“About?” I raised my eyebrows. This whole conversation was weird. I couldn’t be the only person he knew who’d carried home a drunk person. Plus, we didn’t really know each other.
“I want to offer you a job.”
I furrowed my brows. That was not what I was expecting to come out of his mouth and “I have a job.”
“Right.” He nodded. “And if you take this one, I realize you’ll have to let the other one go, so I’d want to make sure you’re well compensated.”
He handed me a piece of paper with a number on it that was twice what I made a year. Now that had my attention. “What’s the job? I’m a waitress. I can’t imagine you need one of those and aren’t you still touring?”
“Yeah. For the rest of the summer which is how long the job would last.”
There was zero chance of me hiding my shock. “Wait. This amount is for the rest of the tour? Not for the year?”
He chuckled. “The tour. So it’s until October, but there’s also a chance we won’t need you that long, depending on how it goes. Either way, that’s what you’ll be paid.”
My mouth flapped open because I couldn’t find the words. “What’s the job?” I finally forced out of my mouth.
“I need someone to keep an eye on Daltrey. Help him make better choices, I guess.”
“A babysitter?”
He cleared his throat. “I didn’t really want to call it that, but yeah. Lawson had to have someone do that with one of his guys last year. It worked for him, so I’m hoping it’ll work for me. If nothing else, maybe you can help me figure out what’s going on.”
Approximately one point two billion thoughts were racing through my head. The loudest was the amount of money he was offering me. Maybe to him, it wasn’t a lot, but it would be life-changing for me.
“Why me? You don’t know me.”
“I have a good feeling about you. And you got him to leave the bar. He wouldn’t have listened to any of us, that much I know.”
“Yeah, because he thought I was going to fuck him.” I winced at my honesty.
“Probably,” Mack admitted. “But you were still able to do it. Listen.” He moved closer. “Something is going on with him and I can’t figure it out. He… I don’t know… He needs someone he can talk to.”
“A therapist might be a better idea.”
“Yeah. I’m trying to convince him of that. But until then, I need him to not fuck this whole thing up for everyone, including himself.” He took a breath then lowered the boom. I was such a sucker. “They won’t get another chance like this and it’s going really well for them.”
Damn. I’d said something similar to Daltrey last night.
“I’m not saying yes because I need to think about it, but how would this work? When would I start? What would it entail?”
“I was hoping you’d be able to start tomorrow. Join the tour. You have to go home first, right? For clothes?” I nodded, though with this income, I could buy an entirely new wardrobe if I wanted to. “So go home tomorrow. I’d arrange a flight from wherever you are to meet us. Everything on the road would be paid. We’d feed you. You’d live on our bus. Don’t worry. I ride on the bus with him, so he won’t bother you.”
“You’ve got this all figured out, huh?”
“I was up half the night trying to come up with a solution.”
Breathe in and then out. This was a lot to take in. “I need to think about it,” I told him. “I can’t make this decision right here on the spot. I at least need to think about it until I get back to the hotel.”
His face relaxed. “Makes sense and it’s not a no.”
I chuckled. “It’s not a no.”
“Here.” Mack grabbed the slip of paper back from me, scribbled something on it, then handed it back.
It was weird how easy this conversation was. How comfortable I was, given that I was literally standing in a room with rock stars. Rising rock stars, but rock stars nonetheless.
“That my number,” he explained. “Call or text at any time to let me know what you decide. I understand if you decide not to do it, but I’m really hoping this is the answer to figuring it all out.”
“I’ll let you know tonight.”
“Guys,” he called out, causing me to take step back. “You’ve got about ten minutes. Let’s go.”
When I turned, I found that Daltrey had been watching us and I wondered if he had been the entire time. His jaw was hard like he was clenching his teeth. Still, the idea of spending time with him had my heart racing. There were so many reasons taking this job would probably be a bad idea but the biggest was that I couldn’t control the affect he had on me. It didn’t matter that I logically know he’s wrong for me. My lady bits and tender emotions don’t really seem to care.
Emery hurried over to me, then we left the way we’d come in, though this time, no one escorted us. We could’ve stayed back there if we’d wanted to. She even got a peek into the Courting Chaos dressing room as we passed. The door was wide open and they were in there laughing and shirtless. Or some of them were. I didn’t know who were who.
“What was that about?” Emery asked as soon as we were out the door.
It was a brief explanation, but I told her everything.
Emery’s brown eyes widened and while she tried not to show it too much, I saw the excitement brewing. “You’re taking it, right?”
“I don’t know,” I said to her horror. “I’d have to quit my job and go on tour. Can you even imagine?”
“Uh, hell yes, I can imagine. This is an opportunity, Ella.” We slid into our seats. The women behind us were talking and stopped as soon as they saw us. “You don’t miss opportunities. It’s like your thing. You’re doing this.”
“But you’ll be alone.”
She snorted. “Will not. I have friends. It’ll be weird to stay in the apartment alone, but maybe I’ll get a ferret.”
I cringed. “Don’t get a ferret.”
Once her giggling stopped, she said, “Seriously, Ella. You should do it. I would if it were me. I’m kicking myself for not helping you get him into the hotel. Not only is it a lot of money, but this could lead to something else. Plus, hanging out with Pushing Daisies… you can’t turn it down because I need to live vicariously through you.”
She wasn’t wrong.
“First of all, you would not take it. You make so much money and are working in your major.”
She rolled her eyes. “For my father. It’s not exactly ideal.”
“OK.” I gave in as I pulled my phone out and began tapping away. “I’m going to text Mack and see if I can talk to him after the show.” Right away, he responded that he’d meet me by the side stage entrance as soon as Courting Chaos was over. I hadn’t said that I needed to wait that long, but I appreciated him not wanting to mess this show up for Emery and me.
This trip had just taken a turn for the weird. I was supposed to be going home tomorrow for good. Back to normal life. And now I was going to be on tour with Pushing Daisies so I could babysit the one having trouble with alcohol. Or trouble with something because most likely the alcohol was self-medicating something else.
I was going to babysit Daltrey Thompson.
Shit. I was going to babysit Daltrey Thompson.
The lights went out and the music began. Throughout the entire show, I couldn’t stop watching him. There was something about him other than the fact that he was hot as hell and one of his arms was decorated with a full sleeve of tattoos that were sexy as hell. But there was something else as well. His face was drawn like he was masking something else. Sadness maybe? I didn’t know yet but clearly, he was conflicted about something. Hurting and it didn’t sound like he talked to his siblings about it.
I’d do this job because I’d hate to see someone so young and talented waste a single day.
But damn, the more I watched the way his muscles tensed as he played his guitar, the clearer it became that this was an entirely horrible idea.
; 6
Daltrey
I came into the room backstage where we usually eat, if it wasn’t in our dressing room, and I absolutely didn’t expect to see that woman from last night in there talking to Mack. It was weird. We’d met her yesterday at the meet-and-greet, then I’d sort of recognized her at the bar. But neither she nor her friend came over to talk to me, even though the friend was a big fan of ours.
Most fans would’ve come over.
“What’s going on here?” I asked Bonham and Van, who were sitting with Lexi and Jurnie. Daisy was talking to the friend and their laughter was hurting my head. It could’ve been the gallon of alcohol I’d drunk last night, but I didn’t want to blame myself.
“What’d you mean?” Van asked.
“Why are they here? Nobody told me about a meet-and-greet.”
“There isn’t one,” Bonham assured me. “I don’t know. We came in and they were here, then Mack asked to speak to that one alone.” He pointed to where Mack and the woman stood. I wished right then for the life of me I could remember her name. We hadn’t had sex last night, but I knew I’d made a few comments that would’ve led to that if she were a different woman. That’s not to say I wouldn’t have sex with her. She was small and curvy. Hot as hell and, if memory serves, sassy.
Apparently, this one was disgusted by the idea.
At least if my memory served me and I couldn’t be sure that it did.
“First she breaks my guitar, then she—”
“Then she what?” Lexi asks with too big of a smile. She knew something and it was getting on my nerves already.
“Nothing.”
“Brings you back to the hotel last night because you were about to start a rumble?”
“Pft.” I scoffed. “It wasn’t a rumble and I would’ve found my way back one way or another. And how in the hell do you know that anyway?”
“She is the one who brought you, isn’t she? I thought it was her I saw in the Lobby.” Lexi pushed and I wasn’t sure why she was so interested. We’d all gotten to know her since she’d come on tour to visit her brother and then obviously once she’d gotten with Van.
“Are you stalking me, Lexi?” I lifted an eyebrow.
“You wish.”
Van sighed. “Knock it off.” His gaze was locked on me to ensure I knew he was serious, but if she was here to give me shit, I’d give it back to her. That was how this family worked and if she couldn’t handle it, I didn’t know what to tell her.
“Well, your girlfriend seems pretty interested in my life. I can see why, but—”
“Quit being a dick,” Bonham countered because of course he’d come to Van’s aid. Those two were peas in the pod and had been since before they’d been born.
I set my hand on my chest and said, “I’m really not being a dick.”
“You are,” Van said. “You have been for a while and won’t seem to tell anybody why. Given what you’ve been doing lately, it’s got to sting that a woman turned you down. Am I right, Daltrey? Is that why you’re so interested in her?”
My chest burned. “I’m not interested in anybody.”
“Yeah.” He snorted. “That seems to be part of the problem.”
“Uh…” I folded my arms across my chest and stood tall. If my little brother thought he was going to get one up on me, he was out of his mind. “Am I wrong or wasn’t it until very recently”—I pointed at Lexi—“that you were right there with me doing what I’m doing?”
“You can suck my dick, Daltrey,” he spat. Now I knew that I was pissing Van off and for some reason, I couldn’t stop myself.
“Mmm, I don’t think that’s my job.”
It was wrong. I knew it was wrong, but Van was pissing me off. Part of the deal of being brothers was that you didn’t bring girlfriends into an argument. I’d dated. Had girlfriends here or there and it was something we’d never done.
What I couldn’t figure out was why I’d done it now.
“That’s fucked up,” Bonham muttered.
To Lexi’s credit, she didn’t get angry or stomp out of the room the way a lot of women would have. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she did, but she didn’t. She smiled right at me and set her hand on Van’s arm because my brother was about to blow. This was his first real relationship, so all of the feelings he was having right now, anger over me saying something about his girl, the protectiveness, it was all new.
God, I was an asshole and I didn’t want to be. I just didn’t know how not to be right now. Lashing out, drinking, and fucking were the only things that calmed my thoughts and took the pressure off my chest, at least temporarily.
“I’m sorry,” Lexi said sweetly. “Am I supposed to be embarrassed that you just implied that I give him blow jobs? Because if so, I guess I didn’t get the memo. Though I’d be careful mentioning it in front of Lawson. He doesn’t like to think of me that way.”
Jurnie had been completely silent during this conversation, her green eyes bouncing between us as if she were figuring out the dynamic. She was the newest to the family and the most innocent, so she probably was. But even she snickered.
Lexi’s brother, Lawson, was with my sister Daisy and the thought of what I’d just said made me cringe. Fuck. I was digging myself a hole.
“Sorry,” I said in a clipped tone. “I shouldn’t have brought you into this.”
Lexi gave me a wide grin. “You’re forgiven.”
Van visibly relaxed after I apologized. I needed to figure out what the fuck was going on with me. I already knew it was the tour. It was fucking with my head and I couldn’t get a handle on it. Unfortunately, I also couldn’t take a break. That wasn’t how this worked. If I didn’t get to the bottom of it soon, I was going to alienate my entire family.
When I turned away from them, Mack and the woman were still talking. He handed her a piece of paper after scribbling on it, which made my gut tighten. It looked like he’d just given her his phone number and that didn’t sit right with me.
She wasn’t his type anyway, though as far as I could tell, he didn’t have an actual type. I just didn’t want it to be her and I couldn’t explain why.
Mack was somewhat of a secret, even from me. He’d mentioned several times that there was a woman he’d cared about or loved or something. He was so nonspecific that I couldn’t be sure. But they couldn’t be together obviously and because of that, he didn’t really do long-term relationships. I’d tried to get it out of him over the years, but that man’s lips were sealed up tight.
I swallowed back all of my feelings and headed over to Mack and the woman, but before I could get over there, she’d snagged her friend and hurried out of the room. When her eyes met mine, she ran her tongue over her bottom lip and didn’t blink once. There was something wrong with me because seeing her tongue had me picturing her mouth doing some very friendly things to me. That was fucked up. I didn’t even know this woman though that had never stopped me before.
I was quickly becoming a man that my mother wouldn’t be proud of.
Mack said we had ten minutes, which meant that not a lot of explanation was going to happen.
The group of us headed back to the dressing room to make sure we had everything and to do our last-minute hydrating. The rest of them were in a far better mood than I was.
“What was that about?” I asked Mack. He had a couple of inches on me, though I was over six feet tall. It was like nature wanted to remind all of us who was really in charge of our lives.
“What?”
“The girl. The one from the meet-and-greet.”
“The one who brought your sorry ass home last night?”
My stomach tightened. He hadn’t mentioned last night once until now. “Yeah.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
I hated being brushed off. “Are you into her?” Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut?
Mack stopped and turned to me. His arms were over his chest, which was something I noticed all of us brothers did, and he smirked at me. “W
ould it bother you if I was?”
Fuck. “Nope,” I said automatically. Nothing bothered Daltrey Thompson. “Just curious. Would hate to get her into bed then have you butthurt about it.”
Mack belted out a loud laugh. “Good luck with that, buddy.” He clapped me on the back three times. “I’m not sure she’d get into bed with you if it was floating in the ocean and it was the only way to survive.”
“You’re saying she’d choose to drown over lying on a mattress with me?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
That realization didn’t settle in my stomach well. “What the fuck did I do last night?”
Mack stopped and turned to me with a more serious expression. “I don’t think you did anything to her. You were a bit of a conceited dick, though. Acted as if getting with her was a given. Women don’t tend to like that.”
I blew out a breath. Didn’t remember that and didn’t like that I’d acted that way. I also knew that Mack and I had a conversation, but I couldn’t remember the details.
Whatever. Now was the time to put on a show.
The farther we walked down the hall from the dressing room to the stage, the heavier my chest became. I tried taking several deep breaths, but they didn’t help. I was going to have to shove all of my feelings aside and do this show.
Mack wasn’t wrong when he’d told me I was going to fuck this all up for my family. Fuck. Ella wasn’t wrong when she’d said it, either. I didn’t remember much about last night but for some reason, those words were clear as fucking day. It didn’t matter how I was feeling. I’d put myself aside for the greater good.
One thing I was thankful for every night was that Daisy commanded the stage and did most of the talking and bantered with Van. I commented here and there because it’d be weird if I didn’t, but as much as I could, I kept to myself.
I wished I knew what had changed. I’d never felt like this on stage before. I used to love it, actually. It had been my favorite place to be, but that had been for fun. Now… there was so much at stake and I started to feel like a pussy, which made me anxious.
Daltrey (Pushing Daisies Book 4) Page 5
