Page 54 of Too Little Too Soon
ChapterNineteen
Travis had gotten usedto sleeping on a tour bus. It was a necessity when one spent as much time on the road as a band did. As nice as it was to have a king-sized bed in a hotel room waiting after each show, it wasn’t always practical, financially or time-wise.
What he found interesting when he woke the next morning with a slumbering Ava curled into his side was how easily he’d adjusted to sleeping with someone else sharing his bed. Even a bed that was barely large enough for one person.
He knew what that meant. It meant he didn’t want to sleep alone. It meant he wanted this fake relationship to be real.
It meant he ought to come clean and tell Ava what was going on. It sure seemed to him that she felt the same way, or at least close enough that they could probably work things out.
But, the little devil on his shoulder whispered,what if she doesn’t? This plan to scare off your stalker is brilliant. Don’t fuck it up now.
Stupid little devil was right. For one thing, he actually felt calmer around Ava. He wasn’t paralyzed by fear that some chick was going to pop up and scare the shit out of him at any moment.
Second, with the way the internet had been flooded with pictures of him and Ava last night, there was no way in hell his stalker wouldn’t figure out that he was off the market. And if Mitch’s theory was right, she’d finally leave him the hell alone.
They had three more shows before their first two-week break. All he had to do was get through the next week. That ought to be enough time to figure out whether the stalker intended to keep harassing him.
He’d tell Ava the truth while they were on break. That way, if she lost her shit over it—God, he hoped she didn’t—they’d have time to hash everything out without the scrutiny of the public eye. And he’d have two weeks to convince her to carry on with the charade when they returned to the tour.
Or maybe he’d wait. Because what if he couldn’t convince her to carry on with pretending to be his girlfriend? The minute his stalker figured out he was single again, she’d resume her creepy ways, and Travis didn’t think he could handle it.
HeneededAva to carry on with this pretense.
Shit. He was so tense and agitated now, he was probably going to wake her up if he didn’t get out of this bunk. Luckily, he’d fallen asleep closest to the entrance, so it was easy enough to disentangle himself and slide out.
After a pitstop in the bathroom, he headed toward the lounge area, where the scent of coffee was strongest.
“Morning,” he said as he walked past a table where Oz, Maria, Carina, and Riley all sat around eating pastries and yogurt. He poured himself a cup of coffee, snagged a jelly-filled confection, and dropped onto the couch across from the dining family.
“You’re up early,” Oz commented.
“So are you.”
“I’m always up early.”
It was true. Once upon a time, Oz had worked three jobs plus playing in the band. Travis had often wondered when the man slept.
Since Oz was still looking at him like he was waiting for a better answer, Travis shrugged and said, “Needed to get up and stretch. Kind of a tight fit in those bunks.” He smirked. Oz and Maria slept together in a bunk all the time, so they were well aware of the cozy quarters.
Maria shook her head. “I still can’t believe you and Ava are together. When did it start?”
Abruptly, he stood and busied himself with refilling his coffee mug, his back to Maria. “I don’t kiss and tell, sorry.”
“That’s okay. I’ll just ask her.” There was laughter in Maria’s voice.
Travis struggled not to cringe. What would Ava tell her sister? Would she go all the way back to New Year’s Eve? He supposed it was a cool meet-cute, even if that’s not what he’d meant it to be.
“Oh, by the way,” Maria said, “there’s a press conference before today’s show. The label scheduled it at the last minute. Like, literally, just an hour ago.”
Jesus, it was still the middle of the night in LA, where the label was headquartered. They weren’t messing around with this plan to scare off his stalker, were they?
Because, yeah, he knew that was why this press conference had been scheduled. They wanted every relevant media outlet to make it known that he was no longer a single rock star.
“Appreciate the heads-up,” he said, and then he retreated to a corner and pretended to be wholly focused on his phone. The good news was, he had lots of practice with telling the media what the band wanted them to know versus what was really going on. How many times had he covered for Suzie Q back in the day, when she was too high to play or too hungover to function?
All this little warning had given him was a solid reminder that he was doing the right thing.
Keeping Ava in the dark about this ploy was exactly what he needed to do.
