Chapter 12 - Carter
When I pushed the door open and walked out into the hallway, Garret was there with a grin on his face. His eyes flicked from me to Veronica, and he fought to keep a grin off his face.
“What were you guys doing in there?” He asked innocently, his eyebrows shooting up.
“Photo shoot,” Veronica answered quickly. Garrett’s grin widened and I felt Veronica go stiff beside me.
Garrett tilted his head. “Where’s your camera?”
“Must have left it in the room,” she said, blushing. “Silly me.”
“I’ll help you find it,” I said, shooting Garrett a glance.
Stop talking, I wanted to say. He grinned at me, and I shrugged. Garrett walked down towards the dressing room and Veronica stared at me, eyes wide. She smacked my chest and shook her head.
“This is such a bad idea.”
“I disagree,” I said. “Plus, did you see the way Garrett and Morgan were looking at each other? I wouldn’t be surprised if they were sneaking off together, too.”
“This is not what I expected when I took this job,” she laughed.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I put my arm around her back, guiding her towards the dressing room. My hand drifted down to her ass, and she inched closer to me.
“A good thing,” she whispered as a blush stained her cheeks. “It’s a very good thing.”
We walked back into the dressing room and I pointedly ignored Garrett’s eye. Veronica tried to casually pick up her camera where she’d left it, on a table next to Lacie’s makeup station.
“You almost done, Lacie?” Veronica asked as Lacie tousled Maddox’s hair for what seemed like the hundredth time. I looked at my band members and grinned. All three of us seemed more relaxed than we had been a couple days ago. Maybe this PR team was good for us.
“Yeah,” Garrett called out. “Last time I checked, I was the lead singer. Shouldn’t you be fussing over me?”
Lacie blushed and waved her hand. Within a few minutes, Morgan appeared in the doorway. I tried to see if anything was going on between her and Garrett, but she was stone-faced. She tried to be, anyway. I saw her blush the tiniest bit when she looked at Garrett.
She started talking, but I was distracted by Vee bending over beside me.
“So it’s important that you behave yourselves out there,” Morgan was saying. She looked tough, and for once in my life I actually wanted to do what she said. I didn’t want this PR team to leave us any sooner than they had to.
Morgan continued, swinging her gaze to Garrett. “Or else your spot at the Grammys will be cancelled. This is the test.”
Garrett threw up his hands. “You’re the boss,” he said, holding her gaze and grinning.
There it is.
I glanced at Veronica, who had a smile playing over her lips. Garrett and Morgan definitely had a thing. But I didn’t have time to investigate any further, because we were going on stage. For once, we actually did behave ourselves. We went on, did the interview, and then played our new single. It went well, which was a shock, considering our last six months of appearances had usually been disasters.
From then on, the day was hectic. Veronica and Lacie stayed with us as we went from interview to interview, but I didn’t have time to sneak off with Vee. She snapped photos of us, smiling at me from behind the lens.
Even though I couldn’t touch her, it felt good to have her nearby. Anytime we got asked a question about the past six months and I felt the anger rising inside me, or anytime someone brought up the divorce and asked how our new album related to it, I just looked at Veronica as she took photos of us, and a sense of calm swept over me.
It was strange, but not unpleasant. I leaned into the feeling, enjoying her closeness as the day went on.
At some point during the day, Garrett slid in beside me.
“What do you think of this new PR team?” he asked, staring at the cameras and microphones that would be shooting us shortly.
I shrugged. “It’s a lot of fucking work.”
“Tell me about it.”
We both turned as Maddox tumbled in the door, flushed and disheveled. “Where did you run off to?” Garrett asked.
“Nowhere,” Maddox answered, avoiding my eye as he accepted the beer. “Bathroom.”
Lacie walked in the door looking every bit as flushed as Maddox. Garrett looked at me and grinned before sitting in the makeup chair. I was a bit jealous, looking at the two of them. I glanced around, wondering if I’d be able to sneak off with Veronica anytime soon.
I didn’t get the chance, and I hardly got the chance to say goodbye. She gave me a quick kiss as we finished for the day, smiling at me.
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” she said. “I have to go home and pack for New York.”
‘Why do we have to go all the way across the country? Aren’t there enough news outlets and promos we can do in LA?”
“Stop whining,” she laughed. “I’m excited to go to New York, I’ve never been.”
She glanced behind me and frowned.
“What is it?”
Veronica looked at me again and shook her head, smiling. “Nothing. I thought I saw someone I knew, but I must have been wrong.”
I leaned down and kissed her soft lips, groaning. “How can one person taste so good?” I asked. Veronica laughed, rolling her eyes.
“Stop it,” she said.
“It’s true! You taste fucking incredible.”
“I need to go,” she said reluctantly. “You can taste me again tomorrow, when we’re in New York.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
She squeezed my hand and smiled at me before walking away. I saw her get into her car, and then Lacie joined her. Maddox appeared beside me and we watched them drive off.
“I think today is the first day since we launched our album a year ago that we’ve actually had some decent interviews.” Maddox dragged his hadn’t through his hair, watching the car drive off.
“It’s also the first time in a long time that I’ve actually enjoyed it.”
Maddox laughed, nodding. “I guess we’d better pack for tomorrow. Three more days of this shit, interviews and promotion and talking about total bullshit.”
“At least we’ll have some company,” I grinned.
Maddox grunted, and we got in my car and headed back to our house. As we walked in, the house seemed bigger and lonelier than it had before. Maddox went to his end of the house, and I went to mine. I packed haphazardly, chucking clothes into a suitcase and thinking of Veronica.
I wished she was beside me. I could imagine her, lounging on my bed as I packed. She’d probably make a snarky comment and then laugh at her own joke. I grinned as I thought of her laugh.
We must have been on the same wavelength, because my phone buzzed.
See you tomorrow xx
Those three words made my heart thump harder than I thought it ever could. A smile stretched over my lips as I answered Veronica’s text. I smiled to myself, and for the first time in months, I looked forward to tomorrow.