“Why should I trust you?” I asked the two of them.
“Because we’re not the ones too drunk to make good decisions.”
We stopped next to this powder-blue car, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what kind it was. She yanked the door open then pushed me into the front passenger seat, helped with my legs, then slammed the door.
I could hear the women talking outside my window, but fuck if I could make out what they were saying.
Two car door slams later and we were on the road.
“Put your seatbelt on,” the driver told me and I tried. I reached for it, but I couldn’t get the latch thing to work.
She sighed. “Just leave it. I’ll try not to crash.”
“We aren’t that far from the venue,” the woman in the backseat said.
“They’re not at the venue,” I said or thought I said. My words were sloppy as hell.
“Yeah?” She glanced at me. “You’re staying at a hotel tonight?”
I nodded.
“Which hotel?” the one in the back asked.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket, unlocked it, then handed it to her. Fuck if I was going to be able to read it.
“Open the text from Mack,” I told her then closed my eyes.
“They’re staying at the Grand. I’ll put it in my GPS.”
“You know you’re fucking up a huge opportunity.” The driver told me the same thing Mack had said more than once.
“Yeah, yeah.” I sighed.
“No. You don’t get to be dismissive,” she snapped. “Do you know how many people would kill for the opportunity that you have right now? A lot. Some of us have to work shit jobs to pay our bills and you’re out here squandering the chance of a lifetime.”
“Ella.” The voice came softly from the back.
“Why don’t you worry about yourself?” I told the driver.
“If only I had that luxury. Besides, if I hadn’t cared about someone else, you’d be bloody on the fucking floor of that bar right now.”
I closed my eyes again and fought against the movement of the car that was sloshing the alcohol around in my stomach. Suddenly, and I didn’t know how much time had passed, the car came to an immediate stop and the doors opened again.
“Do you want my help?” one asked.
“I’ve got it. You know I’m used to this part,” the driver said as she helped me out of the car. “Plus, it’ll probably bring less attention if it’s just me.”
“OK. I’ll wait out here, but if you’re not back in five minutes, I’m coming in.”
The driver snickered. “Deal.”
The hotel didn’t look familiar, but if she’d said this was where I was staying, then I couldn’t argue.
We passed through the front doors, me still pushing on her small frame for support when I started to try to remember what my room number was.
Nothing was coming to mind.
“I think this belongs to you,” she said to someone. I didn’t see anyone as she dropped me into a chair.
“What the fuck happened? Why are you bringing him here?” my older brother, Mack, asked. I knew his voice too well to pretend it wasn’t him.
“He was at a bar near the venue and was about to get into a fight with this really big meathead. I stepped in, thinking a fight would cause more problems than you probably wanted.”
“Fuck,” Mack muttered. “Thank you. Yeah, that would’ve caused some issues. What’s your name?”
“Ella Matthews.”
“Thanks, Ella. Did he cause you any other problems than driving him back here?”
“No.” She shook her heads. Damn, there were three of her again. “I’m not sure he could be much more of a problem.”
Mack sighed. “You’d be surprised.”
“Well, since you’ve got him and I saw you backstage earlier, I’ll assume you’re not a creeper and go.”
“Backstage?”
“Yeah,” the one who’d said her name was Ella told him. “My friend won the radio contest. It’s her birthday. It was a whole thing.”
Backstage? There was something familiar about this story but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I did know that this woman smelled like the woman I’d bumped into in the hall. It was the shampoo.
“Oh, right.” He snapped. “Sorry about this.”
It was really weird sitting here watching all of them have a conversation with each other, though I was fairly certain it was just Mack and this Ella woman.
“It’s fine.” Though she sounded like it was anything but. “I’m used to taking care of someone who can’t hold their liquor.” Mack chuckled, the bastard. This was the woman I’d brought back to the hotel, not him. Or she’d brought me. Whatever. I could still do what I do with women I bring back to the hotel with her if he’d leave us alone.
“Can we just go up to my room?” I asked her. “I don’t need to hear it from him too.”
She snorted and bent over, her arms over her stomach, her… I thought sea-green eyes wide in disbelief. “You think I’m going upstairs with you?” She stood back up next to Mack. “He must be more drunk than I thought he was. Or delusional.”
“A little bit of both, probably.” He came closer to me but still talked to her. “Is there anything I can do to repay you for this?” The subtext was something that would also make her keep her mouth shut. Mack wouldn’t want anything to do with me hitting the press or the gossip sites.
“No. It’s my good deed for the day,” she said. I was about to push off the chair when she said, “I honestly don’t need anything and I’m not going to spread this online. Emery, my friend, won’t because she adores Pushing Daisies. I can’t attest to anyone else in the bar, though.”
“Sounds like you ended it pretty quickly,” he said.
“I did. But if you really feel like you want to do a little payback, Emery and I are going to the show tomorrow. It’s our last one, then we head back to Grand Rapids. Our seats are shit. Like really bad, so if you come across two anywhere else, you could slide them our way. It would cap off this birthday thing sweetly. You have no idea how big of a fan she is.”
Mack chuckled. “I think I can find something.” He pulled his phone out. “Ella Matthews, right? I’ll leave them at the Will Call.” He tapped away in his phone. Probably a reminder to take care of that in the morning.
“You’re the best.”
“I think you’re probably a much better person than I am.” I definitely didn’t like the tone of his voice as he said that to her. “Thanks again.”
She waved at Mack, scowled at me, then walked out of my line of sight, I assumed to leave.
“Let’s go, hotshot. Get you to bed. You’re going to be hurting in the morning.” He pulled me up by my arm. “You’re just lucky I was already down here when she came in.”
“How’s that lucky?” I asked. “I thought we were headed up to my room.”
Mack’s loud laughter bounced off the walls of the mostly empty lobby. “Man, you have no chance with that woman. I’d bet you never had a chance with her, but now you for sure don’t.”
“Do I smell or something?” He let me go so I could lean against the wall of the elevator.
“Actually, you do. You smell like whiskey and sweat.”
“But if I get a girl back to the bus or hotel or the bathroom, it’s usually a sure thing.” I shook my head out, trying to make sense of what I was saying.
“Bathroom?” Mack asked with shock in his voice. “What the fuck are you doing, man?”
“Women. Lots and lots of women.”
“Yeah. I get that part. That part’s actually fine with me.” He dragged me off the elevator. “But I’ve known you your whole life and this isn’t you, brother.”
“Maybe it is.”
The door beeped, which meant Mack had gotten the key out of my pocket and unlocked the hotel room so we could go inside. It was nice and cool in there. The drop onto the bed almost made me puke, though. That was probably
in my near future.
“Kick your shoes off,” he ordered. “Then lie down. I’ll put some water and aspirin on the table. Take it and drink all of the water. It’s the only thing that’s going to help you.”
I nodded slowly and forced myself farther onto the bed. It felt good to be lying down. “Do you ever think you made the wrong choice?”
“About what?” his voice asked, which meant he had to still be there, but I couldn’t move to see him.
“About this. About taking on the band.”
“No,” he answered quietly. “It’s been my job my whole life to take care of you guys and that’s never going to end. This is what you all needed, so it’s where I needed to be. Why? Do you think you made the wrong choice?”
I tried to shrug, but my shoulders didn’t move. “The pressure’s just too much and I’m not sure that I’m good enough.”
Mack’s hand was now on my back. “You’re good enough. You just have to get out of your own way, Daltrey. And if you don’t do it soon, I’m calling Dad. He set you straight before. He can help me do it again.”
“Don’t—” The loudness of my own voice made me wince. Damn, I needed to talk quieter. “Don’t do that, Mack. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“As per my last statement, it’s my fucking job to worry about you four and, Daltrey, you’re making me fucking worry.”
I wanted to say that I was sorry. Say that I’d stop making him worry, but I couldn’t.
I didn’t know how to do that.
5
Ella
“Why are we going to the Will Call window?” Emery whined as I pulled her around a group of people.
“I told you. I have a surprise for you.”
“I don’t understand what kind of surprise you could have.”
“That’s why it’s a surprise.”
There was no line at the window. I gave the woman my name, then she handed me an envelope. I slid it open and looked at the tickets. With the biggest grin I’ve ever had, I handed the envelope to Emery.
“This is getting annoying, but I have to say it’s the best birthday present I could ever ask for,” she told me after taking the envelope from me. One more night at the hotel and then it was back to real life. “You really are my ride or die, Ella. You didn’t want to do this. This entire week wasn’t what you would’ve chosen to do, but you’re here.”
“Girl, you know I’ll do anything for you and if you wanted to do this for your birthday, then of course we’re here.” I nudged her with my hip. “But look in the envelope and I promise it’ll be even better.”
Finally, my best friend looked in the envelope and her feet stopped where they were as if they’d suddenly become fused with the concrete, causing the guy behind her to almost slam right into her back.
“What? How? How, Ella? How did this happen?”
“I guess this is the reward for taking care of a drunken rock star.”
“But second row! How did it happen? Tell me everything because I feel like you left some things out.
I went back through everything that had happened in the hotel lobby last night and how Mack had asked if there was anything he could do to return the favor. I hadn’t wanted anything, but I’d jumped at the chance to get her better tickets for today.
“You’re amazing.” She squealed. “Second row? I can’t even imagine.”
I looped my arm through hers as we got to the entrance. “Luckily, you don’t have to.”
The usher scanned our tickets and we were let in. There was something bittersweet about this show. Sure, I hadn’t loved these two bands when we’d started, but they’d grown on me and I knew all of the songs they played by now. Tomorrow it was back to Grand Rapids and regular life. For me, that meant back to waitressing, which is fine. I didn’t hate it and I made decent money with tips. Back to doing laundry and all of the other stuff that went with it. Luckily, Emery and I lived together, so I’d still have her. She would also return to work though her job paid a hell of a lot better than mine did. She’d majored in business in college and worked for her dad’s company.
Must be nice to have a family that had your back. She’d even offered to pay more of the rent and expenses, but I couldn’t let her do that. I had to pay my own way.
I wasn’t bitter. It was just reality.
We each bought a bottle of water then headed in to our seats. A much different area than where we’d started the day thinking we would sit.
As we sipped our waters, we chatted with the women behind us. They couldn’t believe that we’d seen so many shows this week or that we’d met the band. Emery was sliding through the pictures Mack had taken, now that I knew his name I’d refer to him as such when we’d been back there. The giggling was contagious.
It was also interrupted.
“Excuse me,” a man dressed in all black with a shaved head and big biceps said. “Is one of you Ella Matthews?”
Emery’s head snapped around, then she looked at me with big, brown eyes. I had no idea what he wanted and obviously, this wasn’t a good thing because no one else claimed to be me the way they probably would have if this was something good.
“I am,” I told him, raising my hand like I was in grade school. “Is there a problem?”
“I’ve been asked to come get you.”
That’s it? That’s the explanation I get? “Uh, OK. Why?”
“Could you just come backstage with me? You won’t be late for the show.”
I wet my lips quickly and glanced at Emery. “I can’t leave my friend. It wouldn’t be very smart for a woman to go off with a strange man alone.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, of course. She can come too.”
Emery and I had a conversation in a glance then scurried out of our chairs to follow this mountain of a man backstage. He took us to a room that looked like it was the dining area and asked us to wait a minute.
The next thing I knew, Daisy, Van, Bonham, and two women I didn’t recognize came into the room. They didn’t seem to be expecting us.
“Oh, hey,” Daisy said with a smile, then she squinted. “Emery, right? The birthday girl yesterday?”
Well, that brought a huge grin to Emery’s face. “Yes. That’s me.”
“What are you two doing back?” one of the twins asked. I didn’t know them well enough to recognize them.
“I don’t know,” I told her honestly. “Some big dude came out and asked us to come here.”
“Asked you,” Emery corrected. “But she didn’t want to go alone.”
I hip-checked her again. “I didn’t want to leave you alone.”
“Ella.” Mack’s big booming voice commanded the room. “Can I talk to you alone for a second?”
I glanced at Daisy and Emery, but neither of them showed any more understanding than I had. “Uh, sure.”
Emery was fine chatting with Daisy and the guys. As I walked over to Mack, Daltrey joined the other group.
He looked a lot better than he had last night. Even as wasted as he was, there were no external signs of it. The benefit of being young I supposed. His dark hair was a perfectly coiffed mess though I thought most guys wouldn’t love having it described that way. He was wearing a blue T-shirt and regular jeans and I could still see the tattoos on his arms. Again, not well enough to know what they were. I should’ve looked last night because, for some reason, I really wanted to know.
The room was big enough that I doubted anyone would overhear us unless we really raised our voices.
“Hi,” he said once I got over to him. He was dressed much like he had been yesterday in dark jeans and a button-down shirt. His dark hair was much more managed than his brothers’, which I understood. He was the business side of the band. They were the talent.
“Hi,” I said back. “We didn’t say anything to anyone about last night,” I told him because that was the only thing this could be about.
He smiled and I was hit with how much all these guys looked a like. They were family. It ma
de sense. It was still surprising. “No, it’s nothing like that. I wanted to talk to you about something else.”
“Oh.” I nodded. “Then shoot.”
“What did you mean last night? When you said you’re used to taking care of someone who can’t hold their liquor, what did you mean?”
“You summoned me in here to ask about my personal life?” I asked suspiciously. He couldn’t have been interested in me. He’d given no signs. This was about something else. While I didn’t exactly hide my backstory, I didn’t usually offer it up to people I didn’t know. “Um, my mom’s been an alcoholic my entire life.” I folded my arms under my breasts then ran my hands up and down the opposite arm. Thinking about her made me uncomfortable. “And she’s a messy drunk. I started taking care of her when I was five. She’d pass out and I’d make sure she hadn’t died.”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly.
“Thank you.” It was always awkward when someone apologized for something that wasn’t their fault. Obviously, I understood why they did it, but it was weird to be on this end. “But I tried to make the best of it. Took care of her. Started doing the grocery shopping when I was ten. When there was money for that because as you can imagine, drunks don’t make the best employees.”
“And now?”
“I’m a waitress. The day I turned eighteen, I told her I wasn’t her mother and wasn’t going to take care of her anymore. I still see her once in a while, but I’ve put up my boundaries and don’t allow them to be crossed.” After rubbing my lips together nervously, I asked, “Do you think your brother has a problem?”
Mack’s eyes jumped to Daltrey across the room. “There’s something going on. I’m just not sure what.”
“Well, there’s lots of help out there if there is a problem and he wants the help. But he has to want it.” I shrugged. “My mom never has.”
“Yeah. I’m just not sure.” He turned back to me. “Which brings us to why I asked you back here.”
“Can’t wait to hear this.”
Mack snorted. “I was thinking last night about how I can best help my brother. As the oldest, it’s definitely my job, but I also have to look out for what’s best for the band. I talked to Lawson—he’s the manager of Courting Chaos—and he agreed with me.”
Daltrey (Pushing Daisies Book 4) Page 4
