Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
C aspian
“Fuck, Seth,” I growl, running my hand through my hair. “I’m not mad at you, man. It’s just that we’ve busted our ass to book this tour.” I stomp around my garage and kick an empty box, narrowly missing Koa. He gives me a death glare as it flies past his head. “It’s fine. We’ll find someone to fill in for you. We might have to cancel the first couple stops.”
“Dude, I know it sucks ass, but don’t worry. I have a solution already figured out and on their way to you right now.”
“You have a solution to you not being able to come on tour?”
“Duh, I’m always thinking ahead,” Seth says, and my spirits lift a little.
Seth, myself, Koa, Quinn, and Finn have been friends for as long as I can remember. Spending every waking moment together is why Indigo Eclipse works. Our parents barring us from practicing at any of their houses, is why my parent’s garage is now a soundproof studio. I’ve wanted to move out for over a year, but the idea of setting up a whole new rehearsal space worries me.
Despite sucking that first year, we’ve been working every day for a break in an industry that is notoriously hard to break into but is worse with social media flooding the market talent. Now, every person with a mic is trying to be the next internet sensation. To stand out among millions of people is like trying to fly head-on into gale-force winds. We’ve finally booked a tour, an entire freaking tour. It’s not massive arenas…yet, but it’s a start, and we are actually getting paid to sing for the next six months. With everything going far too smoothly, I should’ve locked all the fucking guys up this week prior to leaving. Now, Seth has a broken arm from snowboarding. His fucking arm! He’s my drummer, how the fuck can you play drums with one arm? It’s not like he knows how to play with his feet. He’s scheduled for surgery to put a screw in and will be out the entire tour. I say I’m not mad, but really I want to reach through the phone and choke the fucking shit out of him. Who decides that doing a double black diamond for the first time is a good idea when you’re heading out in twenty-four hours?
“Alright, don’t leave me in suspense. What’s this brilliant idea?”
“She should be walking in any minute,” he says, his voice smug.
“She, who?”
“Ryver, of course. Who else would I send in my place?”
My mouth drops open. No fucking way. He can’t send his sister. “Seth, we can’t take Ryver with us,” I argue.
“Why not?”
I march the length of the garage, and the other guy’s heads turn to watch me. My mind is racing for a logical excuse that doesn’t sound like I’m lying my ass off.
“Because…she’s a girl.”
“Wow, thanks for telling me, I had no idea all this time,” Seth chirps sarcastically. Quinn chuckles, a knowing smirk on his face. It’s the worst kept secret that I have a crush on Seth’s sister. He seems completely oblivious, but Quinn and Finn love to fucking call me out on my staring, which isn’t good. Not only is she my best friend’s baby sister, but she’s six years younger than me. Barely legal. But so mother-fucking hot.
I shake my head to rid myself of the images already playing in my mind. Just thinking about being in the back of the van with her body pressing up against mine for months. Oh fuck. My cock thinks this is a great idea.
“What if something happens? I mean, we aren’t performing at the Ritz. Some of these bars and clubs are shady as fuck.”
“She’s not a fucking toddler, man. You don’t need to follow her to the bathroom while she takes a piss or help her get dressed.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, wanting to swear a blue streak. Of course, he mentions me dressing her. Ryver is all grown up alright, but that still doesn’t make lusting after her okay. “She’s nineteen now, man, and capable of looking after herself.”
“What if some dick wants to get into her pants?”
Seth’s laughing sets my nerves on edge. “Please, my sister gets more action than I do. Fucking lucky little shit.” I really don’t like the sound of that. The jealousy is instant, and my jaw hurts from clenching. “Besides, she’ll have you four looking out for her. Who else are you going to find with less than an hour’s notice to leave or cancel, and who knows the entire set list and plays as well as I do? I mean, I taught her everything I know.”
“I don’t know, man. This is so not a good idea.”
“What’s not a good idea?” I jerk like I’ve just been tased and whip around to see Ryver standing in the doorway. My pulse spikes as my fucking cock hardens to the point that I can hang my laundry on it. It’s always the same and has been for the last three very inappropriate years.
Jesus. It’s winter, for Christ’s sake. Why is she wearing shorts that barely cover her ass and a top that shows off her cute belly button piercing? She’s also sporting a new tattoo of flowers that travels up the side of her ribs and disappears under her shirt. Her blue and purple hair is piled on her head in a messy bun with her drumstick stuck in it, adding to her sexy and adorable sass.
“Hello! Earth to Cas? Are you still there?” I can hear Seth yelling into the phone.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m here.”
“So, are we all good?”
There is nothing good about this. But what the hell am I going to say without outing myself for lusting over her? That’ll just make shit a lot more awkward.
“Yeah, we’re good,” I say as the guys wander over and greet Ryver. She smiles, and I want to growl at them. A few seconds in her presence, and I want to bend her over and fuck her all night. I can picture her hair in the two long braids she loves, wrapping them around my hands as I take her from behind. I swallow the lump in my throat. What the hell will two days, two weeks, two months look like?
“Don’t worry, guys. I have all the songs memorized, and I pack light.”
“Girl, you know we are stoked to have you. We’ve been low-key hoping for your brother to fuck up and injure himself just so you could take his place,” Finn says, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
She leans over and sniffs his shirt, and I almost snarl. “I smell a liar,” she says and laughs as she walks away from Finn to give everyone else a hug. I’m frozen in the middle of the garage staring at her like she is a fucking lion heading my way to rip my throat out.
“Hey Cas,” she says, all sweet, her tone buttery with a sexy edge. Her words caress my cock as she slides her arms around my neck, hugging me tight. My arms must have a mind of their own because the next thing I know, I’m pulling her flush against my body. My hands run across the soft skin of her exposed back, and part of me wants her to feel how hard I am. I want her to be terrified and run off so I won’t have to deal with this. The other half is praying she felt it and gives me a sign to do all the fucking dirty shit racing in circles around my brain. What a disaster.
“Hey, Ryver.” I purposely say her name wrong to annoy her. She insists that it’s pronounced river, with a small I, but I’ve been harassing her about her name since she could talk. She smells so fucking good. It’s like she bathed in some sort of exotic lust potion. Jesus fuck, I need to get my hormones under control.
Ryver pulls back and narrows her eyes at me. “Really? Are we going to play this game?”
There are a fuck load of games I want to play with her, but none of them have to do with her name unless I’m yelling it as I come. My heart is pounding out of control, and if I move a fraction of an inch, my cock will be rubbing against her stomach.
“You know me…Ry.” I smirk as I call her by the nickname we agreed would not make her want to rip off any of my body parts. Ry blushes, making her look more adorable. “You really want to hang out with us for the next six months in a small, sweaty van? I mean, it’s not like we can girl it up for you or anything.” Ry steps back and punches me hard in the arm.
“Ouch,” I pout and rub where she hit me.
“Girl it up? When have I ever been a girly girl?” Never, Ry has always been a tomboy. But the baggy T-shirt-wearing pre-teen I make fun of isn’t supposed to turn into a smoking hot nineteen-year-old with a perfect amount of sass and a sense of humor. She always tells me I’m dumb when I say she can model for the cover of any magazine, but it’s true, and she makes my brain misfire.
“Aright, fine. I’m just warning you now that Koa has disgusting farts. You’re taking your life in your hands.”
“Hey! Don’t drag me into this, and besides Finn is worse than I am,” he says, as Finn walks back into the room with a soda in his hand.
“What about me?”
We all laugh, and even though I know in my heart this is a terrible idea, I grab the last of the bags and usher everyone out of the garage. We leave early, and I want everything by the door ready to rock.
I can do this. I can do this. Fuck me, who am I kidding? I’m going to be in a bathroom jerking off like I’m fourteen all over again. Terrible fucking idea.