Chapter 9
Still Harper
Despite my petty revenge, Xander was still fast asleep when I left the suite an hour later. He’d slept through my shower, blow drying, and maybe one more slammed door. Although that last one could’ve woken him up, and I wouldn’t know since I was on the other side of the door.
Needless to say, I wasn’t in the best mood as I headed downstairs for breakfast.
My mood tumbled further when I saw Kelly Evers standing on the other side of the private room I had set up for the crew to get their meals.
What the fuck was she doing here?
I really didn’t have it in me to put up with more of her bullshit. And given our stations, I’d be the one having to swallow it.
Ducking my head, I made for the opposite end of the buffet line, where Ella was talking to Shay.
I knew Ella and had spent time with her on the last leg of the tour. But I knew Shay less since she’d been busy working at restaurants while we’d traveled. Given that the two of them were currently chatting, thick as thieves, and I didn’t want to be a weird buttinsky, I didn’t interrupt their conversation.
But I did eavesdrop like a weirdo.
“…can’t believe she’s here.”
“I know. Tyler promised the guys that she wouldn’t be everywhere.” Shay whispered back. “You can see how much that worked. Literally day one and she pops up like Michael Myers in Halloween .”
“Only less welcome.” Ella snorted.
“Yeah, at least with him, no one would look at sideways if we—” Shay made a stabbing motion with her fork.
Mental note: Don’t piss off Shay Robinson; she gets stabby.
“Okay, crazy.” Ella laughed. “Maybe take it down a notch.”
“What? I just don’t like it when anyone screws with the guys’ heads. They’re good guys—Xander especially. None of them deserve that mindfuck.”
“I think you need to eat something. And stop that.” Ella slapped Shay’s fork out of her hand. “God only knows who heard you say that. The last thing we need right now is a restraining order against you.” Ella looked furtively around and froze when she saw me standing behind them.
“You guys about done with the back bacon? I’m starving.” I smiled, holding up my mostly empty plate.
“What exactly did you hear?” Ella asked with a glare.
“Uh, I think you’re forgetting whose bed I just crawled out of. I’m Team Xander all the way.” I gently nudged Ella aside and forked up some Irish bacon onto my plate. Spotting the grilled tomatoes, I made a beeline down the buffet and loaded my plate with a few of those, along with some scrambled eggs and toast.
Craning my neck to look for a free seat, it was my turn to freeze when I saw Ella and Shay still standing at the bacon, staring at me. I took a quick peek at my outfit. Did I wear something weird? “What?”
Ella dashed across the distance. “You crawled out of his bed this morning? Seriously?!”
“Uh…yeah.” I looked around, but we hadn’t drawn anyone else’s attention with Ella’s squeal.
Oh check that. Kelly Evers was currently glaring at me. Yay.
Turning my back on her, I raised my eyebrows at the girls. “Let’s go grab that table way over there.”
We all three tromped to an open table on the other side of the room. I took a chair against the wall. The last thing I wanted was for her to come up behind me.
“So spill,” Ella commanded with wide eyes.
“About what?” I mumbled around my scrambled eggs.
“Seriously? About you and Xander.” Ella leaned forward. “How long has it been going on? How big is his—”
“Ella!” Shay shrieked, slapping her friend’s arm. “I do not want to know about any of the guys’…junk.”
“What?” Ella blinked exaggeratedly. “All I want to know is if it’s proportionate. I mean the guy’s like six-three. So that would mean…”
Shay’s face was beet-red as she buried her face in her coffee. She shook her head but didn’t say anything else.
“Yeah, sorry but I don’t share details. I will tell you that security pushed her away from us last night as we waited for the elevator. She got the whole rabid fan treatment, like the guards didn’t recognize her. It was hilarious.” I giggled at the memory.
Ella crowed with laughter, and Shay’s soft laugh joined us.
Ella sighed. “Ha. Good times. But you—” she pointed her fork at me. “Don’t think I’m not still pissed at you for not telling me about hooking up with him in the first place. When did it happen, anyway? I know it had to’ve been after Portland since…”
Shay jabbed her elbow into Ella’s side. “I don’t think anyone needs to be reminded of Portland. Thank you.”
Now it was my turn to look away embarrassed. I mean, it was fine for anyone to have a healthy sex drive. But Xander’s was kinda legendary. And not typical of the guys I hooked up with.
“Anyway, what’s going on with you two? Are you stajing at any restaurants this tour, Shay?” I asked, referring to Shay’s habit of working in restaurants for free in exchange for experience. She’d worked her way across the US on our last tour.
Shay smiled. “Only one in England. Ramsay Pearce was adamant I needed some time in his flagship restaurant. Otherwise, this is like a prolonged honeymoon for us—traveling around Europe with all this downtime. I can’t wait.”
“She’ll be helping me out too.” Ella smirked. “Since she did such a good job on the last leg of the tour.”
“Eh, I think my rate went up. You can’t afford me now.”
“You’ll get so bored you’ll be begging to help me.”
“You just want me to stand guard in front of all those closets while you two get it on.”
I laughed. We traded barbs and laughs as we ate, and I let my guard down.
And of course, the second I did, she pounced.
“Where. Is. He?”
I jumped at the shadow that’d fallen over our table—in more ways than one.
I shrugged, going for an indifferent air, while I kept her in my peripheral. “Last I saw, he was still asleep in our bed. I doubt he’ll be down for breakfast. Or lunch, either. He was really tired.”
A muscle flexed in Kelly’s jaw. “Fine,” she huffed. “Tell him that I need to talk to him.”
“I think he’s made it clear that he doesn’t want to speak to you. Repeatedly.”
Kelly narrowed her eyes at me, and I just knew she was plotting my murder. Finally, she turned on her heel and flounced away, yelling, “Jay! Jay!”
Shay and Ella muffled their laughter.
“That was badass.” Shay grinned at me.
“Agreed.” Ella lifted her mug at me in a toast. “I wanna be like Harper when I grow up.”
I’d been a grown up sooner than anyone should have to.
“So, has anyone seen this Jay?” I asked. “How tall is he?”
Shay and Ella burst into laughter again. And this time I joined them.
* * *
The rest of the day, unfortunately, was a grind. Setting up the stage. Lights. Sound. Pyrotechnics. Musical equipment. The main greenroom. The guys’ private greenroom. Her private greenroom. Marisol and I ran our feet off taking care of everything since Wes had already flown back home.
But I didn’t mind. I was in my element. This was what I loved to do—order people around, smash through a checklist, troubleshoot insanity. My nirvana.
“Have all the boxes for sound arrived?” One missing box could mean thousands of dollars in missing equipment. Like the ear monitors we couldn’t locate.
“I’m missing three—S 3, 4, and 5. I have everyone looking around for them. But it’s looking like they didn’t make it onto the shipment.”
Son of a bitch. There was no way we’d be able to replace that much equipment in a day. Especially not on the road.
“Not good enough. Get everyone mobilized. If we can’t find those boxes, we can’t have a show. Or a tour. It’d take forever to get replacements.” I turned on the mic attached to my headset. “I need all bodies onstage ASAP. All bodies to the stage.”
In minutes I was surrounded by techs, roadies, promoters, merch staff, and security personnel. Then the hunt was on.
Twenty minutes later, the boxes were found in a forgotten equipment trailer that’d been used to transport instruments. Crisis averted.
I was looking over my checklist when a voice came from behind me. “I think I’m getting what attracted Xander.”
I jumped.
Tyler Worthington crossed the stage toward me.
My heart thudded unevenly. I don’t know what it was about this man. He had the same swagger as the rock stars I worked with on a daily basis, but unlike most of them, it seemed like Tyler had his shit together. He was always dressed in a suit, contrasting with his tousled hair.
“I, uh…” I struggled to get my brain to work. “Was that supposed to be a compliment?”
Tyler’s laugh was low and sexy. “Only a comment on my apparent blind spot when it comes to you.”
My cheeks heated, and for the first time today, I felt unsure. The stage was my domain. I’d always been the one in control. Not so much right now.
I cleared my throat. Then cleared it again. “Was there something you needed, Tyler? We’re pretty busy.”
“So I see.” He stepped closer, forcing me to look up at him. “We need to talk about Kelly. I understand there’s been an…incident.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” In my defense, there were three ‘incidents’ so I didn’t actually know which one he was bringing up.
Tyler tipped his head. “Her ego’s been bruised. Having to see such a gorgeous woman with the man she’d been with for so long has been hard for her. I think a few apologetic words would go a long way. I’m sure you understand.”
I laughed incredulously. His attractiveness was quickly fading into the douche zone. “Not really. She’s engaged, right? I don’t know why she’d give the first flying fuck about me—even given the fact that I’m screwing ‘her’ man. She’s moved on, why can’t Xander?”
“Rock stars. Their egos are as fragile as a teenager’s. Like I said, just a few words. I’m not asking for much.”
“Not happening. I haven’t done anything to apologize for. And since I don’t work for you, I don’t answer to you. If you have any issues with my job or my attitude, feel free to bring it up to Wes. Since he’s my boss.” I adjusted my headset to keep myself from hurling something—most likely my tablet—at his head. “Now, if that’s all, I have a mountain of work to get through before soundcheck this afternoon.”
Tyler stared me down, trying to intimidate me with his attractive disapproval. Joke was on him, I’d been disappointing assholes my whole life.
“So you’re refusing to give her an apology? Even an insincere one?”
“She called herself a headliner; I corrected her. When I introduced myself, she called me the help . When she asked to speak to Xander, I told her he was unavailable. He doesn’t want to see her, let alone talk to her. I have nothing to apologize for.”
This time I stared him down. I didn’t give a shit what he thought about stations and egos. I didn’t have a fucking thing to apologize for. And Wes wouldn’t make me. He didn’t have time or mental space for bullshit either. It was why I’d taken this job in the first place.
“Fine.” Tyler shook his head and looked down at his phone. He thumbed through a few texts and was still deep in his phone when he spoke again. “But we need to talk about the setlist.”
My eyes widened. Light, sound, and stage placement had all been designed based on a setlist that had been planned for months. Sure, there were a few instances where the guys would change it up, but that was only true for maybe one song. Two at most. The last thing I needed today was this clusterfuck. “Okay. Talk.”
“Kelly wants the duet with Xander during her set but before her encore.”
I sputtered. There was so much wrong with that sentence I didn’t even know where to start. Duet? Since when? I wasn’t going to have any part of it.
“Good luck with that.” I snorted.
This was going to kill Xander. It was such a monumental betrayal. And coming from his manager of all people? Dammit.
“Pretty sure that’s your job.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. This asshole. How had I ever found him attractive? “Pretty sure I told you that if you had any problems with how I did my job, you should take it up with Wes.”
“Wes told me this fell under your domain now.” Tyler stared intently back at me.
“Sounds like I need to have a conversation with Wes then.” I pivoted on my heel to go call him when Tyler’s hand grasped my upper arm, stopping me.
“Look. I just…before you go off halfcocked, I feel like you should know that it’s in her contract with Black Hat. She slipped in her demand for a duet with Xander toward the end of negotiations, and no one noticed it until now. I suspect that’s why Wes went MIA. He’s embarrassed that he missed it, and he’s blaming himself. I guess things haven’t been going so good at home—he mentioned it yesterday on the flight over. Along with the things his wife has been saying about you.”
I swayed slightly as all the blood left my head. My whole promotion wasn’t real—Wes was just trying to cover up his fuck up.
What else had Wes been hiding from me? I almost asked Tyler what his wife had been saying, but I didn’t think I wanted to know.
And Tyler looked like he really didn’t want to tell me any more anyhow.
My fingers flew across the screen of my tablet as I pulled up Kelly’s contract with Black Hat. With a little search magic, I pulled up the clause with Xander’s name in it. Because it was there in black and white. Xander had to perform a duet onstage with Kelly at every concert.
I felt lightheaded. Could it even be enforced since it contradicted the band’s contract? Would they sue Wes? The company?
There was no way the tour would go on.
Wes would be bankrupt. Divorced. I’d be without my best friend and mentor, not to mention jobless.
No one would want to work with Wes or Black Hat if this got out.
The sense of doom from Wes’ absolute betrayal snaked through my bloodstream. It was a familiar feeling. My dad had been betraying me some way or another almost my entire life. It was why I’d moved away from home the second I graduated and never looked back. But for it to come from Wes of all people?
My god.
Tyler’s arrogant voice came through the haze around me. “Now you understand why this is a delicate situation.”
I nodded mutely.
“And how maybe it’s a good idea to apologize to Kelly. We want her on our side, after all.”
Setting my jaw, I nodded again.
“Great.” Tyler’s thumbs cruised over his phone’s screen. “Now, all we have to do is come up with a gameplan to get Xander onboard with the duet. Just a hint, it’s best if it feels like it’s his idea. Xander really doesn’t like to be told what to do.”
A sinking sensation pulled at my stomach.
This wasn’t how I worked. Ever.
Fuck Wes and Tyler for putting me—and Xander—in this position.
They could both fuck off into the sun forever as far as I was concerned.
Crush officially over.