Chapter Nine

Indie

 

 

Something hard-jolted me awake and then I was sliding, falling from the comfort beneath me. I forced my eyes open and grabbed at the cushions under me, then sprang up to a sitting position. Oh. I was on the bus and we were moving. We must’ve hit a big bump and that was what had startled me awake.

It was too early and coffee was my first priority. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep on the couch. Most certainly didn’t remember getting a blanket. But maybe Dad had checked on me and covered me up. I’d have to thank him for doing it but remind him he really didn’t have to babysit me. He’d told me he wasn’t “coming home,” as it were, last night.

The minutes I spent waiting for coffee in the morning were the longest minutes of my day. Even with the quickness of the new single cup machines where I didn’t have to wait for a full pot, it still seemed to take forever. Until finally the mocha cup I’d dropped in the machine was done and I could get my day started.

Two sips in, one of the bunk screens slid open and a pair of masculine legs jutted out into the air. Followed by the full body of Cross Rhodes jumping out.

What in the hell? I hadn’t expected anyone else on the bus with me at all, but I certainly hadn’t expected him.

Cross barely glanced at me as he passed by. I took another sip as Cross reached around me, dropped a new cup in the maker and pushed the start button. Being so close to him was weird for me. I moved over to the table and sat down. Minutes later he joined me and this awkward silence fell over us. It wasn’t any quieter than it had been before he’d shown up, but now we were facing each other and couldn’t pretend the other wasn’t there. Like the weird morning after a one-night stand without the drunken sex the night before.

“What’re you doing on my bus?” I finally asked.

“Sleeping. That a problem?” He blew into the coffee cup before taking a drink. A puff of steam poofed up in front of his face.

“No. Just didn’t know anyone else was here. Could’ve been dangerous.”

“How?”

“I don’t know. What if I was walking around the bus naked and then you popped out?”

He choked and sputtered on that last bit of coffee, his eyes widening as he coughed.

“Talk about awkward,” I continued.

Cross cleared his throat then gave a deep chuckle. “That would be awkward.”

His just-woke-up, grainy, morning voice made my body tingle. Like a warm blanket someone had wrapped around me.

“So?” I prodded him. “What are you doing here?

Cross sighed. “I don’t think I want to tell you but I thought it was my bus by accident. And there was some Chaos merch so you can understand how I’d think that.”

Interesting. But him not wanting to tell me something made me want to know even more. I wanted to reason he’d chosen to sleep on my bus instead of his own. “Right. I was going to send that stuff to my friend Bellamy.” I took a breath then asked, “Can you tell me if you’re the one who covered me up last night?”

He nodded.

“Thank you. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on the couch. I meant to go to bed, but by the time I got in here, I was so tired, I just… fell asleep.”

“Been there,” he said. “Is your dad going to come out here and get the wrong idea?” He pointed down the hall at the bedroom.

I shook my head. “He didn’t sleep here last night. Had other plans.”

“You have a problem with that?”

“Not really.”

Cross’ face tightened and his eyes narrowed on me as he readjusted himself in the seat. His mouth opened but shut again, as if he decided not to say what was on his mind.

 “I know what you guys do. I just appreciate that my dad doesn’t do it around me,” I said, answering the question he hadn’t asked, but I thought he wanted to.

“If you don’t have a problem with what your dad does, why then did you lay into me last night when you saw the girls with Drink and Ransom?”

“I didn’t.”

Last night Cross had called me out about judging him, the guys, the girls waiting backstage, and he wasn’t exactly wrong. Watching my dad navigate this exact life never bothered me and it shouldn’t now that it was Cross. Yet it did. But last night was more about the fact that one girl, in particular, looked underage. I knew I shouldn’t base my opinion of age on looks. Some people appeared younger than they were. Yet that girl last night gave me a bad feeling.

He propped his elbows on the table and leaned closer to me. “You sure about that?”

I swallowed at just how near he was. Unfortunately, the coffee had done its job and everything about him was awake and alert. I wanted that sleepy, adorable voice that matched the messy hair back.

“Well, I didn’t mean to lay into you. I saw those girls earlier and they just looked so young. Especially the brown haired one.”

“You look young.”

“Not that young.”

He paused again, as if thinking something over, shook his head, then pushed up from his seat to drop the coffee cup in the sink. When he turned back around, he folded his arms over his chest and looked at me.

“Do you not like that it’s Drink they’re getting attention from?”

“Drink?”

“Eric Drinkswine. We call him Drink.”

“You think… you think I’m jealous that he was giving them that kind of attention?”

He shrugged.

I winced, scrunched up my nose, and suddenly felt the need to shower. “That’s so gross.”

“Well, I don’t know what you like.”

“Not that.” All this time he’d thought my irritation was due to jealousy over that big Neanderthal. Not even close. Cross was much more my type, but no way in hell would I have said it to him. Still, I had to chuckle.

“OK, OK.” He held his hands out in front of his body in defense. “I think I’m going to try to get a little more sleep before we get to Cincinnati.”

“Me too.”

I tried to pretend to be innocently rinsing the coffee cups when in reality I was watching Cross lift himself back into the bunk and pull the curtain closed. My body flooded with warmth and I suddenly became aware of my own heartbeat erratically thumping against my chest.

There would be no more sleep for me until that night. I wouldn’t be able to relax enough with Cross just feet away. Sleeping. In boxer briefs and a T-shirt.

This could be a really long tour.