31
MAIA
Now
* * *
“Ithought you had today off?” I asked pointedly.
He looked at me like I was being obtuse. “I’m always working. There are no days off on tour, not really. We build in gaps between shows, but they always get filled with appearances or used for travel.”
I wrinkled my nose. “And you’ve asked me to stay why?”
He stopped just shy of the door to leave the suite. “Because I want someone available to suck my cock whenever I do get downtime and no respectable girlfriend would put up with me being completely emotionally unavailable while I’m living this schedule and then spread her legs without complaint at the end of the night.” He smirked as he opened the door for me. When I skirted past him, he said. “You’re basically my emotional support slut.”
I turned on my heel and met his chest as he followed me out the door. “Do you know how pathetic that sounds?”
He flinched and suddenly I was back in another hotel hallway. I’d meant to hit back in the spirit of banter, not rip open old wounds. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said quickly, but the twinkle had gone out of his eyes.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I nudged, trying to move away from the memories.
He stopped short a few doors down the hallway and knocked. A giant guy opened the door and ushered us inside, looking me over curiously, but not saying a word. We made our way into the dining room of the suite where a handful of people were having some kind of meeting.
Zane pulled out a chair for me and sat on the one next to it, so I obeyed his silent command and perched on the chair stiffly. I felt like I’d been brought to the principal’s office and didn’t know why.
“Heard you might’ve had an extra passenger last night…” the guy at the end of the table said in a thick South London accent. He had dark brown skin, stylish glasses, and wore a flatcap better than a Peaky Blinder. But his stern expression suggested he didn’t like surprises.
Zane poured two cups of coffee and handed one to me. “Maia, this is our tour manager, Charlie. You’ve already met Kelly.” Kelly nodded in greeting, looking like a cartoonishly stereotypical picture of a rock star in a leather jacket and designer sunglasses despite the fact we were indoors. The shirt under his jacket was unbuttoned low enough to give a flash of skin that I really didn’t need to be looking at.
Zane caught my gaze and shook his head at me like he was disappointed. Did me checking out his drummer remind him of what happened with Johnny?
He gestured around the room. “That’s our bassist, Dan; publicist, Gabriella; and our head of security, Marshall. Guys, this is Maia. She’s staying with me through our London shows and when we hop over to Vegas for the awards show after that.”
From Charlie’s face, that wasn’t acceptable news. Everyone else sat in silence with carefully schooled expressions. I waited for Zane to explain himself or ask if it was okay, but he just took a drink of his coffee and said, “We should get started. I need to leave for the radio station in ten.”
Charlie paused for one more second and then flipped through some screens on his iPad, shifting gears, obviously either letting Zane win the argument or saving the conflict for later. I didn’t want to be a problem for anyone, but it was Zane’s shit to deal with.
Charlie launched into a recap of issues and their solutions. I knew instantly that this was a guy you wanted on your zombie apocalypse team…though the looks he kept throwing me hinted that the feeling wasn’t mutual.
He kept the meeting to exactly ten minutes, then Zane thanked him and whisked me out the door with the others following in tow. We got into a sleek black car, while the rest hopped into a separate one.
“Are you too cool to ride with the rest of your band?” I asked, more than a little surprised at the idea he might’ve become a bit of a diva.
“They’ll go to the TV station and get set up for our performance later, then grab dinner. I have to go do some appearances first, then I’ll meet them there to finish the sound check.”
It turned out, some appearances meant two different radio interviews bridged by two phone interviews and a reporter who got time with him in the green room of the radio station. I was flustered just watching it, but he seemed so comfortable in the midst of the chaos, giving each person he spoke to his whole focus.
He was the only one of the three who was a major celebrity in his own right, though the other two had solid cult followings among dedicated fans.
Zane was synonymous with Travesty. Their fans could name the other two, but the average person on the street only knew Zane was the lead singer.
The fact Zane was Alex’s brother definitely heightened people’s fascination with him. When the two showed up to something together, people went wild. Zane couldn’t escape his fame at this point, so he seemed to use it as a tool to everyone else’s benefit.
I sat quietly while he did his phone interviews and listened to him answer almost identical sets of questions. When the reporter came in to chat with him in person, a second guy set up a camera and they filmed it, so I tucked into a back corner where I could stay out of sight.
The reporter immediately launched into the exact same line of questioning about the tour and the album, and Zane gave him the exact same answers, but somehow managed to sound like it was the first time anyone had ever asked him.
