When old friends get together, sometimes, old secrets accidentally slip out...like how Jagger got the nickname Lucky Charms, and that time Johnny wound up giving the audience one hell of an unexpected view.
“Damn,
I’ve been missing you something fierce, Lucky Charms,” Johnny said, rushing
Jagger the moment he walked through the back door flanked by Robbie and Kayden.
They were still brushing leaves off themselves and picking crumpled bits of
them out of their hair.
Of course, Johnny
being Johnny just wrapped his arms around Jagger and squeezed his ass right on
one of the handprint shaped welts Robbie had left behind, prompting Jagger to
let out a low hiss and squirm.
Laughing, Johnny
did it again, only to find his wrist trapped in Kayden’s grip.
“Hands off the
Lucky Charms, he’s our sinfully delicious breakfast cereal now!”
“And lunch, dinner
and all snacks in between!” Robbie added in.
“Awe, damn, what
about after dinner mint?” Johnny asked.
“Yeah, that too!”
Kayden declared.
“Sorry dude,
they’ve claimed every inch of me and pretty much marked it all too. Consider
those handprints property of signs for the foreseeable future,” Jagger
told him.
“Damn…kinda cold
of you to offer dinner with no dessert in sight,” Johnny complained.
“Dude, there’s
dessert, in three pie tins in the kitchen, you just leave this one alone,”
Robbie declared.
“Yeah, yeah, just
remember he was mine first.”
“Maybe, but
possession is nine tenths of the law. Don’t make me have to cuff you somewhere
to keep your hands occupied.”
“As long as those
cuffs come attached to someone with a big Billy club, I’m all in,” Johnny
declared, making them crack up.
“I’ve missed you
too, fucker,” Jagger replied, hugging him properly, while someone plucked
another leaf from his hair.
Johnny eyed him up
and down when he stepped back and gave a little nod. “This place looks like
it’s agreed with you.”
“Thanks to you.”
“Anytime, you know
that.”
The jangle of tags
and a frantic warning from Mickey announced the incoming furry death machines. Jagger’s
immediate response was to scurry behind Kayden and leap onto his back, trying
to climb him like the tree he’d gotten stuck in when he was young. For his
part, Kayden just hooked his hands beneath Jagger’s knees and held him securely.
Shaking his head, Johnny knelt and gave each dog pets and even rubbed noses
with them, the St. Bernards wagging their tails and frantically eating up all
the attention.
“Come on, Lucky
Charms, these guys don’t even eat breakfast cereal,” Johnny remarked as he
stared up at Jagger on his perch. Glaring, Jagger flipped off his oldest friend
and watched as the happy dogs licked Johnny’s face.
“There ya go,”
Robbie said. “They’ll give you all the lovin’ you could possibly need while
you’re here.”
“Pretty sure
that’s all kinds of illegal,” Johnny shot back as an out of breath Draven
joined them, two leashes in hand.
“Sorry, they were
so excited and prancing around that I forgot about putting these on them before
I opened the door.”
“No harm done,
right Jagger?” Robbie said, rubbing a hand over his leg.
Robbie had such a
hopeful look on his face that Jagger nodded. “Yeah, no harm done, was gonna try
and meet them today anyway.”
“I bought a couple
steaks just for you to feed them,” Robbie said. “We should see about getting
everything on the grill now that Johnny is here. I didn’t realize it had gotten
so late.”
“In all fairness,
you were kinda busy trying to discover just how flexible I can be when properly
motivated,” Jagger pointed out.
“Oh come on!”
Johnny said, lips pursed out in an extravagant pout. “I can’t touch but you’re
going to sit there and tease me when I know you are perfectly capable of sticking
your ankles behind your ears and damn near blowing yourself.”
“Wait…what?”
Robbie said, eyes practically bugging out as he stared at Jagger, who just
shrugged.
“Can’t have you
finding out all my secrets and getting bored now, can I?”
“You
stick your ankles behind your ears and start licking your own cock and boredom
will be the furthest thing from our minds, let me tell you,” Kayden said.
“Johnny is going
to stop giving away all of my trade secrets before I decide to start sharing
the stories TMZ would love to get their hands on, and footage too,” Jagger
threatened. Was kinda sick but he got off on the way his words made his best friend’s
eyes bug out as Johnny slapped both hands over his mouth. “Yeah, I thought
you’d see it my way.”
A double finger
salute from Johnny was the only response he made as Draven dropped an arm over
Johnny’s shoulders and started steering him towards the patio where Mickey
stood tending to an already smoking grill.
“Guess I don’t
have to worry about getting things ready after all,” Robbie said.
“Nope, just go get
the meat. The grills at the perfect temperature to start putting things on and
the Jello shots have set,” Mickey said. “One of you can grab the first tray and
the can of whipped cream I shoved beneath that wilting head of lettuce we
either need to put on our burgers or throw away.”
“So that’s where
it went!” Kayden said as he started to put Jagger down now that Draven and
Johnny had control of the dogs, newly clipped on leashes firmly held in their
hands. “I knew we had some, just couldn’t figure out where the fuck it had
gone.”
“That’s because
you never actually move things when you’re looking for something,” Mickey
pointed out. “Which is a good thing for the rest of us, otherwise, you’d have
gutted the fudge striped cookies and the chocolate pudding too. Was kinda
hoping it would last until we could melt a few marshmallows to go with them,
but those have vanished, despite the care I took in hiding them in the
back of the fruit bin.”
“I thought that
was a weird spot for them to be and just figured we’d run outta space
everywhere else,” Jagger admitted a bit sheepishly.
“You!” Mickey
declared.
“Hey, there wasn’t
a do not touch sign on them, so I figured they were fair game,” Jagger
admitted. “Needed something to snack on while I was working on something.”
Draven had one
eyebrow raised as he glanced over his shoulder at Jagger. At least he was tethering
one of the large dogs to what Jagger hoped was a very sturdy metal ring
embedded in the lawn. “Another mystery song you refuse to share with someone?”
The intensity of
his gaze and the way everyone else suddenly started looking at him left Jagger
shuffling from one foot to the other as he tried to decide where to sit. “Naa,
was thinking maybe this one was good enough that I would.”
“Some of the
others are more than good enough too,” Draven said.
“Wait…you let them
read your notebook! Holy shit! How is that even a thing! I’ve known you forever
and you’ve never even let me peek at what’s inside,” Johnny complained.
“I didn’t let him
do anything. He confiscated my notebook and snooped through it before giving it
back to me.”
“And it’s a good
thing I did, or I doubt you’d even be willing to share this new one with anyone
but the robins that hang out near that hammock you’re so fond of.”
“Maybe ‘cause
compared to birdsong, everything else sucks. No reason to worry about measuring
up when there’s no pressure and even less expectation.” Jagger said.
Though Draven
didn’t say anything more on the subject, he did narrow his eyes at Jagger,
which was more than enough for him to know that wouldn’t be the end of it. Now
that Johnny was here, Draven would have an ally too, meaning Jagger was about
to be double teamed and not in the way he liked. Jagger found himself getting
some unexpected help from Kayden though, who sat on the bench behind him and
pulled him back to rest against his chest.
“You’ll show us
when you’re ready,” he murmured as he rested his chin on Jagger’s head. “Took
me awhile to share my songs too. Was so critical of some of my early stuff that
I burned the majority before anyone could read them. Kinda wish I hadn’t now.
I’d have loved the chance to see if we could have made some of them work, but
most were drunken ramblings forgotten as soon as they were scrawled across the
paper.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, I know,
right? Easy to do foolish shit when you’re worried about other people’s
reactions.”
“You can say that
again.”
“What are you two
whispering about over there?” Johnny asked. “Please tell me it’s something hot,
scandalous, or totally humiliating.”
Just to tease his
friend, Jagger flicked his tongue out and licked it over his upper lip before
turning his head enough that he could treat Kayden to a scorching kiss. By the
time they broke apart, Kayden was grinning, and Johnny looked like a man dying
of thirst.
“If you really must
know, I was telling Kayden about the time you climbed up the TV mast and those
tattered jeans of yours got caught up on something. Instead of diving into the
crowd he just wound up with his pants trapped around his ankles while he
dangled from the damned thing.”
“Wait…what, how
have I never seen a video of that before?” Mickey asked.
“Oh…hang on,”
Jagger said as he dug in his pocket for his phone, pulled up the footage, and
lay it on the picnic table for everyone to see.
“Oh my fuckin’
god, dude that was a bad time to go commando!” Robbie roared after the events
had played out on the screen.
“Was kinda behind
in shopping for new shit to replace the pairs I kept loosing,” Johnny grumbled.
“You mean leaving
behind wherever you happened to have a quick bit of fun,” Jagger said.
“That too.”
“Bonus points for
finishing the song though,” Mickey said. “Now is someone gonna go to the
kitchen and grab shit or are we starving for the rest of the night?”
“Yeah, yeah,
going,” Robbie grumbled, but only after letting the video play through again.
“Oh man, Lucky
Charms, you are in for it now. You do know this means war, right?”
“Hey, you fired
the first shot when you told them about the whole Lucky Charms thing in the
first place,” Jagger shot back. “I was just getting even.”
“We ain’t even
close to even after that. I told them I called you Lucky Charms ‘cause you were
sinfully delicious. I didn’t tell them why I gave you that nickname in
the first place. Let me tell you guys something, it has absolutely nothing to
do with luck and everything to do with a particularly hilarious walk of shame. Jagger
had to use a box of breakfast cereal to hide his junk as he streaked across the
street at quarter to fuck it in the morning. This was after someone’s boyfriend
came home and nearly caught him with his guy in a very compromising act.”
“Oops!” Kayden
said, laughing even as he hugged Jagger and pressed a kiss to the top of his
head.
“Hey, how was I to
know? It was hot and I was washing my bike. He brought over some lemonade and
started talking to me about always wanting to take a ride on a motorcycle. I told
him to grab a towel and help dry my old girl and I’d take him. So he did and off
we went. Turned out big, rumbly engines turned him on as much as wanna be
rockstars. He invited me up the moment we got back. I’d have asked the
boyfriend if he wanted to join in on a round, but apparently, the guy had a
particular fondness for knives. I’m too pretty to let all this get carved up,
so while he was coming up the back way, I was running down the front with a
half full box of cereal. Had to wait for the following day to get my favorite
cutoff jean shorts back.
“Newsflash, those
were everyone’s favorite jean shorts,” Johnny said, “‘cause damn, they didn’t
leave a hellovalot to the imagination. The cereal kinda worked out in our favor
too, ‘cause we had a whole ass gallon of milk and not a damn thing to use it
with.”
“Let me guess, you
guys were a textbook example of the kind of folks who never had two things that
matched,” Mickey said.
“Pretty much,”
Johnny replied, giving the dogs he’d been seated beside one final pet before
joining them at the table. “Was almost a guarantee that if we had Kool-Aid, we
were outta sugar and screw tryin’ ta get a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,
the one time we had them both we were out of bread.”
“Oh my god that
sounds just like our first year here,” Mickey said. “Was how we discovered the
perfect formula for mock smores. A chocolate bar wouldn’t last twenty minutes
after making it through the door. Everyone had something different they liked
to smear on a graham cracker, so we started picking up fudge stripes and using
pudding as the chocolate element. It’s messy as hell when you add in the melted
marshmallows, but they taste just as good, if not better than the real thing,
which, you’d have discovered for yourself if someone hadn’t killed off all the
marshmallows.”
“Is that your
passive aggressive way of suggesting I get on my bike, head into town, and pick
up some marshmallows before the store closes?” Jagger asked.
“I mean, if you’re
offering,” Mickey said, about as coy as Jagger had ever heard him sound. It was
amusing as hell when Mickey’s voice came out all sweet while his eyes were
narrowed and set in a dark glare.
“Yeah, yeah, I guess I am,” Jagger said, sliding away from Kayden.
Last year, days after Rocktoberfest, the band Damaged Saints were onstage when a pyro accident burned their drummer and seriously injured their singer when he was hit with flying bits of burning shrapnel resulting in damage to his voice that has left him unable to continue on as the band’s singer.
He's their new manager though, and thanks to a friend from another band, they’ve got a lead on a new singer. Jagger is smokin’ hot, charismatic as hell, and so far as they’ve been able to tell, has very little in the way of inhibitions, which makes him the perfect fit for their rather snarky, salacious crew. There is just one problem: Jagger has only ever sung with cover bands and never on a large scale or even at a venue larger than a small-town waterfront festival. He’s used to having less than four feet to move around in, which doesn’t translate well when you’ve got a whole big stage to fill. With less than a month to see if he’s got some hidden moves they can draw out of him, they’re looking to use any means at their disposal and maybe even discover if Jagger is the perfect fit for them off the stage too.
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