Rock Hard: A Bad Boy Rock Star Romance (3 page)

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said. My stomach rumbled as though to punctuate the statement. I was hungry, and I didn’t have anything back on the bus because I figured they’d provide a nice spread like usual.

“Poor Pretty Boy,” Blake said, shaking his head in mock sympathy. “Rock star doesn’t have everything set out exactly like he wants it.”

There was nothing for it but to flip him the bird again. He made the same gesture he’d made to illustrate what Eric and his woman were up to, though it took on different meaning directing it at me.

“Tempting, but no thanks stud,” I said.

“Your loss man,” Blake said with a shrug, not missing a beat as he worked his guitar.

“Anyplace good around here I could sneak out to without getting noticed?”

“They’re funneling all the fan traffic through the east side of the arena. One of the security guys said there was a diner over on the west side that would probably be pretty deserted if any of us wanted to get out before the concert,” Blake said without looking up.

“Good. Think I’m going to check that out before we get started. Want to come with man?”

He shook his head without missing a beat. I looked over to Todd and Lisa but they shook their heads too. It looked like it was going to be me all by my lonesome. I went off to find security.

I’d long ago learned to be very nice to the security at these places because they usually had the skinny on getting out of the venue nice and quiet-like without worrying about crowds of groupies running me over and groping me to death. Not that getting groped to death had ever happened as far as I knew, but I didn’t want to be the first documented case.

A few quiet words with the head of security and I was tossing on a hoodie and making my way out of a small out of the way door in an alley on the west side of the arena that was completely deserted.

“I’ll have one of my guys waiting here for you to get back,” the guy said.

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

To show him how much I appreciated it I slipped him a couple hundreds as I was shaking his hand. “Let your guy know there’s some of that waiting for him if I get to enjoy dinner in peace without any fans or photographers mysteriously finding out where I am.”

The security head grinned. “Sure thing Grant, though I’d prefer an autographed picture if you don’t mind. My daughter is a big fan. Says you guys are retro and all that.”

“I think I can arrange that,” I said.

I didn’t make a sour face until I turned away from the guy. Retro? I know he meant well, but yeesh. We’d only been out of the spotlight for ten years. Retro? Maybe that explained why some of the girls coming to our shows were so young. I wasn’t going to knock it if it put paying butts in seats, but it still stung just a little and made me feel old.

I looked at my phone. The map said this place was just around the corner so I started walking. I kept my head down at first, but soon enough it was back up because why bother? This side of the arena was strangely deserted, mostly business stuff and businesses built to cater to business types. Definitely not the sort of place where you’d find concert-goers.

It was nice going for a walk without worrying about paparazzi or crazy fans trying to chase me down. Not that I’d had to worry about the first all that much in recent years. At least not before the tour. Now that we were sort of back in the news people were interested again, but I was even less inclined to play along these days since most of the stories were of the “let’s all laugh at the aging wannabes on tour” variety.

Yeah, fuck those guys.

The diner was pretty nice. It had an old feel to it, though whether that was because it had been sitting here for fifty years or because they deliberately made it up to have an old-timey feel was anyone’s guess. I stopped at the front counter wondering if I was about to run into someone who might call the press. I breathed a sigh of relief when an older lady who looked like she hadn’t been in the Twenty Promises target demographic for at least the fifty years since this diner was maybe built came out from the back.

“Can I help you?”

“Do I need to sit at the counter here or can I take a seat at a booth?”

“Whatever floats your boat hon,” she said in a raspy voice that said she’d maybe had one too many cigarettes over the years.

I decided it would be more prudent to take a seat at one of the booths running along the front of the diner. Sure there were big picture windows along that side and anyone walking past could look in and see me or take a picture, but the area was so deserted that I wasn’t particularly worried. I’d long ago learned that it paid to sit in a nice quiet corner where I was less likely to be noticed even if the coast did seem to be mostly clear.

My instincts served me well tonight. No sooner had the elderly waitress taken my order, a simple burger and some fries, than I heard the bell ring over the door and a girl walked in who was unmistakably dressed to go to a concert. She looked over in my direction and instinctively I put my head down.

Damn it. I’d gone to all this trouble to find a nice out of the way place to have a quick meal and now a fan managed to find me anyways despite my best efforts. There really was no escape.

I looked up once I figured enough time had passed that the coast was clear. Got a really good look at this girl for the first time, and…

Damn.

Like, seriously. Damn.

This girl was hot. Sure I was only catching glimpses. She sparkled. Almost like there was an unspoken dress code for women at our concerts that included dressing up as a disco ball. Aside from that, though, damn. Long hair flowed down past her shoulders, a killer body that filled out that sparkly disco ball outfit in all the right places, and when she turned in my direction I saw a pair of stunning blue eyes to go along with the shiny dark hair and a smile that immediately had my cock standing up and taking notice.

That was new for this tour. Sure I’d seen girls and thought they were hot, but I’d never gotten a hard on looking at any of them. No, that was the sort of thing that led to problems like the Incident, and that was the last thing I wanted on this tour. I just wanted to make some money, have some fun reliving old memories, and go back to my nice house on the coast where I could enjoy all the advantages of hitting it big young and having the good sense to come up with a nice investment portfolio rather than blowing it all on parties and cars and drugs or whatever the hell it was people did to spiral out of control and provide some drama for the VH1 documentary.

Still. I’d only gotten one look at her but already there was something different about this girl. I knew it was a bad idea, but I found myself wanting to go over and introduce myself. I always loved the look girls got when they realized who I was, but that wasn’t a look I’d enjoyed in quite some time.

Here was an opportunity to have that fun considering this was a girl who was here for the concert. Yeah, she’d know exactly who I was. It didn’t hurt that she was hot, or that she had a smile that made me feel warm all over for some reason.

Besides, she seemed to be here by herself. I could have a quick conversation and duck back to the arena. I’d be gone before whatever she posted to social media had a chance to get very far, assuming anyone believed her in the first place.

There was a voice in the back of my head whispering that this was a bad idea. I ignored that voice. I was just going up to say hi. That’s all this was. Even if she was getting me turned on in a way that a fan hadn’t in a good long while, it’s not like anything was going to come of a brief meeting in some diner. I’d have some fun with a fan, she’d get a thrill, and we’d part friends.

I didn’t care what that little voice was whispering. I was compelled by a more powerful force. Whether that more powerful force was the universe trying to push me towards this girl or just my cock noticing a pretty girl and short circuiting the more rational thinking parts of my brain was anyone’s guess, but I was a slave to that force for the moment.

So I stood and made my way over to give one lucky fan the concert experience of a lifetime. This was going to be fun.

4: Pre-Concert Snack

"This is spooky."

"Tell me about it," Kayla said.

"It's never like this during the day."

"No way," Kayla said. "The whole place is packed with people."

It looked like a ghost town now. The only people in evidence were a couple of homeless people packing it up for the night. My stomach grumbled and I looked around.

"Is there any place we could eat that's open this late?" I asked.

"Sure! There's plenty of restaurants around here," Kayla said. "Like…"

Only I didn't see anything that looked like it was remotely close to being open. We were on the financial side of the big arena rather than the night life side. Most of the restaurants around here were a breakfast and lunch type of deal. Everything in this part of downtown shut down around 5 o'clock, except for the arena of course when there was a concert or a game, and so why the hell would any of the restaurants bother to stay open if there were no customers?

"Maybe if we went to the other side of the arena?" Kayla said.

"Maybe there's something behind the arena? Surely places right there would stay open for games and stuff."

"I really kind of wanted to get to our seats. Can't you just eat there?" Kayla asked.

"And pay an arm and a leg for my food? No thanks. I'm not made of money!"

Kayla sighed. "Fine."

I looked around again. It really was spooky how deserted this part of town that was after 5 o'clock. It was almost enough to send a chill down my spine. I could almost imagine people lurking in the shadows, lurking in the alleys, but there probably weren't even criminals down here. Criminals needed people to prey on. Even the muggers were probably off in another part of town where they could rob flesh and blood people rather than the ghosts.

"How about this?" I said. "You want to get to the arena. I want to have dinner without paying fifty dollars for a cheap hot dog. Why don't you go ahead and I'll catch up after I've found a diner or something and grabbed a quick bite to eat."

Kayla regarded me skeptically. "This isn't some attempt to get out of this? You're not going to turn around and go back to our apartment the instant I lose sight of you, are you?"

I laughed and pulled Kayla into a hug. A hug that seemed to surprise her from the way her eyes went wide. Then she wrapped her arms around me.

"Don't worry," I said. "I'll be there. I just need food. I had to skip lunch at work today."

Kayla pulled back. "Fine. Have fun with your greasy food!"

"And you have fun with all those older women trying to recapture their youth. Be sure to let me know how many forty-year-old women you see trying to squeeze into outfits they haven't been able to fit into for twenty years!"

Kayla rolled her eyes. "Watch it."

I held up my hands. "I know, I know. That was the last one. Promise."

I turned and looked around. There really wasn't anything open. There were no lights to be seen on the first level of any building. Sure there were lights twinkling in some of the towers, but that was to be expected. And I was pretty sure none of the lights up there were hiding a diner or a restaurant or anything like that. Maybe a break room with some popcorn, but I needed dinner. I pulled out my phone and tapped, tried to find something that was actually open this time of night in this part of town.

My face lit up. There was a small diner that was pretty close to the arena. More importantly it looked like the only place on my side of the arena that was still open.

So with phone in hand I started navigating towards it.

I stepped inside and the smell of burgers and fries hit my nose. That wasn't normally the kind of thing I'd go for, I had a figure to watch after all, but as far as I was concerned it was manna from the heavens tonight. I sidled up to the counter. An actual honest to God counter where you could order and eat.

The only other person in the place was some guy at the far end with his head down chowing down on a burger and fries. This seemed like a very burger and fries type of a place.

I decided that sounded like just the thing and I put in my order with an older waitress with a sweet smile and a voice that sounded like she’d enjoyed one cigarette too many over the years.

The waitress had just put my meal down and I was about to bite into it. Only before I could bite down a shadow fell across me. I looked up and blinked. It was the guy who'd been sitting in the corner with his head down eating. At least I assumed this was the same guy. The hair color was the same and it's not like there was anybody else in here.

And holy shit. Good God damn.

I'd said I didn't have a chance of meeting a hot guy at the concert, but I guess I'd never taken into account meeting a hot guy somewhat adjacent to the concert. This guy was built without necessarily being huge. He looked like a guy who took care of himself. Spent time on the weights. Had the sort of six pack abs that showed through a tight T-shirt and made me want to lick him.

Well then. Where the hell did that thought come from? I gave myself a mental shake. Tried to come out of this funk. Only his six pack, his toned chest, his incredible shoulders, the way he held himself, that cocky confident smile on his face. It was the full package.