Yes to Everything

by Shayne McClendon

  Rex and Brooke pulled up and the same reporter came out of the hotel. Sidney broke from her men and intercepted the woman, skidding to a stop between the motorcycle and the woman with the microphone. “You and I…we are going to scrap, sweetheart. She’s saying goodbye to someone important to her. As we are all trying to do in case you didn’t notice. You people are relentless. Can you not give her a goddamn moment?”

  The reporter made to go around her and Sidney whispered, “Oh please do it. Really. Please do it. Like I need an excuse to kick your skinny ass.” The woman stopped and backed up. “Thank you. I’m sure she’ll answer your disgusting, invasive questions when she’s done; they’ll be just as disgusting five minutes from now so be patient.”

  Brooke and Rex got off the bike and suddenly more news vans pulled up. Sidney called, “You two, in the bus. Jackson, come on down here with me. You too girls.” Rex pulled Brooke into the bus where she introduced him quickly to her siblings. Country music started pumping from the bus speakers and Jackson went down the steps with his sisters.

  Approaching Sidney, Jackson held out his hand and she took it with a curtsy. They were two-stepping to Good Directions and Molly ran to grab Jeanette. They danced around in front of the bus with Becca using her stuffed bunny as a partner until Mack scooped her up. Then they were line dancing to Boot Scootin’ Boogie.

  That was the sight that greeted Travis and the Bradshaw brothers as they exited the hotel. Summing up the situation with the reporters and the fact that Brooke and Rex were missing, they joined the line. A couple of the roadies joined in then several members of Kyle’s band.

  Before long, there were twenty people line dancing to a song they played around to on the road a lot. When the song ended, patrons and employees from the hotel who had come out to watch were clapping and cheering. The three Marines watched in awe.

  Brooke exited the bus with her man and waved at the people gathered to shouts of, “We love you, Brooke!” The kids raced onto the bus and the rest of the people who traveled with them scattered to their vehicles. Logan and Decklan tipped their hats to Rex and he nodded.

  Jeanette kissed Mack and whispered, “I’m going to lose it so I’m going to get on the damn bus. I’ll see you later.”

  He nodded into her hair as he hugged her possessively and said, “You can count on it, baby. You can fucking count on it.” She ran to the bus and climbed the steps.

  Sidney hugged Boyd and Zane, “Gotta go but I hate it. You can see she totally needs me though.”

  Boyd said, “Be safe and come back to us, Sidney.”

  Zane added, “Thank you for being so perfect.”

  Squeezing them hard, she kissed them aggressively and took a deep breath, “Please don’t forget me.” They shook their heads and she ran for the bus.

  Brooke hugged Rex hard, “I’ll see you in a few weeks. I miss you already. Keep my spot warm.” Rex kissed her, held her hand over his heart and put his over hers. He whispered, “Mine…yours.” She nodded with shimmering eyes and he added, “Go baby, it’s only going to get harder.” One last kiss and she was gone.

  All four men headed for their bikes at the same time. Starting them with a roar, they pulled behind Brooke’s tour bus and waited for it to pull into traffic. When it did a few minutes later, they followed along behind it.

  A few blocks before it got on the highway, their women appeared at the back window of Brooke’s bedroom. Pulling up the blinds, they held up three pieces of paper with black marker writing on them. “We love you”, “We miss you already”, and “Don’t Forget Us”.

  Their men blew kisses and pulled over to the hard shoulder, watching sadly as the bus pulled away up the ramp headed toward Indianapolis. When it was out of sight, they drove to the bar and drank until they couldn’t stand up. All of them crashed at Boyd and Zane’s place that night. They had to leave their bikes at the bar and take a cab.

  Their women called them throughout the day and it sounded like they were having a regular cry marathon on the other end of the phone. The next morning, Jeanette emailed Mack the tour schedule and the men who’d been friends and fellow Marines for twenty years formulated a plan.

  Chapter Twenty

  Broken Bronco and their tour performed in Indianapolis then headed for the Northeast where the cities were closer together. Over the next seven nights they did six shows. After Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Albany, Portland, Boston, and Atlantic City they took New York City by storm. They sang to a packed house in Madison Square Garden and were getting three days off before heading to DC.

  Everyone was physically and emotionally exhausted. Sidney and Jeanette shared a suite that connected to the suite with the Kincaid siblings. The women talked to the guys at least three times a day. After the Garden show, Sidney came back to the room, warned Jackson they were getting trashed, and they retired to Brooke’s room.

  Half a bottle of whiskey later, they were in fits of laughter. It was the first time getting drunk for Brooke and when Jeanette said the words ‘web cam’, all three of them stared at one another in stunned realization.

  Sidney called the guys and asked them to go on IM. The four men had gotten together to play cards at Boyd and Zane’s, where they crashed every couple of days. The two Marines raced to their enormous office to go on chat with Sidney.

  The moment they clicked on her name, the multiple large screens filled with an image of all three women dressed in pajamas in Brooke’s hotel room in NYC.

  Sidney was saying, “…damn thing does not work. Jeanette you’ll have to fix it. I go one more day without seeing them and there could be bloodshed.”

  Screaming for Mack and Rex, they sat hard in their office chairs to stare. When all four men were standing in the office, in stunned silence, they turned up the volume and watched the three women they hadn’t seen in more than a week drinking, laughing, and dancing in Brooke’s hotel room to Fergie.

  “They’re wasted, all of them. Totally wasted,” Mack whispered laughing.

  Watching them shake their asses in form-fitting sleep shorts and tank tops was almost more than any of the men could handle. Brooke and Jeanette had their hair in ponytails. Sidney’s was in little pigtails.

  As the song ended, Sidney set up shots. “You’ve only had three. We said we had to do five, Brooke. We won’t go past that due to the blood to alcohol ratio, per our resident doc, who uses too many big words even drunk. We’re close in weight…this is four.”

  Brooke said in confusion, “The last one was four. You can’t count anymore, I think, Sidney.”

  Jeanette glanced at her laptop and said in a whisper that was nowhere close to a whisper, “Ssh, oh shit, I think we’re…the camera might be working. Sidney, did you already call Buzz?”

  Boyd and Zane mouthed, “Buzz?” to one another.

  Sidney put her hands on her hips and looked like she was thinking hard. It was fucking adorable. “I…I talked to Boyd. Wait, no…yes, I talked to Zane earlier. It was Boyd for sure. Do you know they’ve been friends so long they kind of sound alike on the phone? I don’t think Buzz can talk on IM unless I send a thing or something and I didn’t do that. Jeanette, you’re the genius, you’re going to have to figure…oh god! I love this song.”

  “This is one of my fave action movies of all time. Lots of car chases and explosions,” Brooke said and all three of them drank to that, slamming down the shot glasses and dancing to Shake Ya Tailfeather.

  Mack and Rex pulled up chairs and they all stared at the biggest monitor in the center of Zane and Boyd’s office. Muting their side, Boyd asked, “Who is Buzz?”

  Rex grinned, “B. Z. Sounds like Buzz might be easier to say when drunk.” They all laughed and watched the girls take turns rapping and working their asses to the floor.

  Brooke paused with her hands on her hips. Her accent was really thick when she said, “Hey, y’all, we were gonna do somethin’. Damn it, Sidney, no more shots.” Then she went back to dancing.

  “They are all so fucking c
ute drunk. I mean, look at them,” Rex said with a smile. All the friends agreed.

  “Sidney is too much to resist,” Zane said then groaned. “Really? We have to deal with Shakira now?”

  Song after song, the women danced and laughed together. Suddenly Sidney said, “Hey, weren’t we gonna web cam?” The other two froze and all of them seemed to be thinking hard. “Didn’t I talk to Buzz?” She rubbed her head.

  Brooke said, “I’m confused. I’ve decided I do not need alcohol. I’m all muddy. Sidney, you said this would numb us, not make us incoherent.”

  “Actually, I said we could forget for a little while. No whining,” Sidney said firmly. It was hard to pull off looking like a little redheaded fairy.

  Jeanette said, “I can’t get all the neurons to fire.” She tapped her head. “This is making me stupid. I hope it goes back to normal.” Then they were rolling around on the bed laughing hysterically. Brooke fell off the other side and crawled around the end, laughing so hard she couldn’t stand up. Her cleavage was stunning. “Wow, Brooke, you are known for your grace. I can totally see that.” That made them all laugh harder.

  Sidney rolled to her stomach to watch, her pert ass cupped by boy shorts. She fist bumped Brooke, who fell over on her back on the floor. She didn’t move for a long minute. “For real, no more alcohol. I know we were doin’ somethin’ and…hey, weren’t we gonna webcam our honeys?”

  Jeanette shot up and fell off the bed, “Damn it…yeah. Webcam. I’ll crawl to my laptop.”

  “Since I am the only one who can move without falling, I’ll get it.” Sidney bounced on the bed instead. “We should use the beds as a trampoline.” Her body jumping on the bed had Boyd and Zane’s mouth hanging open. “I wonder if Buzz could fit a trampoline in their place. If the ceilings are high enough. That could be fun.”

  Boyd murmured, “Trampoline. Check.”

  “Hell, yes,” Zane added beside him.

  Brooke was laughing, “Girl, we have a sayin’ where I come from. The last thing country boys say before an ER visit is ‘hey y’all, watch this’. I’m not jumpin’ on no fuckin’ bed in my condition.” Pointing her finger at Jeanette, she added, “My grammar is horrific. ‘Scuse me, honey.”

  Shaking her head, Jeanette told her she was in no condition to correct her and they crawled to the desk, their faces popping up at the bottom of the screen in Chicago at the same time. Sidney still bounced on the bed behind them. Tilting her head to the side, Jeanette said, “This thing is on, I think. What’s the button I press?”

  “You don’t know how to use it?” Sidney asked in surprise and came to stand behind them.

  “I read all the manuals for everything cuz I’m a nerd. But no, Sidney, I’m web chat deficient. Think about it, before last week, who the hell would I web chat with? I’d probably have ended up in white slavery in some country I can’t pronounce as the smartest idiot they ever grabbed.”

  Brooke bumped her with a grin, “Yeah but you’d sell for so much less now…he he.”

  “Wrong, so wrong, Brooke.” Jeanette blushed but she was laughing and nodding. “Okay, give me a second to think. Hey did you see that Liam Neeson movie where his daughter got kidnapped? I wanted to slap that dumb friend of hers.”

  “Very good movie…love Liam…in anythin’. Yeah, the friend was a twit. He was totally bad assed in that movie though I regretted his clothes remained on. Why do they do that to us?” Brooke’s voice was serious. “Women…clothes off in 4.1 seconds. Why don’t we ever get the goods?”

  Sidney said behind them, “Sly still looks awesome. A little too veiny and whatnot. But he looks good. Brooke baby, Rex looks kind of like him…only way bigger and classier. Sly is really short, I think.”

  Brooke said, “Shit, you’re right. Rex is prettier though and doesn’t have that ripply skin Sly gets when he bulks too fast for his movies. I hate that. Kind of, yeah. Holy shit…like he was in that stupid mob movie comedy. How can you have a mob comedy? Love that movie only because of Sly. I wanted to lick him in that one.”

  Sidney was back to bouncing on the bed behind them and said, “Jeanette, Mack kind of looks like Antonio Banderas.”

  “Um, no. Mack is so much better looking. Not even when Antonio started out was he as gorgeous. And based on the Zorro costume, he could only dream of being half as well-hung as Mack, by the way. Besides which, Antonio is from Spain, or something. Mack’s family is from Mexico and…oh god, my brain…Puerto Rico…I think…I may be mixed up. Anyway,” she shrugged, “my baby is way prettier.”

  “Did you just say ‘way prettier’, Jeanette?” Brooke asked with a grin.

  Jeanette mouthed it several times, “That isn’t right, is it? I can’t find the combo. Damn it, Sidney, what were we drinking? I think I lost brain cells.”

  Continuing to jump on the bed, Sidney said, “Jack Daniels, baby. There is no one I can compare Buzz to. They’re in a league all their own. I should call them. Wait! You know what?” She came to a dead stop on the bed. “In the face…not the body because they both blow everyone away in that department…but in the face, Boyd kind of looks like Bradley Cooper. I think it’s the intense blue eyes. Zane looks a little like the fire guy in Fantastic Four, only way more delicious. And don’t think I didn’t hear that well-hung comment, Jeanette. Embracing your naughty, you dirty girl.”

  Brooke was thoughtful. “Based on our conversations to this point, if you are less than nine inches, and I could be underestimating, you need not apply to be part of that group. Holy shit.” All four men were stunned silent at the women’s open conversation about the sizes of their dicks. “I had a little debate in my mind between ‘is that gonna fit’ and ‘hell yeah, I can ride that’. I went with the latter. Because Jesus loves me, oh yes he does.”

  All of them were sighing as they thought about the time they’d spent with their men. “I think Buzz works from home, probably web stuff. That promises to leave lots of play time off-tour. I should call them. Do either of you know where my phone is?”

  “She still hasn’t asked what you do for a living?” Rex asked Boyd and Zane incredulously. They shook their heads with a smile. “That is completely unlike anyone you’ve ever dated.” They watched as the three young women crawled around looking for Sidney’s phone. Zane took his out and dialed her number. They heard it ringing on the screen.

  All the women went still and put their hands out. Jeanette said softly, “I hear it. Nobody move.”

  “How can we find it if we don’t move?” Brooke asked, confused again.

  “Oh yeah, I really got dumber,” Jeanette said rubbing her temples. “Ssh, I think it’s near the bed.” They crawled around and it stopped ringing.

  “Fuck! Buzz are the only ones who call me other than you two. I’m gonna miss the call.” Zane dialed again and when it started ringing, the girls jumped and started scrambling. Brooke tossed it to Sidney who fell off the side of the bed. Raising her hand from the floor, they saw she had the phone. “Okay, no more shots. I don’t fucking fall.”

  Opening it as she crawled around to her friends, she said, “Hello?” Zane put the phone on speaker.

  “Hey, baby. What are you doing?”

  “I’m hanging with Brooke and Jeanette.” She covered the phone and loudly whispered, “Both of them. Voices that make me wet. Deep and…shit.” Clearing her throat, she uncovered the phone and asked, “What are you doing?”

  Struggling to keep from laughing, Zane managed, “I’m sitting here with the guys. We’re watching you three on web cam. Did you guys forget you turned it on?” Sidney’s eyes went huge and she put the phone down to lean and whisper into the other girls’ ears.

  All three of them looked at the laptop in terror. Then they went to it and their faces appeared at the edge of the desk. “Sweetheart, put your volume up and you won’t need the phone.” Sidney relayed that information to Jeanette whose fingers went over the controls.

  “Can you hear us, ladies?” They nodded and he disconnected the phone. “
Sidney baby, you can close the phone.” She did in a daze. “You can’t see us?” They shook their heads. “Go to the control panel, Jeanette, and I’ll walk you through it.” In less than a minute, huge smiles broke over their faces as Boyd and Zane’s office appeared with the four men sitting there. “I think you can see us now?” They nodded. “We can hear you so you can talk.”

  Jeanette asked quietly, “How…how long have you been able to see us?”

  Brooke added, “How long have you been able to hear us?”

  Mack said, “Since Fergaliscious, baby. And we’ve been able to hear you the entire time, Brooke.” All three women blushed and moaned in embarrassment.

  Sidney was staring at the screen in amazement, “Jeanette, you have to help me buy a laptop and show me how the fuck to use it. I can see so many possibilities for this.” Her friend nodded with a grin. Boyd and Zane pressed their fingers to their eyes in a silent bid for strength. “Okay, well, we’re a little drunk. Brooke rocked the hell out of Madison Square Garden tonight and we’re all wiped. Truly wiped. Six shows in seven days without a break has taken it out of the entire crew. What are you guys doing?”

  Boyd said with a smile, “We were playing cards but we like this much better.”

  “Rex, my tattoo is completely healed. I think I have Sidney and Jeanette convinced to get one.” She stood unsteadily and pulled one side of her shorts down, causing all four men to gasp even though she kept her mound covered…barely. “See?”

  “It healed beautifully, baby.” He had the insane urge to trace it on the screen.

  “Very nice,” all the other men added, laughing quietly.

  Jeanette cleared her throat carefully, “So you heard us talking. Hmm, that’s embarrassing.”

  Mack chuckled, “Only if any of you had said anything negative. Apparently, we’re all gorgeous and well-hung and seem to have made you each very happy. Our egos are duly stroked, baby.”