A/N: Thank you to LostInSpace33, USrockerchick, covenmama, Perfecta999, ashmo2000, Kate and ciasteczko for reviewing the last chapter.
Also I need a beta, if you want to do it or know anyone else that want to please let me know.
I hope you enjoy this chapter.
"So you've lost your front man and piano player," Russell said rubbing his hands together, "but that doesn't mean Perihelion is over."
"How?" I asked. "How is it not over?"
Russell's eyes lit up. "I'm glad you asked Sookie, Eric and yourself are very talented singers so the both of you will take over lead vocals. Tara and Alcide will continue to sing backup like they've always done, harmonies are 'your thing' and all that jazz." He winked at me and then looked over at Eric." Eric you can play the piano and the musician we've selected to round out the group will cover everything else." He sounded excited, like a child getting ready to play with a new toy.
"Don't you think we should decide who rounds out the group?" Eric asked with irritation flowing under his words.
"Believe me, he's the best." Russell reassured.
"What if I don't want to exclusively play piano? What if Tara and Alcide want to sing lead? What if we want to change the structure of the band now that Bill has left?" Eric questioned.
"Can I smoke?" I asked fishing a pack of cigarettes out of my pocket.
"I'm fine singing back up." Alcide admitted.
"Can I smoke?" I asked again.
"I wouldn't mind trying to sing a little more." Tara confided.
"We can work on all of this on the retreat." Russell was trying to keep his cool but he was becoming frustrated with us.
"Can. I. Smoke?" I questioned for a final time.
"Whatever, it's fine." Russell dismissed me with a wave of his hand.
"Well, if she's gonna smoke then I'm gonna smoke." Eric said slipping a cigarette out of the pack, I lit mine and then his.
"No Eric, you were doing so well." Tara said disappointed.
He shrugged and took a long inhale in and exhaled out in ecstasy before looking back at Russell. "Don't tell us how we are going to structure this band, we'll see how it goes and let the chips fall where they may." Eric hated these meetings almost as much as I did.
"Okay but from my position it's not that easy, people are used to a certain look, Perihelion has always been a certain way. I think it's important to have the right front person." Russell shifted uncomfortably.
"You mean people are going to feel more comfortable watching two white blonde people sing lead vocals instead someone who looks like me." Tara spat.
"That's not what I said." Russell said defensively.
"But it's what you meant." I piped up. "We'll decide and if you like it then take it and if not then tough titties." I crossed my arms tightly looking away from him.
"So do we get to meet this new musician or what?" Sam asked changing the subject, looking at Russell the way we all looked at Russell with annoyance and contempt.
Russell pushed a button on the intercom next to him. "Stacey, can you tell Mr. Reynolds he can come in now."
We sat impatiently waiting for Mr. Reynolds to enter the room. "How long did you quit for?" I asked Eric.
"Six weeks."
"Awe Eric, why did you start again?" I asked him.
"I could ask you the same question." He took a drag.
"I'm going through a quarter life crisis, remember?" I said through gritted teeth.
"I hate to break it to you Legs, but we all are." He cocked an eyebrow.
I rolled my eyes and looked over at the door when our new band member came in. He was about my height, he was wearing blue jeans and a plaid dress shirt with a navy blue sweater over top. His skin was dark, he had impeccably groomed facial hair, a paperboy cap was on his head and dark brown eyes peered out from behind black thick rimmed glasses. He approached the table slowly like he was a new student in a new class. "Hey, I'm Lafayette."
"Yes, this is Lafayette Reynolds and we think he'll be the best addition to the band." Russell said smiling up at him. "And look he's black, I have no problem with black people being in music."
All of us stared at him with a stunned look before Sam rubbed his face and muttered, "good God, Russell."
LaFayette ignored Russell's comment and took the seat next to mine.
"What do you play?" Alcide asked as Eric got up to find something to act as an ashtray.
"I play guitar, drums, piano, stand up bass and the accordion. I can also sing." He said straightening the cuffs of his shirt.
"Sing 'Sunday Kind of Love'." I asked him bluntly.
"Sook," Tara tutted.
"What? Harmonies are our thing, if he can't harmonize then what's the point?" I asked holding my cigarette carefully so ash wouldn't go everywhere.
"I agree with Sookie, I wanna hear what he sounds like too." Sam said looking at LaFayette. "I mean if he's going to be the new member, I'd like to know what we're all working with."
I flicked my cigarette ash into the shot glass Eric had found for us. LaFayette looked around the table, his gaze finally landed on me and I nodded, motioning for him to go ahead.
He took a deep breath in and sang the first verse, he was controlled, he had the right pitch and he was in tune. I felt a smile spread across my face, if I was going to have to work with someone else this guy seemed like a good person to start with.
He finished and nervously stared at the table, waiting for us to say something.
"Sookie Stackhouse." I said leaning forward to shake his hand. "That was good." I smiled.
"Yeah, really good. I'm Eric Northman." Eric reached over me to take LaFayette's hand.
LaFayette let out a laugh of relief. "Thanks."
Sam, Alcide and Tara all took turns introducing themselves before we got back to business.
"Now that you've met LaFayette, this is what Sonnet is proposing. We don't do this for many artists but we think you would all benefit from a retreat."
"What is it exactly?" Tara asked.
"We have a private island off the coast of Brazil near Rio. No paparazzi, no stupid interview questions, no irritating Perez Hilton articles talking about your clothes or hair or current weight situation. You'll go for no less than a month but no more than three." Russell took a breath. "It's just the five of you on the island, alone, trying to put Perihelion back together again," Russell looked over at me, "and yourselves as well or whatever Eat, Pray, Love shit you want to get out of this vacation."
My brow furrowed at his stupid comment directed towards me. "So is it like Survivor or will there be a place for us to actually stay?" I asked.
"There's a big, beautiful seven bedroom house, all the bedrooms have en suites, a large living room, dream kitchen, TV room, den, a gym and pool." He smiled. "A maid will come in three times a week and a cook will live on the island with you. Don't worry, we know how to treat our artists."
"No cooks, we don't need one." Tara said firmly. I knew for a fact that Tara and Eric loved cooking.
"Fine, we'll have someone bring in groceries two times a week." Russell compromised.
"Is one of those rooms temperature controlled?" Eric asked. "In that heat the instruments will warp."
"I'm not bring Beth if she's gonna warp." The name of Alcide's bass was Beth.
"There is a small recording studio on the island. Temperature controlled, your instruments will be safe in there."
"So a month vacation to put ourselves and the band back together?" Tara questioned.
"Exactly, Sam you are welcome to come too. It's important to be with them during this time." Russell smiled warmly and Sam nodded cautiously.
"Okay but what's the point of seeing if we work as a band if we can't sing any of our songs, Bill is a co-writer on all of them. Do you really think he is just going to let us continue touring using our old songs?" I asked looking at everyone else at the table to see if they were wondering the same thing.
"Bill is in breach of contract, I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement with him." Russell smiled serenely.
We all took this information in. I think we all thought starting over without Bill would be harder, some legal matter or creative issue would get in the way or the music wouldn't flow the same way but it wasn't like that. It was almost as if he was never even a member.
"Well if you get a hold of him let him know I'm dying to speak to him." The anger in my voice rose with every word.
"I second that." Eric piped up.
"I have some words for him too." Alcide said with an irritated tone.
"Me too." Tara sounded irked.
It was clear that Bill had pissed off everyone when he took off without a word.
"What about significant others?" Tara asked changing the subject.
"What about them?" Russell questioned.
"I'm not going to leave Eggs for a whole month, possibly more." Tara said.
Sam nodded. "I agree, Luna is pregnant and I don't think I can go if I can't bring her with me."
"Luna's pregnant?" Alcide asked with a goofy smile on his face.
"Yeah." Sam started to blush and nodded.
"Congratulations man." Eric said as we all took our turn to congratulate him.
I saw this as an opportunity to try to get out of the retreat. "Well, if Sam can't go so there's really no point in us doing this." I said running my hand through my hair ruining any style it had.
"I didn't say that, I said Luna had to be able to come." Sam said slowly, he didn't like that I turned what he said around to benefit me.
"Significant others are welcome, we can find her a doctor in Rio to make sure her pregnancy is going along well, even fly her ob-gyn in if needed." Russell said.
"Eggs is going to be so happy." Tara said delightedly.
"My husband and I were talking about taking a vacation." Lafayette smiled, already enjoying the perks of being with the band.
"Okay, but that's a lot of trouble for you to go through just for us." I said getting nervous.
"We believe the juice is worth the squeeze." Russell was calm, that was because Russell knew he was going to win.
"I don't know, I just don't know if I can be around all these couples and your happiness. I can't handle it." I said shaking my head. "Not yet."
"Well thank God it's all about you Sookie, I was worried for a second there you actually gave a shit about anyone other than yourself." Eric spat out at me.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked annoyed, turning to face him. His eyes were dark and I knew we were about to fight, it never took very long with us.
"I get it Sook, he left you and that's devastating but you are not the only person he abandoned." He lowered his head, resting his forehead in his palm and rubbing the hair at the crown of his head with the other hand, his voice sounded strained. "At least you got a goodbye, he ended it with you but I got nothing." He looked distraught and I could see the tears welling in his eyes. "I have spoken to Bill everyday for the last sixteen years and then one day he just disappeared without a trace," He sat up and scoffed looking out the window instead of at me. "I mean the only reason we know he's still alive is because his parents called you to tell us he was okay." His voice was steadily rising with every word he said. "He won't return my texts, he won't return my emails or phone calls. Bill was your fiancé but he's my best friend. Did you ever for a second think about what that's like for me? Or Alcide? Or Tara? He won't speak to me and I have no clue why." He looked away from me shaking his head as a tear rolled down his cheek.
I hadn't for a moment in the three months I locked myself away thought about how shitty it had been for my bandmates. Eric was clearly distressed, confused and angry, they were the emotions I was feeling myself and my selfishness and ignorance to his feelings made me feel guilty, so naturally I lashed out. "I have no idea why he just left me either, you know." I yelled at him.
"He left you because he doesn't love you anymore." He shouted at me. I stared at him, I could see the regret in his eyes, he knew he shouldn't have said it but it had been three months with almost no contact, we were hurting and without Bill here, we were lashing out at each other. I turned away from him, squaring my jaw and trying my hardest not to cry but the tears came anyway. They fell silently down my cheeks.
"And then you disappeared." He whispered to me, the same amount of anger still on his voice.
I looked over at him. "You saw me during that time." I managed to say through my tears.
"What? When I came over to your place to box up all his shit cause you couldn't bare the sight of it anymore while you hid in your bedroom, chain smoking and drinking yourself into a stupor?" He scoffed. "How lucky am I that you allowed me to do that." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"You're such an asshole sometimes." I shook my head.
"Yep that's me, you friendly neighbourhood asshole." He wiped his face nabbing any stray tears.
I slammed my hand on the table causing everyone to jump a little. "I fucked up okay! I did, I know I did. I handled it the wrong way, I should have turned to you, to you all but I didn't, it was just easier to be alone. I had never been through a break up before and I did what felt natural at the time. I'm sorry I didn't call you so you could come over and braid my fucking hair and eat a pint of chunky monkey. I handled it the best I could." I shouted at him lighting another cigarette. "And I'm sorry if that wasn't good enough for you." I muttered, the filter in between my lips.
The room was uncomfortably silent as Eric and I took the time we needed to calm down. I hated fighting with him, he wasn't wrong about anything he said, I knew I fucked up but I just needed a little compassion right now and was not getting it. Maybe this retreat was what I needed, what we all needed.
Eric broke the silence. "Sook, listen, you need to go on this retreat because the band is a unit and it needs to be fixed, we can't do that without you. You need to go on this trip, you need an intervention, you need to detox." Eric's voice was calm as he spoke to me.
"I'm not an addict, what the fuck do I need an intervention for?" I asked looking at him, my make-up no doubt all over my face.
"You can be addicted to things other than drugs and alcohol, Sookie." He took another cigarette from the pack and lit it, turning away from me.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Fine, I'll go."
"Wonderful." Russell chirped happily like he didn't witness our full blown meltdown. "We can have everything all ready to go by Monday, is that too much or not enough time?"
"I still need to talk to Luna but it should be okay." Sam said.
"I'm in." LaFayette smiled.
"Me too." Tara took out her phone and began texting who I could only assume was Eggs.
"Debbie will be thrilled." Alcide said as he stood and took out his phone to call his wife.
"Great, I'll send you all the details and meet you at the airport on Monday." He left the room.
I shot up out of my seat. "Nora, lets go." I moved towards the door.
"No, no, no," Eric grabbed my arm. "Where do you think you're going?"
I furrowed my brow. "To my house, you know, where I live."
"No, there's no fucking way I'm letting you go back to the Grey Gardens you've created for yourself so you can drink and starve yourself some more. You're coming home with me." He laced his fingers with mine and held on tight.
"Eric, I'm fine." I lied.
"You're not but okay. Nora will collect your things and pack for the trip," he looked at Nora and she nodded, "and I'm going to take you home and cook for you until you're a size I deem healthy and acceptable."
"I can cook for myself." I said as he tugged me towards Tara.
"No you can't but I can and you need to eat."
"I'm not a child Eric." I spat.
"I would have believed that before but you just locked yourself in a room for ninety days like fucking Howard Hughes, now hug Tara." He pushed me towards her.
She was chuckling at our childish arguing. "I know it doesn't seem like it now but this trip will be good for you Sook, it'll be good for all of us, we've been growing apart for awhile." She leaned in an hugged me.
I nodded and squeezed her tightly before separating and going to hug Alcide. "Don't worry Sook, we are just seeing what happens. Work on your tan while we're there." He smiled his reassuring Alcide smile, the smile that felt like home, my old normal.
"Yeah." I smiled as convincingly as I could.
I said a final goodbye to Sam and Eric escorted me to the elevators. "Where do you live again?" I asked him.
"Chelsea." He replied quickly.
"Ugh, I fucking hate Chelsea." We entered the elevator.
"Well Chelsea hates you too." He paused. "It's better than the Upper East Side."
I smacked him in the chest. "I like the Upper East Side."
We stood in silence as the elevator descended. "And you'll learn to like Chelsea." Eric said quietly.
"We'll see." I took his hand as the elevator doors opened. I took a deep breath realizing we were leaving through the front. "I can't go out this way Eric." The paps had doubled since I had arrived.
Eric looked back at me with a smile on his face. "Come on baby, let's put on a show." He winked, fixed my hair, smoothed my makeup, put my glasses on my face and dragged me through the front door.
What did you all think?
There's chapter 3. I'm starting to form this story in my head and I'm excited about it. I also decided that it's going to be way sexier than I originally planned. I'm not a very good erotica writer and I want to work on that so I'm going to use this story to do that. The sexy time won't start right away, I still want to establish a story, but it will be earlier and more frequent than I usually do.
Thank you so much for reading and if you have time please leave a review. They are so incredibly encouraging.