Believed (My Misery Muse) (10 page)

“When I woke up this morning you looked quite
comfortable spooned around Jules,” he said.

“Nothing happened, we just talked and then fell
asleep.”

“Cooper is looking for an alternate way out,” Eli
said walking up.

“So talking turned into spooning?” Xavier asked
with a sly look.

“Yes, no, she fell asleep when I was on a business
call, I guess I fell asleep after that.”

“Sam just don’t play her okay,” X said quietly.

“I’d never do that, besides Max has a thing for
her.”

X laughed. “Max loves that girl, but he’s not
interested in her like that.”

I glared at X. “Yes, he does.”

“Nope,” he said, “check his Facebook, he has a
date with some chick named Emory tonight.”

I stood stock still looking at my longtime friend,
there was no way I’d gotten that wrong, right?  I mean they spend so much time
together, he’s always worried about her; I’ve seen them kiss.  Granted it was a
kiss on the cheek but still, I couldn’t have been wrong about that.

“Ready?” Cooper asked and quickly led us away from
the front lobby and out a back door.  Thankfully, no one was out there, we were
able to get in our SUV, and head back to the arena.  I had work to do and I
needed to call my brother.  If he was stringing Jules along while he was out
dating other women I’d beat the shit out of him.

Chapter 17

Jules

The rest of the day in Salt Lake City was
uneventful. I laid with Seth in the back bedroom arranging ice packs to various
bruised places while we watched a movie.  When the rest of the band came back,
Xavier and Eli laughed at me and my bruised forehead then piled onto the bed
with us.  We spent, up until they had to get ready to play, making fun of
movies, throwing popcorn, and laughing.  It was a terrific way to spend a day
that had started with klutzy flair.  Though when Sam never joined us that was a
bit of a letdown, he seemed to be ignoring me since last night.

I had decided not to go to the show, instead I
hooked up my iPod to the ridiculous sound system the bus had and worked.  I
zoned out with the monotony of what I was doing so I was surprised when the
guys all came piling on.  I watched as Eli and X climbed on board a girl with
each of them. I rolled my eyes, turned the music up louder, and continued to
work.  I so did not want to hear the sounds that came from the back of the
bus.  As long as they stayed the hell away from my bunk though, I didn’t care
what they did.  I was turning out to be the worst X babysitter ever.  I
scrolled through my playlist until I found
Casual Sex
by My Darkest
Days.

 I grinned up at Seth and Sam when they walked in,
Seth just shook his head at me and went to get a water from the fridge.  Sam
didn’t even acknowledge I was in the room. I sighed quietly I didn’t know what
I was expecting but not that.  I went back to work on the bracelet I was making
and ignored Seth and Sam as they talked shop.  Only I couldn’t get lost in my
work this time, instead I decided to bug my best friend.

          Me:    you up?

          Max:   yep just got home

          Me:    ooo big date?

          Max:   kinda

          Me:    anyone I know?

          Max:   nope

          Me:    details?

          Max:   Emory and don’t want to jinx it

          Me:   


          Max:   what did he do this time?

          Me:    who?

          Max:   Sam

          Me:    nothing

          Max:   something, now spill

          Me:    spent last night talking about my
past

          Max:   wow, all of it or just the facts?

          Me:    most of it

          Max:   okay so how’d he react?

          Me:    last night he was sweet

          Max:   okay then?

          Me:    today he’s ignoring I breathe the
same air

          Max:   stupid fucker

          Me:   


          Me:    hey you didn’t tell her about me
did you?

          Max:   WTH?

          Me:    Emory, you didn’t talk about me
right?

          Max:   uh no learned that lesson last
time

          Max:   *shivers* just thinking about
that

          Me:    hehehe what you wouldn’t want to
go on a date with me?

          Max:   love you and all but not like
that

          Me:    love you too, and you’re right
too weird, I’ve seen you in your holey boxers the mystique is lost

          Max:   shush woman

          Me:    so what do I do?

          Max:   let me think, I’ll get back to
you

          Me:    K, night romeo

          Max:   night Juliet

Seth looked over at me and smiled. “How’s Max?”

“Good,” I said while looking through my emails.
“He just got back from a date.”

“How’d it go?”

“He wouldn’t tell me, said he didn’t want to jinx
it.  Which I take would probably mean it went well in a roundabout way of him
telling me.”

I looked up and saw both Sam and Seth’s confused
faces and shrugged. What can I say sometimes I confuse myself with my
convoluted thinking.

“I don’t care; I’m just glad he’s dating at all.”

Sam made a noise and I glanced over at him but he
was buried in his own phone.

“After Sondra, I wasn’t sure if he’d ever be
interested in dating again.”

“That was a train wreck waiting to happen.”

“Right,” I said and looked up at Seth. “This is
why we must now vet his dates beforehand.  The fact that this one he told me
about must mean she passed.  This is the second date he’s been on since
twatface got the boot.  The first he spent talking about his best friend and
what she does and doesn’t like, he couldn’t figure out why the date didn’t go
well.” I snickered.

“Who’s Sondra?” Sam asked.

“Huh?” I asked confused.

“Sondra?” Seth asked looking just as confused.

“She’s Max’s ex,” I said slowly. “They dated on
and off for like a year.”

“He dated someone for a year?”

My eyes widened and I stared at Sam. How in the
hell did he not know the woman his brother had at one point thought of
marrying?  The woman who was using him for over a year and broke his heart.

“Are you serious?” I blurted.

“Damn,” Seth said then whistled. “Do you ever talk
to your brother?”

“Yeah, we talk,” he mumbled.

“Sondra was the bitch who your brother thought he
was in love with, she’d break things off with him then come back a few weeks
later saying she made a mistake.  Come to find out, what she really wanted was
to tote that she’d fucked a rock star and found Max an easy way to reach that
life achievement.” I said sarcastically.  “About six months ago, she finally
got her chance and came on to Xavier, X turned her down flat when he found out
who she was.  It was also the same day your brother planned on proposing.”

“Devi’s still plotting her death,” Seth said with
a small grin.

I couldn’t help but smiling. “We have a plan that
will lead to her ultimate destruction.”

“Wait, she used him to get to a rock star, why?”

I did a slow blink unsure if I heard him
correctly. “Uh, because his brother is a rock star?  She’s not the first one to
try to play him.  Only in the past, he figured it out before it got serious.”

Seth nodded. “Devi said Ivy’s been having the same
problems, part of the reason she wants to take a break from school.  She’s
tired of trying to weed out people who like her for her, or those who have
found out who her brother is.”

“Yeah, she and Max were talking about creating a
support group before I flew out.”

Seth snorted. “That would be an interesting
group.”

“They were talking about mud wrestling to figure
out who the president is.”

“Why hasn’t he said anything to me about this?”
Sam asked.

Seth looked at Sam and shook his head. “He
probably has.  Who knows Max is not one to let things bother him, if he did he
probably joked about it.”

“I’ve been a shitty brother,” he mumbled.

Sam

I stood up and walked outside. I still had twenty
minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave.  I leaned against the side of
our tour bus and pulled up my brother’s phone number.  I watched as crew ran
around packing things up while I waited for my brother to answer his phone.

“Why didn’t I ever meet Sondra?” I blurted when he
answered.

“Well hello to you too, brother,” Max drawled.
“Nice to hear from you.”

I let out a breath. “Sorry, hi Max.”

I heard him sigh on the other side of the line. “I
tried to introduce you to Sondra but you were always busy, I didn’t want to
bother you.”

“Oh,” I said quietly.

“I guess it’s a good thing you never met her, it
sucked when she tried to get into X’s pants if she’d made a pass at you it
would have been worse.”

“I’m sorry, Max.”

“Pfft it’s fine, I’m over it.”

“No, not for that, well I’m sorry for that too, I
didn’t know and that was wrong on so many levels.  I’m sorry for being a crap
brother.”

“You’ve been busy, I get it.  I’m just glad you
hired some people who can help you now.  I knew you didn’t trust all of the people
who have been in your and the band’s business.  Now you have Drake and you can
let him take care of things.”

“Yeah, going to have to learn how to do that,” I
said quietly.

“We’ll teach you,” Max said and I could hear him
smiling.  “What’s up with you and Jules?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “I wouldn’t do that to
you, man.”

“Do what to me?” he asked confused.

“I mean, I would never poach.”

“You think, oh god,” he started laughing on the
other side of the line.  “You think… that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in
ages.  Samuel, me and Jules are not like that,” he chuckled. “Though people
seem to get the wrong idea.”

“What do you mean you’re not like that?”

“She’s my best friend, my little sister. I’ve
never even thought, okay, well I have, because damn that would make my life so
much easier.  Only I don’t see Jules as anything other than a sister.”

“Oh, but I thought…” I trailed off. Hadn’t both
Seth and Xavier told me I was wrong? There were signs everywhere that she and
Max were only friends. “I’m an idiot.”

“No, you’re not, like I said people make that
mistake all the time.”

“How’s Dad doing?”  I wish I could tell you the
things he’s told me, I need someone else to know.

“Doing okay, Mom now loves the nurse and swears
that it was the best idea she’d ever come up with.  She’s decided that Dad
needs around the clock care so she can spend more time just being with him.”

I smiled at that. “Do what needs to be done; the
agency has my credit card on file.”

“Already working on it, Sam. Mom is interviewing
nurses this week.  She’s hiring three more two for days and two for nights.”

“Good, I’ve been worried about her.”

“She’s worried about you, you need to call her. 
Jules has been calling every day and telling Mom that you’re good but she still
wants to hear from you.”

“Jules calls Mom?”

“Yep, they talk every day have for the past few
years.”

“I didn’t know that either,” I muttered.

“Now you do, just ask Jules to let you know when
she calls. She’ll hand the phone over so you can talk to Mom for a minute, and
it gives you an excuse to get off the phone quickly.”

“Know this from experience, little brother?”

“Damn right, I love our mom but that woman will
talk for hours if you let her, and well, Jules, she lets her.  If I’m around,
Jules hands me the phone I get away with the quick, love you, how are you,
before she’s demanding to talk to Jules again.”

“I’ll give that a try,” I said smiling.

“Alright, I need to get some sleep. I’ll talk to
you soon, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll call you soon, bye Max.”

“Night Sam.”

“That was nice of you,” Jules said quietly.

“I didn’t realize I had an audience,” I said
snidely.

“Well I was coming out to ask if you wanted
something to eat,” she said kicking her foot at the asphalt. “Didn’t want to
interrupt.”  She looked up at me. “He’s missed you.”

I nodded. “Next time you talk to my mom let me
know, will you?”

She grinned. “Sure, but don’t think you’ll get off
as easily as Max does.”

I shrugged. “So who’s cooking and what are they
making?”

“I’m cooking,” she said proudly. “I’m quite
skilled with a box of mac ‘n’ cheese and a package of hot dogs.”

I laughed. “Sounds good, anything is better than
one of those frozen dinner things we have in there.”

“Well I need to go check on the water,” she
mumbled and quickly walked up the stairs.

I stood out there and watched as the crew quickly
finished packing up everything.

“Sam,” someone said beside me and I jerked my head
over.

“Good evening, Ian, glad you made it back on
time.”

He nodded and went up the stairs. I glanced around
once more and followed him up.  I walked in to find Jules plastered against the
counter in the galley as Eli argued with tonight’s conquest.  X was quickly
ushering his out of the bus.  I quickly walked to the galley, grabbed Jules
wrist and began to pull her away just as the groupie shoved Eli.  Jules was
pushed into the counter and cried out.

“Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck,” she mumbled holding her
side.

I pulled her the rest of the way out and pulled
her into my chest.