blue speedboat with a sleek wood and leather interior. ‘This is us. You may as well hop on board.’
‘I’ll go back and get the bags.’ He turned to find Dani already heading towards him alongside Cave Troll, who was carrying their luggage. Having ascertained his help wasn’t required, Xane climbed into the belly of the boat alongside Spook, who started checking various dials. ‘Haven’t you been home?’ Xane asked.
‘No, I decided to stick around in Karlstad and make sure things were fine for Ash.’
‘But someone has filled the fridge, right?’
‘I have a housekeeper. I’m sure she’s stocked up on everything you could possibly want, including what anyone else would consider a year’s supply of prophylactics.’
Xane hooked his arm around Spook’s neck and planted a kiss upon his cheek. ‘That’s sweet of you to have added condoms to the shopping list.’
Spook recoiled from the contact. ‘Yeah, well, you might not consider me so sweet when I ban shagging on my property. Get the fuck off me, Xane.’
‘Bastard. You wouldn’t.’
Spook bent over, laughing. ‘Totally might if your inability to keep it in your pants starts impacting the group harmony. God, your face! Poor little Xane. Can’t contemplate going more than a few hours without sex or his knob might fall off.’
Xane stuck out his tongue. ‘Shagging is good for the soul.’
‘Not having to deal with your relationship shit is good for mine. Have to question my own sanity agreeing to hole up on a tiny strip of land in the middle of a lake with you, your two current lovers and your ex.’
‘No less sensible than riding on a tour bus with me for the last God knows how many years.’
‘Yeah, that’s true.’
Xane jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. ‘Lighten up, will you? We’re going to relax, recuperate and emerge in a month or so with a score of new tracks and all our heads screwed on the right way.’
The misgivings swimming in Spook’s pale eyes remained. ‘That’ll be novel. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with your head on right.’
‘Nah, mostly it’s halfway up his arse,’ a voice boomed from several feet away.
‘Paul.’
‘Rock Giant, my man.’ Xane greeted him by sticking out his hand, but the other man simply knocked it aside, locked him in a hug and thumped him across the back with enough force to leave Xane spluttering.
‘What happened to you? You look as if you’ve been dip-dyed,’ Spook asked the newcomer, squinting at the medley of green and purple tie-dye – and that was just his hair.
Rock Giant ignored the question and threw his oversized duffel bag into a corner of the boat. ‘Is this it? Where is everyone?’
‘Ash and Ginny are coming later. They’re sneaking him out of the hospital. Dani’s right here.’ Spook nodded at her as she boarded, and Cave Troll passed her the suitcases. ‘So we’re just waiting on Elspeth and Luthor.’
‘Yeah.’ Rock Giant stroked a hand through the multi-coloured strands of his hair. ‘Elspeth’s not coming. That is, she’s not coming yet. I’m sure she’ll be here in time for your party. Yep, definitely, she will be.’ He nodded at Xane.
‘What the fuck do you mean, she’s not coming? We’re supposed to be getting together to work.’
On a personal level, Xane didn’t actually give a shit whether Queen Elspeth turned up. The rift she’d opened when she’d run off and married his best friend had barely scabbed over. It’d be a long time before he forgave her for all the shit that one act of utter selfishness had caused, but on a professional level they needed her here. The purpose of meeting up and descending on Spook’s place wasn’t to chill out, eat birthday cake and have fun – though they would do some of that – but so they could start getting their shit together for the next album, and make decent use of the time they had on their hands because of the postponement of their Requiem for the Damned tour.
‘I mean she’s not coming. She sent me a text about an hour ago. See …’ He held up his mobile phone so that Xane could see the message.
E: NOT COMING. Will try to make it for the party.
‘That’s it? No friggin’ explanation?’
‘Maybe she just needs to be away from you.’ Rock Giant slipped the phone back into a pocket. ‘So, moving on to the two big questions; how long do we wait for the new guy, and who gets to drive this beauty?’
Spook made an immediate dive towards the steering wheel. ‘Oh, no, you’re not driving.’
‘Aw, come on. That’s not fair. You know I love driving, and this is … this is a speedboat.’ The way he extended ‘speed’ into the sound of a buzzing engine raised a host of smiles, but every one of them shook their heads at the same time, Spook the most emphatically.
‘You big pussies. You bunch of lame-arsed pansies. What happened to living dangerously and enjoying some good old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll madness?’
‘It’s a lake. It’s cold, and none of us fancy a swim at the moment.’ Spook held on tight to the steering wheel as Rock Giant attempted to bodyslam him out of the way, leading the rest of them to scramble for secure footing and something to cling to. Dani wrapped herself tightly around Xane. ‘I’ve heard about his driving.’
‘Don’t worry. He’s not driving.’
Spook seemed adamant about that fact too. ‘The members of this band have sustained enough bumps, injuries and emotional scars over the last few months without enduring a white-knuckle ride because you’re at the wheel.’
‘An invigorating shake-up is exactly what we need.’
‘Fucking don’t.’
‘Fucking do.’
‘And you’re licenced to drive this baby, are you?’ Spook waved some Swedish documentation in Paul’s face. Maybe it was some kind of licence or basic training requirement, Xane wasn’t sure. Spook was the only one of them who could read the language.
‘What is that?’
Spook neatly avoided Paul’s grab for it, dipping beneath his arm, nimble as a goddamned elf.
‘It’s the local pizza menu, isn’t it, or the life-jacket instructions.’
‘It’s the bit of paper that says you need to get your butt away from the helm, and take a seat. I’ll be driving, and if you don’t like that fact, tough shit, buy your own boat.’
‘Bastard white walker … fucking troll … bastard fucking white-walking troll,’ Paul muttered to himself, though he did park his backside in one of the leather seats as instructed.
Xane fell into the seat beside him, with Dani still tucked under his arm. ‘How was the folk festival?’
