Chapter 14 News
FOURTEEN
News
TIA
Tia couldn’t believe her eyes. Lyons rocked it beside the men of Angel Fire and tore up the stage.
Skye bounced next to her, eyes alight and fixed on her husband, Angel Fire’s lead singer and guitarist. Tia listened to the haunting melody of Ash Dean’s voice but couldn’t take her eyes off Lyons playing the bass guitar.
There was something sexy and erotic as sin, watching him play that thing, and she couldn’t peel her eyes away from him stroking the long neck of the guitar.
Powerful and sensual, it did strange things to her insides.
She bit at her lower lip and struggled to push needy thoughts from her mind. In that task, she failed miserably.
Lyons was having a blast. She could see it in his eyes and in how he breathed in the energy of the music.
He looked out onto the crowd, as if only just realizing there were hundreds watching him.
It took a moment, but then those vibrant forest-green eyes of his locked on her.
The power of his gaze hitched her breath, accelerated the beat of her heart, and licked fire across her skin.
After their fight earlier and his interference between her and the band members, she wanted to hate him but couldn’t ignore a brimming curiosity coiling in her gut.
They shared a close working relationship, but that was where it ended. At least, that was what she’d always believed. After their argument in that alley, something had shifted between them, stirring up feelings she had no right to even consider.
A storm churned through his eyes, and his jaw became a stony block of determination.
Something hardened in his face as he took her in.
The world twisted and tilted, becoming something dangerously new and exciting under his scrutiny.
His breaths huffed in and out while he jammed beside the Angel Fire bassist, Bent.
The two of them dueled it out onstage, challenging the other to play harder and stronger until the crowd roared and nearly overpowered the music.
They were in the middle of “Hunting Waterfalls” when Ash pulled Lyons back to the center of front stage. Ash gave Lyons a signal and tapped the wireless mic. Lyons’s eyes widened.
The refrain came and went. Ash let the music play but dropped the vocals. He stepped to the very edge of the stage and called out to the crowd, “How’s he doing, Bagram Airfield? How’s Sergeant Lyons holding up?”
The rumble from the crowd crashed into her with all the power and subtlety of a freight train. Lyons stopped playing and waved to the troops, looking unsure for the first time that evening.
“He’s got some pipes, too,” Ash continued. “And I know you want to hear him sing.”
Tia caught the subtle clenching of Lyons’s jaw.
She would’ve missed it, except she’d seen him under stress before.
It took a lot to rattle Ryker Lyons, but he was in front of a large crowd of fellow airmen, soldiers, and Marines, and he’d never back down from that challenge. Perhaps Ash had known that, too.
Without waiting for Lyons to agree, Ash belted out the lyrics and led Lyons right into the harmonizing vocals. For a moment, she thought Lyons would choke, but he stepped up to the plate and struck her speechless with the rich timbre coming from his mouth.
Deep, soulful, magnetic, and raw, the man could sing!
She didn’t think the energy surrounding her could build any higher, but Lyons singing with Ash blew the roof off the hangar.
He had her heart thundering beneath the intensity of his gaze because his eyes never once left hers throughout that song, the next one, or the one that followed.
Angel Fire played several other songs. Each left her gasping for air and ramped up her pulse, sending her blood racing. Goose bumps shivered across her skin, and the hairs on her nape stood on end. It was electric, spellbinding, and left her speechless, gaping with awe.
“They’re pretty incredible,” Skye shouted over the din.
“Beyond incredible,” she said. “Is it always like this?”
“Most days,” Skye yelled into her ear to be heard over the crowd. “This feels different—more power, more energy. I can feel the electricity rolling off Ash and the boys.”
Tia could only shake her head, dumbfounded.
Skye tugged at Tia’s sleeve. “There’s only a couple of more songs before they’re done. I’m going to head back. I find, if I wait for the last song, I have to fight my way backstage, and I’ve gotten tired of having to do that.”
Tia wanted to listen to the last songs but could see what Skye was talking about.
With a nod, she followed Skye. Her friend worked her way to the edge of the crowd and made her way to the back of the hangar.
Angel Fire had removed much of the protective barriers they would normally have at a concert, but backstage, Skye had to show her credentials and vouch for Tia.
They made it to the silence of the hangar’s break room, which had been turned into a backstage dressing room for Angel Fire.
Skye found a coffeemaker. “So, what’s going on, Tia?” After washing out the coffee pot, she searched through the cabinets and soon had a fresh pot simmering away.
Tia sat at the long break room table where she stared at the door, waiting for the band to come back and chill out after the show. “Nothing’s going on,” she said.
“Uh-huh,” Skye said.
“How long does it usually take them after the show ends?”
“To come backstage?”
“Yeah.”
Skye flipped her long brown hair. It settled in a gentle fall at her waist. Tia’s hair was slightly longer than Skye’s, but she never had the opportunity to wear it down.
Every day, she twisted it up into a tight regulation bun secured at her nape.
On deployment, even her off-duty time, her raven hair was locked up tight.
It was simply easier to deal with and avoided unwanted attention from the men.
“It depends on the venue,” Skye explained. “Sometimes, they come straight back, especially when…” Her cheeks pinked. “Well, when they know groupies are waiting.”
“That must be hard for you, always worrying about Ash and those women.”
“You’d think so, but it’s not. Before I came along, Ash was just as bad as the rest of the band, but he said it left him feeling empty.”
“Empty?”
“Odd for a rock star, I know, when an easy lay is never far away, but I believe he’s wired for one woman. I think it has to do with his upbringing and his family.”
“I can’t imagine how that went, considering how you and Ash got hitched.”
“How what went?”
“You meeting his family.”
“Well, his father didn’t approve at first, but his mother was okay once she realized I was more than a groupie. I think they always worried their son would get snagged by a money-grabbing whore. They were surprised I was a doctor.”
“Isn’t his father a minister?”
“He is. A lot of his music came as a rebellion against his upbringing. Little did he know, it would turn into this.”
“I’m sure his parents worried, but I’m glad they accepted you.”
“It took some doing, but they accepted not just me, but also Ash back into the fold. But that’s not what we were talking about. I want to know what’s going on with you.”
“Nothing is going on with me.”
“Liar!” Skye laughed. “You asked me about the band. I say, have at it, just know what you’re getting into. Those boys are a one-and-done kind of proposition.”
“You make it sound so cheap.”
Skye shrugged. “Cheap but effective, considering what you told me. But, and I say this with love, I couldn’t help but notice that you couldn’t keep your eyes off Ryker.”
“There’s nothing going on between me and Lyons. Besides, he’s strictly off-limits.”
Her face screwed up. “I don’t get all these names. I never knew Ash as anything other than Ash, but all his fans scream Blaze. It messes with my head. It’s the same with the other guys, but you military types tip it on its edge. Lyons is Ryker, right? I don’t have that mixed up?”
She laughed. “Yeah, I guess it’s just what we do.
It’s more common with the enlisted. Since we’re always referring to each other by rank, that gets shortened to just the last name.
Instead of Technical Sergeant Ryker Lyons, I can call him Tech Sergeant Lyons or Sergeant Lyons or just Lyons.
Over time, it kind of boils down to a last name. ”
“So, why does your entire team call you T instead of Meyers? Shouldn’t Ryker call you Meyers and not T?”
“To be honest, it’s a sexist holdover. Men can’t seem to do that with women.
I think it depends on the last name. Meyers is a fairly masculine-sounding name, and they couldn’t call me by my first name without it being all awkward and potentially insulting.
Nicknames are an entirely different matter, and once bestowed, they stick for life.
Colonel Collins was the first to call me T; now, the whole unit does. ”
“See, that’s another thing I don’t get. Isn’t he a lieutenant colonel?”
“Yes, but colonel or lieutenant colonel, they’re both referred to as colonel.”
“It’s weird.”
“Not when you live and breathe it.”
“And are you happy? Are you happy living and breathing such a dangerous life? Don’t you ever think about quitting?”
“I love my job.”
“Do you see yourself doing this forever?”
The doors banged open, bringing the rolling thunder of Angel Fire.
Boldly beautiful, Bash entered first. Given a choice—and she felt she had a good chance at whomever she wanted—he would be the one she spent her one steamy night with.
All brawn, the drummer had a muscular physique—nothing like Lyons, but also nothing to discard out of hand.
A tall man, Lyons had height on all the men of Angel Fire and muscles, too.
The only person of the group who was bigger, taller, broader, and more muscled was Forest. And she had zero interest in him.
Bash, however, had a take-no-shit attitude.
He sauntered in and dropped into the barely functional couch at the far end of the room. He already scanned the room and fixed a scowl to his face, making her wonder what might be going through his head.
Sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll.
Skye said the men’s appetites for sex were huge.
As a powerhouse band, they’d managed to avoid the pitfalls of drugs.
It had something to do with history involving Ash and Bash, a falling-out that had nearly destroyed the band.
According to Skye, alcohol flowed easily, except this was Afghanistan and such things were frowned upon.
She supposed that left not only Bash, but also the entire band of Angel Fire with only one thing to pursue.
As one of the few females on base, she counted her chances of getting laid pretty damn good.
Spike intrigued her. Out of them all, he looked the scariest with his multiple piercings.
The rings in his lips and the two in his nose made her wonder how some things might work, but it was the ferocity in his eyes that had her counting him out.
It wasn’t something she could pin down, and it wasn’t like she was some magical sage when it came to determining what was going on in other people’s heads, but a great anger simmered in his eyes—or maybe it was an emptiness of the soul.
Something felt off with him, like she didn’t need to get embroiled in anything with him.
Noodles made her smile. The harshness of his tribal tattoos might make him seem fierce, but he played the keyboard with youthful exuberance, and he was always cutting it up with the other guys.
There was a sense of freedom in his spirit.
Again, she could be reading into things.
His long, surfer-style hair gave him a free-spirit vibe, but he could be mean as fuck or a total ass.
There was no way to tell. She, however, was looking for a hard, rough fuck, something to erase memories and drive her out of her mind for a sliver of a moment.
A free-loving experience wouldn’t meet the bill.
Her roommate had shipped out that afternoon and hadn’t been replaced, which left her with that entire cargo container to herself all night long.
Bent was out of the picture. With Ryker playing with the band, the two of them spent far too much time together. Even now, they sat beside one another, rehashing the set. Ryker’s eyes were on fire, a green blaze of adrenaline sparking with untapped energy.
Ash made a beeline for Skye, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in for a kiss of molten proportions. The passion simmering between those two stirred up a burst of envy Tia was none too proud to admit.
She’d never had that with Scott. Their sex life had been satisfying, but it had never been heart-stopping. Without a word, she stepped away and made a beeline for the couch. Bash it was.
She made it halfway across the room when a rough hand pulled at her sleeve.
“Where are you going, T?” Lyons asked.
The hardness of his gaze cut to the couch and the man sitting in it. Bash wasn’t paying attention to anyone and had his phone in hand, swiping the screen.
“What do you care?”
The metal legs of the chair he’d been sitting in scraped against the hard flooring. His grip on her arm tightened as he straightened to his full height. Standing so close forced her to tip her head back to glare at him.
“Don’t,” he said with a scowl.
“Don’t what?”
But they both knew exactly what was on her mind. She’d been very clear about her plans to forget Scott. The ache in her chest pulsed with a fiery intensity, shredding her heart.
“Can I have a word with you outside?” Lyons said with a growl.
She jerked her arm out of his grip. If they’d been alone, he wouldn’t have released her, but they were drawing attention from Bent, who eyed their interaction with a lifting of his eyebrow.
Her, Oh, hell no, was cut short with Forest’s entrance into the small room. Colonel Vane was in tow.
“Awesome show, guys,” Forest said in his deep bass. “Now, I have a surprise.”
Vane puffed his chest out, trying to look bigger while standing beside Forest.
Forest leaned against the doorframe, a cheeky grin on his face. “We have a change of plans.”
Vane approached Lyons. He stuck out his hand. “Amazing playing you did out there. No one wants to leave. They’re all still out there, talking about how cool it was to see you onstage.”
“Thank you, sir. I’m happy to hear that, but to be honest, it’s hard not to look good when surrounded by these guys.” He gave a general wave to the room. “What’s the surprise?”
“I think you’re going to like this,” Colonel Vane said.