Page 150 of Tortured Tones

“I will.” I’d learned to say no and manage my time better. With the tour and our hectic agenda, life was still full on, but having Charlotte had changed my outlook. I looked forward to being with Ava and growing closer to her. My blood pressure had been good. I hadn’t had any more dizzy spells. I was sleeping well. Our Flintlock family had grown and changed, and it would only get stronger.

The following morning, Hannah left after many tears, numerous hugs, and promises to visit her after the tour.

Just after ten a.m., my friends and I drove in convoy up to my parents’ cabin in Big Bear. Everyone was excited to hit the slopes, snowboard, and chill out for the weekend.

As I parked Ava’s Range Rover out the front of the lodge, her eyes widened. She stared up at the two-story place. “Holy shit. It’s huge.”

“Yeah. This is the first time we’ve been here in fourteen months. Last time was for a few days before recording the album when Lewis had just joined us.” Wow. That seemed like a lifetime ago.

I hopped out of the car, opened the back door, and unclipped Charlotte from her car seat. Giggling, she slid down the sidestep and ran through the snow with Josh. He chased her around my friend’s parked cars.

After an afternoon of sledding with the kids, building snowmen, and snowboarding with Ava while Tia and Sutton looked after the kids, I fell into the shower with Ava, had a hot quickie, then joined everyone in the living room on the big U-shaped sofa for some drinks.

A warm fire crackled in the hearth and filled the room with a soft light. I glanced around at my friends and our partners. I was truly blessed to have these people in my life. I couldn’t wait to continue the tour. I couldn’t wait to come home to Ava. But I hoped to change one thing. I wanted Ava with me. During the last two weeks of the tour, while I’d gathered information on Luther for Ava, April had struggled with her workload. She never complained, but the stress was etched into her face. So one night after talking to her, the guys and I had discussed a new plan. Now was the perfect time to bring it up.

I took a sip of my vodka and entwined my fingers with Ava’s. “So, the guys and I have a proposal for you.”

“Does it involve something indecent?” Cute wrinkles formed on the bridge of her nose as she took a sip of her red wine. “Like a girlfriend initiation ritual?”

Why didn’t I think of that? “No. We’d like you to consider working for us and offer you a job.”

She choked, spluttered, and coughed. “A what? A job?”

“Yes.” Flint leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “It’s not security but involves privacy and protecting all of us. We need someone who is an exceptional coordinator. Ruthless at organizing people. Who can make things happen and work under pressure.”

Bewilderment flitted across her face. “What do you have in mind?”

“We’ve gotten bigger than we ever imagined.” A we’re-fucking-good grin slid across Slip’s mouth as he hooked his ankle up onto his opposite knee and draped his arm across the back of the sofa behind Maddy. “April is run off her feet. She wants to focus on our publicity and social media.”

I curled my hand around Ava’s thigh. “So we need someone to work alongside her to make our travel arrangements, coordinate our schedules, book appointments, manage communications, keep our team under control, get us from A to B, and kick our asses into line every single day.”

Rubbing her brow as if processing everything, she glanced at each of the guys, then at me. “So you want me to be your personal assistant?”

“More like our executive assistant...yes.” I shrugged, then gave her a saucy smile. “But I prefer the title of master drill sergeant, logistic officer, comms expert, and special ops manager.”

She closed her eyes and pinched her eyebrows together. “Why would I want to do this?”

“You’d get to order all of us around—not just Cole.” Lewis chuckled as he massaged Tia’s feet.

“And you’d get to run every aspect of our life.” I gave her thigh a played tap. We needed all the help we could get. Ava would be perfect. “This role involves a lot of field work—tours, events, meetings, photoshoots, album recordings, gigs, and more...It’s a long list.”

“Um...” She straightened and stared toward the fire. She hadn’t totally freaked out or said no yet, so that was encouraging. “When did you expect this job to start?”

Questions were good.

“Monday.” Chuckling, I nudged my elbow into her arm. “But we’re flexible.”

She sucked in a deep breath and shook her head. “I can’t work for you. I have a job. I have Josh.”

I swiveled toward her and held her hand against my leg. “Ava, one thing I know about you is that you don’t want to be stuck behind a desk. You don’t have to do that now you have custody of Josh. You can go back to being a security guard, but Wells won’t allow you to work with us. As our EA, you can. If you come on the tour, Josh can come with you. Harper will look after the kids. She can tutor Josh when we travel, and he can attend school when we’re home.”

Excitement and worry swam through her eyes. “I don’t know. What you’re asking is a lot and has come as a shock. It’s so different to anything I’ve done before.”

“No, it’s not.” I shook my head. “You do these things for your team. We’d love you to do them for us. There’s no rush to decide. We’re just putting it out there and would love you to think about it.” I squeezed her hand. “If you want to stay in your current job, that’s totally cool. I’ll come home once a month during the tour to see you, just like Flint and Slip are doing for Sutton and Maddy.”

“You were serious when you said that the other day?” She searched my face as if doubting me. I wasn’t joking around.

“Yes.” I stroked my thumb over the back of her hand, loving how a small smile curled at the corner of her lips every time I did it. “This job may not be like your old security work, but you’d be coordinating our moves every day, and be looking out for all of us. We have a crazy schedule. You’ll have to be prepared for the occasional shit fest, dilemma, and scandalous drama, media meltdowns, the odd wild party, and countless late nights. But most of our days are full of fun, music, and laughter. And every day you’d come home to this.” I circled my finger slowly through the air, taking in my friends. “You’re part of this now. I want to spend every day getting to know you better and falling in love with you more and more. I want us to be a family.”

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