When we were around the rest of the band he referred to my job title as 'Tour bus companion' or 'Wardrobe assistant'. Of course, the latter smacks of irony because I was usually doing anything but dressing him.

I still remember the day he asked me to join him on tour. I was sat in the local coffee bar, carelessly staring out of the window as I sipped my cappuccino, when I felt someone creep up behind me and cover my eyes with their hands.

"Guess who?" A low voice whispered.

"Hmmmm...Superman?" I asked, trying to play dumb.

"Not quite, but you're close, babe." He laughed, sliding down onto the chair beside me.

"So, what brings you here, Mr. Big...Superstar?" I asked, deliberately emphasising the word 'big'.

He laughed.

"I thought you were going to refer to something else about me that's rather large for a moment there." He teased.

"Yeah, well maybe I wanted to. After all, I know only to well what a big mouth you have." I giggled and pulled my tongue out at him playfully.

"If you think my mouth's big you should see my cock." He whispered, then as an after thought, "Oh yeah, you have."

I giggled flirtatiously and touched his arm. He smiled. There was a short silence as we both remembered how many times wed' helped each other out when one or both of us had been drunk, depressed or horny. It was a pretty solid friendship. In fact, it was one of the only friendships I could ever call real.

"You didn't answer my question." I pointed out after another sip of my cappuccino.

Ville looked slightly confused.

"I asked you what brings you to a quiet coffee shop in London and you never answered." I reminded him.

"Well, I thought I'd come to pay a visit to my best girl in all the world...but since she wasn't home, I came to see if I could find you instead." He joked.

I giggled slightly. We both found it immensely difficult not to joke around when we weren't caught in a flurry of lust, but it was all in fun, it was what I liked about spending time with him.

"So you're looking for a blow-job?" I asked.

After all of the things wed done together, there was no point avoiding the obvious or making up stupid pet names to disguise the fact that we would fuck every once in a while.

He laughed awkwardly.

"It's a little more than that actually." He told me honestly.

"Oh, so what are you wanting? Full sex, anal, a night of no-holds-barred BDSM?" I asked casually.

We suddenly caught each other's eyes and started to giggle. It was one thing helping each other out, but being so blasé about bondage in the middle of a quiet coffee shop was something quite different.

"It's a little more than that too." He admitted.

"Fucking hell, Ville. What is it youre wanting? I'd better be able to walk tomorrow morning!" I laughed.

"It's a bit difficult to say here." He explained. "Can we go somewhere a little more private? Like your place, maybe?"

I agreed and we made our way to the nearest tube station.

Admittedly, I hate the tube, I would've normally walked, but Ville's request looked so urgent that I didn't want to make him wait too long.

I drummed my fingers on the iron pole of the tube train as I held tightly onto it. Luckily, the carriage wasn't too full so I hadn't completely lost the will to live. Ville leaned close to me and whispered conspiratorially into my ear.

"We get off at the next stop, am I right?" He asked.

I knew he'd phrased his question deliberately to hint to me what he wanted once we were back at my flat. I nodded and gave him a cheeky smile.

Once back at my flat, I bolted the door and followed Ville into the living room. He sat down casually on the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table. My place was practically a second home to him when he visited London.

Want a drink or something? I asked.

The flat was only small and the living room and kitchen were combined.

"No thanks, sweetheart." He replied, "Come and sit down."

He patted the cushion beside him. I joined him on the sofa, also putting my feet onto the old, wooden coffee table.

"My little Laura." Ville said lovingly, as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Do you remember how we met?" He asked, thoughtfully.

I smirked. How could I forget? It doesn't happen very often that you meet your best friend in the world in a strip club. To be fair, I wasn't a stripper. I'd applied to be a stripper, but the manager had decided to pay me the same amount of money to work the bar and flirt with the punters whilst wearing a very skimpy dress.

The reason why was quite simple, my manager had realised that I could be an even bigger cock-tease when I was talking than most of the girls could ever achieve whilst undressing. I was famous at that place. In fact, some of the older customers spent more time next to the bar than they did watching the half-naked girls gyrating. Of course, I loved the attention.

Sadly, the owner of the club, Marko, died of a drug overdose after I'd been working there for about three and a half years. We all knew he was dabbling with various different substances, but the girls would either join him or ignore it. It was an E that killed him eventually.

He didn't think about consequences, he only thought of the short bliss that his actions would cause. This didn't make him a bad person, though. He was just a little unsatisfied with life, always escaping something. Aside from Ville, he was one of the only men I'd ever been close to. We would hang out in the club after hours and whilst cleaning up, he would tell me stories of his crazy youth. He may have only lived 43 years, but his short life was packed with action. When he died, I left my job. I couldn't bear to work there without Marko. It seemed wrong and unnatural.

After I left, a man called Bradley took over. He wasn't like Marko, he turned the simple strip bar into a brothel and it was renowned for shows of physical and sexual abuse. Some of the girls I'd known got out; others fell under Bradley's spell and found themselves in a downward spiral. Bradley was finally found dead in the apartment above the club, a year after his reign of terror had started. Since then, the buildings been left to wreck and ruin.

I sighed.

"Yeah, I remember the night only too well." I told Ville. "You came in with two other guys, but you just didn't seem interested in it all so I got talking to you."

"And you were the coolest girl I'd ever seen, happy and confident. Everyone loved you and you took the time to talk to me...and get me drunk. I knew I had to get to know you." He reminisced. "I still think youre the coolest girl I've ever seen."

I grinned as I remembered how Ville sat on one of the barstools, ignoring the top-less dancer behind him, gyrating against a pole, and how I kept filling his glass and making casual conversation. It may have been a strange meeting, but from it sprouted the greatest friendship I've ever known.

"So, what were you wanting to ask me earlier?" I asked, my mind zipping from the past back to the present.

Ville removed his arm from around my shoulders, and turned in his seat so that his entire body was pointing towards me. I turned too so that we were facing each other. What he was about to ask seemed as though it was going to be important.

"The thing is, Laura. The band are going on tour next month." He told me, looking somewhere between sad and nervous as he did.

"So we won't see each other for about 6 months?" I asked.

I felt a pang of sadness hit me, I was going to miss his company and though it sounds seedy, I was going to miss the sex.

"Well, that's the thing..." He began, I was wondering whether you wanted to come along. There's space on the tour bus and everything. I thought maybe we could help each other out every now and then while on the road.

I couldn't help but grin. I knew the horny rush of lust that coursed through Ville while he was onstage. I was going to be helping him out a lot.

"So, what do you think?" He asked. It was one of the first times he'd ever sounded genuinely nervous of something I was going to say.

"I think it sounds fantastic! A trip around the world with my best friend, what is there not to like?" I laughed, excitedly.

I watched as his face broke into a genuine, relieved smile and he pulled me into a warm hug.

That's how it all started. That's how I came to join Ville and his band, HIM, on tour and travel the world whilst spending quality time with my closest friend. It seemed almost perfect, the keyword being almost. The tour sparked something, a fire that had never really burned before in my life. The tour was going to cause my emotions to spin beyond restraint as something bubbled within my soul.