Page 28 of Stuck With My Rockstar Boss
We’re in Omaha. It’s a neat little town. There’s not a ton to do in Omaha. Shocking, I know. Mika and I have already done all there is to do in Omaha. We hit up the zoo which is a really fucking cool zoo. It has the largest indoor rainforest in North America. It was amazing until a bat flew down and tried to make a nest of Mika’s hair. She squealed and clung onto my arm the rest of the time.
Mika’s fun. No matter where we go, she makes things fun. From the start of tour until now. Madison, Detroit, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Little Rock… every city has been an adventure.
I’ve had some explaining to do, that’s for sure. The guys ask where I disappear to, especially when I get to brag about all the sightseeing I’m doing.
“Don’t you get recognized?” Jay asked with an awestruck expression.
“Nothing a baseball cap and sunglasses can’t fix,” I replied with a shrug. Although, I know it’s not all that. Mika has been invaluable in helping me fall into the shadows. We’ve gotten good at sneaking off to no suspicion. I’ll drive off and pick her up down the block or she’ll take the bus a few stops away before we meet up.
If anything, I think they’re jealous. There’s a reason the Beatles stayed locked up in their hotel rooms when they visited America. They couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized. Now, we’re not the Beatles and fame and celebrity is different now, but at this point in our careers, it’s hard to go anywhere and not have a run-in with a fan.
For the most part, I avoid going out with them and I avoid any of the parties unless Ken says they’re mandatory. I’ve thought about telling them what’s going on with me… what happened at the end of last tour that’s made me feel like this. But I haven’t spoken about it since that night when I gave the police report. I haven’t had the courage to.
“I thought you were famous or something. Why are you sleeping on a bus?” Amy asks with a snicker, bringing me back from inside my head.
“I thought you were a grown-up or something, why are you sleeping in an extra-long twin bed?”
She narrows her eyes, making Facetime work extra hard to not be blurry. “Fair.”
I laugh. Amy’s studying fashion design at FIT in New York. I’m so proud of her for following her passion. Ever since she was little, she’s been a fashion maven.
“Can’t believe you guys aren’t making it to New York this tour. That’s like sacrilege or something.”
“I know. Next time,” I say with a sweet smile. In truth, I’m not sure how New York didn’t make it on the list of stops this tour. Probably because we’re not much of an East Coast band. We don’t have quite a hold there as we do in the West, Midwest, and South. “I should have flown you out to Chicago or–”
“Speaking of Chicago…” Amy asks, a sneaky look appearing on her face. “That girl.”
I freeze. “What girl?”
She scoffs. “The girl. That you’re singing with on tour. The one in that picture?”
“What picture?” I ask urgently. Perhaps we haven’t been as sneaky as we thought. Perhaps I stole a kiss when we weren’t entirely alone. Or what if someone took a picture of us in private? That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.
“Hold tight, I’ll send it.”
I hold as tight as I can even though my heart is pounding. When the picture comes through, I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s just the group photo of us in Chicago. “Where’d you get this?”
“It’s on People. They did a whole article on her and like who she is. Came out this morning.”
Oh, fuck. I’m gonna have to clear this up with Ken. “We were just on a bike ride.”
“A romantic bike ride…” she says with schoolgirl energy.
I throw myself into my bunk and yank the privacy curtain closed. “Will you keep your voice down?”
Amy giggles. “Lucas has a girlfr?—”
“Amy, I’m only gonna say this once. She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Suuuuure.”
“Amy!” I say, my voice tight and hot. “She’s. Not. My. Girlfriend.”
Amy goes quiet. I’m not hard on her often, but when I am, I know it hurts her feelings. All I can see in her face is the little five-year-old I used to yell at for interrupting us during band practice.
“Mika is just a friend.”
“Okay.”
