Chapter Eleven

Indie

 

 

Landing in a new city never stopped being exciting. Even the cities I’d been to before. There was always some part I hadn’t seen and beautiful photos waiting to be taken. Dad had sounded off after the show last night, so I wasn’t going to wake him. I was a big girl and could handle the city alone. The rock star would get to sleep.

I probably walked three or four miles, bringing my camera up to snap a picture several times along the way. Old buildings had the best façades. People being themselves when they didn’t know you were watching were some great shots as well. But after a few hours, my energy was starting to wane and I needed a coffee. Since I was already headed back toward the hotel, I pulled out my phone and used an app to find the closest coffee shop. Just two blocks from the hotel. Perfect.

Once there, I ordered and paid for my coffee, then moved aside to wait for them to call my name. That was when I first noticed Cross, in a baseball hat and sunglasses, placing an order. He’d been behind me, so I hadn’t seen him come in and it wasn’t likely he’d recognize me from the back. He was probably in disguise so no one would recognize him. Dad had given that up years ago, but for Cross, it could probably still work.

Courting Chaos was in the sweet spot. The place where they were known, people would definitely recognize them on the street, but they didn’t have the overwhelming presence of Kissing Cinder. He was definitely doing a good job of keeping a low profile while in the coffee shop. No one approached him or seemed to notice that he was there.

Dad didn’t care about the attention much anymore. He went where he wanted when he wanted and dealt with the fallout. It looked like Cross didn’t want any fallout. He paid, then took a step back beside me.

“Nice disguise,” I said.

He whipped his head around toward me. When he saw it was me he bit his lips together as if trying to hide a smile.

“I do my best,” he said, finally letting that beautiful smile appear as he pulled his sunglasses off. This momentary silence lapsed between us before he said, “Do you like being on the road?”

I shrugged. “Not especially, but it’s the biggest block of time I get with my dad, so it’s a tradeoff. Plus, while you guys are all working yourselves to death, I get to play tourist. Though at this point, I’ve been to these cities a hundred times, so I have to get creative.”

“Creative?”

“Yeah. Like find the out-of-the-way spots. Dad hates when I go off alone, but I love it.”

“Why does he hate it?” Cross asked just as the barista called my name.

I stepped forward, grabbing the iced coffee, then turned back to him.

“He’d rather Dean go everywhere with me. But I’m a big girl. I can get around on my own.”

“You understand, though, right? Why he’d want Dean with you?”

I took a long drink from the straw and closed my eyes to savor the taste as well as feel the caffeine entering my system. I may have had an addiction. “I guess. Doesn’t mean I like it.”

“He doesn’t want you to get hurt.”

“I know,” I said softly.

“I could go with you sometime if you want,” he offered.

I hadn’t been expecting that. “Really?” I asked. “You want to be my assistant? I can make you do all sorts of demeaning things in the name of art.”

“Only in the name of art?” he asked back.

I really hadn’t been expecting that. This conversation had begun as pleasant small talk and had turned into something very close to flirting. Our eyes locked as my heart rate sped up and my breathing quickened.

“Peter Parker,” the barista called out before I could react, and I burst with a loud laugh.

Cross stepped forward to grab his hot coffee, I’d guess black. I didn’t know him very well, but he seemed like a ‘black coffee’ kind of guy.

“Really?” I asked with another giggle.

“Can’t be too careful.” He chuckled through the words.

I narrowed my eyes on him. I still owed him a little payback from when he’d tried to kick me out of the first arena. Not to mention he hadn’t told that big oaf to shut his mouth when he’d thought I was a groupie, or medic, as they’d called it.

So I took a deep breath and put as much fake excitement in my tone as I could.

“Ohmigod! It’s Cross Rhodes from Courting Chaos.”

Cross’ eyes widened as a group of girls bolted toward us. I began backing away as they started pawing at him, talking all at once, asking for selfies and autographs. I wiggled my fingers in the air to say good-bye and went on my way. That should keep him busy for a while.

It didn’t take long to get back to the hotel and I figured by now Dad would be awake, so we could have some time together before he had to work.

“Dean,” I called out in the hotel lobby. He stopped and turned back to me. “Where’s my dad?”

“Up in his room. He wanted to lay back down this morning. Wasn’t feeling great.”

“Thanks!”

I knocked on his door but at first didn’t hear any movement inside and didn’t know if I wanted to knock again. If he hadn’t felt the best last night, who knew how much rest he’d actually gotten? But he had to get up anyway, so I knocked again.

Second time was the charm because Dad pulled the door open for me. He didn’t say anything when I entered the room and instead dropped back onto the bed. At least he stayed sitting up.

“Everything all right in here?” I asked, then I went over to yank open one of the curtains. He needed some sunlight in there, even if he winced at the intrusion.

“Yeah.” But then a cough shook his body.

“You’re sick.”

“Just a little chest cold.” He sounded like his vocal cords had been rubbed over a cheese grater.

“I’m ordering you some breakfast and some cold meds and you’re spending the day in bed.”

“Soundcheck—”

“You don’t need to be there. Unless you’re saying the guys still don’t know how to do a simple soundcheck without you. You need to get some rest. If they’re desperate, I’ll go stand in for you.”

“OK, OK,” he said, putting his hands up in defense. “But please don’t stand in for me. I’d feel awful for the crew.”

“Ha, ha,” I said back dryly.

I placed a call to room service, then the front desk and asked for some medicine. I would’ve run out to get them myself but knew if I did, Dad would get up and do stuff. I wanted him to rest up. Instead, I pushed a chair closer to his bed, kicked my shoes off, and curled up in it.

“So what have you been doing today?” he asked.

“Taking pictures.”

“Can’t wait to see them.” He pushed his hair behind his ears. Dad’s eyes sagged at the corners as he looked over at me. The cold was kicking his butt, though he’d never admit it to me or anybody else. “What do you want to do with that?”

“The future?” I asked. He nodded. “I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll be the official photographer of Kissing Cinder.”

Dad chuckled and said, “You already are. Cody wants to use that shot you got of us backstage for a poster.”

“You guys don’t have to do that. I’m pretty sure my dad won’t let me starve if I’m not bringing in money myself.” In reality, I didn’t make a ton off the photos I sold, but it still felt good to make something.

“Whatever you need. You know that.”

“I do, which is why you don’t have to use any of my pictures.”

“He didn’t know it was yours when he saw it.”

“Oh.” That meant they really liked the picture. I couldn’t help but smile. “I know that I want to take pictures. Hence the photography major, but I don’t know exactly what that looks like yet. Freelance work is great freedom, but the money isn’t always reliable.”

“But money isn’t an issue for you.”

“Which actually makes it a little harder.”

Dad drew back and shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense.”

I laughed because I’d known he was going to say that. “I know. But it does in my head. Like I don’t have to take the shit job just because of the paycheck. But I might miss out on learning some valuable things not doing the shit job. Or I could take the shit job, but why stress myself out if I don’t need the money?” There were pitfalls to not having to do the grunt work just because it paid but things could be a lot worse. “Maybe I’ll do freelance work overseas documenting war-torn countries.”

“Indie,” he said with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose like I was testing his patience.

I probably was. Dad worried about me even more because he wasn’t always around and the idea of me being someplace dangerous scared the hell out of him. Which was the exact reason I always said that was what I was going to do. Just to mess with him.

Room service knocked on the door as I laughed. After I signed for the food, the guy left and I rolled the cart over next to the bed. First I made him take the medicine.

“Actually,” I started, “one of my professors has a friend at a pretty big magazine and thinks I might be able to get an internship there after I graduate. I don’t know. I’ll see what my options are then.”

“What about that drummer you were talking about before?” He bit off half a piece of toast and raised his brow at me.

“That was hypothetical. I just wanted to know what you’d think if I dated someone who does what you do.”

He groaned. “This isn’t an easy lifestyle. It’s fun a lot of the time, but it’s not easy on relationships.”

“I know,” I said quietly. “Seriously, Dad, I wasn’t talking about anyone specific. It was just curiosity. I haven’t even dated anyone since Hunter.”

“I didn’t like that guy.”

“Well, me either in the end, obviously. But you never actually met him.”

“Still didn’t like him.”

I giggled. Dad didn’t like him because I’d told Dad everything and Hunter was a jerk who’d ended up telling me that I thought I was a princess because of who my dad was. I basically never told anyone my dad was a rock god. But my last name wasn’t exactly common either.

“You should’ve given me Mom’s last name then.”

“Never,” he replied immediately as if the suggestion offended him.

“What about you?” I asked. “You going to do this until I put you into the nursing home?”

He snorted. “Basically.” Then he took a deep breath and sighed. “Actually, Cody and I have been talking about that. We love this. Love the music. But we write for a lot of other people now, too, and are thinking about taking a break. Maybe a longer break.”

My eyes widened and my mouth fell open. I’d never heard him say anything like that in my life. This was what he loved.

“Not quitting,” he said, holding his hand up. “But I don’t want to tour next summer. You’re graduating. I want to be there for everything. Maybe we’ll do some mini-tours instead.”

“That sounds awesome. And we could go on some trips. There are parts of the world you’ve been to that I haven’t seen,” I said with a smile.

“There are parts of the world I’ve been to that I haven’t seen,” he said back.

That was the sad but true story about touring with a band. They didn’t always get to explore the countries they played.

“I’m going to let you get some rest,” I finally said. “I’ll let the guys know to do soundcheck without you. Sleep will help.”

“Thanks, Indie.”

“Get some rest,” I said, then kissed the top of his head.

Before leaving, I pulled the curtains closed again, making the room nice and dark for him. He should’ve been able to get at least three hours of sleep before needing to get ready for the night. Then I grabbed a taxi to go over to the venue and went directly to Dad’s dressing room to drop off my purse and camera bag.

With everything stowed away, I went search for Cody—or any of the guys would do. They needed to know Dad wouldn’t be coming until later. As I turned the corner, I slammed right into Ransom Drake from Courting Chaos. Damn, that dude was solid.

I stumbled back into the wall and rubbed a hand over my collarbone, where my body had met his.

“Shit. Sorry, Indie,” he said, taking a big step back after making sure I wasn’t going to fall.

“Totally my fault. Where’s the fire?” I asked, still pushing on the area I was sure would bruise.

“Looking for Cross. He went to get coffee earlier but hasn’t come back. We’re supposed to be getting soundcheck done right now. He’s usually more reliable.”

And that would’ve been my fault with the way I’d left him in the coffee shop surrounded by fans after I’d outed who he really was. I was about to tell him it wasn’t Cross’ fault he was late when Cross himself came running up beside us.

“What the fuck, man?” Ransom said though he looked relieved that Cross had finally shown up.

“Had a situation,” Cross said, glaring at me.

“It was my fault,” I said, though I should’ve let Cross fend for himself.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Ransom asked, though, from the way he avoided making eye contact again and looked like he was trying to not to smile, I’d have guessed his thoughts were going in the wrong direction.

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” I snapped. “I saw him at the coffee shop around the corner. He was trying to maintain a low profile and I might have, maybe, made sure it didn’t stay low. When I left he was surrounded by, like, six very grabby girls and I’m guessing that crowd grew after I left.” I bit my lips together because I felt a little bad. Not completely. He’d earned something for trying to kick me out of the arena.

“It sure fucking did,” Cross muttered under his breath.

“Why would you do that?” Ransom asked as he smooshed his face together the way a person did when they were trying not to laugh out loud. “It’s a good prank, but why would you do that?”

I shrugged. “A little payback.”

“For what?” asked Ransom.

“For what?” I asked back. “Remember when we first met? I mean, you weren’t there when Cross tried to kick me out of the venue, but you were there for the whole sexual healing bullshit.”

Ransom looked from me to Cross, then back again. “That was Drink.”

“Yeah, I know. But I don’t want to talk to that guy or be in the same room with him. He makes me uncomfortable, so I took my revenge out on Cross.”

Those two shared a long, tightlipped look in which an entire conversation passed between them. Like they knew something I didn’t or I’d said something to confirm what they had already been thinking.

I didn’t know what it was about and wasn’t sure that I wanted to. However, I knew they understood my apprehension when it came to Eric Drinkswine.