Hunting Lust (Orion the Hunter Part Three) (16 page)

Dinner at The Four Seasons, was divine.  Lucas was fantastic company; he came alive talking about Mini Dakota and his vision for the beautiful old building.  He wouldn’t elaborate on how he’d managed to get approval to commence the refurbishment so quickly. He just grinned wickedly and then feigned ignorance.

As we were leaving the prestigious restaurant, a bright light flashed and, after my eyes had readjusted, I noticed a man with a large camera. Paparazzi!  I thought that Lucas would be angry so I put my head down, letting my hair fall over my face and prepared to walk quickly to the car.  To my total amazement, Lucas pulled me to him, embraced me and kissed me slowly and deeply.  Before my eyes closed as I submitted to his toe curling possession of my mouth, I saw more bright flashes of light.

Lucas was grinning as we walked back to the car.  I was gobsmacked.

“Who are you, and what have you done with Lucas?” I asked sarcastically, as I slid into my seat.

He laughed.  “I don’t know what you mean”

“Oh yes, you do.  You’ve gone from being a total social recluse to courting the limelight in just a few days.  You do realize that if they figure out who you are, we will probably be splashed all over the gossip pages.  I thought that was your idea of hell.”

“It was.  But I feel on top of the world.  Nothing can bring me down.  I’m ready to do this now – I don’t need to hide any longer.”

“You’ve been hiding – who from?  What are you talking about?”

He leaned over and placed a kiss on the tip of my nose.  “Oh nothing.  Just ignore my ramblings.”  Then he kissed me until I was incapable of rational thought.

Days passed in a similar vein:
me working flat out to organise the interiors for Mini Dakota during the day and spending every night with Lucas.  We ate out often and he continued his gentle domination of me during most of our sexual exploits.

On Friday, the day before the festival, a hired tour bus, including driver, arranged by Lucas, arrived to collect us all and begin the journey.  It collected the band and all their instruments and then it called to collect us girls and Lucas.  He had taken some persuading to come on the bus and not drive his SUV separately, but eventually he’d caved in.

There was much moaning that Angel and I had packed more than everyone else put together but we just smiled and ignored the comments.  The bus was luxurious and spacious – it could sleep up to 16.  It had a mini kitchen, shower room, flat screen TV/DVDs, games consoles, wifi, reclining leather captain’s chairs. 

Travis was stoked and very vocal about how many groupies he was going to take back to his bunk, and what he was going to do with them.  Ethan had the same gleam in his eye so I knew the thought had crossed his mind too.  Chad soon settled down with Angel to watch TV – a home from home for those two, I couldn’t help thinking.

Scott was very quiet and I wondered if he was nervous.  I settled myself into the chair facing him and asked how he was.  He looked like he was about to say something when Lucas came and sat next to me and put his arm around my shoulders.  Scott just smiled and said he was fine, just a little tired.  I didn’t believe him but I didn’t push him.  We had a five hour drive (at least) ahead of us and I didn’t want any dramas.

Within an hour, Travis and Ethan were already on the way to being pissed.  Travis had to be spoken to by Lucas for dropping his pants and waving his ass out of the back window of the tour bus.  Ethan and Chad thought it was hysterical.  Even Angel was laughing.  Scott looked more miserable by the second.  Lucas was grinning but said he didn’t want us to get stopped by the cops. 

Not long after, Lucas had a call that made him extremely happy.  I gathered that it was from Daniel and, from the one side of the conversation that I could hear, it concerned a successful business transaction.  I watched his eyes burn black with passion and his jaw clench as he listened intently to the update from his right hand man.  Whatever it was, I knew that it was a big deal. 

When he ended the call, he looked like the happiest man alive – like a weight had been lifted.  I asked if he had something to celebrate - he smirked and said that, within a few days, he would be dancing an Irish jig.  He said that he’d finally done it but, before I could ask any more, he kissed me deeply and, as I was getting used to finding, my mind went blank.

We stopped for food at lunchtime and, once we were back on board, Lucas passed around the beers and proposed a toast to the Denial at their first ever festival.  I couldn’t help but notice the look on Chad’s face – it was clear that he idolized Lucas.  Hell, everyone seemed to have fallen under his spell – even me!  Well, everyone except Scott.  It became increasingly apparent that he wasn’t a fan of Lucas, but I had no idea why.  Scott and Chad were the sensible driving force behind the band and with Lucas’ generosity and influence, they should both be worshipping him.

And then it struck me. Perhaps Scott didn’t want Lucas interfering.  Perhaps he thought that the band should make it on their own.  Maybe he resented Lucas’ help to get them on the bottom rung of the rock band ladder.  It didn’t make any sense, at all but the more I watched Scott scowling at Lucas, the more likely I thought I might be on to something.  Without the band’s talent, Lucas would be wasting his time.  Couldn’t Scott see that?

I allowed myself to be distracted by the banter between Ethan and Travis over who could ‘nail the most groupies’ by the time we left on Sunday morning.  Then, the fact that we were all sleeping on the tour bus began to sink in.  The spacious vehicle suddenly seemed much smaller when I pictured Ethan and Travis enthusiastically banging their conquests, just a few feet from my bunk. 

Just as importantly, how on earth would Lucas and I get any action on here?  I wondered whether it was too late to get Lucas to book us into a hotel near to the festival site and leave the others to it.  I was dragged from my musings by Travis who’d thrown a bottle top at me to get my attention.

“What, Travis?” I said sweetly.

“Which do chicks prefer – rock stars or billionaire businessmen?” he asked.

I laughed.  “What?  How would I know what chicks prefer?”

“Doesn’t matter anyway.  It’s obvious what you prefer.  I mean you could’ve had me, soon-to-be-superstar-rock-god, but you chose Mr Billionaire Hunter instead,” he smirked, looking from me to Lucas.

I felt color flooding my cheeks.  I looked to Angel for help but she and Chad were whispering sweet nothings or some such.  Ethan was also smirking, eyebrow raised in anticipation of my response.  I looked desperately to Scott but looked away instantly, scorched by his murderous expression.  It was Lucas that came to my rescue. 

“You’re wrong, Travis.  I’m not a billionaire at all,” he said with a reassuring squeeze of my shoulder.

“Fuck off!” came Travis’ retort.  “Chad was saying that you own tons of real estate all over the state.  Your assets must be worth billions.”

“Ah yes, if you consider assets and holdings, I am a multi billionaire in that sense.  But I only count what is in the bank, not what is invested because their value can change.”

Travis’ eyes almost fell out of his head.  “So how much do you have in the bank?  Roughly speaking?”

“Travis!  That’s none of your business!” I burst out, embarrassed by his grilling of Lucas’ personal affairs.

“Oh come on, Issy.  Surely you want to know how much he’s worth.  It’s not too late to come back to me you know.  We’re going to hit the big time soon – I’ll have my own millions!”

Lucas laughed and winked at me.  “He’s right you know, Honey.  You might get tempted and leave me when he has more millions than I do.  Travis, when I last looked, there was just under a billion dollars tucked away safely in the bank.  So I think Issy is safe from your clutches, for a while yet at least.”

Ethan guffawed at that and sparked a debate with Travis over who would make the most money from sponsorship deals when the band made it big.  Lucas, sensing my discomfort, pulled me on to his lap and wrapped his strong arms around me.  I was just snuggling into his chest when I heard a bang.  I looked up to see Scott’s beer fizzing up and out of the bottle after he’d slammed it on the table.  Our eyes locked for a second, before he stalked out of the seating area; there was such venom in his eyes that I almost recoiled.  So that’s what all this is about – he’s jealous of Lucas’ wealth!

We made it to the festival venue by mid-afternoon.  Lucas instantly went off to find the organisers and make sure that everything was in order.  Thousands of people were camping overnight in a huge field next to the festival so there was plenty going on.  Ethan and Travis were out of the door hunting their first conquests and Chad dragged Angel off to look at the stages that had been erected.  I was left on the tour bus with Scott, although I didn’t know exactly where he was.  I decided to tackle his issues with Lucas whilst we had privacy.

I found him in his bunk, near the rear of the tour bus.  I perched on the edge and smiled at him.

“Hey, Scott.  Is everything okay? You don’t seem yourself today,” I asked quietly.

He just looked at me for several seconds, before finally replying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  His eyes held mine but they were lacking their usual kindness.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  “Do you have a problem with Lucas?”

Again, he waited before answering, as if weighing up what to say.  “Why would I?”

“That’s why I’m asking.  You don’t seem very comfortable in his presence.  In fact, you look distinctly uncomfortable.  I want to know why.”

His eyes were like pools of liquid as he held my gaze.  They seemed to be probing mine for answers.  I had no idea what the questions were.  He sadly shook his head and muttered, “Why would I have a problem with Mr Wonderful?” and rolled over to face away from me.

Before I could reply, I heard Lucas calling me.  He’d returned with our passes that would grant us access to all areas of the festival.  I hastily got up and went to intercept him but Chad’s snide comment about Mr Wonderful surely proved that he was jealous of Lucas.  I figured there wasn’t much I could do about that but I did feel a flare of annoyance that Scott wasn’t more grateful for all that Lucas was doing for the band.

A tour of the venue showed just how large scale the festival was.  There were multiple stages and I knew that the boys weren’t on the main stage this time but, with any luck, their set tomorrow would help to begin to get their talent noticed.  We sat down at one of the food outlets and had the best cheeseburger and fries that I’d ever tasted.  Not that I ate them often.  I think it was more that I was with casually dressed Lucas (delicious in black jeans and a black tight fitting t-shirt), doing things that normal young adults did.

He attracted a lot of attention from the ladies unsurprisingly.  Not that he noticed but many tried to catch his eye and then gave me jealous daggers when they failed.  He’d left Daniel in charge back at the Orion Building for the day and he seemed relaxed, confident and … well, normal.  He was anonymous for the evening – no different from the thousands of other guys that were on the site.  But, he looked happy and carefree and I loved seeing a glimpse of that side of him.

Dusk was descending when we wandered back to the tour bus.  I heard the boys before I saw them.  They were giving an impromptu acoustic gig next to the tour bus from the looks of things.  A huge crowd of enthusiastic new fans had gathered and were obviously enjoying the show.  I shook my head and laughed, amused that they couldn’t wait until their turn tomorrow.  I looked up at Lucas to see whether he would be impressed with their rash action and was pleased to see that he was smiling.

“Genius,” he said.  “If these guys like the band, they will turn up to watch them tomorrow and they might spread the word.”

“Ahhhh,” I replied.  “So it’s good tactics then.”

Lucas moved behind me and wrapped his arms around me.  “I think this was probably borne out of over exuberance and vanity but, as a pleasant consequence, it could well be a bonus.”

Over the next hour, more and more people came to sit and listen, chat and drink.  The boys would play a couple of numbers – their own stuff and some covers – and then mingle and chat and so on.  Angel was sitting on the steps of the tour bus, looking every inch the besotted groupie, totally absorbed in Chad.  Lucas and I settled on a picnic blanket next to Angel.  He sat cross legged and I settled in between his legs with his arms around me.  I was getting so used to the comfort of his embrace, I realized, and then pushed the thought from my mind, but not before it occurred to me that we were already almost half way through the month trial.