Chapter Fifteen
Jonathan
I’m pacing in my dressing room, antsy. Colt went to pick up Gabby from Sea-Tac, and he’s bringing her straight here. I wanted to go myself, but when I suggested it, I got a lecture from my manager, Angela, the tour manager, Barry, and Colt.
“Dude.” Colt gave me his signature look of irritated affection. “You can’t be getting back like a half hour before you’re supposed to be on stage. Don’t be a moron. There’ll be crowds of people lining up, even around back. You know this. I’ll be able to get out and bring Gabby back in a lot easier without you. I know you think you can blend in when you wear a hat and sunglasses, but it’s too rainy and dark for sunglasses, and you’ve been photographed in your favorite hat too many times lately for that to work, not that it really did anyway.”
“Then buy me a new fucking hat,” I fired back.
He just smirked and opened the door. “I’ll be back as soon as possible. Don’t worry. I’ll get her here safely.”
I check my phone again. It’s only been a few minutes since Gabby texted that she’d landed. She probably wasn’t even off the plane yet. I’d have sprung for first class tickets, but the puddle jumpers that fly from Spokane to Seattle don’t have a first class section.
Colt would be cutting it tight to get her here before showtime. Which was why everyone lectured me about not going to the airport. But Gabby had insisted on going to all her classes before flying out, which meant a later flight than I would’ve preferred.
Not that anything with our relationship lines up with my preferences. What I’d prefer is her with me every night, every day, at every show, and on the tour bus in between.
But we can’t. I can’t ask that, even though sometimes it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her to quit school and come with me.
Not wanting to be an asshole boyfriend who doesn’t care about what she wants is the only thing stopping me.
I check the time again. Only a few minutes have passed. Colt promised he’d let me know when they’re on their way.
Hopefully traffic cooperates, and she can get here before I have to be on stage. But evening in Seattle? It’s anyone’s guess. I don’t have enough experience with the traffic here to even try to figure it out.
Sitting down on the couch, I pick at my usual pre-show snack of sliced fruit. But I’m not hungry. I’m too anxious.
So I do what I always do when I need to distract myself. I pick up my guitar. With a full show ahead of me tonight, I know I shouldn’t go too crazy, but I need something to keep me busy while I wait. There’s still an hour to go, so it’s too early to start my vocal warmups. Strumming through old songs or noodling around with different chord progressions shouldn’t wear out my hands. And I’ll be sure to take a break before I have to go on stage.
As long as I don’t sing, I’ll be fine. It’s my voice that gets worn out every night, not my hands. I only play a handful of songs myself.
I start with some of my favorites—Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, even a couple of Charlie’s tunes. After playing one of her hits from when we toured with her, I decide to play one of Brash’s slower songs from our album. We played it some in concerts, but it was never as popular since it wasn’t a radio hit. It was always one of my favorites, though.
As I finish the last time playing through the chorus, humming along quietly, the door opens, admitting Colt and Gabby. Colt’s eyebrows are raised, and Gabby has a huge smile on her face.
She claps lightly as I strum the last few chords and set the guitar aside. “I love that song,” she gushes, moving to me as I stand.
Dropping her bag, she throws her arms around my neck and pulls me down for a kiss before I can say anything. But I don’t mind. I’d much rather kiss her than talk right now anyway.
My hands wrap around her back, pulling her tightly against me and deepening the kiss.
Colt’s not okay with witnessing this display, though, and he clears his throat loudly.
Gabby’s mouth curves up in a smile, ruining the kiss, and I turn my head to glare at Colt. “Seriously?” I flick my fingers at him. “Leave if you don’t want to witness me kissing my girlfriend hello.”
He holds up his hands, palms out, and backs out of the door, calling, “You have five minutes. You better be decent when I get back!” as he pulls it closed.
Once he’s gone, I return my attention to Gabby, the smile on my face matching hers. I give her another thorough kiss before leading her to the couch, sitting down with her on my lap. Now that she’s here, I need to touch her as much as possible. Run my hands through her hair. Feel her skin. Reacquaint myself with her curves. Get my fix while I can.
She sighs as I slip my hand under her shirt, letting my fingers stroke the bare skin of her back. “I’m so glad to finally be here.”
“Bad flight?” I’m already scheming how I can charter a flight home for her.
But she shakes her head. “No, it was fine. A little bumpy some of the time, but not too bad. It’s such a short flight, there’s barely time for a drink service. But I’ve been counting down the days since you left last month. I don’t like having to go so long between visits.”
Her lower lip pokes out in an exaggerated pout. I smooth my thumb over it, following that caress with my tongue, kissing her again. “I don’t like it either. Maybe we can figure out an every-other-weekend schedule or something. We can alternate visits. I come see you when I have a few days between shows, and I can fly you out to see me more often.”
Something flashes in her eyes, and her lips curve up in a smile. “Really? You’d be able to do that?”
“Yeah. I’ll talk to Colt about my schedule and figure out how to fit more visits in. I agree that this—a month between visits—it’s too long. I didn’t suggest changing things before because I thought it would be too disruptive for you. I know you have homework and you have to practice …”
She turns in my lap so she’s straddling me, her hands gripping the back of my neck. “No, no.” When she shakes her head, her hair swishes around, which has me giving in to the temptation to run my fingers through it, pushing it behind her shoulders again. Her eyes fall closed, and she looks like she might start purring. Another contented sigh escapes her. “No, visiting you more often wouldn’t be too disruptive to my schedule. I can do homework on the plane and bring my violin along. I’m sure I can find time to practice at least a little while I visit. While you’re doing meet and greets or press or sound checks or whatever. I don’t need to be around for those.”
My hands slide down to her hips, giving her a little squeeze. She opens her eyes to look at me. “Okay. I’ll make it happen, then. I want you around as much as possible.” Her smile is blinding in its brilliance, and I let out a groan when she bounces up and down on my lap. I tighten my grip on her to make her be still. “But you can’t do that right now. Colt’ll be back in a minute, and I don’t need to go on stage with a hard-on.”
Gabby chuckles and slides out of my lap, settling on the couch next to me and patting my chest. “Right. Sorry. I’ll be sure to take care of that for you later, though.”
Before I can respond, Colt opens the door, his hand over his eyes. “Are you guys decent? I don’t want to feel the need to bleach my eyes later.”
“Maybe you should knock first instead of barging in with your eyes closed,” I fire back while Gabby laughs.
Colt peeks between his fingers and lets his hand fall when he sees we’re both dressed and not in a compromising position. “I shouldn’t have to knock when I told you I’d be right back. But I can never be sure what I’m going to find when you two are in a room together for the first time in weeks.”
“Another reason for knocking,” Gabby’s sweet alto voice interjects. “That way we can at least cover the important bits before you barge in.” Her face is serious, but her eyes are twinkling, and I have to bite back my own laugh.
With a disgusted shake of his head, Colt crosses his arms. “You have several fans waiting who paid for the VIP experience. Time to get to work. If you don’t get through all of them now, you’ll have to after the show.” His eyes cut to Gabby. “And I know you’ll want to keep the post-show circus to a minimum tonight.”
I give him a nod. “Right. Give me a minute, and I’ll be out.” My jeans still feel uncomfortably tight to be meeting female super fans. Don’t need any of them getting ideas.
But Colt narrows his eyes. “Dude, you don’t have time—”
“I just need a minute, Colt.” I fill my voice with as much authority and command as I can manage, and it seems to do the trick.
Eyes still narrowed, he scans over me, then points a finger in my direction. “One minute. Just one.” He holds up his phone. “I’m setting a timer.”
Gabby laughs again, and I roll my eyes, glad when he closes the door behind him.
I turn to Gabby and give her a soft kiss. “He really is setting a timer. Watch from backstage tonight. I want to see you at intermission and as soon as I finish the show.”
She smiles. “Okay. I got to see you from the audience side last time. I guess that’ll just have to be good enough.”
Another kiss, this one longer, hotter—my tongue sliding into her mouth, hers immediately sliding against mine—not helping the situation one little bit. But I don’t care. Gabby’s here, and that’s all that matters.
I can make Colt wait another minute with me in the hall. He’ll bitch at me, but he does that all the time anyway. He considers it part of his job description as my little brother.
One last taste, one last inhale of her scent, one last caress of her skin, before Colt starts banging on the door.
“I’ll be back.”
“I’ll be here.”