Chapter 15

Cami

Xander slipped his arm around me after we took our seats, and I leaned into his side with a sigh. Shortly after that, I dozed off. Between Mitch refusing to take the hint, my deal with Xander, and my late night out the previous day, I was exhausted.

“Wake up, babe,” Xander murmured close to my ear.

“Not yet,” I grumbled, swatting at him to get him to leave me alone. It took me some time to remember where we were, and when I did, I blinked twice and looked around. People were making their way out of the theater. Some stopped to look at us before moving on, either believing they were mistaken about Xander’s identity or deciding to leave us alone.

“If you don’t wake up, I’ll have to carry you out to the car.”

His warning earned him a sleepy laugh from me. “That would definitely get you some attention.”

“I should do it,” he remarked thoughtfully. “It’ll be good for my image.”

“What’s wrong with your image now?” I asked.

“You may find this hard to believe, but a lot of people think I’m a man-whore,” he replied.

“Wherever do you suppose they get that idea from?” I asked.

“Not a clue,” he admitted. “It bothers my mom and my sister.”

“I can see how that might bother them. While I know you have a sister, I know nothing about her. You’d think I’d know more from my years of stalking Reckless Release online.”

“I try to keep her out of the spotlight,” he explained. “She prefers it that way.”

“She’s older than you, right?” I asked.

“Older by seven years,” he replied. “She helped raise me after my dad died. You may get to meet her soon. She’s coming up this way for a job interview.”

“Do you have any siblings I don’t know about?” I asked.

“Step-siblings,” he replied. “They're awesome, like my step-dad. We should get out of here before the usher comes in and kicks us out.”

I nodded, and we headed to the exit. Once we were in the car, I returned to the subject of Xander’s family. “It sounds like you’re close to your family.”

“I am,” he agreed. “It’s been hard living this far from them. How about you? You never talk about your family.”

“There’s not much to talk about,” I replied. “My parents both moved out of the area after their divorce.”

“Any siblings?” he asked.

“No siblings,” I replied.

“Are you close to your parents?” he asked.

“Not really,” I replied honestly. “My parents were busy throughout my childhood. It kept them from fighting, so I always considered it a good thing. Whenever they spent any time together, they fought.”

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Xander said softly as he reached over to squeeze my thigh. “No kid should have to live with that kind of stress.”

“It wasn’t as bad as it sounds. My parents weren’t abusive. They may have yelled at each other, but they rarely yelled at me,” I assured him. “Besides, I survived, and just look at me now. I’m a successful therapist with my own condo and good friends. I even get to hang out with the members of this hot rock band.”

“You are pretty lucky,” he replied with a grin. “Tell me all about this band.”

“Well, the lead singer is cute,” I began.

“Just cute?” he asked.

“He’s a little young,” I explained.

“Young?” he asked.

“Yeah, Jos is barely old enough to drink,” I teased.

“Jos? You’re talking about Jos?”

“The lead singer from Deluded Serenity,” I confirmed. “Piper took me to see them play. She’s been a fan since she booked them at Euphoria. They’re good.”

“They are good,” he agreed. “We wanted Deluded Serenity to open for us on our next tour, but we were only able to get them for part of the tour.”

“Touring with Reckless Release is a great opportunity for them,” I said. “What’s holding them back from doing the entire tour?”

“They have jobs,” he explained. “When Reckless Release first got invited to open for a bigger band, we had to turn down the offer. It honestly hasn’t been that long since I’ve had to work full-time to pay my rent. Two members of Deluded Serenity are also in college.”

“I guess opening bands don’t make that much on tours.” I’d never given the matter much thought. It seemed like touring with a big band would be their lucky break, but that probably didn’t happen as often I thought.

“They usually lose money,” he explained. “If the opening band sells a lot of merchandise at the shows, they might break even. In rare cases, they make a little money. It can also lead to a record deal, but that’s not guaranteed.”

“I’m glad they can make at least part of the tour,” I replied. “Sorry about falling asleep in the movie.”

“You were tired. Besides, you only drooled on me a little.”

“I did not drool on you!” I reached over to tap his thigh.

“How do you know you didn’t drool?” he asked. “I had to ask the guy sitting behind us to run out and grab me some napkins to wipe up all that drool.”

“What happened to it being just a little?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I didn’t want to say it was like cuddling a Saint Bernard. That would be rude.”

“You are such a liar,” I accused. “We both know I wasn’t drooling. I’m the perfect girlfriend. Perfect girlfriends don’t drool.”

“But you aren’t trying to be the perfect girlfriend with me, so you can drool as much as you want,” he reminded me.

“I didn’t drool,” I insisted.

“Fine,” he relented. “You just snored a little. It was cute.”

“You are such a jerk,” I said with a laugh.