He winced as he recalled how she'd come to talk to him and he'd shut her down, not even being polite to her. He briefly considered calling her or even stopping by her apartment, but stopped himself. He wouldn’t do that because he was trying to move on—even though he still had strong feelings for her. Talking to her or visiting her would only put him right back in the same rut as before.
Dwelling on those things wouldn't help, so he put the key in the ignition, and started his car. Though he might have been rude, he had no control over Bailey and what she did. That was never more apparent than when she'd kicked him out the other night. It boiled down to the fact that she made her own choices and her choice tonight was to get drunk. His choice was to try and move on with someone else.
Shrugging to himself, he turned his thoughts to the upcoming tour, knowing going down the rabbit hole of his relationship with Bailey would do nothing for him.
Chapter Eleven
Bailey
Bailey hiccoughed on her couch, swaying slightly as she scrolled through the newsfeed on her phone. She was only tormenting herself, she knew this, but she couldn’t help it either. She was alone. Well and truly alone.
Karlie was gone to Myrtle Beach to see Jax play the House of Blues with the Band.
Harry was with the band and they still weren’t talking. He was also possibly dating someone else, which meant she wouldn’t be talking to him anyway.
She didn’t talk to her parents and that was a rabbit hole she was not exploring at the moment, so she pushed them from her mind.
Besides Karlie, she had no other friends. Unless she counted the other P.E. teachers, which she didn’t because they were all men. Nothing against them, but she couldn’t deal with their testosterone-fueled selves any more than necessary. Necessary was only at work at the moment with the workdays she was now attending and at sporting events. Even then, she tried to spend as much time with Karlie as she could.
She paused on a picture Karlie posted from earlier at sound check. It was a shot of the band on stage, with Jax being the focal point. But Bailey clicked on the picture and used her fingers to zoom in on Harry in the background. She squinted, but couldn’t quite make out what he was doing or what he was looking at.
His electric guitar was on but pushed to his right hip as he looked at and talked to someone out of frame. No matter how many times she tried to see what he was looking at or who he was talking to, she couldn’t tell. Knowing of the potential new relationship, she assumed it was that girl she saw him with the other night. The one that stuck out like a sore thumb.
She clicked off the picture and clicked on Karlie’s name, scrolling through her timeline to see what other photos she’d posted. There were a few of just her and Jax goofing off at Broadway at the Beach and on the beach itself. There was one from the night before that showed all the band members on stage at the House of Blues. She then had a series that showed each band member separately.
She hated to admit it, even just to herself, but she stared at the picture of Harry for a while. She memorized how he was leaning into the microphone, cupping it in his hand as he sang with his eyes closed. She recognized what outfit he was wearing as it was one she helped him put together and could see it in her mind’s eye when she wasn’t looking— distressed jeans with a dark gray v-neck shirt.
She could even imagine she heard him singing, though the only reason she knew what he was singing in the photo is because Karlie had put it in the caption.
She sighed as she forced herself to exit out of the social media app. Watching and stalking her feed wouldn’t do anything for her except make her drink more and she’d already finished off a bottle of wine.
She needed to snap out of this funk she was in. This wasn’t her; she didn’t sit on the couch drinking a whole bottle of wine by herself while she stared, longing, at the guy she wanted.
Her phone rang, jolting her and making the room spin slightly. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was Karlie. She cleared her throat and prepared herself to not sound like she was three sheets to the wind.
“Hey.” Nice, very nice. Nothing given away.
“Hey, I wasn’t sure you’d answer.” There was a lot of background noise where Karlie was, so she was speaking louder than normal, making Bailey wince.
“Why’s that?” Bailey asked, her eyes sliding to her kitchen where she had another bottle of wine chilling in the fridge. Should she get it while she had Karlie on the phone?
“It is Friday night. I know you like to go to the football games sometimes.” Karlie’s tone showed that Bailey should have realized that.
“Oh, yeah.” The thought of going to the game hadn’t even crossed her mind. “I decided to stay in tonight.”
“Hmmm…” was all Karlie said.
“How’s Myrtle Beach?” Changing the topic was the only thing Bailey could think of that would keep Karlie from asking her what she was up to since she wasn’t at the game.
“Amazing!” Bailey could hear the happiness in Karlie’s voice. “Even though I needed the time in my classroom, I’m glad Jax talked me into seeing if I could get it off. We’ve had a blast! Did you see the picture’s from Broadway at the Beach?”
Bailey nodded, then remember Karlie couldn’t see her. “Yeah, I did.”
“That was such a cool place. We even went into Ripley’s Aquarium.” Karlie was obviously still excited about that trip. Anything related to her subject made Karlie giddy.
Bailey chuckled. “Wow, the science nerd in you must have loved that.”
“You have no idea!” Karlie’s voice kept rising in octaves and Bailey winced again. “Sorry, didn’t mean to blow your eardrum out.”
“Don’t worry about it; I can live without it.” Bailey joked. “I’m glad you’re having fun. You’ll be back tomorrow?” She leaned back on her couch and resigned herself to waiting until she was off the phone to get the second bottle of wine.
“Yeah, they finish up tonight. They’re leaving here around lunch tomorrow to head to Columbia to play somewhere around USC’s campus.”
“Cool. They’re enjoying it then?” Originally Bailey had hoped to visit Harry with Karlie. If she had, she’d know all this information. But she felt like a starved woman trying to tease information out of Karlie and not seem like she was fishing for it.
“Yep. Though, Jax did tell me they’re all tired of living in motel and hotel rooms and relying on fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
Karlie laughed and Bailey joined in. “That’s something I never thought I’d hear from them,” Karlie said once her laughter was under control. “I honestly looked at Jax like he’d grown another head.”
Bailey giggled a bit. She could see the conversation playing out in her head. The band, except for Veronica, lived on take-out and fast-food usually.
“How’s work been?” Karlie asked, pulling Bailey from her thoughts.
Bailey wrinkled her nose as she recalled some of the trainings they’d completed over the last few days. “Not too bad. Just a lot of training with the assistant principal, librarian, and technology facilitator.”
“So, you’re telling me I didn’t miss much?”
Bailey laughed lightly. “Pretty much. I do know you’ll have a make-up session to attend once school starts.”
“Ugh! Seriously? It’s the same shit every year!”
Bailey shrugged. “Yeah, I know. But you know how it is.”
Karlie sighed. “I do.”
They lapsed into a brief silence before Bailey tentatively asked, “So how is the rest of the band?”
Karlie didn’t say anything at first, causing Bailey to double-check they hadn’t lost signal. “Why don’t you just ask what you really want to ask?” Karlie eventually said.
Bailey blushed and was thankful Karlie couldn’t see her. She was hoping she’d been smooth with her question. Apparently not. She cleared her throat and asked again. “Fine. How is Harry?”
“He’s good.”
Bai
ley blinked, waiting to see if Karlie would add anything to it. When she didn’t, Bailey huffed in frustration. “That’s it? ‘He’s good?!’”
“Well, he is.”
Bailey rubbed her hand over her face, trying to not get angry with Karlie. She shouldn’t shoot the messenger, but telling her that Harry was good did nothing to help her feel better.
“Can you give me something else to go on?”
Karlie sighed. “Bailey, I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I want you to tell me how he is. Is he enjoying it? Hating it? I want information!”
“I mean,” Karlie paused, “Yeah, he’s enjoying it.”
Bailey tried to interpret if there was hidden meaning in Karlie’s words. Was he enjoying it because he was away from her? Because he was touring? What if he was enjoying it because that girl from the bar two weeks before was there?
Once the thought of the other woman entered her brain, Bailey couldn’t get it out and she had to ask. “Is that girl there?”
“What girl?”
Bailey could hear the confusion in Karlie’s voice, but that didn’t make her feel better or make her stop her questions. “The one from Whiskey Dick’s. The one Harry was talking to.”
“What makes you think there’s a girl here, specifically that one?”
Bailey huffed. “Well, what else am I supposed to think? Harry won’t talk to me. You’re with lover boy over there. I know he was with her and they were obviously flirting, which implies something more is to come from them.”
Bailey was breathing heavily at this point. She hadn’t realized it until she couldn’t quite catch her breath.
“Wow. I honestly don’t even know what to say,” Karlie eventually said, sounding hurt. “Instead of chatting with me, your best friend, who called you to talk, you’re hung up on Harry. All I have to say is how the tables have turned.”
Bailey’s nose wrinkled in confusion. “What does that even mean?”
“I don’t know, Bailey. I’m sure you’ll think about it and other things the rest of the night and eventually figure it out. I gotta go. I’ll text you sometime.”
A click sounded and there was nothing but dead air in her ear. She lowered her phone and clutched it in her hand. She felt bad because she hadn’t been interested in really talking to Karlie. But at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel consumed with the thought of wanting to know more about this girl that Harry was with. She didn’t understand Karlie getting so bent out of shape about it. It wasn’t that big of a deal, was it?
She tossed her phone onto the coffee table and got up to retrieve that second bottle of wine from her fridge. She felt she’d earned it at this point. She only swayed slightly when she went to get it, so she counted that as a win. After fighting with the cork a bit to get it out, she ignored her wine glass and drank it straight from the bottle.
“I’m a classy broad.” She giggled as she finished her statement. She wasn’t classy but she probably was a broad. A broad who was lonely and had no one.
Her shoulders slumped and tears pricked her eyes, but she blinked rapidly to stop them from falling and took a large swig of the dry red wine. It burned a bit going down, but that was okay. It helped to numb the pain she was currently feeling as her life crumbled around her.
If she couldn’t feel anything, then it didn’t really matter if her life was shit, did it?
Chapter Twelve
Harry
“What’s got you smiling so hard?” Jax asked Harry as he dropped into the chair next to him in the green room.
Harry schooled his features and slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Smiling? Who, me?”
He risked a glance at his best friend, who was now looking at him, unimpressed. He tore his gaze away from Jax and looked around the room. His fingers drummed a steady beat on his thighs as he resisted the urge to pull his phone back out to finish reading the text Emily sent.
“Dude, you look like you’re hyped up on something. What the fuck is the issue?”
Harry shifted in his seat. Jax sighed. “You’re shifty man. What’s up?”
Harry shrugged. “Nothing, seriously.”
“This about a woman?” Harry jerked his gaze to his right, finally facing Jax head on. Jax was relaxed back in his chair, smirking at Harry. “Knew that would get a reaction out of you.”
Harry sighed and slumped down in his chair. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed by the fact that he and Emily were talking. It had more to do with he didn’t want anything getting back to Bailey. Though, why that mattered, he refused to even consider.
“I’m chatting with Emily,” he admitted after a few moments of silence.
“That chick from the bar?” Jax looked surprised.
“Yeah. Why are you so shocked?” Jax was the guy to convince Harry to try and see who else was out there. He shouldn’t be so surprised.
Jax shrugged and twirled a pick through his fingers. “I guess I thought you wouldn’t actually talk to another girl.”
Harry snorted. “Wow, you think so highly of me.”
Jax shrugged again. “That’s not it, and you know it. It has more to do with your inability to see any woman that isn’t Bailey.”
Harry couldn’t deny that. Bailey had been his focus romantically for seven years now. In fact, she probably still was his focus, though he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, least of all himself.
Jax continued. “You going to see if Emily can meet us at one of our stops?”
Talk about an abrupt change in topic. Harry dropped his gaze to the floor. “Uh…no, I hadn’t planned on it.”
Even though he wasn’t looking right at Jax, Harry noticed in his periphery when Jax stopped moving. “What do you mean you’re not planning on it?”
Harry shrugged. “Exactly what I said.”
He glanced quickly to his left and saw that his friend had narrowed his eyes, studying him. “Why not?”
“Hard to say.” Harry reached up and scratched the back of his head, wishing this conversation were over. Jax wasn’t known for giving the best advice, though that certainly didn’t stop him from dispensing it.
“Are you worried Karlie will tell Bailey about it?”
“Pfft...” Harry waved a hand dismissively. “No, I’m not.”
Though he said that, there was a part of him that did fear that. It was hard enough as it was to try and move on from their tumultuous relationship in general. He had a feeling that if she knew another girl was involved, she might just lose it.
“Then why haven’t you asked Emily yet?”
Harry shifted in his seat, smoothing the pant legs on his jeans of non-existent wrinkles as he considered what to say. He didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t as ready as he seemed to be to move on. He wanted to ease into everything.
“I’ve got some reservations…” Harry finally admitted.
“Reservations? Like for a restaurant?”
Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. “No, dipwad, reservations about Emily.”
“Well,” Jax said slowly, “isn’t that the point of seeing each other and getting to know one another?”
Harry had to admit that Jax was right and nodded. “Yeah, but that’s not it. We’re going to dinner when I get back.”
“And you can’t do dinner in one of the numerous towns we’re hitting between here and home?”
“No?”
“You don’t sound sure of that.” Jax cocked a brow at Harry before tilting his chin up to Grayson and Bentley, who had stepped in the room.
Harry waved and turned back to Jax. “I would just rather wait until I’m home and I can concentrate on spending time with her. If we met on the road, I’d be worryin’ about this or that with the show or the band. That’s not fair to me or her.”
“Hmmm…” Jax said noncommittally as he looked at Harry. “I’ll buy that, but I don’t think that’s the whole story. I’ll get it out of you later, though.”
Jax stood and clapped Harry on the
back before making his way across the room to plop on the couch next to the loveseat Grayson and Bentley were sharing. The three of them threw their heads back and laughed at something Bentley said.
Harry’s gaze lingered on the trio for a few moments more before he moved his gaze about the room. There were several framed photos of famous bands that had been through this venue on the wall. Most were signed. The band freaked out over some of the photos the first night playing.
As his eyes traveled around the room, they settled on Veronica, who was sitting by herself in the corner, nursing a beer and scrolling through her phone. Normally, she’d be right in the thick of things, joking with the guys. However, unless he was mistaken, she looked a little sallow and like something was wrong. Now that he really took the time to look at her, she was definitely thinner than she normally was and she looked tired, though that could be chalked up to them being on the road now for two weeks.
He was just thinking he should go talk to her to make sure she was okay to go on when a stagehand popped his head in to let them know they had five minutes.
Everyone burst into motion. Those with drinks finished them quickly and everyone double-checked they had everything they needed for their brief set. Though they played longer, they only played one set each night since they were the opening act. That suited Harry fine. Seemed to suit the others fine also as it meant Grayson and Bentley could go on the prowl for their nightly partner and Jax was able to spend more time with Karlie while she was with them.
It meant that Harry also spent a lot more time dwelling on things he shouldn’t.
“Harry, come on!” Jax's shout broke him from his thoughts and he walked quickly to catch up with everyone.
They stepped onstage and the crowd started cheering and clapping. He strapped his guitar on and made sure his amp was on and connected. Butterflies rose in his stomach, the only hint of nerves. He quickly tamped them down as he checked his microphone to get the show started.
Harry (Southern Sands Book 2) Page 8