The van was already loaded with our gear. Inside, the guys were all slumped over, half-dead with hangovers.

But not August. No. Of course not. She was standing there, watching me with sharp eyes as I lurched my way across the seemingly endless lawn.

"You're late," she said when I finally made it to her side. Her ever-present clipboard jiggled in her anxious arms.

I narrowed my eyes and shifted a little, desperately wanting to adjust things down there, but not with her glaring at me like that. "Yeah love," I grunted. "Had a slight problem with my wardrobe this morning. But it's all sorted now."

"You got it all figured out then?" she asked, affecting a bored tone.

But I knew better. Her eyes were shining just a bit too keenly. I perked up a little. Oh love? You know something about my missing boxers? So there was no reason to worry about propriety here. I cupped myself, shifting to the side. This wasn't the first time I'd ever gone commando this way, but it'd been a while. "Sure thing, love. I just made do with what I have."

"Which is?"

"Nothing."

She colored faintly and looked away. She definitely knew something about it. Was this the revenge she'd promised me? I had to admit, I was a little disappointed. Stealing my boxers seemed somehow...beneath her. It was a juvenile prank not worthy of an opponent of her caliber.

I'd show her how to up her game.

"Right then," I moved again, taking special note of the way her eyes went down to my crotch and back up again before I climbed into the van. "Shall we play some fucking rock 'n' roll then?"

Ten minutes later we'd descended from the mountain into a wide valley. The sun was only just starting to peek over the hulking mountains as we rolled into the gravel lot in front of the studio. I'd recorded at multiple studios across the States and the UK, but this setting was by far the prettiest.

The famed Bearsville Studios were nestled in an incongruously bucolic setting. On the other side of a wide, burbling creek, some very contented looking cows grazed on the rolling hills, with a tiny, picturesque red barn in the distance like some fucking Norman Rockwell painting.

A far cry from the concrete bunkers in bad neighborhoods I was used to working in. "This is too pretty," I commented. "I don't trust it."

"This is brutal," Niall groaned, clutching his coffee cup with both hands.I had yet to see his eyes open fully.

"This is the time you and Jimmy agreed to meet," August reminded him in her usual slightly bitchy way as she threw open her door. She tossed her head and then winced a little.

I hid my grin. "You all right there, love?"

"I'm fine."

"Really? You look like you might have hit the Chardonnay a little hard last night."

She wrinkled her nose. "I don't drink Chardonnay," she sniffed and quickened her pace to be the first to reach the doors of Bearsville Studios.

Jimmy was waiting for us, full hearty, manful handshakes and backslaps that only Hudson seemed to happy to receive.

In fact, Hudson seemed to be in his glory, grinning like a Jack-o'lantern and following Jimmy around like a little lost puppy as he took us from room to room, pointing out the set-up, the sound booth. "And here's the lounge area," Jimmy said, sweeping his arm out and inviting us to be impressed.

I nodded. Ewan made an 'mhmm' sound. Niall tried to open his eyes wider, but failed.

Hudson gasped like a little girl. "It's fucking awesome!" he practically squealed.

"So I'm going to let you guys have a powwow real quick. I've got more set-up to do," Jimmy told August.

"Oh, no worries. I'll come with you and help out," she said.

Of course she did.

She followed quickly on his heels, leaving us standing there in the middle of the lounge.

Niall took that as his cue to flop face first into the black leather couch. "Wake me up when you lot need a bassist," he half-snored.

But Ewan and I were too busy watching Hudson as he paced in a slow circle, minutely examining everything around him.

"Really, mate?" Ewan teased, but gently.

"What?" He turned and spread his hands in a 'what can you do?" gesture. "This is my first time in a real studio like this." He shrugged and returned to gaping at the gold and platinum records that lined the walls.

"Didn't you ever record with your old band?" Niall asked. Or at least I thought that's what he asked. It was hard to tell with his face mashed into the couch.

Hudson shrugged again. "Sure we did. But it wasn't anything like this." He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "We scraped together enough pennies to buy like two hours of studio time in some shithole in Jersey City. We had to rush too." He let out a happy sigh, craning his neck to read a newspaper clipping hung high up near the rafters. "Wow," he said, sounding deliriously happy. "To finally be able to do this right..."

"You know," Ewan said, turning to me. "It's sort of our first record too."

Niall grunted and sat up, clearly torn between the opportunity for a few minutes of sleep versus the opportunity to give us his opinion. "That's sort of true," he half-spoke, half-yawned. "All our other ones were micromanaged by Killian." He rubbed his eyes and grinned. "He basically used us as his studio musicians. This is going to be a lot different, I can feel it. So it's really going to be like our first time doing it right."

"But it's not our first time though," I heard myself saying through clenched teeth. This slack-jawed reverence was getting on my nerves. "We're not amateurs and this isn't our first album, much as we'd like to pretend otherwise. Wayward Days? That was the first one. Remember the church?"

Ewan chuckled. "I don't think I slept a wink in those three days, because I didn't need it." He yawned and gestured to Niall whose head was lolling back. "Now look at us. Bunch of pussies. We're getting old, mates."

"Speak for yourself," I said, shifting from one leg to another.

Ewan lifted his chin in an upward nod. "Oy, what's wrong with you? You've been wiggling around like a schoolboy in church all fucking morning."

I shifted again. "I'm trying out the Scots' look," I told him, deliberately adjusting my groin. "Thinking of getting me a kilt next."

"You're going commando?" Hudson asked, wandering back to the conversation. "Cool. It's much comfier, isn't it?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I've now learned something about you I never wanted to know.

Hudson shrugged. "I just hate feeling all confined."

"I think I need an adult." Niall looked like he was trying to disappear into the couch. "You assholes can all get on me all you want about being posh and shit, but at least I'm wearing fucking underwear."

"I didn't plan it this way," I protested. "I uh...couldn't find any."

"We've been here a grand total of a day, how do you not have any underwear?" Ewan demanded.

I looked him in the eye. "They're missing."

"Missing? How?"

I pressed my lips together. He was my best mate. No secrets and all that. But somehow telling him about my little private war with August felt...wrong. Like a betrayal of something, though I wasn't sure of what.

"Luggage mix-up," was all I said.

Ewan blinked. "We drove. We didn't fly."

"Which is why it's so weird, isn't it?" I joked, slapping him on the back. "Now don't let it affect your playing today, okay mate? No matter how hard it is, you have to try not to obsess about the idea of my naked cock swinging freely around in here." I cupped my groin.

Behind us, Niall groaned. "It's too fucking early for this shit," he said, casting his eyes heavenward.

"Nah man," Hudson crowed. "Get fucking excited, we're recording!" He was practically pogoing in place. "I can't wait to get in there and let it rip."

"Good!" came a fifth voice.

We all turned, and y heart did a funny little skip-hop to see August suddenly in the doorway. "It's a good thing you can't wait because the wait is over." She clapped her hands together like a kindergarten teacher calling class to attention. "Jimmy's ready for you!"

A little sizzle of excitement fizzed through my veins. I couldn't help it. For all my protests, this was still really fucking exciting. That thrill of creation. "Here we fucking go!" Hudson yelled and barrelled into the studio first.

August threw her head back and laughed and I could see the excitement shining in her cinnamon eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and her emerald green T-shirt made her red hair flame even brighter. I wet my lips. "You ready to rock, love?" I asked.

She glanced at me. "I'm going to be in the sound booth," she said.

"That doesn't answer my question."

Our eyes locked. I held her gaze as she stared at me for a moment, unblinking. Until the corner of her mouth curved like it was being pulled upward by an invisible string. She leaned forward, lowering her voice so I had to lean closer to hear her, and what I heard had my newly-unconfined cock standing at attention. Her voice, low and thrilling kept sounding in my head long after she said it. "I'm readier than you'll ever be."