Page 9

Chapter Nine

Snipe

“Sorry to cut into your morning, gentlemen,” Easton apologized as soon as he opened the door. “Please, head to the kitchen. Breakfast is waiting.”

“Easton, you’re nothing short of amazing. I hope that husband of yours realizes what he has.” Jason’s words teased a grunting Diamond. “I’m just razzin’ ya, big D.”

Diamond gripped his crotch. “I’ll give you big D.”

“Keep that anaconda caged, the internet has seen enough of your junk, as have River and I.” Easton and River had spent countless hours forcing websites to cease and desist with the naked shots of Diamond they had. Damn guy had a problem keeping his clothes on. I get it, you’re well-endowed, but shouldn’t that be saved for your man?

Unfazed by all that, Diamond put Jason in a headlock and dragged him toward the kitchen. Sikes and I followed behind. Jason was in no danger, plus boys would be boys and all that jazz. These bands loved each other fiercely and would protect one another with their lives. They’d more than proven that in the form of stepping up when one of their chosen Masterson brothers needed a helping hand.

“Morning, Jason.” River was already here, laptop in front of him. “Sikes, Snipe, welcome to the Pacific Northwest.”

“Thanks.”

“Do they always answer in stereo?” River asked the familiar question we’d heard so many times I lost count.

“They do,” Jason smiled. “I quite enjoy it.”

Smart-ass was sassin’ for a red assin’.

“Ah, the newest triad in the Masterson family is present and accounted for.” Fuck. Word got around fast if Mickey already heard. Guess it was a good thing we weren’t hiding.

“Gentlemen, please fix your plates. I cook but I don’t serve.” Easton grabbed a plate and fixed his own. “We woke Marley and Nigel, so they’ll be here in about an hour. Josh was helping Reagan out at the bar. As soon as he finishes up he’ll be up. Gives us a chance to catch up.”

Were we in trouble? Sikes and I glanced at each other and Jason froze, mid-scrambled egg scoop.

“Did we do something wrong?” Glad Jason asked, wasn’t sure if it was our place to.

“Absolutely not. With the tour upcoming and all the changes going on, I thought it would be good to touch base and get a feel for how you’re each handling it.”

I didn’t know what it was about Easton. He had this way of grilling you without it coming across as grilling. Sneaky yet affective.

Were we supposed to go first or Jason?

Jason wiped his mouth and took a sip of coffee. “It’s a lot all at once, but it’s good.”

Our audience, Easton, Diamond, River, and Mickey, quietly waited for a response. Guess this was a little taste of how they felt onstage with all the attention on them.

“It’ll all work out.” Sikes was not one to mince words.

“Where are you guys crashing while the house gets built?” It made sense Diamond would ask that given he was in on the whole house hunt situation from the start.

Privacy no mas .

Guess that’s your life once you date a public figure.

I shrugged. “Hotel city.”

“You can crash at our place. We have like six rooms we don’t use.” Mickey’s offer stunned me. He’d never been rude to us, hell, no one within Masterson had been but we’d never so much as carried on a single conversation. “Throw your stuff in storage then head on over.”

“We have to head back to Vegas and get packed first.” There was so much going on. Their questions sent a rush of to-dos through my head.

“I’m gonna head down with them and help out,” Jason said. “Are there any specific dates you need me here or want us to move them?”

“Honestly, not much. We’ve got the fleet manager working on your bus. He’s assured us it will be ready in plenty of time.” Easton was a human schedule. How he juggled as much as he did I’d never know. “Diamond and I won’t be on the road with you this time. The twins are due any day now and we refuse to miss a single moment of that.”

“I don’t blame you. I’m excited for you guys. So, we’ll have…”

“Good morning, fuckers,” Seltzer announced as he and Jeremiah strolled in, answering Jason’s question for him.

“Yes. Jeremiah and Mr. Personality will be on the road with you.” Easton rolled his eyes. “Fix a plate and join us.”

Thank fuck for separate buses.

“Guess we’re gonna be neighbors.” Seltzer nudged my shoulder as he sat beside me. ‘

“How so?”

“Jeremiah and I are having a house built in the same subdivision as you guys.”

“Right on. That’ll be cool.” Jason was far more excited about that than Sikes and I were. I knew Sikes’ mannerisms and the stiff shoulders were a tell-tale.

“We split our time between here and Vegas. Don’t worry, big guy,” Selter squeezed my shoulder. “We won’t crash your menage party.”

“Good, because there will be kids living there.” Seltzer’s eyes widened at Sikes’ response.

“You guys have kids?”

“My brothers and sister plus my mom will be living with us.”

Well, that was one way to silence a room.

“I think it’s wonderful, the merging of two families much like ours. Jeremiah is not only my brother-in-law but now my stepbrother. My mother-in-law is now my stepmother…” Easton trailed off. “Saying that aloud now I see where it may not be perceived well by others outside of our circle.”

From silence came laughter as Easton’s explanation sank in. Thankfully all couples involved were non-blood related. In many of our cases, found family was better and stronger than blood.

Marley and Nigel showed up just before Josh did. Sikes and I moved off to the side and took a seat at the eat in bar to allow the bands to sit together. That was the reason we were here, after all. This wasn’t a social call, but it was our job as well as Jason’s, and we’d do well to remember our place within the organization.

Even if it did now come with a few perks.

Sikes held up his phone and gestured toward the door. We stepped outside and took the call from Fizzbo.

“Hey, Boss, what’s up?”

“You’re at Easton’s place?”

The man knew everything.

“Affirmative.”

“Let’s talk about your transfer. Deuce plans to load up tomorrow and hit the road on Monday morning.” This we knew but correcting Fizzbo was the last thing either of us would do. “When do the two of you plan to head back to Vegas?”

I shrugged when Sikes glanced at me. “We can fly back tomorrow. Jason is going with us.”

“I expected nothing less. Where are you staying while your house gets built?”

Again, he already knew.

“Mickey offered up his spare rooms. We’ll throw our stuff in storage while we wait.”

“Sounds like a plan. Mickey’s a solid guy, just avoid his basement. Or not. Not my place to know that about my employees.”

Yeah, the infamous BDSM dungeons frequented by Mickey, River, Benny, Diamond and Easton. From what we understood, Diamond’s dungeon was state-of-the-art. Not our place to judge and not our kinks, either. To each their own but it might be cool to see firsthand. Just saying…

“We’re good, Boss.”

“I’ll make the flight reservations and email them shortly. Enjoy the new bus and don’t disappoint me.”

“We won’t.”

Two minds, one reply.

“I’ll be in touch.” Click.

“Well shit, do we rent a truck or just load it into a pod rental?”

“Honestly, most of our shit is old and will not go with the new house. Let’s start our new life with furniture we pick out with Jason and donate the old. I bet we could donate it to the LGBT center Jordan volunteers at in Vegas.” I loved this about Sikes. The man had an amazing heart.

“Works for me.” I nearly kissed him then remembered the audience on the other side of the glass. Far too many eyes who enjoyed a show and we weren’t the men to give it to them. Sure enough when we turned around, they didn’t even try to hide the fact they were staring. Jason grinned and winked at us. Little shit.

“Gentlemen, can we assist you with something?” Sikes asked as we stepped back inside.

“Actually,” Easton stood, “we’re headed to the conference room so River can use the large screen. Fizzbo texted you’ll be heading back to Vegas tomorrow with Jason?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Please, just call me Easton. I believe you have Mickey’s phone number. Shoot him a text so he has both of yours, you, too, Jason. Mickey, thank you for orchestrating this. It’s very kind of you to welcome our new family members into your home.”

“Whaaattt?” Marley drew the word out. “You get to hang with my mentor? Dude, lucky duck.”

“Marley, you’re welcome over any time. In fact, we should probably schedule a jam session soon.” Mickey and Marley wandered off before we got a chance to thank him. Given Sikes and I both had our phones out I knew we’d both fired off a text of thanks.

“All right, teams, into the conference room. Sikes, Snipe, feel free to make yourselves at home. You’re welcome to eat or drink whatever is in the kitchen. Don’t want to bore you with a marketing meeting.”

“Thanks, Easton.”

Sikes and I grabbed a cup of coffee and another muffin and took them outside. Neither of us minded the rain. The sound had a soothing effect. Who knew, maybe sleeping with the windows open here would help calm the demons. Soothe the mind, soothe the body type of thing.

One could always wish…

“What’re you thinking about?”

“The sense of calm I feel. Whether it be the rain or recent choices we made. I’m feeling really good about everything. A sense of peace.”

Sikes sighed. “I am, too. Is it weird that I’m excited about the whole family scene and wanting to give them a better life and be there for them?”

“No, it’s not. Given what our own childhoods lacked, it’s almost like a way to stick it to those who failed us.” Self-redemption for those of us that life had shit on. “A way to prove to ourselves we’re better than our pasts and that we deserve to love and be loved.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right. Let’s finish up and clean the kitchen. It’s the least we can do for being included in the meal.”

“This kitchen is off the charts.” First time I’d seen a stove outside of a commercial kitchen with eight burners on it. I couldn’t imagine how much the oversized sub-zero fridge and freezer set them back. Probably the equivalent of my annual salary.

“Is this Carrera marble?” Sikes asked as though I’d know the answer or what the hell Carrera marble even was.

“Never heard the word without Porsche after it. What do you know about marble?”

“Not much. Just that bakers love it. Supposedly it stays cold enough to roll dough on without it sticking.”

“Now you’re a baker?” Damn, Sikes was full of surprises today.

He shrugged. “You know I like to bake.”

“Yeah, cookies and cakes from a box, but I have yet to see you roll out dough.”

“Just thinking ahead to Thanksgiving. Our first real one and I’d like to make the pies this year. Homemade, not store bought.”

Who knew? Guess adding Jason to the mix changed more than just the head count.

“Huh, things I never knew about my partner of twenty years.”

“Don’t think of it like that. If I’d thought of it before I’d have done it. Just having a family to take care of now made once unimportant things important.”

He had a point. Now, where did I fit into that? What was I interested in?

Maybe I’d find my niche once we’re in the house.

Now, having the ability to look around Diamond and Easton’s place gave me a chance to appreciate having a home of our own. The ability to put our touch on it. I loved how open it was from the kitchen across the dining room and into the living room. No separation between rooms was a great idea when others were involved. Then no one was left out unless they wanted to be. Nothing between us and our guests, or in our case the family while we were cooking or working on something.

We’d been so focused on what we wanted in our master suite we hadn’t bothered with much more. Each of the kids had their own room and Dana had her suite. Jason was leaving it up to her to pick the rest of the finishes. Would it offend her if Sikes and I made suggestions? Now that I knew he had an interest in baking, if we could afford the countertops he mentioned I’d like to see him get them.

Look at me, thinking like a grown-up.

“Hey, guys,” Jason clapped his hands as he came down the hall. “Ready to roll? I guess Fizzbo sent our plane tickets over?”

Sikes pulled his phone out. “That he did. Bright and early tomorrow morning.”

“All right, let’s roll.”

I used the time during the drive to research Carrera marble and quickly learned it was wayyyy out of our price range. But I did find affordable similar countertops.

“Whoa,” I whistled without thinking.

“What’s up?” Sikes waved to the guard as we drove past the shack leaving their compounded community.

“Have you ever priced Carrera marble? We’d need a second mortgage to get it.”

“Wait, who wants Carrera marble?”

“Sikes, the baking queen.”

“I only mentioned it. But no, I’ve never priced it. Sounds like it’s out.”

“Wait, you cook?”

Both our heads turned to Jason. Thankfully we were at a stoplight.

“We can both cook. Baking, though, hadn’t gone past cookies and cakes. This one here,” I gestured toward Sikes as he groaned. “Wants to make homemade pies for Thanksgiving dinner this year.”

“My heart just grew two sizes.” I swear, Jason swooned, and I rolled my eyes.

“Fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” Sikes said.

“Or through his dick.”

Jason and that one-track mind of his.

“Does your mind only work on orgasm mode?” Sikes shook his head. “I like to cook and I’m excited to have more than one person to cook for. No offense, Snipe.”

“None taken.”

“I think we need to get Mom out to the house. I know nothing about appliances or finishes and I’m not sure she does, either. We gave her that task, but I have a feeling she’d appreciate all our help. But I’ll be honest, none of that is up my alley.” Jason was honest if anything.

“I’m not even sure what I do or don’t like. We’ve never really had any hobbies. Sikes and I meal prep on Sundays when we’re home and freeze them for the week. When we’re gone we try to eat as healthy as possible and thanks to Masterson hiring Ely and Jordan to handle the catering when we’re on the road, we’ve been able to maintain that for the most part.”

“We really did hit the management company lottery. Back in the early Playing With Fire days, we’d heard horror stories from other bands about companies who’d signed them then ran off with their money.”

“Like what happened to Josh?”

“He isn’t here to defend himself and I hate talking behind anyone’s back but yeah. Granted, he fucked up big time, but Nicholas Shane totally fucked him and his son over.”

We’d been briefed on the highlights of what had happened then heard Maiden and Social’s sides during the near band brawl at Rocktoberfest last year. Josh was a pretty solid guy and he’d more than paid his dues, and he was one hell of a fucking guitarist. Anyone who took on Ryder Hampton and got a well done at the end of playing his beloved song from the man himself deserved a second chance.

“He’s someone I consider a friend and I’m glad we gave him a chance. Playing With Fire wasn’t going anywhere. Our old guitarist was in and out of rehab. Everyone but Marley was working multiple jobs, and it was hard to practice let alone set up gigs.” Jason quieted and I thought that was the end of his story. “Even though the show Diamond and Easton came to was a total dumpster fire, we’d at least been seen and as dangerous as it was to add Josh, it ended up being the best thing for us. My life, our life as a band changed that day and it’s only been uphill since then.”