Chapter Five
Owen
Talon and Jay sat on one side of the table, both looking like hell. I wished I could have said I was surprised that they’d drank themselves into a stupor again last night. I wasn’t though, not even a little bit, unfortunately.
So here we were, sitting in a nice restaurant, and they still had their sunglasses on, with their hair strewn all crazily about like some drugged-out ’80s rock stars. Well, come to think of it, they weren’t too far off the mark; they just happened to be in the wrong decade. Seeing Talon drink, I admit, did make me a little wary, but he promised me he was doing nothing else and that he wouldn’t take it to the extreme. All I could do was trust him.
“So you get any leads on assistants yet?” Talon asked, taking a sip of soda. “And, why do you insist on going out for brunch? We are not high society debutants, ya know. Hell, I'm normally still sleeping at this hour.”
The others laughed and chimed in with similar jibes. I merely shrugged in response. “Since when is it a crime to like breakfast food close to lunch time?”
Talon smirked across the table at me and took a bite from his eggs. “It’s not. It’s just weird that you called it 'brunch' when you set it up. I mean, come on, dude, who uses words like that?”
I ignored him, shaking my head. “No guys, no leads just yet. However, I do intend to check some online later that Mike sent me. So, we might have someone soon. And then I can quit worrying about all this crap!”
“You gonna find a hot assistant?” Talon waggled an eyebrow, peeking over his sunglasses. “She'd better be easy on the eyes, dude. Seriously, don't let me down on this; I'm looking forward to it.”
I frowned at him. “I’m going to find a good assistant, Tal. Whether she happens to be hot or not is irrelevant. Whether she can keep her cool and do her job in spite of you dumbasses will be the real question.”
“I definitely think you need a hot assistant,” Jay added. Talon nodded his agreement, taking a few more bites.
“Why? So you can harass her and show her your ‘giant’ dick?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
The others snorted into their drinks. Talon’s grin only widened. “No. I was thinking so you can show her yours. I think you seriously need to get laid, bro. It might go a long way toward helping you lighten up a little.”
I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “How about nobody shows her their dick, guys? How about that?”
They all laughed, but my expression didn’t change. “I’m serious. No fucking around with the assistant. Any of us. Deal? Let’s do things right and not fuck this up. The last thing I need is for our assistant to quit halfway through the tour because she was harassed to a point of no return or she got burned by one of you idiots. We can't afford to have that happen, we really can't.
“We're gonna be on a crazy schedule, and any fuck ups could make the entire thing crash and burn. And you all know this as well as I do. So can we please agree to just leave the assistant alone and let her get on with her job?”
“Deal,” Jeremiah piped in immediately.
“Deal,” Jay said. The look on my face convinced him that I was serious, and he knew from years of experience when to quit messing around and when to back down.
Talon, on the other hand, hesitated. After a moment, which I am certain he waited for just for dramatic effect, he agreed. “All right then. It's a deal. I promise I won't show her my anaconda—even though she's the one who's gonna be missing out.”
All three of them agreed to the no sex with the tour assistant pact, and I felt somewhat relieved. My brother could be quite the horn dog, but if he made a promise, he did always keep it. We finished off brunch, chatting a little more about the tour, as well as adding a few more things to our to-do list. The other guys left, and I drove Talon and me back to my place.
“I’m really excited about this tour,” he said as he stared out the window.
“I know, man. I told you we’d do this if you got clean last year,” I smiled. “I’m pretty excited about it, too. I can hardly believe we’re actually doing it. I've got such a great feeling about this. Just feels right. Ya know? Just like the old days, before we hit it big. It's almost like going back in time, in a way.”
Talon smiled, pulling out a cigarette and rolling down the window. “I just really needed this. The band back together, us all hanging out again. Thanks, Owen. I really mean that.”
“Love you, man.” I patted his shoulder.
I did love my baby brother. We’d always been close and, to a certain degree, I knew he still looked up to me. He always had, especially when we were kids. When I started a band, he wanted in. He’d slaved over the drums, learning how to play just so he could be a part of it, and in the process, had turned into an amazing drummer.
And last year when he overdosed, it had really scared the hell out of me. The thought of losing him had almost killed me. I couldn't imagine a life without my kid brother in it, and that had come so close to being a reality.
That was the point at which I begged him to get into treatment and get clean, and I realized he was missing things in his life and hurting to the degree of trying to fill those voids with drugs. Without the music, he'd simply found another outlet for his pain. So that was another factor in my decision to get the band back together.
Of course, I was happy about getting back together with the other guys in the band, but I really brought the band back together for Talon because when he had a sense of purpose and direction like that, he didn't need to get high out of his skull on drugs or spend time with the wrong crowd.
Talon went straight for my living room couch the moment we got to my house, whipping his sunglasses off and diving into the pillows.
“Ya know, those late nights and fast women are going to get the better of you one of these days,” I jabbed.
“God, I hope so,” he chimed back, his voice muffled through the pillows.
I laughed at him and headed up the stairs to my office. My intention was to check out some of the applicants Mike had sent information on because I really needed to lock down someone as soon as possible so that I could stop worrying about the admin side of the tour and focus on the music and rehearsing with the band. I shut the door behind me and opened up my laptop, looking for the email he said he’d sent so that we could set up interviews for the following day.
It didn’t take long to find it, and within a few minutes, I was reading over the first applicant’s qualifications. The girl looked nice enough, and her resume was decently impressive—she could definitely be a possibility. I went through two others who were not as impressive, but not bad. The fourth one was cute and had a resume like the first girl, so I earmarked her for an interview, as well.
I got to the last one, though, and was blown away. Her resume was not only good, but the picture attached was fucking hot. Hot enough that I looked up her name on Google and managed to find more pictures of her. One, in particular, stood out. She was standing on the beach in a bikini, holding a surfboard.
I actually mumbled an “Oh, my God,” while staring at it. She was tanned and curvy with hips for days and full breasts. She had long, brown hair and honey-colored eyes that I could get lost in, even through a computer screen. She was totally my type. “Nalia,” I said to myself, re-reading her name. I liked that. Oh yes, I’d definitely have to interview her. Leaning back, I couldn’t help just thinking about what I could do with her.
I was already a little hard just from looking at a picture of her. Looking around the room, I undid my jeans. It wasn’t as if my brother would wake up anytime soon. I grabbed my dick, gently rubbing it as I stared at her breasts and face, imagining those full lips kissing me, those breasts pressed against my chest. I thought of squeezing that full ass as she bounced on my lap, and thrusting myself deep inside her.
My dick began to ache and harden just at the thought of her, and I let out a groan, rubbing it harder, thinking of her mouth on my cock, sucking and licking. I thought of bending her over my desk right there, taking her doggy style after knocking everything off and onto the floor. I came quickly, groaned, and scrambled for napkins in my desk to clean up the mess.
When my mind was a little clearer, I considered the “no sex with the assistant” pact I’d made the guys agree to and felt a little guilty. Just for a moment, I thought about not marking her for an interview. But between her impressive resume and those eyes…yeah, I definitely wanted to interview her. In fact, there was no way I couldn't.
“Nalia,” I said aloud as I stared at her picture. “You and I are definitely gonna meet. And I have to say, part of me hopes you blow me away in this interview and part of me hopes you totally bomb it. So, what’s it going to be?”