Rock Steady by Dawn Ryder Page A

Kate appeared, her hair clipped on top of her head as she came in from checking on their wardrobe. She cast a look toward her husband, one that Ramsey was certain warmed Syon. The connection between the two was palpable. Syon set his guitar down and followed her into the other side of the suite, where their bedroom was.
    It was far from the first time he’d watched them retire for the night.
    Tonight, it was different.
    He ignored the sensation, refusing to name it as he wandered down the hallway. Drake was entertaining. Music spilled out of his suite, mixed with the sound of laughter. There was a top lying on the floor of the hallway, making it clear Drake was partying.
    His cock didn’t even stir.
    Ramsey gritted his teeth and made his way to his suite. It was huge, as well as decked out. The cost for one night equaled Jewel’s monthly rent on the armpit loft. There had been times when he’d just enjoyed the extravagance, for the sake of knowing he could afford it. Tonight, he felt hollow. Like a rich kid with a pile of toys and no one to play with.
    Syon was right; he wasn’t happy.
    Normally, he ignored it. Popped the top off a beer and numbed his wits enough to enjoy being played with by the fans who wanted to score with Ramsey of Toxsin. Tonight, he fell asleep, convinced he could smell the scent of Jewel’s hair lingering in the bedroom. His cock stirred at that, keeping him from true oblivion.
    * * *
    Before noon was considered early on a concert tour. The top floor of the Hyatt wasn’t really stirring when Ramsey reached over and plucked his cell phone off the bedside table. He was tired but not really sleeping. He slipped his fingertip across the screen to unlock it. The display filled with emails, but he tapped on an alert that had come in. He kept tabs on his name being used on the Internet. Even if most of it was wildly exaggerated gossip, he wanted to know who was talking trash about him. It made life so much more interesting when those same people tried to kiss up to him in person. They were just trying to use him to get their twenty seconds of fame and they’d never think twice about playing him for a fool if he didn’t watch his back. So yeah, he wanted to know who was talking smack about him. Becoming famous had taught him to be very careful about whom he considered a friend.
    And that really stank.
    The normal websites appeared. Road Kill was boasting a fuzzy photo of his new tattoo. He scrolled through the images of him on stage, sitting up when he found one of him fighting with Taz. What snared his complete attention was the headline attached to it.
    The romance is over for Syon of Toxsin… Band members brawling in Portland over lead singer’s infidelity.
    There was a full-color shot of Syon on top of Jewel.
    He reached over, grabbed the hotel phone, punched in Jewel’s room number. It rang and rang before going to voice mail.
    “Shit.” He dropped the phone and tried her cell from his. Her voice mail picked up.
    Ramsey rolled out of bed, landing on his feet as he typed in a line of commands on his phone. He cursed again when the tracking chip on Jewel’s phone came back as nonfunctioning.
    She had no idea the paparazzi were hunting her.
    It was his fault for not cluing her in, too. He’d been too distracted to focus on the business and personal details of having her on tour. In short, he’d dropped the ball the second his cock got hard. He dressed and went down the hall in the hopes she was still in the hotel. He pounded on her door, but there was no response. He laid his fist on it again, and kept at it long enough that a couple of doors farther down the hall opened to investigate the racket.
    “Come on, Jewel,” he said.
    Brenton appeared in the hallway, a little less polished looking than normal. He’d clearly rolled straight out of his rack. “Problem?”
    “A picture of Syon on top of Jewel is plastered across the Internet,” Ramsey said.
    Brenton stared at Ramsey in