Play Me (Love on Tour #2) (13 page)

“So there I was, sitting in the bathroom of the funeral home, watching Dani marry a rock star in paradise–”

“Wait,” I interrupted. “You were watching everything that Brad saw?”

“Yeah. He managed to get the feed to my phone. I have no idea how he does this stuff.”

“What exactly did you see?”

“I watched the ceremony at the funeral home. Then we had the graveside service. We didn’t do a big dinner or anything. Instead, my parents went home with my grandpa to get some sleep. So I went back to my apartment. When I got back to watching Brad’s feed you were just finishing dinner. I watched the rest of the night.”

“Does that mean?”

“That I saw you with Melanie in the closet?” She laughed. “Yep.”

Brad had walked in on Melanie and me in the janitor’s closet at the reception. And apparently, he hadn’t been alone.

“Wow. I had no idea.”

“Don’t worry. I didn’t mention it in the article.”

“But what did you think?”

“I thought it looked fun.”

“Not as much as fun as you and I would have had in the closet,” I said, nuzzling the top of her head.

“Mmmm.”

“The article’s good. I like it so far. Read me the rest.”

15

The skydiving trip was even better than parasailing, partly because this time Bell was strapped to my chest. Her whole body was pressed up against mine. Of course, thick straps kept it from being sexy. And because she was so much shorter than me, it was very awkward when we were standing in the door of the plane before jumping out.

“You ready for this?” I shouted in her ear as we looked down at the earth, so far below us.

She nodded. I jumped into oblivion.

She didn’t scream this time. In fact she was completely silent. I was starting to worry that she’d passed out. I hit the chute and leaned my head down to her ear.

“Bell, are you alright?”

“Hank, this is absolutely incredible,” she shouted. “I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven!”

I landed us safely and unlocked the straps holding us together. She was sitting on the ground, inches away from me, the most angelic smile on her face.

I kissed her. I kissed her slow and deep. She responded, and we fell back on the ground. We were lying side by side, just kissing. There was so much material and webbing and straps on both of our bodies that there was nothing we could do but kiss. And it was amazing. I didn’t stop. I just kept kissing her mouth.

I could hear the recovery team approaching, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to separate my lips from hers. It went on and on.

This was not normal, all this kissing without any other foreplay. I couldn’t remember ever spending this much time just kissing. Hell, I never had to before. I could always get a girl naked by now.

Carlos cleared his throat. Then he started coughing. Reluctantly, I pulled away from Bell. Carlos and his team got us in a van, unhooked, and had us back to Bell’s bungalow quickly.

And that’s when I picked up where I left off. As soon as we were alone again I started kissing her, just like I had on the ground after the jump. Despite the fact that nothing was standing in my way, I didn’t take off her clothes or mine, not at first.

We lay on the bed, just making out like a couple of randy teenagers. My hands were everywhere, over her clothes, under her clothes, but I didn’t take them off for a long, long time.

She was moaning into my mouth and her hands were down my pants, and finally, finally I took off her shirt and bra. Once I’d done that, I was ravenous. Her pants and my clothes followed quickly.

By the time I slid into her I thought I was going to die. It was like going home.

****

I looked back longingly at the bungalow. We were getting on the bus now, heading to northern Florida for another show. The bags were all tucked away. Tony was checking the oil. Mike was on the phone inside the bus. Bell was talking to Frank, and Baby and Sean were saying goodbye to Gloria. I was saying goodbye to my uninterrupted alone time with Bell.

The last few days had changed the way I looked at the people in my life. I’d always separated them out into categories. There was family – Baby and Sean, secondary family – Gloria and Frank, Mike, Tim, Sean’s sister and brother. Then there was the everyone else category that included the buddies I surfed with and the people I made music with. And there was girls. I had a very specific way I behaved with the girls I slept with. But all of that was out the window with Bell.

“Ready?” Sean asked me.

“Sure, if your mom ever lets go of Baby we can leave,” I said, gestured toward Gloria, who had Baby in a tight bear hug.

“Don’t worry, I’ll intervene soon.”

“She’s a happy lady.”

“She’s out of her mind. She’s planning to micromanage every second of my parenting experience.”

“Good thing she lives across the country.”

“No kidding.” Sean turned to me. “Hey, that was great the way you deflected my mom the other night. I was sitting there trying to figure out how to stop the interrogation, short of simply grabbing Bell and taking her away from momma bear.”

“I imagine you were also stalled out by shock.”

“That too. But you were brilliant. I mean, of course my mom thinks Bell is a raging hormone now, but she also thinks she’s after you, the sweet precious Hank.”

“Instead of her pretend boy toy, Mike.”

“Ugh,” he said. “Please. I am traumatized enough.”

I watched Bell walk over to where we were standing in front of the bus doors. I wanted to scoop her up in my arms, the way Sean was about to with Baby, carry her onto the bus, and head straight for the bed in back. Instead I kept my distance as I watched her climb the steps.

****

Baby and Bell were missing.

Sean was having a full-blown panic attack. Mike was like a strung out poodle. All our band members were yelling and asking questions. I was incapable of movement. Lance, the fucking tour manager, who was responsible for security, was at the top of my shit list.

“The cops are on their way,” Mike said.

“Fuck this, let’s tear the place apart,” Sean said.

We’d already looked everywhere backstage. The rest of the venue was filled to the brim with thousands of fans. I was supposed to go on ten minutes ago, and the crowd was getting restless.

“I’ll take the lobby,” I said. “Mike, you’ll come with me and interrogate the entire staff of this fucking place. Tommy, Raif, Greg, Alonso, Joe, you guys go out in the crowd. Sean, Lyle, look in every office space, closet, nook and cranny you can find. Lance, you stay here and wait for the cops, asshole.”

I walked out the door. Mike was at my heels.

“How the fuck did this happen?”

“I was helping with sound check. They were supposed be in Sean’s green room,” Mike said.

“Do you think they left on their own?”

“I do. There weren’t any signs of a… struggle.”

I pressed my fingers against the bridge of my nose. A struggle, fuck. I didn’t even want to think about what that would mean.

“So they went somewhere together,” I said. “Where would they go?”

“They wouldn’t have left the building without telling us. But they might have gone somewhere in the building, somewhere where they thought they’d be back quickly.”

I was at the security door that led to the lobby. I put my hand on it and paused. Once we went through that door, all hell would break loose. I wanted to think this through a little bit, even though I was having a hard time slowing down. I wanted to find them, right now.

“So what are the possibilities?”

“Well, they could have gone somewhere close, and gotten detained for some reason. They could have gone to get food, or to the bar across the street or something. But I don’t think they would have done that.”

“Baby wouldn’t have.”

“Or… they could have been…”

“Taken,” I said.

“Yeah, I’ve been trying not to think about it, but we have to consider that Sean’s wife makes a good ransom.”

My chest hurt. The minute I learned they were missing I’d considered this scenario. In it, Baby is the target. She wouldn’t be harmed, she’d be leverage. But Bell would just be collateral. She would have no value to kidnappers. Which meant…

I pushed the door open and we plunged out into the lobby. There were still quite a few fans in there, milling about during the delay. They immediately descended upon me. They were screaming and pushing and grabbing at my shirt. I ignored them and looked over the crowd. I was taller than just about everyone in here. I scanned the lobby for two small brunettes.

“I’m going to talk to the staff in the ticket booth,” Mike said, as he took off.

“Hank! Oh my God! Hank!” The fans were shouting.

“I’m looking for two girls.”

“I’m your girl!” “We’re over here!” A bunch of women started screaming.

“No, two specific girls.”

And then I realized I had an advantage. Baby’s face had been all over the internet, magazines, even the TV.

“Has anyone seen Baby Rush?”

The room got quiet.

“Is Baby missing?” One girl asked.

“No. I’m just looking for her.”

“I saw her,” a lanky kid near the far wall answered.

I marched over to the kid. The crowd parted for me. He was standing against the wall with another lanky kid covered in pimples.

“You saw her? Where? When?”

“She was with another girl.”

“A short brunette?”

“Yeah, and they walked into the lobby and over to the ticket booth.”

“Hank!” Mike called, as he ran out of the ticket booth. “They were here.”

I turned back to the kid. “Did you see where they went after that?”

“They walked down that way,” the pimply kid said, pointing toward a hallway. “Some girls followed them.”

I stormed over there. Mike and the ticket guy followed me.

“What’s down here?” Mike asked.

“A couple of bathrooms and another security door leading to the backstage area.”

I already knew they weren’t backstage, so I stopped in front of the women’s bathroom. I pointed across the hall.

“Mike, check the men’s,” I commanded.

Then I stormed into the women’s room.

“Wait, Mr. Tolk, you can’t go in there,” ticket dude said.

I ignored him and pushed the door open. Six women were standing in the bathroom, holding onto the backside of a stall door, a door that was moving and bumping like it was being pushed on.

“Open the fucking door,” I heard Bell call.

“Hey!” I yelled, getting the attention of everyone in the room.

The pounding stopped. The girls all looked at me.

“Get the fuck away from that door,” I commanded.

The girls gaped at me, not moving. I took a step closer, and then they reacted. In the back of my mind I heard Mike enter the room, but I focused on the two figures emerging from the bathroom stall. I looked them both over quickly. They were pissed, but unharmed.

“Oh, I am about to throw down on some bitches,” Bell said.

And I momentarily had the thought that this chick was amazing.

“Come on Bell, let’s just go,” Baby said, taking her arm.

I pulled them both behind me, where Mike took a hold of them and wrapped his arms around their shoulders. I stepped further into the room.

“What the hell was this all about?” I demanded.

All six women stared at me. They had heavily gelled hair, dark eyeliner, and tight jeans. A couple were even good-looking. One, who was in a bright red tank top and had silver chains crisscrossed all down her chest, was the kind of girl I might have taken to my hotel room in a past life. I focused on her.

“Tell me.”

Tank top and chains girl sucked in a deep breath. But she didn’t speak. None of them did.

“Are you hurt?” I asked Baby and Bell, while keeping my laser gaze on the girls in the room.

“We’re fine, Henry,” Baby responded. “We’re not hurt at all.”

“Somebody’s about to get hurt,” Bell yelled. “Let me go Mike.”

“Henry, can we just go?” Baby pleaded.

I walked out, kicking a stall door on my way.

“What the hell happened?” I asked, as soon we were through the security door and making our way toward the backstage area.

“Those bitches followed us and pulled us into the bathroom. At first they said they just wanted to talk,” Bell explained. “We told them to leave us alone. But they started in on Dani.”

I looked at Baby. She had that sad look in her eyes. “They were being gross assholes,” she said.

“Tell me,” I demanded.

“They wanted to know what it was like to fuck Sean,” Bell responded. “So I told them to piss off. And that’s when they shoved us into the stall and wouldn’t let us out.”

I pulled Baby to me and kissed the top of her head. “You alright?”

“Yes,” she pouted. “I’m just so over all the damn girls. I feel like–”

“Baby!” Sean was running down the hall toward us.

Baby lit up. Gone was the melancholy, long suffering girl who didn’t feel like she belonged in a rock star’s world. Instead she was a woman madly in love. She leapt into his arms.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“We’re fine. We just got detained by some crazy girls,” she said, stroking his chin.

“Where were you?”

“We went to the ticket booth. Your brother is coming and we were leaving instructions for him to get backstage. Surprise,” she said weakly.

Lance ran up to us, out of breath. “Hank, you have to get on stage.”

“Where’s my band?”

“They’re still stuck in the crowd.”

“I’ll take care of that,” I said. I turned to Bell. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I’m just pissed off.”

I grinned at her for a second before taking off.

I plunged out onto the stage. It was empty except for our equipment. A loud roar erupted from the crowd. I adjusted my eyes to the lighting and peered into the dense sea of bodies. It was no good. I couldn’t see a thing.