Chapter 23
Jodi Castle
They’d pulled off the road, as far as Jodi could tell, in the middle of nowhere nowheresville. The boys seemed as baffled as her as to the reason, but the Black Halo bus was stopped right there ahead of them.
“I’m pretty sure this isn’t Stavanger,” Balin said, squinting to see the outside world through their combined reflection. A dozen or so moths landed on the outside of the glass, attracted by the lights. “Do you think they’re having bus trouble?”
Brian was already on the phone to Samson. He made a few affirmatives and hung up. “Scheduled rest stop. I thought we were overnighting in central Egersund, but apparently, we’re sticking to the outskirts and only the crew are heading into town. The guys wanted to wake up to a view.”
“Outskirts.” The pitch of Nash’s voice matched what they were all surely thinking. This wasn’t the suburbs. This was wild country. There wasn’t a light in any direction other than upwards. That starscape, mind you, it looked impressive. Jodi got out her phone and opened up SkySafari.
“Where you going?” Lee asked, as she headed down the entry steps.
She turned the screen to him. “Says the Draconid Meteor Shower should be visible.”
“Cool.” He followed her out onto the gravelled area they’d parked up on. It appeared to be a maintained facility. There were a couple of picnic tables, though no amenities.
“Is this their idea of a joke, do you think?” Balin continued to complain, as the rest of them trooped outdoors, into the fresh night air. He rubbed his bare arms. “Where’s the nightlife?”
Something howled in the distance.
“Look up, fuckwit,” Lee replied, while lifting his own phone heavenward alongside Jodi’s.
It hadn’t been visible from inside the bus due to the direction they were facing and the shadows of the mountains but hanging over the horizon were fantastic sheets of red and green, the starscape peeping through the gossamer strands.
Having never witnessed the Northern Lights before, she was mesmerised.
Black Halo were off their bus too, milling around in front of it.
“Sure, it’s cool.” Balin continued to sign and rub the goosebumps from his skin. “Anything else to do around here?”
Spook, who was nearest to them from among Black Halo waved an arm in a vaguely northern direction. Actually, was that north? Well, it was towards the pole star. “There’s Trollpikken. It’s about a forty-minute hike. Probably not a nighttime activity, mind.”
“Hiking?” The way Nash said it made it sound like he’d never walked anywhere in his life. And to think they’d all met while fruit picking their way around Europe.
“Trollpikken. What’s that?” Jez asked, sounding far more interested than he had in days.
“A rock formation that looks like a troll’s prick,” Rock Giant said wandering over to join them. “All mended now, after it’s unfortunate dismemberment in twenty seventeen. Some people have no bloody souls.”
“Like the morons that felled the Sycamore Gap tree.” Ash contributed.
They were now surrounded.
“Exactly. Except I’m not sure they found out who did for the troll’s cock.”
“Humans haven’t,” Spook said, casting a sly look out of the corner of his eyes. “I imagine the culprit’s been dealt with appropriately by other agents.”
“You know trolls aren’t real, right?” Ronnie said to him.
“Right,” said Spook, fingering an iron pendant dangling from a thong around his throat. “The legends say they take the skinny ones and the goats first.”
“We don’t have any goats.”
Spook grinned.
Ronnie sandwiched himself in the middle of the group between Rock Giant, Luthor and Allegra.
“I’ve been thinking about getting a pet goat,” she heard him say to Allegra.
“Ronnie, you couldn’t look after a hamster.”
“Meteor!” Lee grabbed her arm, diverting her attention westward.
**
Rock Giant lit a fire, and the two bands settled around it.
The drivers had gone to bed, as had Brian, but the few other crew members travelling on the Ghost Boys bus were lurking on the fringes.
Beers got shared. Marshmallows toasted. Stories told.
Jodi settled contentedly between Nash and Jez, her head resting on Jez’s upper arm, Nash holding her hand.
It was like it’d been in the early days back in Valencia, complete with constant ribbing, only with the addition of five super famous rock stars and their partners to the group.
The Black Halo gang were clearly loving the bit of downtime from being on the road.
If she’d learned anything these past few weeks, it was that touring wasn’t half as much fun as everyone supposed.
Mostly, it was boring. It also involved a lot of being herded about like cattle, and lectures from Brian about where and what they were supposed to be doing, and some serious bollockings if they dared to deviate from the script.
For all that, she liked Brian. Brian was cool.
The overall tour manager, though, he was fucking scary.
Mostly he spoke to Brian though and let him wrangle the Ghost Boys.
Black Halo were his priority. She wondered what they’d done to sweet talk him into this stopover.
Or maybe folks were just more amenable to requests when you were a big-name band.
“I’ve missed this.” Nash leaned over to whisper in her ear.
“Me too.” She’d always loved the crackle of a campfire, and the swell of togetherness that came from sharing one.
“Come here.” Nash reclaimed her from Jez. “Whoever made this call, it was a good one.”
“Time out from the bustle.”
“Yeah.” He shared his beer with her. “Course I might have to drag you off into the bushes in a bit for some private time.”
“I might even let you.” He looked pleased to hear it, and he gave her hand a squeeze.
“Let’s stay awhile yet, though. I’m enjoying the vibes, and it’s still early.
” Her guys and Black Halo were intermingled.
The them-and-us feelings that had lingered even during the party of a few nights back had dissolved.
She was nestled in between two of her favourite people. Things were pretty perfect.
“’kay.” Nash claimed another kiss, his mouth gentle against hers. The scent and taste of hops lingering after their smooching was done. “Love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Forest sex later though,” he winked.
“Who’s having forest sex?” Ronnie blurted from the opposite side of the fire. He had to have superhuman hearing to have heard them.
“Odds are, everybody but you,” Xane replied.
“Don’t tease him,” his girlfriend said.
“Hey, I’m not the only single person here. Some of them are single,” Ronnie swept his arm in an arc to indicate her boys, “And Rock Giant got mar—”
Ginny stuffed a smore into his open mouth. “You wanted one, right? Yes.”
It wasn’t really a question, but it was a more efficient way of shutting him up than kicking him in the arse.
Jodi shot Ginny a grateful look, her heart now thumping over what had been about to come out of Ronnie’s mouth, and how fast it would have soured the mood.
The last thing she needed when things were finally chill was Nash getting a reminder about how she’d tied the knot with someone else.
Rock Giant was sitting between Lee and Balin and didn’t appear to be paying attention to the conversation. She was grateful for that, too. So far, things hadn’t been too testy, but if provoked, she didn’t doubt he’d say something inflammatory.
It was a while later when someone suggested a game.
All the campfire games she knew involved the sort of truth or dare scenarios that would guarantee a falling out or ensure they all had raging hangovers tomorrow.
Neither sounded terribly appealing. She slipped her hand onto Nash’s thigh, ready to suggest they take off and enjoy some forest fun together.
The embarrassing catcalls would be worth it, if it meant it saved her from the greater evil.
But Xane put down his drink and leaned forward so that his long hair shrouded his face, and said, “Ah, guys, it’s much too early in the relationship for that sort of kiss and tell.
You’re all still lil’ baby rockstars. Let’s revisit that idea a few months down the line when there’ll be actual squirmworthy stuff we can hammer you with. ”
“You vetoing games all together?” Lee asked.
“Nah,” Black Halo’s prince of darkness replied. “I’m thinking maybe something physical rather than psychological tonight.”
“No orgies,” his girlfriend remarked. Xane leaned over Ash who was sitting between them and kissed her cheek. “With the current numbers, it’d wind up being a bit too gay even for my tastes.” He sat back. “Hide and seek.”
“Kids’ games,” Jez drawled. He’d downed at least six beers, even though she’d been trying to distract him from dissolving into the gloom he was carrying inside him.
“Kids play them for a reason. It’s ’cause they’re fun.” Xane stood. “Seekers?”
“Me and Ash,” Ginny volunteered. “And whoever evades us the longest gets the back bedroom for the night, to share or not as they wish.”
Ash squinted up at his gorgeous wife. “What do we get, Gin?”
“No bugger protests when we opt to take the Danger Car out for a spin for the journey up to Trondheim next week, and you all clear it with Samson.”
“Why do we have to clear it with Samson?” both Luthor and Rock Giant asked.
“Because he already turned them down,” Spook remarked, demonstrating insight into the situation, or else a proficient guess.
“Sam would rather he knew where they were. Meaning on the bus, rather than risk them being AWOL in the wild.” It seemed the Black Halo guys were subject to the same level of micro-manging as the Ghost Boys.
“Honestly, just ’cause we turned up a tiny bit late one time on the last tour,” Ginny grumbled while raking a hand through her long hair.
“Fine,” Xane agreed on behalf of them all. “We’ll let you make your escape and endure the absolute chewing out that’ll result. Start counting. Everybody else, scram.”