Chapter Ten

Cross

 

 

I laid in the bunk on Indie’s bus wide awake for the rest of the ride to Cincinnati. Sure, I could’ve put my pants on and gone out to the main area, maybe watch some TV or talk to Indie for the rest of the way. But I really didn’t think more time with her was what I needed. Fortunately, when the bus stopped, she was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she really did go back to sleep.

The bus went straight to the hotel to unload the personal items each of us would want to take with us for the duration. A regular bed was really nice and when we had a few shows in a row we stayed somewhere that had one. Once the other guys woke up and brought an overnight bag into the rooms, the buses would set up shop at the venue until it was time to pull out again. What I needed was some space to myself.

I grabbed my messenger bag and headed down to the lobby, where I’d noticed a little alcove that looked like a perfect spot to work on some new songs. That was exactly what I needed. Work.

Three lines got written down, then two got erased. Over and over until an actual song showed up on the paper. That was just how creativity worked sometimes.

“What’re you doing down here?” Ransom asked as he and Dixon dropped into the seats across from me.

I glanced at my phone to check the time. I’d been down there two hours already. The guys had still been asleep then, or so I’d assumed, given I was on the wrong bus.

“Writing.”

“Oooh, anything good?” Ransom snatched the paper right off my lap. “These are pretty good. This one’s fantastic actually.”

Some movement to my right caught my attention. Indie was outside with Dean, a bag on her shoulder and one of those rolling suitcases next to her. He said something to her that made her laugh. Her head dropped back and her body shook.

“What’re we looking at?” Ransom’s face was suddenly right next mine, his cheek brushing against me.

“Nothing,” I responded much too quickly and pushed him away.

“Oh,” Dixon said from much too close to Ransom. It would’ve been comical if not for the fact it was actually happening to me. “I see. Someone’s got a thing for the boss’ daughter.”

“Boss’ daughter?” Ransom laughed. “That’s good.”

“First, Cinderstone isn’t our boss. Second, I don’t have a thing for anybody.”

Yet even though those two idiots had sat back down and were now not so close I could feel their breaths, they were still there with me when I’d hoped they would’ve left. And I couldn’t help but be drawn back in by Indie.

“Cross,” Ransom called, then nodded his head toward Dixon.

“Right,” I said. “Dixon, we want to tell you about something.”

“Drink?” he asked back. None of this should’ve been a surprise to any of us. So him automatically knowing what we wanted to talk about also should not have taken me aback, yet it did. Actually, Dixon shared a bus with Drink, so he’d know even more than we did.

“Yeah, man,” Ransom said but didn’t continue.

Apparently, this was my job.

“So Ransom and I talked to Lawson. Asked him to quietly start making a short list of bass players. Just in case.”

“You want to replace Drink?”

“No,” Ransom replied. “We don’t want to.”

“But he’s becoming less and less reliable,” I explained. “And he doesn’t seem to care.”

“We can’t fuck this up,” Ransom said. “But we think he’s going to.”

Dixon sat back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest, giving me a hard look. The silence between us wasn’t normal. I really didn’t think Dixon would take this hard, considering the three of us had started Courting Chaos and Drink had come along later.

“Can we just get rid of him now?” he finally asked.

Ransom snorted and a sense of relief washed over me.

“Lawson says we have to wait for him to actually do something because of our contracts,” Ransom explained.

“When did he say that?” I asked.

“I ran into him after we talked to him.”

“Honestly, I wish he’d just straighten the fuck up.”

“Let’s just keep an eye on him,” Dixon said as he stood. “I’ll see you guys at soundcheck.”

He walked away, but Ransom didn’t move.

Once again, Indie walked by the window. She hadn’t been there a couple of minutes ago. Not that I’d been checking. This time she was climbing off the bus with the ever-present camera in her hand. I couldn’t imagine she’d forgotten it.

“That’s going to be trouble, you realize that, right?” Ransom said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He smirked and tilted his head as he pointed out the window at Indie. “Her dad kind of decides whether we get to stay or not.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Dude, you’re staring at her. We’re just lucky she doesn’t seem to notice, you fucking creeper.”

I snorted. “I was just looking out the window.”

“Yeah,” he said and he rolled his eyes at me. “Listen, you know I don’t care where you put your dick, but maybe not in Vince Cinderstone’s daughter. Wouldn’t want to have to replace you, too.”

Like that was possible. I gave him two middle fingers for that one.

“First, you’re an asshole. Second, she and I aren’t even friends. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

He pursed his lips and narrowed those beady little eyes on me. Fucker didn’t believe me. “All right,” he said. “I’m just warning you. That’s trouble right there.” Then he left me alone.

Indie could’ve been a lot of trouble, but Ransom was crazy. I didn’t have a thing for her and even if I did, she could barely stand me and my lifestyle. Though I wished she’d look a little closer. Yes, guys in bands could be awful, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t be friends.

Ransom sat there a couple of more minutes before deciding to do something else. Watching me work wasn’t all that fascinating anyway.

Once he was gone, I found myself scanning the area every couple of minutes, but not for Indie. Sure, I liked how sassy and sexy she was. But there were lots of sassy, sexy girls in the world.

I wasn’t looking for her at all.