Too Little Too Late

Chapter Two - Something to Rely On

Chapter Two

Something to Rely On

Joey Vance's studios in Greenwich Village were out of this world. Miles felt a bit like Alex, getting excited about the vintage equipment, and the posters of the wall of legendary punk, Vini Vance, Joey's father. It had really influenced his writing. Joey had an interesting way of working that Miles had never tried before, and that was to write the music and see what lyrics came from it. Miles had always worked in the way that the lyrics came first and he built music around it. But with Joey he had written five banging tunes in the three weeks he'd been here, but the biggest sticking point were what to sing about.

Nothing was coming to him. He'd written Colour of the Trap with Alex, and Don't Forget Who You Are was written during one of the turbulent times when they were fighting and fucking and very little else. But now they were blissfully happy, and Miles had discovered happiness didn't exactly inspire creativity.

Now it was even harder to concentrate because he was going back to LA. He'd missed Alex so much. They'd kept phone-calls to a minimum because they both needed to work. But there had been a few times when passion had got the better of them in the middle of the night, and they would call each other and talk dirty. One night, Alex was being Arabella, and went into the great detail about what she wanted Miles to do to her. It involved a vibrating butt plug; and the next day, Miles had gone out and bought one, desperate to use it on Alex for real.

It was his last day, and he was in his hotel room looking down at Manhattan, fighting the urge to go out. It was his birthday tomorrow – St Patrick's Day, and the streets were getting ready for the annual parade. Miles would have loved to stay and watch it, but he needed to get home.

His phone started ringing. Without even looking at it, Miles knew it was Alex, and he turned and grabbed it off the bed.

"I was just thinking about you," he said as soon as he answered it, lying back on the bed in the hope Alex wanted a bit of fun.

"How's it going, Bunny?" Alex asked. "Written much?"

"Quite a few bangers, but I'm stuck for lyrics. What about you?"

"Same. That's what I'm calling you about. I won't be able to meet you from the airport, tomorrow. Martyn is angry with my lack of progress and wants to meet with me."

"Don't matter, we can make up for it in the evening."

"Sure, although I don't think I'll be able to do dinner. I've really got to knuckle down."

"But it's my fucking birthday."

"We'll make up for it at the weekend. Please Mi, I'm doing this for us."

Just as he spoke, a dog barked in the background. It sounded familiar, but Miles couldn't be sure.

"Is that Scooter?" he asked.

"Aye...yeah...Taylor's here on a casting and she wondered if I would like to look after him."

A cold shiver of fear ran down Miles' spine. Taylor was his biggest threat. He had been there with Alex with all the girls. Alexa had been like a big sister most of the time. Arielle was sweet, and Alex liked her a lot, but she hadn't got under his skin like Taylor had. In the early days he had even stopped sleeping with Miles because he'd been so cunt-struck by her. It was because she was the first woman he'd met who treated him like a little bitch in bed, which was what he liked.

"Mi?"

"Just turn up out of the blue did she?"

"No. She's an old friend of Lauren's, actually. Lauren told her I was missing Scooter so Tay brought him here."