Harrison pointed his finger at me. “Work your shit out.”
“Yeah,” Niko agreed. “You’ve been bitchier than usual. Bump uglies with Jonas and get back to the happy bitch you used to be.”
Malik laughed like a fucking hyena, and Darius just smiled.
“We’ll be back in the morning.” Harrison grabbed Ruby’s hand and pulled her away from the bus.
I watched out the window until they all got into their cars and drove away.
“This is insane!” I shouted. I whirled back around and stabbed my finger into Jonas’s chest. “Open those damn doors right now, Jonas. There is nothing we need to work out. There is no us.”
He grabbed my hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “No.”
His breath floated over my skin, and I snatched my hand away. I looked at him like he had grown three heads and spoke Russian. “I think you meant yes.”
Jonas Rowe had lost his damn mind.
“You can put up a fight, Maud. I didn’t really expect you wouldn’t, but the sooner you get over this bitch fit, the sooner we can talk about the important stuff.”
“And just what is the important stuff,” I snapped.
He stepped back and sighed. “You and me.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “There is no you and me. You made damn sure of that a year ago.”
He shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, well, maybe that was a mistake.”
“I’m not into a weekend fling, and then you fly off to Hong King for a year again.” That wasn’t happening. Jonas had made a fool of me before, and I would die before I let that happen again. “Just stop with this charade, Jonas, and let us both off of this bus. Your sister being with Harrison means you and I are going to be thrown in each other’s faces for the rest of our lives. Let’s not make it even more awkward by hooking up every time we see each other.”
“I’m not looking to hook up, Maud.”
“Then, unlock the bus and let me off.”
He pulled a key out of his pocket and held it up. “I’m not gonna force you to stay here. Harrison has the main key to the doors, but this one opens the back window if you really want out of here.” He chuckled. “I’ll even help give you a boost out if you need it.”
“So, I’m trapped, but not really trapped?”
He nodded his head. “I wanna talk to you, Maud, but I don’t want to make you feel like you have to stay here. You can leave, but it might take a little effort to get out the window.”
I held out my hand. “Give me the key.”
His face fell, but he placed it in my hand. “We’ll toss your bag out first. That will give you something soft to land on.”
I shoved the key in my pocket. “I’m not promising to stay till the morning, but I’m not leaving just yet.” Actually, sitting down and talking to Jonas was what we both needed. I just hadn’t like the idea of actually being trapped on the bus with no way out. With the key to the window in my pocket, I could actually leave whenever I wanted. “So, was Harrison actually smart and plugged in the bus, or are we without power too?”
“Uh, we should be good for everything. Water, electricity, you got it.”
I grabbed my bag and set it on my bunk. “Well, good, because the first thing I planned on doing when I got to my parents was to take a shower. I guess one more shower on the bus won’t hurt me.” I grabbed comfy pants and a tank top from my bag.
“Need me to wash your back?”
I slid the zipper shut and rolled my eyes. “I think I can manage. I’ve been fine by myself for the last year,” I retorted.
Jonas held up his hands. “Fair enough.”
I stomped to the bathroom and slid the door shut. I leaned my head against the cold wood of the door and sighed.
I was trapped on a bus with Jonas Rowe.
The answers I had wanted for the last year were about to be mine, and instead of firing off all of my questions, I was locked away in the bathroom.
Yeah, maybe I wanted to ask the questions, but I was afraid I wasn’t ready for the answers.
Jonas Rowe broke my heart before.
I couldn’t handle him doing it again.
*
Chapter Nine
Jonas
That went better than I thought it would.
I had imagined the worst of Maud throwing a major bitch fit and storming off the bus after I revealed the window key to her.
I knew this wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was what I could come up with on such short notice. It was hard for me to admit that maybe I did call it quits on Maud and me too soon, but I still wasn’t completely convinced that I was wrong for thinking why we wouldn’t work.
We were still very different and living in different countries.
The different country problem would be easy to solve since I had originally only planned to work overseas for another year or so. Our own actual differences were going to be the thing that might drive us apart.
Maud was literally rock n’ roll, and I was your average, run of the mill lawyer. I didn’t bounce from city to city, playing for thousands of adoring fans and being famous.
Fame wasn’t what I wanted, but that was what Maud was made for, and if I wanted to be with her, I was going to have to learn to live with it.
“You look like someone ran over Mookie.”
My head snapped up. My eyes took in Maud’s bare legs, and arms and heat rose in my chest. The shorts she wore barely covered the tops of her thighs, and I knew as soon as she bent over, I would see half of her ass cheeks. I was already worried about talking to her, and now I was also going to be distracted by all of her smooth, lush bare skin on display.
She waved her hand and snapped her fingers. “Earth to, Jonas.”
I gently shook my head and stood up. “Uh, sorry. I was just thinking.”
She eyed me warily. “I did a lot of that, too.”
That didn’t sound very good. “Uh, are you hungry or anything?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m sure there is nothing in the fridge. Rico is religious about cleaning it out when we’re stopped for longer than two days.”
I smiled. “I was told that. That’s why I managed to catch him before he threw everything away.” I reached for the fridge and pulled it open. “It’s not a lot, but it will get us through till the morning.”
She walked over and put her hands on her hips. “There’s actual food in there and not just processed shit and sugar.”
“I might have run to the grocery store last night when everyone was asleep.”
“Eggs, bacon, bread, some steaks, random veggies, lunch meat, beer, and a cake.” Maud laughed. “Yeah, that’s a hell of a lot better than what is normally in there. Though the beer is a staple.”
I reached in and pulled out two beers and handed her one.
“You might be becoming to this rockstar life, Jonas,” Maud laughed. “Drinking beer before noon.” She twisted off the top and took a drink.
I shrugged and popped the top on mine. “I figure it’ll help us both relax.” I would do anything to help make whatever was about to happen a little easier.
Maud flopped down on the long couch in the bus's lounge area and kicked her feet up. “I don’t even know where to start, Jonas, so I’m tossing the ball into your court.”