Deep Rocked (2 page)

He nodded. “Hiring enough cars for everyone is going to be pricey, and I don’t want any of them driving.”

I pulled out my phone and started typing, thinking and talking as I went. “Well, we’ve got a few options here. The easiest is just stay here for tonight. Get a van or something from in town and find a hotel. Then we can just get back on the road in the morning when the bus is fixed and everyone is fresh. It’ll be a little extra work for the crew to get ready for the show tomorrow night, but it’s probably the cheapest way to go.”

“I agree.” He nodded and looked at me strangely. “That’s some good, fast thinking, Rebecca. I’ll call and inform the label and the rest of management, you make the travel arrangements, all right?”

“Yes, of course.” I’d already found the number of a good hotel and dialed it while slipping past him off the bus.

Chapter Two

It was nice to breathe in the open air for a few moments. While I got transferred from phone to phone, trying to get the hotel manager, I watched Dex and Matthew out of the corner of my eye. They were striding down the muddy shoulder together. Not speaking, just moving slowly and deliberately. It was pleasantly odd to see the usually boisterous and frenetic Dex quiet and seemingly peaceful.

“-Double rooms?”

“I-I’m sorry, w-what?” I stuttered into the phone, completely distracted.

“I asked if double rooms were suitable. We’re nearly booked for the night, but of course want to accommodate you.”

“Ah, yes. Double rooms are fine.” I made a quick roommate list in my head, putting Joe and Liss together and assigning Mia, Ryan’s niece and the tour’s supposed blogger, to a room with me. “We’ll need six, please.”

“Excellent. Is there anything else?”

I slapped my thigh. “Yes, can you recommend a cab company? Our bus is on the side of the road.”

The woman on the other line stifled a laugh. “Er, which road?”

I looked up at a sign. “The M6? Our driver says we’re very close to Manchester.”

“We have airport shuttle vans. I can send two over to collect you all.”

“That would be perfect. Thank you.”

“My pleasure. We look forward to your arrival.”

“Great.” I paused for a moment. “Oh, and we’ll make sure to tell all the fans online what wonderful hotel got us out of this jam.”

I could practically hear her smile widening. “Excellent. I’ll ring you back with an exact time the shuttles will reach at your location. If you give me the credit card information I can have you all checked in by the time you arrive at the hotel.”

“Oh, of course.” I rattled off the now familiar numbers and then thanked her again before ending the conversation. Man, traveling with a famous rock band had its perks. If I’d tried to make those arrangements for myself I would’ve been on hold for days, probably.

I was getting ready to climb back onto the bus to update Ryan on the situation, but first I snuck another look over at Dex. All of the calm from before had left him. He was kneeling down, facing away from the road, sucking steadily on the contents of his flask. A closer look revealed he was pale, and Matthew, standing next to him, looked helpless and baffled.

I hurried over to them. “What’s wrong?”

Dex didn’t even look up at me.

Matthew shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “He got a call. Won’t tell me anything.”

“Okay. Matthew, can you go back inside and tell Ryan there’s a shuttle bus coming to get us soon, and I’ll be in to talk to him in a minute?”

He nodded, glanced briefly at Dex and then walked away. I watched his lean form depart and then turned to look at the man in front of me. At his height, even on his knees Dex was almost as tall as me it seemed. But something was wrong. He looked small and scared in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible.

“Dex, can you get up and talk to me?”

He took one last swig from the flask and threw it over the guardrail into a ravine.

“You’re scaring me. What happened?”

He didn’t answer. His wide, strong face was hidden behind his inky black hair and I knelt down and pushed it out of the way.

“Say something.”

He finally looked at me, his dark eyes dull.

“Who called you on the phone?”

“A cousin, I think, she said.”

I was able to put the pieces together from that. “Your dad?”

He nodded.

“Is he-”

“Dead? Not yet. But there’s been a decline in his condition. That’s what she said. A ‘decline’. So fucking clinical.”

“Do they want you to come?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you going to go?”

“To Bristol? Yeah. No. I…I don’t know.”

I put my hand on the side of his face and made him meet my gaze again. “Dex, you should go. See him.”

“I know,” he said, voice low and soft, so young. “But how can I? What do I say? Goodbye? I love you? Some other bullshit from a movie? That’s not me.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. You’ll say what you say. But you need to see him.”

“I…I don’t know if I can. I mean we’re four hours in the opposite direction.”

“Hey,” I whispered, placing a finger over his lips. “Let me worry about that. I’ll find a way to get you there.”

“I’m still not sure I should go. Not sure I want to.”

The pain in his face and voice made me ache. All the anger I’d felt melted away. “Do you trust me, Dex?”

“Of course. You’re the amazing Becca Hall.”

I smiled and stood up, holding out my hand for him to join me. He did, slowly.

“Then take my advice. Go see your dad.”

Dex held my hand a little longer than necessary as I pulled him back towards the bus. With his fingers entwined with mine I couldn’t help but remember the night before. How close I’d felt to him. But that didn’t matter now. He needed my help and I was going to give it. Send him off and take some time to myself to think.

I wasn’t happy his father was doing poorly, but the timing was pretty good for me, emotionally. I needed some air. Space to breathe where I wasn’t staring at his ridiculously gorgeous face all the time. Last night I’d been rash and let my feelings rule my behavior. No matter what happened with us, that was a mistake I never planned to repeat. Something about Dex made me reckless. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time, but with him gone for a day or two I could get myself back together.

It was kind of shitty to use the situation to my own advantage, but he’d never know. And what I advised was true. He needed to see his father. In the time since my dad’s stroke I’d wished a lot that we could’ve talked some things out. And I remembered the day I heard what happened. I was so scared he would die. That he would be alone in the end. As imperfect a man as he’d always been, I loved him deeply. And that day I didn’t think he knew that.

I blinked back tears and shook my head to clear it. Now was not the time to go down that road again.

When we got to the front of the bus Ryan was there, chatting with the driver and texting at the same time. I stepped away from Dex, afraid that the closeness of our bodies would give away the complicated relationship we’d stumbled into.

“What’s going on, Dex?” Ryan asked, distracted.

I noted for the first time that he called Dex by his nickname. Which was strange. To Ryan I was always Rebecca. And even Joe was Joseph. I needed to find out how Dex had managed to avoid that irritating little habit.

Dex shrugged, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “I need to cut out for a bit, man.”

Ryan frowned and looked up, finally offering his full attention. “You’re kidding, right?”

He shook his head. “No. Got a situation I need to deal with.”

The other man laughed. “Yeah, right. You think I’m stupid? We’ve been through this before. I don’t give a shit about your little benders and lost weekends, but now is not the time. This tour is too important.”

Dex’s jaw clenched and it was hard for me to keep from reaching out to him.

“I’m not talking about going off to party. I have a family emergency.”

The look of incredulity on Ryan’s face made me want to slap him. “Uh-huh. Try again.”

I stepped in. “It’s true, Ryan. Dex’s father is very ill. He’s only in Bristol. I can get him on a flight today and back in plenty of time for the show tomorrow night.”

Ryan looked back and forth between us, and in a moment of panic I wondered if he suspected something. But, after a long time he just sighed and nodded. “Okay, fine. I’m still a little skeptical, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. You’ve got twenty-four hours to deal with your business.”

“All right,” Dex replied tightly. I could feel the tension coming off of him in waves and appreciated his self-control.

“Don’t get too excited. You’ve got a way of wandering off, and I won’t have that this time. So I’m sending Rebecca with you. She’ll make sure you get back on time. Or both of you will be looking for new jobs.”

“No!” I said a little too loudly. I barely registered the threat, concentrating on the idea of being alone with Dex for a whole day, away from the rest of the gang. “I can’t do that.”

Dex looked hurt.

“I just mean there’s so much to do here,” I continued, pathetically. “Calls to make and such.”

Ryan shrugged. “If you don’t go, he doesn’t go.”

Well, great
. That pretty much took away that choice. As much as being alone with him was dangerous for me, I would never deny him this chance to see his father. If things went wrong and he didn’t get to say goodbye, I’d never be able to forgive myself. I silently called Ryan every foul name I could think of, but plastered a smile on my face and said, “Okay, then. I guess I can work something out with my responsibilities.”

“Fine. But no one is going anywhere right now. Can you call about that shuttle? Drivers are starting to stare and I don’t want a press crush out here.”

I seriously doubted that any press were going to come and rush us on the side of a highway, but there was no point arguing, so I nodded and climbed back on the bus, pulling out my phone to check back in with my contact at the hotel.

*

Two hours later I was sitting on a mostly empty train car next to Dex, and feeling incredibly awkward.

“I-uh, I’m sorry we couldn’t fly. But there aren’t any direct flights and this is actually faster than making the connections that are available.”

He shrugged. “I don’t mind. Now that I’m on the way I can’t say I’m in a big hurry. I was hoping to have enough time to decide what to say to him. But thinking about it is doing my head in. So I’m going to drink instead.” He smiled humorlessly.

“Dex, I don’t think you want to show up drunk.”

“He won’t care. If he even knows I’m there.”

“
You’ll
care.”

He frowned and then smiled, this time genuinely. “Christ, Becca. You get me better than I do. How is that possible?”

My stomach clenched at his words, but I tried to brush them off. “I’m more sober than you. That helps a lot.”

Dex laughed and slung his arm around my shoulder. I inhaled the scent of his skin and soap before I could stop myself. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I said, struggling to keep from moving away from him. “I’m fine.”

“You’re not. In all the madness today I didn’t get to push the issue. But I can tell something’s wrong.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter right now. This little trip is about you, not me.”

“Becca,” he said softly, turning my face to his. “We are going to be on this train for three hours. There’s plenty of time for you to talk to me. Besides, I need a distraction. And you, my friend, are a wonderful one.” His eye sparkled with promise and mischief.

Part of me wanted to give in, let the pull of him drag me closer to the fire. But I fought it, slipping from his grasp and turning away to look out the window opposite our seats, watching the world go by as we sped towards the south western part of the country. “It isn’t a big deal. I just…after last night I thought things would be different. And yes, I realize I sound like some silly schoolgirl, but I guess I am, in a way. I’ve never told anyone what I shared with you. And I guess I just hoped it would…I don’t know.”

Dex put his hand on my arm to get my attention. “Hey, look at me.”

I did, reluctantly.

“I’m really honored that you told me you’re a virgin.”

I blushed and buried my head in my hands. “Oh god, don’t say it out loud. It sounds so old-fashioned and pathetic.”

He frowned. “No it doesn’t. And you’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about. I can say from experience that you’re a very passionate girl. Not having ‘completed the mission’ yet doesn’t change that.”

I chuckled. “Fine, okay. But if it’s all so cool, why did you ignore me today? Why did you turn me into this weepy, whiny mess?”

Dex’s eyes opened wide. “Fuck. Of course. I should have realized how it might look to you.” He slid a finger around the curve of my ear and over my hair. “Last night did change things for me. For us. It was amazing. And I wanted to get on that bus and yank you into my arms and kiss you breathless. But Ryan would kill you. Both of us, probably.”

“Oh. I thought you were freaked out or something.”

“And I thought you regretted what happened.”

“Never. Well, I did, a little. But only because I thought it scared you away.”

His lips curled up at the corners. “Not going to happen, love. I’m hooked on you. Just try and dislodge me.”

“That’s kind of a gross mental image, Dex.”

“I was trying for sexy.”

“Oh, you’ve got that down.” I smiled and looked deep into his eyes. How could I have doubted him?

“You think so?”

“Mmhmm.”

“I’m not sure. Let me try something, tell me if it works.”

“All right.”

He leaned over and kissed me, pulling my head towards his. When our lips touched I had to swallow back a moan. His kiss was soft and hard at the same time, probing and gentle.

When his tongue drove into my mouth I wrapped my arms around his neck and fitted my body against his, earning a low growl from his throat.

Every second we inched closer together, tongues exploring and tangling until I was breathless.