The Sirens of Catalunya Pt. 04

Author's Note:

I've split this novel into four sections for publication here. If you haven't read parts 1-3, I strongly suggest doing so before proceeding. All sensuality (on page or otherwise) takes place between characters who are eighteen or older.

Thirty-Two

"Good morning," Izzy announced into his phone with feigned cheerfulness accomplished in part by easing the control he normally kept on his English accent. "We've just arrived in your country this morning but there was a mix up with our luggage and I'm afraid we've misplaced our credit cards. I was hoping you could let us a room for the evening. We could pay in cash, of course. Including a deposit if that would be preferable." He listened for a moment before sighing and disconnecting the call without another word.

He looked up to find his companions looking at him pensively from where they leaned against the hood of their sedan. They had stopped in a lonely part of the parking lot for a mall outside of Red Bank, New Jersey to plan their next move. The strategy they had formulated with Doris, a plan which Izzy still fervently opposed, required they lay low for at least a few days. They were finding, however, that locating a hotel which did not insist on a credit card was easier in rural western Virginia than it was less than an hour from New York City.

Liv said, "I struck out too."

"Are you sure we can't use a credit card?" Sofi queried hopefully.

"No," he replied sadly. "But Doris agreed that it likely wouldn't be wise. The unfortunate truth is that there's no way to know if something is likely going to cause us trouble until it does. We're operating completely blind here. Maybe Murdock and his drug-dealing associates are no more sophisticated than your average street thug. Or maybe they're like the syndicates in the movies and they're watching our every move. I'm just trying to do everything I can to keep you guys safe. And the best thing I can think of is keeping you out of sight."

"I thought you said Doris was stupid," Ali retorted without quite managing to keep a straight face.

Izzy failed to notice the implied jest and answered simply. "I didn't say she was stupid. I said she was out of her fucking mind if she thought I'd agree to any strategy that puts you three in danger."

"We can't keep going like this forever, babe," Liv said softly. "We can't even find a place to stay for the night at this point."

"I know," he groaned. "I wish I'd thought to do something so we could operate with a bit more anonymity."

"But none of the cards we use now have our real names on them," Ali pointed out.

"Indeed. And I thought that was sufficient. Unfortunately, your father knows about all the aliases we could use. And we still don't know if he's feeding info to Murdock because they're accomplices, or merely because he's a fool and thinks that's his path to getting back in your good graces."

"Maybe we shouldn't have done the press release," Liv murmured. "In hindsight, it seems like we poked the hornets' nest."

Ali sighed and slumped against the sedan. "Ultimately, it doesn't matter. That piece of shit is cut-off for good. You should have heard my mom when I told her."

"Let me guess," Sofi interposed excitedly. "Three parts 'I told you so'; one part 'what took so long'; and four parts 'I always knew you'd come to your senses eventually'."

"Oh, no. She'd never blow her wad on something this good. She'll spread this gloating out over years. What she did do was drop her phone in the sink. I'm not sure if it was surprise or celebration. She was obviously doing the thing where she squishes the phone between her face and her shoulder, because she refuses to use speakerphone for some crazy reason. So, I tell her we told Gus to hit the bricks and next thing I hear is a sploosh as her brand-new phone goes to sleep with the dishes."

"I think it's 'sleep with the fishes', honey," Izzy offered.

"I know the phrase, you dork. I meant she literally dropped her phone into a sink full of dishes. Good thing I just bought her the latest model, I guess. It still worked fine after the dunking. Funny thing is, Mom was even happier because now she thinks she's figured out a life hack for getting smudges off your phone."

"Cripes," Izzy grunted. "I hope you got it insured. Your mom's one of the most lovely women I've ever met (present company obviously excluded), but I wager it'll be less than a fortnight before she contacts you complaining that her phone is malfunctioning after she ran it through the dishwasher."

"My thoughts as well," Ali admitted with a grin. "I specifically told her not to try it again. But it's only a matter of time before she gets a bit of jam on it and decides it needs to be thoroughly sanitized."

"Indeed," Izzy allowed with a grin.

His merriment faded quickly however as the reality of their situation once again landed on his shoulders, leaving him feeling like a caryatid asked to bear the weight of the world. The idea of doing more camping had been proposed, but the changing of the seasons had finally started to catch up with them. According to the usually reliable app on his phone, they were in for at least a week of cold rain.

He was pulled from his helpless musings by the buzzing of the device he still held in his hand. He looked down to see a name which seemed a bit like fate. He sighed at the burden of prophecy because he knew in an instant precisely how the proceeding hours would come to pass; just as certainly as he knew that that knowledge would do nothing to attenuate the risk they would assume when he answered the call from one of his oldest friends.

***

"There's Bowen!" Sofi shouted from just behind Izzy's ear. She then realized what she had done and leaned forward to kiss him gently before murmuring, "Sorry."

"It's ok, honey," he reassured her as he drove slowly up the extremely long drive which led to the center of the world-renowned drummer's estate.

Their host was waiting for them at the base of the stairs which led to the main entrance, along with his wife of more than two decades and their two dogs. Izzy eased their filthy sedan to a stop and let out a weary sigh. The process of finding their way to Bowen's estate had been a laborious one, involving a very indirect route. For the final fifteen kilometers, they had also been accompanied by three vehicles filled with private security that their host had hired to ensure their safe arrival.

Ali was first out of the car and began the lengthy process of exchanging hugs and kissing cheeks. Izzy was surprised to find himself drawn into the ritual. Bowen hugged him like a long-lost brother and his wife delivered a kiss on his cheek that was far from a pro-forma peck.

"I'm so glad you made it," Natalie whispered to him. "We've been worried sick about you guys."

"Same here," Izzy replied sincerely. "Where are the kids?"

"They've all gone off to college, if you can believe it."

"Music?"

"Oh, far worse," Natalie replied with mock horror. "One's in business administration, the other's in communications."

Izzy shuddered visibly. "The horror. I guess Bowen went too hard on that line about wearing a suit twice in your life."

"Once to get married, once to get buried," Natalie quoted. "Believe me, we've all heard it plenty of times. Come on in. You guys must be exhausted."

As they climbed the stairs to the house, Izzy heard a sound behind him. He turned to spot one of the vans that had paced them in the last leg of their journey pulling to a halt in the middle of the entry road. Three men climbed out and, after grabbing bags which obviously (and poorly) concealed rifles from the rear of the vehicle, spread out to begin patrolling the perimeter.

Bowen noticed where Izzy's attention was focused and said, "We'll have four guards here around the clock. Hopefully they'll be fairly inconspicuous, but they assure me that their not insubstantial fee will be vacated if anyone gets within a mile of here without our permission."

"I expect you to send me the bill for that."

"Then I regret to inform you that you'll be greatly disappointed when it fails to arrive." Bowen took a moment to study Izzy before adding, "You look really good, brother. Better than you have in decades."

Izzy sighed sadly. "There's something I have to tell you before we get too cozy."

Bowen frowned back at him. "Listen, don't sweat it about that tour next summer. I know I've been leaning on you pretty hard about it, but it's really no big deal if you don't think you've got the time."

"It's not that," Izzy replied somberly. "Something's happened."

"I know about the crash and that maniac trying to abduct the girls," Bowen said in obvious confusion.

"Women," Izzy corrected automatically. "And this relates to them."

"And I know the label's been leaning on them pretty hard about softening their sound, but you guys don't have to do what they say. Sure, they might drop you. But I doubt it. And even if they did, the band would be scooped up by another label in no time."

"I know," Izzy groaned. "And we will. But that isn't it either. They..."

"Is it the promoters for the gigs you cancelled trying to come after you for lost ticket sales?"

"No, we..."

"The equipment you lost in the crash?"

"Bowen!" Izzy snapped. "Please... just listen."

The drummer held up his hands in surrender and then looked up at Izzy expectantly. Bowen Lloyd was a living juxtaposition. Long hair paired with an equally long beard. Streaks of blue dye mixed with natural grey to create a visage not unlike a Celtic warrior, especially when considered in conjunction with his prodigious tattooing. Yet this objectively very metal appearance stood in contrast to the reading glasses resting on the end of his nose and the T-shirt he wore (which was for a school play in which one of his children had performed) paired with sweats and slippers.

"Listen," Izzy began. "I know this will likely be pretty shocking. It certainly was to me. And I'll understand if you decide we need to find someplace else to lay low."

"Not gonna happen," Bowen interrupted before once again conceding the proverbial floor to Izzy.

Izzy stared at him for several long moments as his frustration at the interruptions gave way to an insurmountable feeling of helplessness while he struggled to find the right words. Countless statements sprang to mind, but they all reeked of either regret or sounded uncomfortably like he was assigning blame to others.

At length, he went with the simplest truth of all. "I love them."

Bowen blinked several times before glancing in the direction of the women who had proceeded them. "Yeah?" Bowen grunted; the confusion still quite evident on his face. "I still don't know what you're on about."

Izzy groaned. "I mean... I love them. What I mean to say is, we're together. Now. You know... romantically."

"Right," Bowen huffed. "No shit."

"But... how?"

"Sofi told me," he replied as though it were painfully obvious. "That girl can't keep a secret for shit." Bowen pulled Izzy into a room which had the look of a library. "Look. I've known for years those girls... women... were completely smitten with you. Almost as long as I've known you felt the same way."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Your business. And theirs."

"How are you not calling your goons in to chuck me in an Iron Maiden or something?" Izzy whisper-shouted. "You tapped me to protect them, to make sure this miserable fucking business didn't ruin them."

"And you've done a better job than I could have ever imagined."

Izzy sighed wearily. "It's no secret I didn't know shit about managing when you offered me up to them."

"And yet, you've done brilliantly. If you weren't so invaluable to them, I'd hire you to manage me."

"But that's just my point. Me getting into a relationship with them was likely the opposite of what you hoped for when you introduced us."

Bowen shrugged, but his smile was indefatigable. "Would it have bothered me if you guys had hooked up right after they hired you? Yeah, probably. But it's been damned-near a decade, brother. You guys have been as close, or closer, than Natalie and I for at least half that time. I'm honestly just thrilled. For all of you. I knew a while ago you'd die before you acted on the way you felt about them. At least in any way that wasn't entirely platonic. I'm just so happy that they finally wore you down."

"I feel like I've fallen into some insane parallel universe," Izzy sighed.

"In that case, whatever you do, steer clear of strange portals or suspicious phone booths."

"What?"

Bowen clapped Izzy on the back jubilantly. "It's up to you, brother. But, if I was in your shoes, the last thing I'd be doing is looking for a way to get things back to quote, unquote, normal."

Thirty-Three

"Yeah Ali!" Bowen shouted jubilantly from his spot behind his massive drumkit as Ali finished an extended solo.

Without apparent effort, Bowen ripped off an extended fill (which, by itself, could have served as a masterclass in percussion technique and timing) while he looked around expectantly to see who would step up to take the next section. When no one said anything, he pointed a stick in Liv's direction without a perceptible diminishment in his playing and said, "Knock 'em dead, Liv!"

An outsider might have suspected the normally reserved young woman to demure at taking center stage, but the bassist for Siren bore little resemblance to shy Olīvija when she was lost in her music. Taking a confident step forward, Liv's fingers flew over the strings as she improvised an extended fill which would have made any of her heroes, the legendary bassists for the progressive rock bands of the seventies, proud.

Izzy came in at the end of Liv's solo and quickly lost himself in the music. The collection of musicians with whom he played, including Sofi on keyboards, were perfectly in sync with him and followed his tempo changes flawlessly. When he transitioned from a virtuosic section filled with more notes than a squadron of accountants could count to a more relaxed groove which allowed him to play slide, they followed him unquestioningly. The tempo continued to slow until he played a final soulful chord.

His eyes opened for the first time in several minutes to find Bowen smiling at him triumphantly, while the expression on the faces of his lovers was something closer to reverential worship. Izzy smiled shyly and waited a long minute before speaking. "You guys want to play another one?"

"I could play all night," Bowen replied. "But I should call it quits. I already practiced for two hours this afternoon and if I play much longer, I'll regret it tomorrow."

"Holy crap!" Sofi enthused.

"I know," the legendary drummer agreed. "I'm just a broken down shell of my former self."

"That wasn't pity, that was awe. I can barely play for that long and I'm half your age."

Bowen shrugged self-deprecatingly. "What can I say? When I was your age, we were playing three-and-a-half to four hour shows three-to-five nights a week. But things were different then. That was just table stakes for a metal band doing arena tours. Hell, we played gigs in the early days which were so long we'd play every song we'd published, and a half-dozen covers." He squinted at them theatrically and his voice rose an octave. "You kids these days have it easy. What with your internet and your social media. In my day, you had to get played on the radio to get heard."

"You mean like, over the air?" Sofi asked with a chuckle.

"What was it like when amplifiers were invented, Grampa?" Ali added with a snicker.

"Why I outta..." Bowen retorted gaily. "I'll have you know your darling man is only a scant dozen years my junior."

"Meaning he's deliciously perfect," Liv announced. "It's well known that modern males don't actually achieve true self-awareness until they reach thirty."

"What does that make me?"

"Um... experienced?"

"I heard that," Natalie announced from the door to Bowen's state-of-the-art recording studio which took up the majority of his basement. "I'll have you know my man is also deliciously perfect. Speaking of which, it's time we got to bed. He's got to do an interview for a German chat show first thing in the morning. You guys should have everything you need in the guest house, but don't hesitate to call us if you need anything."

"Wait," Bowen interjected. He stared at Izzy pointedly. "I know you've got this thing with the girls... women. No one would ever blame you for putting them first, especially with all the shit you've got going on right now. But... every day you go without playing in front of people is a fucking crime. I'd love for you to join us next summer. But if that doesn't work out, you've got to promise me you'll play with someone."

Ali said, "We already bullied him into featuring on our next album. So, he's got to play with us on tour next year."

Sofi added, "And obviously that'll include playing with you whenever we're playing the same festival."

"I feel like I should get a say here," Izzy cut in.

"Come off it, Izzy," Liv said warmly. "We all know you want to play. That's all you've ever wanted."

He looked at her with an intensity that surprised even him. "That's not true. I'd choose you guys over playing again any day."

She smiled shyly and crossed to wrap him in a tight embrace. "Same here."

Ali and Sofi followed Liv's lead, with the latter saying, "The only reason you haven't played since we met you is because you thought you couldn't do that and take care of us at the same time. Now you know we'll do whatever it takes to allow you to do both."

Izzy nodded tearfully at them before looking at Bowen. "Put me down as a maybe."

"Fuck yeah!" their host enthused as he pumped his fist exuberantly.

"Come on," Natalie huffed cheerfully as she dragged her husband toward the stairwell.

"Good night!" Sofi called after them. She then turned to Izzy and held a single finger aloft. For ten long seconds, nothing happened. Sofi then grinned hungrily in his direction and said, "Let's go!"

"Where are we meant to be going," he asked as he fell in step behind her.

"To pound town," Sofi called over her shoulder as her pace increased.

"Excuse me?" Izzy cackled as he heard Liv and Ali follow behind him while Sofi led them toward the basement's exterior door.

She stopped at the door and turned back to him; a wicked gleam in her eye. She held up one hand with her thumb and index finger touching to form a circle before sliding the index finger of her other hand through the aforementioned ring. "My pussy. Your dick. Sucky drippy squishy bang bang gushy. Capiche?"

"Your way with words is truly a thing of wonder," Ali muttered drolly.

"No time for commentary," Sofi huffed as she hurried across the pool deck toward the guest house.

"Methinks someone is feeling a wee bit anxious," Liv said sotto voce.

Sofi's pace had quickened to such a degree that she was nowhere to be found by the time Izzy entered the guest house. Pausing for a moment to listen, he heard retreating footfalls in the stairwell. Taking the stairs two at a time, he reached the upper floor (which was entirely comprised of an expansive master suite) to find Sofi yanking off the last of her garments. She rushed to Izzy and without preamble dropped to her knees and began struggling to unfasten his shorts.

Ali reached the top of the stairs and snickered at the sight which greeted her. She knelt by Sofi's side and helped to divest Izzy of his shorts, helped in large part by her decidedly less frantic movements. Sofi engulfed his hardening cock eagerly as Ali ducked her head to suck one of his balls into her mouth. Hands stroked up along his hips and he found his shirt being lifted over his head in advance of Liv's spectacularly unclothed breasts pillowing against his back. Liv's tongue slid along his earlobe and her warm breath finished the job of bringing him to full rigidity that Sofi and Ali's efforts had begun.

Ali pulled back to pull her shirt over her head, prompting Sofi to drop down to pleasure his balls as she stroked his pulsing cock. Liv took what she saw as an opportunity to lean around him to take the head of his manhood between her lips while her drummer continued to stroke his shaft. Once Ali finally finished disrobing, she elbowed her way back in front of Izzy. Before he could contemplate the fortune which had recently decided to favor him, Ali and Liv were mirroring each other as they stroked his shaft with their tongues while Sofi continued to worship his balls.

"Gods! That feels amazing," Izzy stammered.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Sofi ascended from betwixt her bandmates to take the head of Izzy's cock in her mouth. Staring down at them in abject amazement, he felt his pleasure increase exponentially at the sight of their adoring gazes. He knew right through the depths of his soul that they were completely committed to his happiness and gratification; not because he demanded it, but because nothing mattered more to them in that moment than him.

"I love you so fucking much," he whispered to the trio of women before him.

"Please Izzy," Sofi murmured as she rose to her full height. "Don't make me wait any longer."

Izzy bit back the apology that seemed hell bent on escaping his lips, instead choosing to lift Sofi by the waist and convey his emotions with a kiss. Her legs wrapped around him eagerly, so much so that he heard a whispered oath from beneath them and the lips bathing his shaft receded. In their place, he felt the moist heat of Sofi's tiny pussy sluicing along his manhood.

"Please," she repeated desperately as her hips twerked frantically trying to find his cock.

He felt a hand wrap around his shaft and heard Ali mutter, "Hold still, damn it."

Sofi mewled anxiously as Izzy felt a deft touch from below align his tip with her entrance. He captured Sofi's gaze and opened his mouth to seek final consent, but she emphatically answered his unasked question by slamming her hips down. He groaned in pleasure at the sensation of being enveloped by the agonizing tightness of her slick heat.

"Fuck, honey," he grunted. "You're so tight."

"And you feel even better than I imagined," she whispered against his ear.

Adjusting his hands to cup her delightfully tight ass, Izzy fucked her with deliberate patience. Sofi thrashed in his arms, trusting him completely to keep her aloft. He became aware of a presence behind him and shortly felt a quartet of impeccable breasts pressed against his back as Ali and Liv kissed along his shoulders and neck.

"Harder," Sofi pleaded.

As though powered by some unfathomable supernatural presence, Izzy picked up the pace until the sounds of Sofi's taut body slamming against his groin filled the room. Sweat streamed down their bodies and mingled with Sofi's dripping arousal as her inner walls clenched to nearly painful levels around his pulsing penis.

"So close," she hissed desperately into his ear.

Izzy pushed himself far beyond what he would have previously believed was his limit of physical endurance, holding Sofi's body steady as his hips slammed into her. She threw her head back and moaned wantonly as her pleasure began to crest. She barely managed to whisper his name as her release overtook her. He buried himself to the hilt and held himself deep in her silken embrace as she writhed in his arms.

When he felt her muscles start to relax, Izzy lifted his lover up and claimed her lips tenderly. He felt their souls merge as the franticness of their coupling transitioned into a deeply sensual bonding which was made all the more poignant by the fact that they were still intimately joined.

As their lips parted, Sofi sighed contentedly. "Thank you."

"You needn't thank me for loving you, honey."

She sighed again and then kissed him briefly before murmuring, "I love you too."

He set her gently on the ground and she stumbled toward the bed before slumping onto the comforter which likely cost more than Izzy could contemplate.

"Come on," Ali murmured in his left ear. "Your legs are shaking."

He let her lead him to the bed as Liv followed behind. Izzy turned to face them once they arrived at their destination, but they just pushed him back onto the bed next to the still panting Sofi. Without preamble, Ali threw a leg over him and sank onto his still throbbing manhood. Placing her hands on his chest for balance, she set a languid pace. With each long thrust of her hips, she rose until just his tip remained in her molten core before slowly lowering back onto his lap. He gazed adoringly up at the spectacular beauty who was making love to him, his eyes unable to decide whether to focus on his cock disappearing into her achingly perfect pussy; or her spectacular C-cup breasts; or the loving gaze in her gorgeous hazel eyes.

Izzy's vision was obscured by Liv's cascade of dark brown hair as she bent over him to suck on one of his nipples. He moaned in response to the overwhelming sensations he was experiencing, and he knew he would not last to pleasure all of his lovers if he didn't change the calculus of their encounter.

Desperate to distract himself from the onslaught of gratification, he murmured, "That feels amazing, honey. But I'd much prefer to do that to you."

Liv sighed theatrically. "Oh, ok."

She rose up and shifted around so that she was seated lotus style, and Izzy's head rested upon her calves. This placed her incomparable breasts within reach of his questing mouth. He sucked one of her prominent nipples between his lips while his hands remained focused on Ali. Liv batted him playfully with her soft, pillowy breasts as he flicked Ali's clit in response to her increasing wetness.

"Oh, fuck!" the stunning frontwoman screamed. "I'm cumming!"

Izzy thrust his hips up into her to propel her release. Liv leaned back to allow him to focus on her longtime companion. He pulled Ali down to claim her lips as her orgasm crested. As they kissed, Ali rolled her hips off him. He then experienced the incredible sensation of his glistening manhood transitioning from her slick heat to the relative coolness of the room and then back into the velvety warmth of another of his lovers.

Ali released his lips and lowered her head onto his shoulder, allowing him to see the waterfall of Liv's long dark-brown hair above her notably narrow hips as she fervently rode him. From his vantage point, he could see her massive breasts swaying on either side of her chest.

Moments later, he found his other shoulder occupied by a now obviously recovered Sofi. She kissed along his shoulder to his lips and then her tongue invaded his mouth hungrily.

As their lips parted, she murmured, "How have you not cum yet?"

"I honestly have no idea," he gasped.

"It's because he refused to leave any of us wanting," Ali whispered.

"Mission accomplished, sir."

"Not yet," he grunted as he increased the pace of his thrusting up into his beautifully busty lover. "Liv... has to cum... and I've got... to cum... with you."

Sofi kissed him again before firmly murmuring, "Stop keeping score, babe."

"Huh?"

"We've got our whole lives for you to fill us with thousands of your hot sticky loads, Izzy. You don't need to make certain to keep everything balanced between us. You just need to love us."

"I love you so fucking much."

"Then cum for us."

Izzy gripped Liv's hips and held her steady as he increased the pace of his thrusting. Within moments, the clapping of their flesh echoed off the room's walls as she fell back onto his chest. He allowed one hand to drift up to her chest to caress her titanic tits as they shook with each jolt of his hips.

Liv only managed to whisper, "Izzy?" before her release consumed her.

Feeling the exquisite sensation of her inner walls tightening around his pulsing cock, Izzy let go the last of his control and joined her in bliss.

"Fuck!" he roared as he erupted deep within her coaxing core.

He knew not for how long his hips continued to thrust past the point when he was thoroughly spent, but it was only Liv's pleading for mercy that ultimately stilled his movements. He pulled her closer and kissed along her neck until she turned to claim his lips.

As their kiss deepened, he felt his manhood slide from Liv's creamy embrace only to immediately find a new source of heat in the guise of the mouth of another of his lovers. He moaned into the kiss at the startling juxtaposition between pleasure and pain as his still incredibly sensitive cock was carefully bathed by the tongue of his lover.

Liv broke their kiss and looked down her body before softly yelping, "What are you doing?"

Izzy followed her gaze to spot Sofi straightening as she released his cock while Ali gave Liv's creamy pussy a final careful lick before swallowing demonstrably. The pair looked at each other and smiled shyly before climbing up the bed to nestle on either side of the already prone pair.

A distant part of Izzy's consciousness absently wondered what had drawn Liv's ire, but the battle for clarity was ultimately lost to a profound sense of exhaustion. He barely managed to kiss each of his lovers, and assure them he loved them as truly as a man had ever loved a woman, before the sweet embrace of unconsciousness claimed him.

Thirty-Four

"Hi," Ali said softly the next morning the moment Izzy opened his eyes from her spot perched on the side of the bed.

He came quickly awake and looked around anxiously. "What's wrong?"

She sighed wearily and frowned deeply. "It's nothing like that. Everyone is safe. Sofi and Liv went over to the main house to practice." She gestured toward a plate laden with covered dishes and added, "I brought you breakfast in bed."

His worried expression faded minutely, but he pressed, "I appreciate that, honey. But, this still feels a bit like you've been nominated as the bearer of bad tidings. Was there news from Doris? Or your folks?"

"No," she replied quickly. "Nothing like that."

"The label?"

"Izzy!" Ali barked in frustration. She then demurred and murmured, "I'm sorry. I just don't know how to do this."

Panic spiked within him as understanding dawned. The other shoe, which had hung over him like the Sword of Damocles since the moment the band had made clear their romantic intentions, was finally dropping. The fact that it was happening so soon after he had finally moved past spending every waking moment fearing its looming specter only magnified the profound sense of loss which rose like a wraith from the deepest recesses of his subconscious to infuse every fiber of his being. He tried in that moment to cherish the moments they had shared, but he was not strong enough and was thus left only with the soul-crushing emptiness of knowing that he, like Icarus, had found ultimate ruin by flying too close to the sun.

His hand started to move toward hers in a gesture he intended to be comforting, but he checked the impulse before the journey was complete. He frowned and pulled his hand back, letting it fall helplessly to his side. He was struck by a sense of confinement. He was still lying naked beneath covers which suddenly felt like a prison. A desperate need to escape overwhelmed him; both in a likely doomed effort to assuage his own shame and to grant Ali reprieve from what he was certain was the unenviable task of either redefining, or severing, their relationship.

He looked in Ali's direction after what seemed like an endless delay. "Perhaps we'd both be more comfortable having this conversation downstairs? I could meet you down there in just a minute."

"Oh," she replied somberly. "Ok."

She rose and, after a sorrowful look back in his direction, left the room. He sprang from the bed and collected his clothing from the previous night which one of his evidently-now-former lovers had thoughtfully folded and placed on top of the dresser. He made quick work of his ablutions and got dressed. He then collected the remainder of his things and crammed them in his suitcase lest he be forced to impose his presence upon the band later in an effort to retrieve them.

He found Ali seated stiffly on the couch when he reached the bottom of the stairs and noticed how her eyes went to the suitcase in his hand. She sighed gravely, certainly relieved that he had already intuited the import of her presence.

He took a seat in the chair a comfortable distance away from Ali. As he gazed at her captivatingly beautiful face, a thousand questions stood poised on the tip of his tongue: what went wrong... why now... was it something he had done, or had they simply finally come to their senses... was he still meant to manage the band, or did they wish him gone altogether. Yet as these thoughts flitted through his head, he realized that the answers were ultimately inconsequential. Knowing the 'why' would do nothing to fill the yawning chasm that his soul would become without them.

He was torn from his dark ruminations by Ali's sweet voice asking, "Where are you going?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly.

"But you brought your suitcase down..."

"I didn't want to..." he began, but then his words failed him. He felt tears form in response to the attempt to speak out loud the devastating truth which had befallen him.

Without warning, he heard a soft sob next to him and he looked up to see tears falling down Ali's cheeks. She sniffed loudly and said, "I'm so sorry, bae... Izzy. We worked so hard to make everything perfect."

"You've always been perfect," he replied shakily. "All of you. How could you think otherwise?"

"Because I fucked up," she wailed. "I fucked up so bad, and now you're breaking up with us."

"What!" he gasped.

"I just got caught up in the heat of the moment. It felt so natural, so sexy."

"What are you talking about."

She stared at him soulfully. "Please don't take this as us accusing you of being a bigot, or anything like that. You're the most accepting man I've ever known. You've never given us even the slightest hint of judgement over our... indiscretions. But it's one thing to not judge people for who, or how, they love. Watching it up close and in person, not to mention it invading your own intimate encounters, is something altogether different."

"You think I'm upset about what you did last night?" he exclaimed. "So much so that I'd leave all of you?"

She nodded somberly. "We remember clearly that day by the river. When you caught us making love. You were appalled. You couldn't leave fast enough. We were fine setting that aside if it meant being with you. More than fine. We will still love each other just as much as we love you, but we all agreed that we'd chose making love to you to making love to each other any day. We promised that we'd be focused only on you, setting the silly lesbianics aside if it meant we could be with a real man. And then I went and fucked up the whole damn thing by diving into Liv's pussy the moment I saw a pearl of your cum there calling to me like Eve's fucking apple."

"Lesbianics?" he asked with a smirk propelled by the feeling of the vice grip around his heart easing.

"You know," she huffed in frustration. "Fingering each other... using toys on each other... ass play... fucking each other with dildos... eating each other out."

"I knew what you meant. I just never heard that word before."

"I really am sorry Izzy," she whispered mournfully as she tentatively reached out to take his hand. "If you can see it in your heart to overlook my lapse in judgement, I promise it'll never happen again."

He gripped her hand tightly and looked deep into her soulful hazel eyes. "There's nothing to overlook; nothing to forgive. I wasn't put off by what you did last night, honey. I thought it was incredibly sexy. My only regret is that I was too old and weary to do anything about it other than falling asleep."

"Then why are you leaving?"

He shook his head regretfully. "I thought you had come to tell me you three had finally come to your senses."

Ali looked at him in confusion for several long moments as her face morphed from confusion, to dismay, to anger, before finally arriving at a steely resolve. She glared at him and seethed, "You need to get this through your thick fucking head, Mr. Catalunya. We love you. That means forever. We will never break up with you. I mean, how can you still think such a thing after all we've gone through? And why are you fucking smiling!"

Izzy sighed and reached for her other hand, somehow more comforted by her anger than he had been by her pleading insistence that he forgive her for a crime she did not commit. "Surely you see the irony of getting angry with me for thinking you might be breaking up with me just moments after you seemed certain that it was I who was breaking up with you."

Her anger slowly faded, replaced by an almost childlike hope. "You promise you're not breaking up with us?"

"Of course. What you said goes double, or I suppose I should say triple, for me. I will never leave any of you, unless that is your desire. I could no more leave you than I could remove my own heart. Since you've stated a similar resolve, I guess that means we're stuck with each other."

"Oh, babe," she gushed as she leapt across the space between them and into his lap in advance of hungrily claiming his lips.

Their tongues twined with a desperation borne of the relief in each lover upon realizing their deepest fears had not only been proven false but were farcical from the outset. As time stretched between them, their kiss transcended its frantic passion to arrive at something more tranquil and Izzy's soul wept at the impossible inner beauty of the woman in his arms.

As their lips parted, Ali pulled back to regard him intently. He was unsurprised to find tears welling in her own eyes and he pulled her down to kiss them away. This led to her reciprocating the gesture and yet another soul-melding kiss.

Ali pulled back when their kiss reached its conclusion, a perplexed look in her eye. "Why did you run away?"

"I told you... I thought, wrongly, that you wanted me gone."

"No, silly," she huffed. "I meant that day by the river. Why did you run away if it wasn't for the fact that what we were doing made you uncomfortable."

"Because it did make me uncomfortable," he replied softly. "Just not in the way you guys assumed."

She stared at him for a long minute before a sly smile crept across her features. At length, she murmured simply, "Oh."

"Indeed. The women for whom I harbored a forbidden attraction, one I was committed to take to my grave without ever allowing it to see the light of day, were engaged in an act of love so pure, so perfect, that it was indistinguishable from my fantasies."

"Did you pleasure yourself to it?"

"As you said, I escaped as quick as my regrettable bulk would allow. I would have fled to the opposite side of the planet to hide my shame were it not for the fact that I had to stay close in case any of you needed me."

She swatted his shoulder and grumped, "What did we tell you about that self-deprecating bullshit? In any case, you've most certainly lost some weight since all this craziness started."

"We have been missing a fair number of meals," he allowed.

"I think it's all the sex," she countered. "Again, we think you're perfect just the way you are. But if you do want to lose weight, we're certainly happy to engage in as much mattress dancing as it takes to hit your goals."

"It's a deal," he replied with a grin.

"Back to the river," she said firmly. "Did you jerk off later to the memory of us?"

"More times than I can count. And I hated myself each and every time."

"Well, no more. Your body is your own, but we would be more than happy to create a world in which you never again feel the need to masturbate as your every sexual desire is but a simple request away from becoming reality."

"I'm not sure I've got the stamina to make the same offer," he replied sincerely. "But I'll do my damnedest."

"You're more than enough man for us, babe," she assured him. "Back to the lesbian... how did you put it?"

He snickered gleefully. "You said lesbianics."

"That," she continued. "You're sure you're ok with It?"

"I'm not ok with it, Alise. I'm so much more than that. The thought of us all being together, rather than you each being with me (be it separately or collectively), turns me on so much more. I don't mind your attraction to each other, I find it undeniably beautiful and sexy."

"So, you were turned on by me..."

"Impossibly so," he soothed. "The sight of you slurping my..."

"Cum," she provided with a wink. "You can say it, we were all there. Besides, whether you call it semen, or cum, or seed, or jizz, or spunk, or your enormous fucking load; it's all fucking delicious. Just you wait to see all the slurping of sloppy pussies you're going to experience once I tell the girls you're into it."

He smiled warmly at her. "What I'm truly into is your happiness. All of you. That's why I want us to all truly be together, honey. It's not about lurid fantasies. It's about making each other truly happy; no matter if we're walking through a park, or playing on stage, or making love."

"I love you so much, babe," she mewled before capturing his lips once more for a brief, but passionate kiss.

"I love you too," he replied simply.

"I agree, by the way. You, Sofi, and Liv being happy are all that matters." She sighed and rested her head on his chest. "But you won't say no later tonight if, for instance, Sofi and Liv sixty-nine'd while you fuck Sofi and I fuck Liv with my strap-on until you unleash a torrent of creamy goodness into Sofi's pussy that's so big that it's like a fucking waterfall flowing from her once you pull out and Liv and I fight to see who can slurp the most up before oh-so-graciously sharing with Sofi so sloppily that we're forced to lick each other's faces clean before we belatedly realize your delightful cock is still covered in that which we can't get enough of and we descend on you with a ferocious hunger?"

He guffawed and tightened his embrace until their lips were separated by scant centimeters. "In that highly unlikely situation, I think I could find it in myself to stifle any objections."

"You think I jest?" she retorted. "Well, then it's fucking on, sir. I officially consider myself dared. You better take your vitamins and drink plenty of fluids today, buster. Because tonight, the forecast for pound town calls for a fucking deluge."

Thirty-Five

"This is an apocalyptically wretched idea," Izzy huffed to no one in particular.

"You keep saying that," Ali snapped irritably. "But I've yet to hear a better idea come out of your mouth."

"I recognize that," he seethed. "I don't disagree that this waiting game is profoundly frustrating. But the alternative of purposefully inviting ruin seems reckless."

"Bowen's guys will be there," Liv offered. "We'll be fine."

He took a breath which was intended to be soothing, but which did nothing to calm his racing heart. It had been seven days since their last meeting with Doris, all of which had been spent at Bowen's estate enjoying the peace and tranquility that his security forces guaranteed. During that time, most of which had been spent in Bowen's studio writing the bulk of what would become Siren's next album, Izzy had known contentment and pleasure which left his wildest dreams comfortably in their wake.

All of that had come to a halt when fate conspired to deliver a tragedy which made their petty issues with Murdock seem small by comparison. Devastating storms had struck the band's homeland of Latvia, causing massive flooding to the lowland country. In the end, it would have taken far more than the threat of abduction to prevent the ladies of Siren from hosting a benefit concert in New York, coheadlined by a super-group Bowen had hastily assembled.

Izzy finally succeeded in calming himself, driven in large part by the combination of his girlfriends' desperate need to provide assistance to their homeland and the recognition that his seemingly endless griping about the risks they were taking was only making them more nervous. He looked around the van in which they rode, a vehicle containing as many armed guards in it as musicians, and tried to convince himself that his worst fears would ultimately be baseless. He felt an emotion not unlike what one would experience before undergoing a medical procedure with a laundry list of possible devastating side effects.

He took another deep breath and turned to regard his lovers. "I apologize for my behavior. I know this situation isn't ideal, but I recognize that we just have to get through it and do what we can to help your homeland. I promise you'll get no more bitching out of me."

"We know you're just trying to take care of us," Sofi soothed. "And we appreciate it."

Liv asked, "Did you find out yet who you're playing with other than Bowen?"

"Why?" Izzy asked with a grin. "Do you want the job?"

She shrugged. "If nominated, I would serve."

"I'm sure you'd do incredible, honey. All of you would. Did you decide yet which song you want to play together for the encore?"

Ali winked at him playfully. "We want it to be a surprise. You guys can just come out with us, and we'll have a little fun with it."

"Oh, sure," he groused. "What could possibly go wrong playing something we've never rehearsed... or even discussed in advance?"

"I promise it'll be something with which you're all intimately familiar," Ali soothed.

"I think we're nearly there," Liv said worriedly.

Izzy cursed himself again for his earlier grumbling and pulled her close in a manner he hoped was comforting. He pointed through the van's window at the throngs of people lined up outside the theater. "That's a lot of folks coming out to help your homeland. I suspect you're going to hit your fundraising goal easily."

"I hope so."

Ali gestured to the front of the theater where several news vans were parked. "That's the icing on the fucking sundae. If those dickheads all do a story about how the poor little girls who were just in a plane crash two weeks ago felt compelled to do a benefit, then maybe those assholes downtown at the U. N. will actually pay attention to what's happening."

"Bowen said he invited your ambassador, in addition to the ones from the U. S. and several other N. A. T. O. countries in the area. Maybe we'll have some real influencers in the crowd for once."

Sofi bumped his shoulder playfully. "I think this is one case where any kind of influencer will help our cause."

The pair of vans turned into an underground parking lot and proceeded through the labyrinthine maze to the backstage entrance. The large group piled out of the vans and entered the theater in a formation not unlike what one would expect from a presidential entourage; security guards forming an impenetrable perimeter whilst simultaneously hustling their protectees towards a safe area. Once they reached the dressing rooms, a pair of guards swept the rooms before declaring them 'clean' and withdrawing. After Izzy and the band occupied one, and Bowen took the other along with his family, five guards remained outside their doors while the rest fanned out to cover the remainder of the theater.

Forgoing the normal routine of getting to the theater hours before a show to do a sound check and brief rehearsal before allowing the fans to enter, the musicians had outsourced the pre-work to their opening act: a local band whose lead singer also hailed from the region, albeit from neighboring Lithuania.

The sheer fact that a benefit was possible, much less successful, in such a short time period was a testament to Bowen's resourcefulness and influence in the music industry. With Izzy's help, the legendary drummer had called in dozens of favors to secure the venue and publicize the show. The number of times Izzy had announced that he owed Bowen 'big time' was only exceeded by the frequency with which the band's mentor declared it was his pleasure. As Natalie had remarked several days prior, her husband was happier than she'd seen him since his apex recording and performing with the multi-platinum-record-selling band he had founded in his teens.

A knock sounded at the door of the band's dressing room. After checking for their consent, he cracked the door open. Moments later, four figures entered the room whose presence was so stupefyingly unexpected that Izzy was struck dumb.

"Oh my God!" Liv shrieked. "What are you guys doing here?"

Izzy gripped the hand of his longtime friend, and guitarist for the band Bowen had helped found over a quarter century earlier, Jason Diccino. As he greeted the man many thought sat atop Mt. Rushmore for virtuoso guitar players, the remaining members of Siren greeted the balance of Bowen's onetime band, Apotheosis.

Jordan, the band's lead singer, gave answer to Liv's question as he hugged Ali. "Call it a test reunion. Bowen said something about how hanging out with you guys for the last week made him miss the camaraderie of a real band."

"As opposed to just playing with whatever musicians happen across his path," Yoshi, the band's bass player added. He then winced in Izzy's direction. "No offense."

"None taken," Izzy said sincerely. "I've been telling him for years he could do a hell of a lot better than begging my sorry ass to follow him around the globe."

"Shut the fuck up," Brian, the band's keyboardist huffed. "Everybody who's anybody knows you're the shit. I hear you're featuring on Siren's next album." He then turned to Sofi and added, "A double-slash-concept-album, if my sources are to be believed."

"We'll see," Liv answered. "These optimists have a much higher opinion of my songwriting ability than I do."

"Stick with Izzy," Brian advised. "He figured out the bridge to the third movement for 'Apex of Desolation' off our fifth album. That one had us stumped for weeks."

Liv looped an arm around her boyfriend possessively. "Oh, I intend to."

Brian arched an eyebrow and said, "Congratulations?"

Sofi and Ali joined Liv, the latter saying, "Definitely. And congrats on the reunion."

"Potential reunion," Bowen announced as he entered the room and exchanged a round of high-fives with his once-and-future bandmates. "I still need sign-off from the boss."

"Are you kidding?" Natalie groaned. "Oh, no. Not my husband on the road with his blood-brothers rather than sitting at home bitching about how he's flushing his prime down the toilet creatively. Perish the thought."

"Don't tell that one any secrets," Bowen muttered, albeit with a wide grin on his face.

"Five minutes," a stagehand announced from the door.

The group of musicians all stared at each other for a long moment before Ali looked to Jordan and said, "I know this is technically quote, unquote, our benefit... but the Apotheosis reunion has to close the show, right?"

"Like you said... it's your gig."

"How 'bout we do an hour, you do an hour, then we'll do a combined encore. That'll give you guys time to figure out a set."

"What about Izzy?" Brian asked.

"He's with us," Sofi announced definitively.

Despite Sofi's declaration, Izzy took up his normal stage-right position rather than joining them onstage. He did, however, have a guitar tuned up and ready to go for their finale. After all the excitement they had experienced since the crash, seeing his lovers play on stage was like a salve on his soul. As he watched, he realized that he was experiencing exponentially more delight from their performance than normal. This confused him until he realized that he was no longer expending significant mental energy suppressing those feelings which he had for so long considered shameful and forbidden. All that was left was the unrestrained joy of watching his favorite people in the universe do what they did best.

Were it not for countless stories splashed across tabloids and social media, none in the crowd would have known that the band had not performed live in weeks. The women of Siren were flawless; captivating the crowd with their electrifying performance and then feeding off their audience's energy to elevate their music to a level rarely seen outside of heavy metal shows in overflowing fútbol stadiums in South America.

As expected, the crowd's reaction when Izzy strolled on stage was indifferent, but this turned in an instant when the audience realized they were hearing the debut of a song the band had just finished the day before. The frenetic roar of the crowd invigorated the foursome and Izzy soon found everything but the music fading into the background. He tried to stay out of the spotlight, lurking near Sofi's riser as his girlfriends beautifully harmonized the chorus. But as it came time for the solo, Ali stalked him like a lioness and drove him to center stage. He smiled warmly at her as the fingers of his left hand effortlessly flew over the strings in a blur and the slide on his right ring finger danced along the fretboard.

He poured the entirety of his soul into his playing, loudly proclaiming through his music his boundless love for the women who had made him whole. Had he been asked later to recount the notes he had picked, or the chord progression he had followed, he would have been no more capable of answering than would an infant. His brain simply was not invited to the party. His soul and his fingers were connected in perfect synchronicity, and the people of New York bore witness to greatness.

As his solo reached his logical conclusion, he glanced in Ali's direction to lead her into the final verse but was confused to find her and Liv standing just in front of Sofi's riser. He quirked an eyebrow questioningly in her direction. In response, Ali signaled the song's conclusion with the neck of her guitar. It was only once the final chord faded that Izzy became aware of the thunderous applause coming from the audience. With a wide grin on her face, Ali approached the microphone. The roar of the crowd only increased when she gestured in Izzy's direction.

She waited for several long moments for a break in the adoration, but when none seemed forthcoming, she once again pointed at her newfound lover. "That's Izzy Catalunya." Impossible as it seemed, the cacophony from the thousands of fans in attendance rose in fervor until Izzy felt as though the very foundation of the theater was shaking. He grinned self-consciously at the crowd and gave a small bow and then gestured toward the band exultantly before proceeding them off the stage.

Siren and Apotheosis mobbed him backstage, shouting over each other to praise his performance. He accepted their accolades with as much grace as he was able before reminding the legendary progressive metal band that they had a reunion to kick off.

The band watched with Izzy as Apotheosis took the stage one member at a time. His smile widened impossibly as he felt from the crowd the moment they clued in to the historic import of the event they were witnessing.

Ali leaned against him as the band on stage went into their opening number. "How is it possible to play so many notes?"

He shrugged; the memory of performing the song in question while on tour with Bowen springing to his mind. "Lots and lots of practice."

"Not to mention God-given talent. Listen, we're going to hit the dressing room to chill out a bit before the encore."

"Lead the way."

She shook her head firmly. "Bowen said you should hang around here, but we weren't allowed to tell you why."

"I see," he frowned.

"This is your night, babe. Yours and Latvia's. We're raising millions for all those poor people, but we're also reintroducing your amazing talent to the world."

"I don't need the world," he replied serenely. "I just need you three."

"Perhaps the world needs your music, then. I saw your face out there, babe. Do you honestly think we'll ever again pass up the chance to give that gift to you? I know you'd chose us over performing, but we intend to see to it that you get both."

Izzy wanted to pull her close and give her the response her comment deserved, but he felt the eyes of the world upon them (despite almost certainly being out of sight of the crowd). He settled for smiling warmly at her and murmuring, "I love you."

"I love you, too. We'll be back shortly."

He noted gratefully that a quartet of security guards peeled off to surround the band as they headed into the bowels of the theater before turning his attention back to his good friends on stage. He mentally played along with their standards while noting with interest that, defying all rational expectations, his friend Jason's powers as a musician had grown since their last meeting. Izzy was self-aware enough to admit that he was indeed a gifted guitarist, but he found himself wondering if there were enough hours in the day for him to ever reach the point where he could effortlessly rip off four-bar fills of running sixty-fourth notes.

Just as Izzy started to wonder what song Apotheosis would expect him to perform with them, an unsettling 'thud' echoed through the theater via the public address system. The performers onstage looked around questioningly and the young woman behind the sound board stage-left was talking anxiously to someone in her earpiece.

All thoughts of dismissing the sound as an unavoidable byproduct of the rushed show evaporated when Izzy heard a sound which made his blood run cold.

Sofi's voice boomed through the theater, "Get your goddamn hands off me, you fucking assholes!"

Thirty-Six

The loud crack as Izzy dropped his guitar caused several members of the backstage crew to cease gawking at each other in confusion in response to Sofi's anxious call for help and instead stare in wonder at the rapidly receding form of the performer as he raced into the bowels of the theater.

The useless people milling around backstage faded to a blur as Izzy dashed toward the band's dressing room. His mind was focused completely on reaching the women he loved in time to prevent catastrophe. He was distantly aware of endless bitter recriminations lurking at the edges of his awareness, waiting to pounce if his focus wavered, but he managed to keep such thoughts at bay.

The theater in which the benefit had been staged was an older venue, which meant a dizzying array of winding passages beneath and behind the stage. Fortunately, Izzy had been to this particular building enough times that he knew each twist and turn he must take. His heart pounded with the unaccustomed exertion, but Izzy continued to push himself ever faster until he was thundering down the narrow passages. He failed to sufficiently twist to avoid his still not quite healed shoulder slamming into an amp hanging off a particularly overloaded shelf. Heedless of the damage, he allowed his body to spin like a midfielder dribbling past a defender; ricocheting off the opposing wall while he kept his momentum headed toward his objective.

When he arrived at the dressing room, Izzy was confronted with a sight which caused a modicum of the control he was exercising to keep his worst fears at bay to take a significant hit. Three bodyguards lay unmoving on the ground outside their door, although Izzy could not tell whether they were dead or merely unconscious. He slammed his shoulder into the door, shattering both the flimsy hollow-core door and what remained of his shoulder's functional capacity. Yet he felt not even a twinge of physical pain, so profound was the gaping chasm that opened up in his soul at the sight of the empty dressing room containing several upended pieces of furniture.

On the floor near the door, he found Sofi's lavalier. The microphone which she wore to allow her to sing whilst also drumming was quite obviously how she had initially made known their plight. The discarded condition of the piece of A. V. equipment made it clear that their foes had quickly realized their oversight and taken steps to keep the fiery drummer from continuing to broadcast the details of their evident abduction.

Exiting the dressing room, Izzy bent and searched one of the guards. He noticed at once that their radios were gone, as were their guns, but he did find a collapsible baton on the man's belt. He snatched it up and hurried in the direction of the door through which they had initially entered.

Upon arriving at the door to exit the theater, he managed to check his headlong charge just enough to open the door without further harming himself. He gaped in confounded amazement at what he found there.

"What the fuck are you guys doing!" he shouted at the trio of security guards leaning uncaringly against the hood of a pair of passenger vans.

The closest guard peeked at his watch. "What the hell do you expect? The show isn't supposed to end for another hour."

"I expect you to do your fucking jobs!"

"Settle down, man."

"Fuck you," Izzy snarled.

The guard took a step back and reached for his sidearm, causing Izzy to realize that he had unknowingly brandished the baton. He used the weapon to point at the guard and hissed, "Does that goddamn radio work?"

"Of course."

"You better fucking check it. Because three of your buddies got taken out near the dressing rooms while you three are out here jerking each other off."

The hand of the man furthest from him immediately snapped up to his ear and he barked something unintelligible into his radio. He repeated the command twice before pulling out his pistol and grunting," We have a situation."

"You think!" Izzy shrieked.

"Sir! I'm going to have to ask you to step back, right now," the closest guard barked.

"Fucking gladly," Izzy huffed as he reentered the theater.

As he entered, he heard a distant, and unfamiliar, voice say, "... in the alley near the service entrance!"

Izzy racked his memory for a mental map of the venue, but he was forced to reckon with the fact that the grand total of his knowledge of the building lay between the entrance he had just left and the stage. He knew, however, that the building was vaguely shaped like a trapezoid with the stage occupying the narrow end and the exit from which he was returning sitting on one corner of the stage end of the building. With no better strategy coming to mind, he decided to head toward the opposite back corner of the theater.

Shortly after he set out, he spotted a stagehand standing helplessly in the hallway he was travelling and shouted, "Hey!"

The young woman looked worriedly in his direction. He saw a glimmer of recognition in her expression, and she pointed to the left of two doorways. Fortunately for Izzy's beleaguered shoulder, the door was unlatched. Upon bursting through it, he found himself in another hallway. Looking around, he immediately suspected he had been misled. Nearly a dozen obvious fans filled the corridor, all headed urgently in the same direction in which Izzy travelled. He studied the interlopers carefully but saw nothing which suggested they were malignant, so he ignored them. This effort was challenged as he reached the end of the hallway to find it choked with fans, all of whom seemed hell bent on exiting the theater.

"Get the fuck out of the way!" Izzy bellowed.

"We're trying to get to them too, you ignorant ass," one of the closest young men grumbled. "Unless you've got a prybar."

Izzy hefted his pilfered baton, both as a means of demonstrating his resolve and as a possible tool which could pinch-hit for a crowbar.

"Great," the man said as he deftly plucked the weapon from Izzy's hand. He turned and burrowed his way through the small crowd until he reached a spectacularly obese middle-aged man standing at the door. The man took the baton and, with a strength likely born of decades lugging a few hundred extra kilograms through the world, rammed it between the metal fire door and the door jamb. He tried unsuccessfully to pry the door open several times before he took a calming breath and, with a mighty roar, slammed the baton against the near wall. This shattered the door's lock as though it were mere tissue paper. It also, based upon the shriek of pain the man let out, did significant damage to his hand.

The hallway's occupants streamed past the injured man onto a wide loading dock. The churning crowd made it difficult to make sense of his surroundings, but he knew in his soul that his loved ones were close at hand. The roiling crowd parted for the briefest of instants, and he caught sight of the unmistakable flash of the silver blouse in which Liv had performed.

Rage born of the helplessness he felt at his continued separation from the women he loved threatened to overwhelm Izzy's senses. Like a salmon swimming upstream, he thrashed with every iota of his not-inconsiderable strength and his indominable will to get to the band. It was only after several anxious moments that he realized that part of his trouble was that everyone who surrounded him was rushing in the same direction.

A shot echoed through the enclosed space and a distinctive 'wheet' rang out. Several members of the group hampering his efforts took cover, allowing Izzy to bypass them and get his first clear look at the band at the opposite end of the expansive loading dock. They were gagged and appeared to have their wrists bound behind them. Flanking them were a pair of the security guards Bowen had hired, both of whom had their guns leveled in Izzy's direction. Behind them, frantically trying to keep hold of the members of the band, stood Murdock and another man of Latin descent.

"Get back," Murdock shouted.

This only emboldened Izzy and, if the thunder of footfalls behind him was any indication, the group of fans he had encountered in the hallway. Another shot rang out, this from a security guard who fired into the air.

"Shoot them!" Murdock shrieked.

The security guards, however, looked apprehensive and each fired another shot in the air.

"Let them go!" a voice called out from Izzy's rear.

"You can't get us all!"

"Get your fucking hands off them!"

"The cops will be here in thirty seconds. They've got all the exits covered."

"I'll kill you if you hurt them!"

"Save Siren!"

Izzy's rage-filled roar joined the cacophony of voices rising in the alley behind the theater until it was indistinguishable from a battlefield. The wave of humanity closed on the would-be abductors, and the villains' expression quickly turned from sneering to fearful. None of the men and women who surged toward the women of Siren were armed with anything more dangerous than a set of car keys, versus obviously well-armed men. Yet the differences in armament mattered not at all to Izzy, and he knew instinctively that the motley collection of fans who were now his blood brothers were just as resolute.

The security guard on the right holstered his weapon and took a step to retreat, a move which his compatriot mirrored.

Murdock's snarled, "Where the fuck do you think you're going? Fucking shoot them."

"Are you insane?" the guard snapped as the first notes of approaching sirens broke through the din of the approaching horde. "I'm not riding the lightning for you, man. I don't care what you're paying me."

"Fuck it," Murdock snapped. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

"No!" Izzy roared in response to the potential escape of his nemesis.

Murdock sneered at him cruelly and taunted, "Catalunya! You worthless shit. I should have killed you in the fucking mountains." He raised his pistol and callously fired in Izzy's direction. He pulled Ali close and whispered something in her ear before pushing her savagely to the ground and turning toward the van.

Murdock's move to shove Ali aside gave Izzy, who had finally reached his desperately sought objective, the opportunity he sought. He slammed his shoulder into Murdock's kidney, pinning him to the side of the van. Lifting Murdock's trapped body higher up the side of the van, he slammed his fist repeatedly into the exposed groin of his nemesis. An explosion rang out just to his left and he felt his grip on Murdock start to slip. Izzy felt a dull thud behind him, but he had moved far beyond the capacity for either pain or fear.

Left with little choice, he reached for the man's belt and slammed him into the ground. He missed the wrestling-style body-slam he was aiming for, but Izzy smiled triumphantly at the grunt of pain which exploded from the lungs of his enemy. Pressing his advantage, he leapt on top of Murdock and punched him as hard, and as quickly, as his increasingly weary muscles allowed. The attempts at defense which the man who dared threaten the women he loved quickly faded and Izzy's fists were soon dripping with viscera.

A hand tried to restrain him, but Izzy jerked himself free and punched Murdock again. The efforts to thwart his mission to permanently put an end to the loathsome creature below him quickly intensified, but Izzy focused all his anger; all his hatred; all his anguish; every millisecond of fear the women he loved had endured; on the singular objective of destroying the architect of their suffering.

He raised his hands, lacing his fingers together in preparation for delivering a devastating blow to Murdock's exposed windpipe. He sneered down at his immobile foe and tensed his muscles to end the threat permanently. Yet before the blow fell, a crushing force slammed into Izzy under his raised arm and forced him to the ground next to the van. He struggled mightily to rise, but countless black-clad figures were teaming up to restrain him.

Despite the enormity of the forces aligned against him, Izzy still managed to push himself off the ground. Anxious shouting filled the air, but he tuned it all out. Turning toward his foe, he saw that Murdock still drew breath. Heedless of the dozens of hands attempting to restrain him, Izzy began the endless crawl to finish what he had started.

Then, in a moment of utmost clarity, the pawing hands and shouting voices vanished. In their place was a sound of such angelic beauty and exquisite kindness that Izzy's heart wept and his muscles turned to jelly.

"Izzy... please come back to us."

Thirty-Seven

The murmur of soft voices gradually pierced the veil of Izzy's fitful slumber. He came slowly awake, each passing second bringing a new recognition of agony somewhere in his body. Even something as simple as the drawing of breath caused a lance of pain through his chest. Initial attempts to recall what had happened garnered him nothing but the vaguest sense of something having gone horribly wrong. Even the effort of concentrating seemed to cause him physical discomfort, but he could not shake the sense of dread which typically heralded one or more of his lovers being in danger.

Izzy pushed through the fog in his mind, focusing the entirety of his will on remembering that which was obscured from his memory. Flashes flitted through his mind's eye like scenes from a much rewatched movie: the guards lying unmoving outside the dressing room; Sofi's lavalier carelessly discarded; endless confined hallways; gunshots ringing out menacingly; Murdock's sneering visage.

At the recollection of his nemesis, the events leading up to Izzy's incapacitation came rushing back with full clarity. Yet his anguish only rose with the benefit of his memories since his last sight of any of his lovers was Ali being cruelly shoved aside by his enemy.

He opened his eyes and gasped, "Alise!" from parched lips.

"I'm here," her warm mezzo-soprano voice responded from his side.

He looked around anxiously, blinking furiously in an attempt to force his eyes to focus. "Sofija? Olīvija?"

"Right here," Liv replied softly.

"How are you feeling?" Sofi asked with feigned cheer.

"Are you ok?" Izzy pressed. "I remember him pushing you down. Were you hurt?"

"They are fine, Mr. Catalunya," a deep voice interjected. "Mr. Murdock, however, is another story."

Izzy turned to regard the speaker and his memory informed him that he was confronted by Robert Leo, the federal agent who had responded to the attempted abduction in Virginia.

Glaring at the interloper on their reunion, Izzy rasped, "If you're about to tell me he got away..."

The agent chuckled ruefully although his eyes remained cold. "I think not. You're actually quite lucky he's still alive."

"If he's in custody, I fail to see the problem."

"You very nearly beat him to death, Mr. Catalunya. He's in intensive care a few floors up with a ruined face and... gentleman's region. You likely maimed him permanently."

"And?"

"We frown on that sort of behavior here."

"If you expect an apology, you're going to have a long wait. That man terrorized the women I love. If he's still breathing, he got off light."

"What are you suggesting, Agent Leo?" Sofi asked pointedly.

"Your... boyfriend... could find himself in a legally tenuous position as a result of this attack. The local authorities are still looking at the evidence, but to my knowledge they have not ruled out bringing charges."

"That's fucking bullshit!" Ali shrieked. "Izzy was rescuing us, since those shithead cops took their sweet ass time getting to the theater."

"And Murdock had a fucking gun!" Liv shouted.

"He even shot Izzy," Sofi added angrily. "Even if he wasn't saving us, how could they consider an unarmed man going up against an armed one to be anything but a massive disadvantage for Izzy? That's self-defense, no possible question. Izzy doesn't even have any training."

"Then how'd he manage to defeat a well-armed, well-trained adversary? The cops found an illegal collapsible baton at the scene of the crime which some witnesses said was in Mr. Catalunya's possession."

"I don't care if he was carrying a fucking broadsword," Ali seethed. "That still falls below a fucking gun on the spectrum of dangerous weapons."

"Will this effect Murdock's sentence?" Liv asked pointedly.

"Pardon?"

"Will the fact that Izzy defeated Murdock in combat change how long Murdock is likely to spend in prison for abducting us?"

"And previously attempting to abduct us," Sofi added.

Liv's featured darkened. "And causing the death of Wyatt Freeman."

"Who?" Agent Leo huffed.

"The pilot of the plane Murdock caused to crash," Liv replied primly. "Not to mention the attempted murder of everyone onboard. Including, ironically, himself."

The agent's features softened, and he took a seat beside the bed. "I'm not sure we could make that last one stick, but he's most certainly facing federal charges for manslaughter, kidnapping, and conspiracy. That latter charge is the real doozy, since his partner in South America is unquestionably involved in the drug trade. That means we can graft on hundreds, if not thousands, of extra charges."

"Is there a possibility that he could get immunity if he testifies against the man in Bogota?"

"Highly unlikely since we don't have that bastard in custody, nor do we expect to. Not to mention the fact that Murdock's accomplice stateside likely has far more information on his boss. To Murdock, the man down south was just a paycheck. One would assume a fairly substantial one, since it likely took mid-to-high five figures for him to turn those two security guards. I have already spoken to the prosecutor and been assured that Murdock will be presented with the choice between pleading guilty and serving a minimum of thirty years, or facing trial in an arena where less than one percent of defendants are acquitted with the possibility of a sentence measuring in hundreds of years."

"Thank God," Liv breathed.

"What about Izzy?" Ali asked firmly.

Agent Leo smiled genuinely for the first time. "I told the local cops I'd verify his story when I refused to allow them to place him in custody. I strongly doubt they would have ultimately done so in any case. For one, you are all quite correct in that no court would convict a man for winning the proverbial case of bringing nothing more than a whole heap of angry to a gun fight. There is also the relationship angle, although that could muddy things even in a state as progressive as New York. But I think the real kicker would be the fact that the last thing in the world the D. A. (who desperately wants to be mayor someday) wants is to have the double whammy of a high-profile abduction taking place in his jurisdiction followed by the victims of said abduction taking to their not inconsiderable social media platforms to announce that their manager..."

"Boyfriend," Ali corrected.

"Lover," Sofi clarified.

"Soulmate," Liv concluded.

Agent Leo continued undeterred, "... was arrested, in essence, for saving them. Especially considering his injuries and the connection to the cartels." He stood and collected his jacket. "Get healed up, Mr. Catalunya. I'll be in touch if we uncover anything new."

As the agent departed the room, Izzy took a moment to study his lovers. They were all still dressed as they had been for their performance, but they appeared uninjured. He reached out to take Sofi's hand and carefully pulled it up to inspect her wrists for signs that their bindings had caused damage.

She gently pulled her hand away and said, "We're fine, babe."

"More than we can say for you," Ali added somberly. "How do you feel?"

"Like I was in a plane crash," he quipped, but he noticed none of his lovers so much as smiled at his witticism.

"Babe," Liv whispered tearfully. "We were so worried."

"I'm fine."

"But you got shot!"

He looked down questioningly at his sheet covered body. He tried to move his arms and legs but, aside from his shoulder, he could detect nothing but soreness. Looking toward the aforementioned, and oft injured, extremity, he saw a mass of bandages which pinned his left arm to his chest, but no blood.

He looked back at Liv and said, "Are you sure?"

Ali nodded. "It wasn't a straight shot, so it's more like it sliced you open rather than making a hole. The doctor said they treat it more like a knife wound."

Izzy looked at his body again before giving voice to his question. "But, where?"

"They called it a million-dollar wound," Sofi elaborated.

"I'm so confused."

Liv sat on the bed and stared soulfully at him. "That miserable bastard shot you in your... how did you put it last week... devastatingly desirable derrière."

Izzy's bark of laughter caused the heads of the nurses outside his room to jerk up in surprise. His exclamation of, "My ass!", however, caused a smile to crease their weary faces before they dug back into the enormous pile of food the band had arranged to be delivered.

***

"You were profoundly lucky, Mr. Catalunya," the unsettlingly young appearing hospitalist said to the group early the following morning during her rounds. "There is still a risk of infection, but there was no muscle damage." She shook her head sorrowfully, causing her long black hair to momentarily cover her face. "We see too many gunshot wounds here. I'm not sure I can remember one which was so, how should I put this, un-traumatic."

"That's great," Sofi enthused. "Right?"

The doctor glanced at Sofi haltingly, only able to meet her eyes for the briefest of moments before she turned back to Izzy. "That's correct. You must remember to take all of your antibiotics and follow the cleaning schedule to the letter."

Liv sighed happily and squeezed Izzy's hand tighter. "What about his shoulder?"

The doctor faltered, "That's um... less... um... good."

"What aren't you telling us?" Ali asked pointedly. "What's wrong?"

"Nuh... nothing. I mean... it's dislocated. Obviously."

"What the hell is going on?" Sofi snapped.

"I'm sorry," the doctor stammered as she turned and began hurrying towards the door. "I thought I could do this... but... I'll ask for your case to be reassigned."

"Wait," Izzy interjected, bringing the retreating doctor to a halt. "We're not upset, we just want to know what's going on."

Without turning around, the doctor said, "It was not my intention to alarm you. I'll have your new doctor come by as soon as possible."

"Why won't you help him?" Liv pleaded.

"Because it wouldn't be ethical."

The girls all looked at Izzy in confusion, prompting him to shrug helplessly. This sent a lance of pain through his ruined shoulder and caused him to wince visibly. Liv frowned and reached out as if to rub the pain away but brought her hand to a halt before she touched his injury. She instead settled for stroking his chest soothingly.

To the doctor, Ali said, "Why? Please don't give us some bullshit like he's your father, or anything crazy like that. And, while we know that he's sinfully sexy, I don't get the sense that you're so overwhelmed with lust that you can't answer a simple question like, 'What aren't you telling us about his shoulder?'."

"It's not him," the doctor replied mournfully.

"Then what's wrong?"

"It's... you."

"Me!"

"All of you," the doctor replied more forcefully. She turned back toward them; her face grimly determined. "I'm emotionally involved with you, which would make it unethical to treat him."

"But... how? We just met you."

"Your music," the doctor replied with a sob. "It changed my life; it sustained me when I had nothing else. It's why I'm... still here. And it's why I can't..."

The doctor's remaining words were cut off when Liv rushed across the room to embrace her, quickly followed by Ali and Sofi. Through the layers of humanity, Izzy heard the doctor's gut-wrenching sob. The loves of his life spoke soothing words which his ears could not make out, but which his soul understood perfectly.

After time uncounted, the women of Siren slowly released the doctor from their embrace and wiped the tears from their eyes. At length, the hospitalist murmured, "Thank you." She then looked to Izzy and said more firmly, "But I should still arrange for your case to be reassigned."

"Please don't," Sofi pleaded. "There's no one we'd rather have taking care of Izzy than you."

She nodded solemnly and said, "I meant what I said. After I lost... everything, I had nothing except Siren. In my ears. Every night. That day, on the bridge, it was your song, 'Surrender' that gave me pause."

"That's Liv's song," Sofi said softly. "She wrote it about the time..."

"Before I met them," Liv finished, indicating her three lovers. "I'm so sorry for what you were going through."

"Thank you," the doctor replied sincerely. "For everything." She paused before smiling shyly and saying, "You guys were amazing last night." She glanced at Izzy and added, "All of you."

"You were there!"

"I would never miss one of your shows."

"Good news for you then," Ali exclaimed. "You just made it on the super-secret FTFL list."

"Faster than... something... light?"

"Free tickets for life."

"Oh, no. I couldn't accept that."

Ali folded her arms over her chest demonstrably. "Too bad for you, because it's too late to change it now. Dr.... Jabil?"

Dr. Jabil smiled self-consciously. "Jiya."

Izzy cleared his throat. "If I may be so bold..."

"Ah, yes," Jiya replied with a smile. "Your shoulder, then. Well, you did quite a number on it."

"I had to save them," Izzy replied simply.

"Well," she mused. "I assume you consider a dislocated shoulder, which missed also adding in a broken clavicle by the narrowest of margins, an acceptable sacrifice to secure their freedom."

Izzy shrugged, and then winced in pain as he resolved to keep his future movements to a minimum. "I would die for them."

She nodded and said apologetically, "Of course. I should have known."

"How would you be expected to know that?" Ali asked cheerily.

"Your song. The one you guys played together. Everyone in Siren's Sailors is talking about how that was your announcement to the world that you four are soulmates."

Liv looked worried. "And are they..."

"There's the usual vocal minority who are outraged, but that's mostly lonely incels who post close-up pics of your tits on social media using accounts called something like, 'Disciples of Liv'."

"My favorite," Liv groaned.

Jiya reached out to take her hand. "But everyone else is so happy for you guys. You've always been the best band in history. At least, in my opinion. But I've seen you... a bunch of times... and I can never remember your energy being like it was last night."

"How many times?"

"Like... over a hundred?"

"Wow!" Sofi yelped. "That's so great. I mean, except for the fact that you could have likely bought a pretty nice new car with that money."

"What would I do with a car? I live alone in the city, I work twelve hour days three-to-six days a week, I pay off my student loans. Siren is my social life." Jiya frowned. "I know. Huge loser, right?"

Izzy smiled wanly. "Depends on your point of view. I was the same way. Siren was all I ever thought about, all I cared about. Now?"

"Isn't that still the case though?"

He nodded, a smile creeping onto his face. "I suppose. But I found love anyway."

Ali nodded firmly. "Maybe one of those not-creepy-incels from the fan club is your person."

"Maybe," Jiya allowed with a smirk. "I did meet someone during the excitement last night, while the cops were trying to figure out whether to arrest us or thank us. He..."

"Wait," Sofi cut in excitedly. "You were there? On the loading dock?"

"Of course. A group of us in Siren's Sailors had been planning this since the moment you announced the show. We knew the guys who tried to kidnap you in Virginia were still at large, so we organized something of a neighborhood watch for the concert. We found detailed maps of the venue, and everyone had their area of responsibility. We had one guy who is unsettlingly proficient at gaining access to computer systems. He helped us hack into the P. A. and make the announcement about where they had taken you. Then it was just a matter of us getting there and delaying those assholes long enough for the cops to arrive."

"I still haven't gotten past the fact that my boyfriend's doctor braved literal bullets to help rescue me last night."

Jiya smiled shyly and glanced at Izzy. "He's not the only one who would do anything for you."

Sofi raced over to hug Jiya again. "I hope that includes allowing us to dedicate a song to you on our next album."

"Oh, no. I couldn't possibly."

Sofi glared at her. "Do you wish we wouldn't because it would embarrass you?"

"Of course not. I just can't imagine... Siren... me."

Liv noticed the doctor's unsteadiness almost at once and helped her make it to a chair. Ali brought her a cup of water and Sofi rubbed her back comfortingly.

Jiya looked around and smiled thankfully. "Whoever said don't meet your heroes was a fool."

"We're not heroes," Ali murmured. "You and Izzy are. You saved us."

Jiya laughed and once again looked in Izzy's direction. She held his gaze firmly, and he felt a library of unspoken pain and loneliness pass between them. She then smiled and he recognized there the soul of a fellow traveler, brought back from the abyss by the remarkable women who defined his own life. He smiled at her and spoke the words echoing in each of their souls. "Perhaps. But that pales in comparison to all the lives you have enriched. There are more, thousands more, just like Jiya. I... we... will always save you, because you saved us, and we love you without reservation."

Thirty-Eight

"Good news!" Jiya announced jubilantly as she entered Izzy's hospital room. "My colleagues and I have conferred and reached the conclusion that you are no longer in dire peril from infection and have thus decided to release you. So long as you promise to keep that wound clean, and to rest that shoulder."

"I swear on my eyes," Izzy replied sincerely.

"I mean it, Izzy," Jiya pleaded. "You need to let that shoulder heal. I've heard you say some bullshit about how you've got another arm to hug them with but think about your music. If you ruin your shoulder, you might sustain nerve damage in your fingers. And then what?"

Ali declared, "I swear we will strongly encourage him to take it easy."

"I don't want to know any details," Jiya replied with a grin.

"Aw," Sofi complained. "But that's the fun part."

"Speaking of which," Liv added. "How'd quote, unquote, coffee go with that guy you met at the show?"

Jiya smiled brightly. "We're having dinner tomorrow night."

The foursome of now quite close friends made a sound which Izzy suspected denoted happiness, although he did find it necessary to wiggle his jaw to help his ears pop after the sonic assault.

Sofi ran over to her purse and pulled out her phone. "I'm sending you the info for our special stylist."

"Oh," Jiya replied, her hand subconsciously going to her long, straight hair. "I don't need..."

Sofi glanced pointedly at Jiya's midsection and said, "Not that kind of styling."

"Oh... oh!"

"Exactly. Doesn't hurt to be prepared."

Jiya chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind. As for you guys, be careful when you get him home. I know you'll want to... celebrate his release, but you could easily tear open his stitches or further injure his shoulder."

Liv looked worried. "Are you telling us we can't..."

Jiya grinned conspiratorially. "Of course not. Just keep it low impact. Cowgirl is your friend."

"And blowjobs," Sofi asked hopefully.

Jiya chuckled unselfconsciously. "Blowjobs are perfectly acceptable now that you're being released." She glared in Liv's direction, causing the curvy bassist to blush. "Shall I write you a prescription specifying you're to receive oral relief every twelve hours?"

Izzy shook his head in wonder. "I don't think that'll be necessary, but I appreciate the thought."

"As if we'd ever let him go that long without relief," Ali said in horror.

Jiya retreated toward the door, a wide smile on her face. "The nurse should be in shortly with your release paperwork."

Sofi waggled her phone in the doctor's direction. "We expect a full report on your date. And make sure to point out that Doris will forward his browser history, even the incognito stuff he thought was hidden, to his employer if he doesn't treat you like a queen."

"I'll consider it," Jiya said as she opened the door. "Although I'm not entirely certain I'm not completely terrified of Doris."

"Same, honestly," Ali answered.

The release process took most of the rest of the day, as no amount of money could hasten the glacial pace of hospital bureaucracy. Upon exiting the building, they entered a black luxury S. U. V. and were soon lost in the snarl of evening rush hour. Izzy did not mind the traffic. They could have been slowly lumbering through Yosemite, and he would still have been hard pressed to tear his eyes from the captivating sight of Liv and Sofi seated across from him in the limo while Ali sat at his side and held his hand soothingly.

Ali broke the silence, asking, "Did you hear what Oscar said when he came by last night? The relief effort fund for Latvia crossed the twenty million mark."

"He's doing an amazing job in my absence," Izzy admitted. "He's also been doing incredible work with your socials. Your follower counts have nearly doubled."

Sofi winked at him. "Methinks he has the help of a certain former-pilot, soon-to-be-publicist, thanks to her not-so-secret former career as a fashion model."

"No shit?" Izzy barked. "I mean, she's certainly um... striking..."

"Izzy!" Liv huffed. "You're allowed to admit that Chloe is fucking gorgeous. It's not like we wouldn't agree with you."

"Or that we'd think you're thinking of leaving us for her," Ali added.

"I would never!" he said firmly.

"Yeah," Sofi huffed. "We know. Soulmates. It means, like, forever. That's the gig, right?"

"Without question," he declared.

"Anyway," Sofi interposed. "The benefit, and the attempted abduction, also raised so much awareness that the label reassigned Phoebe and put us under someone more experienced."

"Not necessarily a good thing," Izzy observed.

"You'll make them behave," Liv announced confidently. "Or we'll fire them and put out our album independently. Bowen said day before yesterday, in the midst of his insanely annoying groveling..."

"He feels guilty, honey," Izzy soothed.

"Well, he shouldn't. It's not like he personally vetted those dickheads. He just hired the firm everyone told him was the best. In any case... Bowen said that he's been getting calls from labels who are desperate to sign us. I wonder if Izzy's phone is even still functional with all the texts he must be getting."

Ali stroked Izzy's clasped hand with her thumb. "You know, Oscar's really killing it in the managerial role."

"I always knew he would. He'll make mistakes as he learns the ropes, but he loves you all in his own way. So, he'll never give you anything less than his best."

Liv smiled warmly. "He loves you too, you know? Again, in his own way." Izzy nodded in response, so she pressed. "Does this mean you're considering pulling back on your managerial efforts some?"

"I'm all for allowing Oscar to handle certain things, but I want to be involved in the band's management. I love you all, I love Siren. Do you honestly think I'd ever be content doing something else for a living? Even if it was performing elsewhere? You're my life now. You always have been."

"We know," Sofi agreed. "We're just struggling to figure out how to do that for you, babe. It's one thing to help the women you love, but how does that work when we're in a relationship. You can't keep behaving as though you work for us." Izzy opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off. "And don't say sex. Blowjobs on demand, even and especially during shark week, and daily orgies are just one of the perks of being in a relationship with us. Besides, you know you give at least as good as you get."

He smirked. "I wasn't going to say sex."

"I know," she replied playfully. "But it makes me happy to remind you about all the fucking we'll do. Your neck turns red, and your eyes do this weird squinting thing. It's like a muted version of your O-face."

"It makes me happy too," he allowed with a grin. "To answer your question, I think we all treat Siren as a labor of love. You guys do a ton of work related to the band that many artists dismissively leave to their management. You act as though you drove me like a rented mule, but in truth you are a very easy band to manage. Much of my apparent effort wasn't really caused by work that had to be done for the band, it was more me trying to stay busy enough that I could ignore what I considered to be the deeply problematic way I felt about you."

"And look where that got you," Ali quipped. "You now have unlimited free use of our bodies, to do with as you please... wherever and whenever you desire."

"You shouldn't tease him," Liv chided. "You heard what Jiya said."

"Says the woman who got caught giving Izzy a blowjob yesterday morning despite specific instructions to the contrary," Sofi muttered teasingly.

"He was uncomfortable," Liv complained.

"In any case," Ali retorted. "I was not teasing him. Jiya didn't say we couldn't fuck his brains out once we got home. She just said we should be... gentle."

Izzy noticed the vehicle's motion cease and looked outside to discover that they had arrived at the Brooklyn building housing the apartment which served as the band's home in North America. One of the building's many perks was gated underground parking, so only the doorwoman observed their arrival. The elevator ride to the penultimate floor was a brief one and they soon found themselves in the large apartment (which, despite the gaudy price tag and ridiculously expensive zip code, felt comfortable rather than luxurious). While Izzy had been there many times, he had never before felt a sense of relief upon entering.

He started for the couch, but Ali said, "Hold it buster. You're out of uniform."

He turned to face her and found that she, along with her lovers, was rapidly divesting herself from her clothing.

"House rules," Liv added. "No clothing allowed."

"Is that why you guys were always running around in your birthday suits whenever I used to come by?"

"That," Sofi allowed. "Plus, the fact that we were trying to seduce you. Just imagine if you'd whipped your captivating cock out one of those times when you were not so successfully trying to hide your erection, and we climbed over each other like a horde of zombies trying to be the first to taste you."

He smiled and began the laborious process of undressing thanks in large part to the fact that his left arm was firmly strapped to his torso. His lovers quickly saw his plight and moved to assist him. It was a delightfully inefficient process, as they frequently paused to stroke his turgid manhood or lick a bit of newly exposed skin. Once he was dressed as they were, they helped him re-sling his arm.

"I think a shower might be in order," Ali stated once they were all nude.

"I can imagine," he agreed with a regretful wince. "What's it been, five days since I had anything but a sponge bath?"

"I wasn't saying that you stink, Izzy," she chided. "I was saying we want to fuck you in the shower."

"That might be risky."

"Oh, ye of little faith," she declared regally as she began walking deeper into the apartment. "Follow me... if you think you're up to it..."

Thirty-Nine

Ali led Izzy through the apartment toward the massive master suite and into the bathroom. Sofi hurried ahead of them to turn on the water while Liv retreated toward the entryway. Upon reaching the bathroom, he found steam already pouring over the wall of the enormous walk-in shower and Sofi tying her hair up in a ponytail. Liv returned bearing a package, which the trio quickly unpacked to reveal a sturdy folding chair. Izzy quirked an eyebrow questioningly until Ali set the chair down just outside the spray zone in the shower and bid him to take a seat.

Soapy sponges glided over his skin, guided by his lovers' talented hands. The bandage over his bullet wound was guaranteed to be waterproof for several more days, but they steered well clear of it out of an abundance of caution. Rather than avoiding his shoulder, or the sling which mostly immobilized his arm, they instead allowed it to get wet in the interest of cleaning him since they had a dozen more ready to go.

Izzy allowed himself to relax and luxuriate in the sensation of his soulmates demonstrating their perfect love. Their flawless bodies glistened thanks to the steaming water pouring from four different shower heads. Their efforts to clean him soon turned more enticing as they focused increasing attention on his towering manhood.

Ali was the first to discard her sponge and soap his cock reverently between her slippery hands. Her partners followed suit, with Liv lavishing similar attention on his balls while Sofi trailed her tongue slowly up his torso.

"Gods, that feels good," he murmured.

Sofi reached his ear and whispered, "We're just getting started, my love."

Wrapping his good arm around her, Izzy pulled Sofi close. She sighed enticingly as he captured one of her nipples between his lips. He savored the perfection of her B-cup breasts, especially the fact that she knew right down to the depths of her soul that she was angelically beautiful, not in spite of having tits smaller than her lovers but because they utterly suited her tiny body.

He groaned into Sofi's cleavage at the sensation of warm lips sliding past the crown of his manhood. Moments later, one of his balls found a similarly heated resting place in the mouth of another of his lovers. His hips bucked at the onslaught of pleasure.

Sofi whispered, "None of that. We're meant to be gentle with you."

"It just feels so fucking good," he sighed.

"I'm glad," she murmured before pulling back slightly to give him a view of Ali carefully fellating him while Liv looked up at him apologetically as she moved from between his legs.

Before he could soothe her, she moved up his body to stand beside him and offer her legendary tits to his lips. He reached between her legs to tease her clit while Sofi moved to behind Ali and gently prompted her lover to arch her back. Ali moaned around his cock as Sofi sank her tongue into the inviting folds freely offered up for her feasting. His eyes were as overwhelmed by pleasure as his manhood; the sight of Liv's starboard breast swaying in the foreground as she trembled in pleasure and the expanse of alluring flesh stretching from Ali's eager lips wrapped around his pulsing penis along her glistening back to where Sofi's smiling eyes just peaked out above her perfectly shaped ass.

Rather than trying to hold off the inevitable, he surrendered to the pleasure they offered him so freely. He released Liv's nipple and gasped, "I'm going to cum!"

Ali smiled around his cock and took him deeper into the enticing warmth of her mouth, her tongue eagerly stroking the underside of his manhood in a silent plea for his seed.

"Fuck," he grunted as his orgasm caused his muscles to lock while he erupted into the heaven that was his lover's mouth. She sighed in pleasure as his release coated her insistently coaxing tongue. His body spasmed in ecstasy when Liv and Sofi joined Ali, licking along the sides of his jerking manhood as their lover playfully swirled his pearlescent offering around the head of his cock.

Exultant moans escaped Liv and Sofi's lips as Ali relaxed her grip around the head of his cock to allow a portion of his orgasm to stream down the sides of his towering manhood. The trio eagerly lapped up his release around his still pulsing penis until he gasped, "Too much!" whereupon they rose up to engage in a sloppy three-way kiss until the last of his seed had been hungrily swallowed.

"How is that possible," he whispered hoarsely.

Sofi regarded him somberly. "We're not being coy when we say your cum is delicious, babe."

He shook his head regretfully. "I didn't mean that, honey. I know you'd never lie to me. I meant... how can you three give me more pleasure in a single perfect moment that had previously been experienced by the whole of mankind, across the entirety of human history?"

"Babe," Ali quipped. "That was merely the opening act. I hope Jiya was right about you getting plenty of energy from the dreadful hospital food. You're going to need it."

He climbed to his feet and said, "Lead on, fair Siren."

They tenderly dried him and helped him change into a dry sling. Their efforts were meant to be functional, but their impossibly alluring bodies combined with their obvious love to rapidly bring him back to a state of arousal. They led him to the living room and bid him to sit in the middle of an oversized sectional sofa.

Once he was seated, they stood arm-in-arm in front of him. The sight of their flawless perfection caused him to reach for his throbbing manhood.

Ali grinned at his movement and, after looking briefly at each of her companions, said, "You must choose."

"I choose all of you," he replied serenely.

Her smile went straight to his soul, as did Sofi's tiny giggle and Liv's sigh. Ali said, "I meant, you must choose who you'd like to fuck first."

"I know," he grinned. "But I'd be a fool to pick one when I can have all three."

"Have it your way," she huffed playfully. She whispered briefly to each of her bandmates, and they then approached him enticingly.

Liv climbed astride his midsection and, after kissing him with patient intensity, sank onto his waiting hardness. She leaned back and placed her hands between his knees to support herself, putting her slim body and impossibly full breasts on full display for his voracious eyes.

The vision before him was obscured slightly, however, when Ali, after sharing a lengthy passionate kiss with him, knelt on his right to pleasure Liv's clit with her tongue. Sofi took up what remained of his field of vision when she climbed on the couch and kissed him thoroughly. She then stood and rested one foot behind his good shoulder to bring her captivatingly tiny pussy within reach of his lips.

Izzy sank his tongue into her femininity, drinking deep of her sweet nectar. He discovered that Ali had cleverly placed her perfectly shaped ass within easy reach of his good arm and reached out to pleasure her soaked pussy. It was only his recent orgasm that allowed him to fully enjoy the overwhelming pleasure on offer to him. His lovers, on the other hand, had not yet enjoyed the benefit of a quick release and within moments he felt the telltale constricting of Liv's inner walls around his manhood.

The throaty moans of the captivating bassist filled the expansive living room as the combination of Izzy's cock and Ali's tongue sent her over the brink. Her body shook with the power of her release, and she fell back onto the couch, pulling him from her exquisite heat.

The relative cool of the room on his penis was short-lived, however, as Ali scrambled to take Liv's place. He heard her sultry voice whisper something, quickly followed by Sofi pulling away from him and shifting around to sit on the back of the couch just above his good shoulder.

He pouted briefly until Ali dove between Sofi's toned legs to sample the succulent treat Izzy had been devouring. Moments later, Liv sidled up next to Ali and joined the feast. This placed her in the perfect position for him to caress her breasts momentarily before his hand found its way to the apex of her thighs.

Ali's eager twerking on his cock was growing more frantic as her own pleasure rose, and she momentarily lost her balance and slumped against Izzy. He grunted in pain as she jostled his wounded shoulder, which regretfully brought the collective movements of his lovers to a rapid halt.

"Are you ok?" Liv asked with growing concern at once with Ali gasping, "Babe, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," he soothed in a manner he hoped was reassuring. "You didn't break me."

Ali smiled down at him regretfully and bent to kiss him briefly. "I'm still sorry I hurt you."

As she was speaking, Sofi rose and whispered something playfully in Liv's ear. Liv grinned in response and the pair crawled seductively onto the couch to Izzy's right. Sofi rolled onto her back, with her head near his thigh, and Liv carefully straddled her face before lowering her lips to Sofi's inviting pussy.

Izzy was hard-pressed to choose where to focus; torn between the equally inviting sight of Ali's flawless body as she eagerly rode him, and Sofi's tongue pleasuring Liv's dripping pussy. He chose the former, but only after reaching to alternatively caress Sofi's smiling face and Liv's taut ass.

Ali welcomed his gaze by leaning over to kiss him hungrily before murmuring, "I really am sorry I hurt you."

"I would endure significantly more than a sore shoulder for you, honey."

"I know," she whispered. "Our perfect champion would do anything for his women. We just hope that, in the future, you'll be able to enjoy life with us without all the pain and suffering."

"Sounds like heaven," he sighed.

"I love you so much, babe," she replied with a serene smile. She then threw her head back and loudly declared, "I love Izzy Catalunya!"

"I love you too, beautiful," he murmured in advance of her crushing her lips to his.

The movement of her hips increased to a near frantic pace and Izzy knew her release was imminent. He withdrew his hand from teasing Liv's pretty puckered star and focused on Ali's clit. The instant his thumb touched the bundle of nerves there, her inner walls clenched around his shaft, and she screamed in pleasure.

The ragged thrusting of her hips stilled as waves of pleasure consumed her. Izzy watched in wonder as her body spasmed around his cock until her muscles relaxed and she sank against him. He rubbed her back soothingly until she sighed contentedly and rose up to place a tender kiss on his lips.

"I love you so much," she whispered as their lips parted.

"I've always loved you," he replied softly. He then considered the full import of what he had said and hastened to add, "I mean... not when we first met, and you were basically still a child."

She laughed throatily. "I knew what you meant, babe."

She then rose up and intoned, "Hey, little drummer girl. You want to ride the cock of destiny over here, or are you content eating vagitarian tonight?"

"I told you not to call me that," Sofi grumbled good naturedly as she wiggled out from underneath Liv.

Ali laughed loudly. She stood and announced, "I'll be right back," before walking languidly from the room.

Sofi stood over Izzy with a leg on each side of him and slowly lowered down until her dripping pussy stood poised just above his cock. She winked at him and said, "Any last words?"

"I love you," he replied simply.

She leaned forward and claimed his lips as she sank onto his hardness. She fucked him slowly as their tongues languidly slicked together. He reached out for Liv with his good hand, only to connect with her face rather than the pale skin of her ass.

Sofi, having sensed his movement, released his lips. He looked to his right to find Ali kneeling behind a now prone Liv, a rather imposing strap-on now affixed to her midsection. As he watched, Ali sank into Liv's waiting pussy. Even in all the alluring scenes he had witnessed between his now lovers, rather they were truly inadvertent or staged in an attempt to seduce him, he had never seen the device dubbed 'Ali's Fuck Stick' called into use. He found the sight to be mesmerizing, rather than awkward. At Ali's bidding, Liv rose up onto all fours and her legendary breasts were soon swaying libidinously beneath her. Behind her, Ali's breasts also jiggled alluringly with each eager thrust of her hips.

Siren's frontwoman winked at him and said, "You like?"

"It's... incredible," he gasped as he felt his own pleasure rise toward the point of no return.

Ali reached down and, one at a time, took Liv's wrists in her hands.

"So deep," Liv moaned as her titanic tits shook lusciously with each thrust of Ali's strong hips.

"Gods, that's so fucking sexy," Izzy grunted. Sofi, who's eyes were equally glued to the glorious sight of Ali and Liv's lovemaking, accelerated the movement of her hips in time with their combined pleasure. Izzy looked up at her and stammered, "I'm close, honey."

She bent down and whispered, "I'm so fucking close." She took a ragged breath before stammering, "Izzy... please... cum... inside me."

To his right, he heard Liv cry out, "Oh, fuck! You're going to make me cum!"

"Holy shit," Izzy grunted as he felt himself nearing the precipice.

Despite doctor's orders to the contrary, Izzy frantically thrust up into the welcoming heat of the diminutive drummer as she succumbed to her own pleasure. Her impossibly tight pussy clenched to near painful levels as wave after wave of bliss overwhelmed her.

Helpless to do anything but follow her into rapturous ecstasy, Izzy roared his release and exploded deep within her womb. As though the scene in the shower had been nothing more than a dream, his hips spasmed helplessly as he emptied himself into his eager lover with countless eruptions of his seed.

At length, his hips stilled, and his muscles entered that state of complete relaxation which only a mind-blowing orgasm could provide. He sighed mightily and sank back into the couch. Sofi leaned forward to kiss him tenderly.

When she pulled back, he whispered, "That was incredible."

"We're not done yet," she murmured before slowly rising off him. She moved her hand to the apex of her thighs and tightly held her puffy pussy as soon as his still-hard cock slipped from the creamy confines of her femininity.

Sliding down to lean against his thigh, she began to lovingly kiss along his glistening cock. Growing slowly more bold, the kisses turned into long strokes of her tongue as she lapped up their combined essence.

A loud sigh from her lips caused him to look around inquisitively. His unspoken question was answered at the sight of Liv and Ali kneeling between Sofi's widespread thighs to eagerly share their own creamy reward.

Feast complete, Ali climbed up to lay so that she was spooning Sofi, sharing the pillow that was Izzy's thigh, while Liv moved to mirror them on the other side. He gazed in wonder down at their sweat-soaked bodies, and at their adoring faces.

"How did I get so lucky?" he asked breathlessly.

Ali smiled sleepily and whispered, "Funny. I was just thinking the same thing."

"You three made all my dreams come true."

Liv kissed his skin languidly before murmuring, "We're just getting started, my love."

Coda

Nine Years Later

"My God!" Ali groaned upon entering the stately manor in southwest Scotland. "It's insane out there. It's like the whole of northern England suddenly decided to invade."

"You're not wrong," Liv agreed from where she sat in the living room feeding Izzy's youngest son. "I took the twins to the store yesterday, and it was as though snow was forecast. All of the staples were bought out. We had to drive halfway to Edinburgh to find milk and eggs."

"Honey," Izzy chided. "You should have told me. I could have grabbed something before Bowen and I headed back north."

She smiled brightly. "Something about the thought of you using a helicopter to bring us groceries from London just seemed too absurd. It was fine. I think the twins and I both appreciated the opportunity to get out of the house."

He smiled at her delightful insistence on referring to his five-year-old daughters as twins. It was not entirely inaccurate, considering the girls were both born the same week. The only challenge with the moniker was the fact that Sofi was the older child's mother while Liv had birthed the younger. Not that the young girls were any wiser; each of Izzy's four children referred to all of his wives as Māte, regardless of their technical birth mother. The childrens' grandparents occasionally asked when they would tell the children their true parentage, but Izzy and his wives considered the matter just as irrelevant as whether or not various municipalities recognized their union as legal. They knew they were married, just as they knew each of their children had four parents. Nothing else could possibly matter.

Izzy finished preparing the tray of appetizers he had been assembling and lifted it to head out to the deck where the aforementioned grandparents had assembled along with their non-infant children. Moving outdoors, he spotted Ali's mother pushing her three-year-old grandson on the swings while Sofi's parents attempted to keep up with the twins, who appeared to be retelling a story in their unique whipsaw fashion.

After setting the tray on the table, Izzy took a seat next to his mother who was quietly watching everyone. He studied her for a moment before saying, "You ok?"

She sighed and murmured, "I've missed so much."

Izzy nodded knowingly but could think of nothing to say. Following his father's funeral five months prior, he was finally beginning to develop something approaching a healthy relationship with his mother. One of the reasons they had decided to turn their scheduled performance at the nearby festival into an extended vacation was to give Izzy's mother a chance to spend some extended time with her daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

At length, he said, "Kids are resilient. If you're the grandmother to them that I know you want to be; before you know it, they'll forget there was ever a time when you weren't around."

She looked at him somberly. "It's not just them, Inigo. There's also the matter of your..."

"Wives," he finished. "You'd do well to just allow yourself to admit it."

She frowned. "It's not that I'm judging you, or them, honey. It's just that I've missed so much of your life. When you left home, you were just a child. Now..."

He sighed wearily. "But I wasn't a child. I know I was only seventeen, but I walked out your front door and onto a stage in front of fifty-thousand people. Now? The four of us have played in front of a quarter-million screaming fans in São Paulo."

"I never doubted your talent," she chided. "Just the wisdom of choosing the life of a musician. There have been so many stories of the music business ruining people in the past. I didn't want to lose you." She carefully wiped a tear away before adding, "And yet... that's exactly what I did. I'm not sure I'll ever forgive myself for not being more forceful with your father, God rest his soul."

He shook his head somberly. "That's all in the past now. We're just a three-hour plane trip away. At least when we're not on the road."

"How on earth do you raise small children while you're busy touring?"

"We take them with us," Izzy replied with a shrug. "It's not cheap, but we manage. The entire tour uses what you'd likely mistake for something a major airline would employ. That allows us to keep everything in one place, not to mention giving us plenty of room for the kids to not feel cooped up. Their tutors are part of the tour as truly as the roadies or guitar techs are. We also cut back the touring schedule significantly once Olīvija and Sofija got pregnant with the twins." He paused for a few moments to watch the children play before adding, "Did you decide yet if you're coming to the show?"

His mother looked thoughtful for a long moment. The show in question was the conclusion of Siren's twentieth anniversary tour; a performance at the same festival where Izzy had initially met the women who would become his soulmates seventeen years earlier. Yet rather than being so far down the bill, they were not even asked to play on the main stage, Siren was now the festival's co-headlining act in conjunction with Apotheosis (who were celebrating their own thirty-fifth anniversary).

"Not yet," she answered slowly. "I would love to see you all play, but I also desperately want to get to know my grandchildren."

"It's up to you," Izzy answered lightly. "Just know that you'll have plenty of chances to do both whenever you want. Our house in Jūrmala is no where near this lavish, but we made certain there was plenty of room for visiting grandparents. You just have to coordinate with Alise's mom and Sofija's folks."

"What about the rest of their parents?"

Izzy winced. "Olīvija never knew her dad, and her mom basically abandoned her when she was still in grade school."

"That poor dear," Izzy's mother gushed. "How terrible for her."

"Indeed. It's incredible she survived. A huge credit goes to Sofija's parents who took her in a few years later."

"I was wondering why she treated them like her own parents."

"They saved her, as did Alise and Sofija."

"And Ali's father?"

"He was your typical absentee dad who she suddenly couldn't get rid of once they got famous. Unfortunately, he got greedy and tried to hustle the girls for money a few years after they cut ties with him. He's serving a seven-year sentence for blackmail and fraud in Belgium."

"My goodness. How awful."

"It was his choice," Izzy said evenly. "Good riddance, as far as we're concerned. Ironically, he ended up in the same prison as the cartel kingpin who financed the attempted abductions of the band all those years ago."

"How did that come to pass?"

"It would seem that there are members of the band's fan club whose skills with computers are genuinely terrifying to behold. Once it became known that a quote, unquote, businessman in Bogota was the mastermind behind their beloved Siren's near abduction, a tranche of documents found their way onto the internet which clearly implicated him in multiple murders. Also, more terrifyingly, nearly all of his considerable financial resources had seemingly vanished overnight. Without his money to insulate him; his protection disappeared, and he was arrested days later."

"Gracious," she breathed.

"Never anger the nerds," Izzy said somberly.

"Is that also what happened to Ali's father?"

"No, that was just garden-variety greed, mixed in with an unusual amount of stupid. Like I said, good riddance. Our kids have four wonderful grandparents. That's the standard allotment, right?"

She smiled and said, "Indeed."

A short time later, Sofi exited the house and said, "Oscar just called and said the traffic is getting worse. The S. U. V. will be here in a few minutes to take us to the venue."

Izzy looked to his mother questioningly, to which she replied, "I think I'll stay here. This time."

He smiled and headed inside to help his wives collect their bags for the show.

Ten minutes later, Izzy and Siren were on the road headed to the festival. Liv leaned against him and said, "Everything ok with your mom?"

"I think so," he allowed. "She's still coming to grips with her husband's death, and all the things she missed."

"At least you convinced her to join us this week," Ali said from his other side. "She'll be banging down our door back home to spend time with the kiddos before you know it."

"I suspect you're right. She was a good mom, despite her glaring oversight once I decided to leave home. I told her earlier she'll make an excellent grandmother."

Sofi added, "She was challenging the twins to a board game when we left."

"Did anyone tell her they're possibly telepathic with each other?"

"Why spoil their fun?" Sofi replied with a snicker.

Despite Oscar's worrying, not an altogether unadmirable trait in a band's manager, they arrived at the venue without noticeable delays. Meeting up with the members of Apotheosis backstage, they enjoyed something of a reunion with the group whose destiny had become inextricably linked with their own following the fateful show in New York nine years prior.

"We should play an encore together!" Ali announced excitedly.

"I'm game," Bowen agreed. "But whose song should we play?"

As one, Ali, Sofi and Liv glared at Bowen, who quickly said, "Duh. Stupid question."

The song which the foursome had first played together in New York on Murdock's final night of freedom had become their default closer in the years following. The piece which had started life dubbed 'Selfless' was now referred to even by their fans as 'Izzy's Song'.

Following Apotheosis's set, Izzy stood side-by-side with Bowen backstage as Siren entered to the roar of nearly one-hundred-thousand screaming fans. As they started their opening song, Bowen leaned over and said, "Hell of a journey, my friend."

"Tell me the truth," Izzy replied. "That night, all those years ago in that bar in Jūrmala... did you ever think this would happen?" he finished, gesturing to the tremendous crowd.

"I'll say that I knew it was possible. That's why I made sure you were there, that day seventeen years ago. I knew you'd see the same thing that I did. I knew you'd give them the best possible chance to make it." He smiled widely, an almost comical sight considering Bowen's multi-hued beard, and added. "The part where you found your soulmates, however, was less predictable."

Izzy stood next to his best man as he watched the remainder of Siren's show with an inestimable level of pride and joy. As the end of the show drew near, he moved to collect his guitar: the same guitar which he had sold to finance Siren's third album, and which the band had located and acquired to serve as their gift to him on their first anniversary.

As the band started their penultimate song, Izzy joined Apotheosis to stand by the edge of the stage. They all exchanged words of encouragement with him, showing unguarded respect for their fellow virtuoso.

The crowd roared as Siren finished playing and Bowen and his band made their way onto the stage. Ali smiled brightly at the crowd as she approached the microphone. She allowed the crowd's adulation to wash over them for several long moments before she pulled the mic from the stand and walked to the front of the stage.

She raised her hands in celebration for the glorious crowd, before screaming into the mic, "Thank you Scotland!" The howls from the crowd grew even louder as she gestured to the side of the stage. She shouted, "Whose song do you want to hear?"

"Izzy's Song!" the crowd thundered.

"What?" Ali bellowed jubilantly.

"Izzy's Song!" the crowd boomed so loud that Izzy felt it in his bones.

Ali grinned at her wives triumphantly before turning back to the crowd and shouting, "Ladies and gentleman... the driving force behind Siren... the father of our children... and the love of our lives... Izzy Catalunya!"

Fin

Thanks so much for taking the time to read Izzy's tale. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a review.

The Sirens of Catalunya

by Jake Lazarus

Copyright © 2024 Jake Lazarus

All rights reserved.

This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the author (except for the use of brief quotations in a review).

This is a work of fiction.

Names, characters, businesses, products, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.