A Little Bit Dirty - Jenika Snow

Money, fame, and sex.

The three things every rockstar gets handed to them, or so they say.

Tanner Mason had always loved her childhood friend, Jackson “Jacks” Lorde. She’d held a flame for the only boy to own her heart for far too long. But time changed everything and everyone, and for Jacks, he wasn’t the boy she’d once known.

Lead singer and guitarist for the band Twisted Feather, Jacks was known worldwide… and wanted by everyone. A sex symbol, they called him. And seeing him again after all these years did nothing but bring back all those raw feelings Tanner had for him.

But success could change a person, could transform someone until they were almost unrecognizable. Was Jacks one of those people now?

Jackson had spent the last five years immersed in his passion for music. Now his band was one of the biggest names in the music industry, and with that came temptation of all avenues. But then he saw Tanner again—the one person who still consumed him even after all this time.

But he wasn’t the same boy she once knew, and he didn’t know if that was for the better or worse. What he did know was now that she was back in his life, he didn’t want to let her go.

Could they be together when everything that came with fame and the limelight only seemed to be pushing them apart?

Reader note: This story was previously published under the title Backstage Dirty. It’s been re-edited, parts revised, and new content added.

1

Sweat. Booze. Arousal.

Those three things saturated the air until suffocation was inevitable. But no one cared. They were high on the sensations, the lights, and of the atmosphere of seeing one of the greatest musical groups of this generation perform—Twisted Feather.

Tanner Mason looked to her left, saw the thick throng of bodies practically pulsating, trying to get impossibly closer, and inhaled deeply. This wasn’t her first concert, but it was probably one of the most electrifying. She looked to her right, saw the same thing, and had to force herself to just breathe.

The show was sold out, and although it was a small venue compared to what this band normally played anymore, claustrophobia still slammed into her like another entity.

"Isn't this great?" Zoe, her best friend since the fourth grade, nearly screamed beside her, but she kept her gaze trained forward. In just minutes the band would step on that stage, one that was made up of four guys Tanner had grown up around, but hadn't seen in the last five years.

It had only taken that small window of time for Twisted Feather to jump to stardom, to become one of the biggest bands in the world, and she had watched it all play out on the television and by reading it in the papers.

"It's wild." Tanner looked at Zoe. The excitement on her friend’s face was tangible and surrounded them in their own little bubble of joy.

"You haven't seen anything yet." Zoe clasped her hands together in front of her mouth, and Tanner swore she saw her body shake from excitement.

“How many times have you seen them?” She knew Zoe had probably told her at one time.

“Just a few times honestly.” Zoe lifted one shoulder in a shrug and turned just her head to look at Tanner. “I can only make it to the ones in Colorado, and when they come here it is usually in the bigger cities.” Zoe looked forward again. “But this little concert isn’t even half the excitement that you will feel if you went to one at those big arenas.”

Tanner had seen Zoe like this before, many times in fact, and it always was because of Luke "Beats" Davidson, the drummer for Twisted Feather. But she supposed having friends that were also guys, and spending nearly every day hanging out with them, and listening to them practice in their parents’ basement, would have eventually had one of them falling hard for a rocker.

But Zoe wasn’t the only one that had fallen hard for a bad boy, and although Tanner had done a good job of keeping her emotions buried all this time, it was hard to now, seeing as she was so close to the band. No, she wouldn’t allow herself to think about the past, because that was where those memories should stay … right?

The lights started to dim, and the crowd went wild. Tanner was pushed forward, but surged backward just as quickly as the people in front of her retaliated. No way were