His Distraction (Assured Distraction Book 2) (7 page)

She could live with Hayden. He’s new to Austin; she could help him get to know his way around for the next few months. She had it all settled in her mind and had justified moving into Ryan’s place on Tuesday. She felt better with a plan.

“Pour him into the passenger’s side and I’ll get him to the apartment,” Hayden told the guys. “I can get him to his bed by myself. Damn, I’m glad we don’t live upstairs.” The band met up at the bar where Hayden was performing to support him while they were still in town. Ryan downed a lot of beer and tequila shots during the evening intending to drink Krissy off his mind.

“I don’t wanna go home without my Kitten.” Ryan’s drunken whining had caused everyone to tire of him quickly. He spent the day getting ready to leave but the longer he went through the preparations, the more upset he became. By the time he reached Red 7, he was ready to drown with the worm at the bottom of the bottle.

Gunner grabbed him around the waist and hauled him to the side of the truck. “Shut the fuck up, Ryan. We’ve already heard this for three damn hours. Your little Kitty doesn’t want to play anymore. Stop being a pussy now and take it like a man.”

Peri slapped Gunner’s arm. “Quit being mean to him. He’s heartbroken.”

“Oh shit, Gunner, we don’t know what to do with a broken heart, do we? That is exactly why we say ‘fuck it and chuck it.’ None of this kind of’ shit to deal with.” Carter started laughing.

“That’s so crude, Carter.” Peri glared at him.

“It may be crude, but it’s the truth. All you women ever want is some kind of ball-busting relationship. Me and Gunner say, ‘hit it and quit it’, ‘pump and dump’, ‘one and done’…”

“That’s enough,” KeeMac stepped in. “He can’t even understand what y’all are saying, and these girls don’t think your words of wisdom are all that wise, so shut the fuck up.”

“All I’m saying is if y’all wouldn’t find yourselves tied down, you would never run into shit like this.” Carter was getting on Peri’s last nerve.

“You want me to ride home with you to help out, Hayden?” Peri volunteered.

“No, I got this. He’ll be fine. I’ll make sure he doesn’t choke or anything.” The image he conjured up for the rest of them wasn’t pretty. Hayden got behind the wheel, ready to drive away and realized being eighteen had its advantages since he wasn’t drinking with them tonight.

Dragging Ryan inside the apartment woke him up, and he started crying like a baby over Krissy but by the time Hayden dumped him into the middle of his bed and pulled off his boots, he was snoring. Hayden’s last thought was to roll him on his side in case he threw up.

“Dude, I’ll check on you in a little while. Please don’t throw up in this bed because I intend to sleep in it while you’re gone, and vomit pillows don’t sing ‘Home Sweet Home.’” He offered up a silent prayer that Ryan didn’t get sick since he would not be able to clean Ryan up without throwing up himself.

The sun hit him in the face, and Ryan looked around the room trying to recall how he’d gotten to his bed. The nightmare from last night slowly crawled to the forefront of his brain about the same time as the pain. He hated being hungover but to be hungover, pissed, and heartbroken all at the same time was too much. He needed to talk to Krissy and wondered if his phone made the trip home with him. Unable to locate it, he ventured into the living room wondering who or what he would find there. He was greeted by the wonderful aroma of coffee when he opened his door.

“Well, you did survive. We all had our doubts last night.” Gunner was sitting at the bar talking to Hayden, who was cooking bacon.

“I figured you could use something greasy to cure the hangover.” Hayden smiled, remembering how gone Ryan had been last night. “I have some pain meds, too.” He handed a cup of coffee and an ibuprofen bottle to Ryan, followed by a plate of bacon and some toast.

“Thanks, man.” After swallowing the medicine and a big gulp of hot coffee, he looked around the apartment. “I guess I didn’t dream all of that last night since Krissy wasn’t in my bed this morning.”

“Nope, the bitch is gone,” Gunner answered.

“Don’t call her that. She’s my girlfriend.”

“No, dude, she’s not. In case you don’t remember, before you got wasted and forgot how to make your tongue work, you told us she said she was done with your sorry ass.”

“Man, you shoot for the juggler, don’t you?” Hayden stared at Gunner. “He not even awake yet.”

“It’s all the truth, though. Why dance around it? Better to just get it out.” Gunner shrugged his shoulders.

“I need to talk to her.”

“Oh, no asshat. You do not need to do that. Leave her the fuck alone. You have things to do today before we fly out of here.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with Gunner,” Hayden nodded. “From what you told us last night, she pretty much laid it out pretty plain for you.”

“But I got her evicted. She has nowhere to move and only has a week. I even told her she could move in my spare bedroom.”

“Apparently, you only remember some of what she said. She started talking shit and told you to fuck off.”

Gunner couldn’t believe he had been so generous to her when she had rained hatred all over his head with the verbiage about the band and Ryan’s dreams.

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s a great plan. I don’t want to have to deal with her every day.” Hayden was now praying she forgot about Ryan’s offer and was on the hunt for another place. “I already have to see her at the studio.”

“I’ll just let it ride while I’m gone. I’m sure she’ll miss me, and we’ll get things worked out when she’s had time to calm down.”

The guys did not bring the problem up again. Everyone needed to take their things to the office for loading on the truck and delivering to the airport. Ryan decided to go back to bed for a while, so Gunner left to do his own thing. Hayden was glad they were finally leaving since he would have the day to himself. He wanted nothing more than to lay back, and play some video games or guitar, and work on some new songs. That was relaxing to him.

Ryan watched his equipment and suitcase loaded that afternoon and turned around to find the rest of the band greeting him. They all knew from looking at him he wasn’t feeling the same enthusiasm as the rest of them, so they made small talk about the trip and their music hoping to keep his mind off of the source of his problems.

“Look guys, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up or whatever, but I’m fine.” Ryan decided to get it out in the open before they climbed on the plane. “We will get this worked out when I get home. She’ll come around.”

“Is that what you fucking want after the way she bitched you out like that?” Carter couldn’t believe he would even consider it.

“Well, you know, Ryan, she disrespected the band pretty badly last night during her little tirade. I don’t know that I’ll ever look at her the same way.” KeeMac added to the conversation. “If I didn’t know better, I would swear she’s been spending time with Janae and the two of them have been plotting against you and the band while we were gone. With the way Janae fucked Jacoby over, she’s probably been coaching Krissy on exactly what buttons to push to bring you around.”

From the other side of his truck, Gunner joined in. “Yeah. That shit really pissed me off when she started in about our ‘boy band status.’ Our music sure as hell is not boy band music. If we were, neither Frission nor Steel would want us. Those two little bitches don’t know what they are talking about. We’ve been working on this dream for a long time and for the two of them to burn us with their fucked up ideas pisses me off.”

“I know what she was saying was wrong, but she was mad at me, not y’all. I made a mess of things when I should have put her first. I caused this. All I want now is for her to love me like she did before. That’s it, and it’ll happen.” He turned and climbed in his truck to move it so Hayden could take it home. He didn’t want to talk anymore. He did what they asked and needed to end this conversation. What he wanted to do was talk to Krissy, to know she was alright and was going to be fine while he was gone. He couldn’t believe they would be separated for three months with things up in the air like this.

The jet taxied down the runway of Austin-Bergstrom International with Assured Distraction strapped in for the flight where the band would deplane in London well before lunch. The morning passed smoothly for everyone except Ryan. He called Krissy to see if she was going to come down and see them off but she refused. She was already at the office and said she didn’t want to come. He wore the disappointment all over his face, and the band couldn’t help but notice.

Once they boarded the plane, he called her again to say goodbye and again his call went to voicemail. He couldn’t believe she could be so cold-hearted to him. He loved her and hated they were parting with their relationship in turmoil, so he made one last attempt to reach her by text.

Ryan: I only wanted to say goodbye. You didn’t have to ignore me.

Krissy: Too busy to talk. Some of us have to work, remember?

Ryan: Kitten, please call me before we take off. I need to hear your voice.

Krissy: No, Ryan. It’s not a good idea. Go to Europe with your boys. Have the best time ever. Forget about me. You’re good at it.

Ryan: Please, Krissy?

Krissy: Look Ryan. You made your choice and it wasn’t us. I told you I’m done. Move on. I am.

He couldn’t believe what he was reading. Was she breaking up with him via text with him trapped on a plane about to fly over the Atlantic Ocean? She said they were over, but he hadn’t believed her. She was pretty clear about it this time. As much as he hated to do it, he followed her directions. He was sick, but it had nothing to do with the alcohol binge from the night before. He fumbled around until he found the hallmark blue paper bag, just in case. Never in his life had he felt this disheartened. He felt like he’d had his heart and lungs virtually cut out. All that kept going through his mind was:
I don’t have any idea how to be without her.

Their time together over this past year meant so much to him, and he’d thought she felt the same. But now it seemed like their time together had meant nothing to her. Not knowing whether he was truly ready to give up on them was something he needed to give a lot of thought.

As soon as the seatbelt signs went off, he ordered a drink and told the attendant to keep them coming. The rest of the band watched him until he fell asleep in his seat cruising somewhere near forty-thousand feet over the Eastern seaboard.

Hayden woke up early on Tuesday morning wanting to enjoy some quiet time on the patio. The city was great, but he missed the peaceful early mornings of his home in East Texas. He wondered if life in Austin this was something he was willing to do for the long-term. Music was everything to him right now but did he love it enough to do it every single day? It was a long road to getting discovered. He was willing to give it a shot, but he didn’t know if this was all he thought it would be at this point.

He drove to the studio, his favorite guitar in tow, with the intentions of rehearsing with one of the label’s staff songwriters and producers. Their plan was to record some tracks for a demo and Hayden was excited about the possibilities. When he walked in the front doors, Krissy sat at the front desk. He had no desire to talk to her, but if she was going to be working at the studio every day, he knew he had to try to be civil.

“Mornin’, Krissy.”

She looked up from behind the counter and smiled at him. “Good morning, Hayden. I didn’t know I would see you in here.”

“Yeah, I had to do some stuff for Cash, and then he took me to meet some people after lunch, so I never made it back here yesterday.” He was shocked at how happy she appeared to be.
Weren’t girls usually an emotional wreck after a breakup?
Maybe she was a good actress. Ryan was a wreck when he dropped his cousin off at the airport yesterday morning.
Women: I’ll never figure them out.

“Well, I’ll be seeing you every day now, so I’m sure we’ll get to be good friends.” She gave him a bright smile.

He wondered about this girl and what she was up to but let it go. “Guess I’ll head on back and get to work.”

“Sure thing, Hayden. See you later.” She kept her face toward the computer on her desk.

He nodded and headed down the hallway where he ran into Cash. “Mornin’, boss. You have things lined up for me this morning already?”

“Sure do. We have a rehearsal room scheduled for you this morning, and I have some musicians coming in to play back-up. You’ll spend most of the day in there with them. We need a productive day because I have you lined up to play different venues around town Thursday through Saturday. We need to get you primed and ready to perform at Shiner’s Saloon, Broken Spoke and then Donn’s Depot with the band. We need to start building your fan base before we put the EP’s out.” As usual, Cash spoke quickly.

“Sounds great. Let’s do it.” He gave Cash a slow smile.

When he put his key in the lock of the apartment that evening, he heard the TV going and a woman’s voice singing. He looked to the left and right to make sure he had the right apartment and then thought maybe Ryan sent someone over to check on things. He turned the key and opened the door, walking right into Krissy.

“What the hell? What are you doing here, Krissy?” He couldn’t imagine what she was thinking being in Ryan’s apartment knowing he left the day before.

“This is my new place, roomie. Didn’t Ryan tell you I was moving in while he was gone? We are going to be seeing a lot more of each other than you realized this morning.” Her enthusiasm made Hayden instantly suspicious.

“Uh, no. He failed to mention that.” Thinking back, he did recall Ryan saying something about offering his room to her, but he never said anything more about it before boarding the plane.

“Well, he did. I was reluctant to take him up on the offer, but then I decided, what the hell. I can save some money and take my time finding the right place to live.” She knew it sounded lame.

“If it’s okay with him, I’m good. I don’t want to cause any problems, and this is his apartment.” He looked around at the changes she’d obviously made while he was at the studio, and he shook his head. “I’m just gonna take a shower.”

“I cooked for us. I figured we were both hungry after a full day, so I went ahead and made dinner. I hope you like chicken spaghetti. It’s one of Ryan’s favorites, so I thought maybe you would like it, too. I’ll have it ready by the time you get out.” She smiled a bright smile at him like she was trying to impress him or something.

“Yeah, that’s great, Krissy. Thanks.” He didn’t know how to respond. Did she think they were going to play house while Ryan was gone? He was not down with that idea and needed to talk to Ryan. He walked into his bedroom looking down at his phone while trying to calculate what time the band’s plane would be landing in London. He didn’t know their exact schedule, but he knew they were going there first.