Let Me Be the One

by Christa Maurice

  Brian raised the coffee cup to throw at Jason and thought better of it. Cassie would be even less pleased about a husband with a concussion than the plate in the sink this morning. The image of Suzi puckering up popped into his mind, and it was going to be a long time before it went away. “That wouldn’t go over well with my wife.”

  “A problem easily disposed of. I’ll even pay half the settlement. As much as everybody else hates her, you might be able to take up a collection for the other half.” Jason fished in his pocket for the studio keys. “In fact, you might end up with a profit on the deal. I think Tessa would give up a year’s salary to the cause.”

  “What about the kids?”

  “That’s what the writer is for. You get custody of the kids, and she takes care of them.” Jason pushed open the door. “Bonnie goes away, and none of us ever has to see her smug face again. Perfect solution.”

  The Savitar guys came up the stairs, joking and laughing with a lot more enthusiasm than they had greeted any morning yet. Brian had seen Suzi jogging down the mountain early this morning. Could she have made that much of a difference in one night? Would it wear off, or was it a permanent feature of having her around?

  “Logan might object, too,” he said

  “So? It’s her choice. How attached can she be to him? They haven’t even been together a year yet.”

  Brian started the studio coffee pot. Most mornings, it took a few cups before they were up to working, though today might be different. He wasn’t sure how he’d ended up in this mess with Bonnie. When he met her, he’d been crazy about her. Too crazy to notice that all she wanted was a wedding ring. He’d wanted to sow wild oats until they fermented, but stability, home, family had sounded so good in the fantasies she’d spun after those endless tours living out of dressing crates and suitcases. They had kids, but there was no sense of family. There was a house, but no home. Stability? Okay, he had stability, but it was more like cement shoes than bedroom slippers.

  The door opened, and the guys tumbled in like a bunch of puppies. Brian remembered being like that. So excited about the prospect of making an album that none of them could stand to be out of the studio when the work was going on. Now, when Touchstone made an album, the whole band was hardly ever together. They went into the studio, did their bits, and left. With Jason having his own brand new studio in West Virginia, they’d probably be together less than ever.

  “You guys all look on top of it this morning,” Jason said.

  “Our chief cook and bottle washer is in town.” Greg grinned.

  “Chief cook and bottle washer?” Jason asked. “Suzi cooks?”

  “Cooks?” Greg drew a dramatic breath. “What Suzi does isn’t cooking. It’s magic. The stuff that comes out of her kitchen is what they serve in heaven when you’ve been really, really good. The food she describes in her books? She can make all of it from scratch from her head. And this asshole eats it every day.” Greg bumped the back of Logan’s knee, making him stumble.

  “You’re just pissed off because Charity can’t operate a microwave,” Logan muttered.

  “Damn right, I am.”

  Jason arched an eyebrow at Brian before turning to Logan. “So Suzi’s a good cook, too? She sounds like a wonder woman.”

  “Yeah.” Logan glared at Jason. “So, we gonna get to work?”

  Jason stiffened at the chill in Logan’s tone. What had cranked Logan off so much was a mystery, but it wasn’t doing anybody any good. Brian figured he had about ten seconds before Jason went to DEFCON 2.

  “So you guys ready to jump right in? I’ll get everything started up.” Brian walked into the other room and started switching the equipment on. Logan had been grinning ear to ear until Jason had started asking questions about Suzi. Had they been fighting last night, too? It was all the rage these days.

  The Savitar guys wandered into the room, followed by Jason. Whatever tension had blown up a minute ago was gone. Jason wasn’t hanging onto things like he did before he met Cassie, and now that Suzi wasn’t the topic of conversation, Logan had calmed down.

  Logan and Jason were too much alike in the studio. They’d been butting heads since the first day, but this morning was different. This morning sounded less like a creative difference and more like fighting over a woman, which was weird since Jason wasn’t on the market anymore.

  Brian poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. Jason had managed to find the perfect woman by accident. And what did I do? I attached myself to a woman who acts like I’m bothering her all the time and had two kids, so I can’t leave unless I want to lose them.

  If he’d wanted to be a jerk, he’d have emailed Suzi last year when he first started reading her books. Then he could have gotten to her before Logan. He could have been that asshole who left his wife and kids for a much younger woman, and he’d be a lot happier now. Probably, so would they. Bonnie would have his money, or at least a good chunk of it, without the burden of being married to him. The kids wouldn’t have to listen to their parents fight all the time. And Suzi? Could he make her happier than Logan did?

  Too bad he wasn’t going to get the chance to find out.

  * * * *

  A few days later, Suzi stood outside the studio door and took a deep breath. They weren’t monsters. So what if they didn’t like her? The disappointment wouldn’t be crippling. She’d managed to avoid contact for two days, but she couldn’t hide forever. Besides, John had sounded a little stuffy this morning, and she wanted to make sure he was feeling all right. Shifting her grip on the bottle in her left hand, she opened the door with her right.

  Marvelous. Brian sat at the table in the little kitchenette nursing a cup of coffee. Was this what he was doing here all the time? Sitting around glowering? He looked up, and Suzi stiffened.

  “Where’re the guys?” she asked.

  “Studio.” Brian jabbed a thumb in the direction of the hall.

  Jason walked out. “Oh, hey Suzi. What are you doing here?” He refilled his cup.

  “Checking on John.”

  “They’re in there fighting about chords. You might want to give them a minute. Are you working on anything?”

  “Working?”

  Jason raised an eyebrow at her. “Writing a new story? I thought I saw you with your laptop last night.”

  “Oh, yes—I—yes, I am.” Oh God. Dork alert.

  “What’s it about?”

  “An incubus.” Suzi could feel the blood rushing to her face. He was going to ask what that was, and she was going to have to explain.

  “What’s that?”

  Damn. They were both staring at her. She could not say the words “male sex demon” to them. “It’s a kind of demon.”

  Jason nodded. “Cool.”

  Suzi fidgeted. Jason had moved on to stare out the window at the house, but Brian was still watching her. She carried the jar over to the counter and found a teacup. After heating up water in the cup, she stirred in a generous spoonful of orange goop from the jar.

  “What’s that?” Jason leaned over her shoulder, watching her.

  Suzi tensed. “It’s a reasonable facsimile of citron tea.”

  “A what?”

  “It’s close enough. I couldn’t find actual citron tea so marmalade will have to do.”

  “That smells great. Can I have some?”

  Suzi bit the inside of her lip. Jason was standing so close she could feel the heat of his body. “If you want.” She reached up for more cups. Logan would want some, too. Too bad the cups weren’t across the room, giving her an excuse to move. Jason continued leaning over her shoulder, watching her rotate cups of water through the microwave and adding a large spoonful of marmalade to each.

  “Suzi, what are you doing here?” Logan demanded.

  Suzi turned and gained a few inches from Jason. “John sounded a little off this morning so I went to town to get some tea.”

  Logan came over to check the cups,
and Jason shifted back a step. “I’m glad you came in. I missed you.” He kissed her temple.

  “I missed you, too.” She handed him a cup. “Drink up. I don’t want you getting sick, too.” She handed another cup to Jason and set one on the table in front of Brian. She should have asked him if he wanted it first, but she couldn’t bear to get a grunt for an answer.

  Jason took a deep breath of steam before taking a sip. “This is fantastic, isn’t it Brian?”

  “Yeah.” Brian cradled the cup in his hands, letting the steam rise over his face.

  Suzi carried the remaining cups down the hall to the others. Wan and breathing through his mouth, John was slouched against the wall. If he’d been this bad at breakfast, she wouldn’t have let him leave the house. “John, you look awful.”

  “You are here. Logan said he thought he heard you,” John said.

  Greg took the cups out of her hands. He was a little pale, too. Whatever they had, it was going around.

  Suzi checked John’s temperature and felt the glands in his neck. Swollen, just as she’d suspected. He was in bad shape. “You should be in bed.”

  “You coming, too?”

  “You should be in bed alone.”

  Jason walked in, followed by Brian and Logan. “All right boys. Back to work.”

  “John needs to go to bed,” Suzi said.

  “He’s not dying, and we have work to do. You can work through it, can’t you John?” Jason asked.

  John gave him a thumbs up.

  Suzi braced herself. Some battles were worth fighting, and this was one of them. “He could work through it, but he shouldn’t. He’s got some kind of nasty virus his body isn’t prepared for. He needs rest.”

  “Honey, it’s just a cold. It’ll pass.”

  Suzi bristled at the patronizing tone in Jason’s voice. “It’ll pass sooner if he gets some rest. He can’t do any good here, anyway. What he can do is pass his germs around so every one of you gets sick. And then you’ll all be down for the duration.”

  “There’s no need to baby him,” Jason said. “Sometimes you just have to do the job.”

  “We don’t all have to be here,” Logan said, no doubt trying to avert disaster. “And we planned to record guitar, anyway.”

  Suzi held out her hand. “Come on, John.”

  “And who made you a doctor?” Jason asked.

  Suzi opened her mouth to tell him who made her a doctor, but Brian strolled between them and said, “Don’t be a bastard, Ebenezer. We can work around his part. Go back to bed, John. Be here all the earlier the next morning.” Then he walked out of the room.

  “I am not Scrooge.” Jason stomped after him.

  “What just happened?” Toby asked.

  A Christmas Carol. Brian had just quoted Dickens in her defense. She might just have to fall in love with him for that. “Come on John, let’s go.” Suzi grabbed John’s hand. She wanted to get him out of there while her luck held.

  * * * *

  Logan had started sweating bullets when he’d walked into the kitchen and saw Jason standing so close to Suzi. It had taken everything in his power not to yank her away. When they’d started fighting about John, he’d been relieved. Now, he wondered if it wasn’t sexual tension. When you can’t fuck, you fight. Did she want Jason? Did he want her? That was a dumb question. Everybody wanted Suzi. He could see the greed in their eyes the moment they met her. He scraped orange rind into the trash and rinsed his cup. The others were working, but he wanted to see Suzi. Was she still around, or had she run an errand? He’d never hear the end of it if he slipped out to go see her. They already said he was pussy hypnotized.

  “Bit of a dynamo, isn’t she?” Brian asked.

  “A bit.”

  “She’s really talented.”

  “Yeah.” Talented, hot, sweet, innocent. Incredible. Way too good for him. If Jason wanted her, Logan should just get out of the way. Jason could do a lot more for her than he could, and she wouldn’t have to deal with his psycho jealous fans.

  But he didn’t fucking want to. Small moon-shaped bruises on the backs of his hands. She’d latched onto him while they were making love last night and had been horrified when she realized she’d left marks. Suzi was the most magical thing that had ever happened to him. Forming the band, getting a contract, having a hit, touring—nothing compared.

  “So she’s working on another book.”

  Logan grinned. “Yeah.” In addition to sweet, hot, and incredible, she was talented and industrious.

  “What’s it about?” Brian leaned on the table.

  “A sex demon.”

  Brian laughed. “A sex demon?”

  “Yeah.” Logan grinned. Suzi was way too good for him. There had to be a way to keep her.

  Chapter 5

  Now

  Greg stood with him at the car rental place. “That’s your great plan? Go home and wait?”

  “She’s got to come home.”

  “No, she doesn’t.”

  “All her stuff is there.” Logan stuffed his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders. He still wished somebody would deck him. If he could’ve done it himself, he would have by now.

  “I’m sure Brett will be happy to buy her new stuff.”

  Logan ground his teeth. “He can’t replace everything.”

  “I’m sure he’s doing a fantastic job replacing you.”

  “Fuck off.”

  Greg turned and glared at the door to the service area. Then he jerked back around. “I knew you were going to fuck this up. I knew it.”

  “Maybe you should have let me in on the secret.”

  “I did. She did everything for you. Everything. Did that just make it easier for you to walk all over her or something?”

  “I can fix it. She didn’t see what she thought she saw.”

  “Um, I saw some groupie sucking your fingers in the middle of a party. What was really happening?” Greg sneered. “Were you just checking her gums to see if her baby teeth were coming in straight? Was Gillian choking, and you were pulling a piece of gristle out of her windpipe? Do tell.”

  The door opened, and a tech walked in. “The car is in good shape. We found this under the passenger seat.” He held out a phone covered in blood-red rhinestones.

  “Well, now you know why she isn’t answering your calls.” Greg flung out his arms. “What a relief to know she isn’t screening you.”

  Logan swung at Greg, but Greg ducked and swept Logan’s legs. Logan landed hard on his ass. Before he recovered, Greg had grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to his feet. For a second, he hoped Greg was going to give him the pummeling he deserved, but then the fury went out of Greg’s eyes. He shook Logan, tossed him against the wall, and walked out.

  “If you’ll just sign here.” The tech acted as though nothing had happened. Or as if his customers were always beating the shit out of one another. He handed Logan a clipboard with Suzi’s phone balanced on it. The rhinestones were a joke. He’d put them on it for her so she wouldn’t lose it.

  She’d lost it, anyway.

  She’d looked pale and waxy that morning as if she was gonna puke. But the whole point of coming out to California this week had been that stupid party so he could promote the new album. No pockets for her phone in her little denim miniskirt, and she hadn’t carried a purse, so she must have left it in the car. If she didn’t have her phone, then she didn’t have any money or ID either.

  She had to come back for that stuff.

  Logan took his copy and walked out to Greg’s car.

  “And you still think she’s going to come home.” Greg started the engine.

  “She doesn’t have any ID or money. She has to.”

  “How is she going to fly back to Rochester without ID?”

  “Then she’ll go to your house and you’ll—”

  “Hold her prisoner until you come? Not bloody likely. I’m thinking if I find her first, I’m
gonna help her get her shit back and keep you away from her.”

  “That’s what friends are for,” Logan muttered.

  “And I’m beginning to think I’d rather be her friend than yours.”

  * * * *

  “She’s not answering her phone and her voicemail’s full,” Jason reported. “You email her?”

  “I did yesterday, but she didn’t answer.” Brian picked up his bass. His brain no longer felt like a hopped-up hamster on an exercise wheel. Now, it felt like two hopped-up hamsters on the same exercise wheel. If he didn’t hear from Suzi soon, a third one was downing a six pack of Red Bull in preparation to join the first two.

  “Marc didn’t get an answer either. Cassie’s freaking. She wants to hire detectives to hunt her down.”

  “Cassie’s a little overprotective.” Private detectives. That wasn’t a half bad idea.

  “I told her to hold off until we get home. You think she’s still with Cherney?”

  Brian shrugged. He’d been trying not to think about that.

  Bear strolled over, twirling a drumstick through his fingers. “I talked to Logan.”

  “What did he say?” Jason asked.

  Brian stared at a seam in the stage. After the show tonight, they went home. With the sixteen-hour time difference, they’d be landing about four hours before they took off. Add in time to recover from jet lag, and it was going to be at least two days before he could seriously start searching for her. The kids. He got the kids when he went home, too. Bonnie would dump them with him at the airport if she could. Of course, the kids liked Suzi, so they’d be all for helping him search.

  “He said some groupie stuck his fingers in her mouth and that’s when Suzi walked up and saw it and it was just bad timing and there was nothing to it and he’s sorry and do I know where she is because he’s sure she’ll contact one of us because she doesn’t have any ID or her phone or anything on her,” Bear said.