Page 28 of Just Wait

That doesn’t mean much when they’ve only spent an hour together, total. This is the last thing we need right after Randy left. The label won’t hesitate to bring his annoying ass back, and I just don’t want to deal with that right now.

She glances between us. “Okay, thanks.”

“Come find me when you’re done.” Mal smiles, brushing her hair back from her cheek.

I hate it when I’m right.

Goddammit.

This is going to be a problem.

The driver waits outside Tangled Desires’ bus. He lets us inside, and Lumen gets to work. Their bus is more trashed than ours with coke and weed left on the coffee table in the living room. The label doesn’t do bus checks often, but it’s still a stupid move to leave that shit lying around.

The poor woman huffs and sniffles, digging in the drawers under one of the bunks.

I frown, rocking on my heels and shoving my hands into my pockets.

Damn, man.

She’s really upset.

I’m highly sensitive to the emotions of others. If someone is in a bad mood, it spills into me. I can always tell when someone is angry or hurting because I become hyperaware. It sucks to have to live what someone else is feeling, but I’ve been like this my entire life.

She finishes shoving a bunch of clothes into the duffel bag and pops up, going into the small bathroom.

The atmosphere is grim as hell, and I’m not sure what to do or say.

We met fifteen minutes ago.

Nothing I say could possibly help.

Shit like this is why I never got too deep into messing with groupies, and I don’t even have a girlfriend I’m trying to protect.

When we were first signed, I had a couple of hookups here or there, but it never felt like the women really wanted me.

I knew what they were after.

They knew what they were after.

And it left me feeling…not great.

It came off like they just wanted to mark off a box on their getting every member of Liminal into bed checklist.

Some women are persistent, and they’re beautiful. It can be easy to get caught up in the moment. It’s somewhat easier for me than it is for the others because, unless I’m with the guys, women very rarely recognize me as part of the band.

People back home and the hardcore fans can pick me out of a lineup, but Malcolm and Kincaid are the faces people know.

Drew used to be too, and he loved the attention.

My damn chest aches every time I think about the old days.

I put my ass on the line, begging Benji to push the label to agree to keep him. They made one offer—if he rode out rehab and agreed to drug tests weekly for his first tour back, they’d let him stay a part of Liminal.

He told them to go fuck themselves.

I miss him.

I’m not the only one dreading the day we get the call to say he overdid it. No matter how many times I’ve reached out, he won’t talk to me, and at some point, I probably need to take the hint.