Page 25 of Tattoos and Heartbreak
But now, I wondered.
Maybe I should start.
RIVERS
We screeched into town about an hour before the next show was supposed to start, and though every cell in my body wanted to go find Taylor James and tell her exactly what I thought of their little publicity scheme, I grabbed Lila’s hand, went into the hotel to get a key to my room and drop our things off, and then headed directly downstairs to the venue. This town was larger than the last, which meant our hotel had more than three floors, but the place had been built weird. Instead of housing the music hall in a different building, they’d decided to put it on the first floor of the hotel itself.
That little detail aside, the size of the town came with some complications. More people. More buildings. It would take more time to find Taylor, and I wanted at least an hour in which to give her a piece of my mind.
We didn’t have time for that right now.
A large part of my brain also didn’t know what, exactly, I was going to say to her. Was I furious that they’d left us behind? Yes. Was this one more publicity stunt done at my expense, after a lifetime of watching other people use my life for their benefit? Yes.
And that was starting to get really, really old, though underneath the hurt was an echoing thought that this was the life I’d signed up for, and at least publicity made me useful.
Beyond that, though, was a much bigger, much more attractive thought.
Taylor’s little publicity stunt had given me hours and hours to be alone with Lila. And it had been possibly the most beautiful afternoon of my entire life.
You see my conflict. I was so angry at Taylor that I wanted to scream at her… but I also couldn’t get over the fact that she had given me a chance to experience Lila in all her glory. And I didn’t think that would have happened unless we’d been alone. Stuck in a meadow in the bed of a truck we’d essentially stolen. Staring at the clouds.
Speaking of the truck, I needed to get one of the roadies to take it back and return it to its owner. I’d do that in the morning.
Right now, we had a show to get to.
I tugged at Lila’s hand, forcing her to walk faster, and strolled through the reception area toward the stairs, my mind on the show ahead of us and wondering why the hell there weren’t any photographers around now, when Lila and I were making ourselves so obvious.
* * *
We gotinto the venue to find The Leathers already halfway through their set and rushed backstage to find my band doing their prep work in the wings. I gave them all furious looks—which they’d acted like they didn’t understand—and then put Lila safely out of the way while I went to help set up.
She, of course, didn’t stay put. Instead, she hustled forward to help Matty with a bunch of equipment and started telling him about the truck we’d ‘borrowed.’
“Only Rivers says we weren’t stealing it because supposedly he’s going to have it returned to the owner,” she finished.
I looked over in time to see her rolling her eyes in my direction and gave her a quick grin. “I’ll have it returned tomorrow,” I promised. “It’s not stealing if they end up getting it back.”
“Seems like a pretty fine line there, my friend,” Matt observed.
“Shut it, you. You aren’t the one who found yourself stranded when you were supposed to be at a show.”
Matt smirked at me—same old Matt—and turned back to Lila to ask why it had taken us so long to get here if we’d had a truck. I froze, wondering what she was going to say. We’d spent far too long in that meadow, and though some of it had been innocent, a whole lot of it hadn’t been. What was she going to say? That we were laying around staring at clouds… or that we were making love under the sky, those clouds flying along above us and shielding us from absolutely nothing?
Neither was a good option. Both were private, and though I’d shared most of my life with the public—and my friends—I suddenly realized that I didn’t want to share this. I didn’t want anyone else to know about what Lila and I had.
I didn’t want anyone else touching the memory.
“Had some car trouble,” she quipped. “Had to pull over for a while. Probably serves us right for stealing a truck, to be honest.”
I looked up and our gazes clashed, her bright green to my dark brown.
And in her gaze, I saw that she wasn’t going to give up my secrets. Because she didn’t want to share what we’d done with anyone else, either.
I went back to what I’d been doing, knowing that I had the stupidest expression I’d ever worn on my face. I probably looked goofy and punch drunk. Dazed and confused and yet completely sure of something I wasn’t sharing.
I didn’t give a single fuck what I looked like.
I was too happy to care.
