He wasn’t ready for this to end.
Chapter Fifteen
Ollie parkedthe van at the venue and tossed the keys to Fred and Khalid—the two fresh roadies who didn’t drink or smoke and had zero interest in partying. Corina had hired them on the promise that they would spend every night they weren’t working watching football in the lounge of whatever hotel she was hiding out in. They were happy, the band was happy, and Corina… wasn’t as pissed off as usual.
Winner.
Ollie grabbed his laptop and camera gear and automatically glanced around for Shay. As luck would have it, he stepped off the bus right into Ollie’s path.
“Hey.”
Shay’s face was half-hidden by his hat and hair. “Hey, yourself. Everything okay?”
“Yup.” Ollie resisted the urge to tip Shay’s fedora back, cup his face in his palm, and rub his thumb over Shay’s delicate cheekbone. The whole bus knew he’d spent the last couple of nights in Shay’s bed—perhaps they even knew that first night had been more than a platonic knockout—but they didn’t need to see him lose himself in Shay’s lovely face. Fuck, no one needed to see that. “I’ve got to go find some Wi-Fi for a conference call. If I text you an address, can you meet me around four?”
“I thought we were meeting at two?”
“We were, but some work shit has come up.”
“You’re not in trouble for driving the van, are you?”
Ollie winced. “Not that I know of, but I can probably swing that because I’d be on the bus anyway.”
“Don’t get in trouble for us.”
I’d get in trouble for you every day.“I won’t.” Ollie tried for a grin and then walked away, heart pounding.
It was true that he had a conference call to deal with, but it was more than that. Since the night he’d let his guts spill in Shay’s bed, he’d felt strange. Not bad, but not good, and he needed some space to figure it out—even if it was just a few hours.
He’d never know what had possessed him to do it. Perhaps it was the acceptance he’d seen in Shay’s eyes ever since. Maybe it had always been there but was amplified now that Ollie had taken a tiny step off the edge of the world. Either way, Ollie needed an hour, or three, to get his head around something he’d never expected to contemplate when he’d taken this job.
The venue the band were playing wasn’t far from the maritime heritage site where Ollie planned to meet Shay, but he set off in the opposite direction and found a quiet pub to set up his makeshift office. Amir called dead on two o’clock. They reviewed the footage Ollie had produced so far.
“Wow.” Amir whistled when the last frame played out. “He’s got fantastic presence. You could almost convince me he didn’t know the camera was there.”
Ollie started to scoff, but then it occurred to him that Amir was halfway right. Shay obviously knew the camera was in the room with him, but he never looked at it. Never changed his behaviour, no matter how close it came to him. For the entire segment, Shay gave the subject matter his complete attention. And it was such aShaything to do. “He’s, uh, easy to work with.”
“I’ll bet. My wife loves him.”
Ollie bristled. “That’s not what I meant.”
After a long pause, Amir cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean anything, Ollie. Just that Fatima has been listening to the band with the kids.”
Jesus-fucking-Christ. “I know. Sorry. Tour life is wearing me out.”
“Understandable. We can probably pull you off early if it’s getting too much. Make some arrangements to film a couple of segments at a later time. I know I pushed you to join the tour, but I was hoping you’d enjoy being out of London for a while.”
“I am enjoying it.” And Ollie realised with a start that he genuinely was. Travelling was tough, and he wasn’t used to having people up in his face all the time, but as the long days had turned into weeks, he’d come to appreciate the camaraderie and friendship. How he was never alone unless he truly wanted to be.
“Fair enough,” Amir said when Ollie failed to follow up. “We’ll let it roll for now, but if you change your mind, let me know. I’ll take care of it for you.”
Ollie barely heard him.
Barely heard himself thank Amir and end the call. He set the phone down on the table and clicked randomly on his laptop screen, but his gaze was unseeing, his mind elsewhere. He pictured himself leaving the tour early, getting off the bus in London and going back to his old life while Shay and the band drove away. His eyes stung.I don’t want to go home.
The realisation was startling, but undeniable. The clusterfuck rollercoaster he’d tumbled into the moment he’d met Shay was hurtling towards a destination unknown, but Ollie didn’t want to get off.
Not yet.
