Victor was lifting weights in the gym when Mirage entered in the morning. She paused in the doorway, as if debating entering and then shrugged and did so.“’Morning,” she said, and stuck a bottle of water into the holder of the treadmill before setting a gruelling pace that had him drooling within five minutes of watching her run.After thirty trialling minutes for them both, he thought wryly, she finished her run and moved to the pull up bar. She had her earbuds in, and whatever she listened to, it certainly motivated her. She pushed herself beyond tolerance, and he grimaced seeing the shake in her muscles as she lowered to the ground after the last set.He followed her into the infrared sauna. She had taken out her earbuds and left them on her phone on the bench outside. They sat together, sweating, and panting, and, in his case at least, lusting, he thought. She seemed indifferent to him. It was not something that he was accustomed to, a woman being disinterested.“So, Vice doesn’t
“Oh, hey,” she glanced over her shoulder. “I am making omelettes.”“We will set the table,” Vice offered, pulling a lustful face at Victor as Mirage turned back to her cooking. “Did you sleep well?”“Great,” she replied lightly. “It is so quiet here. I have been bouncing around hotels and motels for a few months now, and they are never quiet.”“You don’t own property?” Vice set the table as Victor brewed coffee.“I do,” she flipped the omelette. “But the addresses were leaked to the press. I move around a lot, to avoid, you know,” she shrugged. “Photographers.”“You have had a lot of publicity over the last year,” Vice prompted taking the opening.“Yeah,” she was grim in her response, sliding an omelette onto a plate and beginning another. “I can’t seem to avoid it. That saying: no publicity is bad publicity? So not true. I go to a club, and I am battling alcohol. I visit my doctor, and I am being checked into rehab. I go to a hot yoga session, and I am having a meltdown in public – w
Mirage drifted on the inflatable pool lounge, one hand holding a mocktail that Vice had mixed for her, and the other trailing in the water, as she watched the two men from behind the shield of her sunglasses. There were worse ways to spend a hot summer afternoon, she thought, and there couldn’t be a better view.If there was a God, she definitely was a woman, Mirage concluded, because only a woman would have crafted Vice and Victor. They belonged on the covers of the romance books her mother used to read. Victor was a sun-kissed idol of a man, all broad shoulders, bronzed skin, strong jaw, and almost white-blonde hair, reminding her of movie superheroes, and Vice was lean, his hair like thick black silk, all sharp cheekbones and smouldering eyes, reminiscent of the models that sulked their way across the billboards, hands in pockets, and moody darkness in their eyes.A man for every taste, she joked to herself, except for hers. She was done with men. She was not into women, either how
“Should we get out of the pool?” She did not want to. It was nice floating with Vice’s hard body against hers. “No,” he lifted his sunglasses, watching the inside of the house. She heard voices and saw a group of people enter. “Ah, they brought the whole band,” he added, unbothered by the additions. “Hey!” Two-Way Street’s drummer James’ hair was an overgrown ash-blonde, and he wore a scruff of stubble on his face as if he had not bothered shaving for a week. She recognised him from the promotional videos and gossip pages. “No fair, Vice,” he complained already stepping out his shoes and pulling off his designer-faded t-shirt. He had the sort of physique that was naturally given to skinniness, she thought with envy, and with lean muscles that were reflective of his instrument’s demands. “I want to float with Mirage.” He shoved his jeans off his hips and waded into the pool in his underwear, completely uninhibited by the fact that he wasn’t wearing swimwear. “Beat you to it, James,
Vice was not surprised when Aaron called with the news that the label wanted a meeting to discuss their progress on the album. They were nervous, Aaron suggested, about two producers so new to the role handling such a major album for the label and just needed some reassurance. Vice had other thoughts. “Mr Rich is causing waves,” he said to Victor. “Well, we are prepared for that, aren’t we?” Victor was not flustered. “So, we will go, let him try to bring us down, and show him up.” Mirage spent half an hour on the phone to her lawyer, and then another twenty minutes talking to Aaron when she was told. They leaned against the kitchen bench and watched her pace the patio, on the phone, her body language growing tenser by the minute. “Something went down,” Vice murmured. “What do we know about Mr Rich?” “Leans more towards popstars, seems to like young women as artists,” Victor replied, bracing his arms against the bench, and leaning into them. “Solid results as a producer, but Mirag
The driver opened the door and Victor slid out, reaching a hand back to help her out. She caught the flash of light as photographs were taken. She always thought the label notified the media when meetings were held so that a photographer was on site to snap stars coming and going through its doors, advertising the star drawing power of the label. Vice linked his arm through hers and she felt Victor’s hand resting warm against her lower back. “Smile,” Vice said through his teeth as he flashed the photographer a wide grin, and she plastered a bright smile on her face in an almost automatic reaction. The two men changed angles, maximising the photo opportunity, laughing, and chatting to the photographers cheerfully, answering questions thrown at them with a comfortable ease. “We are working with Mirage on her next album,” Vice schmoozed to the woman photographer to the left. “It is a very exciting piece of work.” “Yes, it is coming along,” Victor responded to the man on the other sid
The music pounded out of the nightclub, and the lights flashed through the open doors guarded by burly, black clad bouncers. The line-up was extensive, the waiting club goers bouncing on the spot with excitement, trying to catch the attention of Vice, Victor and Mirage as they posed on the pavement in front of the entrance. Mirage laughed and shimmied for the cameras, sending the silver tassels on her dress dancing. “I have my producers here tonight,” she said in answer to a question. “We are taking a break from recording my next album,” she pressed herself against Vice’s side and pouted for a photo. “Mirage!” Someone from the roped off queue into the club called out her name and she excused herself to chat with her fans, posing for a selfie photo before returning to Victor and posing for another photographer. “Yes,” Victor answered a question thrown at him from the photographer’s ranks. “We are producing Mirage’s next album. It has an edgier sound than her previous albums, which w
“F-k!” Vice was breathless, and she thought that, like her, he was cresting on the edge of coming. She could feel the throb of him against her. Her lipstick stained his lips, and the sight of it smeared across his gorgeous mouth was so erotic that she shuddered, causing him to moan, his eyes going to half-mast. Victor lifted her off Vice’s lap and placed her handbag onto her lap, retrieving the makeup wipes and passing one to Vice along with the makeup compact. Victor took out her powder and brushed it lightly along her t-zone, before applying her lipstick for her, making the appropriate face at her as he painted her lips. Of course, she thought with a smile, they would know about makeup, too. Vice returned the compact to the handbag and shoved the makeup wipes into the bin. Victor adjusted her dress and met her eyes with a grin. “Perfect again,” he told her, his fingers brushing lightly across her cheek in a caress. He slid back into his seat as the limousine slowed to a crawl, e