Al Steiner
Intemperance #2
Standing On Top
Chapter 1a
The End Of The Road
November 12, 1986
11:25 AM
Jake Kingsley, lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Intemperance, sat in the plush seat of the Lear jet, looking out the left side window. He could see the farmland of California's Great Central Valley some forty-two thousand feet below, could see the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the distance. On the table before him was an ashtray with a smoldering cigarette in it and a fresh glass of Chardonnay that Julie, the Lear's cabin servant, had just placed before him. It was his second glass of wine of the day, his fourth drink. He had started the flight from Seattle with two pale bloody Marys. He had a very mild buzz going. These days it took a little more than three drinks to get his motor running.
"This is the way to travel, ain't it, Nerdly?" Jake asked Bill Archer — affectionately known as "Nerdly" by the rest of the band. Bill was the group's pianist and, as of the Balance Of Power tour they'd just finished up, their unofficial concert sound technician.
Bill, like Jake, was dressed casually for the flight, wearing only a pair of loose-fitting sweat pants and a button down, collared shirt. His hair was cut militarily short and he sported large, horn-rimmed glasses over his eyes. Currently he was sipping from a glass of milk and running his hand up and down the lovely upper thigh of Julie beneath her skirt. "Oh yes," he said dreamily as Julie giggled. "Private luxury aviation is far superior to even first class commercial air travel." He ran his hand up a little higher, making it disappear completely from sight and making Julie squeal a little. "Far superior."
Jake smiled and turned back to his view out the window, taking another drag from his smoke, another sip from his wine. This really was the way to travel, especially after spending the last six months traveling by tour bus all over the country. The bus was comfortable, and with only seven people in it, not very crowded, but it was slow. The trips from each venue to the next averaged anywhere from four to twelve hours. Intemperance's last show of the tour had been in Seattle the previous night. All of the tour trucks, the roadie buses, and the main tour bus would be pulling out of the rainy city soon and starting the twenty hour drive back to Los Angeles. Jake and Bill had decided not to be a part of it. They were making good money from their latest album and had raked in quite a bit from tour profits and merchandising as well. Though their first royalty checks in July had been completely negated by the "recoupable expenses" clauses in their contract their October checks had been quite healthy indeed, especially considering that Balance Of Power, the album, had gone triple platinum and two of their singles had sold over four million copies as well. The last he'd checked, Jake had just under 1.6 million dollars sitting in his bank account although a good portion of that needed to be earmarked for taxes. Even so, he thought that splurging on a chartered air flight to get him home as quickly as possible would not bankrupt him. Bill had come to the same conclusion and had gone in half with him on the eighteen thousand dollar bill. Matt Tisdale, John Cooper, and Darren Appleman — the band's lead guitarist, drummer, and bass player, respectively — had all been offered the chance to get in on the flight as well. Matt declined because he had arranged his own private flight to Cabo San Lucas to get out of the winter conditions they'd spent the last two months in and try some sport fishing — which he'd become obsessed with — at what Sammy Hagar had told him was the fisherman's paradise. Coop — as John Cooper was known by friends and fans alike — had elected to go with Matt. Darren, who had been sullen and rather unpleasant for most of the tour, had declined everyone's offers, electing to just stay with the tour bus.
"I don't make enough fuckin' money to be blowin' it on six thousand dollar airplane rides," he'd told them. "I don't have the fuckin' endorsement contracts or songwriting royalties that some people have."
"Your choice," Jake had responded to him, giving him nothing more than a simple shrug. It was the way he'd developed to deal with most of Darren's tantrums. In truth, however, he worried about Darren. The bass player had developed a hefty heroin habit after their second tour and had been forcibly removed from the habit after Intemperance re-negotiated their original contract with National Records. Though Coop had gone through the same thing, Coop seemed to be happy to be off the heavy drug and back to the normal intoxicants like alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine. Darren, on the other hand, seemed like he was nothing but resentful.
"We're going to have to keep an eye on Darren," Jake told Bill as the Lear had roared into the sky from Seattle-Tacoma airport two hours ago. "I don't think he's meant to walk the straight and narrow."
"I agree," Bill agreed. He then turned to more important things. "Did you see the spherical quality of the mammaries on our stewardess? I'd love to palpate them in more than a clinical manner."
And now, as the plane banked gently to the right, making a miniscule course change that would put it on its final heading for Los Angeles, Nerdly seemed to be well on his way to that goal. Jake heard the wet smacking sound of lips in contact with each other. He turned and saw that Nerdly now had the stewardess straddling his lap while they sucked on each other's tongues. Bill's hands had pushed her dress all the way up over her ass and he was squeezing her cheeks through her panties.
Their kiss broke. Julie was flushed and a little breathless.
"Let's go visit the lavatory," Bill suggested, nibbling on her ear.
"I can't," she said. "I could get fired just for doing this. If one of the pilots catches me it's my ass."
"But I want to penetrate your vaginal orifice," Bill told her. "It's been almost twelve hours since I last copulated."
"How about after we land?" she asked. "We're laying over in LA for about six hours to pick up another client. I can come over to your place."
Bill thought this over a few moments, no doubt wondering if he should go for the easy score or go out to one of the clubs and hunt up something better once he got back home. Even though he was nerdly, he was also Nerdly of Intemperance — one of the hottest rock bands of the year — and, like every other member of Intemperance, when he wanted some sex, he got it.
He decided to go with the easy score since he knew he probably wouldn't feel like going out once he arrived home. "Okay," he told her. "It's a rendezvous. But how about a little oral copulation at least? I'm really feeling congested in my nether regions."
"Right here?" she whispered.
"Right here," he confirmed. "Jake won't mind, will you, Jake?"
"Not at all," Jake said truthfully. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd been in close proximity when one of his bandmates was getting his helmet buffed. Such was the life of a rock star.
Julie required a little more convincing but soon she was down on her knees between Bill's legs, her head bobbing up and down, wet slurping sounds emanating from Bill's lap. Jake looked out the window again and sipped his wine, wondering for perhaps the thousandth time just what it was about rock musicians that made perfectly ordinary women — which was what Julie seemed to be — act like the most depraved sluts when in their presence.
Julie had already offered herself to Jake. This had been while they were still taxiing to the runway back in Seattle. That was part of the persona. Women always went for Jake or for Matt first — dependent on their personality — but readily accepted Bill, Coop, or Darren (in that order generally) as secondary prospects. They just had to screw rock stars.