Hate Me Today (Save Me #3) (7 page)

Jason

My fingers fly across the strings of my bass, throwing notes together as
Devon beats against his electric drum set. You’d think after the getting off stage we’d all be tired, but really when we walk off we’re so hyped up that it’s hard to sit still. Since we can’t go party because we’re supposed to be on the road soon, we choose to do this while we wait to leave.

I down my shot, the amber liquid burning as it runs down my throat.

“How the fuck did we end up in the broom closet?” I ask, standing up.

Jack shrugs
, “No clue. But I think she’s kicking what’s-his-bucket to the curb.”

“What’s-his-bucket?” I laugh.

“Yeah… you know, that shit stick that’s been hanging around. The one that looks like he’s going to punch you every time you stare at her ass.”

Turning around, I glare at him
, “Bitch doesn’t have an ass to look at. I gotta piss.”

I start out the door, turning around only hear what
Devon says.

“I don’t know who you’re looking at, but that girl has one hell of an ass.” He wags his eyebrows at me. Rolling my eyes, I turn and walk away.

I don’t care what the excuse is but keeping us out of the dressing room after a show isn’t cool. I always keep a spare change of clothes in there because when I get off stage I’m covered in sweat.

Rounding the corner I stop as fast as I can, backing up until what’s actually happening
hits me.

Zach has Vanessa caged in against the wall, his hand wrapped around her throat and if I couldn’t see the terrified look on her face I would think this was just some kinky sex against the wall.

“This is mine! You don’t get to leave me unless I say I’m done with you!” I hear his voice over the sound of Carson’s band. Just as he reaches down to unbutton Vanessa’s jeans, she sobs and I see red.

I charge toward him, my shoulder plowing into him, knocking him away from her. Somewhere behind me she screams out for security just as my fist collides with his face. I don’t stop hitting him until they pull me away. My knuckles are sore and covered in blood, his blood, but I don’t care. I would have kept hitting that mother fucker until he stopped breathing.

Tyrone presses me against the wall, telling me over and over that I need to calm down before I go to jail. I turn my head, searching for Vanessa and find her coiled up in a corner bawling. After I take a few breaths to calm down Tyrone lets me go.

I
don’t know what makes me do it but I rush to Vanessa, scooping up her shaking body and pulling her into me. With Tyrone leading the way through the crowd we’ve drawn, I rush us back to the bus, settling her back on the couch.

Her tiny hands wrap around her neck where Zach’s just were. Dropping to my knees in front of her, I pull her hands away even though she fights me. His hand print is already forming, wrapping almost completely around her neck. It makes me sick that any man would do something like this.

“What the hell happened?” Jack’s voice echoes off the walls of the bus causing Vanessa to jump.

I grab a towel, fill it with ice and hand it off to her. Since there isn’t really anything I can do, I pull her back against my chest when I sit beside her on the couch. I can feel everyone’s eyes on me, wondering what the hell I’m doing but since I don’t know, I don’t say anything.

Other than the shaking that she’s doing, Vanessa is stiff against me as I pull her hair back away from her neck.

“Tilt your head,” I whisper gruffly, but she doesn’t listen. “Vanessa, please tilt your head.”

She does and I run my fingertips over the marks on her skin, moving the ice to where the coloring is worse.

Tyrone’s big ass jumps onto the bus, crowding up the small area. “I’m so sorry
, V. We kicked his sorry ass off the property so I’m not sure how he got back in but he’s in police custody now.”

“Ashlyn?” Vanessa forces out.

Tyrone nods. “She’s all taken care of. He won’t touch her again and we already got her in touch with a lawyer and she’ll have security if she wants it.”

We spend the next two hours that were supposed to be on the road talking to the police. The second they step off the bus Vanessa bolts away from us like her ass in on fire. The door to the bathroom slams shut.
I stand to go after her, to do something that I probably shouldn’t but Jack’s voice halts me two steps away from the bathroom.

“What happened to hating her?”

I shake my head as everything Tuesday and Abby have been through flashes through my mind. “I still hate her but I’m not completely heartless.” Close, but not completely, I remind myself. He shrugs me off and climbs into his bunk above Devon.

Knocking softly against the bathroom door, I’m greeted by harder sobbing and her telling me to go away. I try again, getting the same response.
“Open the goddamn door, Vanessa,” I growl. She doesn’t.

Devon
peeks his head out of his bunk. “Dude, her boyfriend just tried to off her. Ordering her around like that probably won’t get you anywhere good.”

He’s right so I step away, taking a second to pour and down another drink. When I get back to the bathroom door I rest my head against it, whispering through it to try and get Vanessa to open the door.
About twenty minutes of coaxing later, after I had slid down the wall so I’m sitting on the floor, I hear the lock flip but she doesn’t open the door. I reach up and tug the door back. Once again she’s huddled into the corner of the tiny room. I slide myself back so I’m seated next to her. Her tear stained face tips back as she lets her head drop back against the wall.

“Why are you helping me, Jason? You hate me
.”

I think about it for a minute before I tell her the truth. “My feelings don’t matter. They never have. I’m an inconsiderate asshole who fucks everything up. Plus, just because I hate you, doesn’t mean you deserve to be hurt like this.”

Her head drops to my shoulder. “You are an asshole. I’m so glad you agree,” she chuckles softly before getting serious again. “I can’t keep working like this, Jason. I need to at least have some sort of civil relationship between us. You don’t have to like me, just stop treating me like shit twenty-four-seven. So can we call a truce? At least while we’re working; outside of that you can hate me all you want.”

It takes me a minute to decide but my life on the road would probably be a lot smoother if I wasn’t constantly trying to think of a way to piss her off.

I hold my hand out for her to shake. “I’ll call a truce until the tour is over but I still hate you.

“I would expect nothing less,” she whispers, resting her head back against my shoulder.

Vanessa

“You can stare at those bruises all damn day but it won’t change the fact that they’re there.” Mandi smiles sadly at me in the mirror and drapes a scarf over my shoulders. “Cover them up and forget about them.”

“It’s not that easy,” I sigh, pressing my fingers into the purple and yellow marks that haven’t changed much in two days.

“It’s easier than explaining to the press why you have handprints around your neck.” She shrugs and walks off, leaving me alone in the tiny bathroom.

I can’t help but wonder what the hell I did in life to get here. Not here as in a tour bus on tour singing, but here, staring at my reflection in a mirror. I shouldn’t be wrapping scarfs around my neck to hide bruising from my boyfriend.

Ex-boyfriend who was married
, I remind myself.

They say God only gives you as much as you can handle. Well, I better be getting a cape here real soon because he must think I’m a fucking superhero.

I take a deep breath and step out of the tiny bathroom, running straight into Jason.

“You good to go?” he asks, eyeing my neck.

I shift uncomfortably, not used to this side of him. Or him talking to me for something other than to bitch or insult me.

“Yeah.” I nod. “I’m good.”
I lie. I’m so far from good right now it’s crazy but I’m afraid if I tell him, he’ll use it against me and I’m not willing to put myself in that position. I walk away from him and almost make it to the front of the bus before his words stop me.

“It’s not your fault
: it doesn’t make you weak, if that’s what you’re thinking. You deal with my ass daily and haven’t broken down and I’m the biggest dick you’ll ever meet. But don’t ever think that what he did had anything to do with you.”

I turn and find him smiling sadly. Something about the way he says it leads me to believe that he’s said those words before. I can’t handle it though. If he keeps talking, he’s going to make me think he actually has a heart.

“You’ve gotta stop talking now.”

Jason chuckles
, “Why? You said you wanted to call a truce. This is me being nice, is it not nice enough for you?”

His eyes shine when he laughs and it’s probably the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. The sudden urge to climb him like a tree comes over me and I know I need to walk away before anything happens between us again because I know that’s not what I should be thinking about right now. Or ever.

“You have to stop. Being pleasant to work with and being caring are two different things and I think you jumped head first into caring for a second. I can’t handle it. Say something mean,” I laugh, joking my way out of an awkward situation. Jason steps forward, ushering me off the bus.

“Don’t worry Princess, I still hate you. Maybe if I’m nice to you I can somehow convince you to quit though.”

“Ulterior motives; good to know you’re still an asshole.”

I grab the door handle to the SUV and slide in next to Mandi who’s laughing at something
Devon said.

“Fear not, me being an asshole will never change. Nothing to worry about there.”

“Look at you two all cute and cuddly,” I smile at Mandi who is pulled flush against Devon as he whispers something in her ear. Mandi’s face reddens at whatever he’s saying as we take off to find something to eat before the last show before our week break.

The entire ride we argue over something completely ridiculous and I’m not even sure I know what we’re fighting about. Jack randomly yells out the word penis and we all burst out laughing, even Jason.

We decide on some hole in the wall place, ordering from some tiny little brunette named Rachel.  As she’s taking our order, she flirts openly with Jason which pisses me off for some reason. Why can’t she hit on Jack? He is, after all, our resident horn dog. Jason at least usually keeps it off the bus but we’re constantly having to kick chicks out of Jack’s bunk.

Rachel drops our food off and winks at Jason before leaving. I know in my gut what’s going to happen before it even does. He stands up a few seconds after she walks away, making some excuse about having to take a piss and follows through the same way she just went.

“That’s disgusting,” I murmur, dipping my fry into some ranch dressing.

“What? The fact that you’re jealous over Jason fucking some waitress instead of you. Or the fact that you really wish he’d come back and crawl under the table and bury his face between your thighs.”

I squeeze my thighs together, trying to tell myself that neither one of the reasons Jack just spouted off are true even though they are. They shouldn’t be; neither would be a good idea. I don’t answer him other than flipping him off because I know that if I say anything else he’ll just turn that around too.

It’s a good twenty minutes before Jason comes back. We’ve all finished eating and I was telling Mandi that I was going to visit my brother Vincent when we got back home.

“Hurry the hell up we’re burning time. Maybe if you hadn’t just gone and screwed the town welcome wagon-”

“Hey,” Jason interrupts me. The look on his face is not the sad look he had on the bus, but one filled with the hate he has for me. “I’m not the one that gets strangled by my boyfriend but two days later has another one lined up for when I get home. I bet Vincent will just love the marks on your neck. Maybe he’ll add a few to them.”

Everyone at the table goes silent, staring at him like he had three heads. I feel the tears burning my eyes and I know I need to get out of here right now before I freak out. I stand from the table, my chair sticking to the carpet so it flips over when I try to back it up. I don’t say anything; I don’t need to. I know Mandi will take care of it and I hear her rip into him as soon as I’m away from the table. Before I hit the door Tyrone is right by my side, wrapping his arm over my shoulder and pulling me against him.

“You good
, girl?”

“Nope,” my voice cracks, “I’m not good at all. Let’s just get back so we can do this show so I can go home.