Play Me (Love on Tour #2) (4 page)

Once she was with Baby safely on the outskirts, I looked at the crowd. There were about thirty people gathered on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. Most of them had poured out of the barbeque place and the bar next door. And the mob was growing fast.

They were loud, each one shouting at Sean and pushing each other to get closer. Sean towered above them, silent and uncomfortable. I made my way to his side. It was easy. The crowd parted for me.

“Hey everybody!” I said loudly, holding my arms up.

It worked. They quieted down and gave me their full attention.

“We have a long day today and Sean’s wife has a craving for some barbeque. So we don’t have time for autographs. But, if you hang out here and line up real orderly, Tony,” I pointed to the open bus door behind me, “will give you each a free ticket to tonight’s show.”

I knew Tony was going to be pissed. I watched as he peeked his head out the door and scowled at me. Mike kept him supplied with these little business cards to hand out that offered comp tickets. It helped when the crowds got crazy. But Tony was basically a misanthrope and he hated having to interact with people. Oh well, we were going to get some lunch, he would have to deal.

The crowd obeyed and started lining up. Sean and I joined Mike and the girls, and walked into the now nearly empty restaurant.

“Hank Tolk!” The hostess squealed.

“Hi, sweetheart,” I said, as if I’d known her for years. “Do you have a back room in this place where we could eat in private?”

“Yeah, we do! I’ll, um, get it ready for you. Give me one minute.”

I winked at her. She shivered and took off at the speed of light. I turned back to my companions. Baby was all cuddled up on Sean’s arm, looking sullen. Bell was wide-eyed again.

“I’m sorry,” Baby said. “I forgot. I just get so tired of eating on the bus all the time.”

“Don’t worry about it, Baby,” Sean said. “I was tired of eating on the bus, too.”

“But it’s so much hassle,” she said.

“No it isn’t. Hank has it covered.”

“Damn right,” I said.

4

 

The hostess came back and ushered us into a small banquet room. A long, rectangular table sat in the center of the room. Against one wall was another long table that held empty chafing dishes, awaiting hot foods like chicken and mashed potatoes. In the center of that table was a large bouquet with Mylar balloons tethered to it. The balloons hovered near the ceiling exclaiming ‘Happy Retirement.’ Yellow and blue streamers hung along the walls.

“Are we interrupting something?” Baby asked.

“Oh no!” A man appeared in the doorway. He was wearing dress slacks and a button-up shirt. “We have a party, but it’s not until tonight.” He looked at his watch. “We have tons of time. Would you like lunch menus? Because if you want dinner menus we can do that, too. Don’t worry about the time.”

“Lunch,” Baby said.

“And can you have somebody take a big plate to the cranky guy out in the bus?” I asked.

“Of course. And some drinks for you? Pitchers of beer, on the house?”

“It’s only one o’clock. How about pop,” Sean said.

“Coming right up!” He and the hostess hurried out of there.

I sat down at the head of the long table. Sean and Baby sat to one side of me, Mike and Bell on the other.

“This is different,” Bell said, looking around.

“Remember the sushi place in Boulder?” Mike asked.

“Oh yeah,” Sean said, “I remember.”

“We walked in there, I guess it was about four or five years ago. I just started working for Sean, so five, yeah. Anyway, it was one of those hole-in-the-wall places that some chick Hank had slept with in Denver–”

“She was the hotel manager,” Sean said.

“That’s right. She recommended it. And we get there and the place only has like three or four tables. And the owner was this older Japanese man who was a massive fan of the album Hank had just released.”

“That would have been
Fist
,” I interjected.

“Yeah, and so this dude gets all excited and he clears the whole damn restaurant. Kicks all these people out in the middle of their meal, locks the door and serves us.”

“I felt bad,” Sean said.

“Yeah, but it was good sushi,” I said.

Bell shook her head. “So bizarre.”

“You get used to it,” Mike told her.

“Not really,” Baby pouted.

Sean leaned over and kissed Baby, long and hard.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” I teased.

Sean ignored me. He didn’t stop until he was good and ready, which was after the hostess, manager, and another waitress came in with pitchers and glasses. They all stopped and stared. But when Sean finally pulled away, Baby looked more relaxed.

Once we had ordered a ridiculous amount of food and were left alone again, Sean turned to Mike. “Okay, spill Mike. Most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done to impress a guy.”

Mike’s what they call a bear. He’s pretty big, and definitely tough. Most people don’t usually figure out that he’s gay right away. In fact, there were groupies that traveled with us that had been trying to get into Mike’s pants for years. He wasn’t in the closet or anything, but he didn’t ever bring it up, unless he was just around us. Me, Sean, and Baby, we were like his comfort zone. He talked freely about his love life in a way I knew he didn’t do in most other settings.

“I’ll tell you, but I wanna hear everyone’s story,” Mike said.

“I’m game,” Sean told him.

“We’ll all do it. Tell us, Mike,” Baby said.

“Okay, I once wore short shorts for a guy.”

“What? That’s it,” Sean said.

“I mean really short shorts, man. Like the running kind that go up your ass and you have make sure your junk doesn’t fall out.”

“Oooh,” I said. “That’s bad. Why the hell would you do that?”

“He was into running. And he was seriously playing hard to get. So one day he asks me to go on a run with him. See, I met this guy at the gym.”

“That’s how you do it, isn’t it Mikey,” Sean teased.

“Shut up. Anyway, I knew this guy wore the short shorts, so when he invited me to go on a run, I bought a pair. I looked like a fucking idiot.”

“Yeah, but did you get laid?” I asked.

“Yep,” Mike said, leaning back and folding his arms over his chest.

Sean laughed. “That’s pretty good.”

“What do you got, Sean?”

Sean leaned forward, his arms resting on the table. He pointed to a spot on his left arm with his right index finger. The spot was in the center of his forearm, which was covered in tattoos. “Right here, in the center of this wolf tattoo is a weird little spot.”

We all leaned forward to look, except for Baby, who grinned. She’d obviously heard this story before.

“When I was seventeen I got a girl’s name tattooed on my arm. My first tattoo as a matter of fact.”

“What was her name?” Mike asked.

“Tori.”

I had a more pressing concern. “I bet your mom threw a fit.”

“Oh, hell yeah. She dragged me down to the tattoo parlor and demanded to know what the hell they were doing giving a tattoo to a minor without permission. I was basically full grown by then and the poor sons of bitches assumed I was much older than I was, so they hadn’t carded me.” He laughed. “Anyway, Tori dumped me like two weeks later. But my mom wouldn’t let me cover it up with another tattoo. So I had to walk around for eight months with this chick’s name on my arm. I got the cover up as soon as I turned eighteen.”

“Everybody knows to never get a girl’s name inked on you, brother,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t believe you never told me this story.”

“It’s embarrassing as hell,” he said. “But,” he looked at his wife, “I don’t know if that’s always true.”

She shook her head. “Nope. I won’t let you get a tattoo with my name on it.”

“Not your name, just Baby,” he suggested.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Tell us yours, Baby,” Mike said.

This made me nervous. Sean looked nervous, too. We both knew that the most embarrassing thing Baby had ever done to impress a guy involved some pretty horrible shit in the bedroom with that asshole Brynn. It was way too dark for this conversation.

Baby shrugged. “I guess,” she bit her lip and grinned. “It would be getting drunk and almost falling into the campfire.”

“Technically that was not done to impress me,” Sean said.

“No, I suppose not, but it was because of you,” she countered.

“You almost fell into a fire?” Bell asked.

Baby nodded. “There was this skanky little gymnast hanging all over Sean. I was drunk and I jumped up out of my chair and nearly pitched face first in the fire. But Henry caught me.”

“Yes I did,” I said, cocky as can be.

“Gymnast?” Bell asked, raising an eyebrow at Sean.

“We weren’t together yet,” Baby explained.

“Not technically,” Sean interjected.

“What does that mean?”

“We weren’t together yet,” Baby explained. “But we were crazy about each other.” She stared dreamily up at her husband.

“Okay, enough of that sappy shit,” I said. “What’s yours, Bell?”

“Are you going to call me that for the next six weeks?”

I nodded and grinned.

She sighed. “My embarrassing thing happened in my sophomore year of college. You remember, Dani? I had a crush on this guy named Franco.”

“Franco? Seriously,” I said.

“Yes, he was in theater.”

“Oh no,” Mike said softly.

“And we went to see him in, was it Henry the Fifth?” She asked Baby.

“Something like that,” Baby said.

“Anyway, I just thought he was amazing. And I had a class with him that semester. So after the play I sent him flowers.”

“Flowers?” Sean asked. “Yeah, that’s weird.”

“Not in the theater,” Bell said defensively.

Mike snickered.

“Anyway, I got no response from him whatsoever, and after that he totally avoided me at all costs. It was pretty humiliating.”

“Don’t sweat it, Bell,” Mike said. “The guy was gay.”

“How could you possibly know that?” She asked. “You never met him.”

Mike ticked off the reasons on his fingers. “One, he was in theater. Two, he was in a Shakespearean play. Three, his name was Franco. And four, he didn’t call you up and get some.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she said.

“I don’t know…” Baby said.

“I agree with Mike,” Sean interjected. “If that guy didn’t call you up right away, he wasn’t straight.”

“Or he was just not interested.”

“Whatever, Bell,” Sean said. “You’re totally hot.”

“I agree,” I said. “The guy must have been gay.”

“Whatever, what’s your story, Hank?”

I thought about it for a minute. Maybe I should make one up.

“He doesn’t have one, I bet,” Sean said.

I shrugged. Might as well come clean. “Not really.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Bell said.

“No. I believe it,” Mike said. “Women flock to him. He wouldn’t have to do anything to impress them.”

“Not true,” I said. “I’ve done things to impress women. It’s just that none of them were particularly embarrassing.”

“Ugh, figures.” Baby rolled her eyes.

And for some absolutely bizarre reason, I kind of wished that I had a story to tell.

****

After the show in Seattle we were headed straight to Boise on an overnight jag. I was already getting pissed at Lance, the new tour manager, for his fucked up schedule.

But I was keyed up after the show. It had gone well and I felt pretty good. So the long ride wouldn’t be so bad. And on my way to the bus, I ran into a gem.

“Hank!” She ran toward me. Her short skirt was hitching up, her big breasts bouncing in the tiny tank top she wore.

I remembered the girl. She was hot, and super adventurous. I think we used up an entire package of condoms the last time I saw her. But what the hell was her name?

I scooped her up in my arms. The smell of her hair was familiar. “Carol,” I said.

She smiled, and I let out a breath in relief.

“It is so good to see you, Hank,” she purred. “I tried to get backstage, but I was stopped by some new guy.”

“Oh sweetheart, I’m sorry to hear that.” Yeah, Lance was definitely a pain in the ass.

There was the sound of a loud throat clearing to my right. I turned my head to see Baby. She was standing a couple feet from us, her arms folded across her chest, her foot tapping on the ground.

“Hi, Baby.”

“Henry,” she said sternly. “We have to go now.”

“Hi Baby, I’m Carol. I guess we’ll be riding together to the next show.”

“Bus is full,” Baby said.

“Carol,” I kissed her on the cheek. “I have to go.”

“Wait, what? You’re not taking me with you?”

“No can do, sweetheart. But it was nice to see you. You look amazing.” I turned away from her and moved toward Baby and the bus.

“So the rumors are true,” Carol said.

Baby spun around.

Carol looked Baby up and down. “I gotta hand it to you girl. There must be something else going on under all those clothes. I’d like to hang out with you. Hear how you do it.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Baby said venomously, taking a step toward Carol.

I grabbed Baby’s arm and tried to pull her gently back toward me.

“I know. All the girls know. You got them both. It’s quite an arrangement.” Carol licked her lips.

“Come on, Baby,” I said, pulling on her just enough to get her moving toward the bus without knocking her off her feet.

Baby followed me and walked up the steps. She plopped down next to Sean in the booth. I sat next to Bell.

“What was that all about?” Sean asked, tucking Baby under his arm.

Tony shut the door and started up the bus.

“It was Carol,” I said.

“Carol?” Mike asked, from across the aisle. “I remember hearing about her.”

Sean chuckled. “Yeah, who could forget?”

“You turned down Carol?” Mike asked.

“Baby cock-blocked me.”

“I guess she doesn’t want the Porsche after all,” Mike said.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Bell asked.

“Nothing,” I said.

But Mike couldn’t stop his meddling. “Sean and Hank made a bet that Hank couldn’t stay celibate for the length of the tour.”

“What?”

“If Hank fails, Baby gets his car.”

“Okay, back-up. First of all why does Dani get a car if Sean wins the bet?”

“Because she wants one, but she won’t let Sean buy her one,” Mike explained.

“Okay, that makes sense, but–”

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