Chapter One
As the music faded and the drummer banged out the last beats of the song, the lights died. And Kip Jones spread his arms before the crowd and listened to them roar. He was loved, and he loved it. The last beat pounded and the lights went out. Kip ducked as the pyrotechnics blasted over his head and out over the cheering crowd. He always flinched when those blasts sounded off, bringing back horrible memories of Afghanistan, but it was only a flinch. The roar of the fans always protected him from any deeper emotions. He walked off of the stage slowly, taking in the applause for another great show. His last of this tour. He was going to miss it.
He was thrown a towel by a back stage hand and he wiped his face. When he dropped the towel Annie Beecher was standing before him. He stopped abruptly before walking in to her. Well now, he thought to himself, look at those legs go all the way up to heaven.
Kip grabbed a bottled water from a stage hand that happened to be walking by and looked the green eyed beauty up and down. He was high from the adrenaline of being on stage, and he left his manners behind somewhere between the first and second song.
She wore a tight fitting skirt and an even tighter top. Her cleavage was screaming to be released, but she kept it under expert control. Kip figured she was about five foot eight, but she was wearing ridiculously high heels, so her actual height was anyone’s guess. Her bright red lips formed into a smile and she threw her hand out to him. And they are worth the climb, he finished his thought.
“Mr. Jones,” she said loudly to be heard over the still excited crowd chanting ‘encore! encore!’, “My name is Annie Beecher. We spoke on the phone last week.”
“Ah, Annie, yes! I have been so looking forward to meeting you!” Kip replied as loudly and looking her up and down again, obviously sizing her up for one of his oversized t-shirts that he hoped she’d be wearing in his hotel room in the morning. He took her hand and shook it.
Annie noticed the eye fuck and let her smile waver just a bit. She pulled her hand from his. “I can’t wait to get started on the biography!” She yelled at him.
Kip smiled wider, showing his perfect teeth. “I can’t wait to work with you, too, Annie, but as you can hear, it’s going to have to wait just a bit longer before we can start.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder back toward the crowd stopping in the stadium. “It seems I am not yet done tonight!” And if all goes right, he thought, neither of us will be done until morning.
Annie smiled and nodded and swung her arm wide toward the stage as if to say, get to it then. “Hold this, will you?” Kip tossed her his wet towel and turned back to the stage. “Be right back.” He bounded out onto the flashing stage and grabbed his microphone. The audience went ear splittingly wild. He looked back towards where Annie was standing but she was gone.
Afterward Kip met her in his hotel room. He was already there and coming out of the shower. Annie was shown in by one of his posse and the door was closed behind her. She watched Kip as he walked from the shower and saw his tattoos all over his arms and back. On his chest he had ink that looked like bullet holes. His back was covered with a large cross lined with barbwire and his left arm had a Marine Corps Semper Fi tattoo. His right arm was a full sleeve of beautiful women and serpents coiled together in a way that suggested a very interesting act of bestiality.
When Kip saw her staring at his tattoos he quickly grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it over his head. Then he shook his shoulder length hair and flung warm water throughout the immaculate room.
“Great Show,” Annie said.
“Thanks,” Kip replied. “It was the last night of the tour. It was a lot of fun. Now it’s back to work.”
“Not too soon, I hope,” Annie said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make plenty of time for you, Annie, just as I promised.” He said.
She gave him a sideways look.
She’s not letting anything get by, is she? He thought.
“For the book, of course,” he added.
Annie looked down at her way too high shoes. “I know you wanted to meet tonight, and that is fine. But I wasn’t sure why. I figured you’d be beat after the show.”
Kip smiled and walked over to the couch, flinging thin but well-toned body onto it. He patted the cushion next to him. “I don’t get beat, Annie,” He said.
Annie saw then that this visit was to be more than strictly business. She realized that she knew all along that it would be but hoped to persuade him otherwise. Work on the biography could have begun just as easily tomorrow morning as it could have tonight. Now she was asking herself why she had actually agreed to come tonight. And then she asked herself why she had dressed the way she had. She walked closer to the couch but didn’t sit down.