Page 99 of Don't Bang a Bandmate

He glances into the back. “They’re lucky to have you.”

I smile. “We’re lucky to have each other.”

He nods at that, his mouth opening to reply. Before he can, someone plunks onto the bench next to me and he stops, smiling as Chrissy groans in my ear.

“Are we there yet?” she asks.

I chuckle and toss my arm over her shoulders. “Almost,” I say, recognizing a few Pennsylvanian landmarks outside.

“We get a day off, right?” she asks. “Please tell me we get a day off.”

“You can have a day off whenever you want,” I say.

“Really?”

I shrug. “You don’t work for me. Or Midnite Music anymore, technically.”

Chrissy beams. “Oh, yeah. That’s right. I’m a free agent.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I can do whatever I want!”

“Just be at the show tomorrow night,” I add. “I like the help.”

“Of course.” Chrissy kisses my cheek, then looks across the table at Christian. “Hey, you.”

“Hey, you,” he repeats.

“Whatcha talking about?”

“Burnout.”

Chrissy scoffs before plunking her head down on the table and closing her eyes.

As I run a few fingers through her black hair, I look into the back of the bus. A few others are awake now, chatting amongst themselves and raiding the kitchenette for snacks.

Bronson, too. He’s sitting on a bench with a bag of chips, his mouth quirked with a smile as he listens to Knox and Jonah bantering over something stupid, I’m sure.

I let my gaze linger a little longer, hoping that he looks over at me so that I can… drop my pen.

He doesn’t.

32

JORDAN

It’s a quiet few days in Philadelphia.

After those New York City all-nighters, everyone is exhausted. Except Christian. While he urges the group to spend the nights out with him, the others decline, opting for a few nights of rest and relaxation instead.

“Never thought I’d see the day,”Christian says to them, tutting his tongue judgmentally.

But that does little to change their minds. And I’m not about to argue with a few days of quiet. I’ve got a lot of calls to return, anyway. Show night will be here again before we know it, and we’ll be right back to the same busy routine.

But as busy as our routine is, there comes a moment at every show where the world sort of just...stops.

It’s normally halfway through the main set. The band has played the first few tracks; usually the anthem-like ones to woo and excite the crowd. Then, they bring it down for a few songs. A ballad. A spotlight on Katrina and her keyboard or Jonah and his acoustic.

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