The Rocker Who Wants Me
Page 26
“Can’t say that I have,” I assured him dryly.
He snorted. “Yeah, well it’s uncomfortable as hell. But the bathroom is bigger because of the lack of bedroom, and the shower is twice as wide as that one over there.”
“Sounds fun,” Linc said as he checked over his PT inventory. “Dallas, do you need me to bring anything else? I’ve got your luggage stored under the bus and put your pillows on your bed.”
“I’m good. Thanks for helping me.” Thanks for letting me jump on the bus so I didn’t have to see or speak to anyone else, was what I really meant to say. Linc nodded, letting me know that he had heard what I really had meant from my thanks. It was one of the million things I took for granted. Linc was tied for second place as my best friend in the entire freaking world, Lana being my second bestie too despite having only met her when she first moved to New York for college a few years ago. Linc had been around almost as long as Harper, and he knew me better than I knew myself. Sometimes.
I’d been avoiding everyone this past week, even Linc and Natalie. I would have even avoided Liam if I weren’t his nurse. Kind of hard to avoid someone when you were in charge of making sure they got their meds along with a dozen other things that I had to take care of. Thankfully, if Liam saw the change in me, he hadn’t called me on it. I wasn’t ready to talk about what was going on inside my head. Didn’t know if I would ever be. If Harper was here, she would have forced the topic by now, and for once I was glad she was on the West Coast with her ex-slut, rocker husband.
Everyone was piling onto the buses now. I heard Natalie yelling at the guys outside the bus, telling them to hurry their asses up. I had a copy of the schedule for the next week and knew she was going to make sure that it was followed to the letter. Natalie worked her ass off for Emmie and would always endeavor to make Em never regret hiring her even though she’d had no experience.
First stop was at Panama City Beach, before traveling to Orlando to perform at the Hard Rock at Universal Studios. Then it was up to Georgia for a few stops. That was all I knew, but I assumed we would then go to South Carolina followed by North Carolina and so on since it was an East Coast states tour.
From the front of the bus I heard Marissa and Wroth getting settled and once I was sure that Liam was okay I went to join them since I smelled coffee. I was just taking my seat on the long couch when the bus started moving. Natalie shot me a text telling me to rest up now, because it was going to be crazy once we got to the venue. More than likely the guys would want to go to the club afterwards and if Liam was going then I had to go too. Not that I was going to turn down a night at a club. I would kill for a night out just dancing and getting my drink on.
Two hours into the trip Wroth went to take a nap, leaving me along with Marissa since Linc was doing the same. We spent the next few hours painting our nails and I finally got to do what I’d been aching to do from the first time I had seen all of Marissa’s long, gloriously dark hair. There was so much of it and it felt so silky that it took me forever to get it braided, but by the time I was done it was beautiful in a side fish-tail braid.
While I worked on her hair I’d wanted to ask her about what was going on with her and Wroth. Over the last month I had seen things that had left me with nothing but questions where Marissa and Wroth were concerned. Like the tortured look in Wroth’s eyes whenever he looked at Marissa when she was unaware. Or the longing in Marissa’s eyes when he had his back turned. The way Wroth was so gentle with Marissa when it was public knowledge that Wroth was a woman-hater and wasn’t exactly gentle when it came to sex. More than a few one night stands had sold their story to whatever tabloid that would pay the big bucks for their sordid tales of the adventure they had had in Wroth Niall’s bed.
I knew that there wasn’t any blood relation between Marissa and Wroth, so I was beyond curious to know what the story was behind their relationship. But I kept my mouth shut on that subject because I didn’t want to embarrass Marissa in case she wasn’t comfortable talking to me about it. She was far too sweet to put her through something that was going to make her uncomfortable around me.
It was barely after lunch when the bus driver surprised me and stopped. A few minutes later the door opened and Natalie stepped into the living room. I looked up from the movie that we had been watching and frowned at her. “What’s going on?”
“Liam and Wroth need to come onto the other bus so that the guys can go over their set for tonight. There won’t be time once we get there.” She dropped down onto the couch next to me. “Remind me to google pranks later. I’ve got to find something kick ass to get back at Zander and Devlin with.”
“What did they do to you?” Marissa asked from her spot on the floor where she was adding some cute artistic designs to her toenails. “Did they Saran wrap the toilet and you ended up peeing on yourself because it ran into your pants instead of the toilet?”
Natalie made a distressed noise and covered her face with both hands. “How did you know?”
“Happened to me when I was seventeen.” She grinned and shook her head. “Don’t worry. I’ve learned a few things over the years. I’ll help you get back at them.”
“Promise?”
“Of course.” Marissa stood and hobbled to the recliner so that she didn’t mess up her artwork. A moment later Linc helped Liam down the hall and Wroth followed behind him. I watched them get off the bus, impatiently waiting for us to get on the road again.
Linc finally got back onto the bus. “Liam wants you on the other bus with him, Dallas.”
“He shouldn’t need me over there,” I grumbled. I didn’t want to go on the other bus. I didn’t want to be that close to Axton. I’d worked hard to not have to go near him for almost a full week. Which also meant that our late night private time hadn’t happened. Something I wasn’t disappointed about, nor craving more of. I wasn’t. I. Wasn’t.
“He just said to tell you to get your ass over there. Everyone over there seems to be in a pissy mood anyway.” Linc shot Natalie a questioning frown. “You been pissing on everyone this morning?”
She shot him the finger. “Shut up, muscle head. If anyone should be pissed it’s me. I had to change my clothes and clean up a big puddle of pee.”
There was a honking from the other bus and I muttered a curse as I got to my feet. “Fucking rock stars.” I stomped down the stairs and raced onto the second bus since I hadn’t grabbed my coat. As soon as I was on board, the driver shut the door and I shot him a glare before stepping through to the living room.
He snorted. “Yeah, well it’s uncomfortable as hell. But the bathroom is bigger because of the lack of bedroom, and the shower is twice as wide as that one over there.”
“Sounds fun,” Linc said as he checked over his PT inventory. “Dallas, do you need me to bring anything else? I’ve got your luggage stored under the bus and put your pillows on your bed.”
“I’m good. Thanks for helping me.” Thanks for letting me jump on the bus so I didn’t have to see or speak to anyone else, was what I really meant to say. Linc nodded, letting me know that he had heard what I really had meant from my thanks. It was one of the million things I took for granted. Linc was tied for second place as my best friend in the entire freaking world, Lana being my second bestie too despite having only met her when she first moved to New York for college a few years ago. Linc had been around almost as long as Harper, and he knew me better than I knew myself. Sometimes.
I’d been avoiding everyone this past week, even Linc and Natalie. I would have even avoided Liam if I weren’t his nurse. Kind of hard to avoid someone when you were in charge of making sure they got their meds along with a dozen other things that I had to take care of. Thankfully, if Liam saw the change in me, he hadn’t called me on it. I wasn’t ready to talk about what was going on inside my head. Didn’t know if I would ever be. If Harper was here, she would have forced the topic by now, and for once I was glad she was on the West Coast with her ex-slut, rocker husband.
Everyone was piling onto the buses now. I heard Natalie yelling at the guys outside the bus, telling them to hurry their asses up. I had a copy of the schedule for the next week and knew she was going to make sure that it was followed to the letter. Natalie worked her ass off for Emmie and would always endeavor to make Em never regret hiring her even though she’d had no experience.
First stop was at Panama City Beach, before traveling to Orlando to perform at the Hard Rock at Universal Studios. Then it was up to Georgia for a few stops. That was all I knew, but I assumed we would then go to South Carolina followed by North Carolina and so on since it was an East Coast states tour.
From the front of the bus I heard Marissa and Wroth getting settled and once I was sure that Liam was okay I went to join them since I smelled coffee. I was just taking my seat on the long couch when the bus started moving. Natalie shot me a text telling me to rest up now, because it was going to be crazy once we got to the venue. More than likely the guys would want to go to the club afterwards and if Liam was going then I had to go too. Not that I was going to turn down a night at a club. I would kill for a night out just dancing and getting my drink on.
Two hours into the trip Wroth went to take a nap, leaving me along with Marissa since Linc was doing the same. We spent the next few hours painting our nails and I finally got to do what I’d been aching to do from the first time I had seen all of Marissa’s long, gloriously dark hair. There was so much of it and it felt so silky that it took me forever to get it braided, but by the time I was done it was beautiful in a side fish-tail braid.
While I worked on her hair I’d wanted to ask her about what was going on with her and Wroth. Over the last month I had seen things that had left me with nothing but questions where Marissa and Wroth were concerned. Like the tortured look in Wroth’s eyes whenever he looked at Marissa when she was unaware. Or the longing in Marissa’s eyes when he had his back turned. The way Wroth was so gentle with Marissa when it was public knowledge that Wroth was a woman-hater and wasn’t exactly gentle when it came to sex. More than a few one night stands had sold their story to whatever tabloid that would pay the big bucks for their sordid tales of the adventure they had had in Wroth Niall’s bed.
I knew that there wasn’t any blood relation between Marissa and Wroth, so I was beyond curious to know what the story was behind their relationship. But I kept my mouth shut on that subject because I didn’t want to embarrass Marissa in case she wasn’t comfortable talking to me about it. She was far too sweet to put her through something that was going to make her uncomfortable around me.
It was barely after lunch when the bus driver surprised me and stopped. A few minutes later the door opened and Natalie stepped into the living room. I looked up from the movie that we had been watching and frowned at her. “What’s going on?”
“Liam and Wroth need to come onto the other bus so that the guys can go over their set for tonight. There won’t be time once we get there.” She dropped down onto the couch next to me. “Remind me to google pranks later. I’ve got to find something kick ass to get back at Zander and Devlin with.”
“What did they do to you?” Marissa asked from her spot on the floor where she was adding some cute artistic designs to her toenails. “Did they Saran wrap the toilet and you ended up peeing on yourself because it ran into your pants instead of the toilet?”
Natalie made a distressed noise and covered her face with both hands. “How did you know?”
“Happened to me when I was seventeen.” She grinned and shook her head. “Don’t worry. I’ve learned a few things over the years. I’ll help you get back at them.”
“Promise?”
“Of course.” Marissa stood and hobbled to the recliner so that she didn’t mess up her artwork. A moment later Linc helped Liam down the hall and Wroth followed behind him. I watched them get off the bus, impatiently waiting for us to get on the road again.
Linc finally got back onto the bus. “Liam wants you on the other bus with him, Dallas.”
“He shouldn’t need me over there,” I grumbled. I didn’t want to go on the other bus. I didn’t want to be that close to Axton. I’d worked hard to not have to go near him for almost a full week. Which also meant that our late night private time hadn’t happened. Something I wasn’t disappointed about, nor craving more of. I wasn’t. I. Wasn’t.
“He just said to tell you to get your ass over there. Everyone over there seems to be in a pissy mood anyway.” Linc shot Natalie a questioning frown. “You been pissing on everyone this morning?”
She shot him the finger. “Shut up, muscle head. If anyone should be pissed it’s me. I had to change my clothes and clean up a big puddle of pee.”
There was a honking from the other bus and I muttered a curse as I got to my feet. “Fucking rock stars.” I stomped down the stairs and raced onto the second bus since I hadn’t grabbed my coat. As soon as I was on board, the driver shut the door and I shot him a glare before stepping through to the living room.
