Dear April (Sunshine & Shadow Book 2) (5 page)

April’s friends didn’t ask
her any questions when she met them in the hotel bar. By then they were so
drunk they probably thought she had been there the entire time. Just in case
they got curious in the morning, April planned to feign annoyance, saying she
didn’t want to tell the story for a fourth time. They wouldn’t know she was
lying with the amount of alcohol they were consuming.

Her dreams that night
were filled with bright green eyes, dimples and beautiful songs that made her
heart swell and her skin tingle. She awoke to darkness, desire swirling inside
her, and found herself reaching subconsciously for Lex. Disappointed when she
found the bed empty, she rolled over and closed her eyes, sinking once more
into a restless slumber full of Lex.

Meagan woke her in the morning
when she rushed to the bathroom. The sounds of her retching sent April’s
stomach turning, so she quickly and quietly pulled on her jeans and left the
room, grabbing her phone from the desk. She knocked on the neighboring room and
a tired, hung-over Charlotte opened it.

“Ugh, it’s so early.”

April checked her phone.
“It’s nine-thirty.”

“But it’s Sunday.”            

April raised her eyebrow.

“Fine!” Charlotte moved
out of the way to let April in. “You have to put the coffee on.”

April made coffee as Charlotte
got dressed and tried to tame her wild hair into a ponytail. The girls sat on
the bed and drank coffee from plastic cups. To April’s surprise Charlotte didn’t
push for information about Lex. She only asked what any friend would ask, and
April was happy to talk about how great Lex was without giving away too much.

“So what’s gonna happen
with the two of you?”

April shrugged. “I
honestly don’t know. I hope something, but I just don’t know what. He travels a
lot. And he lives in California. That’s quite a drive.”

Charlotte laughed. “Yeah,
I guess so. But if it’s love, it’ll find a way, right? Just have to
belieeeeve.”

The girls laughed,
finished their coffee and went to see if Meagan was still alive. She was doing
her makeup in front of the large mirror when they entered the room.

“Where’s everyone else?”
she asked.

“All gone. Lily and Emma
have to work. I think Raine was too hung-over to have another night like last
night. Speaking of which – how are
you
feeling?” Charlotte raised her
eyebrow.

Meagan groaned. “It
hurts, doc.” She covered her eyes.

“Are you still gonna come
back to the festival today?” Charlotte asked her.

“I want to. I’ll just
have to tough it out.” She took a deep breath. “Come on, Meagan. This is what
you were training for all through college.”

When the girls were
ready, they piled into the car and drove to the festival. The crowd was
considerably smaller today and April could see why; the people who had braved it
were mirror images of Meagan - wearing sunglasses and shielding themselves from
the sun even with the sky being overcast. April hoped it wouldn’t rain.     

The girls made their way
to the saloon and ordered orange juices. Charlotte was the only one hungry. She
ordered a large breakfast that made Meagan turn green. Meagan excused herself
and April laughed.

“Self inflicted. No
sympathy!” she shouted after her fleeing friend.

Billy Currington, The
Band Perry, and Chad Brownlee were all scheduled to perform that day. April
sighed. She had almost expected to see Lex’s name even though deep down she
knew she wouldn’t. She wondered if he was even there.

Someone tapped on her
shoulder. She turned around.

“Lex!”

Lex smiled down at her
and touched her back lightly. April found herself pursing her lips and had to
stop herself from leaning into him.

“Hi there.”

Charlotte dropped her
fork and stared at Lex.

He grinned. April could
tell he was used to girls being speechless and gawking in his presence. Her
reaction when she first met him at the ranch must have been similar. She
remembered feeling frozen in place the first time he had looked into her eyes.
Even she hadn’t been able to withstand his charm.

“Charlotte, isn’t it?”
Lex asked, offering his hand.

 April waved her hand in
front of her friend’s face and Charlotte snapped back to reality, looking
extremely embarrassed.

She looked up at Lex, her
cheeks flaming.

“Hi,” he said, grinning,
obviously finding the situation very funny.

“Hi…” Charlotte murmured.

Lex turned his attention
to April. “Can I steal you away for a little while?”

April looked around for
any sign of Meagan’s return. She didn’t want to leave Charlotte by herself.
“Can Charlotte come?”

Lex looked back at Charlotte,
who sat motionless on the stool, still obviously completely star struck. “Do
you trust her to keep a secret?” he asked April.

April looked at her
friend. “Yeah.” For some reason, she knew Charlotte wouldn’t tell anyone.

Lex nodded. “Come on,
then.”

April turned to the
bartender. “Excuse me, remember the girl we came in with? The blonde?” The man
nodded. April handed him a twenty dollar bill. “When she comes back, tell her
we won’t be long, and keep giving her orange juice. The rest is for you.”

He nodded and pocketed
the bill.

Lex and the bartender
shared a look that April didn’t understand, and then she and Charlotte followed
Lex out of the saloon, and towards the trailers. He smiled at the security
guards as the three of them entered the VIP area. They leaned against the
fence, looking unhappy at the girls following Lex.

“What’s going on?” Charlotte
whispered to April. With Lex turned away, her composure had returned. “How do
you know Lex Mitchell!?”

“It’s complicated ...”
April watched Lex’s back sauntering along in front of them. Man, oh man, was it
ever complicated.

“Where are we going?”

April shrugged.

They arrived at Lex’s RV
and Charlotte looked at it in awe, her mouth dropping open. She looked around
in amazement.

Lex looked at April. “You
sure you can trust her?”

April nodded.

Lex closed the gap
between them and kissed her, his lips pressing into hers with an almost
desperate edge. It was deliciously unexpected and April kissed back, eager for
more.

“Whoa! April!”

Charlotte looked so
confused that April almost laughed. Sudden understanding appeared in her friend’s
eyes.

“Oh, I get it. Alexander.
Alex. Lex. He’s the friend you had drinks with last night?”

April nodded.

Charlotte’s face
stretched into a huge grin and she wrapped her arms around April, squeezing
her. “Why didn’t you tell me, silly!?”

April hugged her back.
“It’s a secret.”

“I knew there was
something off about your Alex story, but I figured he was just really weird or
something and you were embarrassed.”

“Nope,” April said. She
sighed and felt Lex’s hand find hers.

Charlotte stepped back
and observed the pair. “Well, I’ve officially been shocked out of my trance.
Hi,” She stepped forward. “I’m Charlotte. It’s nice to meet you.”

Lex shook her hand and
squeezed April’s.

“Hi, I’m Lex.”

Charlotte made a sound in
her throat. “Duh! I’m a huge fan.”

April looked at her with
raised eyebrows, begging her not to get crazy.

“Sorry, sorry. Today, I’m
just April’s friend.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet
you, April’s friend.”

April took a deep breath
and turned to Lex. “Other than introductions and a kiss, why did you bring me
here? How did you even know I was here?”

“I asked the bartender,
Micky, to text me when you got here. We’ve been friends for years.” He led
April inside the RV and Charlotte followed. “And I brought you here because I
need to speak with you about something important.”

“Top secret?”

Lex shook his head. “I
have a proposal for you.”

“What?” April froze.

“A business proposal.”

“Oh…what sort of business
proposal?”

Lex gestured and the
girls slid onto the couch. He sat at the dining table. Charlotte looked between
the two of them, listening intently.

“You told me you were
listening last night when I was talking to Violet. So you heard her tell me
that we could continue the ruse as long as I didn’t make her look like a fool?”

April nodded.

“This was actually her
idea. And it’s basically a way for you and me to spend time together until I
finish the movie. It’s also an excuse if the two of us ever get caught alone.”

April’s curiosity was
peaking. “What is it?”

“I want you to work on
the movie. I’ve spoken to the producers and they are all for it. I have a
contract here and everything.”

“A contract?” April shook
her head. “What kind of contract?”

“No, nothing like the
contract I have. A business contract. For the job.”

“You still haven’t told
me what the job is.”

“You’d be assisting our
stunt trainer.”

April frowned. She knew
nothing about movie stunts, and if the producers knew what they were doing they
would find that out in the first ten minutes.

“Stunt horse trainer,”
Lex said.

April’s mind spun. “Stunt
horses?”

Lex nodded. “Your main
job would be teaching the actors and stunt doubles the tricks and how to
execute them. And fixing any behavioral problems that come up with the horses.”

“Why me? How did you get
them to agree to this?”

“I told them what you can
do with horses and they ate it up. You don’t see much natural horsemanship in
L.A.”

“I’ve never been to
California,” April said.

Lex reached across and
gripped April’s hand. He brought it up to his mouth and traced her knuckles
with his lips. “Take the job. And I’ll show you everything. I’ll make sure you
don’t miss anything. It’s beautiful.”

April shook her head
slowly, bewildered. It was a lot to take in.

“I know it’s a big move.
Take some time to figure things out.”

“Some time, yeah. Yeah, I
need some time. I’ll have to give up my internship. My dad won’t be happy.”

“He’ll get over it.
You’ve only just started.”

“I need some time.”

Lex kissed the back of
her hand again and turned to Charlotte. “You girls wanna go backstage today?”

Charlotte jumped off the
couch. “You can get us backstage passes?”

Lex just looked at her.

“Duh,” she said, “Of
course you can. Hell yes, I wanna go backstage. I love The Band Perry.”

He looked at April.
“Think it would be okay if I spent the day with you today?”

April’s first answer was
‘
Hell yes you can spend the day with me!’
, then she was reminded of
Meagan.

“What about Meagan? I
don’t know if she could keep this secret. She’d be too excited.”

Lex looked dejected. He’d
obviously forgotten about Meagan.

“I could just tell her
you met up with your friend from last night. And that you want some alone time,”
Charlotte said.

“You think that’ll work?”
April said.

“I’ll just text you with
what we are doing every now and then, and you can make sure to avoid us.
Besides, Meagan is so hung-over she’s covering her eyes most of the time
anyway.”

April smiled. “Thank you,
Char.”

Lex rummaged in a drawer
in the kitchenette and pulled out two VIP/Backstage passes on lanyards. He
handed them to Charlotte. “These will get you anywhere in the festival,
including the VIP saloon behind the trailers.” He pointed in the general
direction of the stage.

Charlotte gripped the
lanyards and beamed. “Thanks!” She looked at April. “I’ll go find Meagan. Text
me.” She blew a kiss at her and disappeared.

Lex watched her go and
murmured, “She seems to be a good friend.”

April nodded. “She is. I
work with her.”

He looked sheepish. “I
know.”

“What? How do you know?”

He grimaced. “I ran
background checks on all your friends from yesterday.”

“How…how did you know
their names?”

Lex shrugged. “Micky.”

“Do you have any idea how
creepy that is? You can’t do that! That’s an invasion of their privacy!”

He looked even more
embarrassed.