Falling Stars (4 page)

Jimmy
patted my back. "Well, played Chris." Jimmy laughed.

"God
damn it," Elliott growled.

We
entered the studio and rushed into make-up by the photographer's assistant.
Each of us took a chair and waited for the stylist and make-up artist to
arrive. After about fifteen minutes, they finally showed up.

"Sorry
guys we had to do some touch-ups on the first group," Layla apologized as
she picked up her sponges and tubes.

"First
group?" Jimmy questioned while Meghan was working on his bleached platinum
head.
Honestly, he hardly had hair on his shaved head. Why in the hell was
she wasting time on him?

"Yeah
they were brought in earlier, but, you know, girls take longer than guys."
She smiled and kept working. I sat back and relaxed while she finished up.

We
were all in there for about an hour before Nicholas arrived.

"I
want you all on your best behavior. We're shooting the tour promos today."

That's
when it clicked. Tour
promos, girls, first group, it was the damn girlie
group.

Quickly
I moved out of the dressing room to see if they were still here, but wardrobe
grabbed us and pulled us in to change.

Finally,
able to get the dressers off me, I stepped out to the large room with the photo
stage. There they were standing grouped together and the photographer fawning
over them. I felt the guys approach and stand around me.

"They
are soooo hot!" Elliott said loudly next to my ear.

My
brow creased.
They aren't that hot and I knew hot.

"I
agree." Jimmy said, licking his lips. Jackson just stared with his mouth
slightly open.

"Will
you guys suppress your damn hormones for like two minutes?" I scoffed.

"This
coming from 'mister come on I'll fuck you in the men's room'," Elliott
laughed loudly. "You know that 'Blondie' is on your to-do list, and before
you ask, No, I will not do body shots with her so you can get her."

They
all laughed. I crossed my arms over my chest and watched. The girls waited to
begin the pictures. They were standing beside the stage area while some crew
people set up more props.

They
stepped to their instruments. A drum set with lips all over it and three
guitars, Tiny grabbed the purple glitter covered guitar. The second was a
bright yellow bass that Blondie slipped over her shoulder. The last was a green
guitar with a picture of Kermit the Frog. Mia grabbed it.

They
each took their place and the set director turned on some music. Blondie and
Tiny held their guitars and Red was on the drum. Mia stood front and center
with a guitar swung around to her back.

"I
want you to sing with the song for the shots." The photographer
instructed. "Sing like you guys are rehearsing."

Mia
swung the green guitar in front of her and moved her fingers across the
strings. Holding it low, she grabbed the microphone stand and started to sing.
Surprise filled me as her voice saturated the air from the radio. However, the
studio could do whatever they wanted with a sound table and editing equipment.

"Okay,
now give me actual stage performance," the photographer shouted.

Mia
moved around the stage, leaning toward the photographer as if he were the
crowd, and interacting with the others in the group.

"Kill
me now." Elliot groaned and leaned against me, biting his fist

I
gave him a confused look.

"The
red head," he growled out. "Her tongue is all over her lips while
she…look." He groaned and pointed.

Sure
enough, as she played her drums her tongue would peek out from behind her lips.
I nudged Elliott off me.

"Damn,
Una wasn't lying, they're good." Jimmy said.

I
grunted.

"You
guys didn't Google them?" Jackson looked at us astounded.

"I
did," Elliott spoke up with a proud smile and a fist pump into the air.

"I
can't believe neither of you bothered to listen to the group scheduled to open for
us." Jackson shook his head.

"Shut
up!" Jimmy said and I nodded in agreement.
I was too busy planning
their replacement.

The
thought brought a small smile to my lips. Suddenly the set director approached
us to come toward the stage. The girl's props removed. The crew was setting up
for our first shots.

"Wait."
The set director said loudly. "Nicholas, Una, Do we want a group shot?"

Nicholas
looked hesitant to answer. He looked to Una. Una said something, shrugged, and
then nodded.

"Yes,
just a few." Nicholas answered for them.

The
set director shouted to some assistant to get the girls to come back to the
stage.

"This
will be fantastic," the photographer said and started moving lighting,
changing camera lenses, and positioning things around the stage.

The
girls look extremely hesitant and Mia rolled her eyes when she caught my glare.
Once they were on stage with us, it looked like boys versus girls, keeping to
our groups.

"Mingle,
mingle," the director ordered.

"What
do you want us to do?" Red asked with her hands on her hips.

I
watched Elliott walk over and wrap his arm around her shoulders. He smiled
large just before picking her up, bridal style. I stayed off to the side
watching him in disdain. Everyone else laughed. I heard the photographer taking
advantage of the moment with the sound of his shutter clicking rapidly.

"That's
perfect, keep it up…all of you, join in," the director shouted, walking up
to push us together more.

I
bumped into Mia and felt a jolt. She looked at me quickly, blushed and walked
away. The next thing I knew Tiny was wrapping her arm in mine and her other
around Jackson's. I looked over in time to see Mia hop onto Jimmy's back. I
scowled.

The
photographer started shouting things out, as did the set director, so I played
the part for the photo shoot.

The
crew brought out a large red velvet couch. Elliott sat dead center with Jimmy
to his left and Jackson to his right. Tiny sat on the arm of the couch leaning
toward Jackson with her hand behind his head. Blondie had the other arm. Red lay
across the guy’s laps. I walked over and stood behind the couch and Elliott's
head. Leaning forward I placed my hands on the back and eyed Mia. She sat on
the floor between Elliott's legs, Indian style, with her head leaning on his
knee. Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I put on the photo face.

After
the small jolt from our brief moment touching, I couldn't fight this weird pull
toward her. I kept trying to shake off the weird and unfamiliar feeling as we
positioned and repositioned. The photographer clicked away the entire time.

"Let's
get the leads together." The director announced. "I haven't seen one
with you two anywhere near each other, so let's get them alone."

Mia
sighed loudly.

Good,
she's already annoyed at just the idea. I can work this to my advantage.

She
turned around after standing from the floor and looked at me with a glare. I
smirked.

"What's
wrong dear Mia? Don't you want to be alone with me? Am I a distraction for you?"
I figured arrogance would be the way to go with a chick like her.

"Look,
Mason, let's just get this over with and get out of each other's way." She
climbed onto the couch and sat on the back with her hands at her sides.

I
took the opportunity, pushing her legs apart and making her eyes widen. Then I
plopped down between her legs in the center of the couch and pulled her arms
around to rest them on my shoulders. Wrapping one arm around her leg, my hand
rested on her thigh.

The
photographer was eating the shit up.

Inching
my fingers slowly up her thigh, she growled before climbing off the couch.

"Let's
get a few more poses." The photographer shouted.

I smirked
when she growled again.
She was making this too easy.

Grabbing
her arm, I pulled her down onto the couch to lie on top of my chest. She pushed
up, one hand on the couch beside my head and the other on my chest.

"Look
here." We both turned to the photographer who snapped away.

I
put my right arm behind my head and grinned, sliding my left hand from her
waist toward her ass. She sat up quickly making sure to push extra hard into my
chest and smacking my head with her hand. She stood smiling.

That
bitch!

Jolting
upright onto the couch with my back against the armrest and one leg stretched
out. I pulled her back down and positioned her against my chest. She brought
both of her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Leaning
back, I rested my arms on the back of the couch and the armrest. After the
final shot, she started to move. I bucked my hips to thrust directly into her
ass. She jumped off the couch.

"You're
such and asshole!" she yelled.

"You
loved it." I leered and she glared. "Call me anytime you want to do
that in private." After blowing a kiss, I stood from the couch.

Before
I saw it coming, she grab a cushion from the couch and hit me. The whole room
gasped. Then snorts turned into bursts of laughter, the closest laugh coming
from Mia.

"Don't
touch me again!" She pointed at me, trying to keep a straight face. Then she
stalked off.

The
angry twitch of her hips drew my attention to her dark denim clad ass.
Well,
well, what do we have here? Underneath it all, Mia had a spectacular ass. Perhaps
I'd been too hasty in my 'thin' assessment. In fact feeling her against me wasn't
too bad either. Maybe she would be good for something during the tour after
all. If I can't get rid of her, at least I can screw her regularly.

Looking
up, Nicholas gave me the familiar look of disappointment mixed with anger. His
long strides made it clear I was about to get a lecture from my father slash
manager.

It
wouldn't be the first time or the last.

Chapter
Three

Apologizing
repeatedly for my outburst, Una assured me was not a big deal. We left the
studio and I didn't have to look or talk to Christopher again until the start
of the tour. Thank God, because he needs to realize that if he messes with me,
with the band, or this tour he'll have a run for his money.

Back
at our house, we started to tie up some loose ends and get things situated for
the time we would be away. Serena and Linda worked out the first three months
of the tour schedule where Ryan was concerned, along with the plans for his
upcoming birthday.

Leaving
day quickly arrived and we needed to get going. It was a mild April Wednesday,
but there was a lot to do before the concerts on Friday and Saturday nights.
After saying our goodbyes, we climbed into the studio's car and settled in for
the long trip to Seattle.

I
put my earbuds in and turned my iPod on, closed my eyes and leaned into the
door trying to nap during the trip. I’m a travel sleeper, unless I was the
driver, of course. About two hours later by Serena nudged me.

"Pit
stop," She announced before slipping out of the car.

Stepping
out of the car, I stretched and located the nearest bathroom.

After
using the dirt filthy facilities, I browsed the little stop-n-shop store to see
if they had hand sanitizer and Swedish Red Fish. Grabbing a travel sized bottle
of hand sanitizer and two large bags of the candy fish I love so much, it was
time to check out. While waiting for my change I saw a magazine cover with
The
Forgotten
on the front of it.

Ugh,
Christopher asshole Mason front and center. To make it worse he's wearing that
stupid crooked grin. I want to smack it off his face or at least draw a black
mustache on it.

Giggling,
I slid a TV guide over the cover.

Climbing
back into the car, I got comfortable again, but couldn't get past the thought
of having to deal with Christopher on a daily basis for ten months. I could
only hope he would take up ignoring us rather than acting like the asshole he's
proving to be. The chances were extremely thin and deep down I knew…there was
no way in hell that was going to happen.

During
the photo shoot, the mischievous look in his eyes had gotten me on edge. I knew
he was up to something. However, I'd be a liar if I didn't admit to the
peculiar lure to him. It was bizarre and stupid, like falling for that guy in
high school who got high all the time.

Pulling
out my notebook and placing it in my lap, I figured I'd preoccupy myself with song
writing. Opening the bag of red fish, I deeply inhaled.
Heaven.

"You're
disgusting" Kat was crinkling her nose.

"What?"
I looked down at myself. Nothing looked out of place.