Page 40 of For Eva

“You heard me. Now move your hand so I can get my fucking shoes.”

NowIwas pissed. I pressed my hand hard onto the top of the suitcase. “Fuck this. My goddamn career is on the line here. My band could get thrown off our first big tour. Do you have any idea how bad this is? And now you’re defending Eric when I still don’t know what the fuck happened!”

She glared at me before springing from her knees and retrieving her cigarettes from her purse. “Fine. You wanna know what happened? Jesse Trainor asked if you’d mind if he fucked me. And then he proceeded to feel me up in the middle of the goddamn party.”

“He didwhat?”

She flopped on the bed and lit her smoke. “And what I don’t understand is why Eric saw it all, and you couldn’t be bothered to so much as glance in my direction until everything exploded. And eventhenyou just stood there like a fucking statue.”

Fuck. Me.

I sighed and pushed myself up. “Are you sure he…Was he joking around, or did you, like, say something that made him think…anything?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you fuckingseriousright now?”

“I just know he’s used to chicks throwing themselves at him, so maybe he misunderstood.”

“Oh my God, I’m not on trial here, okay? I told Jesse you and I were serious, and he still did what he did. He’s an asshole, and if we weren’t in this crazy fucking world we’re in, Eric would be fucking Superman. But he’s not because saving me could cost you this tour.” She paused, taking a long drag off her cigarette. “Do you realize how fucked up this is? Like,hey, thanks, Eric,for doing what my boyfriend didn’t, but now you gotta go say you’re sorry.”

“Babe, stop saying I didn’t do anything! I didn’t know what the fuck was going on.”

“Because you weren’t even paying attention to me, Danny! You were so fucking involved in whatever conversation you were having that you didn’t even look back once to check on me.Not once.” She tossed her half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray, not bothering to put it out. “Shit, how did this even happen?”

I bit my tongue to stop the words I wanted to say from flying out of my mouth. If she’d stayed in LA, itwouldn’thave happened. Our spot on the tour wouldn’t be in jeopardy, and I’d be snorting cocaine off one of those silver fucking platters instead of sitting in a goddamn hotel room trying to figure out how to undo the dramashewas at the center of. This proved what I’d known from the beginning—that it was a terrible fucking idea for her to be here. But I couldn’t tell her those things because I didn’t want her to leaveme.I just wanted her to leave the fucking tour.

I sat beside her, trying to pull her into me, but she resisted, her eyes fixed on the wall. “Look, I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention. The industry guy Bryan introduced me to kept saying how he saw all these big things ahead for us. I got wrapped up in it all and…Fuck, never mind, it doesn’t matter. I’m gonna go find Eric and take care of this myself.”

She shook her head. “No, you guys are gonna end up in some huge fight, and that isn’t what we need. We just need to—”

There was a loud knock at the door, and Eva gasped. “Maybe that’s him.”

My fists clenched at the thought, but I tried to maintain some semblance of cool as I walked toward the door and opened it, praying it wouldn’t be him so she wouldn’t see me lose my mind on the motherfucker. Yeah, he’d stood up for Eva, but hecould’ve done it in a way that didn’t leave our future up in the fucking air.

“Am I gonna have to call Keith and tell him we’re off this tour?” Bryan’s voice was panicked and breathless, like he’d just run laps around the hotel.

“No, I’m taking care of it,” I said. “Don’t call Keith.”

“But I’m—”

I shut the door and rubbed my eyes, running my hands up to my forehead, then walked back to the bed. “Stay here, okay? I’ll go find him.”

Eva sucked in a breath and threw her hands in the air. “Whatever. But Jesse wants to talk to Eric, and I’m leaving a message for their manager to make sure that happens.”

I nodded and headed for the door knowing full well that I’d be the one in that meeting with Jesse. Because even if Eric wanted to go, there was no way in hell I was letting him fuck things up even more than he already had.

I didn’t have to go far to find him. I was walking toward the revolving door to search the bar across the street when I saw him in the lobby, a brunette with legs almost as long as his sitting on his lap, twirling her hair. She whispered in his ear, no doubt something about how she gave the best blow jobs in the city, and he grinned, smacking her ass as they stood.

No fucking way.He wasn’t gonna get his dick sucked while I was trying to save our collective asses.

“Hold the fuck up, Eric,” I said.

He threw his head back and sighed. “Dude, I’m busy. What the fuck do you want?”

I didn’t know whether to punch his face or laugh in it.

“What the fuck do you think I want?”

“Oh my God, you’re Danny!” The girl squealed and pressed her hands into my chest. “Youhaveto meet my best friend. I told her we’d find y’all, but she gave up and went across the street.She’s so into you, she’s gonna freakin’die. You like blonds, right?”

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