Page 35 of Too Little Too Soon
“Remember, I told you he had some baggage left over from when he was part of Dog Daze,” Maria said.
“Yes, but you didn’t mention he had an ex-wife.”
“One, not my story to tell. And two, I don’t know the details anyway. I just know that he hates the idea of interpersonal relationships within the band.”
No wonder he was so adamant about them beingjust friends.
He stepped out of the shower, a towel wrapped around his hips, his hair towel dried and sticking up everywhere. Ava wanted to lick those water droplets from his chest.
Just friends, remember, Ava?
His gaze snapped to her like he knew exactly what she was thinking, his frown deepened, and he strode to the screen and ducked behind it to get dressed.
“I don’t want to go to the meet ’n greet tonight,” he announced as soon as he stepped out from behind the screen, wearing a pair of ass-hugging jeans and a fitted black T-shirt with the wordsI drink and I know thingsscrawled across the front. He dragged a hand through his hair, which turned it from crazy, sticking up all over the place to bedhead, and God, Ava needed to get laid.
“You have to,” Maria replied. “The local radio station did a giveaway. Two lucky fans get free hoodies and a picture with the entire band. The station is going to broadcast it live and post it on their website. It’s fantastic publicity.”
“Shit,” Travis said. He snatched a glass, filled it with ice, and topped it off with bourbon. Then he drank the entire thing in a couple of gulps.
A few minutes later, they were ready to head down to the meet and greet. Technically, Ava didn’t need to go, and a lot of times she didn’t, but there was no way she was hanging back tonight. She was worried about Travis. He was like a volcano; the slightest provocation might make him blow.
As they all started to leave the dressing room, she snagged his sleeve and held him back. “What’s the deal?” she asked. If she was going to help him, she needed to know what she was up against. They were friends, right? Heck, at this point, he was the closest friend she’d ever had.
In her life.
The door closed, leaving the two of them alone in the room. Travis stood facing the flat, smooth wooden surface, his fists bunched at his sides.
Finally, without looking at her, he said, “Cleveland is where my last band fell apart.” He paused. “Well, that’s when I quit and walked away.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Obviously. You weren’t even there.” He finally glanced at her, gave her a fleeting smirk.
She returned to the little seating area and splashed bourbon into a glass, then handed it to him.
“Thanks.” He tossed it back with a grimace.
“I just found out you were married,” she admitted.
He blew out a breath, dragged his hand through his hair again. “Yeah. To the guitarist for my previous band, Dog Daze. It didn’t end well.”
“I’m sorry.” What else was she supposed to say?
“Suzie was an addict,” he said. “She couldn’t handle the fame. She came from nothing, and we were rising so fast—not unlike Demigoddess Revival is now—and she was a kid in a candy store. Trying every damn thing. And then going back for more. We divorced mostly because of the cheating—her, not me,” he clarified, which was funny because Ava would never have taken him for a cheater anyway. The man had integrity in spades.
“That’s why you left the band? Because of the divorce?”
He shook his head. “It honestly didn’t bother me that we’d split. By that point I was ready to admit that we didn’t love each other. I married her because it seemed like the right thing to do, since we started the band together. Totally stupid reason to do it.”
“Can’t disagree.”
He snorted. “Thanks for the honesty. But yeah, we could have been fine, as a band, even with the divorce. Except her drug use just kept getting worse.”
He strode over and placed the glass on the nearest flat surface. “She constantly missed practices. Couldn’t keep her shit together on stage. She was always high. I mean,always. And then there was the Cleveland show. Right here. In this arena.”
He waved, encompassing the entire venue.
“She barely made it through the show and then disappeared afterward. Like, walked off stage and out of the building and kept going. Nobody could find her. We had a show the next night, and we had to cancel it because we didn’t have a guitarist. We even called the cops and reported her as a missing person. We didn’t know if she was still alive.
