Cross

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Drink gave him the finger and put his bass strap over his shoulder. I didn’t want to deal with the drama, so I went right into counting off again. But I did a visual search of the arena for Indie. This time she caught me, smiled, and brought her camera up to her eye. I smiled back and her flash went off half a dozen times.

  Drink moved farther away from me in her direction, watching her as he moved. Unlike me, he didn’t look away. He kept staring. Yeah, I’d been watching her too, but the way he did it, I could almost read his fucking thoughts and I sure as hell didn’t like what I saw there.

  The heat of jealousy rose from my stomach. I didn’t think anything had happened between the two of them, but did I really know? Indie had said Drink made her uncomfortable, but was that because of him in general or something more between them? She hadn’t been with us long, but I also wasn’t around the two of them twenty-four hours a day. The thought of the two of them together brought out a new kind of rage.

  I needed to find the answers to those questions.

  “All right,” Lawson called out again. “We’re done.”

  Drink pulled off his bass, then walked off the stage in Indie’s direction. No way was that going to happen. I hopped up and followed. She’d said he made her uncomfortable and my mother would kill me if I left a woman alone with a man who made her uncomfortable.

  “Cross.” Lawson calling me back to him wasn’t going to stop me. Drink wasn’t going to be alone with Indie. “Cross,” he called again.

  “What?” I snapped and stopped where I was. Not nearly close enough to where I needed to be, but I wasn’t going to lose ground by going back to Lawson.

  “The reporter from Thunder Gods is here and you’re up first.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The spread they’re doing on the Kissing Cinder tour. I told you guys about this. They want to talk to all of you as well.”

  “Now?”

  “You’re up first.”

  After glancing back to Indie, who was leaning against a railing looking at something on her camera and not noticing Drink headed her way, I sighed, then caved and followed Lawson. Indie could take care of herself. She’d proved that the day we’d met, but I still didn’t like it. At least there was enough security around that I shouldn’t have to worry about her too much. Other than Drink being a dick to her.

  The reporter, a tall, leggy brunette, introduced herself as she stretched her hand out to me when I entered the small conference room. “Kristin Sokoloff.”

  “Cross Rhodes.” I gave her a quick shake and sat down in the chair across from her.

  “So we’re going to jump right in. Tell me about how you all came together and when you found out Courting Chaos would be touring with Kissing Cinder.”

  That was the same question people usually started with and I could give the answer without having to think about it too much. I wasn’t sure why they cared anymore about how we’d formed. The stuff a lot of people already knew but we still had to cover for newer fans.

  Ransom and I had been looking for something to do in high school and we’d told Dixon because we’d known he could play. We’d gone through two other bass players before meeting Drink and that had filled the band out. I left out the part where none of us had really wanted Drink in the band, but he’d been the best we’d known back then. Nobody else needed to hear about that.

  I went on to tell her about getting the call with the offer to open for Kissing Cinder. Though I’d never be able to fully describe those feelings. To know that all the hard work was starting to pay off gave me a feeling that would be impossible to describe.

  Kristen glanced down at her notepad then back up at me. “So opening for the biggest band in music, one with serious staying power, what’s that like?” She wet her lips with her tongue. “What’s the one thing that’s different than you imagined?”

  Indie came to mind right then, but I couldn’t give her as the answer. Yet I honestly never considered being on tour with a girl like her. The attraction clearly there but also her being off-limits.

  “The tour is amazing so far,” I said. “As for what’s different than I imagined… You know we’ve done smaller tours, so the actual travel and hectic days aren’t really new, but being on tour with Kissing Cinder, I’d say we’ve upgraded accommodations.”

  She chuckled.

  We chatted for a few more minutes, just small talk in general, when she asked, “Anyone special in your life?”

  “You mean like my mom?” I’d come up with that one a couple of years ago. Even if I had a girlfriend, I wasn’t going to out that during an interview.

  She smiled and shook her head. “Or someone else.”

  “Nah. Being on the road makes relationships hard.”

  She sighed. “That’s what they all tell me. I’m sure it’s hard but I’m not sure I believe that being a musician automatically means there aren’t any girlfriends.”

  “Oh, there are.”

  Her eyes popped open wider like she thought I was about to give her a scoop.

  “But not for me,” I added then shook her hand again and went for the door.

  “Oh,” she said, stopping me right as my hand was about to touch the knob. “Could you send in Eric Drinkswine?”

  “Sure. Good luck.”

  Her smile fell before she recovered it and chuckled. “I’m not sure I like that sound of that.”

  She probably shouldn’t like the sound of what I said but all I wanted to do now was check on Indie.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Indie

  The way Cross smiled at me when I turned my camera on him as he sat behind his drums sent my heart racing and made my knees weak. He had the kind of bright smile that when he unleashed it, I’d swear I could hear a bling like in the cartoons. His smile was that good. I was almost embarrassingly excited to see if I’d captured it forever.

  I immediately stopped, leaned against a railing, and turned the function dial from camera mode to display the pictures I’d just taken. When I got to the one of Cross and that smile, I didn’t go any further.

  Cross smiled up at me from the screen and I couldn’t look away. I wet my lips and kept staring at him. This was the shot where he’d just looked up and his gaze landed right on me, making it look like he’d posed for me. He hadn’t.

  I wet my lips again, then glanced around the room, worried that someone might catch me swooning over this picture of Cross. Thankfully, no one seemed to pay me any attention. But they would if I didn’t get moving.

  As I snapped more pictures, the music stopped. I kind of hoped Cross would have a minute to talk, though I wasn’t sure if I would apologize for outing him at the coffee shop or not. I probably should have, but I knew I wouldn’t. He’d earned that.

  Then Courting Chaos’ manager called Cross and they walked away in the other direction. But the big one was walking right toward me. He got stopped a couple of times by a sound guy, security, and someone else I didn’t know. I thought about high tailing it out of here but assumed he was just walking in my direction and it had nothing to do with me. So instead, I watched him out of the corner of my eye and continued doing my thing.

  “Indie,” he said as he came in much too close to me.

  I took a step back to put more room between us. “Eric,” I said back hardening my gaze on him.

  “I think you’ve taken some pictures of me.”

  “I’ve taken pictures of a lot of people.”

  “Well, maybe a lot of people don’t care, but I do.”

  I swallowed and grabbed my camera bag. For some reason, I really wanted to get away from this guy. He set my stomach swaying. My parents had told me to always trust my gut and my gut was saying that this guy was trouble.

  “Trust me, if you’re in any of my pictures, I didn’t focus on you.”

  “Trust me when I say I want the pictures deleted.” He stepped closer. “. I get it. You like what you see when you look at me and if it’ll make you happ
y, we can find a closet, and I’ll fuck you until you can’t walk.” His voice was low yet threatening and his face hardened. “But I want any pictures that have me in them gone.”

  “Gross,” I muttered then sighed. “If I tell you I’ll delete them, will you go away?”

  He shrugged, gave a look around him, then stepped closer to me. “I don’t know. I’d kind of like to watch.”

  It took a lot of effort to keep me from kneeing him in the balls right there. Acid burned its way up my throat and my muscles tensed, ready for a fight if necessary.

  I wanted to move away from him but knew I couldn’t. If I did, he’d know he was making me uncomfortable and would remind me of it every chance he got. I’d known guys like this before. “I suggest you take a step back.”

  “Or what?”

  “You really don’t want to know. Second, I don’t take pictures of you. You might think you have something I want to see, but rest assured, you’re the last guy I’d consider for, well, anything. If by chance I find any of you, I’ll make sure they end up in the trash where they belong.”

  Eric’s jaw tensed as he leaned in even closer to me.

  “Careful,” he said just loud enough for me to hear. The hair on my arms stood on end. “I’d hate to see something happen… ”

  “Drink!” Cross called out. Eric took a step away from me and turned toward Cross.

  I sighed in relief. As tough a front as I liked to put on, Eric scared me and I really didn’t like being alone with him. Even in a room full of people.

  “That reporter wants you next.”

  Eric snorted and Cross groaned.

  “To do the interview,” Cross said.

  Eric turned back to me and said, “I guess I’ll see you later.”

  Yeah, I’d rather not. I winced at the way it had sounded when he’d said he’d see me later because there were very few things I was absolutely sure of. However, one thing I knew with certainty was that I’d love to never see Eric Drinkswine alone again.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cross

  Seeing Drink loom over Indie like a fucking predator out in the arena filled me with the urge to put commit heinous acts of violence against his face. I’d never been an overly aggressive person, but I sure as hell didn’t like the way he looked at her, didn’t like him near her, and didn’t like knowing the kinds of things probably going through his head about her.

  “Is she hot?” Drink asked when got near me.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “The reporter.”

  “I didn’t notice.”

  “Are you even a guy?”

  I chose to ignore him because honestly, I couldn’t give any fucks what Drink thought about me.

  “What was that all about?” I asked, nodding in Indie’s direction.

  “She’s a bitch.”

  “Uh-huh.” I dismissed him. He said that about most girls, even the ones he’d slept with. “But what was that about?”

  I walked beside him as he made his way toward the backstage door. As the distance between him and Indie grew, so did my relief.

  “She takes a lot of pictures,” he said.

  “And?”

  “I just want to make sure none are of me.”

  My footsteps stopped abruptly. I didn’t like the way that sounded. Drink wasn’t shy about anything.

  “Why?” I asked.

  Drink stopped too and turned back to me. “Why what?”

  “What is it you’re doing that has you worried it might be caught in pictures?”

  “A lot actually,” he said smugly.

  “What’d you say to her?”

  “I just told her to delete any pictures I’m in. I suppose she could keep the ones on stage. But I gotta get to this interview. Wouldn’t want a lecture on being late. Again.”

  Then he walked away. I’d deal with him later, but for now, I wanted to check on Indie.

  She wasn’t where Drink had left her when I’d called him over and I looked two other places before finally finding her out in the lobby area. She was putting her camera into its bag and for a few minutes I just held back and watched her move so confidently, so smoothly.

  Then she turned and those blue eyes caught me watching her. I hadn’t meant for that to happen, but I started walking toward her.

  “Hey,” I said when I was close enough for her to hear me.

  “Hey.”

  “How’s it going?”

  “Well… ” She stopped what she was doing and put her hands on her hips. Her T-shirt lifted up just enough to let a sliver of pale skin show through.

  I took a deep breath and tried to ignore how much I wanted to see if that skin was as soft as it looked.

  “If you really want to know how it’s going…” she continued. “Truthfully, not the best. You need to check your friend and encourage him to stay the hell away from me.”

  “Frist—not my friend. But second, what’d he do?”

  “Before or after he said he’d find a closet to fuck me in?”

  “What?” Everything about me exploded. My face, my voice, my muscles begged to be used as I felt too big for my own skin. What the hell was Drink thinking? Not just because she was Vince’s daughter, but because she was Indie.

  “Yeah, since I’m so obsessed with him.” She crossed her arms under her breasts and I pretended again not to notice. “He figured a quick fuck and I’d be cured. And I can’t say he’s wrong.”

  “What?” I asked quieter. She’d once said that she wasn’t into him and I didn’t think that had changed. If anything, he would’ve driven her further away.

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure time alone with him would turn me into a lesbian, which would not only cure my supposed obsession with Eric Drinkswine, but also any interest in all other men.”

  I chuckled and ran a hand over the back of my head.

  “I’m pretty sure that I’d also need antibiotics after,” she added.

  The relief that washed over me couldn’t be measured. The idea of him and her… I didn’t want to think about it.

  “OK, listen.” I stepped closer so that no one else would overhear us. “I’ll talk to him. Make sure he leaves you alone.”

  “Thank you. I can handle myself with guys like that, but eventually, he’s going to get himself in trouble with my dad, Cody—”

  “Me,” I said without thinking.

  Indie raised an eyebrow and her mouth fell open into a small ‘o.’ Yeah, I hadn’t been expecting to say that either. Then she nodded slowly.

  “If he comes near you again, let me know, yeah?” I said.

  “Cross, just don’t let Eric take the rest of you down with him.”

  That was the current plan. To get Drink out of the band in a legal way that wouldn’t cause many waves, but first, we had to find someone who meshed with our sound and fit in with our personalities. That was proving not to be as easy as one might think, but we were working on it. I didn’t say any of that to her. I wasn’t about to bring her into the band’s problems.

  “We’re working on that,” I said instead. “I’ll talk to him, but why don’t you let me take you out to dinner?”

  Indie smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Dinner?” she asked.

  “Yeah, to make up for the fact that Drink exists.”

  She giggled, then cocked her head to the side. Those moments between asking a girl out and her answering were some of the longest seconds of any man’s life. A yes was never guaranteed.

  “Ok,” she finally said. “Sure. That sounds good. Plus, it gets us away from all this.” She twirled her finger in the air to indicate the arena, but I thought she meant more than just that. “When?”

  “I can’t tonight,” I said too quickly.

  “I didn’t think so.”

  “I really want to, but we have to finish up with that reporter and the spread on Kissing Cinder. I guess we have to get some pictures taken.”

  Indie gasped and clutched he
r chest. “You let other people take your picture? I’m devastated.”

  I snorted. This right here with her… this was what I’d rather be doing than anything else today. “I’d rather not, but yeah, apparently I’m supposed to. Does tomorrow work for you?”

  “Absolutely. You know we’ll be in a different city, right?”

  I nodded. “Lexington. Just an hour and a half drive, which is why we get to sleep in a hotel tonight. I know the drill.”

  Her cheeks blushed a faint shade of pink when I’d said we were staying at the hotel and I really liked the effect I was beginning to have on her. Then I thought of other things I could do to make her blush that way and knew it was time to walk away before I did something I wouldn’t regret, but that she might not appreciate, given how many potential eyewitnesses there were around.

  I didn’t care who saw us.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Indie

  When I woke up the next morning, it was early enough to take a quick shower and pack up my one small suitcase before we had to be on the bus for the next city. But all I could think of was yesterday.

  That run-in with Eric Drinkswine had left me feeling unsettled enough that I’d had a hard time falling asleep last night. I didn’t even go watch the show because I didn’t want him to corner me backstage again—and not wanting to see him at all outweighed how much I wanted to watch Cross perform.

  I was looking forward to dinner, though. They had a show, of course, so it had to be an early dinner, but I didn’t care about what time we ate. I only cared that we were going and honestly, I was probably more excited than I’d been in a really long time. Whether it was a date or not, spending any time with Cross meant it was going to be a good day. Unless he was an asshole, but I had excellent instincts and they were telling me Cross was one of the good ones.

  Cross Rhodes could make for a fun summer, but it couldn’t really go anywhere after that. I didn’t think. Once August came, I’d go back to school and he’d still be on tour with Kissing Cinder. And who knew where he’d be after that? No. I was just going to focus on now and not think about August.