CHAPTER ONE
Noah Harrington lay back on the bed with his hands behind his head and sighed. He'd just finished a world tour with his band, Stroke of Midnight, a hectic eight months of touring, not always knowing which city they were in, moving from their tour bus to the arena, then back to the tour bus, without a real break in-between. Finally, he could stop and take a breath. He wasn't sure he liked it. Noah preferred being busy, too busy to think about anything other than his music and now the chaos had stopped. Doubts and fears trickled into his mind and he wasn't sure he was ready to process them yet.
His eyes glanced around the room he'd dumped his belongings in before heading off to the bar last night to meet his brothers - all four of them, and their respective partners. The eldest, Marcus, and his wife Carly, Alex and his wife Melody, Finn and his wife Willow and Adam, whose guest bed he currently lay on, and his girlfriend Lucy. He could see the pattern here - he was the odd one out, and it wasn't because of his band.
Now he had time to breathe, he realized how alone he'd felt while on the road. Sure, his band mates had been great. They'd been together since they were fourteen years old and had grown up together, that was ten years of friendship they'd built. They were as close to family as you could get without being blood.
His mind slipped back to the woman he'd seen at the bar last night... Indya. He wasn't sure what pulled his thoughts. Every. Time. To her. It wasn't as if he'd not had female company while he was on the road. Groupies were part of the course of being in a rock band and as the lead singer, he got more attention than the others. He chuckled at the memory of Dylan, the drummer, standing behind the large group of newspaper and magazine journalists with his hands waving around trying to draw their attention, which they ignored. Sure, they looked to see who was making all the commotion but he had been instantly dismissed while they refocused their attention on Noah. That had been at the beginning of the tour, eight long months ago. He wasn't sure Dylan, or the rest of the band, would get away with it now. They'd blown up with their sold out arena tour and their last album went platinum. Everyone in the band was recognizable now.
It was a life they'd dreamed off since they were fourteen and practicing in Liam's garage. They would conquer the world, and he guessed they'd achieved that.
So what now?
He felt so drained, physically, mentally and emotionally. He was wiped. And the record company wanted them to record a studio album within the next ten weeks to be released for Christmas. Then they'd need to go on a three month promotional tour and then they'd get a much needed break.
This is the life he wanted, right?
The earlier two albums had been recorded whilst on tour, so it was important that this one was recorded in a studio. He understood it, but he preferred being in front of their fans, singing for them.
A knock sounded from the door, "You up?"
It was his brother Adam. He groaned at the memory of the previous night where he'd declared his intentions to Lucy's best friend and got shot down so spectacularly. He'd laughed it off, making out he wasn't serious. Thing was, he was serious. Like a heart attack. He wasn't sure why the woman affected him so much. He'd been around super-models and A-list actresses, not to mention women he'd met in the industry, but Indya...
"Yeah," he shouted back, pulling his legs over the side of the bed to open the door. Before he could do so, it opened and his brother popped his head in.
"I'm making pancakes, do you want any?"
His mouth watered at the thought. It had been a long time since he'd had a home cooked meal, even if it was pancakes. "Sure, sounds great. I'll just grab a quick shower and be out."
"No hurry," his mouth twitched. "The first batch is Lucy's, and I just wanted to see if you were awake."
"You mean you wanted to wake me up, like old times," he laughed, as he remembered when they both still stayed at home and Adam took great delight in waking him up when his mother had asked him to. "I couldn't get why you always so eager."
He noticed his brother shift in the doorway, "I wanted to spend time with you. It was hard being the annoying younger brother that nobody wanted to be around." A grin appeared on his face and nodded towards the bed, "If I'd known all it would take was my own place with a guest bedroom, maybe I'd have got one sooner." He clutched his chest dramatically with his fists, "Or am I just being used... again?"
Noah laughed as he threw a pillow at his brothers head, "You're definitely being used. I'd not be within a hundred miles of you if you didn't offer me this," he said as he bounced on the bed.
The pillow was thrown back at him as Adam quickly shut the door and shouted through it, "Your pancakes will be ready in five."