“Let me do it.” Courtney sauntered into the room, holding out her hand. “And guys, put your chairs down. We don’t need a cracked skull before the show, ’k?”
“You want to pick the winner?” Mach asked, frowning.
“I’ll go through and figure out the thousandth.” Courtney made a gimme motion with her fingers.
“No.” Mach shook his head. “Because you’ll try to find someone perfect for me. Not do it the math way. I don’t want someone perfect for me. I want the math way, so she’ll be horrible.”
Courtney rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“Time to hit the stage,” Hans said, striding into the room.
“Hans could pick the thousandth,” Courtney said. “He doesn’t care who you match. There will be no strategy at all.”
“Are you still fighting with that?” Hans held out his hand. “Give me the phone.”
Mach handed over the cell. Probably because he didn’t want to piss off Hans, also because this had gone on for way too long. That’s what Tanner figured, anyway.
Hans didn’t even glance at the screen as he clicked the matched button. “Whoever that was? That’s the thousandth. Deal with it.” He tossed the phone back to Mach.
Mach stared at the screen, totally dumbfounded.
Yeah, even Tanner hadn’t expected that level of not giving a shit.
“After the show,” Hans amended. “Deal with it after the show. Everybody out. Time to make the donuts.”
“I still don’t know what that means,” Mach said as he grumbled.
They clomped out of the break room, through the door into the bar. What seemed like a thousand cameras hit them right in the face. Flashes, shutters, cell phones held up high and flashing like mad.
“Sonofabitch,” Mach stepped backward on his heel. “Give a guy a warning.”
“No cameras at Brek’s. Isn’t that the one rule?” Tanner squinted against the onslaught.
“I bent the rule,” Hans said, helping them through the crowd. “Quick sneak release was Courtney’s idea.”
“Nobody told me,” Tanner said. He wouldn’t have let the stylists fuck up his hair so badly if he’d known there’d be cameras.
“Next time we’ll be sure to add you to the text chain,” Hans said, with no feeling at all.
Tanner wanted to check his phone once more before they jumped on stage, but then Hans would probably confiscate it and he’d have to beg for it back. Instead, he scanned the front row.
What was he expecting? Her to be there?
Maybe a tiny part of him hoped she’d come to the concert. Was ready to move forward with him. This would be their big ta-da moment.
A familiar face caught his line of sight, and his heart fell to his toes because it wasn’t Sam—
“What the fuck is Catiana doing here?” Tanner asked.
“Oh, shit.” Mach glared down at Hans. “Too far. Too much. That’s a no. Fix it.”
Courtney slid between the three of them. “Catiana is here as my guest. Tanner, I told her you wanted to speak to her.”
“Why the hell would you do that?” Tanner asked, his blood pressure inching higher and itching for a fight.
“So she’d show up,” Hans said, still without feeling. “We’ll deal with it after. Get on stage.”
“You make no sense,” Tanner announced.
