Wicked Harmony

Chapter 31 | Dorian

Chapter 31

Dorian

P art of me wants to scoop Sin up and drag her into the greenroom or the bathroom backstage. That way, I can focus some of the electricity burning through my veins so that it doesn’t burn me from the inside.

But that’s just the adrenaline talking. She’s not some faceless groupie and I’m not in the right mindset for anything more than mindless fucking right now.

If it were any normal gig, I’d stick around for the PR stuff, sign a few bare patches of skin, maybe get my dick sucked and then head out to a party or to a club to try to prolong my buzz for as long as possible.

Tonight’s not any normal gig, though.

And that shit no longer holds any appeal.

Sin’s waiting for us in the wings and Cal reaches her first, enveloping her in a massive hug. He must murmur some dirty shit into her ear as she’s blushing like crazy when he sets her down and Micah’s tongue flickers out to taste the air which is a sure sign she’s turned on.

“Holy shit, Sin, that was out of this world,” I tell her, yanking her out of Cal’s arms into my own sweaty hug.

“You guys were incredible.” She beams around at each of us.

And then everything goes to shit .

As soon as we step away from the wings of the stage, we’re surrounded by overexcited fans, clamoring around us and screaming for an autograph.

There are too many people. Far more people backstage than there should be. Instead of the twenty backstage pass holders and the crew, there are hundreds of people back here. And the noise and heat are so great, it’s disorienting. I try to take a physical step back, but there are people in the way.

I’m surrounded.

I scan the crowd for Sin and the others, but I can’t see them anywhere. Pure panic fills my veins as the crowd surges closer.

And it’s like they’ve all lost their minds. They claw at my arms and someone grabs my shirt and tugs so hard I stumble just as someone else pinches my ass. Hard.

I spin around with a growl, but I can barely move. Or breathe. I’m surrounded by hot, sweaty bodies with no concept of personal space.

Fuck me. It’s a nightmare.

The noise is deafening. People are screaming and shouting our names, the sound echoing off the walls and turning this place into an absolute hell hole.

I detach the grasping fingers of a woman who’s grinning up at me. “Oh holy wow, you guys were just incredible. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Someone tugs at my pants, and I slap their hand away.

Fuck this.

“Incredible.”

“The best night of my life.”

“I’ve never felt this way before.”

It’s like an echo of the same words from every angle.

“I’ll suck the cum right out of you until you see stars.”

... maybe not that last one .

Holy fuck.

I shoulder past a line of fans and can just make out Cal, who’s the tallest and biggest guy in the room. He’s standing in a protective stance and I hope like hell it’s Sin he has pressed up against him. Then he’s on the move, barrelling forward. I squeeze my way through the crowd, breathing through my mouth and slapping away hands as I go.

It doesn’t stop them from touching my ass, or from ripping at my waistband and tweaking my fucking nipples. Something slices my skin and I cradle my hand with a hiss.

I’ve never felt so objectified. Our fans are terrifying like this.

It’s like they’ve lost the fucking plot.

“I’ve seen you eight times before, but tonight blew everything else out the water.”

“Oh my gods, it was like an out-of-body experience. I think I came from listening to you play.”

“Want me to blow you, baby? Make you feel as good as you made me tonight?”

Fuck no. Fuck off. And fuck you. Those are the thoughts running in a loop through my head.

I shoulder my way through as many of them as I can, not even bothering to smile or to speak empty pleasantries like I would normally. My buzz has well and truly faded and I want nothing more than to get back to the hotel and take a long shower. The feeling of other people’s hands and sweat on me has me shuddering.

Making my way over to Cal, I see he’s got Sin tucked into his side and Micah is sticking close on her other side.

I cup Sin’s cheek, peering down at her. “Are you all right?”

“Fine.” She’s slightly breathless and is wide eyed with barely disguised panic.

My shoulders drop in relief. She’s safe, at least .

But the room is hot and airless and chaotic. I'm pretty sure people are gonna start passing out soon if we don’t do something, or if they don’t stop screaming.

“I’m gonna take my glasses off,” I murmur. “Should give us some space to work with until we can find an exit or security shows up.”

“Where the fuck are they? Things should never have gotten this crazy,” Cal rasps, holding Sin tightly to his chest.

She pops her head up. “Is it not normally like this?”

“Like everyone has collectively lost their fucking minds? Can’t say it is,” I reply drily.

“Dammit. Maybe I went too hard with the last dose of euphoria to end the show,” she says.

“Not your fault, love,” Cal growls.

Someone pinches my ass and I hiss, whipping around and doing something I haven’t done since I was a teenager. I pull down my shades and release the full force of my glare at those closest to us.

My stomach curdles as the grasping hands freeze in place, the eyes of the fans within a five-foot radius growing wide and glassy as they lose their ability to move.

I hate all of this so much.

“What a damn mess.”

Cal then clears a path through the crowd of immobilized people as I continue to freeze anyone who gets in our way. I wince at every one. My power is temporary, and it also doesn’t freeze their awareness of what’s going on, so there is going to be a fuckton of stories about this later.

It’s gonna be a PR nightmare and I might get flayed alive by Jules. But I can’t see any other way out of here.

The only thing I can focus on is getting all of us out of here. Getting Sin somewhere safe.

Iri finally reaches us from wherever the hell he’s been. He’s breathing hard and is looking worse for wear. His shirt is torn and there are scratches on his scarred arms, like he’s lost a fight with a feral cat.

Or some feral fans.

“Fucking hell,” I mutter. “This is insane.”

“The car’s waiting for us outside. We just need to get to an exit,” he says.

We continue making our way along, with me freezing every person who dares to look in our direction and Cal acting as the muscle, physically clearing a path by shifting people out of the way.

It’s creepy as hell and seems to take forever before we get to an emergency exit and by that point, I must have frozen over a hundred people.

It doesn’t feel good. In fact, it makes me feel physically ill.

As soon as the cold air outside hits my face, I suck in a deep breath, trying to steady my breathing and the building nausea in my gut.

“Well, that was something.”

“I’ve never seen it like that before,” Cal mutters.

“Something went seriously wrong tonight,” Iri replies. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?” He turns to Sin and cups her cheek, brushing his thumb softly over the flesh there.

She squeezes his fingers briefly before pressing a quick kiss to his fingertips. “I’m fine. That was scary, though.”

He nods, eyes raking over the rest of us. “Everyone else?”

“I might have some bruises in interesting places, but I’m otherwise fine,” I mutter, rubbing my abused nipples.

Sin raises an eyebrow before reaching over to squeeze my hand. “You sure you’re okay? They seemed to be the most grabby with you.”

I nod. Sure, I feel kind of violated, but that’s not all that new. People forget there’s a person behind the ripped jeans and rockstar persona .

“I’m going to fix things for next time,” Sin says quietly as we make our way to the waiting car. “Something must have got messed up and we can’t have every gig ending in carnage.”

“There should have been security. No one should have got backstage without a pass and then security should have vetted them. We don’t let drunk or high people go backstage. They’re too much of a liability,” Iri replies.

No shit. My bleeding hand and poor nipples are evidence of why we don’t.

The car is waiting for us already, and we pile inside, letting out a collective sigh.

Things don’t immediately get better from there.

We’re stuck in traffic, about ten minutes from the hotel, when Iri curses down at his phone. “Seems like the crowd has followed us back. There’s a load of them outside the hotel.”

He shakes his head before leaning forward to speak to the driver in hushed tones. I flop back in my seat and close my eyes for a moment.

The adrenaline crash is hitting us all hard. Squinting around the car interior, I can see it’s not just me that’s affected. Sin’s barely keeping her eyes open and is blinking slowly, and Micah’s chin keeps bobbing down to his chest, only to spring up again.

We pass by the hotel entrance a little while later and the crowd has to be ten deep, screaming their heads off.

Shit. It’s close to midnight and out of the window, I spot the flashing lights as the authorities tackle the disturbance.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s headlines have in store. Maybe this chaos will be top billing, ahead of the hundred people currently stuck frozen inside the stadium.

Somehow, I doubt it.

Our driver steers the car to the back entrance of the hotel, where there’s another, albeit smaller, crowd waiting. They all have their phones out, snapping pictures and videos as we step out of the car and hurry inside.

“Maybe we should have found somewhere else to stay,” Iri mutters as he eyes the crowd. He looks more disheveled and stressed out than I’ve ever seen him.

“The authorities are dealing with it now. Plus, this is a fancy hotel. No one’s going to get inside,” I reply, clapping him on the shoulder. Somehow, I just know he’s going to be blaming himself for not having foreseen this.

Mr Control Freak doesn’t like it when things don’t go according to plan.

Cal doesn’t let Sin walk inside, instead he keeps her wrapped in his arms like he’s afraid to let her go.

I can’t say I blame him.

We head into the hotel lobby and ride the elevator in silence. Our suite is obscenely big, with three separate sitting rooms, a fireplace in every room, and even a large terraced garden on the rooftop.

Not that we’ll be taking advantage of that tonight. I’m pretty sure all of us just want a long shower and to decompress for a bit, to wait for our ears to stop ringing from all the screaming, and then sleep like the dead.

Cal heads into the nearest bedroom with Sin still in his arms. He doesn’t acknowledge the rest of us, but I catch her eye and she shrugs and gestures for the rest of us to follow.

“Shower first,” Cal says, kicking open the door to the bathroom.

Micah follows and I trail along like a lost duckling while Iri hovers in the doorway, tugging on his hair.

“I’m going to make some calls,” he says. “Try to sort this clusterfuck and work out what happened.”

I’m torn as the shower starts up in the next room. Part of me feels like I should be in there with them. I’m itching to be close to Sin, to confirm that every inch of her is unharmed and to hold her close .

But Micah and Cal have got her. They’ll take care of her, and I have an equally strong pull drawing me into the next room where I know Iri is going to spend all night working without taking a break.

He might not need to sleep, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to rest. Especially after tonight.

Decision made, I stride into the bathroom just in time for Cal, Micah and Sin all to strip naked. I then head straight for my mate and press a quick, dirty kiss to her lips before pulling away.

“Take care of her. I’m going to check on Iri, make sure he’s not running himself into the ground.”

Sin nods gratefully, pulling me down for another quick kiss. “Thank you.”

“I’ll join you all in a bit,” I tell them before heading into the next room.

Iri’s already barking into the phone, bollocking some poor individual. I find us some drinks and snacks from the kitchen since we’re all bound to be dehydrated and a sugar boost will do us good. Once I’ve filled my arms, I drop off everything I think Sin will like in the bedroom adjoining the bathroom they’re using. I then carry the rest in and drop them onto the coffee table in front of Iri, who is now sitting with his head in his hands.

“Dude, you need to take a break.”

I uncap a bottle of water and take a long pull before opening a bunch of bags of candy and shoving them into my mouth.

“It wasn’t supposed to go like this,” he mutters.

I’m bone fucking tired. The kind of tired where my mind is both buzzing and feels like it’s filled with cotton wool.

But my bandmate needs me right now.

“Who do you need me to call?”