“Yeah. I just had a bad dream.” I’d dreamed that I woke up and Ty was gone. He’d gone radio silent once again. I mean, what was to stop him from not speaking to me for another five years? What the hell was I doing playing house with someone who was only here for a few weeks?
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, pushing to stand and making his way over to me.
“No. I’m fine. What time are you picking everyone up?” I asked, because his bandmates and his manager were flying in today.
“I was just going to go grab them and head over to the studio.”
Without me.
Because I wasn’t a part of this area of his life, right?
“Okay,” I snapped, before turning on my heels and making my way to the bathroom. I attempted to shut the door… with a little more force than I intended to, but Ty stopped it with his hand. He came to stand behind me, wrapping his hand around my waist and settling his chin on my shoulder.
“I was going to go pick them up and drop them at the hotel, come and get you, and then we can all meet at the studio.” He nibbled on my ear, and I tried not to laugh because I was still mad that he’d left me in my dream.
“It’s fine if you don’t want me to meet them today, Ty. I mean, what’s the point? You’re leaving in a couple weeks.” He spun me around, so I was facing him.
“The point is that I want you to meet them. I want them to know you. I love you, Ive. Even if it’s not forever, it’s still real as hell for me. What happened to taking things one day at a time?”
I pouted, because the more real it felt, the more anxious I grew. What the hell was the plan? He leaned down to kiss me, and I turned my cheek. “I have morning breath.”
“I don’t give a shit about your breath.” His gaze searched mine and I smiled. I couldn’t help myself.
Damn you, Ty Greene, for being so sweet and sexy.
“Fine. If you must,” I said, shrugging and trying to hide my smile.
He kissed me hard, and I tangled my hands in his hair. His cell phone rang in his back pocket, and he pulled away slowly to answer the call. “Fuck. I need to go. They just landed. I’ll be back to pick you up in thirty minutes.”
He kissed me once more before leaving. I got ready quickly and picked out a cute outfit. After all, I was meeting all the guys who Ty spent his days with. They were his family for all intents and purposes.
Ty was back in no time, and I grabbed a banana to eat in the car. When we arrived at the studio, he introduced me to everyone. I’d already met Zack on FaceTime, so I felt like I knew him. He hugged me tight.
“I finally get to meet the girl that this guy has been swooning over since day one,” he said.
I saw a girl standing behind him, and I didn’t miss the way she flinched at Zack’s words.
“Nice to meet you in person finally,” I said before turning to see a tall guy with blond hair smiling at me.
“Hey, Ivy, I’m Smith. Nice to finally meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.” I glanced over his shoulder to see the girl that flinched moments before studying me like she was memorizing every single feature on my face. Was she Smith’s girlfriend?
“Hi, Ivy, I’m Jo,” she said. I blinked a few times because Ty had failed to mention that one of his bandmates was a woman. Not that it was a bad thing, just something I hadn’t been made aware of. Obviously I hadn’t followed his band, as I’d avoided his music for the last five years.
“Hi. Nice to see you,” I said, and if someone were to rate my level of awkwardness, I’d most definitely get a ten.
She was really pretty, and she put her hand on Ty’s shoulder and rubbed it up and down. My stomach churned with uneasiness. They were close. That was impossible to miss. Had they dated? Of course they had. “We sure missed this guy.”
Ty laughed. Nothing awkward there. Could I be misreading the whole thing? I’d had a bad dream, I’d been off all morning. This was most likely all me reading into things.
“So, this must be Ivy?” a man said, and I turned to see him striding toward me. His jet-black hair was slicked back, he wore a button-up shirt and dress slacks, in complete contrast with the rest of the band who was dressed in jeans and tees. “I’m Zane. I keep these guys in check. How about you and I go hang out on the other side of the glass and let these guys work their magic?”
“Yeah, sure.” I stumbled over my words a bit and Ty winked. He leaned down and kissed my cheek and I didn’t miss the way Jo tracked his movements. It wasn’t in a threatening way. I could tell she was sweet. But I didn’t miss the way she watched him.
Zane and I walked into the other half of the studio where a large window allowed us to see the band. “They’re going to warm up for a little bit, so I thought we could get to know one another better, yeah?”
“Oh. Sure,” I said, and there was something about Zane that had my guard going up. Maybe it was the way he watched me as Ty introduced me to everyone.
“So, what’s the story? Ty’s being a bit tight-lipped, but obviously we’ve all heard about you over the years as he claims all the songs have been written for you. Which by the way, I’d appreciate you keeping it to yourself. We don’t need the media getting hold of that information. Ty’s got a large following of hopeful young women. We don’t need them knowing all the songs were written for just one. I guess you’re the one that got away, huh?”
Like I said. Major red flag with this guy. He was a complete turd-licker from what I could tell already.
“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” I said. “But if Ty wanted you to know the details, I’m guessing he would have told you.”
He raised a brow, surprised that I wasn’t intimidated by him. I knew men like Zane. They didn’t scare me.
“Ah, okay. You’re a feisty little one, aren’t you?”
A feisty little one?
As if all women fell into one of his small-minded categories. Clearly, he had a small brain which meant he probably had a small peen.
My inner Coco silently high-fived me.
“If you say so,” I hissed. I didn’t like him. Ty started singing and my gaze moved to Jo who was smiling up at him and strumming her guitar.
“You see it too, huh? The closeness between them? Now there’s a couple that the fans would be on board with. I’m fairly certain Ty and Jo have a little somethin’, somethin’ going down on that travel bus of ours, but they’re both so private. You know, when you have two really good-looking people living the same lifestyle, you can’t really blame them, am I right?”