Author's Note: I've been having a blast writing this lately, and I also have been pushing to get more content out. I've got a very dedicated reader who isn't doing so well, and I want him to enjoy as much of this as possible until he can't. So, cheers to you, friend. Things are ramping up here as we get toward the end of Europe. There are some rapids ahead, and I think it'll be fun to see how the group navigates them. Enjoy.
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Two days after the Madrid debauchery, I was sitting at the castle in London with Henry. We were sipping pint cans of Boddington's and smoking a joint as we strolled around the garden on another beautiful summer day.
"I've really been lazy about this, man," Henry said. "But, I have to tell you, and please don't mention this to Riley, but touring kicks my ass. I'm feeling so exhausted, and we've got three weeks to go still."
"I've got to tell you," I said, "and I don't mean this to come off as disrespectful, but I'm fucking exhausted and I don't even have to perform. I don't know how you do it. It's fucking amazing, frankly."
"No disrespect, brother," Henry said, hitting the joint hard. "It is tough. Thank god for cocaine, right?"
I laughed and said, "I'd be saying that anyway."
Henry laughed with me and passed me the spliff. I took a drag and let him talk.
"Anyway," Henry continued, "all this has really just reminded me what a grind the music shit is. Don't get me wrong -- I mean, we're having fun, aren't we?"
He shot me that boyish grin he was so famous for.
"It has been fucking fun," I said and passed the joint back as I exhaled.
"Anja seems like fucking fun," Henry noted. "Literally."
I whistled briefly.
"Fuck, man," I said. "We can talk about that in a minute. What a cluster."
"Okay, okay," he said. "I didn't mean to hit a sore spot."
"Nah, you're good, man," I said.
Henry held a hit from the joint, and I took a long swig from my can of beer.
"But back to business," he said. "I've pushed off this movie idea. But I'm ready to get back to it. I want to hit the ground running when this Stages stuff wraps up."
"I've been brainstorming some ideas," I said. "And I've talked to Petey about it. He'll be out here for Vienna, and I can set something up with him, if you want. I know he's keeping his ear to the ground for something that would be a good first vehicle for you."
"Shit, man, really?" Henry said. "You've been looking out for me."
He grinned again. I realized how much weight he had been carrying over the last several weeks. This news seemed to lighten his spirits immediately.
"It's what I'm here for, man," I said. "Gives me something to do besides pissing off my wives."
I laughed uneasily. Anja Rajinski, the supermodel, had flown back with us from Madrid to London. She was staying with us in the castle. Rita hadn't objected, but Kat, Jess, and Katie all felt like I was thinking with my little head. It also seemed to disproportionately piss off Nicole, and I didn't necessarily react the best to her objections. I took the attitude that she didn't have a right to be so upset since she wasn't my wife. She was spiteful, accusing me of abandoning long-term relationships for a fleeting taste of super famous pussy.
"Shit, man," Henry said. "That will pass. Probably really quickly. Let me know if I can do anything to help. I could call up some of my famous buds. Let them have an equal taste."
We laughed.
"But what are you supposed to do?" Henry said. "I'm with the most famous chick on the planet, and I would say yes to Anja in a heartbeat. You're a red-blooded male. I don't think your response has been out of line."
It might not have been out of line, but a nagging part of my brain told me I was being selfish. And my body, well, it was telling my brain to fuck off. Anja might have been the most physically addictive thing I'd ever encountered. And, I told myself, Rita seemed to be enjoying it a lot, too, so there wouldn't be a real problem. It was an infatuation that would run its course quickly on tour.
Henry and I finished our beers, snuffed out the joint, and went back into the castle. My wives were out for another day of sightseeing, which Rita had proposed, but the truth was I think she wanted to try to smooth over the annoyances the others felt about Anja. Rita was a diplomat but also carried a gravitas in the group. I trusted her. This was a blip in the road. I hadn't gotten pissed about Kat's infatuation with Ryan. I moved past Jess and Johnny. I never balked at Katie and Henry.
One challenge -- though I didn't see it that way at the time -- is that I didn't really have any time to reflect on the situation. That was something we were all responsible for. We weren't stopping for a moment, even during the down days. We filled every minute with something. Of course, the frenetic pace of the concerts and travel back and forth to London, coupled with the constant accompanying parties, wasn't conducive to sober reflection. Or anything related to sobriety.
This also created a blind spot for me. Or maybe it was an excuse. That I didn't have to or want to look past the surface level of the hedonistic indulgence we engaged in. Every time I turned around, it seemed like there was another opportunity to feed my primal desires. Most of the time in the past few days, when I turned around, Anja was right there. I didn't question it. I just embraced it as a budding addiction.
Henry and I strolled back toward the castle. A bunch of the tour folks were outside smoking marijuana, as well. This had become the routine for off days. The musicians would jam and smoke and drink and bond. It was, for them, the indispensable professional part of the tour. And it was fun to watch, as an outsider. So when we walked up to the back terrace and greeted the group, it didn't surprise me to see Anja there, smoking a cigarette in between taking puffs on joints as they got passed around. The tour had come to favor comically large, Bob Marley-style joints.
I said a cursory hello to the smoking gaggle and headed inside. The weed and beer had given me the munchies, and I was ready to snack on something. Henry lingered, while I went to the kitchen. I settled on a bag of chips that sat in a basket on one of the counters, offering the stoned among us an easy and quick route to satisfaction. Then I rooted around in the fridge and cracked another Boddington's. The castle was utterly silent. My head started to clear a little bit. Until I heard footsteps clacking on the stone floor behind me.
"You didn't even stop to say hi," Anja said before I could turn around.
"Hey," I said and smiled at her. "I didn't want to interrupt you with the group. And I'm fucking starving."
She walked toward me. She always strutted like she was on a runway. The natural peacock in her knew no off-switch. Even when she was only dressed in a bright red sports bra and matching, two-sizes-too-small matching bike shorts. Her nipples and cameltoe might as well have been under a spotlight, and her hip bones stood out prominently.
"Funny, I'm famished, too," she said, pushing her skimpily clad body against me. "For more of that dick."
Instinct took over as I felt Anja's warmth against me. I moved my hands down her waist, over her hips, and cupped her ass. We both went in for a kiss at the same time, and I immediately lost myself in the soft, sweet feeling of her lips. She tasted like weed, and I felt the primal animal rise in me that so frequently took hold when I was stoned.
"You haven't seen the secret passage yet," I said.
"Show me," she said, her nostrils flaring with desire.
I put my hand on the small of her back and led her to the false panel at the rear of the kitchen. I pressed it, and she gasped when it opened.
"This is so cool," she said.
When the door softly closed behind us, our lips locked again. Anja put her hand on the back of my neck and pulled me to her. I pushed her against the back wall, and she lifted up a leg as her free hand clumsily but frantically pushed into the front of my shorts and found my cock. It was hard, so she pulled it out and pressed it firmly against the crotch of her tight shorts. I rubbed back and forth and almost immediately I felt the pleasure build in me. I pushed the shorts down her hips, my face ending up close to her vagina as I shoved them down to the floor. I could smell her sweet nectar flowing. And all I could think about was being inside those velvety walls again. Fucking Anja was habit-forming. It was addictive, in part because she was so into it.
Her height made it easy to fuck her against the wall. She kept one leg up, wrapping it around me, and my cock slipped into her vagina like a magnet attracted to its mate.
"Fuck yeah," she said. "That hits my clit so nice."
I smothered her mouth with a kiss, and we humped like horny high school kids for a few minutes. Anja quickly had one of her mini-orgasms. I had learned off the bat that she had a hard time cumming fully and hard, like my wives did, but she was prone to little waves of pleasure that would seize her for just a breath or two, then pass. My hands dug into her ass, a finger probing between the cheeks for her outrageously pretty butthole. We kissed before I buried my head in her cleavage. But then Anja pushed back. She reached her hands above her head, then brought them down to her sports bra. I thought she was going to take it off. Instead, she reached inside and pulled out a baggie of cocaine.