The twins are going to go nuts over him.”

“They definitely will.” She watches me closely. I can never, ever hide anything from her. I plaster my best dimpled smile on my face, and she reacts immediately. “Ready to play? Shane expects a personal greeting.”

“Yeah, let’s go give Shane a good show.”

Hunter

The day after our opening night Jen called a band meeting to discuss pending issues with the reality show. Once business was reviewed, without any preamble whatsoever, she told us of Paula and Shane’s story. That’s how Jen rolls.

Paula has Stage IV breast cancer. She’s been through chemo and had a double mastectomy. Unfortunately, it has spread to her lymph nodes and she’s no longer willing to spend her days in and out of hospitals. For her, the decision to travel the globe with her son was an easy one. The hard part was asking her friend, Jen. They finally reconnected after having lost touch. Paula didn’t want Jen to think the reason she called was for this favor. It took a long time for Paula to reach deep within herself and swallow her pride to ask for Jen’s help. Without close friends or family to speak of, she is facing this alone. She’s doing all that she can, while she can, to make all of Shane’s dreams come true.