19. Donavan
Chapter nineteen
Donavan
Life was constantly spinning, and now the contracts had to be reworked for Star Fly after they reviewed them during spring break.
That wasn’t too bad, but the break sucked, and because of that, it ended sooner than I wanted.
Plus, we ended up not making it to LA at all…
our schedules didn’t line up and Kay had some promotion things to do in Miami.
Not much of a break for anyone. The rest of the tour was going to be long, and I already saw signs of it in Kay’s eyes.
They did an extra show in Daytona Beach, a bonus performance they added on specifically for the Spring Break crowd, but then I had to go home while the bands headed to Indiana.
And that sucked. I needed to figure out a way to work more from the road without all the trips home.
For that matter, I needed to work from Kay’s home in Florida when they were on break.
But then there was Saxon. I had no answers.
I caught up with the tour again in Chicago, taking advantage of the excuse to bring the team the revised contracts for Star Fly.
Everyone had checked into the Hilton Garden Inn near Soldier Field, where they were performing the next day.
When Kay had texted me the room number, I decided to give him a surprise and had the Christmas present from Daddy delivered to the hotel.
We hadn’t been able to play with them at all yet, so this was a good chance to do it.
I checked on the status, and they had been delivered to the front desk and would be sent up in about twenty minutes.
I was too excited for words. I jumped into the first elevator and jabbed the floor number.
“Go. Go. Go.” Chanting the encouragement didn’t really speed anything up or make me calmer.
When the door opened, I rushed out and ran through the hall, taking in how wide it was. Perfect. I found Kay’s room and knocked on the door. “Kay. It’s me.”
Kay pulled the door open and me into a hug, and I dropped my briefcase to hold him with both arms. “Missed you.” He kissed the side of my head.
Pulling back, I looked at him. His hair fell in long curls to his shoulders, and despite everything, he looked refreshed and lively. I kissed him. First a peck, and then a longer kiss with tongues. Kay rubbed my back and stuck his fingers inside the waistband of my pants.
“Before we get started with that. I’m expecting a delivery. But I have to meet Jinx and Miami also.”
“Delivery? Food?”
“Nope. Something better.”
Finally, there was a knock at the door. I opened it, and the porters brought in the two large boxes. This was going to be a blast.
“Is that?” Kay asked, bouncing up and down like I normally did.
“Yes. Unbox them while I take these over.” I grabbed my briefcase and a key card off the dresser, darting out and leaving Kay to figure out our prize.
I knocked on the door where Jinx and Miami were staying. He happened to mention to me that they had booked the entire floor for the band members and added security, which was perfect for what we were planning.
Jinx opened the door. “Hi, Don. Thanks for bringing these; you could have had them delivered, though.” He smiled slyly, knowing damn well that I wanted to see Kay.
“Right. Well, I kind of missed you guys.” I handed over the documents and shut my briefcase.
“I made the changes you requested. Look them over, sign, have Star Fly guys sign, and I’ll pick them up before the show tomorrow if that works.
” There weren’t many changes, most of which were financial.
Oddly, the band wanted to change the profit structure to better compensate MH Management.
That rarely happened. Guess they thought the first version was too generous and didn’t want to be emotionally in debt.
“Perfect. Now go.” He waved me off.
“Bye.” I jogged back, and by the time I got there, Kay had the first one out and was working on the second. “Let’s go.” I dropped my briefcase and key card on the dresser and clapped my hands.
“Help me.”
I grabbed part of the box top and yanked. “Do we have to ship them back or can we put them on the bus?”
“I dunno. We’ll ask David later.” David was in charge of the roadies and moving all of the equipment, which sometimes included luggage, but most of the guys only hauled one or two duffel bags around. This was different.
I helped him pull the remaining trike out of the box.
These were so much like the old-fashioned Big Wheel trikes we had as kids.
Harrison and I used to ride around our parents’ estate when we were little, and it was so much fun.
These were bigger, big enough for adults.
And I wanted to share that fun with my best friend.
“Where’re we gonna ride them, Donny?”
“Down the hall. Grab the key card and a trike and come on.”
He followed and we set them outside the door side by side. “We can race!” Kay clapped his hands.
“Down the hall and back?”
Kay got on the trike. “Yeah.”
“You say ready, set, go.” I climbed on.
“Ready?”
I gripped the handlebars. Butterflies flitted through my tummy. “Let’s do it.”
“Alright. Ready. Set. Go!”
When he shouted to go, I took off. Kay was right with me. We banged our feet on the wall at the end and slung around, heading back. Kay hooted loudly as we approached his door. He pulled ahead of me. Damn, he had good legs. “I win,” he said, but held his hand up for a high-five.
A head poked out of one of the doors. “Hey. What’re you guys doing?”
“We have Big Wheels. We’re racing.” Kay shrugged as if it was obvious. But it really was.
The guy stepped out into the hall. He was small and lithe. “That looks fun. Can I try?”
“Sure.” I stood. “I’m Donny. This is Kay.”
“I’m Matty.” He smiled brightly.
“We have a Matty in our band. He plays guitar.” Kay scrunched his nose and pulled his hair back out of his eyes. “Do you know him?”
This Matty shook his head. “No. I’m a dancer.” He spun around in what looked like a fancy ballet spin and ended with that bending-over-thing ballerinas do. His legs looked a million miles long in those short-shorts, and his T-shirt was tight as well, showing a nicely muscled physique.
“You ballet? That’s cool.”
“Not really. I’m a pole dancer. Watch.” He bent over backwards, putting his hands on the floor before kicking his feet up. He stood on his hands for a minute before walking his legs over and standing. It was all so fluid and graceful. It wasn’t hard to imagine him spinning around a pole for sure.
But what was a pole dancer doing on our floor? I worried about a lapse in security. “Um…the bands are on this floor.”
“I know.” He stuck his tongue out. “My daddy is in a band. Star Fly. He’s here to sign papers with Mr. Jinkee.”
“Oh. That makes sense.” Relieved, I shook the handlebars to get his attention. “You can race Kay. All the way to the end and back again.”
“Thank you.” He performed another ballet move and jumped forward before sitting on the trike.
“I’ll say, ready, set, go. Line up.” I held my arm up in the air while they lined up.
Then I yelled the magic words and dropped my arm.
They rode fast with Matty squealing and laughing the whole way.
The door to Jinx and Miami’s room flew open, and a big, burly man came out of it, followed by all the members of Midnight Hunt.
“What’s going on here?” the big guy boomed as Kay and Matty hit the wall.
“We’re racing, Daddy.” Then Matty was zooming back toward me with Kay right on his tail.
Jinx and Ziggy laughed, while Miami hid his face in his hands. Wolf looked stunned with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open.
Pierce and Bramble Punk’s Matty joined us in the hall but nearly got run over as pole-dancer Matty zoomed by with Kay chasing him.
I jumped up and down. “Matty wins.”
Then Harrison was standing in the hall, but I didn’t see where he came from. “Donavan? What the hell?”
“We’re having some fun. You want to try?” Asking him to join in was no help, but I had to do it anyway. He was a bit too reserved sometimes.
He shook his head. “This is crazy. This is a hotel, not a drag strip. You can’t go racing around and disturbing people. Why should I have to say this to you? And where did you pick up this guy? Three isn’t enough for you?”
The big guy who came out first had walked over and looked Matty over. “He’s with me.”
“Daddy Drake. That was so fun. I was going so fast. Like flying.” He made a motion with his hand like a plane flying and spun around.
“Matty, you don’t want to get your new friends in trouble, do you?” Drake had a smirk on his face as if he was pretty sure Matty was trouble wherever he went. He had zero filter.
“Sorry, Kay. Sorry, Donny. I won’t be so loud.”
Jinx laughed. “We have the entire floor. Relax. They’re not hurting anything or bothering anyone.”
“Speak for yourself.” Pierce crossed his arms over his chest. “They practically ran me over.”
“Yeah, they went fast. Bet you can’t beat them,” I dared.
“Oh yes, I can.” Pierce stormed over and before anyone else could complain, he raced down the hall side-by-side with Kay.
Pierce won, but Kay said he’d raced twice already, and then we had several relays with nearly everyone taking a turn on the trikes.
It was nice seeing Pierce cut loose for a change, instead of walking around like he had something stuffed up his ass.
“This was fun,” Kay said, leaning against my shoulder as Jinx and Miami raced each other. I suspected Jinx let Miami win.
“It was. I’m glad I sent them.”
“Me too.”