"No s.h.i.t?"
"No s.h.i.t," I confirm.
Gavin laughs. "And you"re asking me for advice about Robyn? I know as much about relationships as I do-"
"No. That"s not what I"m asking about." Though a part of me does wonder if he could give me some insight into why she blew me off after our night together, I know it"s best if I appreciate it for what it was and let it go. I"m partially relieved she never responded to my texts because the last thing I need to be on this tour is distracted. I"m partially p.i.s.sed-off, too, but I"m ignoring that part of me.
"You"re losing me."
I huff out a breath while doing a quick check of the bus to make sure it"s empty. "That"s not the issue exactly. The problem is I"m also running into some of my former . . ." I don"t know what to call them without being disrespectful.
"Questionable choices?"
"Yeah."
Gavin chuckles low into the phone. "I bet, Big Timer. Probably coming at you by the truckload these days."
"If it was funny I"d be laughing. I"m serious here. I don"t want to be known as the manwh.o.r.e of country music."
"I don"t mean to be d.i.c.k, D. But really, what did you expect? This is the reason half the guys we know play music."
"That include you, Garrison?" Dude who swears he loves my sister but has yet to tell me if he"s seen her.
"Nah. For me it"s about channeling aggression so I don"t walk around beating the f.u.c.k out of people on a daily basis. But for most guys, it"s about p.u.s.s.y. Period."
"Well, I"m not most guys." Why do I have to keep reminding people of this? Do I have "Johnny Guitar Player" tattooed on my f.u.c.king forehead?
"Right. So what"s the question exactly?"
"When you run into your . . . questionable choices, what do you do about it? How do you let them know you"re no longer interested without coming off like an a.s.shole?"
Gavin laughs again. "There"s one major difference between you and me that you forgot to consider when consulting me for advice."
"What"s that?"
"I don"t give a flying f.u.c.k who thinks I"m an a.s.shole."
"I can think of one girl we both know who adamantly swears you"re not an a.s.shole."
"You obviously haven"t spoken to your sister lately. Look, man, I gotta get back to work. Keeping a job is part of my probation arrangement."
"Hold up. Why? What happened to make Dixie change her mind? I thought you were running off into the sunset together and that"s why your a.s.s isn"t on this tour with me."
"It"s complicated, brother. Right now, she isn"t exactly speaking to me."
I knew that was a possibility once he"d told her what happened while she was in college in Houston, but I figured they"d work it out eventually. "Christ, Garrison. Am I going to have to beat your a.s.s when I come to town?"
Silence.
"I"ll take that as a maybe. Six weeks, man. I"ll be there in six weeks. You should probably get your s.h.i.t straight with Dixie before I get there."
"And here I thought you called me for advice."
"That"s not advice. Or even a suggestion. You really care about her like you swore to me you did, then you do whatever it takes."
"Working on it," he says before I hear someone yelling at him to get the f.u.c.k back inside.
"Don"t get fired. I"ll hit you up later."
"Later."
After I disconnect the call I promptly dial my sister"s number.
She doesn"t pick up so I leave her a voice mail asking her to call me. She"s going to be p.i.s.sed that I didn"t tell her Gavin was home. But I thought he was going to tell her. I thought he was getting his life together and that she"d be a part of that. Apparently I was wrong.
I hate being wrong.
18Robyn.
THE AMPHITHEATER IN GREENVILLE IS LARGE AND HAS A SLIGHTLY different setup than we"re used to so Katie and Drew and I get creative. Or rather, I plot.
Placing Dallas"s meet-and-greet on the east end of the stadium seating means I won"t have to interact with him as much. So I set up the red line bottles for his display and take the blue line ones to the west end.
I tell Katie she"s in charge and leave Drew with her. For Jase"s side of the display I will have to be both organizer and photographer, but that"s fine. Drew loaned me his spare camera so I familiarize myself with it while I wait for the venue to start letting fans in.
Jase joins me while I"m testing out the flash.
"Whoa, darlin". How about not blinding me before the show?"
"Sorry, Mr. Wade." I lower the flashbulb.
"You can call me Jase. You"re Robyn, right? I think we"ll be spending enough time together to refer to each other on a first-name basis."
"Right. Of course. Whatever you prefer."
"Well, that"s a dangerous thing to say. I don"t think you could handle what I would prefer."
He nails me with a wicked grin and I can"t even pretend to contain my shock. Apparently Dallas can"t, either.
"The f.u.c.k did you just say to her?"
I practically twitch out of my skin in surprise. I didn"t hear him walk over. But Jase just grins and holds his hands up. "Easy, killer. I was just being honest."
Dallas clears his throat harshly and redirects his attention from Jase to me. "So where do you want me?"
The hard edge in his voice and the loaded question itself sends heat up my neck.
"Um, you"re over there. On the other end with Katie and Drew."
Dallas regards me with anger and apprehension in his intense stare. I blew him off and now I"m separating us as much as I can in the one place we actually should be together. Maybe it"s immature, but I"m not in a place where I can watch women fawning all over him right this moment.
"You lost, kid?" Jase says to Dallas when he makes no move to leave. "She just said your display is over there."
"You got a problem, Wade? I don"t recall her asking for your-"
"Okay, boys," I interrupt, moving between them. "Everybody has an equally big . . . guitar," I say. "To your corners. Fans are coming in."
I place a hand on Dallas"s chest and shove him toward where his meet-and-greet is.
His fingers encircle my wrist reminiscent of the way they did in the bedroom not too long ago. "So this how it"s gonna be with us now?"
"We"re not discussing this now, not here," I say, nodding toward the steady stream of fans pouring into the aisles.
"After the show then?"
"We"ll see."
After I"ve wrangled him over to Katie, I head back to Jase, where fans are waiting impatiently for me to take their pictures. I apologize half a dozen times and get started. But the entire time, I can feel his eyes on me. More so when I have to step closer to Jase or when Jase comes over to talk to me between pictures.
I"m just doing my job, Dallas. Back off.
I try to send the message telepathically to him, but judging from the hard glare he gives me when he has to leave to take the stage, the message was not received.
"You cannot ever do that to me again." I corner Dallas backstage after his show, having had time to grow angrier about his Neanderthal behavior. "How would you feel if I stormed into your meet-and-greets and snapped at your fans the way you went after Jase? Do you even know what could happen if you p.i.s.s him off?"
"First of all," Dallas begins, whirling on me, "I am not afraid of him. And second of all, he was out of line. If one of my fans got out of line like that and you called her out, I"d probably sport wood for a month from that memory alone."
"You so do not get it. And here I thought you took this seriously."
He zeroes in on me with the precision of a hawk. "Oh I take it very seriously. The question is, does he?"
"It was one night, Dallas."
"Bulls.h.i.t. Maybe it was one night recently, but we both know it"s a h.e.l.l of a lot more than that."
"You do not own me," I state firmly, planting my hands on my hips. "So stop acting like you do."
Dallas"s chest expands and he opens his mouth, but before he can say whatever asinine thing he has planned, Jase lets out a loud guitar riff onstage and the drums take off like a thousand helicopters.
"Come!" Dallas shouts over the din, reaching out and taking me by the elbow.
I follow because otherwise my head is going to explode from the noise.
Once we"re back behind the buses in a relatively quiet area, Dallas leans back against a trailer. "Look, I get why you blew me off. You"re right, it was one night and I don"t own you. But I don"t want to see you get hurt, either. How well do you know him? I mean, really know him?" He nods at the giant rendition of Jase"s face "I don"t know. I know a lot about him. I had to. For my job."
"But you don"t really know him as a person? Like you know me?"
"Are you looking to get slapped again, Lark? Because every time you insinuate I am s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g my way into-"
"Stop. That"s not what I meant."
"Then say what you mean, Dallas. Quickly."
"I hear him with fans. He propositions them. And Mandy says that"s why the two guys before me got kicked off the tour. Because they encroached on his female territory or some bulls.h.i.t."
"Okay. But I heard differently. I heard they got grabby with some girls, thinking they were owed a piece of a.s.s just because they were on this tour so he kicked them off. Either way, I just work with him. I don"t have to approve of his values. I"m not planning to date him or whatever it is you think. I"m here to do my job . . . despite what happened in Denver."
Dallas gives me this look, his blue eyes darken a shade, and his long, sleepy lashes lower as he blinks slow and takes a step toward me. "He treats women like objects. Like disposable playthings for his amus.e.m.e.nt. Do you know why you"re on this tour, Robyn? Do you know why you were handpicked to run this campaign?"
I fidget with the sponsor pa.s.s around my neck. "Because I worked my a.s.s off and I asked to be a part of it. Because I gave a kick-a.s.s presentation that blew everyone away."
Dallas nods. "Maybe. But word on the street is you"re here because he requested you. Specifically." He nods to Jase"s smirking face on the trailer. "And if he requested you, I don"t think it was your hard work that appealed to him."
I have paced up and down the length of Wade"s tour bus for the past hour. When he finally returns to it, he isn"t alone. A tall thin blonde and a curvy chick with hair similar to the color of mine flank him on each side.
"Hey, Robyn. What can I do for you?" Wade whispers something to each of the girls and they walk past me onto the bus wearing matching confident smirks. Ugh. Maybe Dallas was right.
Stop judging, Breeland. Not your business.
"We need to talk. In private, please."
A few guys from Wade"s band have walked over to see what"s going on. He tells them to give us a minute so they meander off.
"You look pretty p.i.s.sed, but I can"t imagine what I possibly could"ve done to make you so angry with me." He scratches his chin and adjusts his cowboy hat.
"I need to know something. The truth, preferably."
"I"ll do my best. What do you need to know?"
I take a deep breath and just lay it out there. Either way, it"s better to know. Even if it will sting like h.e.l.l to know I didn"t land this job on merit. "Did you request me specifically to head up the tour promo?"
Jase grins at me. "I did. Is that a problem?"
"Yes," I practically yell at him. "Of course it is. What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you? You can"t just go around requesting women like you are King Pimp of the universe. Just because your shameless groupies fall at your feet doesn"t mean all women are fair game. I am a professional, d.a.m.n it. I work really hard at my job and I wanted to be on this tour because I was excited. I was a fan of your music and I hoped partnering with Midnight Bay would be the kind of opportunity that-"
"Whoa, darlin". Rein it in a sec," he says, throwing his hands up. I didn"t even realize I was charging toward him.
"What?" I demand, wondering what in the h.e.l.l he could possibly say to justify his behavior.
His smile widens but his hazel eyes cloud over with a troubled expression. Like I hurt his feelings. Like that"s even possible.
"I did request you, Robyn. But not for the reasons you"ve obviously a.s.sumed."
I take a deep breath and fold my arms across my chest. "Then why?"