by Anna Lewis
“Really?” Alasia was shocked. “You don’t seem like the type to watch a pop music show. I’d have expected you to watch, I don’t know, Man vs. Wilderness or something.”
“I gotta admit, I watch that, too, ma’am. But I never missed an episode of Pop/Rock Explosion! when you were on. Even made myself a Twitter account so I could tweet my support for you during that one week with the social media challenge.”
Alasia was impressed. She’d overwhelmingly won the social media challenge—her fans practically blew up Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat with her hashtag #Alasia4Ever—but it was touching that Zach lent his support.
“What’s your twitter, sweetie?” She asked, pulling out her phone. “I’m gonna follow you.”
He gave her his handle--@ZachSevert, not particularly creative—and Alasia quickly found his profile. He’d only tweeted once, the tweet in support of her. It was kind of sweet.
Alasia pressed the ‘follow’ button and Zach’s follower count went from zero to one. Oh, he was going to have so many more followers by the time she was finished with him. She reposted his sole tweet and added Looks like my new BG was already a fan! <3
Zach was frowning at her. “No disrespect, ma’am, but what did you just get up to?”
She was saved from having to answer by a rap at the door. Zach cracked it open and, after deciding that the visitor was no threat, admitted Genna Reyes, a tiny little Latina girl who could only be described as Alasia’s “best frenemy.”
“Oh my god, Lay-Lay!” Genna gushed. “You sounded so good at sound check today!”
“Thanks, girl,” Alasia replied, hoping her smile was genuine. Genna had a habit of coming on way too strong and that bothered her. “Wore me out, though. I want to try to get a little rest before the show tonight.”
Genna didn’t get the hint. Instead, she helped herself to a soda from the fridge and joined Alasia on the leather sofa. “Ugh, can you believe we’re performing in Albuquerque? And then we have to go to freaking Kansas City. This itinerary is so lame,” Genna complained.
“Ah, it’s not so bad,” Alasia replied, which was a complete lie. The tour wound its way through the middle of the United States, through what Demetrius, a native New Yorker, sneeringly referred to as “flyover country.” They were playing small venues—a minor league baseball stadium here, a concert hall named after a bank there—and the tour ended in Fresno, a city three hours up and in from Los Angeles. Not exactly a glamorous final stop.
Ever since she was a little girl, dancing around her bedroom and belting into her hairbrush like it was a microphone, Alasia had dreamed of playing Madison Square Garden in New York City. It looked like she’d have to settle for Fresno.
At least it was close enough to LA for Devan to come see the show, if he could set aside his bruised ego long enough to support his damn girlfriend.
Genna was still talking, babbling on about how one of the male dancers was totally flirting with her, as she flipped through Alasia’s rack of costumes. “Oh my god, I love this,” she trilled, holding up a black leather romper. “I would totally try to steal it from you, but it would be way too big on me.”
Genna batted her big brown eyes, and Alasia had to wonder what was actually going on behind the little back-up singer’s innocent expression. She knew shade when it was being thrown, but Genna just smiled that dumb, sunny smile.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Zach interrupted, his phone pinging in his pocket. “I just got a text from security, they need everyone to return to their assigned dressing rooms while they run a sweep.”
Genna gasped. “Oh my god, That’s so scary!”
“Just routine, miss, nothing to be alarmed about,” Zach said, shooing Genna out the door. “Get to your dressing room and wait there until building security gives the all clear.”
“Well, that text was conveniently timed, wasn’t it,” Alasia said, once the door had been firmly shut and locked behind Genna.
Zach grinned, his second smile in less than ten minutes. He held up his phone. There was no text message, but an alert from Twitter that he had a new follower.
“You’re a devious one, Captain Severtson,” Alasia said, impressed at his clever ploy.
“It’s just Zach now, ma’am,” he replied, a flash of sadness crossing his handsome face. “Just Zach.”
“Well, ‘just Zach,’ I certainly owe you one. That girl tap dances on my last nerve sometimes.”
“Any time, ma’am, any time,” Zach said. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to step into the hall and give you some privacy while you get ready.”
Alasia waved him away, smiling. The southern boy wasn’t nearly as irritating as she’d expected. In fact, it was a little nice to have a gentleman around.
***
The roar of the crowd was deafening as Alasia flashed them a winning smile, waved one last goodbye to her adoring fans and then practically collapsed the second she stepped off-stage.
“Alasia, that was great! Real top-notch stuff,” Marty, the tour producer, gushed. He held up his phone and scrolled through a myriad of photos and videos of her performance that her fans had already managed to post online. “You’re blowing up! Keep this up, lady, and we might just move you to the headliner spot in Kansas City.”
“What?!” Demetrius’ voice snarled from behind them. He was dressed and ready to take the stage as the final performer of the evening. As the winner of the competition, he was expected to also be headliner of the tour.
“Demetrius, your numbers are down, buddy,” Marty said. “Maybe you should take a few pages out of Alasia’s book. Everyone loves her!”
Demetrius narrowed his eyes and glared at Alasia through the thick smudges of black eyeliner. “I thought this was a talent competition, not a popularity contest.”
“It’s both, buddy,” Marty snapped, his nice-guy demeanor falling away in an instant. “And if you can’t build your fan base, Alasia here will take over as headliner. Understood?”
Demetrius growled and took a step toward Alasia, but Zach was in between the two of them, moving like lighting and pressing one thick hand against Demetrius’ narrow chest. Alasia hadn’t even known he was there but he was her bodyguard. Of course he’d be nearby.
“Take a step back and cool off, bro,” Zach said tensely, looking down at Demetrius. Alasia hadn’t realized how small and thin Demetrius actually was until he was right up against Zach’s formidable bulk. Demetrius always carried himself with such swagger, it made him look bigger.
Sputtering slightly, Demetrius backed off. He brushed his ratty black hair out of his eyes and glared at Alasia and Zach. “Whatever, dude, whatever,” was his only comeback as he slunk away toward the stage entrance, hoisting his electric guitar up onto his scrawny shoulder.
Alasia leaned against Zach for support, exhausted from her performance and still shaken by the run in with Demetrius. He pulled her close with one strong arm and she let out a shaky exhalation. “Can we go, Zach? Would you mind?” she asked, feeling a little bad. This was Zach’s first night on the tour and he might’ve wanted to stay and watch all the performances.
“Absolutely, ma’am,” Zach answered. “I don’t mind leaving before Demetrius performs. I always thought he was a dick on the show, and it turns out he’s even worse in real life.”
Alasia raised one darkly penciled eyebrow. “’Dick?’ Such language from a southern gentleman!”
Laughing, Zach led her back to her dressing room. “I just call ‘em like I see ‘em, ma’am.”
It didn’t take Alasia long to pack up her things and get ready to leave, but apparently it was too fast for the limo driver, who was nowhere to be seen when they exited the stage door. The limo was there, all right, idly next to the curb with the key in the ignition, but the driver must have stepped away.
“It’s okay, Zach,” Alasia told him, seeing the look of concern on his face. “I can wait.”
“Okay, but I don’t know if they can, ma’am,” he pointed up the stree
t, where a crowd of paparazzi was racing around the corner, flashbulbs exploding and her name screaming from their lips.
“Alasia! Is it true you’re taking over as headliner!”
“I heard Demetrius Gallow threatened you!”
“Alasia! Alasia! Alasia!”
They were coming at her with terrifying intensity. Who knew that Albuquerque even had paparazzi?
The limo was surrounded now, angry bloggers and reporters tapping at the windows, holding their phones against them, trying to get photos through the glass.
The limo was beginning to shake. Alasia had never, ever imagined being famous enough to witness something like this, this insane intensity from rapid reporters and bloggers.
“Zach,” she asked, trying to hold down the tremor in her voice. “How long do you think before that limo driver is back?”
Zach considered this for a moment, then nodded decisively. “Probably too long. Hang on, ma’am and lock the door behind me.” He was out of the limo like a shot, elbowing paparazzi out of his way as he pushed around to the driver’s side. Alasia followed his instructions and quickly locked the door behind him.
There were sounds of a quick scuffle, then Zach popped through the driver’s side door and slid behind the wheel. “You okay?”
Alasia nodded, her brown eyes wide. “Are you going to steal this limo?”
“I wouldn’t call it ‘stealing,’ ma’am,” Zach answered, stepping on the gas. “More like, ‘borrowing without permission.’ Now hold on to something!”
The tires squealed as the limo tore away the curb of the venue, paparazzi jumping out of the way. Zach didn’t slow down until they’d put a couple of miles between themselves and the aggressive paparazzi. “You all right back there, ma’am?”
Alasia let out a shuddering breath. “Yeah, I’m doing okay.” She paused for a moment. “Thank you, Zach, I mean it. I know I wasn’t too happy when Marty brought you on, but… there’s no way my own boys could’ve done what you just did.”
Zach met her eyes in the rearview and smiled, but his face fell as they approached the hotel. It seemed they hadn’t escaped the paparazzi, after all. The entryway to the hotel was surrounded by throngs of reporters and photographers—the number seemed to have doubled from that at the venue—and Alasia’s heart sank. All she wanted to do was sing, but this tour was turning out to be way more drama than she’d signed up for.
“Hold, ma’am, I’m coming around to get you,” Zach told her, exiting the driver’s seat and reappearing almost instantly outside of Alasia’s door.
Zach shielded her face with his coat as he led her past the crowd of paparazzi gathered on the front steps of the hotel. It wasn’t until they reached her room that Alasia realized how tightly she’d been gripping his firm bicep. She released her hand, but a pale impression of her palm and fingers burned on his skin for a brief moment, before the blood flowed again and the color returned to its normal shade of tan.
He turned to go, but Alasia stopped him. “Zach? Could you, I mean if it isn’t too much trouble—“
“What’s that, ma’am?”
“Could you stay in my room tonight? I’ve got a suite and there’s a pullout sofa. I know that isn’t very comfortable, but–
Zach stopped her with a casual wave of his hand. “I’ve slept on much worse, ma’am. I’d be happy to stay with you, if that would make you feel safer.”
Alasia nodded. It would. It definitely would.
***
Kansas City was a whole lot of flat. Alasia didn’t know what she’d expected, but the town definitely failed to meet her expectations.
She was tucked into a couch section of her tour bus, playing cards with Zach while Genna, who had somehow gotten herself onto their bus somewhere in the middle of Oklahoma and had just stayed, picked at her manicure and watched them. It turned out that Zach was quite an astute card player and if he and Alasia hadn’t been betting Gummi Bears, she would have found herself out a quite a bit of money.
Zach peered at her over his Ray Bans and wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Go Fish, ma’am,” he commanded, and Alasia sighed overdramatically and threw down her hand.
“I give up!” she complained in mock despair. “You’ve taken all my candy, mister, next thing I know you’ll be coming for my chips, too.”
“You have chips?” Zach said. “If I’d have known that, I’d have tried to win them from you hours ago.”
Genna looked up at both of them, confused. “Wait, I don’t get it. Are you guys talking about real chips or poker chips.”
“Look at that, ladies,” Zach announced, ignoring Genna and pointing out the window as Kansas City rolled into view. “We’re here!”
Alasia frowned. Kansas City was one stop on the tour that she wasn’t excited for. She didn’t know why, but the city annoyed her. Maybe it was the fact that it named Kansas City but was actually in the state of Missouri, maybe she had bad memories of that one song from the musical Oklahoma! She didn’t know, but she was definitely not excited for this venue.
“Ugh,” she groaned. “I bet this town is nothing but rodeos and horses.”
“What do you have against horses,” Zach asked. “They’re majestic creatures. I thought all girls loved horses.”
“Yeah, well, little girls might, but grown ass women don’t. Especially if they’re deathly allergic to them,” Alasia said, frowning. She’d taken a field trip to a farm outside of LA when she was in elementary school and had to be rushed to a hospital when she’d tried to pet a horse. It turns out that she had a severe allergy and stayed the hell away from the beasts ever since.
“I’ve never heard of that,” Zach said.
“Well, it sucks,” Alasia sighed. “If I come anywhere near a damn horse or anyone who’s ridden a horse, I get covered in hives and my throat starts swelling up. It’s nasty.”
“I guess you won’t be meeting any cowboys on this trip then,” Genna said, and Alasia took great pleasure in the massive eye roll that Zach gave her behind her back.
“Kansas City is great, ma’am,” Zach argued. “They’ve got a jazz museum and some of the best barbeque in the whole world.”
“Barbeque?” Alasia’s interest was piqued. “Tell me more about this barbeque you speak of, Zachary.”
“You don’t know what barbeque is, Lay-Lay?” Genna was incredulous.
Neither Zach nor Alasia dignified Genna’s question with a response because the tour busses chose that moment to pull into the venue. The tour manager popped on their bus to gather Genna for a meeting with the other back-up singers, leaving Zach and Alasia blissfully alone.
Alasia checked her phone. She had about a million social media notifications, but no texts from Devan. She sighed. He was pouting, she could tell. Devan had been distant ever since she’d posted that photo of her and Zach.
“Ma’am?” Zach looked concerned. “Everything all right?”
Alasia felt like Zach asked her that just about once an hour, but she was starting not to mind. It was nice to have someone care.
She told him she was fine and began to lift her heavy suitcase off the bus. Zach looked aghast and quickly snatched the bag out of her tiny hands.
“I cannot let you carry your own bags, ma’am,” he informed her.
“Zachary, I am my own woman and I can carry my own bags,” she began to argue, but Zach cut her off.
“Please,” he said. “My momma always told me that a gentleman helps a lady with her bags, always. You wouldn’t want to make my momma disappointed in me, would you?”
Alasia relented and allowed Zach to haul her heavy bags down off the bus, taking a moment to enjoy the way his thick biceps strained the sleeves of his thin gray t-shirt. He may not be a Navy SEAL anymore, but he definitely kept training like he was.
Once they’d loaded everything into the venue, Zach hailed a cab and ordered Alasia inside.
“The busses are going to the hotel,” she said. “We can just ride with them.”
“O
h, we’re not going to the hotel yet, ma’am. That bus ride made me hungry and I’ve got an idea…”
The taxi pulled up in front of a converted warehouse and Alasia didn’t need to read the sign to know where they were: a barbeque joint. The rich scent of barbequed meat met her nose as soon as Zach had opened the door of the cab and helped her out.
“Oh, my sweet baby Jesus,” Alasia gasped, inhaling deeply. “I think you might have just turned my opinion of Kansas City right around, son.”
Zach just laughed and pulled her inside. He ordered for Alasia, for both of them actually, and the food that was delivered to their table was enough to feed a small army. They set into it with gusto, starving from their long bus ride.
“Mmm, you’ve got to try this pork,” Alasia announced, once she’s sampled every kind of meat that Zach had ordered. “Here,” she said, dipping a hunk of pork into a tangy red sauce. “Try these together.” She guided the fork to Zach’s mouth and he took it delicately between his teeth, soft lips sucking the last bit of sauce off the utensil.
Alasia froze. Why did she notice that? This man was her bodyguard and she had a boyfriend. A tempestuous and pouty boyfriend, but still. She pushed the thought of Zach’s mouth out of her mind and looked back up at him.
He was gazing down at her, his normally stoic expression soft and fond. A smear of barbeque sauce was smudged at the corner of his mouth, a dark red blob on his light blond beard.
Alasia giggled and pointed. “You’ve got, uh…”
Zach’s blue eyes widened and he swiped at the sauce with a paper napkin, smearing it further into his beard. “Did I get it, ma’am?”
“No, you just made it way worse,” Alasia laughed and reached up to guide his hand to the stain. “There, got it.”
Zach’s blue eyes met her brown ones and they froze. Her hand was still reaching up toward his face, her dark brown fingers standing out against his pale skin. It took everything Alasia had to pull her hand away. She dropped her eyes.
When she looked back up, Zach had slid his Ray Bans back over his eyes and was standing up, piling their used paper plates and silverware onto a tray.