“Are you ok?”
“I’m fine.” She points to her mouth. “This is a souvenir.”
“I don’t think your brother is going to find that funny.” I sigh, knowing I’m in for a shitstorm. Both of his girls took a beating tonight. I’m screwed.
I lead Pacey to the greenroom. Olivia is on the plush couch, an ice pack resting on her chest, her head on Penn’s shoulder. Tanner is texting furiously on his phone in the corner, while Liam and Travis are nowhere to be found.
“What the fuck?” Penn jumps up when he spots his sister’s fat lip.
“I’m fine! I took an elbow to the mouth,” she says, side-stepping him when he tries to approach her.
“Christ,” Tanner says, looking up from his phone at Pacey. His nostrils flare—maybe even harder than Penn’s did.Interesting…Calvin steps into the room just for Tanner to order him right back out to get an ice pack for her.
“You had one job tonight,” Penn starts, voice low, his icy eyes pointed right at me.
I don’t shrink back, I knew this was coming. Travis and Liam enter the room, beer in their hands.
“Whoa. What did we miss?” Liam chuckles nervously, sensing the tension.
“You were supposed to stay backstage,” Penn continues. “Why would you take them into the pit knowing what it’s like? Look what happened.” He’s not yelling, but that’s not really his style either.
“Penn, stop,” Liv wheezes, and I wince. She sounds awful.
“It was my idea!” Pacey interjects. “I wanted to be in the pit. I begged them.”
Penn runs a hand through his hair. “Why, Pace? I specifically said you all needed to stay backstage, where it was safe. Look at your face. Olivia probably needs a damn chest X-ray.”
I walk over to Liv. “Are you ok?”
“I’m ok, just sore. I donotneed an X-ray.” She glares at Penn who retakes his seat next to her, stroking her hair. Goddammit even fighting their cute.
“I just wanted to experience it all. My big brother is a freaking rock star!” Pacey cries, throwing her hands up.
Penn rolls his eyes, but we all see the little smile he’s fighting.
“Everyone is fine,” Olivia croaks, running a hand across Penn’s tense jaw, and he visibly relaxes.
Calvin comes back through the door, handing Pacey a small ice pack. She stares at it before snatching it with a huff and placing it on her lip.
“Ok.” Liam slaps his hands together. The poor soul was probably worried a fight was about to break out. He’s such a nervous Nellie.
“Anyone want to hit a bar?” Travis asks.
I ignore him. I kind of want to give him a fat lip myself for calling me out like that. As if I’m a dog that obeys its master. I’m willing to role-play, but not like that. I didn’t even get a treat.
Before anyone responds, Tanner’s phone rings. “Where the hell are you?” he answers. Everyone tries to look away, pretending we’re not eavesdropping. “What the fuck, Katie? Whatever,” he snaps, hanging the phone up and shoving it into his back pocket rather aggressively. “I’ll go,” he says to Travis, and my head turns so quickly, I might have given myself whiplash.
Tanner never goes out after shows, not even when Calvin tries to sell him on the whole ‘it’s good for morale’ speech. He stays on the bus, probably checking things off his clipboard. I think he takes it to bed with him.
“Fuck yeah! Who else?” His eyes roam around the room. When they land on me briefly, I scratch my nose pointedly with my middle finger. He only grins, which pisses me off more.
Penn shakes his head. “I think these girls have had enough fun for one night.”
Liv nods in agreement, but Pacey whines. “What? No way!”
“Oh, come on, man, let baby sis live a little,” Travis quips.
“Yes! I’m an adult, you literally cannot stop me,” Pacey sasses, earning a scary look from Penn.
