RYDER
Before I could pick up my water bottle and turn to speak to G’Anna, she’d made her way around to the other side of the room. I guessed she’d had enough of hanging out with me for the night. I wasn’t through hanging out with her, though.
“We’re going back to the hotel and ordering room service, Ryder. I’m starving.” The look KeeMac gave to Chandler told me they starved for more than food. This type of relationship took some getting used to. The other band members I had no problems with, but the way he and Chandler lusted after each other still bothered me.
I looked over at the woman I felt an unusual attraction to. Her natural beauty and the easy way she carried herself captured my attention.
“G’Anna, you have plans for the rest of the evening?” Chandler called across the room. It surprised me, but when I looked at my daughter, she had a knowing smirk on her lips.
Before G’Anna got back to us, I asked, “Are you hungry? We can go get some dinner if you’d like.”
She looked at the two lovers and then back at me. “I don’t want to intrude on your dinner.”
“You’re not intruding. I’m inviting you to have dinner with me.” I needed it to be clear this was me asking her to go. I watched her reaction to see if she wanted to or was simply being polite.
“Uh... sure. If you don’t mind me tagging along.” From the look on her face, I believed she wanted to have dinner with me. She turned back to Chandler. “I’m sure you two are welcome to join us.”
KeeMac spoke up, “Nope. Got other things to take care of.” He pulled Chandler’s body flush with his. “Ain’t that right, babe?”
If I had to guess, he was already sporting a hard-on between them, and that was something I didn’t need to see. The man-child roamed around in his underwear or naked from time to time. I’d seen enough of him than necessary more than once and had told him so.
“Oh, right. Okay.” G’Anna looked at me. “Guess it’s just the two of us then.”
“Well, we both know it won’t be Jason.” I laughed so hard at the look on her face. KeeMac and Chandler glanced between the two of us. “G’Anna here had the pleasure of watching one of the groupies in action at our table. I believe she was sufficiently indoctrinated to the groupie way of doing things.”
“Oh God,” Chandler commented. “What did the skank do?”
I took G’Anna by the elbow and led her toward the doorway where security stood waiting. Over my shoulder, I added, “Use your imagination.” When I looked up, G’Anna’s face was glowing red. It’d been a long time since I’d made a woman blush. This might be an interesting night.
The massive SUV pulled in front of an all-night diner where I knew we’d be served good food. Being on the road for so long, we had places located in every city which served food until late or all night. “Sorry about our choice of places, but at this hour, you’re subject to what’s still open. The good news is, the food’s excellent, and it’s usually empty this time of night.”
“I’m sure it’s fine. Great even, if you guys eat here.”
“Ha. We’ve eaten at every dump and dive from coast to coast. We could do our own Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives show. Fieri’s got nothing on Steel, except we’ve eaten at the bad ones, too.”
Security went in ahead of us and signaled for us to enter. “I’m sorry we have to have these guys with us, too, but we don’t go anywhere without them for our safety. People can be crazy sometimes and do stupid stuff that they’ll regret later in life.”
“Bet you’ve seen it all.”
Taking her elbow again, we moved to the back booth, and I sat with my back to the doorway. My guy would stop anyone from coming to our table, but there were only a few all-night workers and a cop sitting in the place.
“Hope you’re hungry because I’m starving after a show.”
“I could eat something.” She looked over the menu. When the young waitress made her way to us, G’Anna spoke up, “I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger with all the trimmings and an order of French fries with a chocolate shake.”
The waitress stopped writing, staring at my companion before looking at me. “I’ll have the same, except I’ll have a strawberry shake.” She gave me a bored nod and walked away. “I love a girl not afraid to eat when she’s hungry.” We both laughed.
“Eating’s never been a problem for me, but I don’t eat this late very often.”
It was going to be necessary for me to talk this time. With only the two of us at the table, I had to step up my game. I hoped I remembered how to do this.
G’Anna caught me off guard when she commented first. “I just want to know one thing, Ryder.”
“What’s that?” I needed to be attentive, so I met her gaze. Her brown eyes reminded me of a mink coat. The iris didn’t seem uniform in color but held an array of browns as I’d seen in a coat, some dark, some light. Against her olive skin and the black hair that fanned her face, they captured my attention and held it.
“Do all of the band members get that kind of aggressiveness from groupies like I witnessed tonight?”
I chuckled as the waitress set our frosty drinks down in front of us. Once she moved far enough away from the table, I looked back at G’Anna still waiting for an answer. “Yeah, we’ve all been treated to those types of women and even a few men. None of us swing that way, but it’s still happened.”
“So, you’ve come to expect behavior like that from women at every show?” G’Anna opened her straw and took a long drink of the decadent chocolate.
“Yeah, we have. I guess we’re jaded to most things after all this time of touring. Some women will do anything to say they’ve slept with a rock star.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is? All the Mr. Rock Gods like the idea of getting to choose a different woman every night?” She smiled as she said it, but her tone said sarcasm.
“We still get women hitting on us, but the truth is, we rarely take them up on it. Jason and his longtime girlfriend broke up a few months ago, and he’s gotten back into the manwhoring. The rest of the band are married with kids or been with the same woman for years, and they have families.”
“And what about Ryder Steel? Where does he fall into these categories?”
I knew we would be discussing my life at some point, but I didn’t realize we would jump right into it so quickly.
When I failed to answer immediately, G’Anna spoke up, “I’m sorry. Don’t answer that. It’s none of my business. Really, I didn’t mean to pry into your personal life. I’m sorry.”
I reached out and took her hand off the table. “It’s okay. I’m surprised Chandler hasn’t told you this already.” She looked at me and barely shook her head no. “You know she’s my daughter. Her mom and I were together long before she was born… high school sweethearts. I didn’t know her mom was pregnant when I left on tour. By the time I finally found out, her mom was gone, disappeared from my life. I never knew about my baby girl until Chandler came looking for me this year. Being a dad is all new to me.”
“Oh, Ryder. I’m so sorry. I only knew she was your daughter, not the other details.”
“Nothing for you to be sorry about. We’re just getting acquainted. I wanted them on tour with us, so I could get to know her better and spend time with her.”
“That all had to be hard on you… the not knowing.”
“I’m not going to lie. It’s been hell, but we’re working on having a relationship, and I believe it’s going pretty well. Of course, she has KeeMac, who also wants a lot of her time as I do.” We both laughed. “He doesn’t make any bones about what he wants with her. They’re newly in love and all.”
“Yeah, that’s easy to tell. They can’t keep their hands off of each other.” As soon as she said it, she looked at me. “Oh sorry. That’s your daughter we’re talking about.”
“Don’t I know it. Their whole relationship is a bitter pill to swallow. I’ve lived his life already. He’s so much like I was at his age. I know the adrenaline high they feel coming off stage. I suppose the good thing is they have each other and aren’t taking strangers to bed after every show like we did back in those days.”
“Good to know. I’ll do my best to avoid them and the other band members after a show.” I smiled at her, and she laughed. “The last thing I want to do is put a kink in their plans.”
He cringed. “Don’t say kink, please.” We both laughed again. “They’ll get it out of their system quickly. That life gets old too fast.”
“I can only imagine.” I stared at her wondering what she imagined about our lifestyles. She’s in a business that deals with creative people daily. Surely, she’d seen it all with models, bands, and the like.
“So, tell me, G’Anna, has photography always been in your blood?”
She ran her finger up and down the sweating glass. Whether she realized it or not, the movement created a sensual look. The slow slide up and down taking the moisture with her only to have it roll over the top of her finger when it got to be too heavy gave me all kinds of dirty ideas.
I watched it thinking about how that would look if it was my cock she ran a finger up and down. A familiar stir began behind my zipper. It’d been a long while since I’d had a woman lying in bed with me enjoying languid pleasures between us. I dragged my eyes back to hers and found her staring at me.
She quickly moved her hand to the napkin wiping away the water. “My parents gave me a camera for Christmas after months of begging for one when I was ten. I’d gone on a field trip to the art museum, and an entire floor was a show of famous photographers. You know like Dorothea Lange, Robert Capa, and, of course, Ansel Adams.
“The masters are great, but I needed more action so when I got old enough to start appreciating music, I found photographers who shot bands. Now I fangirl over shots by people like Todd Owyoung and Valerio Berdini. I’ve followed their careers since they became well-known. They’re not much older than I am, though.”
I watched her talk about these guys with such enthusiasm. I’d only heard of a few of these photographers. That side of the industry came with the label. Between them and our manager, all of it was taken care of. I rarely ever gave it much thought but seeing it through her eyes, it became obvious she studied her craft. I could only equate it to me studying Hendrix or Townsend or even Stevie Ray Vaughan.
“Oh, sorry. Guess I got carried away. Talking about photography gets me excited.”
“I can tell.” I chuckled a little. “I completely get it, though. I’m the same way when you start talking about musicians.”
“So, you study their work?”
“Well, their styles. The sounds they can pull from a guitar amazes me.” I looked up. “You know exactly what I mean?”
“Yeah, I do.”
We both stared at each other lost in our own world of excellence in our craft. The waitress finally broke the silence which was a relief to me. She set our food down and walked away without saying a word. I followed her movement wondering how she kept a job.
“Talkative thing, huh?” I uttered making G’Anna laugh.
“Yeah, bet she’s bankrolled with those amazing tips she takes home.” I nodded before taking a bite. I felt like we didn’t have to make pretentious conversation to pass the time.
We paid our bill and walked out to the open door of the SUV waiting to take us back to the hotel. With my hand at the small of her back, I led her to the open door. As the car pulled away, I missed the connection of touching her. I reached for her hand, and she let me hold it. Sharing this warmth with her felt perfect to me. I hoped she had the same reaction to it.