Damien (Demons from Hell Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Books by Zane Morrow

  About Zane Morrow

  Damien

  Demons from Hell: Book One

  Zane Morrow

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Books by Zane Morrow

  About Zane Morrow

  Copyright © 2017 by Zane Morrow

  1st Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever including Internet usage, without written permission of the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover by Marisa Shor of Cover Me, Darling

  Formatting by: Love Kissed Books

  Created with Vellum

  1

  Damien

  “I don’t need a fucking babysitter.”

  I leaned back my chair and put my feet up on the desk of the record label manager. I crossed my ankles and examined the skull ring on my left hand. All the guys in the band had one. It was our logo.

  “Like hell you don’t,” Joel growled red-faced, holding up a stack of gossip rags. The top one showed me in a drunken stupor with my eyes half-closed and my arms around some ladies. I don’t remember their names, but we sure had a good time that night. At least I think so.

  “You went streaking down The Strip in Vegas. Or were you too drunk to remember?” He tossed the pile in the trash. “The record label has had it with your antics. We had to do a lot of swift talking to get you out of this one and frankly, we’re done. I wanted to let your band go, but you’re lucky; you make us a lot of money. Instead, the board came up with the idea of hiring someone to go on tour with you to monitor your behavior and prevent future indiscretions.”

  “A fucking babysitter,” I muttered under my breath. Truth be told, I remembered very little about the night in Vegas. Lately, I was remembering very little about most nights.

  We had been in town for a show and partied hard before. And during. And after. I couldn’t help it; every time I turned around, someone else was shoving a shot or a drink in my hand. The alcohol flowed and the drugs were plentiful. I didn’t touch drugs, but I seemed to have no self-control when it came to booze.

  So, I liked to party. I was a rock star – it was what I did. It was expected, practically part of the job description.

  The last thing I remembered was being shoved into the back of a squad car with someone’s jacket wrapped around me. I passed out and woke up back in my hotel room with a killer headache.

  “We can’t keep cleaning up your messes, Damien.” Joel stood up from his desk and walked around to the front. He eyed my feet propped on his desk and I quickly set them back down on the floor. “This is getting old. At first we laughed and dismissed it as rock stars behaving badly.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “The fans found it charming, for lack of a better word, and your sales were through the roof, so we gave you a free pass. But we can’t anymore. There are a lot of families in Vegas these days. After your little stunt, I can’t even count the number of people breathing down my neck.”

  “I was just having some fun,” I protested half-heartedly. Even I had to admit it wasn’t cool to run around naked with kids nearby.

  “Right,” he replied dryly. “So you have two choices. You can accept this so-called babysitter, or you’re fired and we find the Demons of Hell a new lead singer.”

  “You can’t be serious.” My heart started pounding in my chest. Music was my life, my whole identity. Without it, I was nothing and no one.

  “Oh, I am.” Joel smirked and I had to fight the urge to smack him across the face. I hated music executives. I hated management and all they stood for. Unfortunately, they were a necessary evil in this business.

  He pushed himself off the edge of his desk and moved to sit back down in his chair. “I have someone in mind already. She’s an assistant here at the label, but she’d be perfect.”

  “Great.” I rolled my eyes. “Are we done?” I wanted to get out of here and get drunk until I passed out and forgot all about this conversation.

  Joel nodded. “Sure. I’ll email the details about when she’ll be joining you. Her name is Lydia and I expect you to be nice or you’re finished. Is that clear?”

  “Crystal!” I snapped and left his office without saying another word. If I didn’t get out of there now, I was going to lose my shit.

  I threw on my aviator shades and hurried out of the building, ignoring anyone who tried to talk to me; I was in no mood. Normally, I loved stopping and talking to fans, signing autographs and taking my picture with them, but not today.

  I hated to admit it, but I fucked up. Big time. Now I’d been socially castrated and assigned a lame babysitter named Lydia. I shivered as I tried to picture the kind of shrew he’d stick me with. I bet she was an old lady who wore her hair back in a bun and didn’t even know who I was. That would be my luck. Whoever she was, I wasn’t going to let her put a damper on my tour fun. I still planned to get drunk and fuck the gorgeous ladies who threw themselves at me every goddamn night.

  I jumped onto my Harley and tore out of the parking lot, taking the long way back to my place in the hills. Riding cleared my head and I wanted to postpone telling the other guys about my babysitter for as long as possible. They were going to have a field day with this and I’d probably never hear the end of it.

  Fuck my life.

  I arrived home to find Zeke, my best friend and the drummer of the band, waiting for me. He was sitting in his car, music blaring. He had on his black Ray-Ban sunglasses, his blonde shoulder-length hair hung down around his face.

  I parked my bike and as I approached his car, noticed he wasn’t alone. He was getting head from some chick I’d never seen before. I watched for a second as his hand knotted in her hair, and directed her up and down while he leaned back against the headrest.

  With an evil grin, I knocked hard on the window and watched the poor girl jump and scamper back into the passenger seat. Zeke’s cock was hanging out as he shot me a dirty look and tucked it back in before storming out of the car. I always laughed when I watched him emerge from his tiny car. At 6’4” tall, he essentially had to unfold himself while dressed in his jeans and black leather jacket, which was always a sight to behold.

  “Wait here.” He grumbled the instructions to the blonde. Then he turned his attention to me, glaring over the rims of his sunglasses. He adjusted his pants and leaned on his car. “How was your meeting?”

  I grunt in return, trying not to look him directly in the eyes. Zeke and I have been friends since we were eight years old – there’s not much I can keep from him. Ever.

  “Who’s the chick?” I nod toward his car, hoping I can divert his attention away from me.

  “A friend,” he answers quickly. “So what happened?”

  “Nothing much. You know. The usual. Joel reamed my ass, threatened to replace me, and instead stuck me with a
keeper.” I shrugged. “No big deal.” He was going to find out eventually anyway, but I hoped to downplay it as much as possible. Plus, telling him now would give him a chance to make fun of me while we were alone before the rest of the band and crew were around to hear out about Lydia.

  He threw his head back and roared with laughter. I didn’t say anything, but let him get it out of his system.

  “Are you finished?” I asked dryly.

  He lifted the edge of his t-shirt, revealing a six-pack stomach, while he wiped the fake tears from his eyes. “I think so.” Zeke winked playfully. With his aversion to alcohol and drugs, he’d never need a sitter. Never one to party, his only vice was women. “Who’s this babysitter? Someone’s coming out on tour with us?”

  I nodded. “Her name is Lydia. She’s an assistant now. Probably some old hag.” I sighed. “And yes, she’s coming on tour with us.” I crossed my arms over my chest. The bike ride home had soothed me, but after telling Zeke and thinking more about it, I was getting pissed off all over again.

  “Well, that should be fun.” He snickered.

  “Right.” My voice dripped with sarcasm. I was going to have to figure out a way to ditch this babysitter or make her so annoyed with me, she quits. The key would be to not get into any trouble so I get fired, but not have this Lydia hanging around. I was a smart guy; I’m sure I could figure something out.

  This babysitter had no idea what she was in for.

  2

  Lydia

  The commotion inside my boss’s office today was crazy. He had been in and out of meetings that left him red in the face. The executives from upstairs had even paid a visit.

  “What do you think is going on?”

  I jumped at the voice of my best friend and fellow assistant Mia. She was standing in the walkway of my cubicle, trying to see what was going on in my boss’s office through the tiny slats in the window blinds.

  “I have no idea.” I focused on my emails, trying to pretend I didn’t care what was happening. “I’m sure he’ll tell me if I need to know.”

  Mia snorted. “Yeah right. Nobody tells us anything, even though we’re the ones who really run this place.”

  I couldn’t argue with her there. I’d been an executive assistant at Ryan and Sons record label for two years and I was still amazed at the information they kept from us sometimes, especially when we were the ones who had to clean up their messes.

  I’d moved to LA from Madison, Wisconsin four years ago. I couldn’t sing a note if my life depended on it, but I was crazy about music. All my life, I’d longed to work in the music business. For a long time, I pounded the pavement and worked two jobs, one as a waitress and the other as a bartender, before getting the job here. I tucked my auburn hair behind my ear and began to furiously type a response to an email.

  “I don’t know why you work so hard, Lydia. No one even notices,” she muttered before going over to the coffee machine to gossip with a couple other assistants who were watching the scene before us.

  My boss’s office door swung open and he came flying out. “Lydia!” He stopped at my cubicle. “I need to see you.” Tanner swiped at his brow before turning on his heels.

  He rushed back into his office before I could even respond. I bit my lip, the butterflies going into overdrive in my stomach. I smoothed my hands down my Capri jeans and adjusted my shirt. As I made my way to his office, I quickly checked my reflection in the office window, making sure I didn’t have any crazy flyaway hairs from my high ponytail.

  As I entered his office, I caught my boss pouring himself a handful of antacids. He tossed them into his mouth. “Have a seat,” Tanner instructed, his words muffled by the medicine in his mouth.

  My palms were sweating now and I felt like I was going to barf. I sat down at the chair across from him and folded my hands in my lap.

  “I’m going to cut right to the chase, Lydia.” Tanner paused to chew and swallow the chalky tablets. After washing it down with a sip from the water bottle on his desk, he leaned heavily on the wood while he stared at me.

  My heart dropped and I replayed everything I’d done in the past two years. Still, I couldn’t think of a single thing, which might’ve gotten me fired. If anything, I was a model assistant – the first one in every morning and the last one to leave every night. I made sure to make myself indispensable to my boss.

  “Are you familiar with Damien Cross?”

  Was he kidding? The man was only the biggest rock star out there right now. I knew he was on our label and always hoped to get a glimpse of him, but so far all I’d seen was the back of his head a few times.

  “I do, sir.” I kept my cool. Fangirling over Damien Cross would only make me look stupid. No one would ever take me seriously.

  “You’ve heard about his Las Vegas incident, no doubt.” He scrubbed his hand over his face. Tanner looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days or slept for that matter, which made sense as he’d been working overtime since Damien got into trouble.

  “I have.” It was all over the news and the cover of every gossip magazine you could think of.

  “We’re trying to do damage control. Thankfully the president of the record company called in some favors and he won’t face any charges, but this has been a major fuck up. Running up and down the Strip naked around small kids is no way to win fans. A lot of people are pissed he’s not facing harsher punishment. We’ve made a commitment to ensure he behaves, or we’ll have to release his band from the label.”

  I nodded in agreement but I wondered where he was going with this. I had nothing to do with Damien or his band. The artists we worked with at the label actually were the young pop singers. Why was he telling me all of this?

  “This is where you come in.” Tanner took a deep breath.

  “How so?” I frowned. It was almost as if he was talking in riddles.

  “The guys upstairs want you to be Damien’s ‘babysitter,’ for lack of a better term.” He paused, letting it sink it. “You would stick with him on tour, when he went out, basically everywhere he went except home.”

  I opened and closed my mouth a few times, not sure how to respond. I was a nobody at the label - just someone’s assistant. Why in the world would they pick me of all people?

  “Me?” I finally managed to blurt out.

  “Yes.” He shook his head. “I tried to get them to change their minds. I hate to lose you, but people higher up on the food chain made the decision. There wasn’t much I could do.”

  “I guess I need more of an explanation. What exactly does this entail?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. Maybe they want you to be his conscience so if he starts doing something stupid, like take his clothes off and run around naked, you can stop him or call someone to stop him, before it escalates into something bigger.” He waved his hand as if to dismiss the whole idea as ridiculous.

  “So I’m like a snitch basically?” Great, the fate of Damien Cross’s career now laid in my hands. Every girl’s dream…or not.

  “Sounds fun, doesn’t it?” Tanner chuckled and shook his head.

  “Why me? There are literally hundreds of other employees at the label. Why was I chosen out of everyone?” My heart raced in my chest and I gripped the chair.

  “They combed through every employee’s HR file. You’re the lucky winner.” He grinned while rubbing the back of his neck.

  There was a knock on the door and when it opened, there stood the president of the label. He smiled when he saw me.

  “I trust you’ve told Lydia about her new assignment?” He came into the office and I stood up. He shook my hand. “Robert Ryan.”

  “Nice to meet you sir.” My heart was pounding in my chest. As stupid as this idea sounded when my boss first told me about it, now the top dog at the label was talking to me about it. This could be my chance to get noticed and finally move up the ladder.

  “Sit back down, please.” He motioned towards my chair. I prayed he couldn’t see how my hands were shak
ing.

  Mr. Ryan turned to face me. “I’m not sure how much your boss has told you, but we need someone reliable to stick with Damien Cross and make sure he doesn’t do anything dumb again. He’s worth way too much money to this record label to be sitting in jail or worse, lose public favor.” He leaned in. “What I say here doesn’t leave the room, but he and his band account for forty percent of our sales.”

  Before I realized what happened, my mouth formed a little ‘o’ in shock. The weight of my new position weighed on me. “I can’t do this.” I closed my eyes.

  After blowing out a breath, Mr. Ryan spoke again. “I’m sure you’re aware you account for zero percent of our sales.”

  I swallowed hard and nodded, my eyes wide. “Yes.” My voice squeaked slightly and I could feel my cheeks redden.

  “So you’ll understand we’ll have little use for you if you decide to refuse this promotion.” He clapped his hands together and stared at me expectantly.

  I glanced over at Tanner who couldn’t even meet my gaze. Obviously, I was in this alone. Apparently, I hadn’t made myself invaluable enough. I sighed. “Really, it’s an honor, sir.” Then I folded my hands in my lap and snap my jaw shut so I don’t accidentally speak some of the thoughts racing through my head. For example, this is an honor, but not one I want. How had I managed to get chosen for this impossible task? Couldn’t I just walk on water or turn water to wine instead? Those jobs seemed easier than keeping Damien Cross out of trouble.

  “There. So now we have an understanding. This isn’t simply about rock stars behaving badly, it’s the fate of our company. We’re leaving it all in your very capable hands, Lydia.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Ryan.” I tried to smile, but given his frown, I’m confident I failed miserably.

  “Great.” He put his hands on this knees and stood up. My boss and I stood up as well. “I want you to meet with some people in the conference room upstairs later at two o’clock. They will go over more of the details with you. I trust you’ll be there.”