Before Levi could retaliate, the door swung open. “Ali, boy, all set?” Hudson grinned at our manager as he entered the meeting room with Riley.
“It’s not me you need to worry about, Hudson.” He gave each of us a serious look, lingering on Levi. “You ready for this?”
“Ready?” My brother scoffed. “I was born ready.”
“It’s a grueling schedule.” Riley handed him a sheet of paper and began reeling off the first leg of concerts: Charlotte, Orlando, Houston, Dallas...
“We know the schedule, Ali.”
“You mean I know the schedule,” he countered. “I’d bet my bottom dollar you haven’t even looked at the damn thing.”
“Ali,” I said quietly, really not wanting to pull my brother off our manager today.
“Exactly. Why do I need to know the schedule when I have people like you to do it for me?”
The air grew thick with tension. Levi liked to push Ali’s buttons and our manager liked to push back, but the truth of the matter was we needed Ali as much as the band needed Levi. And he was one of the few people left willing to work with us.
“Well, this is entertaining and all,” Letty slammed her hands on the table and grinned, “but if all you’re going to do is argue like little old ladies, I’m stealing Eva away.”
“Actually, I need her to stick around,” Ali said. “This won’t take long and then you can go.”
Eva shifted uncomfortably. I didn’t want to imagine what she thought about being dropped in at the deep end of all this, but I couldn’t help it. Everything about her pulled me in. From her soft pink lips to her unruly blonde curls. I knew every blemish on her skin, every ticklish spot, every place that made her moan. But what we had shared in Camdena, the weekend of the Talent Showdown final, was finite. A moment in time we’d never get to experience again. I couldn’t be who she needed and she sure as shit couldn’t be who I needed. So here we were; two strangers who knew one another in ways no two strangers should.
Lyrics started forming in my head. A riff my fingers itched to play. I didn’t sing vocals a lot for the band, but I did my fair share of songwriting. I’d always had an affinity for words; for the way they blended to tell a story… a memory… an emotion.
“Yo, Rafe, care to join us?” My brother smirked across the table at me.
“Uh, yeah, what were you saying?”
“Alistair was laying down the rules.”
“Rules?” I balked. “Since when did we have rules?”
“Since we have Eva joining us.” Alistair glared at me. “You are to treat Eva with nothing but professionalism and respect at all times. She isn’t a groupie or a roadie... that means no cavorting—”
“Not an issue,” she cut Alistair off. “I’m... not like that.” Her eyes flicked to mine, hatred burning in their depths.
My stomach sank.
“You wouldn’t be the first to fall for their charms, Eva.” Ali regarded her.
In that moment, she seemed so young. Or maybe it was the other way around. Maybe fame had aged us. Fuck only knew I felt years older than my twenty.
“You don’t need to worry about me,” she said sharply.
“Ease off, Ali, yeah?” Damon said. “We know the deal. Eva is off-limits.”
“I still don’t see why she isn’t riding on our bus.” Levi huffed like a petulant child who had lost his favorite new shiny toy.
The thought made my insides twist.
“You want her to what?”
“While you were distracted...” Damon’s brow quirked up as he said the words. “Levi suggested Eva could ride with us on our bus.”
“No.” No fucking way.
Eva sucked in a harsh breath. We all heard it. But I forced myself to remain focused on Damon. “She can’t ride with us.” The words echoed around my skull and I knew how they had to sound to her… but, fuck, it was bad enough having her here. But having her here and on our bus… hell no.
“She is sittin’ right here, you know?” Eva scowled.
“Rafe’s right,” Alistair joined the conversation again. “Eva, Letty, and a few other vital staff will be on the smaller Van Hool. Everyone else is on the sleeper buses.”
“Sorry, boys, looks like you’re going to have to find someone else to attend to your every need this time around.”
“When do we get to meet this replacement assistant you spoke so highly of anyway?”
“You’re looking at her,” Riley said.
“You?” Levi deadpanned. “You’re putting her in charge of us? What happened to Cruz?”
Cruz was a good guy and a good friend. If Eva was getting Letty, we wanted someone we could trust, someone who had our best interests at heart. Someone like Cruz.
“As I said in the email which you obviously didn’t bother to read, Cruz is attending to some urgent business. He hopes to join the tour for the second leg. Until then, Riley will be filling in.”
“But Riley can’t stand us,” Hudson said.
“I...” she flushed. “That is not true. I am a huge fan of your music and no one knows the schedule better than me.”
“We’re not here to debate Riley’s qualifications. Management already signed off on it. She’s on the tour whether you like it or not.”
Levi sank back in his chair, raking a hand through his messy hair, dragging his teeth against his snake bite piercings. Riley didn’t shrink under his severe glare. She was used to boys like us playing at rock stars. But despite her cool exterior, I wondered if she had what it took to be on the road. She seemed like someone who preferred the finer things in life. But maybe Hudson was right? Maybe she was banging Ali and couldn’t stand the thought of being separated from him for the next few months. Maybe she’d used her relationship with him to leverage herself onto the road with us. Whatever. Riley was just another person in a long line of people trying to bring us to heel and play puppets. But like everyone before her, she’d quickly realize while you could usually reason with me, Damon, even Hudson; my brother was a different matter entirely. If she wanted to try to pull his strings and earn herself a nice promotion or a pat on the back from boss man, then who was I to try to stop her?
“So does that mean you’ll be staying on the bus with us?”
I didn’t miss the look in Hudson’s eyes as he blatantly checked Riley out, probably planning all the ways he could seduce her. He’d been going through women like they were a dying breed ever since Camdena. Ever since his weekend with Eva’s best friend Molly. He swore it was only sex between them, but I knew Hudson, and I knew something was off.
I had my own shit to worry about though. Like how to survive the tour with Eva being there while making sure my brother didn’t fall off the deep end again. Because although he was my big brother, I’d been taking care of him for as long as I could remember.
“I, umm, well, no,” Riley tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes darting between Hudson and Ali. Jesus, she was already falling for the Ryker charm and he’d barely even spoken to her.
“Riley will be on the other bus,” Ali replied. To anyone else he might have looked cool and collected, but I wasn’t anyone. I saw the slight set to his jaw, heard the way his voice hitched just a fraction. He was jealous and pissed. And if that wasn’t a shitshow waiting to happen, I didn’t know what was.