The Reverse of Perfection (Bad Decisions Book 2) (10 page)

Ariel snatched the phone from Cam. Walked it back up to the front and stuck it to the holder mounted on the dash. “I took care of the bills, Kyoko. Because he’s my client. Tell Tony it’s all aboveboard.”

Jones blew a wet raspberry. “Ha! That’s a stretch. Room service isn’t even close to being aboveboard. Anyone charges twenty-five dollars for a damn burger, that’s a racket.”

Apparently, Jones was oblivious to the implications of Ariel signing for Dylan’s room-service orders. Was it too much to hope that Cam stayed equally unaware? Or had Dylan already shot his wad with fate for the week by getting his dream gig and dream girl the same night?

Cam shot out of his chair to confront Ariel as she came back to the desk. “You were there? In Dylan’s room?”

Oh, yeah. Fate was kicked back on its heels, smoking a cigarette and so damn
done
with giving Dylan a good time. And Dylan started to wonder if he’d be tossed off the bus and left to hitch all the way to Northern Arizona. Because nobody ever blamed their sweet little sister for sex. No, they blamed the new guy. The rock star trying to prove how bad he could be.

Squaring her shoulders, Ariel said, “I told you I spent the night in Boulder, Cam. You knew I wasn’t on the buses when you pulled out Saturday night.”

“I didn’t know you spent it in the kid’s room. Talk about a bad decision. Jesus, Ariel. What were you thinking?”

The
kid
? Dylan bristled. What was with this
kid
stuff? Cam was on the same side of thirty as Dylan. No need to spout off like a freaking parent. For the last few days, they’d all been equals. Now, suddenly, he was a
kid
? No. He’d worked too hard to prove himself. To be not just relevant, but integral to Riptide’s performances. Cam didn’t get to treat him like he was still a boy-bander just because he was angry.

“I was thinking that he’s not a kid at all,” Ariel shot back.

Dylan didn’t relax—not one square inch of his taut muscles loosened—but it did him good to hear his woman leap to his defense. Not that he wanted her to tell her brother all about his manly bedroom mastery. Not the brother who topped him by an inch and had just as many muscles…and didn’t look at all hesitant to use them in the next couple of minutes. And who was
maybe
unconsciously flexing his back muscles beneath the surf tank he wore.

Two drumsticks fell to the carpet and rolled back to the bathrooms. Jones gaped at them. “Hang on. You two—D, you mean to tell me that you used those condoms I gave you on Cam’s little sister?”

Was it better to say yes so that nobody had a coronary over potential STDs? Or just sit quiet? Dylan split the difference and gave a tight nod.

“Holy king of cock,” Jones breathed with an almost reverence. His hand flew to his chest, right on top of the Mr. Zog’s Sex Wax logo. “You mean to say you did the three raffle girls and still had enough left in you to finish off with Ariel?”

Although it wouldn’t have seemed possible a few seconds ago, Jones was actually making an already shitty situation
worse
. Dylan tossed his pad and pen to the side. Might as well have his hands free to defend himself if Cam came at him. “No. Nothing happened with the raffle girls. They were a fake-out for the press. What happened with Ariel, that’s real.”

Jones sighed. “That’s not nearly as good a story. Still, I gotta tell Jake.” He grabbed his phone and started texting.

“For fuck’s sake!” Cam growled. “Why not just post it on our website? Do you have to keep Jake in the loop about everything?”

“Well, yeah.” Jones pulled his eyebrows together, looking blindsided by the question. “Why wouldn’t I? He’s one of us. If he can’t be on tour right now, he shouldn’t feel left out. Got to keep his spirits up. I text him all the time. Mostly sneak pics that I take of hot girls’ asses.”

Throwing his hands in the air, Cam rolled his eyes and said, “Why am I not surprised?”

Dylan concentrated on not laughing. This tangent with Jones was distracting Cam. No way did he want to cut that short. If only Cam stayed distracted long enough to simmer down…

Jones scrolled through his screen. “Other stuff, too, so Jake gets the whole virtual tour experience. Texted him about that amazing four-shot margarita at the Rio Grande last night. A photo of Tony sweating and showing some ass crack as he loaded all of our luggage. That rave review of our first show with D here.”

“Why would you send him that?”

“So he knows we’re not dropping the ball with him gone. So he knows that if he comes back, we’re ready for him, and if he doesn’t come back, we’ll make sure the band goes on without a hitch.”

Cam’s eyes narrowed. “Not if. When.
When
Jake comes back
.
”

Was there more to Jake’s temporary disappearance? Dylan thought it’d only be for a few weeks. But Jones made it sound like his return wasn’t such a sure thing. Instead of subbing for a member of Riptide, was this actually an audition to become a permanent member of the group?

Wow. Dylan didn’t know how he felt about that. Didn’t know if it was even something he wanted. That wasn’t true. Of course it’d be balls-to-the-wall great to officially be in Riptide. But that meant giving up his plan to make it big as a solo artist…even though there was zero guarantee that he
would
make it big soloing.

Bracing for his idol to give him the ass-kicking he kind of deserved was no time to fully evaluate this potential career twist. And Dylan realized that during his momentary mental time-out, nobody else had said a word. Which made it all the more clear that multiple people on the bus weren’t convinced Jake would be rejoining Riptide.

“You don’t know for sure that Jake’s coming back,” Ariel finally said softly, putting a hand on her brother’s arm. “Isn’t it better to face up to that and make a contingency plan?”

He shook her off. “Don’t you start in with me, too. Is that what you are to the kid? A contingency plan? A guaranteed way to get press for him being a bad boy, instead of just a boy? Because you know damn well the paps would have a field day with him screwing my little sister. Is this just a way to get in solid with your boss?”

Another thick silence, in which it seemed as if everyone on the bus simultaneously held their breath. Dylan couldn’t believe Cam went there. It was a lousy accusation to make of anyone, but especially your little sister. It insulted her. It insulted Dylan. And it really made Dylan want to kick Cam’s ass for treating Ariel that way. But stepping into the middle of an obvious Family-with-a-capital-F feud didn’t seem smart.

Finally, Ariel spoke, every word frosted with ice. “Did you just accuse me of sleeping with a client to further my career? The career that you tanked, Cam? Because that’s more your MO than mine. In case you’ve forgotten, when
you
slept with that skank from the label, everything blew up. And I got fired in the fallout, just for being your sister.” The longer she spoke, the more the ice in her tone kicked over into burning rage. “My company was worried that I’d follow in your footsteps and sleep with clients. Worried that your name would taint mine, and clients wouldn’t want to work with me. For reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with my ability, I lost my job. And it took me almost a year to get a new one.”

Whoa. Hearing the whole thing laid out like that knocked Dylan back. No wonder Ariel was so driven, so focused on not making a single misstep. It made him regret all the ways, no matter how small, that he’d hassled her about his image makeover.

And it sure as hell knocked Cam off the perfect-rock-star pedestal. For this to all have gone down a year ago and still be so raw for both of them? Dylan would bet Cam and Ariel had never talked it all out…until right now, anyway. Talk about a shitty time and place to finally have it all boil over. It wasn’t like the rest of them could just step outside to give the brother and sister some space. He looked over at Jones, who held up a hand and shook his head in an obvious
stay the hell out of it
gesture.

Cam and Ariel faced off for another few seconds, mirroring each other’s stances with fists balled at their sides and every muscle drawn taut. Cam broke first. He ran a hand from his forehead up and over his scalp. Dragged in a long breath. “I’m sorry, Ari.”

“For what? For thinking all that? Or just for saying it out loud?” Ariel didn’t thaw an inch. Dylan was proud of her for standing up for herself. God, he wanted to help her do it—not that she needed his help.
Not
leaping to her defense was one of the hardest things he’d ever done.

“For saying it.” Cam grabbed her hand. “Because I don’t really think it. I know you’d never stoop to my level of idiocy. You’re way smarter than that. Smarter than me. ’Cause I never, for a second, thought that you’d get screwed over by my fuckup. I had my mind on marketing instead of the music. Sales instead of the shit that really mattered.”

Raising one dark, elfin brow, Ariel asked, “Did you learn your lesson?”

“About a thousand times over, trust me. And whatever I missed in beating myself up over it, Jake and Jones did the rest. It’s why we went into the woods for two weeks to come up with a new sound instead of disbanding. It’s why we’re doing this bare-bones tour. We make the music on our terms, our way, or not at all.”

She crossed her arms below where a Riptide shirt from three tours ago was knotted at her breasts. “That’s sort of the same thing as what I want to do—make it on my own merit. Not because, good or bad, of your name and fame.”

“Yeah. I get it. So why do you have to have sex on my tour bus with this one?” Cam jerked his thumb toward Dylan. Which was the last straw.

He was done with being treated like a little kid, watching the grown-ups argue. Done with letting Cam even indirectly insult Ariel, no matter what their family dynamics were. They couldn’t work together, perform together, if they weren’t on equal footing. It just wouldn’t work.

Dylan gently pushed Ariel behind him, then faced Cam full-on. “First of all, we’re not having sex on your tour bus. Secondly, it’s none of your damn business what we do together. And third, it’s not just sex. You of all people should know that Ariel’s more special than that, deserves better. She’s not a convenient way to scratch an itch. Hell, what we’re doing—hiding from all of you, hiding from the fans and the press—it isn’t convenient at all. Rebooting my solo career would be a hell of a lot easier if I wasn’t falling for your sister.”

“Maybe you should decide if what you really want is a career or a woman. Because it’s almost impossible to have both with this lifestyle.”

“You do it. I see you with Kylie. You two are as serious as it gets about each other. And your career’s rebounding better than ever.”

Cam’s eyes narrowed. He poked Dylan in the chest with one finger. “Let’s get something straight. You can’t have my career or my sister, you little shit. Go find something of your own.” He stormed down the narrow hall, past the bunks, to the small room with built-in couches and slammed the door.

Ariel opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it again. Instead, she moved into Dylan’s arms and gave him a long, hard hug. Her embrace settled him, soothed over the temper still flaring bright into a far lower simmer. Facing the front, he could see Kyoko eyeing them in the mirror so long it was amazing the bus stayed on the road. But Dylan didn’t care if she stared. He didn’t care if Jones let loose with a drum roll while they hugged. All that mattered was that Ariel was in his arms.

“Thank you, Dylan. For standing up for me. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone champion me like that before.”

“Of course.” He rubbed her back in a slow circle. “It doesn’t seem like I did anything but make things worse, though.”

“Dylan, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Ariel turned to Jones. “Can you explain why it appears my brother’s lost his mind, his common sense and his courtesy all at once?”

“Yeah, I can.” His dark eyes shuttered, and his usual cheerfulness was replaced with a down-tilted sadness on every feature. “Cam and I got an email from Jake’s agent this morning. It explained that things were still up in the air with Jake’s family situation. That instead of him definitely coming back in three weeks, he needs to switch to an ‘indefinite’ return date. No real details. Worse yet, Jake didn’t bother to contact us himself.”

It didn’t add up. “But you just said you text him all the time.”

“I do. I didn’t say that he ever answers me, though. There’s been a hell of a lot of radio silence since Jake left the tour. Cam’s hurt. He’s confused as to why his best friend won’t talk to him. This fight wasn’t about you two doing the nasty. Cam just needed to blow off some steam, and you gave him one hell of a target.”

“Oh. That does explain a lot.” Ariel worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Glanced down the hallway. “Should I go talk to him?”

“Nah. He’ll realize he was an ass. He’s probably texting Kylie in the other bus right now, telling her what went down. Then she’ll tell him that he was a gigantic ass.”

A faint smile lifted her mouth. “As long as he’s clear on that.”

“Yeah. It’s just hard. Every time he looks at Big D, he sees a reminder that Jake’s not here. It doesn’t mean you did anything wrong. Doesn’t mean you’re not balls-up talented. Don’t let what he said get to you.” Jones grinned. “Fucking ballsy, though, doing his kid sister. I like your style, D.”