Love on the Rocks (Love on Tour #1) (14 page)

“Surprisingly, he went to jail. He plead out too, so she didn’t have to testify in court. We were very, very lucky. And he was lucky too.”

“How’s that?”

“He was in police custody before I got to town.”

“Oh.”

“I could be in jail right now myself to be honest, if I’d gotten ahold of him.”

I believed this, and it freaked me out a little.

“So, um, how’s your sister now?”

“She’s fine. She went through a bit of a wild phase in college, though. And I admit that I was a little crazy. I couldn’t help it. I just wanted to keep her safe. It’s like, after I saw something so horrible happen to her, I snapped.” He put his hand on my good cheek and looked into my eyes. “I know it’s a pain in the ass, Baby. And I’m sorry. But I can’t help it.”

“I think we can work through it.”

“I’ll try to be less overprotective if you try to more safe,” he suggested.

“Deal.”

****

The mother hens drove me to the hospital in the morning. All three of them insisted on coming. They sat in the waiting room, looking like a rock n’ roll welcoming committee.

After the x-ray I talked with Dr. Haley in the exam room.

“You have a hairline fracture on your zygomatic, your cheekbone. There isn’t really anything to be done but wait for it to heal. I’ll give you some painkillers to take the edge off.”

“If you don’t mind, it might be best if you came out and explained that to my entourage. If they hear it from you maybe they’ll calm down a little.”

“Sure,” Dr. Haley said, leaning back in his chair. “I have to tell you Dani, that was a pretty amazing night for me last night.”

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I felt kind of bad about interrupting the concert for you.”

“Are you kidding? I got to hang out backstage with Hank Tolk. Before that I was sitting in nosebleed seats in the balcony. It was a dream come true.”

“Well, I’m glad.”

I could tell he wanted to say more and I figured I owed him, so I waited.

“I apologize for making the wrong assumption last night, that you were with Mike. Obviously, I was wrong,” he said.

“It’s okay. I don’t blame you. I don’t look like Sean Rush’s girlfriend,” I told him.

As we walked back out to the waiting room to talk to my men, I reflected on why the doctor’s assumption affected me more than the other people I’d encountered. The roadies, groupies, and people who worked at the venues all looked shocked when I walked in under Sean’s arm, I never gave it much thought. But the doctor’s assumption was normal for normal people. They don’t expect a gorgeous, famous, successful rock star to be with someone like me. Part of me didn’t care. Sean was mine. But part of me wondered how long an ordinary person could hang on to a shining star.

19

“I’ve been thinking, Baby.”

The hotel in Florida was probably the best one yet. Our suite had a hot tub right in the room. We’d just arrived in town, and we had to leave for the venue in a couple hours. We were both in the tub, naked. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk.

“Hmmm,” I moaned. It was delightful the way Sean’s skin slid across mine in the hot water.

“What would you think about spending next winter in L.A. instead of Wyoming?” His hand slid lower on my abdomen.

“What?” My eyes flew open. His hand stopped. I stared at him. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “This summer’s a break for me. I only have a few things scheduled here and there, so I could easily visit you in Death Valley. But come winter I’ll be in the studio. I have a place by the ocean. I think you’d like it.”

My brain was still conjuring up images of Sean lounging on a battered couch in my shared housing at the park. I tried to catch up.

“You want to visit me this summer?”

“Of course,” he said, sounding irritated.

“And you want me to come live with you this winter?”

“Yes. I do. I know it’s a lot to ask. You’d have to give up your winter job. And maybe it’s not even fair of me to ask. But, I thought we could explore the option.” He frowned at me. “You haven’t thought about it at all, have you?”

“Well, I don’t know. We have time.”

“The tour ends in two weeks, Baby. And you start work a couple days after that. I think it’s time we talk about it.”

He was right, of course. Sean and I had spent every possible moment together since Denver, which was nearly a month ago now. We made love every night, and I was completely, head over heels in love with him. But I was scared to death to give any thought to what would happen after the tour ended. So I’d simply put it out of my mind, Scarlett O’Hara style.

“I… I don’t know what to say. I haven’t given it any thought.”

“You haven’t given any thought to seeing me after the tour?”

“You’re mad?”

He moved me fluidly so that I was next to him, rather than on top of him. “What do you think?” He got out of the tub, wrapped himself in a towel, and headed for the bathroom.

I was bewildered. Sean had never been mad at me before. I was still trying to figure out what to say when he emerged from the bathroom fully dressed and started flicking on lights, ruining the seductive atmosphere we had going. And of course, that’s when Mike knocked on the damn door.

Sean gave me a stern look and pointed his finger toward the bathroom. I bolted out of the tub, grabbed my bag and headed in there. I could hear Sean at the door while I dried off and dressed, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. Then there were other voices, female voices. Alarmed, I wrenched my jeans on and threw the bathroom door open.

There, in the middle of our suite, stood my mother and my sister.

They looked odd standing between Mike and Sean. My mother is not a short woman, she’s a little taller than me, but of course she looked tiny next to Sean. Her stern expression and fuzzy brown hair made her look like a mean school teacher. Beside her, my sister, who is a good four inches shorter than me, tiny and spritely, looked even meaner, like a storm cloud about to explode.

“Hi, Mom. Hi, Lisa,” I said, timidly.

They both gave me hard stares. I moved further into the room. “I see you’ve met Sean and Mike.”

“Dani, I can’t believe you didn’t return my call last week.”

“Sorry Mom, I got a little busy. What are you doing in Florida?”

“Well, if you’d returned my call you would have known we were planning to catch up with you here in Orlando.”

“How? Why?” My head was spinning.

“Lisa looked up the tour schedule on the internet.”

My sister crossed her arms over her chest and gave me a ‘gotcha’ look. “It’s relatively easy to figure out. We told Brad about our plan and he got one of his rich friends to fly us out here on a private jet,” Lisa said.

So my brother had bankrolled this little ambush. But that still didn’t explain how they’d found our hotel.

“And then,” my sister continued, “we went to the concert hall place and started asking questions.”

“Which led us to this nice man here,” my mother said, patting Mike’s arm.

“I tried to call,” Mike said softly.

“Well, wow,” I said.

“Come here and hug me,” my mother commanded.

I gave her and Lisa each a hug. But neither looked any happier.

Lisa looked me up and down. “You look better.”

“Better than what?” I asked.

“This,” she said, holding up her phone.

The screen featured a grainy photo that had been taken of Sean and me as we walked into a venue in Minneapolis. Despite the fuzziness of the image, my bruised cheek was clearly present. And now I knew what had prompted this visit.

“We’ll leave you three to talk,” Sean said. “Ms. Roberts, Lisa, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You don’t have to go,” I said desperately.

“It’s alright, Dani. Just let Mike know when you’re ready and he can bring you to the concert, if you’d like.” And he and Mike took off, just like that.

Good God, Sean was mad at me, my mom was in our suite, and he’d just called me Dani. I felt like my head was about to explode.

“Let’s… um… sit,” I suggested.

My mother and sister sat side by side on the couch, leaving me to sit opposite them on the loveseat.

“Dani, what is going on here?” My mother demanded.

“I told you on the phone, Mom. I met Sean, Henry, and Mike while I was traveling and they offered me a ride. I ended up befriending them and they asked me to join them for the tour. Sean and I have become very close.”

“Yes, that’s what you said on the phone. But here you are in his suite,” My mother looked past me at the hot tub.

“Okay, so it’s a little more than that. Sean and I are dating.”

“Dating, really?” My sister snapped. “You’re his plaything Dani, and from the looks of it his punching bag, too.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down!” I said, jumping out of my seat and standing in front of them. “First of all, Sean is not
at all
responsible for what happened to my face a few weeks ago. That was an accident.”

“Well, how did it happen?” My mother asked.

“I was at a concert and someone ran into me. The back of their head hit my face. It’s easy to do in a crowd like that. It happens. And for the record Sean was so upset about it that I don’t even go into the crowd anymore and he has Mike follow me around everywhere I go. I can’t believe you just jumped to that conclusion!”

Neither of them looked convinced.

“Sean
did not
do that.” I said defiantly. “And why didn’t you just call and ask me?”

“I tried,” my mother said. “Brad found the picture on one of those websites. He’s been watching for you, you know. Apparently you’ve popped up on the internet a few times lately. Did you know that?”

“Yes, Mom, I’m aware.”

“Anyway, he saw that alarming picture with your face all bruised up and he called me. I tried to call you Dani, but you didn’t answer and you didn’t call me back. That’s when Brad and Lisa made the arrangements for us to come down here.”

“Well, I’m happy to see you, but you didn’t need to come here. As you can see, I’m fine. Sean is a great guy. I’m in a relationship, that’s all. No big deal. You’ve never flown across the country to meet any of my other boyfriends.” I thought I sounded quite rational.

My mother completely ignored all of that. “How old is that man?”

“Sean’s 32 Mom, he’s only 4 years older than me. And he’s a very nice man. You should meet his mother, you two would get along great.”

My mother looked at me with wide eyes, then they narrowed. “Are you playing with me, Danielle? Or did you actually meet his mother?”

“I did. I met both his parents. His dad is an Archaeology professor and his mom does landscape design. They’re lovely people. I’ve been to their house.”

“I see,” she said, leaning back. I thought maybe I was getting somewhere, but then she pursed her lips together. “So he’s already introduced you to his parents and I didn’t even know how serious this was.”

“Okay. Let’s focus here,” Lisa said. “I want to talk about how you have become some little groupie chick for a rock star. It’s like in that movie. You’re Penny Lane! That’s not you. Is that how you want to be known?”

I took a couple laps around the room, along with a few deep breaths, trying to control my anger. Neither of them was actually listening to me. This was how it had always been.

I came to a stop in front of them. “I am not a groupie. Sean is my boyfriend, my real, genuine, monogamous, boyfriend.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake Dani, he’s covered in tattoos,” my mother said.

“More importantly,” Lisa added, “He’s a rock star. Are you crazy?”

I lost it. “You know what. We’re not doing this. You don’t even know him. And I didn’t invite you here, and you’re sure as shit not going to his concert. So I tell you what, you stay here and make yourselves comfortable, because I’m leaving!”

I stormed out.

Mike was standing just outside the door, lingering in the hallway. “Baby, where are you going?”

“You deal with them,” I told him. And I kept right on walking.

20

I ended up at a lovely café, not far from the venue. The walk from the hotel felt good, and by the time I was seated in a cozy little booth by the window, I was starving. So I ate a burger and a huge plate of fries.

I turned my phone off after the first three times it rang, which happened immediately after I left the hotel. I shoved it in my pocket without looking at it again.

I read several brochures about the various Orlando attractions while I ate, and generally tried to avoid thinking about anything that would piss me off, which right then was just about everything.

I couldn’t, however, get the angry look on Sean’s face out of my head. I’d really screwed up. I had no idea how to fix that problem. It wasn’t that I didn’t want a future with Sean. I did. I wanted it more than anything. I just didn’t see how it was possible. And I was scared to death that my heart was already going to be broken. Any pie in the sky dreams I might choose to believe in were only going to make it worse.

After my meal I wandered the street looking at shops until it got dark. With less than 30 minutes until the concert started I headed for the venue, still unsure what to say to Sean.

I walked in through the backdoor and headed up what looked like the main hallway. I had never been here before, but the security guy assumed I knew where I was going. The badge I wore around my neck simply said ‘Baby,’ which held a ridiculous amount of sway. I could have asked the guard where Sean’s green room was, but I didn’t.

After about ten minutes I was hopelessly lost. I hugged Raif when I found him.

“Hey, Baby,” I thought you’d be with your mom and sister,” he said.

“What? Where are they?”

“I don’t know now. I saw them with Sean a couple minutes ago. Check his green room.”

“Can you tell me where it is?”

Raif gave me a look like I was crazy, but he complied. When I got to Sean’s room my jaw dropped to the floor. My mother and sister sat on a leather couch along one wall. Mike was standing near the door holding both of their purses, and Sean sat across from them, perched on a stool with his guitar. I had to double check that I wasn’t dreaming. He was singing a Barry Manilow song to them. I stood there like a statue, trying to process what was happening. The song ended and they clapped enthusiastically.

“That was lovely, dear!” My mother gushed.

“Hi, Baby,” Sean said softly.

My mother turned her head toward me. “There you are, Dani. We’ve been wondering if you were going to come to your senses.”

“Sean told us about your nickname. It’s kind of perfect for you,” my sister said. To my great astonishment, she looked coyly at Sean.

“So, um, what have you guys been up to?” I asked.

“Sean and Mike took us out to dinner,” my mother said. “We had a lovely time.”

I took a hold of some of the flesh on my right arm and pinched, hard. Yep, I appeared to be awake.

My mother got up from the couch and approached me. She held my chin in her hand. “Why didn’t you tell me Sean was such a lovely young man?”

I was speechless.

“We went to this little place called Frank’s,” Lisa said, getting up off the couch and approaching my mom and me. She shot a glance at Sean and fluttered her eyelashes. “It was so good. We had like five courses.”

I was going to pick my jaw up off the floor in a minute.

“Well, where have you been?” My mother asked.

“I, uh, went and got some food, did a little shopping.”

“You ditched us is what you did,” Lisa said.

“I’m sorry. I was upset.”

“Once again Dani, you were upset about absolutely nothing. We just wanted to meet your new boyfriend,” my mother said. She turned to look at Sean who was sitting on the stool with his guitar, looking amazing. “And he’s lovely, such a gentleman. Come on Lisa, we have to get a move on, don’t we Mike?”

Mike consulted his watch. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you… You’re not going to watch the concert?”

“Oh no, Dani. I don’t think we’d enjoy that,” my mother said, as if I was an idiot. “Sean got us tickets to see that new musical. Isn’t that splendid? Mike is going to take us.”

“It was totally sold out,” Lisa said, casting another longing glance at my boyfriend. “But he pulled some strings.”

“Um, okay. Have fun,” I said, weakly.

I hugged them both goodbye, then watched in disbelief as they walked out. Mike followed them and shut the door behind him.

I turned back to Sean. He was putting his acoustic guitar back in its case.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” I said, moving toward him.

He turned to his electric guitar. He placed it on the counter in front of the mirror and started to play with it.

“Is it so surprising that I can charm a couple of conservative ladies?” He asked, in a grumpy voice.

“I suppose not. I’m just a little floored at how quickly and thoroughly you did it.”

I walked up behind him, wanting to be close. He didn’t answer and he didn’t look at me.

“You’re still mad at me, aren’t you?”

He turned then. “Yes, I’m mad.”

“And yet you still bothered to entertain my sister and mother,” I pointed out.

This seemed to make him even more angry. “Yes, I did. Because even though I’m mad at you right now it doesn’t mean that I don’t want your family to like me. Of course I want them to like me. You see Baby, I don’t plan on going anywhere.” He was almost yelling.

“Tell me what you’re so angry about,” I pleaded.

He moved his guitar and swept me up onto the counter. He leaned over, trapping my knees between his arms, and looked into my eyes. “Why didn’t you tell your mom about us?”

“I did. I told her. She just doesn’t listen to me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “They told me that you said we were just friends when you talked on the phone. You made it sound like there was nothing between us.”

I sighed. “Okay, maybe I wasn’t very open with them. But you don’t know how they can be. Doesn’t the fact that they came all the way out here show you that they can fly off the handle?”

“They might not have flown off the handle if you’d told them the truth.”

“I didn’t know what to say,” I admitted.

“You were ashamed of me.”

“No. God no, Sean. I just didn’t know how to say it. You didn’t tell your mother about us,” I pointed out.

“I didn’t get the chance, remember.”

“Okay, what would you have said to her?”

“I would have told her that I have new girlfriend, that I want to spend every waking moment with her. I would have told her that you’re beautiful, and smart, and you light up a room when you walk in.”

I was utterly speechless. I leaned in to kiss him. He pulled away.

“But you didn’t tell your mother about us, not like that. Did you?”

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I shook my head. “You were mad at me before my mother showed up.”

Sean took a deep breath and ran one hand over his face. Then he placed it at my side again and leaned toward me. “I don’t know how to describe this Baby. I’m frustrated, irritated, and frankly, I’m hurt.”

“Why?” I asked, my voice cracking.

“Because you don’t seem to understand how I feel about you.”

“Tell me,” I begged.

“You want to know what you are clearly too insecure, or too unobservant, or, I don’t know, too stubborn to realize?”

I swallowed hard. “Yes, tell me.”

Sean stared at me for a long time. I met his gaze, despite the fact that I was scared to death.

“I love you.”

My emotional reaction was immediate and completely uncontrollable. Tears filled my eyes. I buried my face in his neck.

Sean’s arms came around my back and he rubbed gently. “Please tell me that you are not crying because you don’t feel the same way.”

I lifted my head. “Oh, I definitely feel the same way,” I told him.

He wiped a tear from my cheek. “So does that mean we can have a conversation about the future without you getting all squirrelly on me?”

I nodded and smiled at him. “Yes, we can.”

****

I was running late. I came out of the nice hot shower only to discover that I’d forgotten to do laundry, again. I rummaged through my jeans and found one pair that had only a small Coke stain on it. I was sniffing all my t-shirts when Sean told me he was taking the rest of the stuff to the bus and left the room.

Once I had the least rank shirt on and I’d gathered up all my stuff, I still had to go back in the bathroom and dry my hair. I was out of breath by the time I hit the front door of the hotel. And then my heart stopped, too.

Sean stood with his back to the bus. A tall, scantily-clad woman, with long blonde hair streaming down her back, was in front of him. I couldn’t see his face, because she was busy sucking on it.

Somewhere in the back of mind it registered that my bag fell from my shoulder and hit the ground with a definite thump. My eyes, rather than being fixed, protected me on instinct and turned away.

Then I ran. It’s what I did best really, run from my reality, run from everything I didn’t want to deal with. It’s why a rootless existence had always been so easy for me.

My feet were pounding the pavement and my breath was in my ear. I was trying to make calculations about where I should go. I could hear shouts and footsteps behind me. So I made a quick right turn. A bush reached out and grabbed me, but I plowed through.

Vaguely, I was aware that I was running on grass now. The hotel had a big back yard with a pond and a set of beautiful Sycamore trees. I headed for the little grove.

My mind was silent, but my tears were not. They streamed down my face at an alarming rate. Briefly, I thought that I must be well hydrated to be producing this much liquid. My speed was enough to create great rivers on my cheeks that flew out behind me as I ran.

I slowed when I reached the Sycamore grove. I couldn’t hear anyone behind me anymore. But then again, it would have been hard to hear over my own panting breath. 

A beautiful wooden bench sat in the center of the old trees. I plopped down on it and hung my head in my hands.

How could I be so stupid? How could I fall in love with a rock star? How could I believe him that I’d changed everything, the life, the girls, all of it? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

“Let me talk to her.” It was Henry. He was close. His voice was low.

“Fuck. I have to explain.” That was Sean. He sounded panicked.

“I know. But you’re not going to get your chance if she runs away again. Let me talk to her. Go hang out over there for a minute.”

“Fuck, Hank. My life is in your hands, man.”

“I got this.”

I felt him sit beside me, but I didn’t look up. I had tears and snot running down my face. I was humiliated, hurt, and pissed off. I couldn’t let him see me like this. I couldn’t let anyone see me like this.

“Hey, Baby.”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t move either. Somehow Henry’s presence was comforting, even though I knew he was only there to speak for Sean.

“I just want a hug, okay. Nothing else.”

I threw my arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. Henry rubbed my back and spoke softly to me. “It’s okay, Baby. I’m here.”

My sobs started to calm down as I listened to his soft voice.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, Baby. You’re okay. I won’t let you be hurt.”

My body stopped shaking and I sniffed.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

I tried to wipe off my face, but I was a mess. Henry took his shirt off and handed it to me. I cleaned up and looked at him apologetically.

“Sorry, I made a mess of your shirt.”

He shrugged. “What do I care? I never leave one on for long anyway.”

I managed a weak chuckle. Henry pulled me back into his arms.

“You’re fast for such a little thing. Damn, Baby. I had to bust my ass to catch up to you.”

“I told you I was tough.”

“You are. Tough enough to talk to me?”

“What is there to say? I saw it. I suppose you did, too.”

“Actually, I saw the whole thing. You saw about two seconds of it.”

“I suppose there’s an explanation.”

“Yes, there is. But I won’t force it on you if you don’t want to hear it. I told you. I’m here for you.”

“I do want to hear it.”

“From me?”

I nodded. I couldn’t face Sean right now.

“She came out of nowhere. She’s tall and was wearing like four-inch heels. It gave her what she needed to push him up against the bus and shove her face on his. It’s tough, you know. Sean can’t exactly push her away. He’s strong, he could hurt her. It took him a minute, and my help, to get himself extracted. By then you were running.”

“Who is she?”