Текст книги "Lyric"

Автор книги: Regina Frame

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Lyric

A Dirty Affliction Novel

By

Regina Frame

Lyric– A dirty affliction novel

Copyright © 2015 Regina Frame

All rights reserved.

No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission from author Regina Frame.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to an actual person, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Country Singer Brad Paisley and Blake Shelton are mentioned in this book strictly as the female characters favorite singer. John Mayer’s song, Say What You Need to Say, is also mentioned in this book as another character’s favorite song. No words to their music were quoted or used in any way.

Editing and Formatting:

Starfire Press

Cover:

Book Cover By Design

DEDICATION

To my wonderful readers! You guys ROCK!

You can follow me on the sites listed below.

http://www.ReginaFrameAuthor.com

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Titles by

Regina Frame

The Beaumont Trilogy

Saving Chloe

Parker's Past

Forever Complete

Rock Star Series

Dirty Affliction Series

Honesty

Lyric

Coming Soon!

Heartstrings (Chance)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTs

Thank you to the readers. Everyone one of you who have ever stopped at my table or sent me a message; I do this for you. You are my inspiration and I love you all!

(BIG Hugs and Kisses)

Please remember the best gift you can ever give an author is to leave a review! Thank you all in advance.

Table of Contents:

Lyric: A Dirty Affliction Novel

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

About The Author

LEVI

"Wake up dipshit!" A loud voice roared before something wet hit my face. What the hell? I pried open my bloodshot eyes and stared at Chance, where he stood beside my bed with a water gun in his hand. My head felt as if the top was going to blow off at any moment and my mouth was like the Sahara desert. I rolled over, covered my head with one of the extra pillows on the bed, and growled at him the best I could without making my head explode.

"Suck me," I snarled.

"You're not my type and you know it. I like mine a little curvier and with bigger tits, man," he chuckled. I could barely move, which meant that I had really tied one on last night, if I could only remember exactly what that entailed. All of a sudden, it was coming back to me—twins. I'd picked up twins in the casino bar and brought them back to my room! My head popped up and I scanned the room for any signs that they lingered this morning. No such luck.

"You looking for the blonds?" I nodded and rubbed my hands vigorously over my face, trying to wake myself up. "You're lucky I walked in when I did. One of them was going through your wallet, while the other one was digging around in your bag, man. I told them to get the hell out and they'd be lucky if we didn't press charges. They were going to rob you blind. You gotta be . . ."

"Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, fucking blah," I said and pointed to the door. "Don't you have someone else to annoy? Get out of my room, and if you shoot me with that damn water gun again, I’m kicking your ass!" I said.

"Meeting in Jinx's room in fifteen," he announced and kicked the bed with his damn foot. Again, I felt as if my head would fall off. I lie there a little longer once Chance walked out, until I heard the sound of the door close behind him. I forced myself from the bed, stretched my arms above my head, and my entire body ached—either from the marathon of sex with the twins, or the after effects from all the alcohol. I guessed it was a combination of both. Either way, everyone had a good time.

I was definitely gonna have to be more careful. That wasn’t the first time someone had tried to steal from me. I walked over to the dresser where I'd tossed my wallet last night and thumbed through the contents. Fuck! Every damn dollar I had in it was gone. I didn't bother going through my duffel bag because the only thing I kept in it were clothes. I wasn’t like Linc used to be. That guy carried around a shit-ton of pharmaceuticals with him.

After showering and dressing in a pair of faded jeans and a wrinkled t-shirt, I padded down the carpeted hall of our hotel to where the guys were waiting for me in Jinx's room. I stepped through the door, grabbed a bottle of water from the counter, and turned to face the group. They all looked as hung over as I felt, that was, except for Jinx. I wasn’t sure what that guy did to get his rocks off, but he wasn’t much of a partier. He stood in the middle of the room and his gaze traveled over each one of us before he spoke.

"Guys, there's something I need to talk to you about and I've been putting it off for a while now. You know we've been without our manager, Court, for a while now," Jinx said.

"That guy was a fucking no good . . ." Jinx interrupted Chance before he could finish that statement.

"Yes. We all know what he was. I didn't get you all together to discuss that piece of shit. What I'm trying to tell you; is that I can't be a member of this band and handle everything else, too. There is just too much to consider. There's booking venues, finances, public relations, fund raisers, and so much more that I just can't do," he explained.

"So, hire someone to help us out. I don't know about the other guys, but I say go for it, man." I looked at Chance and Honor, who nodded in agreement.

"See? Easy peasy," I said. Jinx narrowed his eyes at me and replied . . .

"It's not as easy to find someone who can handle all of this as you think. I've been doing my own research before bringing this up to you guys. I was hoping to already have someone in mind, just in case you guys were okay with it."

"How fucking hard can it be? You ask around, put an ad in the paper, and pick somebody from there!" I explained. I was beginning to think from the scowl on Jinx's face, that I'd definitely pushed one of his buttons, and not a good one. Because, the next words out of his mouth made me want to bang my head against the fucking wall.

"Who in this room would like to nominate Levi, to go forward with the interview and hiring process of our band assistant? Let's see a show of hands." Three sets of hands shot up in the air. Fucking, traitors!

"Wait a minute! What about Linc? I know he's not traveling with us right now, but shouldn't he have a say in this? After all, he does still write music for us." I tried to reason, in hopes Linc would vote to help me out.

"I'm way ahead of you," Jinx smirked.

“Of course you are," I muttered under my breath. That's why he'd been so good at handling all of the other shit.

"Linc said that right now his main concern, is writing music and taking care of his wife. I think Honesty is keeping him busy when he's not in the studio, writing. You know we're getting ready to take a few months off to record a new album; which means we'll be home for a while. I think it would be a good time to bring someone in. They could see what goes into putting an album together, scheduling events with the label, and we have your fundraiser coming up in a few months. Isn't that right, Levi? They could help put that together," Jinx stressed.

He was right. I, with the help of the other guys, put together some kind of fundraiser every year for families of police officers who died in the line of duty. It was my way of honoring my dad. I was hoping to make this year's event, more substantial than last year’s.

"Okay. I accept your challenge, and I don't want to hear shit about shit if you don't like how I've handled something. You all feel me? I'll hire whomever I feel is best for the job and the rest of you can keep your two-cents to yourselves."

They all nodded in agreement, except for Jinx. He opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. He had such a hard time giving up control, so I knew it was killing him to have to ask for this, but after all, he shouldn't have to worry about all this other shit. Producing good music for the band should be top priority. We had one more show in Vegas, and then we'd be headed home for a few months to write and record. I decided to wait until we got back to LA to advertise the job. It'd probably be best to hire someone local.

"There's one more thing I need to discuss," he announced. "I've got a couple of promotional gigs lined up for when we get back to LA. Chance, Honor, and I will sit in on a radio interview at WRMQ and, Levi," he paused and looked me in the eye. "I know you don't like doing one-on-one's but, you're the front man for the group, so you'll be appearing on WKDG's talk show. Before you get your dick in a knot," he held up his hand, because he could see the fire building in me. I fucking hated one-on-one interviews. "They've promised to submit a list of questions that may be asked by the host, and if there are any that you're not comfortable with, we'll take care of it," he explained. The option to veto questions made me feel somewhat better, but not a lot. Fuck me.

Las Vegas Venue

Levi

We were all in the dressing room back stage, waiting for our cover band, Nuclear Disaster, to finish their set. Everything was pretty much as it was every show; we all had our own ways of getting ready and in the zone. Jinx pounded out a beat with his sticks against his thighs. I found a place in a corner usually, to run through my lyrics. Honor and Chance played Halo on the Xbox, and fucking shouted every time they killed one of their opponents. How that prepared them to play guitar, I'll never know, but somehow it worked. I guess, don't fuck with what wasn’t broken.

It was a killer show. We couldn't have asked for a more responsive crowd, but now that it was over, we were all ready to celebrate. For once, I'd have liked to just crawl under the covers and pass out until morning. Instead, I decided to do what I always did, grabbed one of the groupies and headed to her hotel room for a little playtime.

"I want to have your baby." The blond beneath me moaned as I thrust into her. Wait. What?

"What did you just say?" I stopped moving altogether causing her to grind her clit against me. I glanced down to where we were joined together to confirm, that yes; I was wearing a condom. I always wrapped it. Looking back up into her glassy blue eyes, I asked the question again. "What did you just say?"

"I said . . . I want to have your baby," she reiterated. Whoa, this chick was serious. I pushed up on my knees, letting my dick slip out of her, and then almost fell off the bed trying to get to my jeans.

"You’re leaving?" she asked, scrambling up onto her knees. The action caused her fake breasts to bounce, and then her arm reached for me, desperately.

"Fuck yeah, I'm leaving! You're just a way to pass the time, sweetheart. What did you think this was? You hang out back stage, half-dressed, throwing yourself at a group of guys for sex. You probably thought that once I'd slept with you that you'd be different, huh? You'd be different from all the rest and that I'd fall for you. We'd get married and live happily ever after. Am I right?" I was almost shouting now. I watched her twist the cotton sheet between her fingers, tears brimming in her eyes. I knew I was being an ass, but . . . what the fuck! I was suddenly thankful that we came to her room, instead of fucking in mine. I didn't even bother putting on my t-shirt or shoes before storming out the door and heading for the elevator, to take me to my room. This shit was starting to get old. Thank god, we left for home tomorrow.

Los Angeles– WKDG

Levi

I stepped into the WKDG network and was immediately greeted by a tall redhead, with luscious curves, and fake tits that bounced as she walked toward me. She had a blindingly white smile and big, green eyes, which were openly fucking me. If it weren't for being so hung over, I might have taken her up on it.

"You're Levi Cross," she stated a little breathy, after licking her full lips. Some people had no shame.

"The one and only," I said, cocking my head to the side. She stared at me a moment longer, as if she were struggling to form words in her lustful brain. I decided to take pity on her and broke the silence.

"I'm meeting with Melissa Jones." I arched my brow and pinned her with my knowing gaze. A nervous giggle escaped her mouth.

"Yes. Of course! I'm so sorry." Her cheeks flushed. "I'm such a big fan."

"No problem, sweetheart," I told her.

"I'll take you back to the green room." She turned on her high heels and wobbled a little. This chick was definitely flustered by me. I reached out and wrapped my arm around her small waist to keep her from hitting the marble floor. Her face turned pink and a nervous laugh escaped her lips. She was tiny and warm and I liked the feel of her body against mine. "T-Thank you," she stammered. Her heels clicked on the marble floors as I followed along behind, admiring her fine ass along the way. I followed her into the green room, which was not green by the way, and took a bottle of water from the table full of snacks, before taking a seat on the black leather sofa. There was a large flat screen on the wall with a live feed of the show in progress.

I waited thirty minutes before a nerdy guy with thick-rimmed glasses and a headset entered the room to announce that it was time. I followed him down a narrow hallway, where we stopped just out of sight of the large audience. He didn't try to make small talk or go all; fan-crazy on me and I was thankful. I gripped the bottle of water in my hands and tried to steady my nerves.

I didn't know why Jinx sent me to do this alone. I wasn’t normally good with one-on-one interviews. I could sing before thousands of people all day long and not have a problem, but put me up against a single person, and I lost my shit. The questions they asked were too personal and there were just some things, which were off limits. I wiped my sweaty palms down the legs of my jeans, while people scurried in all directions during the short commercial break. A short, stocky man behind one of the cameras held up his hand and counted down—three, two, one, before pointing at the skinny, blond talk show host. Then, she opened her mouth. Her voice was like fingernails on a chalkboard.

"Everyone put your hands together for Dirty Affliction's front man, Levi Cross." She stood from her blue, suede chair and began to dance around the set as I made my way onto the floor. Our latest single played in the background. The crowd went nuts, standing on their feet, cheering, and whistling. A few women in the crowd even shouted, "I love you, Levi! Marry me, Levi!" I turned, waved to the enthusiastic crowd, and then blew a kiss, before Melissa wrapped me in a polite hug. She was skinny as a rail and it felt like hugging a bag of bones.

I lowered myself into the blue chair opposite of hers. Suddenly, I regretted not having a drink before this interview, to calm my nerves. Why did I feel like I was in front of a firing squad?

"I have to say, you're even sexier in person," she gushed. "I'm also a big fan! I've followed the band since the beginning. I heard you play for the first time at the "Wally's in LA."

Wow! That was two years ago, when we were playing bars. I sat back in my chair, crossing my ankle over my knee. She shifted in her seat, looking a little nervous. I wondered if I'd slept with this woman. Something about her looked familiar, but after a while, a groupie was a groupie.

"A true groupie," I said with a wink. That was probably inappropriate, but I didn't really give a fuck. I obviously affected her. I could tell by the way she was clenching her thighs together on live TV. I gave her a knowing smirk and she blushed a bright red, before she flipped through her note cards and began with the questions.

One: "I'm going to go ahead and put this question out there. I know it's what's on everyone's mind. Are all you guys single? Well, we all know that Linc is married now. What about the rest of you guys? Is there anyone special in your life, Levi? Perhaps, a special lady out there?" She asked, arching a brow that probably didn’t move, due to all the Botox in her plastic face. I leaned back in my chair and drummed my fingers on the blue suede as I turned to face the crowd.

"They're all special ladies, Melissa." A round of applause followed my response. "But, as far as having that one special person, that answer would be no."

Two: "Don't you ever think about settling down at some point? Finding that someone to share your life with?" She asked, with a smile on her full, red lips. She crossed her legs, which caused her skirt to ride up her tanned thigh, and I couldn't help that my eyes went there. She cleared her throat after a moment, getting my attention. I'd been caught ogling her on national TV. Her faced blushed a deep red again and she repeated her question.

"That's just it, Melissa. There's no room in our lives right now. Travel, appearances, tabloids, already take up every minute of every day, it wouldn’t be fair bringing someone else into this life. There's no time left in a day for us. Just the days of walking down the street without security, are long gone." And, those days were gone. "When we first started out and the bus would stop for gas, we'd all pile out. The band would go into whatever station, just so we could stretch our legs or grab a bag of chips. We can't even do that shit anymore, because there's always someone there with cameras, or smartphones taking pictures or videoing us, so that they can post it on social media. So . . . you see the simple things in life no longer exist for us. I wouldn't dream of dragging someone into that kind of life." She gave a polite nod with a look of sympathy in her eyes.

The thing was, she had no idea how much I'd love to have that special someone—someone to share my days and nights with, to cuddle up to after a show, instead of empty groupie pussy. I wanted someone in my life that loved me for me, and not for who I was or what I could give her. I wanted someone who could live with the good, the bad, and the ugly of me.

Three: "We’ve all read about Linc's struggle with drugs and alcohol. What about the rest of you? Do any of you struggle with addiction?" she asked, red lips pulled into a thin line, waiting for my answer.

"Well, first of all, I'd like to say that Linc is doing great in his recovery and we couldn't be prouder of him. As for me, I drink a little but, nothing in excess. I've spent some time in rehab, everyone knows this, but it's all under control. We're rock stars, so it's always available everywhere we go. It's just something we have to work hard to control. We all have our own demons, and as for the other members of the band, that's not really my story to tell." I could tell by the look on her face that she expected more of an answer from me, but she wasn’t getting it. Rock stars partied. Everyone knew that. Did we take it to extremes sometimes? Yes. That was a given.

Four: "I know all the girls are dying to know . . . boxers or briefs?” She arched her perfectly sculpted brow and leaned in closer to me. I couldn't believe she just asked that damned corny question.

"Commando." I looked at the crowd and wiggled my brows suggestively, while they cheered. I snickered to myself and thought about how Linc would have answered that question. He would have said, "Free Ballin’," and not been the least bit ashamed of it. He was a PR nightmare, but the ladies’ loved him for it. Me, on the other hand, my mother would be calling me the minute I walked off the set, for being what she would call ‘disrespectful’ on national TV in front of thousands of people.

Five: “What’s your most memorable rock star moment?" She asked, glancing up from her stack of note cards in her lap.

"That would be Star and Shar, the kinky twins I met last month in Atlanta. That was a fucking good time. Literally." I laughed and shook my head. Yeah, I could expect a call from my mom after that one. "Hello, ladies." I said, looking into the camera.

"Nah . . . I’m just kidding." Not really. "That would have to be getting nominated for Best Album. It just doesn't get any better than that," I said.

"I love you, Levi!" A scream came from the crowd. I shifted in my chair so that I was facing them, instead of the host.

"I love you, too," I said with a wink. I ran my damp palms over the knees of my jeans.

Six: “What's the most memorable place you've played as a band?"

"That would have to be the time we were asked to play at Star Side. We thought it was probably a cool bar and with us just starting out, we were hungry for exposure. Therefore, we didn't ask many questions, and keep in mind, it was also before our band's name became Dirty Affliction. Imagine our surprise when we showed up at the Star Side assisted living facility." She placed her hand over her mouth in shock.

"I can honestly say that groupies come from all ages, if you know what I mean." I threw my head back and laughed, but cringed on the inside when I thought about how arthritic fingers grabbed at my clothing.

"Oh my!" She tucked her chin and giggled. "Why didn't you guys just leave once you realized it wasn't a bar?"

"Well, we were starving artists. We needed the money for expenses and a gig’s a gig," I explained and she giggled.

Seven: "What's it like living on a tour bus with three other people? What do you do in between venues?"

"When Linc was traveling with us, he and I'd write lyrics." That was if he wasn’t too drunk or stoned, which happened to be more likely, than not. "We watch TV or play Xbox. Chance seems to be obsessed with Halo. Honor Collins is touring with us while Linc is on break. She usually fills her time by reading or playing video games with Chance.”

Eight: "What's the most embarrassing song you have on your smartphone?"

"I can't tell you. They'd revoke my man card.” I loved John Mayer's song, 'Say What You Need to Say.'

Nine: "On a more serious note, if you weren't a rock star, what would you be doing?" It was the more personal questions like these, which I wished I didn't have to answer. It might seem like an innocent question that the fans were interested in, but they didn't realize the emotional turmoil it opened up inside of me.

"I'd probably be in law enforcement of some type." I replied shortly, not wanting to go any further with this topic. It hurt too much.

"That's interesting. Wasn't your father a police officer?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, he was. He was a well respected officer." I felt the knot begin to form in the pit of my stomach. I desperately wanted to change the subject and I thought she could tell, because she ended the conversation on that note. Thank God.

Ten: "One final question. If you could describe each member of the band in just a few short words, what would they be?"

"Well . . . Let's see. Linc has always loved the women. Sorry about that, Honesty," I said to the camera. "Chance is a jokester. He's forever pulling some shit on everybody. Jinx is the warden. He's the one trying to keep us all in line these days. I haven't really known Honor long enough to put a label on her, but Chance calls her sparkles, so I'll go with that one."

"What about you?" she asked, cocking her head to the side, anxiously waiting for my answer. That was just it. With me, what you saw was what you got.

"I'm just me," I said. She laughed with slight irritation, wanting more of an response than I was willing to give, yet again.

"I think you're so much more that what you're willing to say, but I'll let it go at that. What are the plans for Dirty Affliction over the next few months?" She shuffled her note cards before laying them flat in her lap.

"We're getting ready to record a new album, so we'll be in the studio for at least three months. Depending on how things go, it could be longer. Our label is working on a few things that I can't really discuss right now, but will be announced as soon as things become final. The fans need to check our website, follow us on Facebook, and on Twitter, for what's up," I said. Melissa plastered on her perfect smile and turned to face the camera.

"We have a surprise for everyone, so listen closely. WKDG and Dirty Affliction have two tickets, along with back stage passes, and invitations to the after party, for Friday night's show." People jumped to their feet screaming with their hands in the air, hoping to be chosen. It was insane.

"For the people at home, all you have to do is be the twenty-third caller, starting now. For those of you in the audience today, we have a special surprise just for you coming up right after the show!" she said, smiling for the camera. After a few more embarrassing questions and a few inquiries about the tour, the interview was over. Once I had the meet and greet over with, I got the hell out of there.