Ruin Porn (29 page)

“Okay I’m starting to warm up to this idea. Sounds fun,” Evin responded with a grin even if his pajamas left things flopping that should have been tucked in.

“It does,” Miah piped up. “It’s one of those rare occasions when India suspends all their cultural norms and people just have fun. Distinction of caste and religion are forgotten. Men and women can mix freely, and from what I hear, many engage in what they would normally consider shockingly inappropriate public displays of affection.” Miah pulled his hair back into a ponytail and fit the scarf over his head. “The normally forbidden consumption of alcohol and bhang—”

“Bhang?” Evin asked.

“Indian weed, man,” Miah said with a grin. “Anyway, booze and weed are used widely to help shed inhibitions and fuel the feel-good feels.”

“Sounds like a colorful orgy. I’m in,” Evin chuckled.

Finn’s hand landed on Evin’s thigh, the warmth and tingling sensation it produced instantaneous. “Settle down, you slut. There will be no wiener dipping today.” Finn pointed at Miah, unfortunately with the hand that had been on Evin’s thigh. “That goes for you too, hooker.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Miah responded with a dismissive wave.

“Seriously,” Ritchie said. “It can be a lot of fun, but dangerous too. We all need to stick together and watch each other’s backs.”

“That’s what we got Thing One, Thing Two, and Thing Three there for,” Finn pointed toward Mark, their local tour guide Janu, and another security guard whose name Evin couldn’t recall.

“Yeah, well, a few more eyes won’t hurt,” Ritchie insisted. “It can be a lot of fun, Ev, but also a bit scary. Think of it as mixing a Fourth of July celebration with April Fools’ Day, a touch of urban guerrilla warfare, and throw in alcohol and weed for good measure.”

“Yeah, I’ll be careful,” Evin assured him. “But explain to me again why we have to wear these getups? I don’t see anyone else wearing them.”

“That was Finnegan’s idea,” Miah piped up. “He thought it would be cool to ship them home and frame them when the tour is over. He’s a sentimental fucker at times.”

Finn’s cheeks turned pink and he pulled his shades down over his eyes. It was just too fucking cute so Evin didn’t tease him any further. Plus, it really was a cool idea.

Evin thought he had a good understanding of what he was in for, but that was thrown out the window as soon as they stepped off the train. He was unprepared for the Technicolor tornado of humanity.

They struggled to stay together as they were surrounded by a blinding mob of disorder. Carried along with the flow of bodies, all Evin could do was hold on to Finn’s shirt in front of him and Ritchie’s sleeve. Apparently four men in pure white was an attractive target for the puffs of dusty paint.

There were random hands on Evin’s face smearing bright pink paint all over his cheeks and neck. But that was nothing compared to the purple aerosol foam that filled his ears or the oversized syringes spraying colored water in his face at point-blank range. It burned his eyes, and he coughed as it filled his mouth.

Holy hell, he was drowning in a fucking rainbow. How ironic was that?

Thankfully Janu led them all through the mayhem and up a staircase to a balcony overlooking the street below. The four of them stood, looking shell-shocked, covered from head to toe in bright colors for a long moment and then burst out laughing in unison.

From his perch above the mobs, Evin watched as the raucous crowd below was doused with colored water. A rainbow haze hung in the air as fistfuls of paint exploded like a never-ending fireworks show. So many people were dancing and singing, and Evin was pulled into their joy. Swaying to their music, the laughter from the four of them complemented and completed the elation of the festival.

It was the happiest he’d been on this leg of the tour so far, and he hoped that the momentum would carry.

T
HE
PRIVATE
lounge was decorated in bright silks of red and orange, but Evin found the lighting and décor gaudy. Everything was covered with multicolored rhinestones and gold. But it wasn’t the decorator’s choice that was causing him to squirm in his seat and pick at the napkin on his lap. It was the way Sid was peering at him as he waited for Evin to sit down with him, a long dark-haired girl, and a guy who looked suspiciously like Sid.

“Okay, let’s get this started,” Sid announced when Evin was next to him. “Evin, meet Emma Roman and her manager Monty James.”

“Nice to meet you,” Evin said, offering his hand to Emma, then Monty.

Monty nodded and Emma smiled. She had a nice smile and amazing blue eyes. She seemed to be just as uncomfortable as he felt, and Evin took an instant liking to her partly due to that.

Sid opened a file that was lying on the table in front of him. He handed both Evin and Emma a stack of papers. “KMA has a lot of faith in Emma’s talents, but they are having a hard time getting her name out there. That’s where you come in, Evin. You two are now officially a hot couple.”

“What?” both Evin and Emma said in unison.

The two of them stared at each other, and Evin was pretty sure the shock and horror displayed in Emma’s expression mirrored his own freaked-the-fuck-out look.

“You can’t expect me to lie about something as personal as this,” Emma protested.

“They can and you will,” Monty said curtly.

“No, the hell we don’t,” Evin insisted. “This is such bullshit. I didn’t sign up for this.”

Sid sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, his expression stern. “Actually, you did. It’s in the promotional activities portion of the contract you just signed with Schaffer’s management company. Welcome to being a full member of Resonator.”

Evin folded his arms on the table and laid his head on them, trying to remember how to breathe. Dread churned in his gut, and the risk of upchucking was a real possibility. Was this how Finn had felt when they’d forced Alessandra on him?
Fuck.
He owed Finn a way bigger apology than he’d thought. The whole girlfriend thing—whether real or fake—didn’t sit well with him, and to make it all the worse, it was his own damn fault. He’d been so excited to join Rez as an official member that he’d skipped the legal advice session and simply signed on the dotted line without reading a single word of the contract he was signing. Ignorance wouldn’t be considered a legal defense. He was a fucked dumbass.

A hand landed on Evin’s back. “It’s not that bad,” Sid commented, sounding sympathetic. “It’s only while you’re here in India. Then you two can part ways. We’ll leave you two alone to get acquainted.”

Evin took a deep breath and blew it out slowly before sitting back in his seat and nodding. He grabbed his glass of water and took a big gulp, soothing his dry throat. He looked over at Emma, who looked about as happy about this new development as he did. It wasn’t her fault, and he suddenly felt guilty for his reaction. It might have been an acceptable reaction, but that didn’t mean he had to make it worse for this poor chick who was in the same situation as him.

He took another big gulp, set the glass aside, and met Emma’s gaze. “Guess you’ll want me to meet your parents?”

Emma stared at him for a moment longer, then started to giggle.

“What?” Evin grinned, Emma’s laughter easing the tension. “Isn’t that the next step for a hot and heavy couple such as us?”

“I was just thinking how my daddy would react to you,” she snickered and covered her mouth when it came out more of a snort, which set her to giggling again.

Evin looked down at himself, his Def Leppard T-shirt, torn jeans, and then quirked a brow. “You don’t think he’d approve?”

“My daddy is a little protective. Being the sheriff, he’s real handy with a gun and cuffs.”

Evin’s eyes went wide in shock, and Emma laughed all the harder.

Okay. Maybe this wouldn’t be quite as bad as he thought.

“H
EY
, M
IAH
,
you seen Evin?” Finn asked.

“He’s off sightseeing with Emma,” Miah replied without looking up from the papers spread out in front of him.

Finn plopped down in the chair next to him. “You know where they went?”

“Sightseeing,” he repeated.

Finn hadn’t seen Evin for more than a few minutes in the last two days, not since the reps forced some pop star wannabe on him. The fame and flowing cash was great, but there were definitely some things about popularity that sucked big-time. Being forced to pretend to be in a relationship with someone you didn’t know was complete and utter bullshit. If he had half a nut sac, he’d tell them all to fuck off and he and Evin…. Nope. He wasn’t even going to finish that thought. It wasn’t going to happen anyway. They might have been able to swing support from the label, but there was no way in fuck Miah would be mature and accepting of him and Ev. He and Evin as officially more than friends wasn’t going to happen, no matter how much he wished otherwise.

Finn growled in frustration and laid his hand over the paper Miah was reading. “Sightseeing, got it. But any idea what kind of sites they were going to be seeing?” Miah smirked, and Finn pointed a finger at him. “If you say India, I will kick you in your stubborn ass.”

“I wasn’t going to say any such thing. Given the way Evin and Emma couldn’t keep their hands off each other, the only sites I suspect those two will be seeing is naked flesh and stars.”

“Whatever,” Finn grunted. “They’re just doing that for the publicity. They barely know each other.”

Miah sat back in his chair, a sheepish grin on his face. “Length of time knowing someone rarely has much to do with it. I’ve bedded women within minutes of meeting them.”

“That’s because you’re a slut.”

“And our boy Ev is finally jumping on the whore bandwagon. Those two weren’t doing it for the camera when it was just the three of us here in the hotel room. Hell, the way they were touching each other was nearly enough to make me blush.” Miah shook his head. “Trust me, the only sights those two are viewing at the moment is each other. And, it would take a credit card and proof of age to view what the camera caught.”

Jealousy reared up so fast within Finn that it nearly knocked him out of his chair. His hands curled into fists, and he had to tamp down on the urge to punch Miah in his smiling fucking face. There was a part of him that knew all too well Miah had to be exaggerating the truth, because Evin wouldn’t do such a thing. There was no fucking way. Yet as stupid as it was, how irrational his jealousy, it continued to surge through him, consuming him. He was losing it, man. There were too many lies, too much hiding, and too many emotions he didn’t understand or even have an outlet for, all of which were fucking with his head and heart.

He schooled his features and rose to his feet. “When he gets back, let him know I was looking for him. I’ve been working on some new chords I wanted to toss at him.” He was lying again, for what felt like the billionth time at this point. He was surprised the words came out evenly when a tempest of fury was swirling around within him.

“I’d love to hear what you’re working on,” Miah offered, sounding genuine for once. Of course that would be how this worked. Finn had to change everything he was to make Miah actually like him.

“Sure,” Finn tossed over his shoulder as he headed for the door. “I’m going to grab a shower”—
and punch something
. “I’ll be back later.”

“Cool. I’ll be here,” Miah said easily and went back to studying the paper in front of him as if he hadn’t shredded Finn’s chest.

“Hey, Finn,” Evin called out as Finn exited the hotel room.

Finn jerked his head to the right to see Evin. He was dressed in a pair of loose jeans that hung low on his hips and a tight T-shirt with the outline of a fox with the word
For
above it and
Sake
below it. It wasn’t just the clothes he was sporting that made Ev look great but the wide grin spread across his face. He looked relaxed. Happy. Finn seethed.

“Was just heading down to grab a snack. I hear they have a candy store around the corner,” Evin said and waggled his brows. “Want to come with?”

Any other time Finn would have jumped at the chance to hang with Evin, and at the candy store, even better, but Finn was still dealing with the green-eyed monster and Miah’s words swirling around in his messed-up head, words which slammed into the center of Finn’s chest because not only was Evin looking way too fucking happy, he had his hand tucking into Emma’s, who was snuggled into Evin’s side.

“No, I have work to do,” Finn snarled.

“Whoa, what the fuck?” Evin released his hold on Emma to step up to Finn. “What’s going on?”

Finn shot a sideways glance at Emma, who was biting at her bottom lip as she watched them, but Finn—too embroiled in his covetous crazy—took the look as guilt. He hated feeling like this, hated the implications and the…
fuck
. He just hated everyone and everything at the moment.

“I’m good, I have work to do.” Finn raked his eyes down Emma. “And apparently so you do.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Evin whispered, hurt evident in his voice.

Finn ignored the question, ran his key card in the lock to his room, and slammed the door behind him. He had the urge to pound his fool head against the door.

Shit was getting out of control, and the worst part about it was that he had no idea how to rein any of it back in.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Australia

“A
LRIGHT
,
BOYS
,
time for a little postgame wrap-up and analysis,” Ritchie announced, holding up his laptop.

Finn stared at him in disbelief. The once comedic ritual that had been so big a part of their early careers had fallen out of favor in this leg of the tour. Partly due to the tension that seemed to always be simmering in the background as of late and mostly because Miah was too busy being Rock God whore to be bothered with the rest of them. It wasn’t that Finn didn’t want to see them all back to that easy way before the weight of their success began pressing down on them—he so did—but very few of their interactions were genuine anymore.