Chapter 5: Rise of a God 5

Dion

I held on tightly to Lola’s hand as we walked into the garden, freezing when a voice sounded from the darkness.

“Yeah, I thought I would find you two together.”

Shit. I paused as Jax stepped out of the shadows and directly into our path. I opened my mouth to tell him that nothing had happened and closed it again. There was no point in lying to him since he had seen us come into the garden hand in hand, and if I was being honest with myself, I’m not sure I would have lied to him even if I thought he would believe me.

“You going to mention it to Louis?” I asked. I didn’t really know how much I cared if Louis knew the truth. After all, Lola was a grown woman. A woman that only a few minutes earlier had been bent over with her hands pressed against the window of my hotel room. It was a killer view of the Las Vegas strip, but I would put money on my perfect view of her ass being better.

“No.” Jax shook his head. “But what the fuck are you thinking, Dion?” His eyes skirted toward Lola standing silently at my side. She was chewing on her lips again even though she’d just redone her lips gloss. “No offence, sweetheart.”

“None taken,” she mumbled awkwardly.

Curling my arm around her waist, I drew her to my side. To hell with anyone who saw. I was tired of being branded a cheat and a playboy. My relationship with Isla had been over for months. We just hadn’t gone public with it yet.

“Think about Isla. If someone had seen you…” Catching my murderous look, Jax raised his hands. “Think about Lola, then. The press will eat her alive if they get wind of this little dalliance.”

Yeah, they would. Guiltily, I side eyed her. He was right, of course. They would and Lola wouldn’t know what the hell to do to get through it. Being linked to me when I was still with Isla in the eyes of the world would ruin her reputation.

As if she could see the sudden doubt on my face, she threw Jax a small smile. “I’m going to get a drink.” She paused, her hand on his arm. “Please, don’t tell my brother.”

“Not going to. Tate won't either,” Jax added.

Together, we watched her leave and re-enter the building. Neither of us said a thing until she was out of sight.

“Tate knows?”

“He’s the one who suspected and sent me out. So, I’ll ask again, what the fuck got into your head, Dion? She’s Louis' kid sister.” Jax’s voice was low. The last thing we needed was someone to overhear us.

“She isn’t a kid, Jax. And I don’t regret it. Not one single second of it. If I had my way, I would do it again in a heartbeat.” I couldn’t bring myself to regret fucking her. For giving myself a little happiness. Not after everything I had been through recently.

“I mean, I get it. She’s a cute piece of ass, but are you really going to rip the band apart over her? We were lucky enough to get Louis to join us after everything went tits up with Isla…”

By my side, my hands closed into fists. “Things didn’t go tits up because of me. She slept around and came back with another guy’s kid in her belly. Or did you all expect me to roll over and play happy families with her? Me and Isla are over. She made sure of that.”

“You weren’t exactly heartbroken over it, brother.” Jax’s eyes were accusing. “And I get it, I really do. Lola’s a sweet girl, but is she worth…”

Not letting him finish, I took a swing at him. Fighting between us was an almost everyday occurrence. But never before had I wanted to actually hurt him. Not really. My fist didn’t make contact. He caught it easily. His dark eyebrows slammed down over his equally dark eyes.

“What the hell has got into you?”

“What the fuck has got into both of you?” Like some kind of blonde avenging angel, Erik was suddenly in front of us, Lola hovering at his back. “Think you need to cool off.”

One small shove on each of our shoulders and we tumbled backwards into the frothy water of the fountain. Jax came up spluttering first, laying on his back and laughing.

“What the actual hell are you doing, Erik?” I growled at my manager. My tuxedo was soaked through. Even my underwear was drenched.

“Giving you two a chance to cool off and stop acting like idiots.” His eyes found me, and his stare was intense. There was a clear warning in it. I swore loudly. Another person that at least suspected what I’d done. “Now isn’t the time to act like a fool, Dion. You have the rest of your life for that.”

Risking a glance at Lola, I couldn’t help but grin. She was laughing. Tears streamed down her face despite trying to hide it behind a hand.

“You think this is funny, Peaches?”

Rolling her lips between her teeth, she nodded. “It is pretty funny, yeah.”

Jax reached for her before I could, and her giggles became a shriek as he pulled her in with us. Throwing back my head, I laughed at her outraged expression.

“My dress! Oh my God, and my…”

Splashing water towards her, I laughed. “Not so funny now, huh?” Except it was funny. In fact, it was the most I had laughed in a very long time.

“Fucking children.” Erik sidestepped the arc of water I aimed in his direction. Shaking his head, he looked at us with disapproval, but he wasn’t furious. He was too used to our antics for that. “Get your soggy asses out and back in your seats. They are about to announce your category.”

Reaching down, he heaved a soaked Lola out of the water. “Not sure how I’m going to explain this to your damn brother or the others. But here.” Shrugging off his jacket, he placed it carefully over her shoulders. She brought it closed over her chest, covering the perky little nipples that were standing to attention thanks to the cold water.

I stifled a groan at the sight of them, remembering the feel and taste of them in my mouth. The sound didn’t go unnoticed by Erik, who scowled in my direction. “Out of the damn water now. Honestly, I should have just let you pound on each other. I don’t know why I bother.” He led Lola away towards the doors.

“It’s because you love us,” Jax called out after him.

Somehow, we managed to find our way back to our seats without too much attention being drawn to us. What were two soaked rockstars in the grand scheme of things after all? No one said a word as we took our seats.

Lola didn’t even look at me. She was too engrossed in an animated conversation with her brother. He looked at me, though, over her shoulder. And the look on his face told me he had more than a few questions. Guilt washed over me, and then he slid his hostile stare towards Jax, and I let out a sigh of relief. He suspected that Jax was the one who crossed the line.

I was happy to let him think that, at least for now. Jax wouldn’t mind, at least until I worked out what the hell I wanted from Lola. I didn’t know what that was, but I knew I wanted something.

“You might as well be looking at her with your tongue hanging out.” At my back, Isla hissed her words.

“And the winner of Rock Song of the Year goes to….” There was a loud drum roll as the host on stage paused for dramatic effect. “Dionysus Rising with Gods.”

The roar that went up was deafening. It washed over me for a second before I realised he was talking about us. And then I was on my feet with the rest of them.

“Mother fucking yes.” Louis swung his sister around by the waist. Jax and Tate did some lame ass booty dance, bowing to the crowd like fools. I wanted to join in with their happiness, but I knew I had a job to do. I took Isla's hand, reminding myself that this was the last time that I would ever have to pretend to be with her. After this last time we would be going on tour without her, and the truth could come out.

“Let’s do this.” Dripping water everywhere, I lead the little band I had put together back in college up on to the stage. Every second of hard work had led up to this moment. All the blood, sweat and tears. All the sacrifices. And looking out at the happy crowd below us, I knew I would do it all over again.

My idols were down there. Bands I had always looked up to. And now we were finally one of them. And they were happy for us.

Scanning the room, I found our table and my eyes landed on Lola. She was on her feet, clapping enthusiastically along with Erik next to her, and the happiness on her face was genuine.

“We want to thank...” I started, but I didn't get to finish. Isla’s lips were suddenly on mine. Kissing me wildly, she pressed her body as close to mine as possible. Her arms wrapped around my neck, holding me to her as she gave the world the show they had been waiting for.

The crowd went wild, and I knew the moment would have been photographed from every angle.

And my heart sank. Tearing my lips from hers, I glared down at her. I didn’t know what she was thinking, but I hated the smug, self-satisfied look on her face. She’d done it on purpose. Staked her claim when I was no longer hers to claim. All I could do was hope that Lola wouldn’t take it seriously.

But I knew deep down that was a pipe dream.