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What were we talking about? Oh yeah, me feeding Ronin. The memory was so hot, my dick hardened painfully.

“You sure as fuck did,” Ronin whispered. “But now your man needs real food. Cook for me.”

“Are you going to be this demanding every day of our tour?” I asked him.

“Fuck yeah,” he squeezed my ass. “Fucking, food, show, shower, sleep. Repeat.”

“I thought you wanted me to walk around smelling like your cum?”

“Don’t worry, after we eat, I’ll get you good and dirty again.”

“I heard that!” Holloway yelled out from across the hallway.

Ronin and I tumbled out of our bunk.

But only a good while later.

CHAPTER 30

RONIN

After Faise and I managed to unglue ourselves from each other, we showered, and joined Holls, Brodie, Van, and Jesse at the front of the bus for a late dinner. Faise cooked pasta, extra spicy as requested, and we stuffed our faces until we were too full to move.

Lennie was typing away on his laptop while talking Regan on his phone. There was a palpable tension in the air, but me and the guys tried to ignore it and sat around shooting the shit like we normally did.

I was convinced that Dallas was behind the threat in Nashville. After all, it would be easy for him to make a phone call and fuck everything up for us. If he couldn't get to Ciara directly, he could get to me. I just hoped that that was the end of it and our Florida concerts would go ahead without question. But it got me thinking more about our security, and stuff that I'd always taken for granted.

Faise was right. We’d received threatening emails before. Homophobic bullshit that was thrown at us as we left a club, or walked down the street, or rants posted on our socials. But no one had ever shut down one of our concerts before. It made me worry. About the safety of my boyfriend, my band brothers, our family, fans, and our security team.

Was the person who’d called in that threat doing it for attention, just to fuck with us, or was there a serious intent behind the message? It made me think about incidents that had happened to other bands over the years. Shootings and assaults in crowded nightclubs and outdoor concerts. We’d heard about those things, but it never happened to us directly.

I nudged Jesse’s shoulder and he turned to me.

“What's the latest?” I asked. “Please tell me there's some kind of news about whoever the hell did this to us last night.”

He shook his head. “They’re working on it. So far, we’ve kept the story out of the news. We issued a refund to all the ticketholders yesterday, but we didn’t elaborate on the reason why. We don’t want to incite panic.”

“I can’t believe I’m admitting this,” Faise started. “But for the first time in my career, I’m kinda scared to go on stage. What if this wasn’t a one-off threat?”

“Security has always been tight for your concerts,” Lennie interjected. “And rest assured we're doing everything we can to keep it that way. The worst only happens when you're caught off guard. And we're not in that situation. Everyone is on high alert. Speaking from experience, if someone really wanted to hurt you, they wouldn't warn you in advance. They’d just do it.”

That made sense.

“Unless it's someone unhinged like that guy who attacked Holloway two months ago?”

“Stalkers are different. They’re obsessive, which makes them prone to impulse decisions and irrational behavior. I honestly think that whoever called in that threat was just doing it to rattle you. To make you fearful. And it's working. You just admitted you're concerned about being on stage. They’re fucking with you.”

“The bad kind,” Holls muttered.

“So, you think we're safe for our upcoming concerts?” I asked.

“Yes,” Len replied. “That's my professional opinion. And my personal one, too. Is that a guarantee? No. We always have to err on the side of caution.”

Faise looked at me and I could tell that Lennie’s opinion gave him some measure of relief. Would we still be nervous heading out on stage tomorrow night? Yes. But I was confident that our team would do everything they could to ensure everyone’s safety.

“What about the interviews you have lined up for us, Jesse?” Brodie asked. “What do we say if someone asks why the concert was cancelled?”

“Our public relations line is that one of the band was taken ill and and that was the reason you couldn't go on. If the press tries to push any further, do not engage. Leave it to me for follow up.”

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