TANTRIC (Book 3 of the Soundcrush Series)

EPILOGUE

Leed

Some years later

The driver approaches Matt's place and I begin to scrawl my signature faster as Riley flips the contract for me to host this year's AMA's. "Here, and here. Excellent. That's another day's work done," he grins, shoving them in his satchel. "Shall we stop off and have a drink with the Old Man?"

I consider. I want to get home, but I haven't seen Matt in a couple of weeks. After all these years, the man is more like a father to me than my own. Only the Universe could know how many times I've walked down the road to shoot the shit with him since I bought an old-school Hollywood mansion down the block from his.

A few times I've even slept on his couch, because like he promised me the day I got married... "You think it's gonna be perfect, but it's not. It's gonna be real fucking good a lot of the time, and then occasionally it's gonna be real fucking bad. When it's bad, I got you, Lion. You come to me and raise hell about whatever shit's got you pissed at your wife. You come to me, cause I've fucking been there and I know how to get out of your head on that shit. You don't go downtown and get inside that mean-ass angel that's your weakness, you hear me?"

He was right. It's so fucking good, but it's also been real fucking bad a few times. Ash has kept shit from me—sometimes concerns about her health but once some band shit she should have told me about— and those secrets and lies of omission always shoot me to DEFFUCKINGCON 1 with her. Most of the time I just walk it off down to Matt's, but once she kicked me out and I stayed there a couple of days.

I've always remembered what Matt said. I've never cheated on her. I've acted like an asshole on more than one occasion, but I've never broken my vows to stay faithful, to forgive, to ask for her forgiveness, to return to loving like it's an action not a feeling.

But between us, it is still a feeling so strong, I will always suffer the occasional misunderstanding or bad temper—hers or mine. Even when Ash and I storm, I know once the thunder fades, I will stumble down the road and find my Sunshine rising to warm my face with her love.

"Leed?" Riley asks, his finger on the intercom to the drive. "Are we stopping by Matt's?"

"Better not," I tell Riley. "It's late, I'm fucking exhausted from that fourteen hour video shoot, and I want to play with the kids and get into bed like I don't keep rock star hours."

"Pussy," he grins amiably. I snort. He can think so, only because he's basically living the bachelor life again. I have a wife and four kids.

Well, Ollie doesn't live with us all the time, of course. The other three are waiting at home right now.

"Call me a pussy if you want, but thanks to you and Mike Ballard, I am contractually obligated to give my beautiful wife a hundred minutes of my undivided attention every day." I tug at my hair long hair. "Or she gets to cut my glory, remember?"

"Yes, but morning sex and Facetime counts," he counters.

"Dude. I left the house at 3 am this morning and how much fucking time did I have between takes today? I was constantly getting retouched."

"Well, that happens. Lots of costar contact. Lots of retouch," Riley shrugs.

Today was not the most fun day. Being mostly naked with a giggling, shivering stranger while my boys and my sister stand around and criticize my fake love-making skills just isn't as fun as it used to be back in the day. Not only because I've filmed dozens of love scenes over the years and the thrill of being "the guy" is gone. Mainly because there's only one woman whose skin I want on my skin.