by JN Welsh
Tommy chuckled, shook Luke’s hand and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “You’re on your own. Get on the bus and be on your best behavior.”
Luke cursed under his breath, then jutted his head at Candy and Velvet. “I’m thinking west coast tour dates for them.”
“Really? Nice, I’ll check them out,” Tommy responded.
Luke continued to ignore her. “Let me know what you think before I pitch it to my new manag—”
“I’m going to miss you.” Leona hugged Tommy goodbye. She didn’t care that she interrupted Luke. Tommy had been Luke’s interim manager, her go-between with Luke, and her ally. Now he was leaving to go back to LA and his real job as agent and leaving her to endure a long bus ride alone. She spoke close to his ear, inhaling the subtle citrus scent from his hair. “Thanks for everything.”
Tommy squeezed her in a bear hug. “You’ll be fine. I’ll be in touch.”
When she released Tommy, she found Luke staring at them with furrowed brows before he stomped toward the bus.
“Okay.” Tommy cleared his throat. “Have fun, guys.” He left with Candy and Velvet, who both waved with enthusiasm.
Leona mounted the bus and Luke followed behind.
The driver greeted him. “Thanks for joining us, Mr. Anderson. I’m Reggie.”
Luke mumbled his apologies.
The lingering smell of oil and fuel was nothing compared to the heavy air that hung between her and Luke. Leona wanted to continue reprimanding Luke for his behavior, but most of all she wanted to ban those women from coming to Montreal. Who the hell were they and why did Tommy have to take care of them?
She sat in the common area, trying to burn the jealousy from her consciousness, and opened her laptop. Her things and her people were on the other bus, so she accomplished what she could. She confirmed Luke’s appointments and informed her team about their departure.
Luke stood by the small kitchenette, opposite the common area.
“Do you need something? Are you familiar with your tour bus or do you need a tutorial?” Leona asked.
The bus started to move.
“No, I don’t need a tutorial. You’re sitting where I work.”
Leona’s entire body stiffened. The tour bus had a closed off master suite with a queen-size bed. Why couldn’t Luke just work in there? Oh, right, his sole purpose was to get under her skin.
She slammed her computer shut and moved to get up.
“Hang on a sec.” Luke stopped her.
She settled back into the seat and folded her hands over her computer.
“I see you’re upset, and I just wanted to clarify something in case you think that I’m not holding up my part of the conditions.”
She tilted her head. “What are you talking about?”
“Candy and Velvet. I’m not...we’re not—” he mushed his hands together several times “—together.”
“Why should I care?”
“Besides the contract? They’re DJs that Boombox is checking out and then he’ll pitch it to you, my manager, for the tour,” he explained.
“Oh.” Jealousy had fucked with her brain cells and her face stung with embarrassment. She squeezed her knitted hands together to keep her hand from flying to her ear.
Luke watched her, his body undisturbed by the moving bus.
“Anything else?”
“Yes.” He motioned to where she sat. “I’d like my workspace back now.”
A rant sat on the tip of her tongue, but choosing the evasive route, she rose to her feet and picked up her bag. “All yours.”
She toddled to one of the lower bunks, slid the curtain back, and climbed into the small space. A light activated when she closed the curtain, and she sat with her legs crossed at the ankles. She tried to shut Luke out and focus on her work, but heavy droplets pooled in her lower lids. Leona blamed the sensitivity on PMS, but knew better. She was tired of being the object of Luke’s anger.
Abe was right. Luke doesn’t hate women. In fact, she’d witnessed him be easygoing with the female crew and members of her team. He even promoted Candy and Velvet for his tour. He talked about love in his music and when he was interviewed, spoke of wanting his music to bring people together. With her, he was different. Sure, he’d kissed her but that was a mistake on both their parts.
He only hates me.
Even though he battered her ego, she still showed up for him and her body craved him. She blinked the tears dry. The pity party was over. This was about business and saving Wallace Entertainment. When she finished responding to the last few emails, she closed her eyes. Her stomach gurgled and twisted in objection to the movement. In the chaos of searching for Luke, she had forgotten to take her motion sickness medication before getting on the bus. She reached for her bag and searched for the pills. If she took them now she might prevent the symptoms from worsening.
Leona’s calm search turned into panic. Her pills weren’t there.
“Oh no.” Her medication was miles away on her tour bus.
* * *
Leona’s stomach retched and she jumped out of the bunk. Momentarily tangled in the curtain, she sprinted for the bathroom and made it just in time to throw up everything she had eaten that day. Her eyes teared and sickness floated in her belly. The vile smell of undigested nutrition increased her queasiness. She gargled the sour taste of bile from her mouth and rinsed her face. She dabbed cold water on her neck and chest. As the bus continued to move Leona willed her breathing to slow down and her nausea to cease, but she violently retched again into the toilet. She hadn’t eaten much and wondered where it all came from.
“Leona?” Luke knocked on the door.
She groaned. Luke was the last person she needed to see, hear, or interact with. “Yes?”
“Everything okay? You’ve been in there a long time.”
The doorknob started to turn. To Leona’s horror, she’d forgotten to lock the door.
She pushed her body against the door. “Don’t come in here!” Who does that? All around her smelled like throw up and her hair and clothes were messy. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
Leona rinsed her mouth again and tried to fix her clothing and hair, but her ashen face and droopy lids betrayed her. Who was she fooling? She was sick in the worst way. She sprayed air refresher but the fragrance only made things worse.
She opened the door and Luke leaned against the panel opposite the bathroom with arms crossed at his chest.
He wrinkled his nose and averted his head. Once he recovered, he regarded her for a moment. “You look terrible and smell even worse.”
“Thanks.” She passed him and headed to the kitchenette. She opened the refrigerator to see if she could find some seltzer. This was Luke’s bus, stocked with his preferences. In her experience, musicians usually stocked booze and little else. She was happy to find he had ginger ale.
Luke followed her. “You’re sick.”
“No shit.” Leona sipped the soda.
His form filled the entranceway and he hung on to the railing above him, swaying with the motion of the bus. “Are you pregnant?”
Leona choked on her drink and coughed to clear her throat. “What? Why would I be—No. I’m not.” Asshole. “It’s the bus. The moving.”
“Why didn’t you take something if you know you get sick?”
“I have medicine. It’s on my bus, where I’d be, had you—” Leona snapped, and then tightened the reins on her anger “—had things gone as planned.”
“You mean if I wasn’t late.”
“Bingo.” She placed the drink in a cup holder and sat for about thirty seconds before she pushed Luke out of the way and ran to the bathroom.
As Leona retched she cursed Luke. This was his fault. Jerk. If he hadn’t been late she wouldn’t be in a mess of puke. She shuddered at the thought that he might be r
eveling in her misfortune.
The bus slowed and came to a full stop. She wanted to see what was happening, but she didn’t trust her body to behave, remaining hovered over the toilet. They were stopped for a while and the lack of motion helped still her tummy.
Several minutes later, she opened the door.
“Fuck!” Leona jumped at Luke’s unexpected presence. “Why are you standing there like that?”
He held a cup of water in one hand and four different motion sickness medications in the other. “Which ones do you take? Are they any of these?” He breathed like he’d been running.
Leona stared at him until her disgruntled belly brought her attention back to the boxes. “That one.”
Luke handed her the cup and tossed the other three boxes aside. He tore open the medicine packet and handed her two tablets.
“Take them, Leona,” he said when she didn’t move.
Luke had never spoken soft and normal to her before. The gray in his eyes often showed irritation, but now the green intensified with genuine concern. She did as he instructed, chasing the tablets with water.
“I need some air.” Luke shadowed her. Leona thought his anger was disturbing, but the care he showed unraveled her.
Reggie stood by the driver’s seat. “That’s right. The air will do you good.”
“I hope so, Reggie.” When Leona dismounted the bus, she saw they were parked in the lot of a 24-hour drug store. “Thanks for stopping.”
“Oh, that Mr. Anderson made me get to a pharmacy for you. Zipped outta here so fast, I barely saw him. Are you feeling any better?”
“A bit, but I’m sure the medicine will kick in soon. You may want to air the bus out though,” Leona said to Reggie. Luke leaned like a rock star against the side of the vehicle. A gentle night breeze hit her and the cleaner air improved her health. “Thanks for making him stop and for the medicine.”
Luke nodded. “It’s the least I could do.”
“We should get going. We’re way behind schedule. You need to rest and your interview—”
“We’ll go when you’re better.” Luke’s authoritative tone stopped any additional questioning.
Leona wasn’t sure how far they had traveled, but she could see the stars. She often got lost in the brilliance above and loved being outside of the city so she could see the constellations.
“Glimpsing Leo.” She searched the sky to divert her thoughts from the lingering nausea.
“What was that?” Luke asked.
She almost forgot he was there. “The constellation of Leo the Lion. It’s kind of my namesake. This time of year it’s visible, so I like to look for it.” She tilted her head back until it could go no further. “Glimpsing Leo.”
“Sounds like a song.”
“It does.” She regarded him for a moment. “Is that how you come up with your songs? Something sounds like a song and then you go with it or do you have a process?”
“Songs come to me in many ways. Through people, mostly. I’ll see, hear, or read something that triggers a feeling. Inspires me. I see stories then retell them with music.”
Leona identified with Luke. She had found inspiration in similar ways during her time in the studio with Paul. When Luke conversed about music he came alive.
“You really love music, don’t you?” Leona sipped her soda.
“Music means everything to me.” He searched the skies, she assumed for her constellation. “I communicate with it. It feeds me. If I couldn’t create music, I don’t know what I’d do.”
Luke kept upping the sexy meter. Now he was sensitive about his passion.
We’ve got to go. “I think we can get going.”
Not only did she need to protect her softening heart, Luke had to be in Montreal in a matter of hours.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you better or are you rushing?”
“Yes,” Leona affirmed.
Luke frowned at the ambiguity of her response and she smiled.
She climbed back onto the bus, giving Reggie the thumbs-up. “Fire it up, Reggie.”
Leona sat on the bunk bed. The medicine made her drowsy and she knew she would be asleep shortly.
“I’m going to lie down but let me know if you need anything.” Leona put her lukewarm soda in a cup holder inside her bunk.
“Take this.” He handed her a plastic bag. “Just in case.”
The lightheartedness on his face was one she’d seen him give others when he was in good humor. She blushed because he had never directed that warmth toward her. It was gone within seconds.
Leona took the plastic bag from him. “Good night. Thanks again for helping me. You didn’t have to.”
“You’re right. I didn’t have to,” was Luke’s flat response.
Leona flinched. “And we’re back,” she muttered.
Clearly, Luke needed to hang on to whatever problem he had with her. She was patient and would allow things to organically improve. However, it would only be a matter of time before her patience ran out.
She slid the privacy curtain closed.
“I wanted to,” she heard Luke through the partition. She stayed her hand from yanking the curtain back.
Chapter Eleven
Montreal sparkled like a new city in the sunlight while Leona dragged through the corridor of EDMology Radio exhausted, starved, and in need of a shower. Luke and Reggie had stopped to get breakfast, and though she had been hungry, she didn’t trust her stomach with food. The lack of sustenance left her sluggish and miserable.
Luke was ushered into a booth and miked for his first interview, and Leona was happy to be reunited with her team.
“You guys made it. We were getting a little worried. How was the ride with Luke?” Sara asked.
“Uneventful.” Leona understated her trip to avoid further inquiry. “From now on I want to know where Luke is at all times, even if I have to follow him around myself. If I ask for his whereabouts, I want coordinates.”
“I’ll put someone on him.” Sebastian punched the notes into his phone.
Leona’s memory flashed back to that night at Aurora. “Actually, I have someone in mind. I hope he’s interested.”
“You look—” Sara hesitated. “Unlike yourself. Do you want some coffee?” She pointed to a nearby refreshment table.
“No thanks.” Leona spared her team the details of her nightmare with the toilet. “I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to debrief. Any updates?”
“Room assignments are done. Everyone knows the schedule. We stopped at the designated locations for breakfast and the crew is gearing up for tonight’s show.” Sara looked over to Sebastian to confirm.
Sebastian had been gazing dreamily at Sara since she started speaking. He was usually good at keeping his admiration for Sara somewhat contained. Not today.
Sebastian nodded at Sara and tore his eyes away from the blonde beauty to address Leona. “We’ve got your back, Leo.”
“Thanks, guys. Sebastian, we’ll meet at Luke’s room this afternoon for his pre-show phone interviews. He has sound check at the venue, and then he’s back onstage. This is the pace we’re running with so let’s stay on top of everything to keep the momentum going.”
“There’s a car waiting for you and Luke downstairs, when you’re ready,” Sara said.
Sebastian pulled out his tablet. “These are the pictures and videos from last night.”
“They’re great.” Leona swiped through the pictures and noted her favorites. Luke really couldn’t take a bad photo. His eyes popped and the light loved his skin. And when he smiled, no one was spared his charm. Her chest filled with affection as she scanned the photos. “These are my choices but whatever you decide is fine. Get a few prints for the media package. Let’s wait and get a few more recorded performances and then do a medley.”
“Done
.” Sebastian stashed his tablet.
“Call me if you need anything.” Her team departed and Leona was left again with Luke.
She wanted to leave and slide between the sheets of a hotel bed with too many pillows and a fluffy duvet but had to stay with her artist. Luke, on the other hand, answered questions about the tour, with refreshed skin and rested eyes.
“Thank goodness,” Leona sighed.
Leona had some time before the interview ended and sat in a quiet corner. Her intent was to respond to her messages but she rested her head against the wall and fixated on Luke.
On the bus, he had changed clothes. Black jeans and a short-sleeved button-down white shirt never fit so well on a person. He hadn’t shaved and a five o’clock shadow dusted his cheeks and chin. She didn’t know if it was pure fatigue or Luke’s sexy vibe, but she let herself wonder about how his stubble would feel against her palm.
As Luke spoke, his gaze found her. Normally, she would avoid his eyes but this time she stayed connected. She wasn’t sure she was even seeing him anymore. Her eyes glazed over and her heavy eyelids closed.
Leona jolted herself awake and darted up. Targeting the refreshment table, she straggled over to make coffee. She might be playing Russian roulette with her stomach but it was better than falling asleep on the job. She checked on Luke, who had witnessed her dozing. He licked his lips to stifle the half grin from spreading across his face.
“Great.” Leona sipped her coffee. Her cheeks warmed and she laughed at her awkward wake-up. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
The radio station was a bit of a ghost town, which made wrapping up easier. She started her closing remarks with the personnel so she and Luke could depart immediately.
Luke completed the interview, autographed merchandise, and then strolled over to her with swag in his step. “You need a nap.”
Leona set her coffee down. “You forget that by contract I have to be here with you. Our team is at the hotel getting ready for tonight.”
“You need some rest. We could have agreed on that.”
“I’ll rest when I get you safely to the hotel. The car is waiting for us downstairs.” Her lashes weighted on her eyelids like mini dumbbells and she swayed in her stance.