Philautia || Amour Éternel Series BOOK ONE ||

One - SHANNON

MARCH 2014

Laughter jarred Shannon from his sleep. His heart raced for a brief second as his brain tried to place him into familiar surroundings. He blinked rapidly, looking around the small room. His eyes landed on his suitcase and he remembered that he'd been traveling. Then he heard Jared's voice from behind a door and he remembered the tour. They were in London promoting the new album. He sat up and his heart rate slowed as he yawned. A few shoulder rolls were futile against the tension in his neck, but it was all he could do at the moment. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants from the floor and slid a hoodie over his head before opening the door to his room and walking into the living area.

"Ah, Sleeping Beauty," Tomo joked. "Decided to join us?"

Shannon yawned and slid a pair of sunglasses over his tired eyes, flipping his middle finger up at the guitarist before slumping into the buttery leather sofa. He grabbed a scone from the coffee table and took a bite out of it, not caring that he was dropping crumbs on his shirt. Jared looked at him and rolled his eyes as he continued his phone call.

"No, yeah that works," Jared said into his cell phone, knocking Shannon's feet off of the coffee table and giving him a glare. "I was thinking maybe we could try to schedule it for some time in the next week. That way it'll give us time to sell tickets and hype it up a bit."

Shannon finished his scone and immediately picked up a coffee mug and filled it to the brim with dark liquid from a carafe. He chugged several inches of it down before letting out a contented sigh. He turned to their tour manager, Eric

"What do we have on the books for today?" he asked.

"You guys, plus Shayla and Dan, are heading over to the BBC for a TV interview and performance," the younger man said. "Then we're going over to the venue to soundcheck so we don't have to do it tomorrow afternoon before the show."

Shannon looked at his brother. "What's he doing then?" he asked.

"We're setting up a short notice VYRT," Reni told him. "Probably in Germany next week."

"Can we do that?" Shannon asked the younger woman. "Every other time you guys have tried to set one up, it was a giant cluster-fuck."

The event manager glared at him. "I'm aware of that, thank you," she answered dully.

He grinned at his smart-ass comment as she got up and walked out of the room. By that time, Jared was finished with his phone call and typing away on his laptop. Shannon shook his head. His brother was a control freak; he couldn't handle less than perfection and had difficulty delegating any task bigger than a cup of coffee to anyone he didn't absolutely trust. The result was him being overworked and exhausted ninety percent of the time.

"Eric, when do we need to leave for the BBC?" Jared asked, sipping a cup of tea.

Eric glanced at his watch. "In ten minutes."

"Shannon, you should probably put some real clothes on," Shayla said as the room descended into chaos.

Shannon stood and walked back to his bedroom as ten other bodies leapt into motion. Jared remained on the sofa, typing. Tomo stepped out onto the balcony to make a phone call. Stevie grabbed the last scone and drained the carafe before darting out of the suite. Shayla grabbed her ever-present shoulder bag and trotted off to find Reni. Eric and several remaining roadies went into the hallway to have a quick conversation. Everyone had their tasks and got right down to them.

That's what Shannon enjoyed the most about touring. Knowing that he was constantly busy kept him from going insane from the monotony of "hurry-up-and-wait". Touring was a fast-paced venture, but there was an awful lot of sitting around, doing nothing too. He quickly pulled a fresh outfit from his suitcase and hopped into the shower. After a quick hose-off, he dressed in a pair of jeans, a plain black t-shirt, and a leather jacket. He opened his door just in time to see everyone gathering at the door to leave. He slid on a pair of beat-up biker boots and jogged after them into the hallway.