Chapter Five
“Let’s take a break,” Morgan said, stretching her arms up above her head and revealing a part of a tattoo on her stomach.
Reese wanted to ask if she could see it, but wasn’t sure how long you needed to know someone before asking to see their ink. Did people really call it ink or was that just a TV thing?
“What’s next?” Reese asked.
The two of them had been closed up in the back lounge for the past hour or so, talking strategy, branding, and all things Sterling. This was going to be challenging, but Reese loved a good challenge. Morgan laid out some of the current issues Sterling was having, mostly related to the whole Night and Day persona. The main thing that they were both working toward was getting rid of that perception that he was moody and especially the dark parts. Which would be a huge challenge considering Reese had almost exclusively seen Night Sterling since she got on the bus. She was beginning to wonder if Day Sterling existed. That wasn’t true—she had caught a glimpse when he was interacting with a younger fan at the meet-and-greet. He had been sweet with her and kind. His smile had been genuine. They just needed to help him channel more of that Sterling.
Morgan also said Sterling had mentioned a potential rebrand to his music and image. Before she could hammer out a strategy, Reese would need to sit down with Sterling to get a sense of who he was, what his goals were, and take an audit of his social media platforms. The idea of sitting down across this table with Sterling had her nerves jangling, despite his very clear words that she wasn’t his type.
Those words were like an icy knife to the heart. She couldn’t stop hearing them. Anytime she was feeling crush-y, she could just remind herself what he said. Total crush-killer.
“We’ll be pulling out pretty soon. I don’t know about you, but I want to snag a bite to eat before we go. I think we could walk to the Subway across the street or get an Uber to somewhere close. We are waiting on a few of the crew who will be on the other bus.”
“Subway’s fine,” Reese said. “I don’t know what it is, but the smell of their bread gets me every time. If they could make that into a cologne, I would seriously not be able to resist any man wearing it.”
Morgan bent over, laughing. “You are so random. I love it. I wouldn’t expect it coming from you. You look so …”
“Boring?”
Morgan smiled. “I wasn’t going to say that.”
“I know. I chose my clothes based on the fact that I needed Sterling to see me as a professional and not some fangirl wannabe like he thought. I plan to pick up some better digs as soon as possible. I’m not a rocker-chick style maven like you, but this outfit was more about trying to get a second chance at a first impression.”
“You think I’m a style maven?” Morgan grinned.
“Totally. Your everything is amazing.” Reese waved a hand from Morgan’s still-bare feet to her pink-tipped hair. “If I could pull that off, I would. I’m somewhere between that and what I’m currently wearing.”
“When we get to Atlanta, you and me: shopping.”
“It’s a date.” Reese smiled. Even if Sterling didn’t trust her—yet—she had Morgan on her side. Morgan’s opinion carried a lot of weight with Sterling, so maybe she wouldn’t get fired. It would also make the tour a lot easier if she had a friend on the bus.
Maybe when Sterling inevitably realized that his best friend/manager had the hots for him and that he felt the same way, Reese could actually be happy for them. Maybe. Even if right now the thought of a front-row seat to this classic best-friends-to-lovers romance made Reese feel like someone had poured battery acid on her insides. Though she could be wrong about Morgan’s feelings for Sterling. Morgan wasn’t overtly flirting or chasing after Sterling.
As they walked back through the bus, Reese heard male voices from the front. “Oh, good,” Morgan said. “I can introduce you to the rest of the guys.”
Reese tried to get a hold on the nerves crashing around her stomach. Because of her disastrous first meeting with Sterling, she had paranoia about everyone thinking of her that way. He probably hadn’t mentioned it to the other guys, since he hadn’t told Morgan. At least, she hoped.
“This is Moby, Chuck, and David,” Morgan said. “Guys, this is Reese. She’ll be handling all the social media stuff.”
The three guys were draped over the furniture in the lounge. Only Moby got up to shake Reese’s hand. He had a wide, flirty smile and skin the color of rich mahogany. “The pleasure is all mine,” he said as their fingers touched.
Chuck had reddish brown hair and looked almost translucent, save the freckles dotting his cheeks. He didn’t even look up from where he drummed on the coffee table with worn drumsticks. David gave Reese a quick smile from behind a curtain of long blond hair and went right back to his phone.
“Where’s Sterling?” Morgan asked.
“Probably still pacing the parking lot,” Moby said. “He’s such a little girl.”
Morgan laughed. “Sometimes, yeah. We’re hitting up Subway before we go. Anyone want food?”
Chuck and David texted Morgan orders, which was faster than trying to have her write them down. “I’ll come with,” Moby said.
“Think we need an escort?” Morgan said, smirking.
“Oh, I think you two look plenty capable to handle whatever comes your way. I’d just like to get to know you better since we’re about to spend the next few months up in each other’s business.”
Reese grabbed her purse from the bunk area and met up with Morgan and Moby in the parking lot. Sterling stood with his arms crossed, talking to Morgan. “Just text me what you want,” she said. “I don’t mind picking it up.”
Sterling looked from Moby, who seemed to have a perpetual smile on his face, to Reese and back to Morgan. “I’ll come with you.”
Morgan’s eyebrows shot up. “Okay, but if we run into fans, you have to be nice and sign stuff.”
“I’ll put on a hat,” Sterling said.
Reese snorted and all three of them looked at her, Sterling with a stony glare. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just that a hat isn’t going to keep people from recognizing you. Fair warning.”
“I go places all the time and people don’t recognize me,” Sterling said.
“Friendly wager,” Reese said. “Twenty bucks says at least one person asks you to autograph something.” She immediately regretted the words. Her tendency was to push things too far, speaking without thinking. Sterling glared, but Morgan and Moby began to laugh.
“Let’s make it interesting,” Moby said. “Fifty says someone not only asks you to autograph something, but to autograph a body part.”
“I’m in,” Reese said.
“Sterling?” Moby flashed a grin.
“You guys are asinine,” Sterling said.
“Big word, big guy,” Moby said, slapping a hand on his shoulder. Sterling pulled away from his grip and began striding toward Subway. Moby fell in behind him and Morgan matched Reese’s pace. He was laughing, but Sterling’s shoulders were a tight line. Tension practically radiated from him.
“Is he okay?” Reese asked. “I thought it was just me at first, but he seems overly stressed out.”
“Between you and me, this is the worst I’ve ever seen him. But I’m hopeful that on this tour, we can usher in an era of permanent Day Sterling. Moby will be good for him. I barely know the guy but he’s always in a good mood. And I’m sure you can help.”
“You can, maybe. I doubt I’ll be much help,” Reese said. “I seem to have the opposite effect on him. My plan is to rock out his social stuff while steering as clear of him as I can.”
“Don’t worry about it. He’ll get over it soon. One thing to know about him is that he’s an introvert. Things like tours and events where he has to interact with fans really take their toll. I think this is just him adjusting to the fact that he’s going to be around people constantly for the next few months. It’s nothing big.”
Watching the tight line of hi
s shoulders and the way he kept his head bent down, staring at the ground as he walked, Reese wasn’t so sure. She sensed there was more to this and wished that she knew him well enough to ask. Probably not even two months could get him to trust her.
“What was he like growing up? I know you said he was always an introvert. Was he always broody?”
Morgan laughed. “A little bit. I mean, honestly, there have always been two sides to him. He was a bit angsty. Especially after his dad left. I think that’s where all the music comes from—all that pain. But he also was a ton of fun. Nobody could make me laugh like he did.”
Reese tried to reconcile this idea with the guy she had met and with what she knew of him publicly. It was hard to imagine. That was the second time that Morgan had mentioned his dad. Reese’s parents were still married and were overall great people, but Reese always felt like she was living under the shadow of her older, beauty-queen sister. Her parents tried to keep things even, but it felt like everything revolved around Rachel. Always. If that had an impact on Reese, Sterling having his alcoholic dad leave had to be incredibly traumatic.
“How did he make you laugh?” Reese asked. “I mean, are we talking good sense of humor, class clown type stuff, practical jokes?”
“He’s witty. And he could also be really goofy. I miss that side a lot. I’m not sure if he matured out of it or if he’s sort of settled into what people expect him to be. I’m looking forward to getting to know him again, you know? It’s been years.”
“You guys didn’t stay close?”
“He got signed our junior year and we didn’t always do so well keeping in touch after he left for Nashville. He hardly came home. I started working with bands in Los Angeles. Grunt work at first, then worked my way up to managing. He and I had similar lifestyles, but in different places. It’s easy to let things fall away.”
Reese smiled. “He’s lucky to have you. I’m sure it’s refreshing to have someone you know you can trust.”
Morgan gave her a smile as she tied her hair into a messy knot on top of her head. “Not to be cheesy, but I’m glad to have you. There’s enough testosterone on the bus already and you seem like someone trustworthy as well.”
“Try to convince Sterling of that, will you?”
Laughing, Morgan looped her arm through Reese’s. “I’ll make it my personal mission. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Can I help now? What do you need as far as setting up whatever you need to do? I don’t really engage a lot on social, so that’s not my area of expertise.”
“I’ve done a preliminary sort of audit on his social accounts, just looking at what’s working and what’s not working. I need to sit down with him and go over questions that will help me tailor a strategy for him.”
“We should probably do it soon, right? That way he can post while we’re on tour. Or you can post for him.”
“Yep. The sooner the better.”
“I’ll tell him. Maybe we can do it once we’re on the road. Don’t look so nervous.”
“Sorry. I’ll calm down. We just had such a bad first meeting. I feel the need to prove myself. I’m usually pretty confident. I like to be the best at what I do. It was hard to start out with him thinking of me as some kind of raving weirdo fan.”
“Want my advice? Pretend like the first meeting never happened. He’s just another client. You’ll be amazing.”
They caught up to Moby and Sterling at the crosswalk. Reese knew that Morgan was right. She had to stop thinking about the fact that she made an idiot of herself the week before. But it wasn’t just the bad first impression she had to get over. It was the feelings she wished that she didn’t have and the hurt she still carried from him saying that she wasn’t his type. That should help, honestly, since he was being clear about his lack of interest. Maybe once she got over the hurt, it would help. Her feelings would die off, killed by the moody rock star who clearly didn’t like her.
Plus, her feelings so far were all physical. She wanted something more: a man of character. One that she could trust. A man who would go to church with her and pray with her. Sterling would probably be horrified to realize that she was still a virgin. Good thing they weren’t going to ever have reason to talk about things that personally.
Twenty minutes later they were back on the tour bus. Sterling stomped to his room and came back, handing Moby a hundred-dollar bill. “I don’t have change,” Sterling said, practically growling.
Reese found herself giggling, maybe because of the look of pure joy on Moby’s face. “I think we need more betting on this bus,” he said. “Yep, definitely more betting.”
“What happened?” Chuck asked.
“A mom asked Sterling to sign her arm,” Moby said. Chuck and David chuckled and Sterling rolled his eyes.
“At least it was just her arm,” Morgan teased. Sterling looked like he wanted to murder someone. “Betting on tour is fine, but keep practical jokes to a minimum. Especially on the bus,” Morgan said, passing out sandwiches to Chuck and David. “Too easy to get out of hand.”
Sterling grunted and flopped down in the seat next to Moby and the other guys. Even though he still looked moody, she caught a quick smile when he didn’t realize anyone was looking. The tension in his shoulders had evaporated, even if just a little. Morgan and Reese sat under the TV across from the guys.
“Sterling,” Morgan said in a sing-song-y voice. “Don’t be a sore loser.”
“I’m not,” he said. “I’m plotting my revenge.”
Everyone laughed and Sterling flashed a grin at Morgan, the first genuine one that Reese had seen. The way it transformed his whole face and lit up his eyes sent her heart careening. She forced her gaze down to her sandwich. The only thing that steadied her was the fact that he had been smiling at Morgan. If he ever looked at Reese with that kind of smile, she would be past the point of no return. She would be stick-a-fork-in-me done.
Moby caught her attention, snapping the hundred dollar bill. “Reese, next stop, we’ll go get a bite to eat and divvy this bad boy up between us. Unlike some people on this bus, I don’t carry change for hundreds.”
“Sounds good,” Reese said. But when Moby threw her a wink, she realized that he might have meant something more than a friendly meal to break the hundred. Did she just agree to a date? Moby was a flirt. Without knowing him better, she couldn’t say if he was just being normally flirtatious or asking her out.
Reese definitely wasn’t interested in sparking up some kind of tour-bus romance. Not when she already needed to douse the flames of her current tour-bus crush before they became an inferno. Staci had been so right. Her celebrity crush had morphed right into a real, live one that would be dangling in front of her face for the next two months.
Chapter Six
Sterling didn’t hear the tapping on the door at first. Then he ignored it. He could say that he couldn’t hear it over the music pumping through his earbuds. Or just say he was asleep. No one would bother him if he didn’t respond. The sliding pocked door opened. Apparently, there was one exception: Morgan.
He sat up on the bed and pulled out his earbuds as she walked in, closing the pocket door behind her. Morgan flopped on his bed near his feet. “Why are you hiding?”
“I’m not hiding. I was taking a nap.”
“Uh huh. Is everything okay?”
Sterling sat up all the way and ran a hand through his hair. “Does it not seem okay? Because that’s like the twentieth time you’ve asked me that and we’ve only been on the road for like two hours.”
Morgan shook her head and bit her lip, smiling. “Sorry. I do tend to get a little overprotective. But you also seem like something’s weighing on you. I don’t want to assume and I don’t want to push you. But I’m here.”
Of all the people in his life who would get it, Morgan would. She knew him before he was famous and knew his family. Her parents still lived near his mom in LA. Their families had never been close, not the way Morgan and Sterling were, s
o she probably didn’t know about May. The thought of having to talk about it made him feel worse.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’m glad you’re here. Now, tell me about your grand plans, manager. What are we doing on this tour?”
He watched as she settled in, leaning back against the wall and swinging her legs up on the bed, her feet almost touching his. It was funny how fast they settled back into their old rhythms. Morgan looked a bit different with the tattoos and the pink hair, but it all felt very much like her. Back in high school they’d gotten fake IDs. Not to drink, but to get into clubs where some of their favorite rock bands were playing. She had listened to all of his original music, even his terrible early songs, and had encouraged him to send out demos. Other than May, no one had been as excited for him as Morgan.
He was truly glad to have her around again. She made him feel more grounded somehow, more like Sterling James the guy, not Sterling James the brand. It still threw him off when she called him James. He had long gotten used to the name change and thought of himself as Sterling. James had been his father’s name, though he went by Jim. The more distance there the better.
Being around Morgan and thinking about his past made him realize that he didn’t want to just give up and send money for May’s rehab. He wanted back in her life. It might not—probably wouldn’t—look the same, but he had to try. He just needed to figure out how, which might be more of a problem than the ones he was facing about his image or a rebrand.
Morgan continued. “The question is: what do you want to get out of the tour? When you called me, you mentioned a rebrand of some kind. Tell me more about that.”
Sterling hesitated. As much as he trusted Morgan, the things he had been thinking about the past year were more than just a rebrand. It was a big change. One that his previous manager had said would be career-ending. He desperately wanted people to be on board with the change and to believe that it could work for him.
Managing The Rock Star (Not So Bad Boys Book 1) Page 5