I took a lock of your hair, too. It’s in a special ring box in my pocket. I’ve been taking it out to sniff your conditioner all morning.
That’s hot.
Still can’t decide if I want to keep the Polaroids to myself or sell them.
Only sell the ones with my clothes on. Keep the naked ones.
Embarrassed of something, Maddox?
Nah. I want you to have something to look at when you use your toys.
How do you know about my toys?
You’re not the only one with stalker tendencies.
That’s hot, she says, and our eyes meet across the room.
There’s a dark playfulness in her eyes that I want to fuck out of her, and I have to clear my throat and force myself to pay attention to the interview starting back up.
Enjoy the mindless flirting all you want, I tell myself.That’s all you’ll ever get.
The reminder sinks the smile on my lips.
“—back with lead singer, Reed Matthews and bass player, Mads Tourning,” Paul says. He swings in his chair to look at us. “All right, guys, let’s get personal. How do you do relationships on the road? How does that work?”
“It doesn’t,” Reed says. “We try to keep personal separate from the band life.”
“What about inter-band relationships?” Paul asks. “Mixing business with pleasure.”
“Nah,” Reed answers. “I think all of us are too close for that.”
“So, dating apps, they’re out of the question?”
“It’s tough being on those when so many people know your face.” Reed glances at me. “Mads had the right idea from the beginning. But, I mean, yeah, occasionally we have a stop long enough to have more than a backstage fling. It’s rare,” Reed adds.
“Sex, drugs, and rock and roll,” the DJ chimes in. “Mads knows what I’m talking about,” he says, grinning my way. “Listeners, this guy even keeps his mask on in a private booth where everyone has signed an NDA, phones taken at the door. Starting to make me think we’re hiding a serial killer under there.”
Reed laughs.
“I like my privacy,” I say with a shrug.
“What about you? You have a partner on the road?”
For some reason, my eyes swivel to Andi across the room, and I look back at the table before anyone can notice. “Ah, no. No, nothing. Like Reed said, getting to know someone is hard when you’re only in a city for forty-eight hours. By the time you exchange numbers, you’re in a different city with new people and so busy that you barely have time to eat.”
“Realities of the road, everyone,” Paul says. “I was on the road with a band in the early 2000s and the same thing. New partner every night. The lead singer was married. Back then, the drugs were the only way some of them made it onstage. Do you guys have any before-show rituals?”
“Are you asking if we do drugs before going onstage, Paul?” I ask.
Paul laughs. “Not entirely,” he says.
“No hard drugs,” Reed answers, waving him off. “Bonnie’s been sober for…” He looks at me as if he can’t remember.
“Three years,” I say.
“Yeah, three years,” Reed says. “Right after the first tour. She’s amazing.”
“So fucking amazing,” I add, genuinely proud of her.
