“Buttering everyone up?”Remi said under his breath.
Skye’s eyes cast downward, and she shrugged one shoulder as if he’d hurt her feelings.Her voice was tinny as she said, “I just thought I’d do something nice since it’s our last day here.Thought we’d all celebrate the beginning of the tour.”
Liam narrowed his eyes at Remi.“Itisnice, Skye.Thank you.”
“Yeah, thanks, Skye,” Ollie said, mirroring Liam’s harsh stare.
Remi grunted and slumped into one of the chairs, squinting his eyes against the sun glistening off the pool.
“Oh!I made waffles too.Hold on,” Skye said, and she practically skipped back into the kitchen, her black wrap bouncing up and exposing the curve of her ass.
Liam leaned over and hit Remi upside the head.“What the fuck?”
Remi pushed Liam’s shoulder, and Liam pushed back.It was about to become a brawl—nothing unusual for Remi and Liam—but West grabbed Remi’s shoulder to stop him.
“Dude,” Ollie said.“You gotta let whatever grudge you have against Skye go.It’s killing the vibe, ya know what I mean?This is our first tour, and you’re making everything tense and awkward.”
“I don’t trust her,” Remi said.“I told you guys that.”
“Yeah,” West said.“But you haven’t told us why you don’t trust her.”
Remi was still having those sex dreams, but they felt different from before.He wasn’t lucid for them anymore.He wanted to think that Skye was coming into his dreams to fuck with him again, but he was pretty sure they were actual dreams from his mind.No demon magic needed.
Which was so much worse.
“It’s just a feeling, okay?”Remi said.“I can just tell when women are lying, manipulative—”
Liam punched his shoulder hard enough that Remi grabbed his arm.“Seriously?”Liam said.“Don’t even finish that sentence.Skye is great.She even scored us a little going-away present.”He leaned back and fished a baggie from his pocket, then waved a ball of white powder in the air.
“Wow,” Remi deadpanned.“So our band manager is okay with our drummer doing drugs the night before we go on tour?You’re right.What was I thinking?She’s not trying to sabotage us or anything.”
Liam sniffed.“I’m not going to do it tonight, but we have a few days off during the tour, and now we’ll have a little something to have fun with.”
“Rem, you’re just embarrassing yourself at this point,” Ollie said, shaking his head.“Skye is so nice to us.And she’s like a kick-ass manager.”
West leaned in.“Listen, I know we just randomly hired her on the spot, but she gave me references of other guys in the industry she’s worked with.”
Remi scoffed.Worked with?Meaning she stole their souls and screwed with them, and they just didn’t know it yet.
West continued, “I also double-checked all the dates and hotels she booked, all the details for the tour.She showed me her spreadsheets with exact mileage and per diems.The riders at each of the venues.She has contingency after contingency plan.Jim certainly didn’t have half of that, and Ollie checked our bank accounts and did the accounting on the books.She isn’t stealing anything from us.She’s legit.”
Remi heaved a weary sigh.West was right, of course.Remi hadalsodouble-checked all of Skye’s work.Another reason he hadn’t been enjoying his rich-and-famous lifestyle—he was still acting as band manager, just to make sure Skye wasn’t doing anything underhanded, that they weren’t getting tricked like they had with Jim.
Maybe the heat was getting to him.His underarms prickled with sweat, and he wondered if his hair was getting a greasy shine.
West shook his head.“You have to let this go.Whatever feeling you have about her… It’s not right this time.I know your mom—”
“What does my mom have to do with this?”Remi snapped.
West pressed his lips together.“Nothing.It just makes sense that you have a hard time trusting women after—”
Remi stood up, towered over West, and got in his face.“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”He grabbed a handful of West’s shirt to shake some sense into him.“Skye can’t be trusted with anything.She’s going to ruin the band.Fuck up the tour—”
Chairs scraped against the cement as Ollie and Liam jumped up and grabbed each of Remi’s arms.
“Remi!”Ollie said.“Let him go.”
Remi froze, stared at his fists bunching up West’s shirt.He stepped back, releasing his grip.What the hell was he doing?Lashing out at his best friend like that.
