“Can’t be any worse than my construction worker stench,” he replies just as Zack comes over and sits on his lap.
“And exactly how would she know about your construction worker stench?” Zack asks as Danny shrugs him off.
“He worked for my dad– pretty sure he came home with him to practice with you guys smelling like oil and sweaty man more than once,” I reply, and Zack narrows his eyes. I blink at him until he pouts and goes to where Joey is talking to the director.
“What’s with Zack lately?” I whisper as I lean over.
Danny leans forward onto his knees, and his eyes go to Zack before glancing over at me. “I don’t know. I think he’s suspicious or something.”
My heart hammers in my chest. “Of what?”
He leans back as his shoulders roll. “Not really sure.”
I’m about to push him on the subject when Joey claps his hands. “Alright, boys, time to get back to high school.”
Zack hoots and Danny stands. His voice is sarcastic as he says, “Exactly where I want to go back to.”
“Tell me about it,” I reply as my eyes go to my tattoo on my wrist. When I look up, the guys are taking instructions from the director and every one of them has their eyes on him– except for Danny.
His eyes are locked on me.
At that moment I’m certain he would’ve run away with me if I asked.
I get off the stool and head back to the RV.
It’s the reason I never did.
Chapter 9
I don’t register how much time has passed until I look up and find four cell phones are concentrated on me. I push towards them, doing a tiger claw 540 body varial, where I flip the board up into my hand, spin it, and then jump back on before going into a truck stand to stop. I pull my earbuds out as I jump onto the ground.
“Enjoying the show?” I ask as each of the cell phones lower to reveal the boys are back to their current day selves except Zack, who apparently feels eyeliner is something he’s missed.
Joey nods to my cell phone. “What do you listen to when you’re doing all that?”
“Right now, it’s Incubus. It depends on the day.” I lean my head down and pull my hair up onto the top of my head, securing it with an elastic. When I look back up the guys are all smirking down at me. “Yes?”
Joey rubs his chin as if he’s thinking of something amazing and his brows go up before he looks at his bandmates. “Are you, my fellows, thinking the same thing I am?”
“She’s a lot more coordinated than you are?” Danny comments.
Joey turns to face him, deadpan and then smacks him across the face before turning to the other guys. Danny rubs his cheek, pouting and I lean up and kiss it.
“Slap me next!” Zack says, wiggling his brows at me.
“No,” Joey says, crossing his arms. “It won’t help you. Now, fellows, are you thinking what I am?”
“She’s a lot more coordinated than you are?” Zack asks, fluttering his eyelashes.
Joey lifts his hand and then shrugs. “You have a point — but is there anything else you’re thinking about?”
“That we should play in the background while she does that skateboard dancing shit,” Aaron replies, and he attempts to do some sort of footwork but almost falls on his ass.
I stifle a laugh. “Apparently, none of you are as coordinated as me.”
“You’re not coordinated enough to play drums,” Danny points out, and I turn to face him slowly. He steps back putting his hands up. “I don’t want Joey to kiss me.”
Joey makes kissy lips at him, and I turn to Aaron. “It’s called longboard dancing.”
His hands go up. “I got part of it right, and technically that is a skateboard, just because it’s long you call it something special like that dinghy thing.”
“I know something else that’s long!” Zack says, and I turn to see him putting his cheek out for me to smack him. When I do he turns to Joey, but instead Danny grabs his face and kisses his cheek.
“Okay,” I say, dragging out the word. “Now that this just got really weird.”
Zack puffs his chest out. “You’re just jealous.”
He’s suspicious. I try to keep my face from flushing, but still, it burns.
Danny seems to sense I’m uncomfortable, and interjects, “You up for it, Sky? Whatever song you want.”
“Sure,” I say, turning to go to the RV when I want to start dancing again or just cruise fast enough that all I can think about is keeping my wheels from wobbling.
Joey comes up behind me and puts his arm around me. “You okay, Sky?”
“Yeah,” I say smiling up at him.
“Not homesick?”
Zack comes up on the other side of me and puts his arm around me, too. Danny takes Joey’s other side, while Aaron takes Zack’s so we form a single, linked line.
“Home is wherever you fools are,” I reply.
“So what’s for dinner, Mom?” Zack asks when we reach the RV.
Danny opens the door, and the smell of the roasted chicken drifts out the door.
“Oh, my God. I’m going to die and go to heaven,” Joey says as the guys fight to get onto the RV. I’m the last one in, and I find them all leaning down and staring into the oven with drool dripping down their chins.
“Is that homemade stuffing?” Danny asks.
I nod, and he pulls me into a hug. “You’re the best.”
“I try,” I mumble into his shoulder as I inhale his scent, trying not to lose myself in his arms. The word suspicious goes through my brain, and I’m the one who pulls away. Danny’s lips move into a thin line before he sits down at the table. He pulls out his cell phone, and his brows hover over his eyes as he looks at it.
“Blasphemy!” Zack yells from the bathroom, coming out waving a box of green dye. “This is blasphemy!”
“Oh, snap!” Joey says as Zack flops down next to Danny.
“Green? Really? I mean really?” Zack asks, and I shrug before turning to finish dinner.
Aaron is busy going through the cabinets when he stops and opens a container with his name on it. I smile at him as I add some flour to the drippings from the chicken. “Made with almond butter, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, honey and sesame seeds.”
“Wow,” Aaron says as he takes a bite and his eyes roll. “You remembered I don’t like peanut butter?”
“Yup. Mom always had almond butter for your sandwiches, even after you guys left on tour,” I reply as I pull a bag of veggies out of the freezer and pop it into the microwave.
Joey’s now looking through the cabinets, and pulls a box of cereal out, hugging it to his chest.
“Lucky Charms,” he murmurs to himself.
Zack gets even more pouty, while Danny keeps his eyes on his cell phone.
“So,” Zack says, wagging the box of green dye in my face. “You made stuffing for Danny, special protein bars for Aaron, got Lucky Charms for Joey, and you get me the wrong dye?”
Joey picks up a box from the cabinet and tosses it at the back of Zack’s head. He turns and looks to the ground.
“Oh! Oreos!” He picks them up. “Double stuffed!”
“For what it’s worth, I thought the green would look nice with your eyes,” I reply as the microwave beeps.
When I turn back around Zack’s staring down at the dye and the Oreos. “So you thought it out?”
I shrug.
“She thinks everything out,” Danny says, his eyes finally coming up from his cell phone to lock on mine. “She’s always thinking of everyone but herself.”
“We’re lucky,” Aaron says as he sits down across from Danny.
“And hungry?” I ask and they all nod. “Get a plate, take what you want.”
The guys fall into conversation about the new video, and I pull my cell phone out to see an alert. I sit down next to Joey and click on it.
Danny’s Twitter handle appears with a video of me longboard dancing and the caption, she’s most
beautiful when she’s free.
I close my eyes, inhaling before I look across the table to him. The table is small enough that I can feel his knees against mine. He gives me a soft smile, pushing closer to me before he’s dragged into a conversation with the guys.
Maybe Zack’s suspicious of us both. I look down at the caption again, placed somewhere for the whole world to see.
And Danny doesn’t seem to care.
Chapter 10
Danny makes good on his promise the next morning, waking me up in time to get a warm shower. The best part just happens to be the fact that he does it shirtless. I’m starting to learn that the guys are shirtless most of the time. I haven’t figured out exactly why yet. I smile to myself as I run a brush through my hair. I’m pretty sure I don’t care if I ever figure out the reason.
“Hey,” Aaron says from the doorway, and I turn to find another shirtless man, this one complete with washboard abs. “I was wondering if you’d be up for that tattoo tonight? I have a friend that just happens to be in the area who has an opening.”
“Just happens to be in the area?” I ask, and Danny comes into my room and flops on my bed.
He leans back on his elbows, and his muscles bulge beneath his tattoos, completely shown by the cut-off sleeves of the t-shirt he’s wearing. GLMOR KILLS is written across the front.
“And how exactly is this person a ‘friend’?” Danny asks with air quotes. He smiles up at me as I sit next to him. His hand naturally falls to my thigh, and he squeezes it.
“That too,” I say.
Aaron shrugs, his lips going down. “Well, he’s more like a friend of my tattoo guy in Baltimore, but he recommended him and his shit’s good.”
“Did you guys all use the same artist?” I ask, and Aaron nods. “Then I’d rather just wait for a time when I can get in to see him.”
Danny’s already on his cell phone with his free hand. “Looks like we’re heading down to Maryland within the next two weeks. Pennslyvania is our concert beginning of next week, then Delaware and Maryland.”
“That works too,” Aaron says. “I’ll see if I can get anything more about our schedule and get you booked in.”
“Thanks, Hawk,” I reply, and he smiles wide as he runs his hand through his hair and it sticks up into its signature style.
Aaron heads back into the main part of the RV to finish getting dressed, and Danny moves sideways to put his head in my lap.
“So,” he says, looking up at me. “How’s Sky doing today?”
“You’re going to make Zack jealous,” I reply as I run my hands over his buzz cut.
Danny’s eyes close. “Good. He lives to be a pain in our asses.”
“I thought that was just me.”
Danny laughs, and I can’t help smiling. “We have an interview today at some point during the video shoot. Alternative Sound– they’re going to ask us all kinds of questions about who we were in high school. It’d be cool if you could take some pics to post online?”
“It’d be my pleasure as long as no one asks me about high school,” I reply, and his eyes open.
His chest rises as he sighs. “You’re making me wish we’d waited to go on tour.”
I shake my head. “No, don’t say that. Look where you guys are now– signed to Fallout Records– a major label. You’re going to make it. And I’m going to because I’m here.”
“How’d you get through the bullying?” Danny asks, sitting up.
It wasn’t the worst part.
“I knew other people lived through worse, and words are just words– right?” I reply, and Danny looks down at his hands.
I put my head on his shoulder, and he glances down at me. “It’s the scars people can’t see that hurt the most, Sky.”
I swallow and look straight ahead.
“You’re not telling me everything, are you?” he asks, voice low, and I close my eyes. “I wish you’d just tell me.”
“What good would it do to relive a past neither one of us can change? And I know you’d want to do that–to change it and make it better, but you can’t. Today’s what matters.”
Danny’s throat moves up and down as his gaze flicks over my own. “Not if yesterday is what’s holding you back.”
“I’m fine, Danny. I promise,” I reply, and he looks into the living area, seeming to check what the guys are doing. Then he takes my face in his hands, and my heart starts that crazy out of beat stammering.
“You’re hurting, Sky. I can see it every time you look at that tattoo. You wanted to heal, and that’s why you got it, but you can’t because you haven’t let anyone in. I let you in when everything was the darkest. I promise whatever happened, whatever darkness you experienced, I can make it hurt less.”
“How?” I whisper without bothering to fight the fact I’m in pain. I am and hiding it from everyone makes it hurt even more.
“By holding you– understanding when maybe I shouldn’t– being whatever you need. Being what you were–are to me.”
“Yo, Madman!” Zack calls from the front, and Danny pulls away, wincing at the nickname.
“What?” he yells back, his hands in fists.
“We have to get going. I’m surprised Mom hasn’t told you to get your butt out here and eat your Wheaties!”
“I actually got you everything bagels and veggie cream cheese,” I say, and Danny laughs into his hand, shaking his head.
“Of course, you did. I’m guessing you’d like one, too?” Danny asks as he stands and holds out a hand for me.
“You know it.”
I take his hand and he pulls me up, so our faces are inches apart.
He pushes my bangs behind my ear, fingers soft against my skin. “I’m not going to force you to tell me, Sky–but I’m here when you’re ready.”
Chapter 11
I spend the morning learning what it takes to shoot the music scenes for a video, and when the director calls for break the guys are all in various forms of overly sweaty and smelly. Danny points his drumsticks at me and then to his drumset.
“You seriously want to try that again?” I ask, putting my hands on my hips and staying where I am.
Danny’s eyes narrow on me, lips in a thin line that demands I listen.
“I can sing– I can’t play any instruments–” I begin, and I’m immediately pounced by Zack.
“You can sing?” he asks, and I shrug him off. “Then why the horrid rendition of Night Owl for us?”
“I don’t sing in front of other people,” I reply, and my eyes drift over to Danny. He and Joey are the only ones I’ve ever let hear me. Joey’s always known, and Danny happens to know because I used to not be able to contain my urge to sing in the shower. The only reason I can contain myself on the tour bus is because of our two-minute time limit.
Zack crosses his arms and stares down at me. “I don’t believe you.”
“She is related to me,” Joey replies as he grabs a towel and then dries his face and hair. He looks over at Danny and then back to me. “I don’t think that’s going to get you out of this one, Sky.”
“Do not make me come get you,” Danny growls, and I throw my hands up.
“Don’t you want to get some pizza or something?” I ask as I slouch and walk over.
“It’s the only time when those guys will be distracted enough to let me attempt to teach you,” he replies as he stands and hands me the sticks.
“So you’re going to hover over me all nasty?” I groan as I sit down.
He leans down, wrapping his arms around mine and loosens my grip on the sticks.
“Exactly,” he whispers into my ear, and the hair on my neck stands up.
“You smell,” I manage to shoot back, but I’m too breathless for it to sound like a complaint.
“We’ll just do the arms first,” he says, and he starts guiding me to each of the areas he wants me to hit. I know enough to keep my hands loose, so the sticks move freely with our movements. It’s a repetitive beat, and after a second h
is arms move to rest on my shoulders and his leg snakes around to hit the bass drum pedal. I keep the beat he’s taught me, and I can feel the movement of his leg next to my own. “Alright, now take over the pedal. I’ll keep tapping my foot next to you, so you have the beat.”
I do as he says, keeping my movements in sync with his. Then he signals for me to hit the China and come back to the rhythm.
“Shit, miracles do happen!” Zack says with a mouth full of pizza, and Danny does me the distinct pleasure of flicking him off.
I concentrate on the beat, pulling my lip into my mouth like Danny does, and I glance up at him. He rolls his eyes, and I imitate him getting really into the beat. My whole body moves as I speed up the rhythm and realize I’m playing a small part of Night Owl.
“Maybe it is easier than Danny makes us think,” Aaron comments, cocking his head at me. I, very accurately, let one of the sticks fly. It hits him in the chest before he can react. “You could’ve poked my eye out!”
I stand and point the remaining stick at an open-mouthed Zack. “You want to go?”
He responds by shaking his head slowly. “I call dibs on Sky for the next time we play dodgeball.”
“Ah ha!” Danny says, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me into him. “Not so fast. She’s mine!”
A woman walks into the room with eyes wide. “And here I thought the only taken one was Joey!”
“Technically, Danny’s not taken,” Aaron explains as he wipes his hands on a brown paper napkin, and then reaches out to shake her hand. “You must be Jennifer from Alternative Sound?”
“I sure am.” She peers around Aaron to where Danny still has my back pressed against his chest. “I know who the guys are, but you’re?”
Danny seems to realize he probably shouldn’t be holding me so intimately and let’s go, coughing into his hand as he goes to get a piece of pizza.
I step off the set and pick up the stick at Aaron’s feet before shaking her hand. “Skylar — Joey’s sister.”
“The photographer! I’ve seen some of your pics since you started helping manage the band’s social media. Impressive. It makes sense you can catch them so naturally when they’re all apparently very comfortable with you,” she says, and her eyes move to Danny. They drift over his tattooed arms and my jaw clenches. “The boxer earthquake was the best.”
Out of Beat (Boys of Fallout Book 1) Page 5
