“You want to sing the same song we sang a few days ago?” he asked, grabbing her hand.
She couldn’t believe he was being so touchy-feely with her in front of his fans, but she couldn’t deny that she liked it. “Sure,” she told him softly into the mic. “If they don’t mind.”
“Nah, they don’t mind.” He pointed out to the crowd. “Do ya?”
Jared started playing the opening chords of the song and the crowd screamed, pulling out cell phones and recording devices. This time Hannah was more in control of the situation and not so caught off guard, her voice was much surer and much stronger than before. In a matter of minutes the song was over and everyone was screaming for them. Hannah went to get down from the stool when Garrett appeared in front of her, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her down. She reached up and gave him a hug.
“Thanks for inviting me out here,” she told him.
“Thanks for coming.” He settled his hands on her hips and spread his legs, leaning so that he was more on her level. Before she knew what he was doing, he leaned down, kissing her in front of all the fans. The screams were deafening, even to the two of them. When he pulled away, he tapped her hip slightly. “See you in about thirty more minutes.”
When she got back into the wings, her phone was already buzzing. One message was a text message from Shell.
So you have so much to tell me! I just read that Garrett kissed you on stage at his concert. I’m expecting all the details!
Hannah knew she had been neglecting her friend for the past few days, but it had been needed.
I’ll call you when I’m on my way to Kansas City. I’ll need your help to stay awake anyway.
Not knowing when she would have the chance to do so again, she took a picture of Garrett on stage, standing in front of the drum kit. From where she stood, it was of him with the crowd behind him. She knew that everyone would love it, so she uploaded it to her Instagram and tagged him in it.
@ReaperBF doing what he does best! Look at that crowd behind him! Thanks for having me out!
Putting her phone in the back pocket of her jeans, she decided she would enjoy the rest of the show and worry about the rest later.
* * *
“I can’t believe you have to go. I kinda wish we sang the same type of music, and then I could bug management to let you stay on my tour.” Garrett pushed her hair back from her face as they stood outside the venue.
He had her boxed in at the SUV, one hand at her hip, one hand at her hair. She was doing her best not to show him just how much she was going to miss him. This had become so normal for her in such a short amount of time. It scared and thrilled her all at once.
“I know, I wish that too, but maybe our differences are what make us want to be together so much,” she told him, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“And she’s smart too,” he whispered, putting his hands at her neck and pushing her head up so he could see her eyes. She rewarded him with a small laugh that tugged at him. “I really think I’m gonna miss the hell outta you,” he told her truthfully.
“I think I’m gonna miss you too. You have that way about you, Garrett Thompson.” She played with the shirt that covered his chest.
“Oh yeah,” he flirted. “What kind of way is that?”
“The way that makes just about every woman you come into contact with want to fall at your feet. You smile with those dimples of yours and the whole population just wants to tell you ‘yes’ to anything you ask. You’re kinda funny too.” She tilted her head up, placing a kiss at his jawline.
“You have that way about you too, Hannah Stewart. That’s why I’m going to miss you so much. I really wish I could drive down with you to Kansas City, but we gotta be out of here in just a few minutes,” the apology was in his voice.
“I understand. Sometimes this relationship isn’t going to be easy, and I think it would be good if we realized that now.” She put her arms around his neck and hugged him. She squealed as he tightened his arms around her, lifting her off the ground with the strength of his embrace.
“You’re right, we’re going to have to get used to this. I’ll call you later?” he asked as he let go of her, setting her back on the ground.
“I’ll be waiting on it. We can always FaceTime, and you know how I love to Instagram.” She did her best to smile brightly for him.
He could tell that she was sad, even after their short amount of time together. “We’ll see each other soon,” he promised. “Have a good show tomorrow night, and be careful tonight. If you need anything, just call. I’ll pick up, no matter what time it is.”
“Same here,” she told him, walking over to the driver’s side and popping the door open. “Tell the guys thank you for welcoming me so nicely. I meant to say something, but I completely forgot about it.”
“I’ll be sure and let them know,” he told her as he watched her buckle her seat belt before pulling out into traffic.
For the first time in a long time he went back to his bus and onto the next city with a very heavy heart.
Chapter Fifteen
* * *
“Why in the world do I have so many notifications?” Hannah asked out loud a few days later as she and Shell sat at dinner.
“I have no idea. You know I don’t follow that social media crap that you do. Your hot boyfriend probably posted something about you,” Shell quipped.
Even though her face flushed, Hannah shook her head. “He’s not my boyfriend. We haven’t put a label on it. More than likely it’s that Rocker’s Edge magazine that’s been posting crap about me the last few days. Our fans are okay with us being together, but this magazine hates that one of their own is fraternizing with the ‘enemy’. Garrett told me to ignore it, but they keep tagging me.”
“Whatever about the magazine. Just block them and move on with your life. Back to Garrett. You stayed with him for a couple of days and you kissed. The two of you text, talk, and do all kinds of other stuff all the time. He’s your boyfriend.”
Leave it to Shell to cut to the heart of the matter and decide to stop beating around the bush. “Like I said, we haven’t put a label on it, but I do talk to him every day.”
“You tell yourself what you need to, but you do need a label for it.”
Hannah checked her phone and saw that she had been tagged on a picture from Instagram, but it was one of her with the entire band.
We miss you @HarmonyStewart! Come hang on with us again soon! BF
“Aww, that was sweet. The guys from the band posted a picture we all took together and told me they miss me.” She turned her phone around so that she could show Shell.
“Which one is that?” Shell asked, pointing to Jared, who was pictured sitting beside Hannah and Garrett in the booth.
“That’s Jared.”
“He’s cute,” Shell commented.
Did she tell her friend about what Garrett had confided in her? “He is and he’s nice, but he’s got some…issues,” she finally said.
“Don’t we all?” Shell mumbled.
“His are a little bit more complicated than other people’s, but he did ask me for your number. He said he thought you were kind of cute.”
Hannah bit her lip. She shouldn’t have said that—now Shell would be interested.
“He did?”
“Yeah, but seriously, I don’t know if I want you involved with him.”
Shell regarded her with keen eyes. “What do you know that you aren’t telling me?”
It wouldn’t be breaking Garrett’s confidence if she was just trying to warn a friend, Hannah reasoned with herself. “According to Garrett, he’s had and continues to have some substance abuse issues. I get the feeling he gets clean and can stay there, but then things happen in his life and he falls off the wagon.”
“Have you ever seen it?”
“Not the using, but I did witness some very dramatic emotion switches,” Hannah answered. “I was only around the group for a small amount of time
. I did hear him and Garrett get into an argument one day when I was talking to him. It was pretty heated.”
“Well, I guess it’s my decision then on what I want to do,” Shell sighed.
“That it is. I can give him your number if you want me to, and then it’ll be your decision on if you want to answer the phone.” Hannah stopped and looked at Shell, a small smile playing on her face. “I have a feeling I’m going to be hanging out with these guys a lot, so I want you there with me. Having said that, I don’t want you in a place that’s going to hurt you. You’re my best friend.”
Shell pondered that for a minute. What would be the problem if she was friends with someone who obviously needed one? While it had been fine for her to be by herself for a few days, did she really want her friend to go off and have a life that didn’t include her? Since becoming Hannah’s assistant, the time she had for herself had become very little. If she didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves to her, then she might not have a life at all.
“Oh what the hell? Give him my number, and then I’ll decide if I want to answer it if he decides to call.”
“You’re sure about this? I don’t want you to do something that you feel like you have to because of me.”
“How long have you known me, Hannah?”
“Too long,” she joked.
“You’re so funny, but really, when have I ever done something I didn’t want to do?”
She had a point. Usually it was Hannah doing things that she didn’t want to because she felt like she had to. It was never Shell. Shell had no qualms about telling anybody no.
“Okay, I’ll give the number to Garrett to give to Jared.”
* * *
“This has been the longest damn day ever,” Garrett sighed.
He unfolded his body onto the couch that had been set up in the backstage area of the venue they were at. He coughed loudly, putting his hand up to his forehead. Thankfully, their show was done for the night, but that didn’t make him feel any better.
“You alright?” Jared asked as he walked by him. “You sounded like you were losing your voice out there.”
“I feel like shit,” he blew out a breath and rolled over on his side. “Grouchy as fuck too.”
To be honest, he didn’t feel like dealing with anyone. This was the part he hated most about touring. You did it until your body wore down and you were so tired that you couldn’t fight off the sickness anymore. What he did want to do was go collapse in his bunk and sleep for the next twenty-four hours. Better yet, sleeping in his own bed at home would be magnificent.
“Do you want us to leave you alone?” Jared asked, having a seat in the chair opposite the couch.
This was exactly why they were best friends. Jared could be one of the most compassionate people in the world. They had been through a lot in their lives together. In their teen years, Jared was the one usually getting hauled home with him in the back of a squad car. This was his best friend.
“When we get on the bus, yeah. I’m in a foul-ass mood.”
“Well you hid it pretty damn good out there on stage,” Jared complimented him.
“I didn’t start feeling bad until about the third song from the end. It hit me like a fuckin’ brick wall. My head hurts, I feel shaky, I’m hot then I’m cold.”
Jared took a drink of water from the bottle he carried in his hand. “That’s what you get for walking out in freezing ass cold weather to try to impress a woman.”
Flipping him the bird required way too much work, but Garrett was able to do it. “It’s worth it if I’m sick because of that. That day was one of the best I’ve had in a long time.”
The fire in Jared’s eyes dampened, and he cleared his throat. “I’m glad, man; you deserve it. I know I gave you a hard time a few weeks ago about the free booze, the free pussy, but I get what you’re saying about it being lonely. I don’t know…it just hit me hard the past few days. It’s a lonely life we live. Not many people could put up with it.”
“I miss this,” Garrett whispered from where he lay on the couch. “You talking to me like this.”
“Don’t grow a vagina on me now.” Jared bounced from one foot to the other.
“Seriously, you’re my friend. My best friend. No matter what you have going on in your life, I’m here for you. I get frustrated because I know that you could do so much better and I know that you’re not a dumbass.”
“Believe it or not,” Jared reached down and grabbed Garrett’s hand, helping him sit up on the couch, “I appreciate where you’re coming from, and I’m a lucky bastard to have you in my corner, but I’ve gotta get out of my own head. That comes on my time, not anyone else’s.”
“I know,” he nodded. “But I wouldn’t be your friend if I didn’t at least tell you how I felt. I’m scared for you. I don’t want to bury your ass, so don’t make me.”
Those last words affected Jared. He could tell by the way he stiffened and got quiet for a few moments. If one word that was said to him could change the course of his life, Garrett would say whatever he needed to—whenever he needed to.
“Let’s get you on the bus. You really do look like shit.”
* * *
A bus with three other people could sometimes be the loneliest place in the world, Jared decided a few hours later. Everyone else had crashed, and they had quarantined Garrett as best they could. For a group of men, they’d done a pretty good job of figuring out that he was indeed running a fever, and he had the disposition of a woman delivering a child. They were giving him a very wide berth. For the third time in the past three hours, he heard Garrett’s phone go off and again saw Hannah’s name on the ID. Making a decision, he picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Hi, I was trying to reach Garrett,” Hannah started. The voice on the other end of the line wasn’t Garrett, but it was familiar. Hannah bit her lip, wondering if she had called the right number or not.
“Yeah, Hannah, I know. It’s Jared.”
“Oh hey,” she said. Why was he answering Garrett’s phone? This was beyond weird.
“Sorry to confuse you like this, but Garrett’s sick, and he left his phone out here so he could get some sleep. I saw that you’ve called a couple of times and figured you’d be worried since you two talk every night,” Jared explained, hoping that he didn’t sound as jealous as he felt of their ability to talk to each other the way they did.
“He’s sick? Is he okay?” she asked quickly.
“He’s got a fever, and he was complaining of body aches. He’s not the happiest of people right now. Trust me when I say you’re lucky that he left his phone out here.”
She could hear the laughter in Jared’s voice. Settling in, she bit her lip and wondered if she should just go ahead and talk to Jared. Telling Garrett to relay the message now was pretty stupid. This was Garrett’s best friend. They would learn to be friends and get along themselves.
“I hope he gets better soon. When he wakes up, will you tell him I called?”
“I sure will. If he doesn’t break his fever by morning, we’ll get him to a doctor. He’s our frontman, he can’t be out of commission for too long.”
There was a small silence, and he could hear Hannah’s voice over the line. “Jared?”
“Yeah?”
“I know I told you the other day that I wouldn’t give you Shell’s number, but you came up in conversation and she said that she wouldn’t mind if you had it. If I give this to you, I’m trusting you not to hurt her.” She held back what she really wanted to say, and he could tell by the tone of her voice.
“Just go ahead and say what you want to. If Garrett trusts you enough to tell you my secrets, then he really cares for you, and if he cares for you that much, you’re a really good person. I should go ahead and say that I’m sorry about what I said to you. Sometimes my mouth gets me in trouble, and I should know better at my age but I obviously don’t sometimes.”
She blew out a breath. “He did tell me
, and I want you to know that I don’t think badly of you, at all. Things happen in life, and people react to them in different ways. What I do care about is if you hurt my friend and if you hurt Garrett.”
“I’m trying to be better…”
She cut him off. “Why not just be better instead of trying?”
The no-nonsense tone of her voice wasn’t degrading; it was simply asking a question.
“It’s hard for people who don’t live the addict lifestyle to understand, and I don’t expect you to. Just know that I am doing the best I can with what I have. I’m going to kick this one day. I have too.”
“As long as you’re making progress,” she relented. “I’m giving you this number, and I warn you—she is my very best friend in this whole world. Please don’t make me regret it.”
“I could say the same to you. Garrett is my very best friend in the whole world, don’t screw him over. Don’t play with his head.”
They were quiet for a moment, both of them weighing what the other had said. Curiosity got the better of Hannah.
“Does your telling me this have anything to do with the other woman he brought out on tour with him?”
He laughed, but it was a hollow sound. “We never got along, she and I. I like you. You don’t make him choose between us, you let him make his own decisions. Just like you coming out to the bar with us, you chose to do something fun. I respect that. He’s never had a girlfriend like that.”
“We’re not putting labels on it,” she told him quickly.
This time he laughed flat out. “Yeah right.”
“Well there ya go,” she told him dryly. “You and Shell have something in common already.”
A few minutes later, Jared hung up the phone, happier for his friend and himself than he’d been in a very long time.
Chapter Sixteen
* * *
Garrett groaned as he rolled over in his bunk. His body ached and he was freezing. His head pounded as he fought to lift himself up, causing his vision to swim.
“You alright in there, man?” he heard Jared ask as he pushed the curtain back.
Only The Beginning (Rockin' Country) Page 10
