Incidental Happenstance (22 page)

            “I just thought it would be more fun to watch her discover it on her own,” Tia grinned. “And it was. I know I’ll never forget that face. I wish I had a picture of that.”

            “I’ll check around,” Dylan said. “We’ve always got guys filming stuff, for videos and all that. Maybe someone got it. I agree, it was…interesting.”

            “Don’t you dare!” Lexi snapped, but she was laughing too. “OK, I just have to say this. I’m a huge fan, and being in the front row was so amazing—I just had the best time!”

            “I’m glad,” Dylan smiled. “Now if you ladies will excuse me, I’m in desperate need of a shower.” He turned to Tia. “I need 15 minutes, tops. Can you meet me with the car at the side entrance? Jessa will show you where to pull in.” He planted another kiss on her lips.

            “Yep, see you in a bit,” Tia answered and turned to Lexi as Dylan left the room.

            Lexi grabbed both of her arms and stared into her eyes. “Oh. My. God!” she squealed excitedly.

            “So you keep saying, but I know!” The two of them jumped up and down together like school kids. “He’s just so awesome—in every sense of the word!”

            “Yeah, and what you said about things being hot between you?” She waved her hand toward Tia in the “get outta here” gesture. “It’s intense! I could feel the tension like it was a physical thing in the room. Like a volcano about to erupt.”

            “I know,” Tia smiled, blushing. “Believe me, I feel it too. I don’t know if it’s because we both know that we have such a short time together or what, but things keep bubbling up and I don’t know that I could stop them if they got much higher. I don’t think I want to stop them.”

            “Oh my…”

            “Shut up Lex.”

            Lexi laughed. “Shutting.” She put her hand over her mouth and shook her head to regain control. “But OK, so about tonight. If Dylan’s riding with you, you obviously don’t want me tagging along. Do you want me to follow you, or what? Where are we even going?”

            “Icon,” Tia answered. “But actually, we thought that there’d be room in the limo since Dylan won’t be in it, and maybe you’d want to ride with the guys. They’re going to go schmooze with the fans outside for a little bit first before they head over, so we’ll just meet you there. The limo can bring you back for your car after.”

            Another presence burst into the room. They both turned their heads, and Penelope stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, shooting daggers from her eyes. “Are you still here?” she spat. Tia smiled back at her and shrugged. “I guess you must be Tia, then.” She said Tia’s name as if it left a bad taste in her mouth, and her expression could only be described as ominous.

            “Oh my God,” Lexi gushed once again. “You’re Penelope Valentine!”

            “Obviously,” she said with apparent disgust. She turned back to Tia. “I hope you enjoyed your little dedication. God knows what you had to do to get it.” She raised her nose in the air. “So where is he now? I need to speak with him urgently, so don’t play games with me again.”

            Tia looked at Lexi with a warning in her eyes to keep her quiet. “All the guys went back to their dressing rooms to shower and clean up.”

            She’d barely finished the words before Penelope turned on her heel and walked out in the direction of the dressing rooms without another word to either of them.

            Lexi looked at the dooroh, she seems like kind of a bitch,” she said. 

            “She is,” Tia agreed. “She’s been hunting Dylan down all day. That’s why I didn’t see the whole Outcast set—after he got off the stage we found out she was looking for him and spent the rest of the time hiding out in his dressing room.”

            “Hiding out, huh? That sounds sexy,” she crooned.

            “Oh it was, believe me!”

            “So what does she want?”

            “Aside from being crowned queen of the world?” Tia said with a smirk. “Who knows? She just showed up and demanded to see him.” Tia smiled. “Obviously, she didn’t. She demanded front row seats, too, but that didn’t work out for her either.”

            “Well, she’s going to find him now,” she answered. “Shouldn’t you go and protect him, or something? She’s a big Hollywood star!”

            “Don’t worry,” Tia smiled knowingly “She won’t find him. But if she tries to talk to you again, don’t tell her where we’re going, OK? He doesn’t want to deal with her, so we definitely don’t need her showing up uninvited again at Icon.”

            “No problem,” Lexi nodded. “Not a word from me.” She looked down at her casual outfit and frowned. “I’m already going to be upstaged by everyone in the place. I wish I had a change of clothes—I don’t look hot enough for Icon!”

            “Well, I guess next time you’ll have a little more faith in me,” Tia said simply. “You should know that I have pretty high standards when it comes to guys.”

            Lexi opened her mouth to protest, but quickly closed it. Tia was right, and she felt honestly bad that she’d questioned her integrity. “I’m sorry,” she said softly, meaning every word, “you’re absolutely right—I shouldn’t have doubted you. But still, never in a million years did I imagine that you picked Dylan Miller up in that dump!”

            “Yeah, well, life is funny sometimes, right? Incidental Happenstances, and all that? Now I’m going to head out to let Jessa know Penelope’s on the prowl again and then go get the car. You OK riding with the guys?”

            Lexi grinned sarcastically. “I think I can handle it. Might be tough, riding in the limo with them and all, but yeah, I’ll manage.”

            Tia added, “Cause I really wouldn’t want you feeling like a third wheel or anything, you know, on my first date. Hanging out with a bunch of strangers…”

            Lexi pushed her middle finger up and laughed, humbly remembering their conversations from last night and earlier in the evening. Tia smiled back, and headed out to collect her car.

***

            Dylan stood under the cold stream of water but still couldn’t seem to cool himself. How had this woman gotten so deeply into his head, he wondered, and in such a short time? He loved Bo, and it was a tradition for them to spend birthdays together when they were on the road, away from family and other friends. But just this oneght, he wished he could skip out, and spend the evening with Tia. They’d have no alone time tonight. The celebration would go late, they always did, but maybe it was better that way. The more time he spent with her the more time he wanted, and the fact was that he was leaving, and not coming back for a long time. If they took that next step, and then he had to go…his imagination took over, and suddenly all he could think about was that next step. He had to crank up the cold faucet to try and temper the rising that was occurring despite the goose flesh that covered his body. It wasn’t fair to her, it just wasn’t. But his mind and body battled on and when it came down to it, he wasn’t at all sure which would win. He’d already decided he’d ask her to spend tomorrow with him—he could be free until about six when he’d have to start preparing for the show. He could invite her to the show, too, but then, by tomorrow afternoon, he’d have to decide whether he was going to dive into this thing head first without knowing how deep it was, or walk away without ever testing the waters.

            His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock at the door.

            Penelope knocked. She could hear the shower running inside and smiled to herself. She’d found him, finally. It was time to turn on the charm and get this party started. When she heard the call to come in, she turned the knob and stepped inside. She could still smell the stink of the show in the room, mixed with the light fragrance of earthy-smelling soap drifting through the cracked bathroom door.

            “Finally, I found you,” she said sweetly. “I’ve been looking for you all day, you know. I have something really important to discuss with you.”

            “Is that Penelope? I’ll be right out,” the voice answered, muffled in the sound of the water. “Just give me two minutes.”

            She smiled. He’d been waiting for her after all. “Maybe I could just come in?” she oozed sweetly. “I’m just dying to tell you something, and I don’t know if I can wait another minute.”

            “Yeah, OK,” the voice answered, as she slipped into the bathroom. “Hand me that towel, would you?”

            She reached over to the rack and picked up a fluffy towel. This was going to be perfect, she thought, and she got herself prepared for her first act. “Need anything else?” she said suggestively.

            “I can think of a couple things!” The curtain flew open and there stood, in all his naked glory, Bo Collins, grinning at her like the Cheshire cat.

            There was one moment of frozen terror on her face before Penelope dropped the towel. “Oh!” she exclaimed, completely unprepared for this scenario. “Oh my God! I thought this was Dylan’s room.” She tried hard to divert her eyes, but he seemed to fill the whole room, and her legs refused to move.

            “It is,” Bo grinned. “But there was a spider in my shower—a really big one, and since Dylan was done anyway, I borrowed his.” He looked at her lecherously. “Now, do you think I can have that towel, or,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows, “should I turn the water back on so you can join me? I think I might have missed a couple spots on my back…”

            “Oh God!” she exclaimed again, scooping the towelm the floor and tossing it at him, fleeing from the room in the same instant.

            He called after her, “Aw, honey, no need to be like that! It’s my birthday, you know!” He laughed out loud as he heard the door slam and the frantic footsteps moving down the hall. Damn, he just loved putting people off like that! That chick was freaked! He couldn’t wait to tell the guys. He started to whistle as he toweled off and got dressed. It was already shaping up to be a great night.

            Jessa stepped into Dylan’s dressing room and spoke through the closed bathroom door to let him know that Penelope was backstage again, still hunting him down, and that Tia was pulling the car around to the side exit, which so far, was clear of fans. They were all waiting by the main backstage entrance, she told him, and the other guys were going to make an appearance there.  Dylan thanked her and toweled off, pulling on his clothes and whistling the opening lines of
I’ll
Pull You Up
.

            Icon was set up differently than most clubs in the city. The VIP room was elevated over the main floor, with some private rooms and booths, but a bar and dance floor were open to the rest of the club below so stars could mingle with the fans if and when they chose without actually having to make physical contact. When Dylan and Tia arrived, the place was already hopping. It was nearly midnight, and the music was pounding as hundreds of bodies moved and pulsed to the beat. Already seated in the VIP section was a group of Bears players, a table of baseball players with their wives or girlfriends, a country singer who’d had a show at another venue, and a smattering of people that Tia didn’t recognize. After some handshakes and greetings to the other celebrities, she and Dylan slid into one of the private U-shaped booths, a dark and luxurious cave that provided adequate relief from the insistent beat of the music. He pulled her close to him and a waitress appeared immediately to take their drink orders. Her eyebrows rose when she saw Dylan seated there, but she’d obviously been well trained not to harass the clientele and took their orders professionally, appearing with their martinis in just a couple minutes. They’d entered through the back door, so the crowd below was oblivious to the fact that he was there. Celebrities could also opt to enter through a special front door, however, where they’d be publicly announced before walking a long red carpet that led to a set of stairs to the VIP lounge.

            Tia turned to look Dylan in the eyes. “Listen Dylan,” she said. “I keep saying there’s no way I can ever thank you for everything, but that show tonight?”

            He smiled at her. “I got all your requests in, didn’t I?”

            “And then some. But you played
Pull You Up
. For me.”

            He lifted his glass and tapped it against hers. “I did. But it was for me too, Tia, and it felt really good.” He snuggled her closer and his voice dropped to her ear. “You feel really good.”

            Her insides did flip-flops again as he tucked her hair behind her ear. “Let me ask you something,” he said. “Before it gets too crazy in here and the rest of the guys show up, I want to know if you’ll see me again. Tomorrow.”

            Her heart leaped in her chest. “Absolutely!” she smiled up at him happily.

            “I’ve got some free time, actually, and I do love this city. I was thinking we could spend the day doing some museums, maybe one of those Segway tours, grab some Chicago deep dish…just a normal day. A real date.”

            “I’d love it. It sounds wonderful!” she answered.

            “But,” he added quickly. “If I’m going out in public and we want to have our own fun, it’ll mean I have to go in disguise again.”