Hot Southern Mess (Hide Your Crazy) (11 page)

“So what other hidden talents do you possess
, Molly Anne?” Reid smirked, finally leaning back into the couch.

“Well, I am an excellent flame thrower and have dabbled in hypnosis.” I couldn’t help but laugh at my response. How easy it was to get lost in the music and leave
yourself venerable; yet the second it stops the wall of protection was easily built right back up again. Reid laughed at my comment and motioned for me to hand over the guitar.

“Here,” I whispered.

Reid’s hand grazed mine in the exchange, instantly sending chills down my body. Yep, pretty sure I’m totally lame. I tried to stifle the yawn that escaped my lips as Reid started to strum the guitar.

“Sleep
, Molly Anne,” he spoke. This man had a dominating side, and it made me never want to question his motives again.

I nodded my head and stretched out on the couch, quietly listening to the amazing rock god
, Reid, play softly in the background. If this didn’t screw with my head even more, then I’m sure I was already certifiable to begin with.

Chapter 11: Does dating really
exist anymore? Well………besides speed dating that is.

The bus came to an abrupt stop and I immediately got introduced to the floor. Lucky for me, the ground was carpeted, and I landed on my back instead of flat on my face. Groaning, I slowly opened my eyes to the light slamming through the large windows. Closing my eyes again, I let out a loud sigh; this really wasn’t how I wanted to wake up this morning.

“Coffee?”
Reid snickered from the kitchen.

I lifted my head off the floor and narrowed my eyes at the man standing there, holding out a coffee cup. I knew if I opened my mouth before coffee this morning
, something absolutely bitchy and horrid would emerge, thus nodding my head and sitting up was the only logical response to go with.

Reid walked over and offered a hand to help me up, and without hesitation I reached out and grabbed it. I’m sure there would have been butterflies, however this morning they were all dead………..or asleep…………..or maybe a mixture of both. Either way
, all I wanted was that liquid goodness he was holding for me.

“Thanks,” I grumbled, reaching for the cup and bringing it to my lips. The heat was scorching to my lips, but I didn’t care; I needed the strong cup of
Joe to bring me back to the living.

“Black right?”

Nodding my head I took another long sip, savoring the flavor as it went down. My mood this morning was obviously sour, and I could bet it on the lack sleep I had been getting the last couple of days. This job was basically a twenty-four-seven kind of thing. Sure, I was making fantastic money and being around music was completely kick ass, but my mood was heading south quickly.

“Tired?” Reid asked, sitting down across from me.

I made a grunting noise and continued to inhale my cup of coffee. I figured by the third cup I might be back to the civilian world again.

“So
, after tonight’s performance we get two days off. Sounds nice huh?” Reid mentioned casually.

Hearing the magical words two days off meant I could peacefully sleep on the right bus, give Simon some much needed attention, and even possibly shower. How did I not realize we had two days off?

“You didn’t know?”

“Nope, I kind of live day to day with Stephanie’s schedule,” I replied.

“So she speaks; I was beginning to think you had gone mute.” Reid laughed, kicking his feet up on the sofa next to me.

“Sorry, I’m not real pleasant in the morning.”

“Wouldn’t have guessed.”

“Oh shut up,” I moaned, downing t
he rest of the cup of goodness.

“I think we are stopping in Flagstaff for a night, want to grab dinner while we are off the bus?”

My heart lurched and my mind raced. Reid was asking me to grab dinner with him. Holy flying pancakes, what in the world do I do?

“Did someone say dinner?” Brody grumbled, stumbling out to the couches and flopping himself down next to me. I watched as Reid’s eyes narrowed at his band
member’s eyes and a cold stare developed between them.

“We were just talking about the stop in Flagstaff. It would be nice to get off this bus and not in an a
rea of screaming girls for once.” I laughed, trying to break the tension between them.

“Well
, tell me where and when. I’m always game for a good meal,” Brody commented, smacking the top of my thigh as he smiled. The interaction between both of them was almost childish, like one of them had taken the other’s favorite toy and was parading it around in front of them.

Suddenly, Reid stood and stomped to the back of the bus, not uttering another word. Brody started to laugh hysterically
, casually leaning into my personal space a bit too much.

“What in the world was that?”

“You, Miss Molly. That deal, was about you.” Brody continued to laugh while getting up and heading over to the kitchen.

Me? Call me stupid, but I don’t think what just happened had anything to do with me.

I didn’t see Reid the rest of the afternoon, as I busied myself with getting everything Stephanie asked me to do
accomplished with utter perfection. I wanted her to be able to trust me in any situation, thus making sure all the Is were dotted and ts were crossed made me feel like I had come down with a case of obsessive compulsive disorder. That, and having it all done a little early gave me the chance to shower and spend more than five minutes getting ready. I am a simple girl, but I would like more than two shakes of a snail’s tail to pull myself together.

I was just finishing setting up a hospitality table when PD walked through the door
. The tray hit the table with a clang when I caught the eyes of Brantley, walking into the room all enchanting and shit. I had to remind myself to wipe the drool that was trailing down my face from staring at his tattoo sleeve. What a complete sucker I was for a man with tattoos. Nothing was sexier than a man with ink on his skin, and by golly Brantley’s sleeve was mouthwatering.

“So
, I hear you can play,” Brantley said across the room, slowly closing the gap between us.

It took a moment
to realize he was talking to me; for some reason I couldn’t tear myself away from the dark images that swirled around his upper arm.

“Um…………..yeah I can play,” I managed to stammer out. Why must I always make a complete ass out of myself in front of hot men?

“What are your plans tonight? Want to play with us tonight after the concert?”

“Um………..sure.
Where at?”

“Meet
us on the bus after the concert.” Brantley winked at me and flashed a smile.

“Okay,” I stuttered. Why in the world was I nervous? Brantley quickly leaned in and
placed a quick kiss to my cheek, instantly sending me into a head to toe full on blush. I am absolutely ridiculous. “I’ve got to get cleaned up, so I guess I’ll see you tonight?”

“Looking forward to it,” Brantley replied while licki
ng his lips.

Someone
punch me, preferably not in the face.

Stepping out of the small shower, I could hear Black Laden kicking ass in the arena. I knew they just started their set, so I still had forty-five minutes before I needed to be backstage again.
Quickly, I towel dried my hair and wrapped it tightly around my body to venture out and grab some clean clothes. As I was staring at the duffle bag of clothes I had brought in earlier, I couldn’t decide what to wear tonight. It’s not like I needed to impress anyone, so a pair of black yoga pants shouldn’t be a problem. Tossing on a plain grey long sleeve, I headed back into the bathroom to dry my unruly hair.

“Molly, I need you!” Stephanie shrieked inside the bus.

Quickly, I shut off the dryer and scurried to the front of the bus. I probably looked like a hot wet mess, and silently prayed Stephanie wouldn’t need me for anything serious.

“Good
, you are dressed. I need you to go with one of the production assistants and pick up my rental car. Apparently they sent the keys over earlier cause someone at the office said I would be picking it up,” Stephanie sneered, tossing the keys up at me.

“Right now?”
I mumbled, barely catching the keys in my hand.

“Yes, right now. I need to get on the road for Flagstaff tomorrow morning.”

If she wasn’t leaving until tomorrow, then why did she need the car right now? I pondered asking her that question, but soon realized that would only lead to a verbal ass chewing, and I would rather skip that tonight.

“Come give me the keys when you get back, and hurry please.”

“Okay,” I replied, realizing that my appearance was going to be as good at it got tonight. Hurrying back to my bunk, I grabbed a clean pair of socks and threw my favorite chucks on. Tossing an old Black Sabbath sweatshirt over my head, I hurried off the bus to find Pete, the second production assistant, to take me to the rental place.

“Where are you going?” Brantley’s voice came up behind me. Instantly
, I whirled around to see a still sweaty and fantastic Brantley walking toward me.

“I have to go get Stephanie’s rental car.”

“Oh, want me to take you?”

“It’s okay, they said Pete would drive me over,” I replied, nervously trying to flatten my now curly mess that was my hair.

“Seriously, it’s no big deal. Go grab the keys and I’ll drive,” Brantley says with that lopsided grin that does numbers on my heart.

“Don’t you want to clean up?”

“I can do it later. Hurry up; we have to find this place before the concert’s over.”

I let a smile cre
ep across my face and I nodded my head. My heart was torn in two for both leading men on this tour, however I was certain with at least one of them the feelings were just not there.

“So, where are we going?” Brantley asked as we pulled out of the packed parking lot.

“The GPS says stay straight on Canyon Road for seven miles,
and then take a left onto Upriver Drive.”

“Cool. So tell me about
yourself, Molly,” Brantley asked, reaching over and turning down the radio.

“What do you want to know? I’m really a boring person.”

“I doubt that, and start at the beginning,” he says with a smile, briefly taking his eyes off the road and offering me a wink.

“Well, I’m from the south if you couldn’t tell and I moved to Seat
tle a little over two weeks ago.” I shrugged quickly. I hated talking about myself, especially my past. No one wanted to know about my country club upbringing, or how I never really fit in at school.  I was the stereotypical teenager, wanting so desperately to find her place and trying hard to piss off her parents every step of the way.

“So
, did you move to Seattle for the job?”

“No;
I moved to get away. The job was a total fluke.”

“Get away from what?” Brantley pried.

“From everything. I needed a fresh start, and Seattle just seemed to fit.”

“So, no boyfriend then?”

“Would that stop you?” I questioned, cocking my head to the side.

“Maybe.
Well………….no, not really,” he replied with a smirk.

“Well then. No, there was no boyfriend.”

“Good,” Brantley laughed.

Well
, hasn’t this car ride just turned into sunshine and rainbows? Shit.

Pretty sure I looked like an absolute lunatic bolting from the car the moment we arrived at the rental agency. I’ve never done well with pressure, and Brantley asking me all sort
s of questions about my life had me feeling like a hamster stuck in one of those wheel ball things. I just kept spinning without the possibility of getting out. So naturally, I scrambled from the car once he put it into park.

“Want me to wait?” Brantley asked from the open car window.

“I’m good; go back to the bus,” I waved him off. What I really needed was some time alone from the entire male species. Things were getting too complicated in my head, and there was never enough room to entertain the thought of a relationship with that man. Who needs a man when I had my guitar? He sings to me soft melodies whenever I needed it, and instantly calmed even my wickedest moments of dread; a solid guarantee against a broken heart, unlike the choice of driving back to the bus. 

Grabbing the keys from the front desk
, I hurried into the sleek black Lexus and instantly cracked up once I caught my reflection in the rear view mirror. I looked like death warmed over. Here I was in a tight black pair of yoga pants, an old ratty sweatshirt, and my hair was now in full blown eighties rocker look, sitting in a nice as hell Lexus. No wonder the girl behind the counter looked at me funny. Laughing, I adjusted the rest of the mirrors and turned up the radio. Taylor Swift’s song “I knew you were trouble” was blasting through the speakers, and I couldn’t help but turn it up a little louder. Sure, this wasn’t normally the type of music I listened to, but I wasn’t born in a barn, and knew how absolutely popular her songs were. There was just something fitting to the song, something that reminded me of the situation I had playing out in my life right now.

Rolling down the windows
, I let the cold air whip around me as I pulled out onto the street, proudly blasting the Taylor Swift song and singing the few lyrics I knew at the top of my lungs. Yep, this was exactly what I needed.

The concert had obviously ended with the half empty parking lot and the tons of drunken idiots wandering amuck. Flashing my pass to get in the back gates, I pulled the Lexus alongside of Black Laden’s bus. Glancing in the mirror once more to check the damage I did to my already rats nest of hair from having the windows down; I realized it wasn’t going to get any worse.

“Took you long enough,” Stephanie snapped as she stomped over to the vehicle in some really insane high heels.