Hot Southern Mess (Hide Your Crazy) (6 page)

Chapter 6
: Taking care of 4 overgrown men-children is like herding cats.

Friday morning started out with a bang. First, it was a call from my mother; giving me her weekly update on how disappointed she was in me for leaving home. That wasn’t what a McGlenister did; we faced our problems and got the job done. I was a little confused on what job she was referring to; however, I did get her to finally hang up once I claimed she was talking about my failing porno career. Who would have known that was all it took to get her off the phone with me? Next time I’d start talking about bondage and maybe she wouldn’t call me for a month. Ah, wishful thinking.

Packing light was something that I really should have skill
s in; considering that I up and left Georgia for Seattle without even batting an eye. But this morning, as I tried to cram the contents of my life into two smaller sized suitcases, I found out that was damn near impossible. How anyone managed to live out of a suitcase for several weeks was beyond my comprehension. Sure, there were stores you could stop and get what you needed, but then where would you put that? I refused to leave Simon, so the three bag limit Stephanie had set for me, basically downgraded me to two bags and him.

My next breakdown came when I realized I had no clue
who I was leaving my baby with. She had been finally delivered on Wednesday, and now I had to drop her off at a storage unit place, and I didn’t know the owners. Talk about an emotional failure. Some people have kids and others have pets; for me there are only two important things in my life. One I got to take with me, and the other I had to leave in someone else’s hands. It had physically made me ill thinking about parking her and just walking away. Call me crazy, fuck call me insane, but she was my baby, and who could just walk away from someone they loved?

If my morning was
an inclination of how this tour was going to go, I might as well have crawled back into bed and prayed for a do over. Pathetic? Maybe. Crazy? Hell yeah.

I was having total second thoughts about this job. I had finally felt comfortable with my living situation
, and here I was basically throwing myself into an F5 tornado of uncertainty. This was the dream job I had always wanted, the one that paid the bills because playing for a living certainly wouldn’t. All I had to do was just let go, take a risk, and jump into this crazy mixed up world of music, bands, groupies, and authority.

“Hi, I’m Molly Anne
McGlenister. I called and talked with management about leaving my baby here for the next couple weeks.”

The older man behind the counter gave me a puzzled look.
Yes, old man, I said baby.
Maybe I should have clarified that this baby was a V8, 225, Caspian Blue convertible, fully restored, beautiful baby. Some people have kids, I had a car.

“I’m sorry
, Miss, I guess I’m a little confused on what you are asking,” the gentleman said with a frown.

“My car.
I called about storing my car.” My voice developed a hitch, and I’m pretty sure tears were fighting to make an appearance.
Fucking get it together, Molly; you don’t cry over shit like this.

“Oh, of course.
What is the last name again?”

“
McGlenister,” I managed to spit out.
Fucking sap.

A couple seconds passed as the man searched for my reservation. The things I did for love.

“Alright, we have an indoor unit reserved for your vehicle,” he commented, reaching for a map and circling a unit with red pen. “If you take a left at the end of the parking lot and head straight back and to the right, your unit will be the fourth in, on the right hand side. Would you like to take care of payment now, or should we bill you?”

It was best to pay for services upfront. Yes, some people claimed then how were you assured they would do a good job? My thoughts were if you didn’t pay them, why would they perform at the level you expected? I was paying for an indoor, climate controlled unit. She wasn’t
just getting left outside for the next couple weeks to face the elements unknown.

“I can now,” I replied, reaching into my wallet and pulling out my debit card.

The guy took the card and went to the back counter to swipe the card.

“Um, sorry miss, but this card read invalid.
”

Fucking mother
from hell.
Shaking my head in disbelief, I quickly handed him another card, one tied to my trust fund. At least her name wasn’t on that account.

“Sorry,” I mumbled softly. Not
hing chapped my ass more than having her meddle with my money. The account she was attached to was my hard earned cash, and the only reason she was on that account was I needed a cosigner back when I opened it. For unknown reasons, I had never taken her off as a signer. Apparently, the reason was becoming quite evident; I was an idiot.

The man brought over a slip of paper to sign and handed me back my card. Quickly, I scribbled out a somewhat legible signature and snatched the paperwork off the counter. Today’s ranking just took a
turn for the shitter and now was a solid three.

“Thanks for trusting us with your valuables,” the older man smiled.

Forcing a smile in return, I pushed open the door and sulked over to my girl. Going on tour with the band Black Laden should be every girl’s wet dream. Why couldn’t I just be fucking happy?

So
there I stood, in the gigantic parking lot, glaring at two rather large buses. Sure, they were slick, shiny, and gigantic; but I’m still irritated about today, and being a girl I could hold a grudge well, for basically ever.

I stashed my bags and Simon under the crew bus, and had a brief meeting with Cooper, the crew pit master. He was an older guy, but
could still run with the big dogs for the most part. No one seemed to give Cooper any crap when he barked out orders. He was someone I should have been taking notes from. I tried to believe that I was this big, bad ass girl, but reality normally got the best of me. Don’t get me wrong, I took absolutely no one’s shit, but it always seemed to come back and bite me in the ass one way or the other.

“Hey Molly, we need
to get the crew on the road here if we are going to make it in time to set up tomorrow,” Cooper yelled as he shuffled people onto the waiting crew bus.

Glancing at my phone
, I realized the band was late.
Of course they were late, did I really think this was going to be easy?
When did rock stars ever run on time? Well, not like I actually knew since this was my first job with a band and all, but I could assume.

“Let me call them,” I stated, franticly scrolling through my work phone for any
one of the members’ cell number.

“We have to go. I’ll
catch you at the arena tomorrow.” Cooper waved as he got on the bus.

“Wait,” I
shouted while the door shut. Perfect. There I was, in a dark parking lot, with a random bus driver, waiting for a band that couldn’t seem to remember what time we were leaving.

Watching the bus pull away from the area, I realized all my stuff was heading out into the darkness
without me. Not only was I left to ride on a bus full of stupid boys, I also had to do it without a change of clothes or a toothbrush.
Fuck-a-duck.

Two black town cars pulled into the parking lot a
t a quarter past ten. I had only been sitting there for a little over three hours, fuming. Around the second hour of waiting I started to role play the conversations I was going to have with them. Most of the scenarios ended in me punching Brody in the balls and walking away. Even if that situation wouldn’t play out in reality, I still got a chuckle fantasizing about it.

“Sorry
, Molly, I tried to get them to leave a couple hours ago,” Tiny apologized when he stepped out of the car. As much as I wanted to yell and scream, this man didn’t deserve my wrath.

“Oh
it’s M-O-L-L-Y,” Brody slurred while stumbling out of the second car, clearly wasted. Ryder and Tysen trailed behind the drunken Brody, obviously not as inebriated as their buddy.

“Yep, get on the bus
, boys,” I sighed, rubbing my forehead to try and prevent the headache that was coming on.

“Shots
on the bus!” Brody shouted into the darkness, not realizing that Tysen and Ryder were directly behind him.

“Just get on the bus
, fucker.” Ryder laughed, pushing Brody up the steps.

Shaking my head, I walked over to give Tiny a hand with the luggage. The quicker this shit got loaded, the sooner we got out. I knew my ass was in for a chewing tomorrow with Stephanie,
because we were now almost 4 hours behind schedule.

“Don’t worry about this
, Molly; I’ve got it,” Tiny remarked, hauling four bags to one hand.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Suddenly
the other town car’s door slammed shut, and plastered up against the sleek black vehicle was a typical bar skank and Reid.

There was almost a pain to my heart, but I refused to acknowledge it. We had met twice now, and both times combined had equaled out to maybe five minutes of conversation. So why would I let my heart believe that something was there when my mind obviously knew the truth of the matter. This was my job, and there was no way I was going to let him effect it.

Reid grabbed the blonde bimbo’s hand and started pulling her to the bus. Maybe it was the click of her heels, or possibly the giggle to her laugh that made me snap. Either way, I was about to go postal on Malibu Barbie.

“Stop! No groupies on the bus,” I stated firmly, looking directly into Reid’s eyes. Those stupid brown eyes could melt your heart like a hot knife in butter. Just sliding through until it cut it cleanly in two.

“Really
, Molly Anne; you really going to try and pull that shit?” Reid’s voice challenged everything that I had built myself to be. No way was I taking this man’s shit, even if he was a freaking god.

“Stephanie clearly said no groupies on the bus. I’m pretty sure she
constitutes as one of them. So if you are ready to go, say good bye to little miss sunshine and get your ass on the bus.”

Reid narrowed his eyes
, licking his lips slowly. The tension between us was thick, but I refused to back down. There was no way I was riding to Boise with this chick on the bus. Not to mention, I was not giving Stephanie another reason to yell at me. 

I crossed my arms against my chest, never breaking the connection between the two of us.
If he wanted to play hard ball, then game on.

“Hey
, ass-wipe, are you coming or what?” Tysen yelled from the doorway.

Reid swiftly grabbed the chick
’s face and brought her in harshly for a kiss, smashing his lips into hers. Pretty sure a couple pieces of my already broken heart fell and smashed into a million other little pieces on the floor of my broken world.
Fuck you, Reid
, I thought silently.

The blonde bimbo giggled when Reid smacked her ass. He turned to glare at me and jumped up the stairs of the bus.
Finally.

“The car will take
you back to whatever hole you’ve crawled out of. By the way, you might want to get tested and all,” I said spitefully. Was it necessary to say that to her? Probably not, but at least it made me feel good.

“Are you riding with us
, Molly?” Tiny questioned, closing the storage units under the bus.

“Yep, I guess so,” I replied with a shrug.

Tiny let out a huge grin and wrapped his big arm around my shoulders, guiding me to the door.

“I don’t think
that man has ever been told no. I like you already, girl.” Tiny laughed, motioning for me to head up the stairs first.

I offered him a small smirk back. I was going to tell that man no all the damn time, even if everything in my body screamed a totally different thing.

“Tacos! I want Jack-In-The-Box tacos,” Brody yelled, sprawled out on one of the two couches up front.

Nodding to the driver that we were all accounted for, I took the closest seat to the wall, leaving
plenty of space between the guys and myself.

“Why are you on this bus?” Reid snapped at me.

“Well, because apparently you didn’t watch
Sesame Street
growing up, and can’t tell time,” I said calmly, batting my eyelashes at the irritated rocker.

“
Oooh……….did someone hit a nerve there, Reid?” Ryder jabbed, kicking his legs up on the table in front of him.

I had to fight a smile from forming on my lips. I doubt
that anyone ever gave Reid Chambers any shit, and tonight he was getting it from a bunch of different angles. I quickly glanced back at Ryder who sat there with a shit eating grin on his face, taking a long pull from the bottle in his hands.