Outsider (17 page)

Butch
got off the elevator one floor below theirs, but Sam was staying on the same
floor as the band. They filtered off the elevator and said their good nights as
each of them split off to enter his personal suite. Sam bypassed his room and
continued to trail after Reagan. Trey was glad he and Ethan had decided not to
go back to LA tonight; Sam made Reagan anxious. Why was he following them?

“I
think you missed your room,” Ethan said, coming to a halt and turning to face
Sam. Trey urged Reagan to keep walking.

“I
just wanted to have a private word with Reagan,” Sam said, and for once he was
the one who appeared anxious.

“She
needs to rest. You can talk to her in the morning.”

Mmm.
Trey loved that authoritative tone of Ethan’s. It did all sorts of tingly
things to him.

Sam
opened his mouth, likely to protest, but Ethan stepped his feet apart and
crossed his arms over his broad chest.

“Um,
yes, well, be sure she sees me first thing in the morning.”

“If
she feels like it,” Ethan said, still not budging.

Sam
eventually gave up and turned, shuffling toward his room, which was beyond the
elevator. Trey opened their suite door, and Reagan hurried inside. Ethan didn’t
join them until Sam’s door had shut behind him.

“Is
he always like that?” Ethan asked Reagan once he’d followed them into the room.

“Yeah.
Every time I’ve interacted with him, he’s been like that. Pushy. I can’t stand
the guy.”

Trey’s
phone vibrated in his pocket. A text message from Dare.

Is
the coast clear? Or did Sam follow you into your room?

Trey
shook his head. “Dare wants to know if Sam followed us to our room, so I’m
pretty sure Sam’s like that with everyone, Reagan, not just you.”

“So
I’m not special?” Reagan said, a teasing grin on her face.

The
tension she’d displayed while she was in Sam’s presence had already melted
away.

“Of
course you’re special,” Ethan said, drawing her against him and rubbing her
back with both hands. “How did the show go?”

Trey
texted Dare about Ethan thwarting Sam’s attempts to follow them into their room
while Reagan described the concert and the guitar lesson she’d given a woman
Sam had selected.

“I’m
glad you decided to have fun with it,” Ethan said.

“Maybe
I’ve been taking everything too seriously,” Reagan said. “Stressing myself
out.”

“Yep,”
Trey said, shoving his phone back into his pocket. “I’ve been telling you that
from the beginning.”

“Well,
it’s hard to relax just because someone tells you to.”

“Maybe
I should have tried reverse psychology.” Trey kicked his shoes off and made
himself comfortable on the sofa. “Always be perfect; freak out over every
little mistake; try to be someone you’re not comfortable being; and whatever
you do, don’t have any fun.”

“Shut
up,” Reagan said, drawing away from Ethan and flopping onto the sofa beside
Trey. “I’d say no one asked you, but I did ask. I just have a hard time
following advice.” Reagan massaged her temple and closed her eyes.

Trey
shrugged, pulling the empty sucker stick from his mouth and wondering how long his
favorite treat had been gone. He’d admittedly been distracted at the arena and
in the car. “It’s better to figure out what works for you on your own anyway.”

A
quiet but intricate knock sounded on the door. Ethan gave them a confused look
before opening it.

Steve
slipped inside, humming the
Mission Impossible
theme song. He sidled
along the wall and then ducked down behind an end table, still humming. Trey
snorted. Were all drummers a little wacky or just the ones he knew? Timing his
actions to the pauses in the tune, Steve belly-crawled under Trey and Reagan’s
extended legs, his wriggling body sandwiched between the coffee table and sofa.
He flipped over onto his back and nudged his head up between Reagan’s knees,
which earned him a slap on the head. Still humming, he shifted to his knees and
then sprang to his feet, diving sideways into the open bedroom door on the last
crescendo.

“Ow!”
Steve hollered from somewhere inside the bedroom.

Trey
couldn’t stop laughing, even after Steve had completed his very secretive
entrance.

“Am
I the first to arrive?” Steve asked when he reentered the living room,
smoothing his hair and then tying the unruly locks back with a band he wore on
his wrist.

“So
far,” Reagan said. “Did you hurt yourself acting like an idiot?”

“I
think I landed on a huge dildo in there or something.” Wincing, he rubbed at
his side.

“Oh,”
Trey said. “That’s mine. Sorry about that.”

“It’s
all fun and games until Steve lands on Trey’s giant dildo,” Reagan said,
shaking her head.

Steve
grimaced and closed the bedroom door. “Out of sight, out of mind,” he said
under his breath.

Another
knock sounded on the door, but before Ethan could answer it, Steve darted in
front of him and put his lips to the crack in the door. “What’s the secret pass
phrase?”

“Is
he always like this?” Ethan asked.

“He’s
usually only about half this obnoxious,” Reagan said. “But he didn’t get to
burn off his crazy at an after-party two days running, and Logan isn’t here to
balance him out.”

“What?”
Max’s muffled voice said from the corridor.

“Incorrect.”
Steve opened the door, smacked Max on the top of his head, and closed the door.
“Try again. What’s the secret pass phrase?”

“Steve,
quit fucking around.”

“Wrong
again.” Steve opened the door, tried to smack Max again, but Max was ready. Still,
Steve managed to slam the door before Max could barge in.

“I’m
going to kick your ass if you don’t open this door.”

“Ding,
ding, ding. Correct.” Steve opened the door wide.

Max
slapped Steve’s shoulder as he passed. “You’re an idiot.”

“You’re
just too boring to know how to have fun.”

“You’ve
been snorting coke again, haven’t you?”

“Incorrect.”
Steve opened the door again and in impressive linebacker style, he shoved Max
back into the hall.

Steve
probably would have continued fucking with Max if Dare hadn’t walked between
them and entered the suite without mishap. The other two trailed in after him,
Steve looking more subdued than before, Max less annoyed.

Steve
sat on the coffee table while Max and Dare took the two tub chairs. Ethan
settled onto the sofa next to Trey.

“So
are we ready to fire him now?” Steve asked.

“We
can’t fire Sam,” Dare said. “It’s—”

“In
the contract,” the rest of his band said simultaneously.

“After
this tour is over, that damned contract is fulfilled,” Steve said.

“It
is?” Reagan asked.

Steve
nodded. “We have a new contract, but we haven’t signed yet. And I have no plans
to ever sign it. So either we lose the label, or you’ll be looking for a new
drummer.”

“You’ve
told us that a hundred times. We’re all aware of your feelings on renewing the
contract,” Max said. “But we’re not here to discuss what happens after this
tour ends. We’re here to discuss what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

“Are
you going to find a different label?” Reagan asked Steve.

“No
label,” Steve said. “We can do everything ourselves. We have the money. We have
the notoriety. We have the connections.” Steve ticked off each of their assets
on his fingers.

“It’s
not that simple,” Dare said. “Stop changing the subject for your own agenda,
Steve. We have to figure out how to get out of this press conference tomorrow.”

“Get
out of it?” Reagan looked from Dare, who seemed very certain of this idea, to
Max, whose lip was trapped between his teeth while he shook his head, to Steve,
who was staring at Dare in wide-eyed shock.

“I
don’t think you’re ready to talk to the press, Reagan,” Dare said. “And they
don’t want to talk to the rest of us. So we’ll keep finding excuses to put them
off a week, then another, and then we head to Europe. By the time we get back
to the States, the bloodsuckers will have found someone else to harass.”

If
Trey hadn’t already thought his older brother was the moon and stars, his plan
to protect Reagan would have launched him into the heavens.

“You
don’t really think that will work, do you?” Max asked, tossing his hands up. “You
have to know this is a terrible idea. If we don’t settle our scandals now—
all
of them—the tabloids will blow everything out of proportion.”

“If
we wait too long, they’ll have her giving birth to three-headed bat-boy
quadruplets due to her secret love affair with aliens from Uranus,” Steve said,
looking to his left, probably for the absent Logan to feed on his joke. Steve’s
Uranus joke went unanswered, which was unfortunate. Trey could have used another
laugh. Dare and Max looked so grave as they stared at Reagan, he feared she
might have died when he hadn’t been paying attention. He squeezed her hand just
to make sure it was still warm.

Dare
extended a hand toward Reagan. “So when she’s ready to tell her version of the
truth . . .”

Reagan
cringed.

And
Trey’s heart caught.

Would
it really be that terrible for everyone to know he loved her? That Ethan loved
her? That they both loved her? Fuck, he was ecstatic about the situation. Why
wasn’t she? Ethan looked equally morose. He didn’t seem too keen on shouting
their love from the rooftops either.

“. . . it
will be far less scandalous than whatever the tabloids print.”

“I
need to discuss this with Trey and Ethan before I make any decisions,” Reagan
said. “This affects all three of us, not just me.”

“Trey
will want to come clean,” Dare said. “I have no doubts.”

Trey
smiled, glad his brother understood where he was coming from, even if his
lovers didn’t.

“True,
but Trey has the support of his friends and family. Ethan’s still in the
closet,” Reagan said. She immediately covered her mouth. “Sorry, I shouldn’t
have just blurted that out.”

Ethan’s
gaze was trained securely on the floor.

“I
didn’t realize that,” Dare said, his gaze shifting to Ethan. “How will your
family take the news?”

Ethan’s
normally tanned face went ashen as he continued to stare at the floor. “Uh . . .”

“About
as well as my dad will take the news that I’m shacking up with two men at the
same time,” Reagan said.

Ethan
closed his eyes and nodded. Trey sighed. He knew he was lucky to have
understanding parents, but how would either Ethan or Reagan know how their
respective families would react if they never told them the truth? Maybe he
should take them both to meet his parents over the break. Maybe if they saw how
a supportive family behaved, they’d be less secretive. Trey had to admit, if
only to himself, that their mutual tight-lipped attitude was eating at him.

“I’d
say the worst way of breaking the news is for them to read it in the tabloids,”
Steve said. “That’s how my mom found out that Bianca and I were getting a
divorce. She still uses that to guilt trip me as necessary.”

“So
we’re all in agreement that this press conference isn’t happening tomorrow,”
Dare said.

Reagan
nodded without hesitation. It was probably cruel of Trey, but he kind of wanted
to see if she’d be willing to stick her neck out for him and Ethan. So far,
she’d turtled her neck deep into her shell and didn’t seem willing to budge.

“I
don’t care one way or another,” Steve said. “I’m impervious to tabloid bullshit
by this point.”

“Did
you forget that Sam has veto power?” Max asked. “If he says we’re having a
press conference tomorrow, it’s going to happen whether we want it to or not.”

“This
doesn’t involve Sam,” Dare said. “I can’t believe he fucking shows up here and
starts barking orders like a four-star general after getting a boner in New
York over some unknown girl band. Fuck his opinion. Fuck his agenda. And fuck
his press conference.”

Trey
caught the smirk on Steve’s face at Dare’s declaration. He knew Steve was ready
to toss their record label and their iron-fisted manager aside, and Dare seemed
to be teetering toward agreement with him. Trey wasn’t sure if Dare had really
had it with Sam’s dickhead-tatorship or if he was only interested in protecting
Reagan. Or more likely, protecting his brother. Dare had been looking out for Trey
since he was a kid. Sure, Sam had helped make Exodus End the sensation it was today,
but at what cost? That record label of theirs was sure to run the entire band
into the ground if they didn’t stop putting so much pressure on them. And if
Dare—Mr. Patience himself—was fed up, conditions must be worse than even Trey
realized. He’d been so wrapped up in his own issues that he hadn’t imagined that
Dare might need support. Trey stretched out one leg and nudged Dare’s foot with
his to let him know he was on his side. Always on his side. Just like Dare was
always on his.