Dare (The Dare Trilogy) (19 page)

He started to move with her but then pulled up short. “I can’t,” he said at last.

“Why not?” Dianne was confused, wondering what on earth Elizabeth had said to him.

With a huge sigh that caused his shoulders to slump, Cam turned his face away from her. “Darius is having a party,” he said in a flat voice. “A special party, for Optima and Black Ark. Apparently it’s to reward us for all our hard work.”

“Screw his party!” Dianne said, her own anger rising now. “Who the fuck does he think he is?”

Slowly, Cam turned to face her again. His voice was measured now, controlled. “He’s Darius Optimus,” he answered her. “And if we don’t go, he’s going to throw Black Ark off the tour.”

Optima’s performance was impeccable
—perfectly controlled in every way, but for Dianne any pleasure she had once felt at hearing the group was soured by the petty machinations of Gary Johnson. She refused to even consider him as Darius any more. Watching with a cool eye, his movements and gestures seemed foolish and overblown, like those of a pantomime villain, and he lacked the raw passion that she had heard in Cam that night. Even Johnny’s guitar playing did not fill her with the same joy as before, his pumped up solos striking her as forced, no doubt fuelled by the cocaine that he had snorted profusely before taking the stage.

She had been desperate for Cam when Black Ark had finished
—her body burning with a fire that was more than a match for his words.
Ich war schon immer dein, jetzt gib mir dich
. She did not need to have those words explained to her, and whatever surprise she had felt when hearing him sing German for the first time, she was also sure that Cam Fraser held many more secret treasures.

And yet, her lust
—and, she realised with a shock, something more—had been doused more effectively than if she had been the target of the beer glass thrown at Cam when first he’d walked on stage. Now she was angry, sullen, uncooperative. Part of her wanted to tell Cam to stand up to Gary, to tell the lead singer of Optima where to go. But there was just enough of a glimmer of reason in her rage to tell her that this would be too much, that Cam also had to think of Tony, James—even Dan—as well as her feelings.

When Optima had finished their set, they saw Elizabeth again. Dianne could not resist a snarl at the other woman, whose face wore a smug expression but who also (Dianne noted with satisfaction) kept her distance from Cam. He simply regarded her with disdain in his eyes.

“I’m glad to see you’re still here. Darius will be pleased. Come on, we’re going back to the hotel.”

Once more she turned and walked away, not even looking back
—so sure she was that they would follow. For a moment both Dianne and Cam resisted this contempt, but then they began to walk behind her slowly, reluctantly.

Behind
Feuerwerk
a number of limousines were waiting to ferry Optima and their retainers back to the hotel, and one of those vehicles had been reserved for the members of Black Ark.

“This is more like it!” Dan said as he clambered in beside Tony and James. “Now we’re fucking travelling in style.”

“Ah, shut it,” Tony said good-naturedly. Both he and James had been chatting excitedly: all of them were aware of just how fantastic they had been that night. Only Cam and Dianne said nothing as they drove on, sitting in sullen silence.

The hotel was a far cry from that in which Black Ark had been housed, Elegant and classical, the Regent lobby was all wood-panels and marble, with gleaming floors and courteous, discreet staff who hid whatever reservations they may have felt upon seeing the motley crew enter the hotel.

“Yes, sir,” one of the receptionists said to Tony when he explained who they were, a beautiful woman with her blonde hair tied back into a severe bun, her English only slightly overlaid with a German accent. “Mister Optimus informed us you would be arriving. He has taken a suite of rooms on the top floor. The lift is to your left.” Cam still said nothing, for once letting his companions take control.

The lift opened on a plush corridor, with half a dozen doors leading away on either side. “Which one do you think it is?” James asked.

“I think this is where the party is going on,” was Tony’s reply, pausing at the nearest. Certainly sounds of some entertainment in progress could be heard, muffled by the heavy door. Dianne felt strangely nervous and looked up at Cam, who simply shrugged, his expression hard to read.

“Come on
—we can’t wait out here like numpties,” Dan snapped, pushing past them and placing a determined hand on the door.

When he opened it, they saw half a dozen people or so in the room beyond, a large space that opened into several others. Music was playing loudly
—one of Optima’s albums, unsurprisingly—and three people, one woman and two men (who Dianne recognised as the bass player and drummer from Optima) were seated on the sofa, snorting cocaine from the glass table top in front of them. The woman was topless, heavy breasts hanging down and one of her nipples pierced.

Beyond them, a man and a woman that Dianne didn’t recognise were talking. The man was fairly short, with a shaved head and small, goatee beard, while the woman
—extremely beautiful despite her heavy makeup—was leaning down towards him to listen, a smile on her lips. Her body was an almost perfect hourglass figure, but her arms were more muscular than Dianne would have expected, her long, blonde hair reaching down her back.

Beside them, sitting on another sofa, Darius was sandwiched between Elizabeth and a young redheaded girl who was kissing him, her hand reaching down between his thighs to press into his crotch.

“This is more fucking like it!” Dan repeated, entering the room and giving a salute for all the world as though he was the VIP the party had been waiting for. At this, the tall blonde looked across at him and her smile deepened, while Darius also pulled his face away from the redhead to see who had come in. Elizabeth had clocked Cam and Dianne immediately, and the supercilious expression on her face made Dianne want to go up and punch her.

“So glad you decided to come,” Darius shouted, his voice ironic. The redheaded girl, who was pretty in a slightly trashy sort of way, scowled at the group who had entered as Darius stood up, but as she made to move Elizabeth reached out with a sinuous arm, grasping her hand and pulling her back down onto the seat.

James was standing open mouthed, and even Dianne could not completely suppress a giggle when she saw his expression. Tony had already taken stock of the situation, and now had a broad grin as he went forward to the table where cocaine lay in trails across the glass. The bass player was still snorting white powder, but the drummer was now sucking one of the woman’s breasts as she rubbed her hands against his hair.

“Fun, isn’t it?” Darius said as he came closer to Dianne and Cam who still hovered near the doorway. Dianne found herself unable to look him in the eye and her attention wandered across to Elizabeth who was snogging the redhead, dominating the younger woman in the chair so that she was unable to rise.

“I guess whatever floats your boat,” Cam replied laconically. Darius stared at him for a moment, his mouth working as he attempted to make some other response. Instead, he quickly took hold of Dianne’s hand before she could pull it away, and led her towards the open doorway that led into a nearby room.

“A little birdie told me that you have a thing for Johnny,” Darius replied, leering at her. “I’m sure he’d be pleased to see you.”

Cam started to protest, but Dianne shook her head as she was led onwards. When she turned her face back to the direction in which she was being taken.

The bedroom was huge
—probably the size of her entire flat back in London—the centre filled by a massive bed on which a full-scale orgy was taking place. At first, Dianne was not able to make sense of the mass of flesh that was moving and moaning on the silk sheets of the bed.

Darius had not let go of her hand and was standing to one side of her, Cam slightly behind her. Directly in front of her, the blonde German woman she had seen on the coach previously with Johnny was naked, bouncing up and down with her buttocks grasped by a pair of hands, strong muscled thighs stretched out beneath her and her pussy clearly visible, filled by a sizeable cock. She could not see the man’s face, but she guessed this was Johnny and, for a second, felt a strange sensation in her chest, somewhere between shock and jealousy that she immediately dismissed with a shake of her head.

To one side of them, the young brunette girl was sucking another man who Dianne had a vague recollection of seeing around, perhaps one of Optima’s roadies. He was a stocky man, perhaps in his forties, and solidly built with a slight beer belly, one hand holding the brunette’s head in place as he shoved his cock deeper into her mouth. The woman’s breasts were not as large as Dianne’s but sagged slightly, and with a free hand she was masturbating another, younger guy, somewhat skinny with slightly sallow skin.

“Just makes you want to join in, doesn’t it,” Darius said, leering at the scene in front of them.

As he spoke, the roadie pulled himself from the brunette’s mouth and moved into position behind the blonde who was riding Johnny. Dianne couldn’t see clearly but it didn’t take much imagination for her to imagine what was going on, how he would be seeking to penetrate the German woman anally, to sandwich her between himself and Johnny.

Her own response to this was complex. She was at once disgusted and fascinated: Dianne was no virgin, and had fooled around enough to understand what was taking place, but her first, real-life orgy hardly seemed to be the stuff that dreams were made on. Cam had said nothing and when Dianne looked at him his face was set as though carved from stone.

“Why don’t we join in?” Darius asked, his eyes glittering as he stared at Dianne. For some reason she was suddenly aware of how sweaty his palm was. The blonde was starting to moan more loudly as she was penetrated by both men, while the brunette had rolled onto her side, letting the skinny male enter her from behind.

Cam opened his mouth to speak, but before he could do so Elizabeth had appeared behind him. “Oh, hello,” Darius said casually, as though she had just wondered in from a meeting of the mother’s union. “Where did the other girl go?”

Elizabeth shrugged. “She didn’t fancy it with another girl. Boring.” As she spoke, she gave a sly smile in the direction of Cam before her eyes fixed on Dianne as an unspoken challenge. “Anyway, she’s not the one I’m really interested in.”

Cam shuddered at this. Very gently, he took Dianne’s free hand in his. “Why don’t we get a drink?” he asked as diplomatically as possible.

“You can’t tell me you’re scared!” Darius gloated.

Elizabeth moved closer to Cam, letting one of her hands snake up his broad chest, her painted fingernails digging slightly into the fabric of his shirt. “Come on,” she said quietly, her voice barely audible above the blonde’s simulated shrieks of pleasure. “After your performance tonight, you need a reward. You can have both of us, if you want.” At this, her eyes flickered across towards Dianne again. “And if you want, I’ll let you fuck me in the ass
—a special treat.”

“Her arse is to die for,” Darius smirked. “I’ve often wondered what you two are like when you’re banging away at each other. Two gorgeous people like you shouldn’t hide your talents
—I can just tell by the look in this one’s eyes that she’s a slut. We can watch her and Elizabeth playing with each other then we can take it in turns to fuck them both.”

Cam’s face displayed a spasm of anger and, simply disgusted now, Dianne pulled her hand away from Darius. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out and she turned directly to Cam who sheltered her against his chest, placing an arm around her protectively.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” she heard Darius sigh. “Fucking boring. Some day, you’re going to have to explain to me how the hell you and Johnny ever came to be friends. Go on, just fuck off, the pair of you.”

Dianne did not look back as Cam gently led her away. She felt stupid, ashamed for some reason, as though she had failed at this point. It took her all her self-control simply not to run towards the door, and as she looked up she saw Dan groping the breasts of the tall blonde, his mouth locked in a passionate kiss. Tony was in his element, watching the girl with the pierced nipples as she took the cock of the other member of Optima in her mouth. James, in the meantime, was nursing a beer in the corner of the room, watching in embarrassment at everything that was going on.

“I’m sorry,” Dianne whispered when they finally left the room. Cam had been staring straight ahead all the time, and she was more worried now that she had made him angry, that she had somehow jeopardised Black Ark. When he looked down at her at last, there was indeed anger in his blue eyes but it dissolved completely as he watched her.

“Let’s go,” he said quietly, squeezing her gently in his arm. “It’s been a long and tiring day.”

As she left the bathroom, a robe wrapped tightly around her for comfort as much as to dry her body, Dianne looked at Cam lying in the bed, his torso beautifully tattooed and broad, his delightful arms moving as he flicked through the pages of a magazine.

Both of them had been subdued as they walked back to their hotel, Dianne feeling particularly deflated. A few hours previously she had been willing—desperate even—to do anything with this man, but she had been completely thrown by what they had witnessed. Cam had said nothing and she was pretty sure that he had been affected in a similar way. Normally, cleaning up after a gig would have been an opportunity for more play, but this time Dianne had just wanted to walk around a little, trying to clear her head while Cam went to freshen up.