Play Me (Love on Tour #2) (16 page)

She looked up at me, staring into my eyes for a long moment. Then she sighed. “You’re right.”

I smiled at her. She snuggled in a little closer.

“I’ll tell you all of it. When we first met I wasn’t interested in him. I’m not stupid. I mean my married boss. No thank you. But he pursued me so heavily. He was always buying me gifts and trying to get me alone.”

She pushed her hair away from her face. “One day he told me that he was rethinking my employment. And then he said he was going to ask me out one more time, give me one more chance.”

“That’s fucking illegal.”

“I know. I should have walked away and filed a lawsuit. But instead, I met him at a hotel. At first I hated all the secrecy. But after a while I got used to it. I guess that’s why I’m so good at it now.” She looked up at me coyly.

“After about seven or eight months of this clandestine affair he asked me to marry him. I told him he was crazy. I mean he was still married, he was still living with his wife.”

“He was still living with her?”

“Yes. He claimed that they were technically separated, but that they had financial trouble with the house and needed to sell it before he could move out.”

“Sounds like a bullshit story to me.”

“I’m pretty sure it was,” she admitted. “But despite that, he said he wanted my promise that I’d marry him as soon as he was divorced. But I wouldn’t promise him. Our affair continued and he got more and more insistent that we make things permanent. I decided I wanted out. I talked to a couple friends, including Sean and Baby. I had a video chat with them and told them everything.”

“I bet Sean freaked out,” I guessed.

“Yes, he did. They both did. Sean hooked me up with a lawyer, the kind I could never afford on my own. She encouraged me to record everything. She was positive that we could win the case. But she also told me the truth about how it would be. If we went to court, I would have to testify, he wouldn’t. My whole life, and my sex life, would be dragged out in the open. The other side would attack me.”

She took a deep breath and looked at her hands. “I know it was cowardly, but I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t like my job anyway, and I decided to take my life in my own hands. I walked into his office and told him it was over. I told him I would never sleep with him again and I walked out. The next morning I was fired.”

“Where does this guy live?”

“See, why is that the reaction?”

“Are you serious? I want to kill this fucker right now.”

She pulled herself up. I helped her onto my lap. “I don’t want to talk about him anymore.” She put her tiny hands on either side of my face. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

She didn’t answer. She just kissed me.

Mike interrupted us when he came to get me for my set. I pulled Bell down the hall with me and left her with Mike backstage.

“Stay right here where I can see you the whole time,” I said.

“I promise. No more running around and getting kidnapped for me.”

The important people knew about us now, so it didn’t matter. I kissed her, long and hard, before taking the stage.

18

As soon as I got off stage that night after the encore, I grabbed Bell and we took a cab back to the hotel. And that’s where we stayed, naked, with a soft bed and room service until Sean and Baby came to the door around 8pm the following night.

“Ready for our date, Henry?” Baby asked me.

She was standing in the doorway, looking adorable, in shorts and a tank top. Sean was next to her in the bluest jeans I’d ever seen him wear and a button-down shirt.

“What’s with the get-up?”

“You gonna let us in?” Sean asked.

I stepped aside.

“You ready, Bell?”

She was wearing whatever she’d thrown on when the doorbell rang. She looked at Sean in shock. “For what?”

“Mike hooked up with an actor last night and he got us tickets to a play. You like plays, right?”

“I do!”

“I don’t know what it is. I’m kinda hoping for Henry the Fifth.”

“Shut up, asshole,” Bell said playfully.

I studied her. When I’d first told her about the date with Baby she’d gotten real quiet. I tried to explain that we did this sort of thing all the time, and that it wasn’t a big deal. She still hadn’t said anything. But she seemed alright now.

Bell pulled her bag up onto the bed and started rummaging through it. I walked over to her just as she pulled out a little red dress with thin straps and a short hemline.

“What do you think?”

“I think you should be wearing that when I get back.” I kissed her quickly and left with Baby.

****

“Finally,” Baby said, leaning back in the dark, cozy booth we’d secured in the club.

“You don’t like the music?”

“I like it. I just wanted to talk, and I thought the band would never take a break.”

“We can go for a walk,” I suggested.

“Later, right now there are no fans hounding you and I want to know what’s going on with you and Bell.”

“I figured she already told you all about it.”

“Basically, but I want to hear your version.”

I leaned toward her. “You sure you’re not mad at me?”

“Henry, why would I be mad at you?”

“You specifically warned Bell not to hook up with me,” I reminded her.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t for the reason you think.”

“What do you mean?”

She ran her hand over her face. “I feel guilty about this.”

“Baby, what are you talking about?”

“I love Bell. I do. She’s a good friend. But Henry,” she reached over the table and took my hand, “you’re my family. I love you so much, Henry.” She took a deep breath. “I wasn’t trying to protect her. I was trying to protect you.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Bell knew what she was doing. She wanted something different from what she’d always had. She wanted a casual fling and she could handle that. I knew it. I wasn’t worried. But you were having a different kind of epiphany, Henry. You were figuring out that you wanted something more than casual hook-ups. When we had the conversation that day by the pool, I realized that you wanted – dare I say it – a relationship.”

I stared at her. “Still confused.”

“Bell is easy to love, Henry. Every man she’s ever slept with has proposed her to. She wanted a casual fling. You need more.” She paused and looked into my eyes for a long time. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“You are about the sweetest thing on the planet, Baby.” I moved to her side of the booth and kissed her on the cheek. “I love you too, little sis.”

She smiled.

“But you’re wrong about me. I’m not a delicate flower and I did not go seeking a relationship.”

“Maybe, but you found one.”

“It’s complicated.”

“I don’t think so. I think it’s pretty simple really. You and she click.”

“She and I fight. Shit we’ve fought twice in the last 48 hours.” I was counting my being a jealous prick as one of our fights.

“So. Sean and I fight.”

“Bullshit. Besides, that’s not what we’re talking about. Why the hell are you and Sean always comparing me and Bell to you? It’s not the same thing.”

“Are we?”

“Yeah, Sean did it the other night. Alonso did it a long fucking time ago. And fucking Tim… every time I mention Bell he brings you up.”

“That’s weird. Why does he do that?”

“I don’t fucking know.”

She studied me for a long moment. “I wonder.”

“Oh God, what?”

“Well, maybe it’s because I’m the only girl in your life, until now, that you’ve had something other than sex with.”

“There’s Stacey,” I pointed out.

“Stacey doesn’t count. You
can’t
have sex with Stacey. And don’t tell me you wouldn’t have if she wasn’t Sean’s sister.”

She was right of course.

“Well I don’t like it. You and Bell are nothing alike to me. Nothing.”

“Thank God for that. Let’s walk down the street and see what other trouble we can find,” she suggested.

****

When I got back to the room I was sharing with Bell she was asleep on the bed, looking like an angel. I pulled off my clothes and climbed in with her. She woke up as I pulled her to me.

“Hi,” she said. “How was your date?”

“I’ll tell you about it later,” I said, kissing her.

She seemed to hesitate at first. But I persisted, and I reached my hand down between her legs. She gave in and moaned into my mouth.

We didn’t talk afterward, we both fell into a deep sleep, tangled up in each other’s arms. But when I woke up she was gone.

I found her in the shower and joined her.

“Good morning,” I said, reaching for her.

She slipped out of my grasp. “Let me rinse off my hair.”

I watched as she massaged her long locks, soapy water slipping down over her naked body. Then she moved, switching sides in the shower with me, so that I was under the water. I squeezed some shampoo in my hand and started washing my hair.

“How was the play?”

“Good. How was the town?”

“It was fun.” I rinsed my hair and then reached for her. “I missed you, though.”

Again, she pulled away from me. “Did you?”

“You’re mad.”

She didn’t answer.

“If you were going to be mad, why didn’t tell me before I went?”

“Mad isn’t the right word.”

“Jealous?” I suggested.

“Closer.”

She stepped out of the shower.

I washed quickly and got out, naked and dripping. She was still in the bathroom. A towel was wrapped around her head, and she was bundled into a thick white bathrobe. She stared at me, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Why don’t you just tell me what’s up. I’m not good at guessing games.” I grabbed the only remaining fresh towel and started drying off.

She watched me for a long moment, then she dropped a big one on me. “Are you in love with Baby?”

I was dumbfounded. “What?”

“Are you in love with Dani Rush?”

“Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack.”

I was pissed. I had opened up to this girl. I had given her so much. And still, she didn’t know me at all.

I squeezed past Bell and walked out of the steamy bathroom. She followed me. I grabbed my jeans and shoved them on. My legs were still wet and they stuck to my skin.

“The fact that you aren’t answering me makes me so much more suspicious.”

I whirled around. “Suspicious? Are you fucking kidding me? This whole thing is ridiculous.”

She tapped her foot on the carpet. “Not from where I stand.”

I threw on a t-shirt. I had to get out of here soon.

“Don’t you even want to hear my evidence?”

“No.”

Now that my shirt was on, I pushed on a pair of flip-flops and started shoving everything into my bag. Bell followed me back into the bathroom, where I started gathering up my toothbrush, toothpaste, and shaving kit.

“Well I’m going to tell you anyway. First of all, she’s the only person in the frickin’ world who’s allowed to call you Henry. She calls you that, and you nicknamed her
Baby
, not some cartoon character, but
Baby
, an intimate endearment. And I know, I know, you’re going to say that everyone calls her that, but
you
started it. And you go on dates together, one-on-one dates with someone else’s wife.”

I finished gathering up my stuff in the bathroom and walked out. She followed.

“I mean it’s weird, Hank. And I’ve seen the way you look at her.”

I shoved my stuff into the bag and zipped it closed.

“And you didn’t deny it.”

I slung the bag over my shoulder and looked at her. “No. I’m not in love with Baby.”

“Then why are you leaving?”

“Because I thought you knew me better than that.”

I was tired of being interrogated. I turned and walked out the door. We had two hours until we left on the bus, so I headed down the hall. I couldn’t download this story on Sean and Baby, especially not after I’d burdened them the other night. Also, I wasn’t sure I could sit there and tell them both what Bell had just accused me of. So I headed to Mike’s room.

The man that answered Mike’s door was obviously in the process of either buttoning or unbuttoning his fashionable polyester shirt. He was tall and thin, with a boyish face – exactly Mike’s type.

The man stared at me, mouth open.

“Is Mike here?” I asked.

He didn’t speak. He just stood in the doorway, staring.

“Mike,” I called into the room.

Mike peeked around the corner, wearing only a pair of jeans. He grinned and walked to where the guy was standing.

“Van, let Hank in,” he said, clearly amused.

Van? Seriously?

The guy stepped aside and I moved into the room. I dropped the bag off my shoulder and plopped down on the chair by the desk. Van was still staring.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Mike said, trying to get Van’s attention.

Finally, he looked away from me and focused on Mike.

“You gotta go now. I’ll call you, okay?” Mike kissed him gently on the lips.

The guy nodded, looked back at me one more time, and left the room.

“That was awkward,” I said.

“The kissing? Sorry.”

“No, not that asshole. I don’t give a shit who you kiss. The way he was looking at me.”

Mike shrugged and took a seat on the edge of the bed. He reached over, grabbed a t-shirt off the floor, and threw it on.

“That’s what happens, Hank. That’s why I don’t bring guys on the bus. They spend the whole time drooling over you.”

“Yeah, well, lucky for you I’m not interested in any of them.”

He grinned. “What’s up?”

“I needed a place to hide.”

“More trouble in paradise?”

“Fuck, yes.”

“What happened this time?”

“She thinks I’m in love with Baby.”

Mike made a choking sound in his throat. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, fucked up, huh?”

Mike walked over to the couch and sat opposite me. “Maybe not.”

“Don’t tell me you think I’m in love with Baby.”

“Hell no. And I never have. But there are a lot of people who do.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why the hell do you think I was so busy a few weeks before the tour? Because Christie sucks, and even though I’m still a publicist-in-training I had to pick up the pieces.”

“Pieces of what? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Damn Hank, don’t you ever read a paper?”

“No.”

“There’s shit about you in all the tabloids. You can’t pass a grocery check stand without seeing it.”

“I don’t go to the grocery store.”

“How the hell do you get food?”

“Mrs. Tinkley’s daughter, Amelia, goes to the store for me.”

“The old lady that lives next door?”

“Yeah, she’s been having health problems and her daughter moved in with her. I pay her to do my grocery shopping. But I hope she doesn’t take over the house after Mrs. Tinkley passes because then I’d feel obligated to keep having her get my groceries, and she buys the weirdest shit. This last time she came back with a bunch of kale. What the hell am I supposed to do with kale?”

“I can get your groceries for you.”

“Fuck, no. You are not getting my groceries.”

His face fell. “Why not?”

Because Mike was my friend, not my gopher.

“You need extra money, just ask me,” I said.