Flo pushed up from her seat then, scooting out of the booth. “Heading back to bed now,” she told him in a rush, before shooting me one last smile. She took Tom the fucker’s hand and led him toward the bunks, leaving me alone with half a charcuterie board and a lot of mixed-up feelings.
It wasn’t until I glanced up at the clock on the wall that I saw I’d been out here for almost an hour. We were going to arrive at our destination in another hour, and I realized… I was content.
This time with Rhett and then with Flo had calmed some of that trauma always churning inside.
I just wished she hadn’t brought up staying, because I couldn’t let myself fall into this.
My future wasn’t here with Bellerose, no matter how right it felt.
eighteen
GRAYSON
Squishing my six-and-a-half-foot frame into the bunks never resulted in much sleep, but with another show tonight, I had to try. Of course, that plan went to shit when I heard their voices. Flo and Billie were in the dining area, and even though they were keeping their voices down, this space was too small to hide their conversation completely.
I caught enough of it to get the vague idea. Billie was making a weak attempt at acting like she wasn’t shit-scared to be on her own again, and Flo was trying to convince her to stay with the tour a bit longer. Which was… strange. Why did Flo care? Tom had made no secret that he disliked Billie and wanted her gone. As much as we hated it, Flo didn’t often cross Tom. He was too much of a manipulative shit for that.
We weren’t worried that he was hurting her; none of us would stand for that, and it’d be impossible to hide in our close quarters. But hewascontrolling and generally an insufferable fuck. He’d taken advantage of Flo when she was in a bad space, and now she couldn’t dislodge him.
As if my thoughts summoned him, Tucker muttered some curses and climbed out of the bunk that he was sharing with Flo.
“Florence.” He’d cut her off mid-sentence with a teeth-grating whine. “What the fuck are you doing?” Was he seriously so insecure that he couldn’t let Flo make a friend? Hah, what was I thinking, of course he was.
Flo muttered her response, and the two of them returned to their shared bunk. There had to be fuck-all space in there for them both, but there was a spare bunk above if they wanted it. I waited, listening for Billie to return to Rhett’s bed. He was sleeping so deeply I could hear his quiet snores through the bedroom door. Lucky fuck.
After several minutes of silence, I had to assume she wasn’t going back to sleep. I needed to rest myself, but between Rhett snoring, Jace mumbling in his sleep, and the wet, rhythmic sound of Flo jerking Tom’s shriveled dick, I wasn’t holding my breath.
Silently, I climbed out of my own bunk and slipped into one of the cramped bathrooms. Maybe if I gave her a few more minutes, she’d be gone before I went out to the front.
It was quiet enough when I finished up and washed my hands that I was surprised to find her still sitting at the table. She was all tucked up in a ball, staring out the window at the passing scenery. and didn’t even seem to notice me standing there.
She was… interesting. I took advantage of her distraction for a moment to study her, taking in the sadness in her face and the defensive, guarded body language. Then I started feeling like a creep, so I sat down to grab some prosciutto from the charcuterie board.
Billie startled, her head whipping toward me and her eyes huge. But when she saw it wasme—rather than Jace, I would guess—she noticeably relaxed. It was odd, to say the least. I knew what kind of effect I had on people; I was intimidating and my reluctance to speak made people nervous. But not this girl. She seemedcalmsitting opposite me.
“Hey, Grayson,” she said softly, her voice doing unexpected things to me as she said my name. “Did we wake you up?”
I shook my head, reaching for a chunk of cheese. “No.”
Ah, good one. Really inviting conversation, huh? Idiot.
She didn’t seem put off by my grunt. “I’m surprised everyone is able to sleep at all in the daytime. But I guess when you know you need to be up half the night, you have to rest whenever you can.” A small frown touched her delicate brow. “Flo mentioned something about Rhett not sleeping much…?”
I shrugged. “Until you, yeah.” See, I could manage more than one word answers occasionally. Go me. Personal progress and all that shit.
She stared at me for a long moment, that tiny frown sitting on her face. Shewantedto pry more information out, but that was Rhett’s story to tell, not mine. So I just grabbed some more cold cuts from the platter and put them in my mouth. Salty and delicious.
When she, no doubt, realized I wasn’t offering up any more details, she gave a sigh and rested her cheek on her knee. Her legs were still tucked up in front of her, those thin arms wrapped around them. How long had she been living rough, I wondered.
Tom Tucker—the fucker—was doing everything possible to ensure Billie never saw a cent out of Bellerose royalties, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t take it anyway. Her threat had been hollow, made out of desperation. So long as we saw her safely to New York, she would disappear without a dime. If Jace had taken even one second to step back and distance himself from his hurt feelings, he’d have seen it too.
She wasn’t here to ruin his life and break up the band. It was just a case of wrong place, wrong time. Or right… depending on whose perspective it was.
Reaching out, I pushed the charcuterie closer to her. “Eat,” I ordered. “You’re so thin you might snap.” That was basically a full sentence. My therapist could go fuck himself.
She gave a small gasp, her eyes rounding and a blush touching her cheeks. It made me morbidly curious to know what was going through her head. What had I said that would make her blush? That she might snap? I severely doubted she was thinking—like I now was—about how I’d break her in half in bed.
Before I could do something fucking dumb—like ask how she preferred her orgasms, from hand, mouth, or dick—the bus slowed to a stop and our driver pressed the intercom button.
