The Price of Love (Rockin' Country Book 2) (11 page)

H
annah moved her head in a circle on her neck and then turned in the chair that she sat in, moaning as her back cracked loudly.

“Damn, did that feel good?” Shell asked, looking up from the bowl of cereal that she was eating.

The first few days of touring and sleeping on the bed in her tour bus always killed her back. “Yes, it’s that freakin’ bed. It’s always so uncomfortable the first few days. How are numbers looking?” she asked Shell as she dug into the bowl of fruit that sat in front of her.

“Great, better than I think anyone expected. You’re holding steady on the charts that are updated daily. I heard from the record company today, they are thinking you made top five on the all-genre Billboard, which would be your best showing ever. We’ll find that out tomorrow. Every show so far has been sold out. Every single post you make on social media is blowing up, and the song has hit the top ten on the country chart. All in all, this has been an amazing release week. The record company is beyond happy.” Shell looked at her friend. “But are you happy?”

“I’m excited that this has done everything we wanted to do, but now I’m getting nervous.”

“What in the world for?”

“It’s exceeding expectations. You and I both know that when expectations are exceeded, they want to extend tours, they want to add on dates and do more promotional appearances. What if they try to fight me exercising my clause?”

“That’s not going to happen. You said yourself that your lawyer said it’s iron-clad.”

He had said that, and Hannah believed him with everything she had, but at the same time, she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Things had never gone how she planned them before, and she was worried that this would be another one of those times. “I know, I just think I’m going to be on edge until the last show of this tour.”

“It’s nerves, Han. You’ve never asked them for anything like this before; you’ve never gone against anything before. You’re nervous. It can’t help that this has been the biggest opening week of your career and it’s happening just as you’re planning to take time off.”

“How did that announcement go this week, by the way? I’ve kept myself away from anything having to do with it.”

She and Shell had decided to be pro-active and let the fans know that she had decided to take some time off after the end of this small tour. That announcement had ended up coming the day after the album drop, and it hadn’t affected sales, so she hoped for the best.

“Pretty supportive, but the same BS about you being pregnant and that’s why you only want to tour for eight weeks.”

“My gosh,” she sighed. “What is with people’s obsession with me being pregnant? I would love to actually get to enjoy my husband for a few months before we add a baby into the mix. If we add a baby into the mix this soon.” It wasn’t like she hadn’t thought of it. She did every time they made love. There was a part of her that wanted it more than anything, but there was also another part of her that knew it was way too soon. They needed time on their own, and they needed time to figure out the dynamic of their married relationship before they added another stressor to it.

“Can you imagine how cute a baby Reaper would be?” Shell sipped her coffee. “I mean, my cold-ass heart is melting at the thought.”

Hannah snickered, throwing a piece of fruit at her friend. “You do not have a cold heart, and to be honest I do imagine how cute a baby Reaper would be, but it’s not the time for it yet.”

“At least you know that fans will be all about it when it does happen, because according to tabloids you’ve already been pregnant five times.”

“Whatever, I gotta get ready for this radio interview,” she laughed, getting up from the booth in the bus. No matter how much she thought about it, she knew they weren’t ready, but possibly it was something she could talk to him about during her time off.

*     *     *

“Your wifey is number three on the all-genre Billboard,” Jared yelled to Garrett as he entered the recording studio later the next night.

“Oh shit, for real?” He ran over to the computer that Jared sat in front of, moving him out of the way to look for himself.

“For real. We’ve all been waiting for the chart to update, and it finally did.”

Garrett thought it was amazing the way the guys had taken to her, almost as excited for the things going on with her as he was. There had been times in their relationship as a group that none of them had liked someone’s girlfriend. It was important to him that they love his wife as much as they loved him. “That’s amazing for her.”

“It is.” Jared smiled over at his friend. “Congrats, dude. You got a good one.”

He knew that without a doubt, and he missed her something fierce. The two of them hadn’t been able to get hooked up on FaceTime or Skype this entire week, and he missed seeing her face. He knew that she was incredibly busy, and with him being in the studio at night, it made it even more difficult than normal. “I know, I wish I could see her.”

“Hopefully soon,” Jared told him quietly. He, of all of them, knew what kind of schedule Hannah was keeping, and it was back-breaking for the time she’d allowed the record company. “When was the last time you talked to her?”

“A few days ago, but I haven’t actually seen her in a week. This is the hard part,” he told his friend, turning his wedding ring around on his finger. FaceTime or Skype at least allowed him to see her, and they hadn’t even had time for that.

“If it wasn’t hard, it wouldn’t mean so much.”

Jared had him there. It did mean a lot because it wasn’t easy. He had never had to make such an effort to be with another woman. It wasn’t his normal MO, and maybe that was why he loved her so much, why it meant so much to him that he had her. Dwelling too much on it would make him sad, and that’s not where he wanted to go on this night. “When are we starting this damn session?” he asked, running his fingers through his hair. “I thought I was fuckin’ late.”

“You were,” Brad looked at him pointedly, “but none of us wanted to say anything about it.”

Garrett threw him a middle finger. “Where’s our engineer?”

The door opened as he finished asking the question, and an intern peeked his head in. “Your engineer for the night has called in. He’s got food poisoning. He said you could either come back tomorrow or you could try to do some stuff on your own, just don’t fuck up his stuff.”

When the door closed, the group looked at each other. “What are we gonna do?” Garrett asked, looking around the room. This didn’t hold the appeal that it normally did. “It’s been a while since we hit the neighborhood bar.”

They all looked at Jared. “I will totally be the DD,” he said, holding his hands up. “I’ve finally got my shit under control. Besides,” he clapped his hand on Garrett’s back. “I think my man here needs a night of debauchery.”

The thought held a sort of promise. He did need to blow off some steam. He was sick of being stuck in California while Hannah was wherever she was for the night, and he missed her. He needed the feeling of peace that she gave him. Without that peace, Reaper had to come out, and to be honest, he wasn’t sure how that was going to fly. “Promise me,” he grabbed Jared’s arm as the group made their way out of the studio. “Promise me that you won’t let me get fuckin’ stupid. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, and I miss Hannah like I can’t tell you.”

Jared knew what that meant for his friend. He needed to blow off steam, and in the past, that had either meant he’d beat somebody with his fists until he was done or he’d find a groupie and fuck her until that peaceful feeling returned. “I promise.”

*     *     *

The local bar was just as Garrett remembered—a dive with cheap drinks. He and the guys had a seat at the booth they had sat at since they’d started coming here when each of them had turned twenty-one. Their favorite waitress, Lisa, came over and already had a tray full of drinks and a bottle of Coke for Jared.

“Do you want me to keep them coming?” she asked.

Garrett tipped his head back, the shot burning as it went down his throat and into his belly. He chased it with a large drink of beer. “Fuck yes, keep it coming until they cut my ass off,” he told her, holding up his credit card to her.

“Where’s that cute wife of yours?” she asked, watching him with a critical eye. She’d known him for a long time.

“Somewhere on the other side of the United States tonight.”

“You better be careful,” she warned him.

“I’m always careful,” he assured her, flashing the smile at her that always got him what he wanted from other people.

“I’m serious, Garrett. This place is bursting with hot girls in tight-ass skirts. You be careful.”

“Nobody is hotter than my wife.” He waved her off.

She glanced at him, this time her eyes soft. “I know you miss her, but remember that I’ve been doing this a long time, and sometimes a warm body means much more than the memory of someone. You boys watch him. There’s a group of women here that were hoping you guys would be in tonight.”

Jared looked up at her. “He’s not going to get out of line, I got it.”

She seemed pacified by Jared’s assurances and did what the group asked.

Over the course of the night, Garrett lost count of how many shots he’d taken. He texted Hannah at different intervals, telling her how much he missed her, the things he wanted to do to her when he had her alone. Checking his phone, he realized that she was on stage and she wouldn’t be seeing her messages for hours. Maybe by that time, he would be sober again and he could have a normal conversation with her. Slamming back another shot, uncharacteristic tears filled his eyes. He didn’t know how to deal with this, the feelings that came with her being gone. The emptiness he felt when she wasn’t around. It had become increasingly worse, and he didn’t know what to do. Never before had his life been so wrapped up in another person that he didn’t know how to pull himself out of it. Sometimes he missed her so much it hurt to breathe.

“I gotta take a piss,” Jared told him. “Don’t get up from here, you’re shitfaced as fuck.”

Garret nodded, even though he wasn’t sure he understood what Jared said to him. He looked across the table and saw that, at some point, Brad had invited Stacey and they were sitting close to each other, Brad whispering in her ear. “Dude, back off my sister,” he said, but the words were slurred, and he wasn’t sure that they could understand him because he could barely understand the words he’d meant to say.

Stacey rolled her eyes. “You’re drunk, bro. It’s fine.”

Before he could answer, a dark-haired girl slid into the booth next to him, and for a moment, he thought it was Hannah. Then she turned so that she could see his face, and he knew without a doubt that this wasn’t his wife.

“Take a picture with me?” she asked, her smile bright.

“Sure,” he slurred, trying to hold his eyes open. Now all he wanted to do was go home and sleep it off. He turned so that he could be in the picture with her, and the girl settled herself right on his lap. That didn’t sit well with him. “You need to move,” he told her, putting his hands on her hips, trying to push her off.

“Just smile.”

In the end, all he wanted to do was get it over with, so he did what she told him, barely able to hold his head up.

*  *  *