I stewed about the bathroom incident all night long, barely getting three hours of non-consecutive sleep. That sucked because it was a show night, which meant the workday didn’t even start until three in the afternoon. I needed something to take my mind off of everything, and lounging around in my room after getting damn near no sleep wasn’t ideal.
All the unstructured time gave me was more opportunity to overthink things and torture myself. I was mortified to have allowed myself to believe, even for a nanosecond, that Tyson Allen wasn’t the world’s biggest asshole.
It galled me to know he had so little respect for me as a person. It had been years since I’d let my guard down for anyone to get so close to me. My string of terrible relationships held me back from doing so many things. How crappy was my luck that the first man I met in forever who attracted me turned out to be the inventor of the douche canoe?
The amount of disgust I had in myself for letting him touch me was almost as big as my anger at him. Stomping down the hotel hallway toward his suite, I had the daily brief clutched in my hand like it held the nuclear codes. The highlight of my day was Cole not being in his room when I knocked. The last thing I’d needed was for him to comment about finding Tyson and me the night before.
Since the day Tyson had told me to slide the daily briefs under his door, I’d crept down the hallway like a little church mouse to do so as quickly as possible. I wasn’t in the mood for his nonsense anymore. When I got to his door, I banged on it continuously for at least thirty seconds. I startled when I heard a voice from behind me.
“He’s not in there.”
Spinning on my heel, I came face to face with Leah, Gavin’s girlfriend. I felt a blush creeping across my cheeks, and I ducked my head bashfully. I liked Leah and was ashamed to have been caught out acting like a nut.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
Leah waved away my concern. “You didn’t,” she said sweetly. “I know Tyson isn’t there because I already tried calling him this morning. I’ve got something going on I wanted his help with, but he didn’t answer. So now I’m on my way to ask Tessa to help me tonight by taking pictures.”
I was so embarrassed she’d caught me being a nut I barely made sense of her words. “Sounds fun,” I answered half-heartedly.
“You could come with me,” she offered.
I shook my head. “No, I’ve got a bunch of work to get done before it’s time to leave for the arena.”
“Completely understandable,” she smiled.
I headed back to the room I used as an office and tried to lose myself in working on a few projects, which didn’t work. I was too amped up to sit in the hotel room. Taking my laptop and my cell I retreated to the rooftop deck and set up at a table. Being outdoors had always been a balm to my soul, which meant I was able to relax a bit. Eventually, I got so into the work that I was shocked when my phone alarm went off to remind me it was time to leave for the show.
I tucked my computer under my arm and called Lacey as I hurried to the elevator. When she picked up, I was full of apologies.
“I am so, so sorry, but I’m going to be late. I got so caught up in making sure the dressing room riders for the next week were received that I completely forgot what time it was. Go ahead without me. I’ll get changed and grab a cab. I should only be about half an hour behind you.”
“I figured you’d got all caught up with something,” she laughed. “Don’t worry about it—take your time.”
I appreciated her understanding but I didn’t take my time. Instead, I raced around my hotel room like the Tasmanian Devil, pulling clothes off their hangers and tossing them over my head. It should’ve been easy to get dressed, but I was trying to keep Tyson’s stupid hickey covered. I’d been wearing a shirt with a decorative scarf while I was working but when I was backstage, I didn’t like to wear too many accent pieces. With all the running around things tended to get snagged or lost.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I yanked my lone short sleeve turtleneck from the closet. It was black, and I usually wore it under a jean jacket, but it was too hot for that. I teamed it with a pair of skinny jeans and my purple converse. As ready as I was going to be I grabbed my purse and slammed the door to my now completely messy room behind me. I raced to the lobby where I was thrilled to find a string of cabs at the curb. I arrived at the arena twenty-five minutes or so behind everyone else, which wasn’t so bad.
I held my head high as I walked in, waving hello to my co-workers as I made my way toward Lacey. I relaxed when I realized the band weren’t in the room because they were in their pre-show meeting.
Lacey smiled and gestured to the wall of food behind her. “You’re just in time for dinner. Let’s eat before we meet with John.”
John was the band’s manager who Lacey and I met with each night. I’d been so worked up earlier in the day I hadn’t eaten anything, so I nodded my head as she led me to the table. I grinned when I saw the massive quantities of Chic Fil A on the table, as it was one of my favorites. The band loved it as well, so we had it as a before show meal fairly often. After choosing our food Lacey and I went to a corner table and sat down.
“So,” she said as she opened a container of dipping sauce, “you were quiet all day—so much so I didn’t even see you after I handed the briefs off this morning. What’s up?”
I dipped a waffle-cut fry in ketchup as I shook my head. “Not a thing. Just needed some good ol’ fresh air today, so I worked up on the rooftop lounge.”
One of her perfectly arched eyebrows went up. “Daisy, Daisy, Daisy,” she murmured, “we both know that isn’t why you stayed off the radar today.”
I felt myself blushing as I looked down. She hadn’t said anything to me when I’d seen her in the morning so I’d hoped she didn’t know anything. Obviously, that dream wasn’t realized.
“Lace—”
“I gave you room this morning because I could see you needed it,” she explained. “But now I have to say something.”
“I know,” I sighed. “It was unprofessional and completely out of line. I’m so sorry—”
She reached out and set her hand on mine. “No! Nothing like that, Dais. This isn’t a Fortune 500 job,” she laughed. “If it were, Flynn and Tessa and Cole and Devon wouldn’t be together. I’m not talking to you as a manager I’m talking to you as a friend. You looked upset when you came out of the bathroom last night, and I couldn’t have missed that hickey if I tried.”
I grimaced and shook my head. “The stupid hickey,” I groaned.
She laughed. “Men. Always trying to leave their mark.”
“He didn’t mean to leave a mark,” I mumbled. “In fact, he tried to moonwalk out of the bathroom to get away from me. It was like I was Ground Zero for disease and he had to get away before catching it.”
Throwing back her head, Lacey laughed. “Don’t believe that for a second. He’s so obviously infatuated with you—”
“Did you smoke a fatty on the ride in?” I asked incredulously. “Because you’re hallucinating. He couldn’t hate me more if he tried.”
She shook her head emphatically. “That, my dear, is pure bullshit. First, I haven’t smoked weed since college. Second, he watches you like a hawk—”
“Probably to make sure I’m not about to touch anything he’ll use,” I grumbled.
“No,” she laughed. “He watches you because he’s attracted to you. Gavin and I took bets your third day here about how long it would take Ty to crack and claim you.”
My mouth formed a perfect O as I stared at her. “You’re both imagining things because he made it very clear last night he couldn’t care less about me,” I said bluntly.
“Sweetie, if we imagined things, you wouldn’t have on a turtleneck right now. The man is more than interested, trust me.”
I shrugged. “Whatever you guys think you saw, the way he talked to me wasn’t the way someone who gave two shits about a girl would.”
“I think…”
She trailed off and looked around before leaning in closer.
“Swear to God, Dais, you repeat this and I will cut you. Do you promise to keep this to yourself?”
I wanted to be cool and tell her not to confide in me about anything to do with Tyson because I didn’t care. Instead, I leaned in and nodded.
“Of course,” I assured her.
“I’ve been with them for years and during that time I’ve seen women come and go. All of the guys have their quirks.”
Holding up her hand she raised her index finger. “Gavin used to have women all but waiting on their knees after the shows were over to blow him.”
Raising another finger, she continued, “Flynn would take them two by two back to his room. He had a thing about them not staying the night so his assistant spent years kicking girls out after the sex was over.”
Bringing up the third finger she said, “Cole would let people stay the night if it came down to it, but it could never be just one person. Always two people—a woman and a man.”
My head went back in shock. “He’s bi?”
She nodded. “He is. He had this whole thing about not being in one on one situations… until he met Devon. Now he’s all about it just being the two of them.”
She lifted her pinky and pointed to it. “And then, there’s Tyson. In all of the years I’ve been here, never once has he had a girl back to his room. We rented him a separate room in the hotel to… well, you know. He’d go in, do whatever, and leave. It used to be an every night thing, but this tour and the last, it was just every few weeks or so. Since you got here, he hasn’t instructed me to rent a room even once, and he’s well overdue if you know what I mean.”
I swallowed sickly as I nodded my head. Yes, I knew what she meant, but it made me ill to think of Tyson touching other women. I chastised myself silently for being such a fool. No one had less of a claim on him than I did.
“Why are you tellin’ me all this?” I asked, cringing when I realized I’d let a little more of my country twang out. I didn’t mind the twang when I was home because I sounded like everyone I loved, except my mother who had no country in her. She hated the way her children would drop their g’s, amongst other things. Thus, I’d learned not to let it out very much in public. When I did, I heard my mother in my head telling me how redneck I sounded.
“Because all that’s happened with the band proves that people change. And, in spite of the impression you’ve been given, I know Tyson is a really great guy. There’s something fragile about him—”
I scoffed. “Fragile? Tyson? That’s crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out his balls are filled with barbed wire and lead paint.”
“Sometimes you need to look closer,” she insisted.
“Agree to disagree,” I said before I took another bite of a nugget.
“Speak of the devil,” she murmured.
I swallowed uncomfortably as my stomach dropped. Grabbing my cup, I guzzled half of the iced tea in it and forced myself not to look over my shoulder.
“He’s coming this way,” she hissed.
My eyes went wide as I shook my head. “Tell me you’re kidding,” I whispered frantically.
She shook her head once before I felt the warmth of him directly at my side. He was close, I thought. Too fucking close.
“Lace,” he said, “would you mind if I borrowed Daisy for a few?”
I shot her a glance, silently imploring her to say no.
“Sure,” she said cheerfully. “Go right ahead.”
I narrowed my eyes and glared at her as she stood up, grabbed her plate and left me alone with him. Traitor. Turning to Tyson, I looked up and found him staring down at me.
“I’d rather not,” I said stiffly.
“Daisy,” he began, “I want to apologize—”
Before he could continue, there was a commotion in the room. Gavin, who was one of the most laid back and quiet people I’d ever known, let out a whoop.
“Ty, look! She’s here! She’s fuckin’ here!”
I saw Ty’s face when he looked to see who it was, and I wanted to puke when I saw his reaction. His eyes lit up and his smile spread from ear to ear.
He grinned as he turned back to me. “Hold that thought and give me five minutes,” he said excitedly. “I’ll be back.”
“B!” he exclaimed as he damn near sprinted away from my table.
I turned in my seat to see the she Tyson was so excited about. My jaw hit the floor when I saw who it was because I knew her. I’d met Gabrielle at a support group about eight months before for families and friends of people who committed suicide. We weren’t best friends or anything, but we’d gone out a few times after the meetings with a small group of people. I’d liked her a lot, but I obviously stopped going to meetings when I moved in with Violet and Ryder. I had no idea why she was here, but clearly she somehow knew the band. Everyone looked thrilled to see her.
I felt sick as I watched Ty lift her in a bear hug, spinning her around as they both laughed. I’d never seen him so enthusiastic or affectionate before and I was beyond jealous. She smiled at him like he meant the world to her and my heart dropped. Anxious to get away before she saw me, or worse, they started making out, I grabbed my purse and hurried from the room.
I had, I decided, the worst luck in the world. In addition to being gorgeous, Gabrielle was an absolute sweetheart. I left the arena like my ass was on fire, calling for a cab from the parking lot. I texted Lacey and let her know dinner hadn’t agreed with my stomach so I had left sick. I didn’t answer when she texted back and asked if everything was okay.
Instead, I sat next to an overhead light and waited for my cab while I thought about the things I knew about Gabrielle from group. The number one thing that came to mind was her confiding that she had strong feelings for someone who had commitment issues. Looked to me like the guy in question was Tyson Allen and I felt like an even bigger fool than I had the night before.