Author's Note: Sorry for the time between chapters. This one contains a pretty significant bondage scene, and it's something John and I both aren't super comfortable with. It's outside our usual operating zone, and I wanted to try to do it justice because I think it's important to our understanding of the characters here. This will be a key point of growth as we move forward. And, of course, there's lots of fun smut here.
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The first Stages Tour after-party took two days to recover from. The massive entourage moved over to Phoenix for its next series of shows, and it tested our plans for keeping up with Katie while she moved around the continent. I went to each show, but flew home right after to spend the night at home. On the final night, all of us attended to cheer on Katie. It was more fun watching from backstage with Kat, Jess, and Rita with me. We were all incredibly proud of her, and you could see her blossoming with confidence as the tour progressed through each show.
Having the girls present made our usual acoustic set interlude a little more interesting. That's because there was an undercurrent of rivalry building between Emily and Kat. It started the first night in Phoenix, when Jake joined the mid-set blow job and asked Kat -- who joined me for all the Phoenix shows -- to give it to him. She hadn't been a part of the mid-show rendezvous before, and Emily, who was prideful and sassy, acted like Jake was doing it just to taunt her.
Jake was even-keeled, though, and ignored her attitude. On the second night, he did it again, and Emily was just as annoyed. Kat tried to smooth things over, but Emily didn't communicate. She acted purely on emotion. She ignored it when Jake pointed out that Emily was giving head to someone else. The tension was uncomfortable because it was so unusual. But Emily was young, only twenty-three, and this was her first big tour. The pressure for BowHaus, her and Jake's band, was huge.
So after their set the third and final night, Kat pulled Emily aside. Jake and I both saw it, and we sort of hovered over them nervously. These weren't the kind of fireworks anyone needed.
"Hey," Kat said, "do you wanna do a bump with me?"
Emily eyed her warily but said, "Yeah, cool."
We were still backstage, so Kat pulled out a coke bullet discreetly, and she steered the two of them behind some blackout curtains that hung nearby.
"What's that?" Emily asked, her eyes wide and nostrils flaring. She had a slightly larger, upturned nose, which added to her exotic looks.
"This?" Kat said. "Oh, it's a coke bullet! This is a magical little guy. You just prime it like this, hold it to your noise, and, poof! Perfect little bump. And it's so easy to do in public. You know, keep yourself with the perfect buzz all night long."
"That's so fucking cool," Emily said. Her translucent blue eyes were dancing now.
"Okay, I lied about one thing," Kat said. "They're not little bumps. We have kind of rigged it to be the same as a good-sized line. But, well, who doesn't want a good-sized line, right?"
Kat's words came quickly. Part of that was the cocaine already coursing through her system. But part of it was nerves. She didn't want this conflict. She was moderating the irritation she harbored over Emily's immaturity, which she saw as a temper tantrum, and nervousness about bringing the fight to her.
"I've never seen anything like this," Emily said.
"Go ahead," Kat said. "Try it. I've already primed it, so you just have to snort it."
Emily followed Kat's instructions, and a wide grin crossed her face as she felt the powder flying up her nose when she sniffed.
"Oh, wow!" Emily said. "That's incredible!"
"Here, do another," Kat said. "Just prime it."
She demonstrated how to turn the screw-like knob on the exterior, which turned over the small scoop-like mechanism inside that placed another bump into place. She handed it back to Emily, and another bump shot up her other nostril.
"Fucking genius," Emily said.
"It is," Kat said, smiling and nodding as she primed the bullet again. She quickly did two bumps for herself. "And it helps that it's such good quality. It's so soft and pure? You can really get by not even doing lines when you've got this little guy."
"This is the best coke I've ever had," Emily said. "I don't even know how much it costs by the gram."
Kat laughed and said, "Oh, sweetie, we aren't buying by the gram. More like the kilo."
Emily's jaw dropped.
"And we're not dealing, either," Kat added quickly.
"Well, shit, I'd do anything to keep getting shit this pure," Emily said.
"That's easy," Kat said, her voice suddenly taking on a more serious tone, although it was still friendly and warm. "Let's just be friends. Cool?"
"Yeah, I guess maybe I haven't been warm and fuzzy, have I?" Emily said.
"I get it, girl," Kat said. "You're under a lot of pressure. You feel like one fuck up will blow this opportunity. But, let me tell you, even if I don't know exactly what your position is like? It's going to be a lot easier if you try to enjoy it. And you are enjoying it. I guess what I mean is that you can't let petty shit undermine you."
"I know, I know," Emily said, a little defensive. "There is a lot of pressure."
Then Kat played her best card, the one she had sussed out because of her impeccable intuition.
"And it would also help if you told Jake how you feel about him," she said. "Don't just assume he sees it the same way you do. Boys are idiots. You have to spoon feed them."
Emily laughed.
"You think so?" Emily said. "I just sort of figured it was obvious."
"Sweetie, let me tell you something," she said. "Nothing is obvious for the man in your life. Tell him how you feel. If you get the communication between you two to that level? You'll realize it takes care of a lot -- maybe not all, but a lot -- of your problems."