Page 40 of Rock Strong

“Bro,” she mocked. “God, you’re so clueless, it’s not even funny.” She turned to leave, but I grabbed her arm and spun her around.

“What am I so clueless about, Helen? Tell me.” If she was going to accuse me of being stupid, I wanted her to at least spell out what it was I was supposed to know.

She shoved my hand away. “The fact that you have to ask proves that you are. The fact that you can’t, for one second, look at me as anything other than one of your bros is what I’m talking about!” Her tears betrayed her. They spilled, then she did the unthinkable. I saw it coming, though I couldn’t move or prevent it. It was almost as if I deserved it, so I just stood there, allowing her hand to clock back then come forward and slap me hard.

Thwack! One tight crack.

“Are you kidding me right now?” I asked, holding on to my stinging cheek.

“I show you, I give to you, I stand by you.” She was really bawling now, hurt forcing out all her tears. “All I’ve ever wanted was for you to give me a chance.” She was rambling, wiping her eyes, fumbling over words. And drunk, not because she liked to be, but because she was trying not to think of me.

Tucker burst out of the bus just then, landing on the asphalt like a pack of firecrackers. “Dude, I told her she didn’t want to come here and see things her eyes couldn’t take back, but she didn’t listen. Helen, just fucking tell him already.”

“Tell me what?” My eyes flitted back and forth between two of my best friends.

“That if she can’t marry you and have ten thousand of your babies”—Tucker laughed, ringing his arm around Helen—“then she doesn’t want anyone else. Ever.”

“Is that true?” I crossed my arms, facing her. “Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

“Because a girl shouldn’t have to say it.”

“Well, I don’t fucking read minds!” I yelled.

“I think it’s time I leave,” she said, turning to Tucker, who threw his hands in the air and disappeared into the bus.

“Why?” I said. “You don’t have to go, babe.”

“There’s no reason for me to stay, babe.” She sniffed, pressing her hands into her face. “The only reason I came along on this year’s tour was to tell you that, to see if anything would develop between us. Last thing I expected was that you’d fall for that”—she gestured in the direction Abby had walked off—“thing.”

“Her name is Abby.”

“Whatever her fucking name is!” She stormed off toward her bus, head hanging, and me feeling like I’d bypassed douchebag and gone straight to Motherfucker of the Year.

Chapter 13

Abby

As my infatuation with Liam grew, so did my stress. We were in Vancouver, home of Giselle Vici, last tour’s flame, Goddess of Sex, Bras, and Lingerie. Was I enough to keep Liam from straying? I admitted that a teeny part of me did give him that backstage blow job to show him I could compete, I could be his woman, and he didn’t need a line of groupies out the door to be happy. But most of me did it because I enjoyed it.

And, oh, did I enjoy it.

I’d never done that before in exactly that way—slowly, deliberately, taking my sweet time. To be honest, Samuel always climaxed way too quickly, before I could even begin exploring. Maybe it was my fault…because it didn’t happen often. But doing it with Liam felt different—remarkable, so sexy, and I couldn’t wait to get on with learning more with him.

But for now, there was work to be done.

During our first rehearsal break, my mother called, which surprised me, since she’d told me before I left NYC that she wouldn’t want to bother me and preferred that I call her instead. Either her patience had failed her, or something was up.

“Hi, Mom,” I answered, sneaking out of the rehearsal room into the warm sunshine of the venue’s back parking lot.

“Abby! Have you been following news of the tour?”

“Ma, I’m on the tour. Why would I be following news if I’m experiencing it? What’s up?”

“Look at your texts, for crying out loud. Look at them!” my mother said in that special tone that suggested she was going to bust a gasket if I didn’t stop everything I was doing and attend to her matters at once.

“Okay…hold on. I was rehearsing. Sorry.” I pushed the button to return to the home screen where I could check texts while putting my mom on speaker. Apparently, she had taken a screen shot and sent it, showing a photo of me holding hands with Liam outside his bus. A headline from BuzzNews read: Is Liam Collier Romancing New Mystery Woman?

There wasn’t much news attached to the photo, just a basic summary of Point Break being on the North American leg of their world tour and questions about this mysterious woman he was recently seen with. Man, news really did travel fast. But it wasn’t an incriminating photo or anything.

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