11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
It wasn’t long after they returned to the bus that they were moving down the highway again.
At some point, Bronx knew they’d be stopping for dinner soon at a roadside diner and a hotel to spend the night or a place to park the bus and get a few hours’ sleep onboard.
Bronx not-so-secretly hoped for a hotel because being cooped up with Cavalari in such close quarters didn’t sit well with him.
One of them was bound to make a misstep in their agreement to occupy opposite ends of the bus and he was pretty sure it would be him.
For an hour or so, they managed to give each other a wide berth. Bronx was still too keyed up from the interview and his performance to retreat to his room alone. Cavalari had no other place to go except for the living room which is where they both ended up sitting.
Bronx sat on the couch and tapped out a brief message to Dagger to let him know the interview was done and everything went well while Cavalari grabbed an apple from the kitchen to eat as a snack and a bottle of water.
He plunked himself down into a swivel chair near the couch just as Bronx finished his text message and tossed his phone onto the cushion beside him.
“Dagger must be relieved the first interview is done,” Cavalari commented.
“How’d you know I was texting him?” Bronx asked. “Are you spying on me again?”
“It was a guess,” Cavalari said as he took a bite from the Granny Smith apple.
“ Everyone is breathing easier now that the first interview is done—not just Dagger,” Bronx said.
“I swear sometimes it seems as though none of them think I can handle myself solo in public or with the promotion of our band. There’s no way any of them would have done a better job than I just did back in Tucson but they were still worried about my performance. Give me a break.”
Cavalari shrugged a shoulder. “I wouldn’t take it personally,” he said.
“I think you’d agree that you haven’t done a lot of solo promotion and that’s probably why they thought you might choke under the pressure—not because they didn’t think you could handle the fundamentals of doing an interview without the rest of the band with you. ”
Bronx thought about that for a bit. Cavalari was probably right but it still stung that Dagger was constantly second guessing his ability to behave in public.
Yes, it was true he hadn’t worked with a band as notorious as Black Ice but he’d had enough exposure to the rockstar life to know how to act when cameras were pointed at him and how to answer questions from a reporter.
Sometimes it wasn’t easy because reporters would tend to word their questions in such a way as to lead the celebrity into a corner to set them up to say the wrong thing.
It was a delicate balance and not always smooth sailing but today Bronx felt damn good about his performance.
He hadn’t revealed anything he knew he shouldn’t, and he managed to answer the questions posed to him without sounding like an idiot. That was a win in his book.
“What happened to you in there?” Cavalari asked after he set his apple core on top of a napkin on the coffee table.
“What’d you mean?” Bronx asked.
“You had problems with your headset for starters, then you seemed to struggle with hearing Craig at times too.”
“You read too much into bullshit details,” Bronx scoffed. “The headset was malfunctioning and Craig mumbles.”
Cavalari stared at Bronx until he began to fidget on the couch under the scrutiny. “I listened to your headset after they set you up with a new head gear,” he finally said. “The sound was working fine on them.”
Bronx shook his head. “Well, they weren’t working for me,” he said. “Nothing but ear-piercing feedback.”
“You’re not being honest with me,” Cavalari said. “Why is that?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Bronx asked. “I put the headphone over my ears and all I heard was feedback. What more can I tell you?”
“Tell the truth, Bronx. Are you having trouble hearing things?”
“I can sure as fuck hear your annoying voice right now, so I’d say I’m not having a problem hearing,” Bronx said and chuckled to fluff it off.
“I’m being serious,” Cavalari repeated. “This isn’t something to laugh off. Are you hearing a buzz now?”
Bronx hesitated a beat too long before he denied Cavalari’s claim.
“Goddamn it. You’re still not being honest with me,” Cavalari said and shook his head.
“You want us to be truthful? Fine! How about you kick off the truth party for us. Be honest with me, and yourself, and finally admit you’re gay, bi, or however you identify. Spill your truth and be done with it and I’ll never ask you again.”
“Why the hell do you care so much about who I fuck?” Cavalari asked. “And how does knowing my orientation change or enrich your life?”
Bronx threw his arms up in the air and in the process his fingers bumped the phone sitting on the edge of the cushion and it slipped to the floor.
“I have no idea why it matters but it does,” he said.
“You’re the one suddenly demanding honesty of me and now I’m demanding the same of you. It’s a fair trade, asswipe.”
Bronx glared at Cavalari while he waited for an answer.
When it became clear one wasn’t coming he bent between his legs to grab the phone from the floor.
The movement seemed to make the blood rush to his head and the feedback sound kicked up ten notches in his ears.
It was so loud inside his head it hurt and made it difficult to think.
He absently reached for his ears to try and ease the noise and pain by rubbing it away but it didn’t help.
He did the only thing he could think of to cover what was happening and pushed to his feet.
He staggered slightly, corrected his balance, and began to walk toward his bedroom.
He stepped inside the room and stood at the end of his bed, swaying in place like he were drunk.
Not more than a beat later, Cavalari was standing in the doorway of the bedroom while Bronx stood with his back to his guard staring at the screen on the phone.
“You’re right. I’m gay,” Cavalari said to Bronx’s backside but he remained silent. “You got what you wanted. I just admitted I like dick. Don’t you have a ridiculously stupid response to that admission? A comeback you’d like to fling at me to make me feel stupid? Nothing?”
Cavalari put his hands on his hips and squared his shoulders.
“Hey, asshole. I’m talking to you!” Cavalari stepped closer and inched around the side of the bed to better see Bronx’s face.
Bronx flinched when he saw the movement in his room and instinctively covered his face as if he were about to get punched by Cavalari.
“You didn’t hear what I said, did you?” Cavalari asked him.
Bronx looked away and then sat on the end of the bed. Cavalari moved in front of him and knelt on the rug.
“Is it happening again—the feedback screech?” Cavalari asked but Bronx didn’t answer. Instead he lay back onto the bed and curled onto his side before he closed his eyes.
“I’m going to rest for a bit,” Bronx said.
Cavalari stood next to the bed for a moment contemplating his options.
He had no idea what he should do. If Bronx didn’t want to talk about what was happening, he certainly couldn’t force him to open up.
He was also absolutely certain Bronx wouldn’t want him contacting Dagger about this, either.
He stepped back into Bronx’s line of sight again.
“You seriously have no comment on my sexuality?”
Bronx didn’t even bother to open his eyes.
Cavalari left the room with even more questions than he had when he followed Bronx in there. He shut the door behind him and returned to the living room.
An hour later Cavalari knocked on Bronx’s bedroom door.
When no one answered, he knocked again. Cavalari heard nothing on the other side of the door, no movement and definitely no grumbling which he fully expected.
He waited another few seconds and then slowly opened up the door.
Bronx was still lying in the same position on the bed.
Cavalari stepped around to the side to put himself back into Bronx’s line of vision.
“Bus driver is asking if you want to stop for dinner or eat something from the kitchen on the bus?” he asked rather loudly.
“What the fuck?” Bronx said as he sat upright on the mattress. “Why are you yelling at me?”
“I was making sure you could hear me,” Cavalari said.
“Jesus, I’m pretty sure Dagger could hear you back in LA, for fuck’s sake,” Bronx grumbled.
“I take it you’re feeling better?”
“I was never feeling bad, so what’s your problem?” Bronx questioned.
“Look, I can’t help if you won’t tell me what’s going on,” Cavalari said. “You’re clearly having trouble although I’m not certain what the source is, but I’d like to help. If you need a doctor, I can make some discreet phone calls—whatever you need, and I’ll make it happen.”
“If you make so much as one phone call, your time working for me will be over,” Bronx threatened. “I don’t give a fuck what Dagger has to say about it. You’ll be history.” Bronx crawled off the bed and walked into the bathroom to take a leak without closing the door.
“This could be serious, Bronx,” Cavalari stated. “You can’t ignore this!”
“I have no other fucking choice!” Bronx yelled. “I’ve got over a week left to this promotional tour and every single day there is shit already scheduled. I don’t have time to be seeing doctors. I’m fine for now and the next time I get a break I’ll make an appointment for a physical. No big deal.”
Cavalari released a frustrated growl from his throat.
“This isn’t your problem!” Bronx yelled from the bathroom while he zipped up his jeans. “I’ll deal with it when I’m damn good and ready.”
“If your hearing issue is from us wrestling, then it is my problem,” Cavalari argued.