The Man You Need (Love on Tour #4) (9 page)

Baby grinned. “Really?”

“Don’t get excited. I lied. The point is, I want to keep up this little ruse while he’s around. So are you in?”

“Why do I feel like I’m in high school?” Sean grumbled.

“Come on, I know it’s a little… childish. But I really think it’s the best way to handle this situation.”

“I agree,” Baby said.

Sean looked at her, his mouth open. “What?”

“Brad is kind of like Sam. He gets all mopey when girls reject him. It would be pretty uncomfortable. It would be bad for the whole family. But if he thinks Stacey is taken, he’ll be cool.”

“He was cool. As soon as I told him, everything went back to normal.”

“Okay. But you can’t keep it up forever,” Sean pointed out.

“We’ll have a fake break-up for our fake relationship.”

“Yeah, and next time you see Brad, he’ll be back to hitting on you,” Sean said.

“Can we just deal with one thing at a time, please?”

“The two of you might think this crazy little scheme is a good idea, but Jack will never agree to it.”

“Actually, he said he’d go along with it if you would.”

“Fine, whatever. But I won’t flat-out lie to my brother-in-law.”

“But you won’t give me away?”

“No, I won’t.” He groaned again.

I kissed his cheek, left their room and headed to Jack’s room to gloat.

10

The thing with Brad went down perfectly. Every time Jack was around Brad and me, he would put his arm around my shoulders or kiss me on the cheek. And he made sure to call me ‘Princess’ as frequently as possible, which I knew was just to piss me off. But Brad seemed to completely accept that Jack and I were an item. As a result, he was relaxed and at ease with me.

But on the last night of Brad’s stay with us, things got complicated.

Brad and I were hanging out backstage between Hank and Sean’s sets. Everyone else was off somewhere, so it was just the two of us watching the roadies change out the stage. We were discussing the possibility of Hank’s kid having a crazy name based on Hank’s propensity for nicknames. After all, it was Hank who had given both Baby and Bell their names.

“I mean, I’m sure Bell will come up with something practical for the kid’s actual name. But as soon it’s left the womb, Hank will have branded it with something like Peanut.”

“Or Midget,” I suggested.

“Or Bug.”

We both laughed.

“Hey, there.” A roadie named Jesse approached us. I’d flirted with him pretty heavily a few days ago. He had a glint of lust in his eye as he sauntered toward me.

“Uh, hey, Jesse. Do you know Brad?”

“Baby’s brother, right? Hi.” Jesse shook Brad’s hand. Then he turned back to me. “You busy later, Stacey? I was thinking maybe we could get a drink.”

I looked at Brad. His eyebrows were all scrunched up as he watched us. Damn, I wished I knew how to tell a guy to fuck off. It would be very handy right now. Instead, that old familiar feeling came back to me. I had staved it off for days. But it flooded into me now, and the actress was back.

“Well, that is a very tempting offer…” I said.

“But she’s busy.”

I whipped my head around to see Jack moving toward us. He didn’t stop his path of travel as he came into Jesse’s space. Jesse took a step back. Jack walked right up to me, leaned over and kissed me.

It wasn’t a chaste peck on the lips. It was a straight-up kiss. His lips coaxed mine open and I let him in. His tongue tangled with mine and I was completely floored. But I was also really, really into it.

The kiss ended abruptly. Jack pulled back, grinned at me, and walked away. I felt like I was bereft.

My brain was trying to catch up to what had just happened. It should have just been a fake kiss to keep up our little game or maybe to scare Jesse off. And that’s probably what it was to Jack. But to me, it was so much more than that. It was a really, really good kiss. It was passionate and sensuous and made me feel like I was on top of the world.

When I finally had the sense to pay attention to my surroundings, I saw that Jesse was long gone and Brad was looking away from me, watching the crowd beyond the stage. He had a little smile on his lips and a blush in his cheeks.

****

We dropped Brad off at the airport the morning after the Miami show. As soon as he was gone and we were headed back to the bus, my shoulders slumped.

“Three days with Mom and Dad,” I groaned.

Sean threw an arm around me. “It won’t be so bad, Stac.”

“It’s three days in old people paradise,” I complained.

My parents had become snowbirds in the last few years. My dad was still teaching at the college, but he was near retirement. He’d been an Archaeology professor for so long that he held a lot of clout, and it allowed him to take his summers off. They’d fallen in love with this weird little hamlet of cottages by the beach. They spent at least a month there every summer.

“It’s kinda nice. We had a lot of fun when we were there last. Okay, Bell, Hank, and Mike had fun. Baby and I were in hell.”

“That’s when you dropped the news you were having Henry, right?”

“Yeah, hard to believe that was over two years ago.”

“Time flies when you’re having fun.”

Sean stopped at the door to the bus and turned toward me, his hands on my upper arms. “You’ll have fun, Stacey. Just don’t let Hank talk you into doing something crazy, like skydiving. That’s what he did last time.”

Sean was terrified of heights. It was why, despite the fact that he was insanely rich and famous, he wouldn’t take planes to shows, he drove around the country on a bus. It was also why, even though he was popular worldwide, he’d never done an overseas tour.

“Hank already took me skydiving once. You guys were in New York on a tour and you were busy on some talk show.”

“I know, and I’ve never forgiven him for it.”

“
You
don’t have to do it,” I pointed out.

“No one I love is jumping out of a damn plane.”

“Hank and Bell do it.”

“I can’t stop them,” he said, petulantly.

“You can’t stop me either.”

“Sure I can. I’ll lock you in a closet.”

****

Florida really wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was pretty great. I quickly figured out why my family liked this obscure little retirement community. The old people left Sean and Hank alone. To them, Sean was Gloria and Frank’s gigantic, long-haired, tattooed, scary-looking son who was surprisingly polite. Hank was a big hit. He told them all terrible jokes and flirted with the old ladies. And no one asked for their autograph or tried to get into their pants.

The resort had a private beach, too, which meant that we had the luxury of lounging around in the sun all day without being disturbed. And that is exactly what we did. None of us had any desire to do anything too strenuous or wild. Baby, Bell, Mike and I sat on the beach, sipping mimosas and reading, talking, or sleeping. Hank, Henry, and Sean played in the water and made sandcastles. Even Jack occasionally put away his computer to jump into the ocean.

The downside was my mom. On our first night there, we were all forced to have a big dinner with her and my dad. She spent the first half hour grilling Jack. She wanted to know his entire life story, how he’d come to work for Sean and Hank, and if he was any good at his job. Jack answered every question politely and honestly. By the end of it, my mom seemed pretty taken with him.

Then she turned on me. “So, I was talking to Sean’s mother-in-law the other day.”

Oh, shit. My little trick with Brad was about to bite me in the ass.

“Oh, yeah?”

“She told me that Brad asked you out and you turned him down.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my brother smirk.

“Hmmm. Did she say why?”

“Well that’s what we were discussing. He didn’t say. And we just can’t figure it out. I mean, Stacey, he’s such a nice boy, and he does quite well for himself, you know.”

I let out a breath. It seemed I had dodged at least one bullet. “That does not a boyfriend make.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake. Why do you have talk Shakespearean?”

“Shakespearean, Mom, please.”

“Stacey, why won’t you go out with that boy? We could keep it all in the family.”

“Don’t you think it’s weird enough that my two brothers are married to two sisters?” I gestured to Baby and Sean.

“I think it’s pretty great, actually.”

“Whatever, Mom, I’m not into him.”

My father leaned over the table. “You’re not dating one of the musicians, are you?”

I heard Jack let out a chuckle that he quickly turned into a fake cough.

“Please, Dad, you must know I’d never get away with that.”

“Damn right,” Sean said.

My dad leaned back in his seat and gave Sean a great big grin.

“Can we please talk about something else?”

“Fine. Jack, I want to know how you’re keeping all those nasty girls away from my boys.”

This time it was me who coughed.

****

On our last night in Florida I offered to tuck Henry into bed in my parents’ bungalow. I knew that Baby was anxious about being away from him for two weeks. My parents were taking him back to Kalamazoo with them. It would be the longest Henry had ever been away from both his parents. But Henry could only take so much of the bus. He needed to have a back yard to play in, a regular bed to sleep in every night. He needed a little normalcy. And even though my mom was nuts, she was very nurturing. He would be in good hands.

To help ease the separation anxiety that Baby was feeling, Sean had insisted that Henry spend the last night in Florida with his grandparents. It would help him get used to sleeping away from his parents, too. But Baby was a mess. Sean had taken her down to the beach while I’d stayed to help out. Henry wasn’t going down, and my parents were tired. They had a flight to catch in the morning, so I sent them to bed and rocked Henry until he finally fell asleep.

By the time I walked down to the beach, I could see the bonfire burning steadily and I could hear guitars strumming. I smiled. Hank and Sean were having a jam session. I picked up the pace, anxious to reach them faster.

As I got closer I could hear Sean singing
Sympathy for the Devil
. I could also hear… I paused… Three guitars. Was Mike playing with them?

I could see better now, their faces in light and shadow against the flickering flames of the fire. Bell, Mike and Baby sat on lawn chairs on one side, an empty chair awaited me beside Baby. Opposite them, Sean, Hank and Jack were squeezed into camp chairs, each with a guitar in their hand. Jack was keeping up, playing in harmony with Sean and Hank. Holy shit, Jack played!

I sunk down in the chair. Baby handed me a beer from the cooler that sat between her and Bell. The song ended and all three men gazed across the fire at us.

“The Stones?” I asked Sean.

“Baby loves the Stones. If you all weren’t here, I’d be getting laid right this second.”

“Yep,” Baby said, a goofy grin on her face.

“What’s your favorite, Baby?” Jack asked.

“Oh, I bet you can figure it out in five chords, tops,” Hank said.

Sean started to play the song. Jack grinned, “Nice choice, Baby.”

He joined in. Sean sang the verses and Hank belted out the chorus. I leaned back in my chair, took a sip of beer, and felt utterly content.

Jack was good. And I could not deny that he looked amazing with a guitar in his hands, his long fingers nimbly stroking the strings.

“What’s your favorite Stones song, Bell?” Jack asked when they were done.

Hank laughed. “She likes
Satisfaction
, but you really need electric for that song.”

“Hmmm,” Sean agreed in a mumble.

“That used
to be my favorite. Now I get all kinds of satisfaction.” She gazed at Hank across the fire. He licked his lips. “Now it’s
Tumblin’ Dice
.”

“Mine, too,” Mike said.

“Well that settles it,” Hank said, starting to play.

We sat there in the dark, watching two world famous rock stars cover one of the greatest bands of all time, accompanied by a pretty damn good musician/tour manager/stuffed shirt.

“Not bad for a bass player,” Hank said to Jack when the song ended.

“You play bass?” I was still getting used to fact that he played at all.

Jack shrugged. “I dabble. What’s your favorite, Stacey?”

I blushed. Thank God it was too dark out there for anyone to see. “
Brown Sugar
.”

“Oh, I got this,” Hank said, grinning. And they started to play.

It didn’t get much better than that.

****

A few days later I’d fallen into a depression. So I did the one thing I knew wouldn’t make feel better. I went down to the hotel bar and picked up a guy. I couldn’t totally identify the reason why this was my reaction to being depressed. I supposed it had just always been my go-to when I was down in the dumps. However, I knew in my head that it never worked. In fact, it usually just made me more depressed. But rather than learn from my mistakes, I was repeating them all over again.

A few of the band members were down at the bar, but I knew trying to get them interested was a waste of time. There was, however, a hot security guard. He was one of ‘Mike’s guys’ as they called them. They were additional security that traveled with us. This guy was new, and he must not have been clued in, because it only took me about twenty minutes to talk him into accompanying me up to my room.

I had Gary… or was it Greg? Pressed up against the wall outside my room. I hadn’t actually decided to take him in there yet, so I hadn’t reached for my key. My brain was having some sort of internal struggle as he kissed my neck and whispered to me. He said things like, “You are so hot,” and, “I want you now.” But something was niggling at me.

It turned out I didn’t have to make up my mind, because Jack stumbled upon us in the hallway.

“For fuck’s sake,” I heard him say.

Greg, or Gary, or whoever he was, looked up.

“Are you an idiot?” Jack asked him.

“Huh?”

“That’s Sean Rush’s sister. Why don’t you go back to the bar and ask anyone you can find if this is a good idea?”