Claiming Addison (19 page)

“Hi,” I breathe and he smiles. He brings his lips to mine and I melt against his body. Going limp, remembering what his mouth was doing not long ago, feeling every emotion he’s feeling in this moment through our connection and I can’t breathe.

“Hi,” he says when he pulls back and I’m sucking air into my lungs like nobody’s business. The back of his hand strokes along my cheek and I lean into the feeling.

He pulls back from me and takes whatever it is I have in my hands and puts it gently into my suitcase. “What else?” he asks and I can’t think because Kyle has just walked into the room. He repeats the steps that Talon took. Taking me in his arms and kissing me, hard and needy. I melt into him. Though his kiss is different and distinguishable, it’s no less passionate.

“Hi, panda girl,” he says as he backs away.

“Hi,” I breathe like a horny teenager who has her first crush. He smirks.

Both of the men go about finding all my stuff and packing it for me into my suitcase. I feel completely helpless, but they both insist on doing it and I’m packed in record time.

Before they leave with my stuff, they tell me to take a walk through and I do, double checking to make sure nothing is left behind and I find nothing left. I really need some time to think about this, but I have a feeling that neither of them are going to let me think for very long and that bothers me. This is a lot to handle. They are a lot to take in and I need to know where we stand before I can even begin to decide what to do next. Thank god, we’re supposed to talk on the bus.

It doesn’t take us very long to get back on the bus and no surprise to anyone, we’re the first to get there, but we only have about twenty minutes to spare. Kyle and Talon set to work on making sure everyone is at least awake and moving and then getting them to hustle their asses.

The problem is that the bus won’t leave without three very important members of the band and the downside to that is the fact that they know it. I’m tempted to leave and teach them a lesson. I mean shit, it’s Vegas, they can be on a plane to Phoenix in two hours. Rusty and Beck stay with us while the other bus takes off. Mills goes with the other bus, which is surprising, but I’m pretty sure he’s exhausted.

That other bus is almost more important to get to our destination than this one. It’s got equipment on it. We can get the band there but they’re useless without equipment. There are two semi-trucks that alternate locations so they’re always there at least twenty-four hours before the show. The semi-trucks carry the band’s stage gear. Following those trucks are the roadies who set up gear and make no money doing it. They usually sleep in their campers or their tents. It’s strange and not something I could have ever done.

Okay, now that I can no longer distract myself from Beck and Kyle’s conversation, I gather that last night was overly wild. I fight a snicker. No wonder Mills and Leroy took off with the other bus. I think they really needed sleep. Beck and Rusty are showing the wear and tear from last night as well.

Kyle, Talon, Beck, and Rusty set out to round up Mouse, Dex and Peacock. I go to work with my laptop. Checking my email, the Google alerts, and posting a couple tweets for the band, “thx #Vegas for a kick a$$ time, packing the bus for PHX.” It is immediately retweeted like a hundred times. It gives me encouragement to continue this tweeting thing for them.

In the midst of rather mild headline emails I have an email from Cami regarding our dinner plans. She has some friends coming into town, from North Carolina, that were going to be there Monday but they’re postponing to Tuesday. She’s going to turn it into a dinner party with Talon, the rest of the band, Kyle and myself on Tuesday evening. She’s arranged for limo service to pick us up at our hotel around seven. I make a mental note to tell Kyle and of course Talon, which after this morning, I will be telling both at once.

The relationship between the three of us has shifted, or at least I think it has, and I no longer feel intimidated about talking to Talon about ‘business’ related items. Kyle was easy because he’s their manager. He handles nearly everything pertaining to their road related needs, and everything else too. I’ve also noticed that he is the one who handles certain payments and other financial aspects. Regardless, the dynamic of our relationship has changed, at least in my mind. I can only hope it has in theirs too.

Seven comes and goes and we’re still missing Dex and Mouse. Peacock stumbled onto the bus with about two minutes to spare.

It’s now twenty after and Rusty has gone back up to help Talon, Kyle, and Beck drag out Mouse and Dex. At this point I think they’ll be dragging them out by their toes.

The seven o’clock departure is a soft deadline. They’re set all over the tour, though we don’t tell them that, and they’re usually an hour before, especially when leaving a hotel early in the morning. Looking at my watch it’s creeping closer to seven thirty and eight is the deadline, whether they’re on the bus or not, the bus is leaving. Since today is Sunday, our show starts at six instead of eight and sound needs to be done by five at the absolute latest.

I start going through the rest of the tour, making notes on tour stops that have hotels. We need to make adjustments to our stays because going forward, the men need to stay on the bus the night before we’re scheduled to leave or be rounded up after their nights out, before they pass out in the hotel room. When I’m done, I email Kyle because he’s helping corral the delinquents back onto the bus and taking care of the hotel.

I get a reply back that says…

Thank you for this, I was going to do this later. This is bullshit, and to top it off, this is something my assistant should be doing, not you. But thank you.

I smile at his reply and reply back to him.

Your assistant is an idiot who’s petrified by her job. Namely the band. Or she’s jealous because she’s the only other female and not receiving any attention. LOL. I’d be happy to talk to her, but I think, since she’s not doing the things that she should be doing, that maybe her position should be evaluated. Where did you find her anyway?

It doesn’t take him long to reply back and I nearly blow coffee through my nose.

Honestly, I have no idea where I found her, in fact, I didn’t. The label sent her. I knew when she showed up that she was going to be an issue, but the label said she was experienced. Which she is, but she is either getting drunk out of her mind or hiding in the corner. Case in point, she isn’t here. She’s on the other bus, oblivious to the fact that her band isn’t behind her. She’s not much of an asset to me or the band, maybe you could whip her into shape.

“Fuck you, Dex, get your ass moving.” Beck, Kyle and I just threw out four chicks, who all went from passed out, to half ass covered in a damn nanosecond and out the door. I guess when you’re surrounded by three big ass guys, you move your ass. Two of them couldn’t keep their eyes off of me and Kyle. Eye fucking both of us, but for the first time in my life, I cringed at the idea. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t unattractive, but Jesus, they’d just spent the night screwing Dex. “Damn it, Dex!”

“Get off my nuts.” His words are slurred and have very little effect on me, frankly I don’t give a shit.

“Fuck you again, Dex, you’re late, you’ve missed bus call, we’ve got a tight ass fucking schedule today, fucking move it.”

“Bite me, dick. Just because you didn’t fucking get laid last night doesn’t mean you have to be a cocksucker.”

I pull my arm back to fucking clock him one and Kyle stops me. “Leave it. Punching him ain’t gonna get his drunk ass out of here any faster.”

“You gonna let your little bitch stop you like that?”

“God damn it, Dex!” Beck barks and grabs Dex by his t-shirt, slamming him up against the wall. “You’re fucking late, grab your shit and get the fuck out of here.”

“I’m going to get Peacock and Mouse out of here. Come on, Talon, come with me?”

I’m so fucking pissed I want to beat the shit out of him, oddly enough Kyle knows that, and he knows to pull me out of here. Fuck him, fuck his bullshit. We’ve been on the road for all of three days and he’s right back to his bullshit again. “Put a fucking collar on him,” I snap as Kyle pushes me out the door.

I don’t get to reply back to his message because he climbs onto the bus behind a very hungover or still drunk, I can’t tell, Dex. He stumbles toward his rack and climbs up and I can hear him snoring before his head even hits his pillow. I roll my eyes. I look at Kyle and we both bust out laughing. Between Dex and our email conversation, it’s almost too much to look at him. But he comes over and kisses me on the cheek then takes a seat.

“I think you should be promoted,” he says deadpan.

“Is this because I slept with you or because of my mad skills?” I say lightheartedly and he looks at me, dead serious.

“Both. Because business isn’t your only mad skill.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me and I bump shoulders with him laughing. “I feel awful,” he says with a sad look in his eyes.

I scowl at him. “Why?”

“Because we completely assaulted you and never even bothered to ask how you’re feeling after yesterday.”

I snort a laugh. “I feel amazing.” I smile and I know I’m glowing.

He smiles at me. “Good.”

“Besides you took very good care of me afterward, so believe me, I feel better than I’ve felt in a long time.”

“Good.”

“Have you and Talon talked?”

He shrugs. “A little.”

“And?” I prompt him.

“And we’re both a little shell shocked about what happened, not because it happened but because of the fact that it all happened so fast and that we both fell into it so easily. Believe me, panda girl, it’s not a bad thing.” He winks at me. “But we promised we’d talk, just as soon as we’re settled on the road.”

Just then Rusty comes onto the bus. He’s carrying a box full of something, pastries maybe and a jug of, I smile. Orange juice. “I got some bagels, cream cheese and OJ.” He sets them on the table. “Talon, Mouse, and Beck are on their way down now.”

“Good,” Kyle says, standing up and going to the cupboard and grabbing some paper plates, a stack of red solo cups and then to the drawer for a knife.

He sits back down and dives into the box of bagels. He pulls out one then looks at me. “What kind would you like?”

“Plain.”

“You’re boring,” he teases me and digs out a plain bagel and the strawberry cream cheese. I watch as he cuts my bagel and covers it in spread. Then he serves it to me without a second thought for himself. Then he pours me some orange juice. “Bon appètit.” He smiles as he gestures towards my feast. Then he sets about making his own bagel as Rusty makes his.

About the time they finish dressing up their goodies, the guys are coming onto the bus. Mouse looks like death warmed over, but at least he doesn’t seem to still be drunk. He, like Dex, makes a beeline for his bunk and literally falls down into it. Beck turns to the driver. “Let’s roll.”

I look down at my watch. Forty minutes late, praying there is little to no traffic so we can make our arrival on time. Hopefully.