Page 26 of I Love Rock n Wine

I groaned the following morning as I felt my phone vibrate in my lap and rubbed my red, puffy eyes. I didn’t want to see any messages or check anything. I had already seen some headlines about the show last night, and they weren’t pretty. They claimed that Jameson sounded raw, rough, as if he was losing his vocal cords.That wasn’t the case, but no one cared.

Then they said the show looked awkward, that us dancers shouldn’t be on stage if we didn’t know what we were doing. Which was true. Charlene was so frazzled after the switch-upthat half the time she didn’t remember the steps. After theshow, she was pissed off at me and I didn’t blame her. This all was on my head.

With another groan, I finally checked my phone, frowning at my email icon.I opened it, seeing it was from my dance company, and skimmed through it, my jaw dropping.

Heath wanted me off the tour! But it couldn’t be done as there was no backup and no notice. So, at the end of this leg, I was officially off of the tour, and officially out of the company. They also said they were sorry to have to state that, as they were unsure what happened, but Jameson was a huge account, and they didn’t want him upset.

Sure, I understood that. But that also left me jobless after three months. What the hell was I going to do after that? No one would want me; of that I was certain. And my life as a dancer was done.

“Shit, just, fucking shit!” I screamed, tossing my phone on the couch.Maybe when we loaded the buses today, I could talk Jameson into not getting me fired.

Six hours later, with my bag on my shoulder, I walked to the lot the buses were at. The air was charged, I could feel it, and it sure didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on. I knew this was coming, I had seen it but did nothing to stop it. Now all I could do was beg for some grain of mercy from the man.

“Heath,” I whispered, as I walked up to him. No one would dare approach him, so it wasn’t odd for me to be getting looks.He looked up, rolling his eyes at me.

“What the fuck? I told you it’s boss. I also told you to leave me alone. Are you dense?”

Okay, that stung. Name-calling was never a good thing, even if I had called him an asshole plenty of times in my head.

“No, but I wanted to talk to you. I know I have no right to ask this, but I’m begging you to reconsider telling my company to fire me. I need the job.”

“Not. My.Fucking. Problem. Should have thought about that before lying to me.”

“Look, I know I was in the wrong, but you’re taking away my livelihood!Punish me all you want, I deserve it, I won’t dispute that. Hell, I’ll dance for someone else, but please don’t let them fire me.”

“Your goddamn problems aren’t my problems to worry about, sweetheart.” I wasn’t sure I had ever heard an endearment be dropped with so much hate and malice. And I knew for as long as I lived, I would hate that word. And I fought to keep the tears from falling.“Don’t come near me again, Tiffany.I have a restraining order on my ex, I’ll get one on you. And again, let me be clear. You’re no better than any of them. Lying and using to get what they want.

“I told you I didn’t want fake, that I was tired of it. But you played me better than they had. So, I’ll stick to fucking groupies and one-night stands, because if you’re what real looks like, this world is a lot more fucked up than I thought. Last warning I will give you. Stay.The. Fuck. Away.”

Chapter 16

~ Heath ~

Amonth.That’s how long we’ve been on this fucking tour! And personally, I couldn’t wait for this goddamn break that was coming up. It was needed like never before.

I watched her as she ran off the stage from the side stage and back to her room, not even bothering to change here anymore. I wouldn’t have either when we accidentally bumped into each other, and I happened to have flung some unkind words her way again.

Was it smart?Nope.

Did I care? Not at that time.

Now, now it’s a little different. Why? Because I’m fucking pissy, whiny, and unbearable. At least according to what I’ve overheard the staff say. I did believe it though.

With a sigh, I rubbed the back of my neck.Seeing someone you had a thing with day in and day out was hard. I can see why companies put up a “no relationship cause” in everything.Sadly, I could also see it was wearing on Tiffany, and though I was hurt, I didn’t like it. I hated that it had come to this, but I didn’t know what to do.

Forgiving her wasn’t an option.

So, I still stuck to my guns about the company letting her go. I couldn’t risk a future run-in with her or something. It sucked. I didn’t want to take her dream away, but she left me no choice.

A few minutes later, I grabbed my own bag, and with security in tow, I walked to my bus. I nodded my head at the group hanging outside their transport, talking and joking around. Everyone was there but Tiff. Did they push her aside because of me? Or was she on the bus figuring things out?

Not my problem.

“What the fuck is that?”

I snapped my head up as the figure walked into my studio.

“Music,” I retorted, earning a glare from Kev.

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