‘Don’t we know it,’ Ash groaned. ‘I can smell your filthy armpits from here.’
‘You don’t smell so hot yourself, lover boy.’
Ginny disagreed. Ash smelled pretty divine to her, all hot and musky with a hint of something woodsy mixed in. She guessed the latter was the remains of whatever cologne he’d spritzed on before he went on stage. Unless, of course, what she could smell was sex. She had creamed all over him, and neither of them had properly had the opportunity to clean up.
She kept the thought to herself. It’s was kind of fun watching and listening to the guys interact. She reckoned she’d learned more about them in the last five minutes than even their most diehard fans would glean from a thousand interviews. They were close but fractious, and, yeah, there were egos aplenty in play. Oh, and they all had issues, some of them better disguised than others. She’d seen the scars on Spook’s inner arms as he’d held the camera between her and Ash. Rock Giant’s driving was enough to tell her he needed help, and as for Ash … well, she was still working on figuring him out.
‘Where’d Melodrama Boy trot off to anyway?’ Rock Giant yelled over the music.
‘He left with some girl,’ Ash replied, sitting forward in order to make himself heard. ‘I don’t know who she was. I’d never seen her before. Cute though. Nowt like Elspeth.’
‘You mean she had tits,’ said Spook.
‘I wasn’t being that crude.’
Rock Giant grunted. ‘He sounds really fucking heartbroken.’
‘I said we’d talk things over tomorrow.’ Ash sat back again.
‘Is that Xane you’re talking about?’ Ginny asked. ‘I did wonder where he was. I take it he left the building ahead of us, since none of you mentioned him in the escape plans.’
The three guys exchanged wary looks. Rock Giant hit the kill switch on the stereo, flooding the interior with deadly silence. ‘He walked out on us, honey. So don’t get your hopes up about meeting him. Fuck knows where he is, but if he’s at the hotel I’m personally going to skewer him, so he’ll not be up for socialising.’ He jabbed the heel of his hand into the car horn, and in return received a two-fingered salute from the driver of the car in front.
‘Xane and Elspeth split,’ Ash explained. He massaged his brow, but failed to remove the frown lines that had formed there. ‘He walked off, having just announced to the stadium that we’re done.’
‘What?’ Ginny folded her arms tight. ‘You’re serious?’ It seemed almost but not quite too far-fetched to believe. Either Ash had an unbelievable poker face or he was telling the truth. ‘So what does that mean? Are you saying you’ve split up? Aren’t you mid-tour right now?’
‘One more gig,’ they sighed in unison.
Ash snuggled up and rested his head against her shoulder. ‘You see why I need company. According to Xane, we all need to start looking for new jobs.’
‘That’s such bollocks,’ Rock Giant groaned. ‘There’s no way on earth Xane was serious about us actually splitting. He wouldn’t know what the hell to do with himself without us.’
‘Uh, guys,’ Spook piped up. ‘We might want to get out of here.’ He ducked as what looked like a ladies bra hit the windscreen. It caught on the wiper blade and swished across the front of the van a few times before flying loose again. ‘Turn us around.’
‘Yeah, there’s lots of space for that.’
‘Now, Paul. You drive like a fucking demon so make like one.’
Ginny peered out of the side-window, and saw that a group of girls had peeled off from the main crowd and were now jogging towards them. Their movement had in turn attracted the attention of other sections of the mob, causing them to surge forward in order to find out what the excitement was.
Rock Giant attempted to smooth down his spiky hair, but to no avail. He’d already been recognised, and now fingers were pointing and a scream of ‘Rock Giant … Spook’ rolled towards them.
‘Get us out of here now.’ Spook took refuge in the footwell as numerous items of underwear pelted the front of the vehicle, supplemented by an empty drinks can or two.
‘To where?’
‘Who gives a fuck? Anywhere. Just drive.’
‘I’ve got a room,’ Ginny piped up as Rock Giant spun the steering wheel through two full turns and mounted the central reservation in order to perform a U-turn. Well, she did. Admittedly, it wasn’t a great room, but that didn’t seem important right now in comparison to having somewhere to hide.
‘Where?’
‘Left,’ she urged.
Ash slammed against her side as Rock Giant swerved to avoid a group of pedestrians and then hurled them along a narrow side street. The sick scream of grating metal alerted them to the fact that he’d taken part of the adjacent building’s brickwork with them.
Behind them, the crowd swarmed into the space they’d recently vacated. ‘Take another left at the end, and get us onto the main road out of town,’ Ginny yelled. Her heart thumped hard within her chest, making her feel as if she were fleeing on foot. A second sharp turn toppled her over, flat on her back against the seat, with Ash on top.
‘Sorry,’ he mumbled, clinging to the upholstery. ‘You don’t mind if I just hang out here a moment.’
‘Be my guest.’ Considering the van’s current speed and the hairpin road they appeared to be taking, staying horizontal seemed like the safest option. At least down here she didn’t have to see what was ahead, and, if she was about to die, then lying in Ash Gore’s arms seemed a better place than most to croak.
‘Told you he was a maniac,’ he whispered close to her ear.
‘I think you missed a few eff words off that label.’
‘Are you scared?’
Scared didn’t quite cover it. It was like being on the devil’s own rollercoaster –enthralling, exhilarating and likely to result in lasting trauma. ‘Fucking terrified. If you were a gentleman, you’d help take my mind off it.’
‘I’m only a gentleman on my days off,’ he replied, giving her a broad grin. ‘The rest of the time, I’m an absolute fiend.’ He kissed the side of her neck, just below her ear, and sucked gently, which sent tingles through her body. Ginny groaned involuntarily. ‘Luckily for you, my fiendish self likes nothing better than to entertain pretty ladies.’ He sucked a little harder, escalating the effect on her body.
Fiendish worked for her. His kisses were certainly distracting. Ginny hooked a leg around one of his.
‘Hm, baby,’ he sighed. ‘Does that mean you’re ready for round two?’
If she’d been in a position to do so, she’d have jabbed him hard. As it was, he shifted so that not only was his weight above her but he’d somehow managed to claim one of her wrists too.
‘Are you desperate for more of me?’
‘Not if it involves my arse being violated,’ she retorted. She tested his grip, but there was no give.
Ash gave a theatrical moan of disappointment. ‘Damn. Guess that means I’m going to have to let Paul down again, and he’s been on at me for ever about having a threesome. I hope he’s not just looking to suck my dick.’
Paul? Who was Paul? And