“Oh… right. You weren’t here yet. But he did. Got a bad cold,” she said. “The cold cleared up. It took a while but it did. Well, due to the cold he got a mild case of laryngitis. But because he’s never properly rested it, it’s gotten worse. His voice is basically gone and the doctor put him on total vocal rest for two weeks.”
“That means we’ve had to cancel shows for the next two weeks,” Ransom added.
“Longer if it doesn’t clear up,” Cross said.
“And that brought you here?” I took a seat in the only open chair and pulled Paige onto my lap.
Didn’t take a genius to see that Paige wasn’t used to being openly affectionate in front of other people. Her body tensed and it took a lot of me rubbing soothing circles on her back to get her to relax. Though with this many in the room, seating was limited. Ransom and Cross were on the floor in front of their girlfriends while Dixon was in the chair opposite Paige and me. Technically, she could’ve sat on the couch, but I wanted her close. She didn’t know these people and given her history, I thought being with me during this particular social situation would be more comfortable.
“We thought we could work on some new music and you’re here because of your mom, so yeah, that brought us here,” Cross explained. “We have to find a hotel, but that sweet music area you’ve told us about would be perfect for us to tinker around in.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to find a hotel.” I adjusted Paige so I could lean forward. “Dixon can take my room, then you two”—I pointed at Cross and Ransom—“can take the guesthouse, which is what they turned that tinker space into, and the spare room we have in here. We can still play out there, but there are places to sleep.”
“A real live bed?” Bellamy bounced in her seat, her red curls springing up and down with her. “What a dream.” Then she looked over at Paige. “The bus beds aren’t all that bad, but when you get to a real bed… it’s a dream.”
“And a bathtub to soak in… ” Indie shook her head. “Makes you appreciate the little things.”
“How long have you two been on the tour?” Paige asked them.
Bellamy giggled. “Not even that long. What? Almost two months maybe?”
Indie sighed. “Basically my entire life.”
“I need to eat,” Ransom said out of nowhere. “Let’s order pizza. Do you have beer in this house?”
I shrugged. “Probably. Check the fridge.”
Cross, Ransom, and Dixon hopped up at the same time and made their way to the kitchen, giving each other shit the entire way.
“We should get snacks,” Indie said. “How about we girls go do that? The boys can order the pizza.”
“Ah… sure,” Paige said as she stood up. “I can drive.”
She still had her purse crossing her body, so she had everything she needed. I pushed to my full height and gave her a quick kiss. Then another. And another until she giggled.
“I’m literally going to the store. I’m not being shipped off to war,” she said.
“I don’t know about that.” I shook my head. “You don’t know those two.”
“Ha ha, real funny there, Booker,” Bellamy said, which meant they could for sure hear everything we’d said.
I dropped my voice and asked Paige, “You OK with this?”
“Them staying at your house? It’s your house.”
“No, going with them to get snacks. You don’t know them.”
“Ah, but the best way to get to know them will be to spend time with them. I assume I’ll be around them a bit in the future so no time like the present.”
“Yeah, of course. OK. I’ll order pizza.” I gave her another kiss, then the ladies got together and left.
“Booker, what’s the best pizza place?” Dixon asked.
“Since we only have one… it’s that one. I’ll order.” After talking it over, we settled on four pizzas. Unlikely we’d eat all of it right away, but then we’d have leftovers for later. Then I also ordered Paige a salad. She ate pretty healthily, so I wanted her to have the option and I’d noticed whenever we grabbed food, she always got a side salad with it when it was available.
Then the four of us were back in the living room with the television on, waiting for both the girls and the pizza.
“When can you come back on tour?” Cross asked me.
“With Vince off for a few weeks, I’d say whenever we start back up. Mom’s doing a lot better. The time gives us a chance to find her a new home nurse.”
“What happened to the old nurse?” Ransom asked.
Oh damn. I’d told them a little about Paige but had never mentioned she was Mom’s nurse. “The old nurse is Paige.”
“Damn,” Dixon said, blinking extra hard. “You fired Paige? That’s harsh.”
The guys chuckled—so did I, but I also shook my head. “Not exactly.”
“I get it,” Ransom said. “Her working for your parents. Probably makes it uncomfortable.”
“She coming on tour with you?” Cross asked.
This time, I shrugged. “Haven’t asked her yet.”
“Why the fuck not?” Ransom asked.
“Oh, man… ” Dixon groaned. “Now I’m not going to have a wingman. You’re all paired up and I’m left to fend for myself.”
“I wasn’t a good wingman anyway,” I said because it was true. I’d been over the hookup scene for a long while. “Besides, I think you can fend for yourself pretty well. Until you fall for someone.”
“Uh, no. I’m not about that life.”
Ransom, Cross, and I chuckled. “Nobody ever is,” Cross said. “Until they are.”
“Getting Paige on tour might be a hard sell,” I said, going back to the original question. She’s worked since she was fourteen. She can’t exactly do that on tour. Now that she won’t be working for my mom, she’ll want to find another job. To feel financially secure.”
“I’m pretty sure you can keep her financially secure.” Dixon waved his hand around the house.
He meant my dad’s money, which sure, I had a trust fund that I’d get access to next year but I also made way more money than I needed with the band.
I shook my head. “She doesn’t want someone else to pay her way. She’s used to taking care of herself.”
“Get Indie and Bellamy in on it,” Ransom said. “Those two can convince anyone of anything.”
“Agreed,” Cross said.
Instead of focusing on my love life, I asked a few questions about the music they’d like to work on. Cross grabbed a pen and paper out of the bag he’d dropped near the couch to note some of our ideas. We were going to need to record an album once the tour ended and it’d be my first with Courting Chaos. It had to be great.
This was what the band was supposed to be about anyway. The music. I’d feel so much better once we had an album out that I was a part of. I’d done other albums with other bands, but for those, I’d always felt more like a studio musician, given that I’d just played what they’d told me to and none of those bands had been mine.
But Courting Chaos and Paige… those were both mine.
Chapter Thirty
Paige
While it sweet of Booker to show concern over my going out with the girls, I wasn’t so socially inept that being around others had become a foreign idea. I was cautious, that’s all.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Booker smile so much,” Indie said once we’d gotten out of the driveway. It brought a smile to my face to think of him being happy. Of me making him happy.
“Me, either,” Bellamy agreed.
“You’re a nurse?” Indie asked, to which I nodded. “How is that possible?” she remarked. “You look so young.”
“I’m twenty-two.”
“That’s basically our age and we still have a year of college.”
“I graduated early.” I sighed and told her my abbreviated story about foster care, graduating early, all of it. About how I got myself emancipated a few months before my eighteenth birt
hday because I had a job that paid the bills and I didn’t want to wait the extra months to make myself a home.
There wasn’t any reason to hide any of it. I was proud of what I’d done. I’d done what a lot of others hadn’t been able to.
“Wow,” Bellamy said, falling back against the seat behind me. “So you’re like… super badass.”
“I don’t know about that,” I said with a chuckle.
“That’s why you’re perfect for Booker.” Indie hopped out of the car at the store first.
“How do you mean?” I asked after getting out and locking my car.
“Well… ” She slipped her arm through mine as we walked into the grocery store. “Obviously, I don’t know everything about him, but in the time he’s been on tour, he’s never been into most of what comes with being in one of the biggest bands in the world. The girls… the drugs… being able to have whatever he wants.” She grabbed a cart then we strolled up one aisle and down the next, dropping in whatever we thought one of us might want later. Like we were fifteen-year-olds whose parents had gone out of town and had left them food money.
Honestly, it felt really good to not care or worry about every single penny. Then again, I didn’t put that much into the cart.
“Yeah,” Bellamy added, “Booker still goes out there every night in those dorky Star Wars shirts.”
I smiled to myself. Those Star Wars shirts were one of the things I loved about Booker. He wore them and he didn’t care what others thought of it. “I happen to love the shirts.”
“Another reason you’re perfect for Booker.”
The girls giggled, and I couldn’t help but join in.
When we finally got to the register, Indie insisted we throw everything together on the belt. “Let my dad treat,” she’d said.
I cocked my head to the side. “Your dad?”
She turned to me with a smile. “Vince Cinderstone. Kissing Cinder?”
“Oh.” I slapped a hand over my face. “I knew that. Duh.”
“I kind of like that you didn’t put it together,” she said. “I like you. The tour is going to be fun.”
I didn’t add anything to that because Booker hadn’t said he wanted me to go on tour with them and the idea made my stomach tighten. Thinking about not working for any length of time gave me anxiety. That’s why I chose nursing. It was almost recession-proof. Nurses could usually find jobs when they needed them.
We arrived at the house at the same time as the pizza. After unpacking the snacks, we grabbed drinks and plates, filled them with food, and went into the living room, where Dixon started a movie. We talked through most of it and I’d never been so comfortable in a group of people. Obviously not a group of people as famous as this one. But they obviously didn’t act famous.
Eventually, I needed another drink and I’d grabbed some of this iced tea that I loved at the store. Most of them drank beer and that didn’t bother me, though I noticed Booker didn’t. I’d seen him have one before, so he liked it, but for whatever reason, he wasn’t partaking.
I pulled a tea out of the fridge and when I shut the door, Booker stood on the other side.
“You scared the shit out of me,” I said, slapping a hand over my heart.
“Sorry,” he said, but he didn’t sound it.
“You need to stop doing that,” I said to his laughter. Then I asked, “Did you need a drink?”
He moved over in front of me and grabbed a tea of his own.
“Why aren’t you drinking beer with everyone else?” I asked him.
“You don’t like beer.”
“But you do.”
“But you said… ” he started. Ah. Just as I’d suspected.
“Booker… I steer clear because of something in my past. That doesn’t mean you have to. Though, honestly, I’d rather not see you drunk. But that’s my thing. You don’t have to change yourself to suit me.”
He nodded. “OK. But I’ll stick to the tea for now.”
I smiled but shook my head. His choice. He set the bottle on the counter and slid into my personal bubble.
“Something in your past?” he asked quietly.
Damn. I should’ve kept my mouth shut but I probably had to tell him eventually. I’d only ever told Barrett. “Yeah.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” he said quietly. “But I’d like to know what that was if you should ever want to.”
I quickly wet my lips with the tip of my tongue. Now was as good a time as any I supposed. Plus in the interest of being honest, I should just put it out there. Before I could speak, I swallowed hard then took a deep breath.
“It’s why I went into foster care.” He kept his kind eyes locked with mine waiting for more. “Apparently, my father had a real problem with alcohol. That’s what the social worker told me when I asked. I don’t remember that part. The parts I remember aren’t the ones with details. I was six and my parents argued a lot. I laid in bed listening to it until a loud scream tore through the house and a loud bang followed. Then another.”
“Fuck,” he said letting out a breath.
“I ran out there and they were on the floor. Bleeding. I called for help and police came. When I turned thirteen, I asked my social worker about it and she said my father had killed my mother then himself which left me to foster care. I was older and nobody wanted to adopt an older kid.”
“You didn’t have any other family?” he asked softly.
I shook my head. If either of my parents had any family, I’d never met them.
“I can kick everyone out. We can go lay in bed and be alone,” he offered.
I smiled up at him. That story sure sounded dramatic. I knew that. It was a dramatic story but I’d come to terms with it long ago. I’d gone to counseling when I first entered the system. I didn’t need time to mourn parents I barely remembered. The counselor said I’d likely blocked out a lot of the memories I did have to protect myself. I had a picture of my parents but that was all I was given. They were smiling which meant things weren’t always bad.
“You don’t have to do that,” I said. “I’m fine.”
“You sure?” he asked.
“I’m sure. But thank you for offering.” I pushed up onto my toes to reach his lips and kissed him softly. A gesture of appreciation, nothing more.
“I have something to ask you,” he said once I finished kissing him.
I didn’t know why but my stomach tightened.
He swept his tongue over his bottom lip. “I’d like to ask you to come on tour with us when we go back. They’ll probably stay here until then, but when we leave, I’d like you to come with us.
I took a deep breath. I’d been expecting this. I’d considered this.
“Look”—he took both of my hands in his—“I know for you, taking some time for yourself is scary. But I got you, Paige. You don’t have to worry about the cost. You can even look for jobs online while we’re out there if you want to. Though I hope you don’t rush into that so I can keep you for as long as possible. We can also decide where we’re going to live when off the road. I want you with me as much as possible and I can’t not go on tour.”
“I wouldn’t want you not to. But where we’re going to live?”
He chuckled. “Of course, you caught that. I wasn’t saying we have to live together, though that would be my preference, but if you’re living in Ann Arbor, then I’m living in Ann Arbor. If you’re living in… Omer, I’m living in Omer. I can work anywhere.”
I snorted when he mentioned Omer. It was a running joke with some people in Michigan because Omer was barely a town. People didn’t really move to Omer. But then I grew serious about what he’d asked me. “I don’t want to be kept,” I said quietly.
He shook his head and pinched my chin to force me to look up at him. “Not kept. Paige, you don’t have to rely only on yourself anymore. I’m here.” He kissed me softly, and added, “If you want, I could hire you as my personal nurse.”
I bit my lips together to keep from
rewarding him with a laugh.
“I have lots of things you can help me take care of.” He kissed me again. “Sponge baths would be good. Some very specific areas you can help me work.”
I gave him a playful pinch but not much of his flesh actually pinched since his abs were so hard. “You’re an idiot.”
He smiled and nodded. “I know. So what do you say?”
In that moment I thought over as many scenarios as possible. But those didn’t matter. I wanted to go. To just this once throw caution to the wind and trust someone as much as I trusted myself. Scary… yes. But I was going to take that leap of faith. Booker loved me. I couldn’t deny that and I loved him. So why wouldn’t I go?
“I’ve never even gone on a vacation,” I said quietly. “What if I don’t travel well?”
“I’ll make sure you do.” Booker shifted his weight. “But I should be totally upfront about something.”
My heart raced. This might’ve been the other shoe I’d been waiting to drop.
“I share a bus with Dixon,” he said.
A puff of air flew out of my mouth. “That’s it?”
He put his hands up in front of himself defensively. “Full disclosure.”
“Booker, I’ve lived in foster homes where I shared one bedroom with three other people. I think I can handle Dixon.”
“You don’t know him yet. You might regret saying that.” He laughed, then grew serious. “Does that mean you’re coming?”
I smiled and nodded. “I’ve always wanted a vacation.”
Booker pulled me into him, kissing me as if I’d just given him the world when in reality he was the one giving me everything. Maybe we were giving each other everything.
Whatever the case, I’d found Booker when I hadn’t even been looking. Now that I had him, no way in hell I’d ever let him go.
Epilogue
Booker
Paige and I had a good time hanging out with the band, Indie, and Bellamy but damn I’d be happy to get her to myself again once again when everyone went their own ways. I sent my dad a quick text letting him know the situation. That there’d be other people in the house for a couple of weeks. He was fine with it and said he wasn’t coming home tonight anyway, choosing to stay with Mom instead. Mom and Dad would like the guys well enough and since this was my band now, they’d have to get to know them eventually. Maybe knowing them would change Dad’s opinions on being in a band.
Booker (Courting Chaos Book 3) Page 16
