The Devil's Lair (8 page)

The tour is going well. Our European fans are snatching up tickets at every stop. In spite of our botched rehearsal in Milan, the show was awesome. It kicked off our Italian leg perfectly. Whatever was bothering Hunter, he seems to be over it.

We don’t play until tomorrow night. We usually relax the first night in a new city, hanging out in one of our suites. Tonight we were the guests of honor at a swanky new bar in the heart of Florence, where we were treated as American royalty. It was good to party like we used to. We drank and danced. It reminded me of the nights we spent in New York City, reveling in our newfound success. Doing it here in Italy, to the same level of recognition and fandom that we are met with at home is a pure adrenaline rush. We were all so hyped up that we couldn’t call it a night yet.

We are now hanging out on the beach where our hotel is located, enjoying the buzz from all the booze we drank. Leila ran upstairs to check on Beverly and the twins and said she’ll join us shortly after she makes a few phone calls. I griped the kids were fine and the phone calls could wait. I want nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and kiss her senseless in a quiet nook on this romantic beach. She argued that with the time difference it’s hard to find a good time to call home, and she needs to get it done.

So instead, I sit sipping my beer watching Hunter and Trey arguing about stamina, a poor substitute to what I’d rather be doing. Each have an arm around their wives, each kissing her cheek after they hurl an insult at the other. Those two are more alike than they’ll ever admit.

Patti sits on Scott’s lap. Every so often he looks over at me, rolls his eyes, and shakes his head at Trey and Hunt’s dialogue. Scott’s been quieter than usual. I did ask if he was ok. He confided that this whole Paula situation has him and Patti unhinged. They’ve also grown very fond of her and her son.

What surprised me the most was Trey’s reaction to Shane. He admitted he’s had thoughts of what it would be like to adopt him. My mouth hanging open in shock was enough for Trey to change the subject. I wouldn’t let him. After my prodding, he reluctantly said he briefly thought about it. He hasn’t mentioned it to Tara. He doesn’t want to upset her. She would get her hopes up and he couldn’t promise it would actually happen. Not because Paula wouldn’t agree, more because Trey is simply not ready. He did ask that if we became guardians to Shane, if he and Tara could please spend time with him.

His request was as surprising as his admission. He maintains that he has too many of his own issues he’s still battling with. He cannot consciously agree to care for a child, any child, when he isn’t at peace with his own life yet. He does crave spending time with Shane. Although the idea of being a parent is completely foreign to him, he recognizes the need to be near him, to get to know him.

He’s getting there. This Trey is very different than the Trey of a few years ago. Tara is the single most important thing to him. Having her by his side is making his soul-searching journey a bit easier. He does still have a long way to go. I hope he gets there sooner or later. He’s an amazing man and deserves every ounce of happiness he can squeeze out of life. He has many horrific years to make up for.

To be honest, I thought that one of my crew would have become parents by now. My money was on Scott and Patti. I’m guessing, once we get home, Patti or Mandi will be popping them out as soon as they can. I had planned on getting Leila on board with having a third once this tour was over. Now that we may possibly be adding Shane to our family, it wouldn’t be fair to him to bring a baby in as well. I’ll wait. Leila’s young and she knows I want at least a few more. She just rolls her eyes, but she can’t fool me. She loves being a mom and admitted that I’ve become even sexier when I became a dad.

Having kids hasn’t changed our lives much…yet. Ask me again when they’re driving. At the moment, I can handle adding a few more to our brood. Besides, trying to get her pregnant is something I’m very much looking forward to. It’s not because I’m lacking for sex. Leila got pregnant with the twins without trying. My inner caveman can’t wait to purposely knock her up. As I watch her walk across the beach to our circle, the thought of getting my woman pregnant brings with it a raging hard-on.

“What did I miss?” she asks, taking a seat beside me.

“Hunter and Trey are arguing about who can go longer.”

“Ewww,” she scrunches her nose.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, Little Lair. We’re talking about playing our instruments,” Trey clarifies, although not too well.

“Ewww,” my wife repeats.

“Bass versus drums,” I spell it out for her.

She bites her lip and shrugs. “Oh.”

“You’re so adorable.” She smiles and takes my hand. “Did you make your calls?”

“Your sister is miserable. She and the baby have a really bad cold and with Evan being away, she is very cranky.”

“She’ll live.”

Leila shakes her head at my compassion. “Everyone else is great. They send their love and can’t wait to see us. Tomorrow I’ll call Evan and Lori to get the scoop on how their tour is going.”

“The reviews have been great.”

She nods, “I know. Dad and Barb saw them in Philly and said they were fantastic…but I already knew that.”

My wife is so proud of her old band mates. It’s adorable how she brags that she was once in Cliffhangers. She tends to forget who she is now. Her career seems to be a second thought to her. When it was once her only focus, it’s now a fringe benefit. She is much more involved in the business aspect of her solo career than she’s ever been. She finally fired Malcolm. She has a new agent who is more a friend than an agent. She now has the relationship she always wanted and never had with either Jen or Malcolm. Zoe is a perfect fit.

“It’s cold out here,” Leila rubs her arms to get warmth.

I pat my lap and she moves onto it without hesitation. With my arms wrapped around her entire body and my lips on her ear, I whisper, “I’ve been waiting for you. I’ll keep you warm.” Goosebumps pebble her skin and she snuggles closer, grinding my cock into an even harder predicament.

One side of her mouth quirks up, “This better be for me. Or did you see a hot Italian girl before I got here?”

“It’s always only for you.” I suck on her bottom lip, applying enough pressure with my hold on her to worsen the ache in my crotch. “Are the kids okay?”

She nods. “Yep.”

“I wanted to find a secluded spot on this beach, but if I get started, we’ll end up out here all night. It’s time to take this to our room.” She stares me straight in the eye while simultaneously slanting her mouth over mine. The kiss instantly becomes inappropriate for a public place.

“Hey, Lair. I still have that bet going with Joe,” Hunter calls over, interrupting our moment like nails on a chalkboard.

My wife lets out a few choice words before flipping him off, beating me to it.

Hunter

“Wow, Lei. You’ve changed. The Leila I know would never flip her good friend Hunter off.” I pretend to be hurt and she immediately stammers an apology. “You’re so easy,” I tease.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that about her,” Trey nods in agreement.

Leila graces each of us with our own finger in reply.

“Hey assholes, I’ll hurt you both,” Jack spits his normal threat when anyone of us, specifically Trey, bothers his wife. It’s become his expected response, giving us a green light to turn the insults on him.

Leila confirms she can handle us. She can. If there’s ever been proof of such, it’s her relationship with Trey. We all sat in awe as she wore him down and broke through the thick layer of ice that surrounded him. It was impressive to watch.

“Hunt, you wanna share why you fucked up practice so bad in Milan?” Jack asks, trying to no doubt rile me up.

“I wasn’t feeling well.”

Trey snickers and tries to cover it up with a cough. If I ever wanted to punch someone in the face, it pales in comparison to the desire I have at the moment. Thinking quickly, I ask if Shane will be playing with us during the Italian shows.

“Not sure yet. It depends on Paula,” Jack bites.

Feeling my wife’s eyes trained on my face, I turn to give her a smile. I’d like to say that she smiled in return, but it’s more like a sneer.

When the women all start complaining it’s too chilly out, we decide to pack it in. As rounds of good nights are exchanged, Trey leans closer and asks, “Did you find it?”

I throw him a sideways dirty, scathing, shut the fuck up kind of look.

“Hmm, I wonder which gossip site will break with it first?”

“Fuck off,” I mumble. He laughs at me as he walks off. His statement makes me feel sick to my stomach. My eyes fly over to my wife. She’ll never, ever let me indulge in my fetish ever again. She sees me watching and motions for us to leave. In the elevator, she sidles up to me and wraps her arms around my body while nuzzling my neck. This is out of the box for her. I quickly glance up at the camera she always points out when I try to get frisky in an elevator.

“I’m so cold,” she murmurs into my neck. Her lips are ice cold, so is her nose.

“You can take a warm bath in a few minutes.”

“How about…” she places a kiss on my neck, “we get naked…” another kiss is planted below my ear, “and watch that video?” Her last kiss is placed on my lips.

“Or make a new one?” I counter pathetically.

She swipes her thumb across my bottom lip, but doesn’t respond to my idea. It’s been days since we made that video. Normally, I would have forced her to watch it by now.

“You want to watch it? You never want to watch it.” She would never suggest we watch it on her own.

“Ok, I can’t deny that it is a turn on.”

Huh
? Now she tells me.

She winks as we enter our suite to get ready for bed. I need to come clean. I might as well get it over with. Sweat dampens my armpits and the base of my spine. Am I afraid of my wife? Fuck, yeah. She securely holds my balls and their well being in the palm of her hand. That doesn’t make me a pussy. That makes me a very smart man.

When she climbs into bed beside me, she smells amazing and looks completely fuckable.

“No bath?”

“No. I’d rather cuddle with you and watch that video.”

I decide I need to fess up. “Um, Babe? I need to tell you something.”

She moves away to sit facing me. “Yes, Hunter?”

“Um…I love you. You know that?”

She nods, folding her arms in wait of my announcement.

“I would never do anything to hurt you, intentionally at least.”

She quirks up an eyebrow, watching silently as I run my palms over the comforter, swallowing audibly, and even grip the back of my neck trying to buy time. She just sits and waits, not helping me out at all.

“Um…”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck
.

“Um…I kind of lost the SD card from the camera.”

Her face blanks of all emotion. My initial thought is she’s in shock, or she’s trying to figure out the easiest way to kill me. After several very long, torturous seconds, I decide to take her hand. Touching is good.

“Babe? Did you hear me?”

“I heard you.”

“I’m sorry.” She pulls her hand out of my grip. “I had it in our suite in Milan. It never left the suite,” I blurt out an excuse, and then another and another. When she continues to stare at me impassively, I plead, “Say something.”

“Do you now understand
WHY
I had my reservations with your stupid, kinky fetish?” I scrub a hand over my face, nodding like a child who is being scolded. “Especially while out in the real
FOREIGN
world and not in the privacy of our own home?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, Babe. I fucked up. It kills me to know this could hurt you. I never intended for it to hurt you. I am just so in love with you, so in love with us, I can’t get enough.”

Pity flashes in her eyes. Maybe she won’t kill me after all. I think if that were her plan, I would no doubt be on a stretcher by now. She quietly gets up off the bed and moves to the closet to grab her bag off the shelf. I watch as she digs in one of the pockets and produces an SD card.

“Wait, is that my card?”

“When you went in to take a shower, I noticed this sitting on the rug waiting for someone to snatch it up. You, Mr. Amatto, are very lucky it was me who found it. If this fell into the wrong hands, this conversation would be going a very different way right now.”

Relief floods through my veins. I was mostly concerned for her. Okay, I was also concerned for me. If she ended up hurt because of this, I’d never forgive myself. I open my arms, hoping she’ll fit into them.

She hesitates a beat before settling on my lap. “I’m sorry. I really am.”

“I know. I’m also sorry.”

“Why?”

She shrugs as she blushes. “I could have told you I found it that night, but I wanted to teach you a lesson. It was a mean thing to do.”

“Mean?” I shake my head in disbelief. She is always more concerned about me.

“You’ve been really out of sorts these past few days. I’ve noticed, the guys have also. I feel bad.”

“Babe, I’m lucky you didn’t cut my dick off.” I kiss her chastely, adding an afterthought, “You may have if you hadn’t found it, though.”