“No… I said describe them then… not now.” She throws her head back and laughs and I can’t help but fall a little more in love with her as I join in with her laughter.
“What did we get ourselves into, right?” She winks at me as we come to the door of one of three tour buses parked side by side. “Come on! Let’s get you settled.”
I linger a bit, taking in the size of the bus. The outside of it is completely black, the windows tinted and no words except a small painted logo on the door. “Rock Roadster” it says, in pink and yellow neon paint. But it’s the size of the bus that’s really impressive. It looms over me and seems to go on forever.
“Come on in, babe!” I hear Cadence’s muffled voice and through the dark tint I can just see her face pressed against the glass.
I hop up the stairs and almost fall back down again.
“Holy shit,” I slowly exhale.
“What?” Cadence calls from somewhere down the back of the bus. Her head pokes out from a door about thirty feet away. “Oh, this ol’ thing? Eh, it’ll do.” She laughs and then comes out and walks toward me. “Just kidding, it’s pretty fucking amazing, isn’t it? I’m new to all this too so I know what you’re feeling.”
Amazing is one way to put it.
First off, it’s bigger than my entire apartment.
As soon as you step onto the bus, it opens into a wide entertaining area. Six…no, eight single recliners line the two sides, swiveling so you can look out the window or toward the other chairs. I wander over and sink down into one.
Wow.
Soft, buttery white leather. I love white leather. Always have. Between the chairs are side tables, designed for champagne buckets and glasses. I look up and two flatscreen TVs line up against the windows.
A curtain separates the rest of the bus and I get up to explore a little more. I push aside the curtain and there’s long thin hallway running along the right side of the bus.
“We have four small rooms on this bus. The other bus is the same. We’ve decided to split up boys and girls, is that all right with you? The third bus is just bunks for the crew and assistants. Dennis …well, we don’t know where he stays, he just appears when he’s needed,” Cadence says.
“Yeah, great. But don’t you want to stay with your new fiance?”
“Er, no. I’m not staying on a bus with those other guys. I’d never get any sleep. Anyway, take your pick. Hailey’s already put her stuff in the front room, but you can choose any of the others that you like. I don’t really care.”
I smile at her appreciatively. I’m feeling a little more at ease knowing that she’ll be on this trip.
I pull my suitcase into the second room from the front and can’t help but let out a little gasp.
The room is tiny but so luxurious. I can’t imagine how they can cram this much into one room. The double bed takes up most of the space, wall to wall, but there are sunken-in shelves on one side, a large-screen tv on the other, and a narrow but full length wardrobe. I jump onto the bed and spread out like a starfish, slightly giddy and immediately regret it. I don’t want to get off.
“Cadence?” I call out.
“Yeah, babe?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in bed,” I gurgle happily.
“Is that a challenge?” a voice speaks up and a head pokes around the doorframe. It’s Brad.
I scramble off the bed and to my feet. I’d had an idea of how I’d wanted our next meeting after the press conference to turn out. This wasn’t it.
“Brad!”
“Hey, Butter.”
“Don’t call me that.” I feel my forehead crinkle into a frown.
His left eyebrow raises, amused. “It’s better than ‘dick-wad.'”
He has me there.
Coming out from around the corner, his body completely blocks the doorway. It feels like the entire room is filled with him and I’m suddenly feeling a little claustrophobic.
“So, Dennis wanted me to come and talk to you.” His eyes flick around the room, resting on my luggage.
“What about?”
“About… how we’re going to do this.” His hand comes up and does a random gesture, a twirl in the air.
“What’s there to talk about? You do your job, and I’ll do mine,” I say with all the conviction I can muster and wonder which one of us believes it less.
“And it’s as simple as that?”
“Of course.”
He fingers the doorframe, fiddling with some loose woodchips. “A few days ago, you wouldn’t even talk to me. Now we’re just supposed to live together for six weeks, touring Europe, and you really think there’s nothing we need to talk about?”
“We’re not living together,” I say, busying myself with unpacking some of my clothes and sliding them onto clothes hangers.
“Fine, living on two tour busses within ten feet of each other. Is that better?”
“Kinda.” I slide off the bed and open the wardrobe door, using it as a barrier between us. I close it to see he’s stepped further into the room and pulled the sliding door closed behind him.
Now I’m really starting to suffocate. I back myself up against the bed, trying to create distance between us. My leg connects with the edge of the mattress and I sink down into it. He leans over me, his arms bracing on the bed, his thigh brushing my leg as he whispers into my ear.
“Do you really think we can forget everything that happened in the past?”
His breath is hot against my neck, and fuck, he smells so good. Familiar, but different. Older, more mature. Manly. Irresistible.
“Brad…” I say, eight years of pent-up frustration catching in my throat.
“Because, I don’t know if I can.” His finger tucks under my chin and he lift my eyes up to meet his.
“Brad…” I say again, because I can’t quite seem to find any other words.
He lowers his head and for a moment, I almost let myself believe that we can do this. That we can kiss and it be nothing. That it doesn’t carry the weight of the past. But we can’t.
“Brad!” I say again, this time firmly and pushing him away. The room is so tiny, his back slams against the door.
“Ow!” he cries out. his hand instantly reaching around to feel the wound.
“Shit! I’m sorry!” I cringe, biting my tongue to stop me from running my hands along his back to check if he’s okay.
“It’s okay. It didn’t hurt.”
“No, I mean… I’m sorry, we can’t do that. We can’t, Brad. It’s too… it’s just too much. I can’t do this if I’m worrying that you’re going to be trying to kiss me at every turn.”
“Okay, well, that hurt.” His shoulders drop, like a deflated balloon.
I can’t help but let out a little laugh. Same old Brad.