The Last Tour {COMPLETED}

Chapter One: What He Left

Chapter One

What He Left

Dawn crept in without waking Jade. It was not until midday that the seventeen-year-old finally woke. The sun was shining in brightly through the window of Jade's hotel room, but the fine furniture and luxurious layout of the room did nothing to raise Jade's fallen spirits. He had had a rough night. It was almost as if Jade was incapable of lying down in a bed without imagining himself back in his own—back in his own bed and at the mercy of a drunken, erotic man he called his father.

But Jade was not back home. He was lying in the bed of a luxury hotel room—meaning he was on another tour with Eclipse. The last tour with Eclipse. Jade was not sure how the road would end, but somehow, he was certain this was the end of the line. After this tour, Jade was done.

The seventeen-year-old sat up slowly. There would be a concert that night. The first of the tour—meaning it would be the choppiest—the least prepared for, and the most chaotic. Jade found himself sitting silently on the hotel bed for several long moments trying to mentally prepare himself for what would happen that night. The preparation, the curtain drop, the screaming, the noise, the blurry faces—

Jade's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a knock at his door. How do they know the instant I'm up? Flashed briefly through Jade's head. For a moment he sat staring at the door frozenly as if it would open itself. Then, coming to himself, Jade quickly ran a hand through his oily hair, stood up, and walked unsteadily to the door. Standing on the tips of his toes, Jade peered through the little peep hole in the door.

Jude Durrace's face was visible on the other side of the door, his face bubbled out of proportion by the curvature of the lens inside the peep hole.

Jade let out a sigh. He had been trying to avoid Jude while on the tour bus during the trip up to Eclipse's first stop. He had been half intending to avoid Jude as much as possible throughout the entire duration of the tour. Now, it boiled down to either opening the door or pretending to be in some sort of terribly deep sleep. With Jude Durrace, Jade had the option to simply not open the door. Had it been any of the other Eclipse members, he would have had to. But the possibility that Jude had been sent by one of the other Eclipse members finally made up Jade's mind. For as much as Jade wished to avoid him, if he had to let any of his four band mates into his room, it would be Jude Durrace. So reluctantly, Jade turned the door handle and pulled open the door.

An instant smile brightened Jude Durrace's face as he laid eyes on Jade. "Slept in?" he asked good-naturedly.

Jade lifted a hand to the back of his neck. His lips parted slightly, unsure of whether or not to answer the question. But when Jude's expectant stare did not waver, Jade made a compromise and simply nodded.

"Yeah, I did too," Jude announced. He walked past Jade into the room, then dropped his hand onto one of the bed's posts. Then, raising his eyebrows into one of his innocently stupid expressions, "But not this long—so I thought I would make sure you were ok, and everything." He let out a breath through his nose. "You slept well?"

"Yeah," Jade answered softly.

Jude made a circular motion with his arm. "It was all good?" There was something a little tense about his position, Jade noticed.

But the seventeen-year-old said nothing of it and merely nodded again.

"Well," Jude shifted away from the bed. "Are you hungry?"