Page 14 of Rock Strong

Garrick laughed. “Will do. So tell me what’s up with you?”

“Well…there’s this girl on our tour. I think I like her,” I said, the words sounding foreign, but to my heart they were familiar. “I don’t know. It’s weird. We haven’t talked much, and one of two times, she blew me off, but I feel like I could get past her exterior if she just gave me a chance.”

“Which is weird for girls around you, my friend.”

I chuckled. Maybe that was why I felt attracted to Abby—just the fact that she was the opposite of the usual girls I went for. Well, that and her cello-playing onstage blew me away. “I don’t know. Am I making any sense?” I asked.

“Sure. I mean, I haven’t felt that way about a girl in a long time, not since she-who-won’t-be-named, but I always knew one day you’d fall for a girl and hard.”

I almost winced when Garrick alluded to his ex-girlfriend, Rachel, who cheated on him with his brother. We’d both been burned in the past, but I was still open to a relationship someday. Garrick not so much. “I’ve known you so long, I just…I don’t know…what the fuck should I do? I don’t want a repeat of what happened with Vanessa.”

On the other end, Garrick sighed. “If you like her, talk to her. And if she likes you, too, then just be fair, like you were to Vanessa. Nothing wrong with being up-front and honest. But I’m not there to see it, man. Has Tuck met her?”

Tucker was the only other band member who’d known me almost as long as Garrick and Helen had, and I just didn’t feel like I could talk with Helen about Abby. Maybe Garrick was right. Maybe Tucker had a better vantage point. “He’s met her, but you know how he is…”

“Making a dick of himself?” Garrick laughed.

“You know it.” I shook my head. In his background, laughter rang out again, and I realized it was probably a bad time to call. “Listen, man, thanks. I can tell you shit I tell no one.”

“Anytime, my brother.” Garrick called out to someone nearby, telling them he’d be right there, and though I didn’t want to tie up any more of his time, and we didn’t get to talk long, I felt better already. Though I often forgot it, I had tried to do right by Vanessa. I’d been honest with her, and as long as I remained honest with Abby, things would be okay, whether we ended up starting something or not.

I was really hoping we would.

Chapter 5

Abby

“Abby, he is so your type.” Rosemary handed her violin case to the guy stowing luggage and crates on our bus in the wee hours of the morning. “He’s perfect for you. Opposite of Samuel. Wild, crazy, loves music…hotter than sin!”

I didn’t see how a man who was hotter than sin could be my type, but I was willing to give it extended consideration. I handed the roadie my cello case. “Please be careful with that,” I said, cringing the moment I said it. The older guy with graying hair and hazel eyes paused to glare at me. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to tell you how to do your job.”

“I’ve been putting up and tearing down road shows for thirty years. Trust me, I got it.” He smiled. Thank goodness!

Rosemary and I headed for the bus doors and climbed up the metal steps. “He’s not my type,” I whispered, making a beeline for my bunk. “Stop saying that. We don’t know anything about him.” All I wanted was to crash until the morning light hit my face. It’d be thirteen hours until Seattle, one of my favorite cities in the whole wide world. Not that I’d ever been outside of the US before, other than to Hong Kong when I was five to visit my dying grandmother, but staring at travel pics all my life, Seattle was definitely in my Top 5 of Cities for Abby to See.

“He. Likes. You.” Rosemary flopped onto her bunk. “Ohhh, man, this feels nice. Oh, my God, I need a foot massage. Somebody, give me a foot massage.” She kicked off her flats.

I gave her big toe a squeeze then lay down next to her. “That’s as much of a massage as you’ll get from me.”

“Wow. Cheap, you are. Driver, can I get a foot massage?” She laughed. Of course, she did. Because the driver was outside smoking a cigarette, totally not hearing her lame attempt to be brazen.

“Okay,” I said, taking her foot and pressing on the ball with the palm of my hand. “Let’s assume he does like me. But for how long?” I stared at the underside of the bunk above us. “Until he conquers the black sheep, the weird one, the geek girl? Until he gets bored? Rose, I only intrigue him—if I intrigue him—because I’m different from his usual women. However, it’s inevitable…at some point, I won’t be lively enough for him, hot enough, wild enough, whatever. That is the day he’ll toss me away and take up some hotter girl with a bigger cup size.”

Sigh.

Yes, Punk Cowboy was sexy and provocative and even persistent, and I would love to discover what his body really feels like under my hands. Plus, he actually surprised me with a great set of pipes tonight, but the fact was, we were too different, and I wasn’t dynamic enough for his personality. I didn’t own a bikini, never colored my hair, and I wouldn’t know how to tame a cowboy if I was handed a whip and some corn cakes. In summary, he was barking up the wrong tree.

A few others from our string section entered the bus—Roger, Loren, and Peta, who played the upright bass, despite being all of five-foot-two. “Good show, everyone!” she cheered in a terrible British accent. “Good show!”

“Thanks, you, too,” I called, making an effort to be friendly. I hadn’t gotten to know much of anyone outside my Juilliard circle in the last few years, so I needed to meet new faces. I lowered my voice so the others wouldn’t overhear us. “That’s another reason Liam Collier scares me.” I was delirious now, talking with my eyes closed, swirls of color and light behind my lids. “He’s new to me, and he’s friends with a million more people than I am. And he’s probably slept with half of them, I’m sure.”

“Um, first of all, you have more boobs than me,” Rosemary whispered, being a pal so our bus mates wouldn’t overhear her erroneous theory that Liam Collier, the ringmaster of this carnival, was contemplating a relationship with me, of all people. “Second of all, did you hear what you just said? You said you’re scared of Liam Collier. That says it all.”

“All I meant was that it’s not going to happen between us,” I argued.

Rosemary scoffed, pissily twisting and flinging the corner of her blanket. “Abby, we are going in circles, and you need to give yourself more credit. I need some sleep. It’s been a long day. We’ll talk in the morning. Love you, girl, even though you’re more stubborn than a dead elephant. Good night.” She rolled over, pulled the covers over her shoulders, and faced the bus wall.

A dead elephant? I lay there a few minutes before climbing to my own bunk. Thank goodness we got to use the venue dressing rooms to change into our regular clothes, or we’d have to change in front of strangers. Lying in the low lights of a bus getting ready for the road again, I popped in earbuds and hit play on my Bach playlist.

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