I closed my eyes and chuckled.
“You really gotta change people’s names when you’re drunk?” Harrison chuckled.
Ruby laughed. “Yup.”
Harrison led her out the bar, following behind the rest of the bad.
I grabbed my wallet to pay the tab for Ruby and me, but fifty appeared in front of me.
“I got it.”
I turned and looked up at Jonas’s profile. “I have money.”
He nodded to the bartender. “Keep the change.”
“Did you hear me?” I drawled. “I have money.” Probably no near as much as Jonas had, but I wasn’t doing half bad.
“I never said you didn’t, M.”
I narrowed my eyes.
M.
He called me that when we were dating.
We weren’t dating anymore.
“It’s Maud. Maudrey, if you’re drunk.”
Jonas smirked. “I take it Ruby had one too many?”
“Yeah,” I grumbled. It was my fault since I made sure her glass never got empty.
“She calls me Joey when she drinks too much.”
I cringed. Jonas did not look like a Joey at all. Though whenever I heard the name Joey, I pictured Joey Tribbiani from Friends. I fished around in my wallet and pulled out a fifty. “You’re not paying for my drinks.”
He pushed away the money. “I paid for my sister’s.”
I rolled my eyes. I shoved the fifty back in my wallet and pulled out a twenty and a five. “Then take this.”
He shook his head. “Not taking it. You’re letting me stay on your bus for a week. Consider the drinks my rent.”
“Do you know you make me roll my eyes a lot?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. Though even when you roll them, you’re still prettiest girl in the room.” He grabbed a lock of hair. “Even when you have normal hair.”
I scoffed. “It won’t be normal for long.” My usual bright, vibrant blue hair was a normal mousy shade of brown. The last time I had gone to my hairdresser before the tour, she had advised me that my hair was severely damaged from years of bleaching and dyeing. We had struck a deal that I would refrain from dyeing it for a few months to let it be.
I counted down the days until I could get back to my blue hair and feel normal again.
“I think you’re the only person I know who blue hair suits them better than brown or blonde.” He dropped the lock of hair and sighed. “You ready to go?”
We had walked to the bar from the tour bus, and Jonas and I were the only ones left in the bar.
I shoved the money back in my wallet and zipped it shut. “I can walk.”
Jonas stepped back. “Never said you couldn’t, M.”
There was that nickname again—a familiarity used between lovers.
My step faltered at the thought of lovers.
“Whoa there,” Jonas laughed. He looped an arm around my waist and pulled me to his side. “I think those shots are hitting you.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You may be right because I can’t remember how many I had.”
“Let’s get you back to the bus.”
Jonas’s familiar scent wafted around me, and I leaned into him without thinking about why it wasn’t a good idea to be this close to him.
Jonas pulled me through the crowd of the bar and out the front door. He kept his arm around me and slowly walked us back to where the bus was parked.
“Do you like Hong Kong?” There wasn’t anything wrong with small talk, right? Even though I was mad how Jonas had ended things with us, I still hoped he was happy with where he had landed.
“It’s different.”
I hummed under my breath. “And different is bad.”
Jonas chuckled. “In somethings.”
“So, what is so different about Hong Kong?” I was too drunk to tread on the top of the differences between Jonas and me. I barely could string two words together that made sense. That cheap vodka was hitting me hard. My head swam, and I struggled to keep my eyes open.
“The people. The buildings. The culture.” His chuckle drifted around me like a warm hug. “Everything is different.”
I hummed and tried to open my eyes. My feet kept moving along with Jonas, but I was thankful he was leading me because otherwise, I would have fallen right on my ass.
“The food is amazing, though.”
I bet it was. Jonas had an addiction to Chinese food when we dated, and I assumed it didn’t go away when we broke up.
My step faltered, and I cracked open an eye. “I think I need to take a nap right here.” I had drunk too much. I had tried to walk the line of drunk and really drunk. Unfortunately, I had dove straight into really drunk. A really drunk Maud was a sleepy Maud.
Jonas scooped me up into his arms and held me to his chest. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on.
“I missed this,” he whispered into my ear.
I had too. My eyes drifted closed, and I laid my head on his shoulder. “I missed you, Jonas.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think about them, and I was asleep before I could regret them.
*
Chapter Seven
Jonas
“Last show!” Malik shouted. “Let’s do this!”
The air on the bus was electric and a buzz with excitement.
Last night the band had played in Sioux Falls, and now we were in Chicago. Today had been our longest drive, and Maud had spent the whole time either in her bunk or in the back room with Harrison working on new music.
The bus was small, but Maud was damn good at keeping her distance from me.
The morning after she had basically passed out on the walk back to the bus, she acted like nothing had happened.
Hadn’t told me she missed me. Hadn’t acted like she didn’t hate me.
Grumpy Maud was back, and I didn’t know if I would ever get back to the woman I had been with a year ago.
Maud sat toward the back of the bus in the kitchen area. “Let me know when it’s five minutes.”
“You got it,” Darius shouted.
The band filed off the bus, and instead of following, I stayed behind.
Behind with Maud.
She held her head in her hands and took a deep breath.
“You never answered my question before.”
She jumped back and held her hand to her chest. “Jesus. I thought everyone left.”
I grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down next to her. “Nah, it’s too fucking loud out there. I’d rather be in here.”
She laughed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “You get used to it.”
“I’m good when it’s you guys in there. Not really into the band you got opening for you guys.” I watched them two times, and that was enough for me. They didn’t have the same magic that The Wild Preacher’s Club did. When Maud and the guys got on the stage, it was just another level of greatness that most bands never reached.
Maud scoffed. “I’ve seen you when we’re playing. You look like you’re having as much fun when you’re doing your taxes.”
I chuckled and popped open my beer. “Well, I may not be headbanging along with Ruby, but if I close my eyes and the crowd isn’t loud as fuck, it feels like I’m at home listening to your latest album.”