7. Stopping in Richmond

seven

Stopping in Richmond

W here the fuck are you?

I glanced at the text from Ziggy as I jogged through the crowd, jostling people along the way, but I couldn’t get to the stage fast enough. They were about to go on. I’d missed soundcheck and them getting ready. This was an outdoor fest, so no dressing rooms. They had to get ready on the bus, but I hired golf carts to drive them to the stage. The thought was to elevate them from the other acts. Midnight Hunt wasn’t the headlining band, but they were the last band playing before F-Holes hit the stage. And that band was incredible, with not one but two cellists. So I wanted our guys to stand out. Give them the royal treatment as much as possible.

Even though I came up through the performers’ entrance and the back side of the stage, there were still a lot of people lingering. Security, other bands and their entourage, roadies. Our crew had a lot of people too, so I got it, but I needed them all to get the fuck out of my way. It had been too long, and I needed to lay eyes on Ziggy. Like now!

“Excuse me. Heading to the stage. Please, move.”

A big guy turned around, and for a second, I thought he was going to crush me, but I recognized him as one of our security staff, thankfully. “Mr. Coleman.” He smiled politely.

“Hallelujah! Get me to the stage.” I grabbed his arms, desperately.

“You got it. Come on.” He turned toward the stage and stomped through the people like a machine. “Make way. Move. Clear out.” No pleases or thank yous. But the people moved and finally, I was at the edge of the stage and walking up the side steps.

Ziggy was pounding out the beat, shaking his head, sweat flying. Fucking glorious. Seeing him in the zone like that when he played was probably the first thing that seized my heart and had me falling for him in the first place. He was fucking spectacular. They were cranking through Tattoo You , so I put that about halfway through the lineup for this one, but it was a guess. They were professional and could rearrange what they were going to play in a heartbeat. Miami read the crowd and if he turned and gave them a sign to change it up, they did.

Miami screamed out the last line, “Standing on the brink…Tattoo you.” His voice echoed through the crowd. That was what I had been after when I first called him up. That voice, Jinx shredding on guitar, and their chemistry together had dollar signs written all over it. But when Ziggy slammed out the last few beats, hitting the toms hard, I knew that’s why I stayed. I didn’t have to, and it had nothing to do with money, but these guys were amazing, and Ziggy was…

He turned his head, zoning in on me as if he could hear my thoughts. And smiled, lighting up not only his face but his whole fucking body. He stood like he wanted to come over but remembering where he was, changed plans. He flung a stick hard, and it sailed out into the audience, making the crowd scream and scramble for the prize. He winked at me, grabbed another set of sticks, dropping his single, and counted off their next song, Still A Person . I was expecting More Like A Ballad , but with this crowd and shorter time to perform, perhaps they dropped that one.

Still A Person was shorter and was fantastic for them, though. Donavan Sebert, brother of Wolf’s partner, stepped up next to me and threw his arm over my shoulder, shaking me. “I love this one. Yeah!”

I didn’t know what to say. “Right.” I didn’t know the kid well, but I probably shouldn’t call him kid. He was now a full partner in Harrison’s legal practice. Entertainment lawyers. Harrison was also Jinx’s ex, which was how he met Wolf in the first place. What a triangle there. Donavan actually took over the Midnight Hunt account because Harrison was too close. I respected that. They were the best in the business, and both traveled with the band.

“Great seeing you, Coleman. Glad you’re here. If anyone asks, I’m going to hang out with the Bramble Punk guys. Okay?” He patted my shoulder as he shouted in my ear and left when I nodded. I thought something was up with our opening band’s lead singer, Kay, and Donavan. There was no huge announcement, and if it was true, they were keeping it on the down low. But there were signs, including leaving the side stage for Midnight Hunt to go hang with our opening act. Bramble Punk was good. Jinx and Wolf had helped put them together, rallying around Kay, whose prior band was not good, but Kay had potential. And loyalty. They were still no Midnight Hunt. Not yet, anyway. They weren’t playing at this festival. There hadn’t been enough time or space on the docket. But I figured they probably would need a break at this point in the tour when I’d scheduled it, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were hanging out at the bus.

When the song was done, they kicked right into Whiskey Gone , one of the newer ones. I sang along. Well, I mouthed the words while Miami sang and screamed in turn. I checked the time on my watch, noting they were probably on the last song, which meant they were either going long or they weren’t going to do Dip and Grind . I didn’t know which.

When Whisky Gone was over, they acted like they were leaving the stage for sure. Jinx flicked his guitar pic out into the crowd. Miami pulled his shirt off and slung it over the heads of the first few rows, causing the people behind them to scramble for it. I never understood why people would want a stinky, sweaty shirt, no matter who had worn it. But my fandom for this group had begun to center around Ziggy. And he held his sticks over his head, circled out from behind the kit, and the threw them one at a time out into the audience. He clapped his hands over his head and followed the others off the stage. I lost track of Wolf, who was behind him, because I only had eyes for my drummer boy.

He rushed over to me and jumped up and down like he was twelve. “Ohmygawd. You made it. I’m pissed at you for taking so fucking long. Fuck! I broke a mic during soundcheck, got busted jacking off in the bus and fucking hell, I didn’t think you’d ever fucking get here. Can we go to the hotel? Oh shit. We have to do one more song. Listen.” He’d run most of that all in one sentence without pausing for air.

“Breathe, Zig.”

“No. Listen. Guys. Miami,” he yelled over the crowd, which was getting increasingly louder. They were chanting something.

I leaned in so Zig could hear me. “What are they saying?”

He mouthed along with them, “Dip. And. Grind. Dip. And. Grind.”

Miami walked past us, strutting straight out to the stage, where he started goading the fans, playing with them in a way only Miami could. He did a little squat thrust along with the chanting. And unbelievably, they got louder. He chuckled into the mic. “I know you want that.” The surge forward made me suddenly concerned, but Miami had that shit. “Easy now.” He patted the air down in front of him and they quieted, settling a little. “We are out of time, but since you asked so nicely…I don’t know how we can say no. Guys? What do you think?”

Ziggy didn’t so much answer as jog back out on the stage. He practically bowled Miami over to get to the mic. “Hell yeah!” He wasn’t even to the mic yet, but it picked him up. The response of the fans was incredible. Miami shoved Ziggy off of him, pushing him toward the drums at the back of the stage. Ziggy turned and flipped him off with both hands before returning to his drums and grabbing another set of sticks. Miami kicked the air as if miming that he was kicking Ziggy. They played like that a lot, and the crowd loved it. The others had strapped in while they were fooling around. The problem here was that they didn’t have a big screen to show the video, and I didn’t know if they’d even queued up the recording. But the guys seemed to have other ideas.

Miami grabbed the mic still in the stand and pulled it to him. “Guys. We don’t have what we need for this one ready, so we’re gonna wing it. Jinx is going to do Pierce’s part. Are you okay with that?” The crowd roared. But they didn’t know how much trouble the guys were going to get into for this. They had a contract, and doing the song without the recording broke that. I shook my head and waved my arms, but Miami ignored me, and so did the rest of the band. Ziggy pounded off the funky beat, and Wolf joined in on the bass.

They went through with Miami screaming out the first chorus with Jinx picking up the verse.

Running like the wind as fast as

your feet will take you

Screaming wild with the wind

until I stop chasing

You back track lee and tack anything to get away

no matter how hard I beg you to stay

Feels like a race but one I can’t win

Then you’re close, spinning around, so we can do it again

It wasn’t Pierce, but Jinx was good. Since he brought his own fandom to the Hunt, they were probably loving the hell out of this. Jinx sang his own songs but did not front Midnight Hunt. But he was pretty good and probably should sing a little more. The two of them had incredible chemistry and showed it on stage, playing against each other, but this song took it to another level.

Harrison came up behind me and bumped my shoulder. “Did you know about this?”

I shook my head again and leaned in so he could hear—that seemed like the standard when you stood next to the band—and gestured to the stage. “Tried to tell them no.”

“They don’t listen.” Harrison looked pissed. His firm represented the band, and this was going to give them more work. I was sure Harrison was thinking about how to get ahead of this fuck up. He glanced around, probably looking for his brother. “Have you seen Don?”

Now, I nodded. “He’s with Kay’s band.”

“Fuck.” I saw him mouth the word more than heard him, but I sure as hell understood.

They went through the song and finished up. It was fantastic and the fans loved it. But what was this going to cost them? Pierce had already shown he could be kind of an asshole.

The next thing I knew, I had my arms full of Ziggy and couldn’t think about anything else. Fine with me! “Let’s go back to the bus and grab my bag.”

Ziggy jumped on the bus to get his stuff, and I waited outside. As he came down the steps, Wolf and Harrison stormed by and into their own vehicle, and they were whisper-fighting the entire way. They didn’t even notice us. Ziggy thumbed over his shoulder in their direction. “We’re probably going to be in trouble.”

“The song. I was surprised you did it without the recording.”

Ziggy shrugged. “Jinx was good though. Right?”

As if he conjured the man by saying his name, Jinx and Miami rode up in a golf cart. They hopped off. “What’s going on?” Miami asked while Jinx waved at us.

“Talking about Dip and Grind .” Ziggy had a shit-eating grin aimed at Miami as if trying to stir shit up. That was my Ziggy, though.

“Eh…we’ll throw some money at Pierce, and he’ll get over it.”

Ziggy’s eyebrows jumped. “You think? Because I know Pierce, and he’s kind of a prima donna.”

“He was a pain in the ass over it during negotiations, if I remember right.” I had to add my thoughts. This could be bigger than Miami thought.

“I don’t know. We’ll work it out. We have great lawyers, you know.” Miami nodded to the other bus where Wolf and Harrison had disappeared.

Jinx scoffed. “We can’t keep relying on them to get us out of trouble. We need to think about these things ahead of time.”

“I didn’t see you saying no when we started playing on stage.” Miami shrugged as if he were innocent.

Before they could get started with the argument, though, one of the security guards walked up. “Excuse me, Ziggy. Your guest is at the gate. You forgot to put his name on the list, and we need an okay.”

“Guest?” Ziggy asked.

“Zade Watley. Drake said he remembered him from Atlanta.”

“Oh, yeah. Didn’t realize…that’s okay, let him back.” He blushed a little, barely pink on his cheeks, but I noticed if no one else did. I noticed everything about him. “Sorry, Cole. We’re going to have to wait a bit. Fans, you know.” Ziggy wiped his forehead again, the humidity was killing him.

“No problem.” I wanted to kiss the side of his head and pull him to me, but it felt too private for this open, public setting.

“Okay, then…” Miami moved to open the bottom compartment on the bus. “Let’s get some chairs out. We have some time to kill anyway.” They often stored chairs in there so they could hang out when needed. It was particularly useful at festivals, and at the upcoming Rocktoberfest, it would be a necessity. Jinx got on the bus and came back with towels for the three of them to wipe down and helped with chairs. We all sat in a semi-circle with two empty seats, and I assumed Ziggy’s friend would take up at least one of them.

I’d never met any of his friends, so I was intrigued. Finally, Drake walked up with the guy, Zade. He was wearing one of the new Midnight Hunt shirts, and it looked like it had been signed. Drake hovered in the back, alert as if he didn’t totally trust the guy.

“Hey, Zade.” Ziggy stood and reached his hand out for Zade to shake. “This is Miami and Jinx, you know, of course. And this is Coleman.”

I stood to shake his hand and noticed Zade’s eyes narrow a little, but he shook anyway. “Yeah, hey.”

Ziggy shuffled one of the chairs to the side. “You can join us if you want. I don’t know how long we’ll be staying. The busses have to get going soon.”

“Yeah, New Jersey is next, right?” he asked. “Loved seeing y’all in Atlanta, and we had such a great time backstage, I thought, why not, right?” He gave Ziggy a look that read more like they’d gotten up to something, but I knew better. First, Zade wasn’t Ziggy’s type at all. He was younger—too young. And he was scrawny, and Ziggy was likely to break him had they messed around. He was certainly nothing like me, and maybe that was the ultimate thing. I wanted to be Ziggy’s type. And…I recognized the green-eyed monster lurking there, even if it didn’t make sense logically.

“Yeah…uh. Atlanta was cool.” Ziggy sounded awkward as if he wasn’t entirely sure what Zade was talking about. That eased my monster some. “Anyway, kind of a long drive for you from there.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t have anything going on anyway.”

“Cool. Cool.” Ziggy didn’t have much else to say, and I wondered how well they actually knew each other.

“So, you guys met in Atlanta?” I threw the question out there to get things started, and dig a little, maybe. Miami and Jinx weren’t helping. They were looking at us, back and forth, like a tennis match.

“Uh…yeah. My friend knew Ziggy and I’m like a big fan, right.”

“Sure…” I glared at Miami, who only smirked, obviously enjoying this.

“But I’m more than that now, right, Ziggy?”

Ziggy screwed up his face. “What do you mean?”

“Like we’re friends now, right? We know each other. Look…” He stood and held out the bottom of his shirt. I could clearly see that Ziggy was the only one to sign it. But neither Miami nor Jinxs offered up adding to it.

“Yeah, sure.” Ziggy glanced at me and reached over to grab my hand. Maybe he was looking for some security in this situation, or maybe he was dissuading his new little friend from anything more.

Zade sat back down and cleared his throat while staring blatantly at our linked fingers. “So, who are you? I mean, you don’t have the look, right. You look like a businessman, not a groupie.”

“I’m their promoter. I organized all this. And I’m Ziggy’s boyfriend. So…”

“Nah…” Zade laughed like I was making a joke. “Ziggy doesn’t go for a stuffed shirt. No way. I don’t believe it.”

I sent my most menacing stare. I was hardly a stuffed shirt . My hair was cut short, and I wore a polo with khaki shorts, sure…but that wasn’t stuffy. It was appropriate since I’d been traveling. “You don’t know Ziggy.”

“I think I do. Better than you, right. He’s a fucking rock star, dude. He’s going for hot young dudes.”

Miami cleared his throat and scowled at the dude. “Not all rock stars are into that, man.”

Zade’s eyes widened. “Oh. Yeah, I didn’t mean anything. Of course, y’all are perfect for each other. I only meant, you know, Ziggy is a little wild, right.”

“Not that wild. Maybe when I was younger.” Ziggy chuckled like his reputation was a joke, but I knew he didn’t give any fucks about any of that. He wasn’t so much wild as he did what he wanted, when he wanted, no matter what.

“You know what I mean. I just can’t see you with this dude, that’s all.” Zade stuck his thumb out toward me.

Ziggy held our hands up. “Well, it’s true. We’ve been together for about two years now, give or take, with some off and on in the beginning.”

The kid scoffed again. “Won’t last,” he muttered.

The driver came around the front of the bus and indicated it was time to roll out.

Finally, Miami spoke up. “Sorry, Zade, but we have to head out, man.”

“Right.” Zade stood.

Ziggy fist-bumped him. “Catch you in Atlanta next time, dude.”

“Yeah. Atlanta, right.” He nodded and walked away. He looked a little down, but if he was a fan, as he said he was, he’d remember he got to hang out with Ziggy, Miami, and Jinx for a little while. But he didn’t take any selfies or ask for them. I thought that was odd.

When he was far enough away and Miami and Jinx had loaded the chairs back in the bus, I grabbed Ziggy’s shoulders. “That was a little weird.”

“Right…” he teased. “And those mother fuckers sure didn’t help.”

Miami turned and flipped him off.

“That was entertaining.” Jinx laughed maniacally. “But we do have to roll. Don’t be late.” He pointed at both of us.

“Everything’s arranged,” I reassured them, but it wasn’t necessary. I was the goddamned promoter. I knew how to schedule shit.

“Right.” Miami exaggerated the word, winked at Ziggy, and gave him a fist bump. “See ya in Jersey, man.”

The hotel wasn’t far away, and we had an early wake-up call, so I was glad of that. We had Drake with us as a precaution, though I didn’t think it would be needed. “When do you sleep, dude?” Ziggy asked as we entered the suite.

Drake gave him a brief head nod. “When you do.”

“Whatever.”

“He has the connecting room, Ziggy.” We stood together as Drake made his rounds, stalking around the room. When he all cleared it, he gave us a salute and left. “Now…”

Ziggy jumped me, wrapping his legs around my waist and his arms around my neck. I grabbed his ass to hold him up, thankful I worked out. He wasn’t a small dude.

He kissed all over my face as I turned toward the bedroom. “Missed you…missed you,” he chanted between pecks.

“Mm…missed you too. And I want more than some splashes on my face.”

Ziggy growled, and I eased him down to the bed before taking his face in my hands. I leaned forward and kissed him how I had wanted to all day. In fact, I had wanted to kiss him like this for more than a day…more like months. I led with my lips, followed by my tongue, delving deep into his mouth. He kissed me back with passion and wrapped his tongue with mine.

He ran his hands up my back, under my shirt, and hummed when he hit skin. “Need…”

“Me too, babe.” I pulled my shirt off and grabbed his before leaning over him and pushing him to his back, laying on top of him, chest to chest. Our cocks, still trapped in our clothes, bumped nearly painfully. I hadn’t been this hard since…well, since the last time we were together. That had to mean something. “I can’t let you go. I can’t.”

His legs wrapped around mine, with his feet digging into my calves. “I don’t want you to. I’m sorry I—”

“No. We’re together. Moving forward.”

“Ha! Let’s move forward with less clothes.” He bucked up into me, and I wanted his thrusts, but he was right. I rolled to the side and unbuttoned my shorts to shove them off. My briefs went with them.

Ziggy stood to wiggle out of his tight jeans, and of course, he went commando. He stopped to take off his boots, or he’d never get the denim off. He nearly fell over doing it, but I didn’t laugh. Much.

“Fuck! Come here.” When he was finally naked, I grabbed the back of his legs, pulling him in front of me, and licked the head of his cock.

“Ugh! More…”

Sucking him down was a pleasure. I’d done it in numerous places over the last couple of years, from dressing rooms, busses, and even to supply closets, but alone in a hotel room without a chance of getting caught was better. I took care of him slowly, how he needed to be loved. A lick, a suck, a gentle squeeze on his balls. I licked them after, and he squirmed, so I continued lower to his taint. When he moaned loudly, I shoved his legs up and attacked his hole. I needed him to remember what it felt like. What I felt like.

I licked his rim and darted my tongue in. If I’d thought his moan before was loud, I’d been wrong. I wanted him to let the whole fucking floor hear him. I tongue fucked him until he was begging me for more.

I’d had my bags sent up here before going to the concert, so I looked around for them. Pulling out my toiletry bag where I’d stashed lube and condoms, I dug around for the necessities. “You ready?”

“No, but I’m sure you’re about to take care of that.”

“You know it.” I climbed back on the bed with a smirk I couldn’t help. I prepped him, turning it into more with teasing and twisting and fucking into him until he thrust into my hand and begged with inarticulate words. I wasn’t even sure what he was saying, but I knew what they meant. Fuck me now . So, I backed off and rolled the condom on. “Why are we still using these?”

“Worry about it later…Cole…”

“You got it…” I couldn’t hold back any longer. I needed to be inside him, and everything else in the world would wait. I lined up, lifting his legs and pushing in slowly.

“Fuck!” Ziggy thrashed back and forth, and I waited for him. “Move…” And that was my cue.

I pulled out and in, slowly building speed until we were fucking like our lives were on the line. It was loud and messy, with slapping bodies, moans, and shouts.

And it was building up. Higher and higher. I could barely breathe. Until Ziggy started jacking his dick. His mouth was open, and his noises were sexy as fuck. I wanted to see that every fucking day of my life. And when he came with a shout, squirting out on his stomach, I knew I’d die trying for that goal.

And it didn’t take much more for me to join him. Ziggy reached up and rubbed along my abdomen, fingers tickling toward my groin. That was the only thing needed to push me into fireworks land. I froze up and came with a grunt and a private light show.

“Now that was a welcome home fuck!” Ziggy put his hands behind his head, elbows sticking out. He yawned, mouth wide.

“Let me get us cleaned up and we can crash. We’ll shower in the morning.”

“Mmhmm…” His eyes were closed, and he looked like a fucking angel. Not a cute cherub, no. He looked like Michael the warrior, ready in a heartbeat to bring down righteous death and destruction and coming off as totally pure while he did it. With a chuckle, I kissed his lips and went to get the washcloth.