Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Cynda…
Yup now this is what I’d expected. Seeing all the skanky women pour into the dressing room was more than I wanted to deal with, or maybe I was just jealous?
At least that’s what Michelle would say.
She might be right, but hell, I’m not admitting it to anyone.
Still, there was no way I was going to stand there while some ho practically climbed into his pants.
I doubted anyone noticed when I left anyway.
My suitcase was still in Michelle’s car, so I figured I might as well get it and head to the bus.
Maybe I could get settled in before they all showed up with their sex partners for the night.
Gross. Seriously, how could anyone have sex with random strangers just because they were rock stars?
Okay, who was I kidding, I wanted Chaos, would I give in to that—hell no.
It’d be totally wrong. Isn’t that what I hated most about my father?
He was all about loving them and leaving them, at least as far as mom was concerned.
Grabbing the suitcase from the car I shoved her spare key in the hideaway box under the front wheel well.
Thank God I’d remembered it was there because I sure as hell hadn’t remembered to get the keys from her before I left the party.
She’d been all over Flame. I knew she liked Raining Chaos but I hadn’t realized she had the hots for him until the drive over.
All she did the whole time was ask about him.
It was funny. Too bad this wasn’t her job for the next two weeks, she would have enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than I was going to.
Looking for the buses, I followed the directions dickman had given me earlier.
I went back in the Garden and down the long hallway to the rear exit.
I’d almost made it when I heard the sound of high heels on the tile floor behind me.
Fully expecting it to be one of the skanks from the party I turned to come face-to-face with Sweets. Oh shit.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Cynda is it or should I just call you bitch?”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I don’t like you coming in here and butting in.
We don’t need you, and Chaos definitely doesn’t need you.
I’ve got everything he needs right here.
” She gestured across her body, and yeah she had it.
Huge boobs trying to escape from the leather vest she wore over a way too short leather mini-skirt and black high heels with silver studs.
If this was what he liked more power to him, it just reinforced the no sex no way rule.
Wrath had said they were like sisters. Maybe someone needed to tell her.
“I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to back off. I’m not here to hurt anyone or cause problems. I’m just here to do my job. You don’t like it, talk to Chaos, he’s the one who made me come on tour with you. It sure as hell wasn’t my idea.”
“Yeah I know,” she answered and took a drink from the beer in her hand. She was drunk, it was obvious, but I didn’t think it mattered. She’d been shooting shitty looks at me since I’d shown up earlier.
“So if you know why are you giving me shit?”
“Because I want you to fuckin’ walk away, stay off the fuckin’ bus. Make up some damn excuse but stay the fuck away from all of us.”
“No way. I told you I have a job to do and I’m going to do it. What the hell is your problem? I know he’s not your boyfriend, so what’s with the possessive act?”
“Bitch, you have no idea. You’d have to be crazy to think he’d want you.”
I agreed with her but it still hurt. Michelle had given me a makeover and even convinced me to buy and wear make-up.
New clothes, new hair, and still there was no way I could or would want to compete with these skanks for his attention.
“I told you I’m here for work. I don’t want him and I don’t care what you two do. Got that?”
I’d had enough, I was tired, it’d been a long ass day and I wanted to find a place to sleep even if it was a chair on the damn bus.
At least dickman told me they didn’t sleep on the bus with the guys they were on the second bus.
At first I figured I’d be with them, but Chaos insisted, of course, that I be on their bus. Now I’m kinda glad he did.
“You need to sleep it off,” I said as I turned hoping to get away from her before it got worse. No such luck. Her hand grabbed my shoulder and I turned and gave her the ‘fuck you bitch’ look, but she either didn’t care or was too drunk to notice.
“Listen, Cinder, or whatever your name is. Don’t make me hurt you…”
“No one is going to get hurt. What the hell, Sweets?” Chaos cut in as he grabbed her arm. “Leave her alone. We talked about this shit.”
They had? Interesting. I wonder what he’d said.
“Did she hurt you?” he asked looking me over for injuries.
The entire situation was screwed up, like a bad TV movie, if he hadn’t looked so serious I’d have laughed. If she’d tried anything, she probably would have fallen off her six inch heels. “No, I’m fine. I was trying to explain to her I’m only here to do my job, not get in your pants.”
His eyes widened at my words. Huh, did he think I wanted in his pants? I told him I didn’t do musicians, how much plainer did I have to be?
“Right, I got that. I’ll take care of her, you going to the bus?”
“Yeah, I’m beat, I figured I’d find a place to sleep and leave the partying to the rock stars.”
“I’ll be there soon. I’m going to take Sweets to their bus. She’s had enough fun for one night.”
“Okay, you don’t have to come back because of me. I can figure it out.”
“I figured you could, but I don’t do the partying shit like the rest of them. I either go home or to the hotel and write. I’m still stoked from the gig and I write some of my best stuff then.”
“Really?”
“Why are you so fuckin’ surprised?”
“It doesn’t matter. Sorry. I guess I’ll see you in a few. You’d better take care of her before she falls over.”
He looked at the wobbling Sweets and nodded while I headed toward the exit and what would be home sweet home for the next two weeks.
The tour bus was huge, but I had a feeling it still wasn’t going to be big enough. Not when you added in five guys, the bus driver and me. Ugh. The driver was inside, the lights were on, and light rock playing. I knocked on the door, and he opened it up.
“Hi, I’m Cynda. I’ll be tagging along for a couple of weeks.”
“I’m Joe, the bus driver,” he said laughing. “Really I am Joe. Chaos told me you’d be coming along.”
“Hi, Joe the bus driver,” I replied smiling. He seemed like a really nice man. Probably in his fifties, balding with a round belly, he did kind of look like what you’d expect of a typical New York bus driver. “I’m Cynda the songwriter, nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. I’m glad you have a sense of humor, you’re probably going to need it. The guys can be crazy some times.”
“I kind of figured.”
“They’re great though. I’ve driven them around locally before. I volunteered for this job.”
“You’re not getting paid?”
“No, I meant when they were looking for a driver I offered to take it. No one at home anymore since my wife passed last year, so these guys are like the kids I never had.”
“Aww, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“No worries, my Marge is in a better place now. She suffered for a long time.”
He started to get teary eyed and I hoped he wouldn’t cry, if he did there’d be no way I wouldn’t start crying too.
“I understand, I lost my mother a few months ago. She had cancer.”
Before I realized what he was doing, he got up and pulled me into a huge bear hug.
I was surprised but after a few seconds, I relaxed and hugged him back.
It’d been ages since anyone hugged me like that; and it was nice, more than nice really.
Maybe I’d just try to hang out with Joe when I wasn’t working with Chaos.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“No don’t apologize, I enjoyed it. Really.” I gave him a big smile and blinked away the tears threatening to fall. I blamed it on a long day and a sweet man. I was not the crying type and I wasn’t going to start now.
“Okay.” He gave me a big grin and grabbed my suitcase.
“This is where we stow the small bags. The big ones are stashed outside under the bus. I don’t know where you’ll unpack anything, unless Chaos lets you use a couple of his drawers.
” He showed me around the large bus, which was a lot like a long thin hotel room.
There was even a huge fifty inch TV on the wall opposite the couch and eating area.
“There’re four bunks along the side after the living area and kitchen, that’s where the guys sleep, except for Chaos. He has the real bedroom at the back of the bus. There’s only one bathroom but it’s bigger than some of the buses I’ve driven.
“It’s a lot bigger than I expected. I’m guessing I’ll be sleeping on the couch. Do you know if there are extra blankets or anything? I didn’t think to bring stuff.”
“Yeah, pull up the cushions of the couch and everything you need is in the cabinet there.”
“Great. So where do you sleep?”
“I don’t. Well at least not when you are. I sleep during the day when they’re all out. Usually we’re driving at night.”
“I hadn’t thought about that. Is it hard to stay awake when everyone else is sleeping?”
“Nah, I’ve been driving buses for a while, I’m used to it.”
The mini-tour was over and I was getting out the bedding to make up the couch when Chaos came in looking really pissed off. I wondered what happened with Sweets, but maybe it was better I didn’t know. Of course I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah I’m fine, not happy with Sweets, but everything else is cool.”
Like that was a surprise. I wonder if she tried to get him to sleep with her. Damn it, stop thinking about it. You don’t want to go down that road.
“I’m sorry. She was pretty drunk.”
“Not your fault. It’s been building for a couple weeks now, it was inevitable. I’m just sorry she took it out on you. Are you sure she didn’t hurt you?”
“I’m positive. She barely touched me.”
“She touched you?”
“She just grabbed my shoulder. It was nothing, really. Relax, okay?”
Sighing, he grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. “What do you think of the bus? Pretty cool, right?”
“Yeah it was kind of a surprise. I expected it to be a lot smaller, older, I don’t know, more cramped.”
“Wait ‘til everyone’s on it.”
“True, I didn’t think of that. Hey, Joe said you might have some free drawer space in your room?”
“Yeah, I think there’s a couple empties. C’mon I’ll show you the space, unless he did already?”
“Nope we stayed away from your room, and I didn’t look in any of the guys’ cubbies either.”
“No one would have cared. We don’t have anything to hide.”
Nothing to hide? I wasn’t too sure about that, they’d all come from foster care, and none of them really talked about their backgrounds in any detail in any article I’d ever read or seen. So who knows what their lives had been like? I’m betting they’d rather that info didn’t get out.
He slid open a pocket door and led the way into his room. It had a big bed and built-ins on either side. There were nightstands built into the walls too. Not a bad size room really and it was the whole width of the bus.