by Renna Peak
I slide the door open and walk toward the front of the bus, Sophia following behind. Out the open windows I see the flashing red and blue lights of at least half a dozen police cars, maybe more. The shouting is coming from the stairs at the very front of the bus. Mick is standing at the top of the stairs, his arms crossed. He usually follows the tour bus in his own car, but clearly he realized there was a situation and jumped immediately into action—and sure enough, glancing out the window, I spot Mick’s car among the cop cars on the shoulder of the road, the driver’s side door still hanging open. He must have sprinted over to try and block Sophia’s brother from entering the bus. Nicholas is two steps below him, visibly pissed but apparently not willing to enter into a physical altercation—not yet, anyway.
Charlie is behind Mick, doing his usual thing and trying to diffuse the situation—not that it’s working. I shoot a quick glance at the couch and note that Jameson hasn’t moved from the spot he was sitting in earlier. He’s obviously content to let Mick and Charlie deal with this drama. Meanwhile, Rider has spread out on the seat next to Jameson, still smirking.
I’m glad at least one of us finds this amusing, I think, striding forward.
The minute Nicholas sees me, he raises his voice again.
“You will return my sister at once!” he says. “Or God help me, I’ll have you thrown in prison!”
He’s already managed to get the local police on his side, so I know I have to tread carefully. For better or for worse, though, Sophia pushes past me, cutting me off before I can respond.
“There’s nothing to arrest him for,” she tells her brother. “I’m here by my own choice.”
“You’re coming home with me right now,” Nicholas says, ignoring her words. “I’ve already arranged for an escort to the airport—”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Sophia says, lifting her chin. “I make my own choices, Nick. You can tell Father that when you see him.”
I expect Nicholas to get angrier, but instead, he sighs and closes his eyes. He knows as well as I do that there’s no convincing his sister to change her mind about anything.
“I thought you were smarter than this,” he says finally. “You’re not a child anymore, Sophia.”
“You’re right. I’m not.”
“You can’t run away from your role in this world.”
“And what role is that, exactly?” she says. “Sitting around in Montovia looking pretty? No thank you. I’d rather live a little.” She grins. “You should try it, Nick. Trust me, you’d like it.”
Nicholas rubs his temples. “Sophia…”
“You already agreed to let her do this,” I remind him.
The sharp look he gives me makes me wish I’d kept my mouth shut. But I’m not the sort of guy who lets some pretentious asshole intimidate me into silence. Especially when something—or someone—I want is in the mix.
“Sophia has made up her mind,” I say. “And I, for one, plan to respect her decision.”
Nicholas’s eyebrows slide even closer together, but before he can respond, someone reaches into the bus from outside and grabs his arm.
“Let me speak to them,” says a female voice that sounds vaguely familiar.
Nicholas doesn’t look like he wants to budge, but he moves to the side, allowing just enough room for a woman to step up onto the lowest step of the bus beside him. I recognize her now—she’s the reporter who interviewed me a couple of weeks ago, the one who’s married to one of Sophia’s other brothers. The one who introduced me to Sophia in the first place. Victoria, I think.
Victoria’s eyes shift from Sophia, to me, then back to Sophia again. Her gaze falls to where I’ve protectively grabbed Sophia’s arm.
“Maybe we can speak somewhere in private?” she says to Sophia.
But Sophia shakes her head. “I’m not getting off this bus, if that’s what you want. The two of you can bully me all you want, but I’m standing by my decision.”
I can see the moment Victoria resigns herself to Sophia’s choice. Unlike Nicholas, she seems to accept that she can’t change this situation.
“Next time,” Victoria says carefully, “you might want to inform your family of your whereabouts before running off with someone. Everyone has been frantic all morning, wondering where you’ve gone. It’s a major political event when a member of the royal family goes missing.”
“I apologize,” Sophia says, just as evenly. “It wasn’t my intention to cause anyone any trouble. But I knew Nick would try and stop me if I told him what I was doing.”
Nicholas makes a scoffing sound, but Victoria shoots him a silencing look.
“So you’re determined to do this?” Victoria asks Sophia. “I have to warn you, the tabloids are going crazy over this…relationship.” She gestures between Sophia and me. “You’re not going to be able to avoid the press, even if you try. You’ll have paparazzi following you every step of this tour. You can kiss your privacy goodbye.”
“I won’t let the press bully me any more than I will my family,” Sophia says. “This is my life, and I refuse to keep living it on other people’s terms.”
Something in Victoria’s face softens, then, and I realize she empathizes with her sister-in-law. I don’t know much about Victoria, but clearly she understands a little of what Sophia is going through. At least Sophia has one potential ally in her family.
“Then let me suggest this,” Victoria says finally. “There are going to be stories written about you whether you like it or not. I’m still working with Celebrity Spark—I can dictate the angle they take, at least.” She nods to herself, as if settling on her plan. “Let me be your official contact. Follow you on this tour, get some exclusive interviews, and all that. All rumors and gossip will start with us. The other celebrity magazines will pick up whatever scraps they can—and trust me, they’ll be hunting for them—but we can take the lead. Shape the story. And we can start with a follow-up about that sex tape.”
“I think that’s a brilliant idea,” Mick says, speaking for the first time since I came into the room. “We get publicity, but Ms. Simpson here has a vested interest in keeping a positive spin on events.”
Victoria nods. “Andrew will never forgive me if I slander your family’s good name. Not that I’d want to, either way. But this way everyone gets what they want, and we’ll have as much control as we can over what comes out.”
Nicholas is frowning. “It would be better to suppress the stories altogether—”
“That’s impossible. We’re not in Montovia,” Victoria says simply.
Sophia is nodding. “I think this is our best option.”
Her brother shakes his head. “The best option is for you to return home.”
“And we’ve already established that I’m not doing that.”
Nicholas lets out another impressive sigh. “Fine. But I’m coming with you.”
Of course. I should have known that was where this was all heading, but it’s still a kick to the gut. What’s a rock tour without a stuffy prince tagging along?
But it’s not just Nicholas who’ll be joining us. It sounds like Victoria is coming along, too, which means we’ll have two members of Sophia’s family following us everywhere.
Talk about a fucking buzzkill. I have a feeling my plans to fuck Sophia morning, noon, and night are out the window now.
It’s your own damn fault for getting involved with a princess, I think. And as I look at the stubborn faces of the three royals standing in the bus—one on my side, one against me, and one decidedly in the middle—I wonder again what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.
Sophia
Victoria looks over at Nicholas. “I’m not so sure staying with them is the best idea—”
“I’m staying with them. That’s final.” Nicholas glares over at Pax. “And you should unhand my sister.”
Pax releases my arm, but instead of pulling away from me, he slides his arm around my waist.
I can’t help but smile. I lean into h
im, grinning at my brother. “I think you’re done dictating what I do. If you want to tag along, I suppose I can’t stop you. But you’re not going to tell me who I can or cannot touch.”
“Yeah,” Rider interrupts with a snort. I’d almost forgotten Pax’s bandmates are sitting in the room with us. “You’re a little late for that, anyway.” He waggles his eyebrows in our direction.
My brother’s face turns a bright shade of crimson, and I’d swear there’s smoke coming from his ears. “Sophia…”
Victoria pats him on the forearm. “Let me make a few calls. San Francisco isn’t all that far away. I’m sure everyone can make it the…what? Five or six more hours to the hotel?”
“Give or take,” Mick says with a sigh. “Can we just get going? We’ve got a show tonight, and believe me, the guys need to get another rehearsal in before then.”
“Pax has been…distracted. Fucking everything up.” I can’t really read the look on Rider’s face, but it’s something between amusement and fury. “Can’t we just have the royal entourage ride behind us?” He chuckles. “Of course, Pax probably thinks ‘riding behind’ a royal means something totally different—”
My brother steps forward and grabs Rider, pulling him out of his seat by the collar and shoving him against the other wall of the bus. He glares down into his eyes. “Take that back. No one says such things about my sister.”
Rider shoves Nick, twisting out of his grasp. “Geez, man, you need to get a grip. I was just kidding.” He rubs his neck for a moment. “But you have to admit, it’s totally true—”
My brother takes a single step toward him, cutting off his words.
Rider turns to back away, holding his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just—”
“I’m an easy target.” Pax almost growls the words as he slides his other arm around my waist. “We both are. Go ahead, take your shots.” He looks around at his bandmates before turning his gaze to Nick’s. “You’re going to have to get over it. You all are. Sophia and I are together now. You’re all just going to have to accept it.”
My heart thumps in my chest at his words. Are we really together now? I’m still not sure what this is between us—or why I even want it—but I know I want more. Things feel right somehow when I’m in his arms. He might have secrets—and judging by his music, they’re deep and dark—but I don’t care. It isn’t even about defying my family or proving some point. I just want to be with him.
“Can we just…get going?” One of Pax’s other bandmates—I think his name is Charlie—joins in the conversation. “Like Mick said, we need another rehearsal.” He shoots a look at Pax. “Badly.”
“Just…find a place to sit.” Pax releases me, motioning to the benches behind us. “Do what you need to do, Nicky.”
My brother glares at him for a moment before sitting next to Charlie with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest.
Victoria smiles at me. “I’ll take care of the police. And I’ll meet you in San Francisco. Maybe you and I can do an interview while the band rehearses this afternoon, Sophia.”
I give her a plastic smile and nod, watching as she leaves the bus. I know she has my best interests at heart, but this all seems a bit too much like what I’d be suffering through if my father or Andrew were here dictating the terms of me traveling with the band. It shouldn’t be such a big deal to anyone—even if I am a princess. If my family would just back off, Pax and I could do what we need to do to get whatever it is between us out of our systems. The more they interfere, the more we both seem to want each other.
Perhaps that’s it, I think. Maybe this is some “forbidden fruit” sort of thing. Part of me knows that isn’t it at all—the magnetic pull Pax seems to have over me tells me there’s more to it than that.
He takes me by the hand and leads me to the bench across from my brother, pulling me down to sit beside him. He slides an arm around my waist and places his other hand on my thigh, grinning across at my brother as the bus starts to move again.
Nick’s nostrils flare and he glares at Pax, but he says nothing.
Pax’s hand slides farther up my leg, right to the edge of my skirt.
“Enough.” Nick’s eyes have narrowed to slits. “I swear to you—”
“What?” Pax chuckles. “You have an audience now, Nicky ‘Ol Boy. You do anything to me, and there are witnesses.”
Charlie sighs, rolling his eyes as he looks at the other members of the band. “Let’s just…drink. Or do anything else. Or maybe the three of you can go in the back.” He motions with his head toward the back of the bus. “Let the grownups have some time off from this…bullshit.”
Pax just stares across at Nick with a grin as he fingers the hem of my skirt. “Yeah, Nicky. Let the grownups have some time alone.”
“I meant you too, Pax.” Charlie shakes his head. “This is already getting old. None of us want to be part of your drama.”
The other two members of his band nod in agreement.
The other member of the band, Jameson finally speaks. “You know, it’s probably best if we get this all out in the open now. Before the concert tonight. The last thing we want is for the four of us to be out of sync—”
“What the fuck is this about? Really?” Pax tightens his grasp on my waist, pulling me into him. “Rider’s brought girls along on tour—”
“It has nothing to do with that, and you know it,” Charlie interrupts.
“And seriously, dude, I’ve brought one girl with us on the bus. Once. For three nights. And it wasn’t like I brought her brother—”
“It wasn’t like I invited her brother,” Pax grumbles. “Not intentionally.”
Charlie shakes his head. “You know, maybe it’s time we finally had this talk, Pax. We’re right here.” He lifts his hand, pinching his fingers together. “We’re this close to having the success we’ve been working toward for years. And what happens when this…?” He motions between the two of us. “What happens when this ends? Are we going to have to wait another five years for you to dig your head out of your ass again?”
Pax stiffens, pulling his arm away from me. “Not talking about this.” His words come out on a growl. “Not here. Not now. Not ever.”
Pax
Needless to say, the ride to San Francisco is long. And awkward as fuck.
I’m still pissed at Charlie for bringing up my past, but I was able to change the subject before Sophia or Nicky could ask any questions. I know Sophia knows I’m hiding something from her, though, and I suspect it’ll come up again when we’re alone.
In the meantime, there’s plenty of other awkwardness going around.
Nicky spends most of the bus ride glaring at me. So do my bandmates. I have a long way to go before I’ve convinced the other members of Twisted Throne that I’ve got my head in the game, and this asshole prince sitting across from me isn’t helping.
Maybe it’s better to let Sophia walk away, I think. Forget all this royal shit altogether.
But then I feel her crushed up next to me on the bench, her body pressed against mine, and I know that’s not an option. I hate to be that guy who lets his cock make all his decisions for him, but there’s no fighting it at this point. Sophia is mine. And I’m not going to let anyone take her away from me.
Not that that conviction saves me from the glares everyone else on the bus is giving me. Only Jameson leaves me alone, and that’s because he falls asleep after finishing his beer and naps against the window the rest of the way.
I practically throw myself from the bus when we reach San Francisco, pulling Sophia out along with me. Nicholas hurries after us, apparently unwilling to let us out of his sight even for a few seconds. The rest of our caravan—trucks of equipment and other vehicles—are parking around us.
And then the crew leaps into action, launching into the routine they know well. Within moments we’re in the middle of the hustle and bustle, with crewmembers on all sides, efficiently unloading the trucks.
Sophia an
d Nicholas look a little stunned by the sudden energy around us, but I actually feel a bubble of excitement in my chest. It’s finally kicked in where we are and what we’re doing.
God, I missed this.
I enjoy writing music and recording it. But that’s nothing compared to the rush of being up on stage in front of thousands of people. Performing always sets my blood on fire, and knowing that this time we’ll be doing this album—the one I poured my soul into—makes that feeling even more intense. I feel on top of the world right now, capable of anything, and I haven’t even set foot in the auditorium yet.
The rest of my bandmates have made their way off the bus.
“Come on,” Charlie says to me. “Let’s go find a place to practice.”
I spent the entire bus ride here dreading the rehearsal, knowing I’d probably only fuck things up again, but now that I’m here, my confidence comes rushing back. I’m actually looking forward to this.
I turn back to Sophia. “I need to—”
“I know,” she says, smiling. “Go do your thing. Victoria’s already headed this way.” Her smile falls slightly, but it’s barely noticeable.
“Are you going to be all right?” I ask her, cupping her cheek.
Beside us, Nicholas grumbles something under his breath and steps toward us, but I keep my hand where it is. For fuck’s sake, I’m just touching her damn cheek, not feeling her up.
“I’m fine,” Sophia insists. “I was going to have to do an interview sooner or later. It’s not like this sex tape thing is going away anytime soon. I might as well get this over with.”
She gives me a wink before pulling away, and I find myself wondering if she’s actually fine with everything or if she’s just putting on a show. She turns and heads toward Victoria, and her brother follows—after giving me one more glare, of course.