Cross stepped to her with wide eyes. I was shocked he was so in awe of her vacation. “You were on a private yacht? No wonder you didn’t check in on us.”
“Well, the reception wasn’t great where we were, and the Wi-Fi was spotty at best. I did check your social media once to see how you were all fairing.” Her eyes slid to me. “And Cristiano sent me a report every night you had a gig.”
“Was the yacht ballin’?” Cross pulled Pen across the room to the couch. “Do you have any pictures?”
“Of course, I have pictures. Do you really think I’d go on a private yacht and not take pictures?” She giggled. Fucking giggled. “But I’m not sure you want to see a bunch of women in their thirties in bikinis,” she laughed, shaking her head.
I sure as fuck wanted to see her in a bikini, but I didn’t want anyone else to see what she looked like, barely covered by some flimsy material.
Cross tipped his head toward her, looking Pen in the eyes. “If they look anything like you, I want to see. But…” he drew the word out like he didn’t care if he saw or not. I knew he did since he was paying so much attention to the subject. “If you want to skip the pictures you’re in, that’s cool.”
“Where’d you go?” Kenton asked, sitting beside her.
There was no way Penelope was going to get out of showing the pictures with both of them on her like flies on shit.
“Spain,” she sighed out. “It was beautiful, and I think my Stella got her groove back while we were there.”
Kenton lifted a brow. “And did our dear, sweet manager get her groove back as well?”
Pen looked up. Her gaze locked with mine. “No, but mine wasn’t lost to begin with. If you really want to see some pictures, I’ll show you, but if you want to greet any of the ladies from tonight, I can show you later.”
“Fuck them. We’ve missed you. Let’s get out of here and get some dinner. You can show us while we cram a bunch of carbs in our system.”
Pen stood, pulling out her phone and tapping on it for a second. She was probably letting the bus driver know we would be coming out soon and to be ready. “I like the sound of that.” She patted her stomach through her Crimson Heat band tee. “I think I gained at least ten pounds with all the amazing food the chef made for us, but I can never turn down carbs.”
“Oh, Penny,” Kenton wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “If you gained ten pounds, it went to all the right places. You look damn fine to me. In fact, I’d say you look radiant.”
“Oh, that’s just my Spain tan.” She swatted at him, and I nearly lost my mind. What in the living hell was going on? Kenton didn’t flirt with Pen. None of them did. Why were they all up in her business and touching her like they had a right to? The urge to kick their asses was bubbling to the surface.
“Whatever it is, you look damn fine,” Cross said, pulling her away from Kenton and toward the door.
I pushed them both off her and turned on them. If it was possible, I would have shot laser beams out of my eyes at them and turned them to dust. “Give the woman some space.”
“Oh, they’re fine. I think it’s sweet they missed me.” She sashayed down the hall like she was on a runway. While I always thought Pen was sexy, there was definitely something different about her. Did she meet someone while she was away?
I hurried to her side and fought the need to touch her. I wanted to take her hand in mine, wrap my arm around her waist and pull her into me. Instead, I had to make do with being near her as I walked. “And you don’t think it’s sweet I missed you?”
She kept walking and didn’t even bother to look in my direction as she spoke. “I think you mean you missed me more than they did, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you mean it the exact same way as they do, and if that’s the case, then yes, I do believe you missed me because you had to deal with an insufferable Cristiano.”
Even though I heard the guys hot on our heels, I moved in front of Pen, forcing her to stop and look at me. I waited until they passed to speak. “You know, I meant it as more, and I did fucking miss you. Why are you saying that? I wouldn’t lie to you.”
“I don’t want you to have to lie to me either.” She looked down and shook her head. “Just forget everything I said. It doesn’t matter anyway.”
“Of course, it fucking matters. I thought I was going crazy when you ended things, but when you were gone, I thought what you told us was some made-up story, and you were looking for someone else to manage us.”
Her head shot up, and she glared at me. “I wouldn’t do that, and for you to think that proves that I was right to end things.” Pen moved around me and was out the door before I could stop her again.
Looking up to the ceiling like it could give me answers, I shouted. “How?” Only there was no one there to give me any answers. Hanging my head, I trudged my way out the door and onto the bus. I didn’t bother to look at anyone as I pushed past them and slid into my bunk. Grabbing my headphones from beside the wall, I turned on my music and blasted it, so I wouldn’t have to hear them laughing and talking about her trip. I would go ballistic if I heard any one of them say something about how hot she looked in her bikini.
For the sake of the band, I kept to myself for most of the night. I didn’t come out when they went into the restaurant to eat. It wasn’t until late at night, and I could feel we’d traveled at least a couple of hundred miles, that I used the bathroom and went in search of some food in our tiny kitchen. There wasn’t much. Some popcorn that Kenton loved and a box of Pop-Tarts Cross ate. I hadn’t stocked anything for me since I didn’t think I’d be a needy bitch when Pen got back.
A slight noise from behind me had me turning around to find Pen sitting on one of the couches that took up the right side of the bus. She was curled up with a blanket over her legs, and there was something in her hands.
I cleared my throat, and when she didn’t look up from what she was doing since she was most likely ignoring me, I asked. “What are you doing out here?”
Without looking up from what she was doing, she spoke quietly. Something I should have been doing if I cared about waking up the other people traveling on the bus with us, but I didn’t. The only thing I cared about right then was Pen and why she’d been acting the way she had toward me.
“If you must know what I’m doing, I’m reading.” She set down what looked like some type of device. “I’m reading my friend Stella’s book.”
“I know who Stella is.” I stepped toward her. “Why are you acting like you don’t know me?”
She stood, throwing the blanket that fell to the floor back onto the couch. “I’m not acting like anything. I do know you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to sleep.” Pen stormed off, slipping into her bunk.
Why did her words sound like an accusation?
Pen had only been back a few hours, and already I couldn’t take the hostility toward me that was radiating off her. I had to know what was going on. Before she left, Pen did everything she could to not be alone with me, but this was a whole other level.
Pulling back the curtain to her bunk that was way too close to the ground for my height, I pushed Pen over as I laid down beside her.