26
JACE
I’mout the door before I’m fully awake. “What’s wrong?”
Frank’s marching to the front of the bus. “Follow me.”
I turn to Rory, but she’s waving me off. “I’ve got Layla.”
“Thanks, babe.” I jog after my manager, not bothering to grab shoes. When I reach the stairs, I find my bandmates outside, staring at the front of the bus. “What’s going on?”
Shane points at the tire where there’s a knife sticking out of it. But creepier? There’s dried-up, dead rose petals all over the ground. “It’s the Cherry Smasher.”
I fold my arms across my bare chest. “Not necessarily. Could have been some asshole who thought we did a shit job of covering a Rolling Stones classic.” Last night wasn’t our best performance, but a knife in our tire seems harsh.
Frank’s vein looks like it’s gonna burst out of his forehead. “Where were you when this happened?” he barks at Edmond, one of our security guards.
“I had to take a piss. I was gone for, like, ten minutes.”
Our driver Ozzie kneels down to inspect the tire. “Gonna need to call a tow truck company. See if they can replace this.”
Cooper nudges me, and I look up to find Marlowe and one of her friends headed our way. I’m about to go inside but Frank makes eye contact with me and shakes his head. “Be nice,” he mouths.
He’s still pissed about the label event yesterday. He thought I overreacted to the pasta incident. I rub the back of my neck, wishing I was wearing more than a pair of shorts.
“Hey, Jace,” Marlowe says as she surveys the mess. When she turns to me, she scans my body before she gives me that wide-eyed look I used to love. “Who’d y’all piss off to get a knife in your tire?”
“If I knew, he’d have my foot up his ass.” Or her ass. Though I have a hard time believing a woman stabbed our tire.
Marlowe swallows and tucks a strand of red hair behind her ear. “Could we talk a sec?” She’s not wearing any makeup or fancy performance clothes. She reminds me of the girl I used to consider a friend.
“Maybe later. I need to get back to my daughter.” As the words leave my mouth, I see Frank shooting me daggers from his squinty eyes. I scrub my face and turn to her. “I have a few minutes. What’s up?”
Taking my arm, she moves me away from my friends. “Listen, I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I swear I wasn’t trying to do anything to your nanny. I wasn’t paying attention when I got out of the booth. That’s it. I need you to believe me.”
“Rory’s my girlfriend, not my nanny.” She’s my damn wife, but I bite the words back.
“Oh.” Her brows furrow. “I didn’t know. That makes me feel worse.”
Good. She should feel bad. Rory looked like she was gonna catch the first flight home. In my peripheral vision, I see Frank glaring at me. I sigh, annoyed. “It’s fine. It was an accident.”
She squeezes my arm. “Just don’t be mad at me, okay? I really do feel bad. I wanted to apologize to your girlfriend face to face.”
No, let’s not do that. “She’s in the shower right now. I’ll pass on the apology. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.” I force myself to smile because I’ll do anything at this point to get back on the bus.
“Great. Thanks. And I just wanted you to know that I loved your set. You sounded great as always.” Marlowe twirls a strand of hair. “I’ve, uh, I’ve missed hanging out.”
What’s the polite thing to say to that? I probably shouldn’t mention that she fucked me up for a good long while. “Thanks. We’ve been having fun. I’ll catch y’all on the next stop.”
I return to the guys. Frank’s already called a mechanic to fix the tire, and with any luck, this won’t cause too much of a delay.
When I get back on the bus, I find Rory in the kitchen feeding Layla. Seeing her instantly makes me feel better. She’s wearing shorts and a Wayward Sons t-shirt and has her hair pulled into a high ponytail. “Hey.” Before she can respond, I pull her into my arms and kiss her. She tastes minty. “Morning. This shirt looks good on you.”
That gets me a shy smile. “Morning.”
Her cheeks turn pink, and I laugh. “Why are you blushing?”
That pink turns to a deep flush. “No reason.”
