Come Together. Madelynne Ellis

Чтение книги онлайн.

       Chapter 8

      Dani clung tightly to Xane’s hand as they sneaked out back to find Sally. She’d never been on a tour bus before, and was itching to see it almost as much as she was itching to push Xane up against a wall and run her hands all over his body.

      It was dark in the lot out back, with only one or two dim lights rather than the floodlighting she’d expected. Sally insisted on unlocking for them, rather than simply handing over the keys. ‘It’s a new bus,’ she explained, which caused Xane to stop in his tracks.

      ‘Since when?’

      ‘You’re gonna love it, Xane. It makes the last one look like the rust-bucket.’

      From what Xane had described, the last bus had been fairly comfortable, whereas the rust-bucket was the heap of shit that the crew used, normally accompanied by Ash and a collection of stray women.

      ‘Custom paint job.’ She held her hands out to present them the vehicle. It was huge, two storeys like a red London bus, but silver and black and with tinted windows. Black Halo’s distinctive logo graced the backend.

      ‘Oh, no,’ Xane said, evidently realising at the same time Dani did that there was only one bus parked up, not the two there ought to have been. ‘Where’s the rust-bucket?’

      ‘Scrapyard,’ Sally remarked blithely. ‘We didn’t need it any more. Wait until you see inside this beast. It has everything, air-con, state-of-the-art kitchen, on-board recording studio.’ She unlocked the door and ushered them up the steps. ‘This baby’s better kitted out than my house.’

      ‘It looks amazing,’ Dani agreed. The steps led up past the driver’s seat into a smart kitchen-dining area, finished in black and brushed steel to match the band’s image.

      ‘There’s a small sitting area beyond and two berths down here, with a loo, shower and double bedroom at the back. Then upstairs you have the studio, six bunks and another sitting area that converts into a spare double.’

      ‘Are there that many people you need beds for?’ Dani asked. She guessed that maybe there were if the crew and band were sharing lodgings. It looked pretty spacious at the moment, but once there were a few decent-sized blokes on board, the space was going to shrink fast.

      ‘This isn’t going to work, Sally. We have two buses for a reason,’ Xane said.

      ‘Which is?’

      ‘Ash.’

      ‘Mm hm … yeah. The thing is, there are a lot of dates on this tour, and there’s a lot of travelling involved. It makes no sense to be constantly waiting around for a bus that breaks down. Also, this way, you’re all in the same place. There’s no risk of losing anyone. If you need time out from each other, then you can ride with me and Graham in the motorhome or in the new equipment truck with Ulf.’

      ‘You replaced that too?’

      ‘Yeah, there was a fuck-off big scrape down the side of it. It looked as if it’d been side-swiped by Godzilla.’

      ‘Where’s Ash gonna …’

      Sally patted him on the back. ‘I’m sure you’ll sort it out. You know, in the early days you always holed up on one bus, and there were never any issues.’

      ‘In those days Ash didn’t travel with an entourage.’

      ‘No,’ she said. ‘You did. Get used to it, Xane. This is how it is. I’m sure you can come to an agreement with Ash, you’re both adults. Talk to one another and settle it. Now, I’ll leave you and Dani to get comfortable.’ She waved them a cheery farewell.

      ‘Shit!’ СКАЧАТЬ