Chapter 30
TRAVIS
I roll my tongue ring between my teeth, fighting the urge to bite down on it as I watch these two schmucks dote on Ellie.
She brought them back here to meet us, yet they can’t stop staring at her.
Talking about how amazing she was earlier, when people were crowding the line to buy merch before the show.
How she was personable and incredible, and blah fucking blah.
We already know this about Ellie. She’s great at everything she does. I’ve never seen her fail at anything.
“You guys were a lifesaver, truly. Couldn’t have done it without you,” she says, smiling at them. She hasn’t once glanced at me. Not even to glare at me. She’s still pretending as if I don’t exist. Well, fuck that.
“Hey, May, could you log me into the band’s Instagram?
” I ask, taking out my phone. Her eyes slide to me, annoyance written all over her face.
I smirk, holding the phone to her. I don’t ever go into our Instagram account anymore.
I couldn’t care less what’s going on in those DMs. But I want her attention on me and not those chodes.
“Are you making a post?” she asks warily, probably afraid I’ll post something stupid that she’ll have to deal with later.
I shake my head. “No, I just want to look at the messages.” I hold in my grin when I see red creep up her neck.
She’s getting angry, but she’s damn good at hiding it.
She snatches the phone, typing away, and boom, I’m in.
She drops it in my hand and goes back to talking to those guys.
I scroll through, not even bothering to open a single message.
I can tell by the few words I see, it’s nothing but horny girls.
“What do you say, Ellie, want to join us?”
My head snaps up at the question—coming from that Jordan dude.
Ellie doesn’t even hesitate when she says, “Yeah, go ahead and wait for me outside while I finish up here.” I watch the guys leave, and I don’t like the sinking feeling in my gut.
“I have some news,” she announces, standing up and moving to the middle of the room like she’s about to drop a bomb on us.
We focus on her. She bites her lip, chin wobbling slightly, and my heart starts beating harder.
What the fuck’s going on. Is she quitting? Because of what I did?
Goddammit, I tug at my shirt. I’m sweating. What the hell is wrong with me? She can’t leave. She’s stuck with us for the long haul. We need her here…I need her.
“You guys sold out tonight! And there was a line halfway around the building all night of people trying to get tickets!” she squeals.
“Holy shit, really?” Liam asks, jumping up.
She smiles so wide it makes my chest tighten. I rub at the spot. I need to look into the side effects of these pills.
Ellie has always been a fangirl. Sometimes I forget because to me she’s just Ellie, marketing manager, PR person, and friend. But it’s clear how much of a cheerleader she is.
“Fuck yeah,” Penn says, hopping up too. We gather around, forming a circle to hug and congratulate each other.
“I wanted to tell you guys sooner, but it was a crazy day.” She sniffles.
She’s actually crying for us. I know she’s still mad at me, but I take advantage of her emotional state and pull her to me.
She stiffens, but I squeeze harder, letting her know she’s not getting out of this.
Eventually, she loosens up and hugs me back.
“Thank you,” I say, looking at her.
“For what?”
“There’s no way we’d be here if it weren’t for you. We know how hard you work to get our name out there.”
“He’s right, you’re the best, Ellie,” Liam says, pulling her into a hug of his own. “We should celebrate!”
I glance at Penn and Tanner, expecting them to disagree, but surprisingly they’re nodding, too.
“You gotta come, too, Ellie,” I urge, only slightly aware of how desperate I sound.
“Oh, um. I already told Jordan I’d hang out with them. They’re waiting on me, so I should probably get going.”
“No way, you gotta go with us. Right guys?” I don’t want her to go out with those guys, she doesn’t even know them. It’s not safe. It has absolutely nothing to do with the heartburn that randomly hit me a few minutes ago thinking about it.
“You definitely have to come with us,” Liam agrees. “Bring your friends.”
My eyes fly to Liam, because what the fuck? But he’s oblivious.
“Ok, uh, sure. Let me just text Jordan.”
She has his number? Jesus Christ.
After mulling around our options, we ended up at a local bar. It’s chill and there’s no bumping club music playing that Ellie can grind to, so I’m happy.
I’m sitting in our booth in the corner, keeping one eye on her, and sipping a beer while everyone else talks around the table.
She’s been hitting the shots pretty hard with her new “friends.” She’s sitting between them laughing.
I’m pretty sure one of them keeps touching her under the table, but I can’t see from here.
“I still have more quarters, do you want me to play a song for you on the jukebox?” Jordan asks, smiling at her.
I roll my eyes. What a fucking loser. The jukebox? I could serenade her with my real voice. Can he do that? I think not.
“Yes! Play something upbeat, I feel like dancing.”
My muscles tense. Shit.
Jordan grins wider and rushes off. The other dude slips his arm behind her, talking so low I can’t hear what he’s saying.
When I inch closer, Penn elbows me. “What are you doing?”
“What? Nothing. What are you doing?”
“Trying to have a conversation with you, but you won’t stop staring at Ellie,” he says loud enough for only me.
I scoff. “Am not. I don’t trust those guys. She doesn’t even know them.”
“Ellie’s a big girl.”
“I’m watching out for her, that’s all.”
“Right, well, I’m leaving. I want to talk to Olivia before she goes to bed.”
“You mean you want to fuck your hand to a screen while she does the same?” I arch a brow and his eyes narrow, practically shooting flames at me. I throw my hands up. “My bad.”
“I’m out of here, want to go back with me?”
“No, I should stay.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” he warns as he climbs out of the booth.
“You’re leaving already?” Liam asks him.
Penn nods and Tanner and Liam both start moving.
“Hey, what the hell?” I throw my hands up. “I thought we were celebrating. It’s only been an hour.”
Tanner and Penn ignore me. I know why they’re leaving.
Even though Tanner should’ve dropped his girl by now, he hasn’t, but Liam used to be my wingman anytime.
He’s been acting dodgy as fuck, though, like he’s afraid of females all of a sudden.
“Dude?” I stare at him, and he shifts awkwardly.
I know if I push him hard enough, he’ll give in.
His shoulders sink as he drops his ass back into the booth. “Thanks, buddy.” I pat his shoulder.
After Penn and Tanner leave, I order myself and Liam a shot.
Honestly, this has been a lame as fuck celebration.
As I tip my glass to his, an awful sound blasts through the room.
I freeze, bass vibrating my ass. Ellie gasps.
My head slowly spins around just in time to find her scurrying out of the booth with that Josh clown on her heels.
Ellie has fantastic taste in music—normally. Something I found incredibly hot when I first met her. She knows her shit, not just radio and media-enforced shit, either. Real underground artist shit. The only caveat is, she also likes to shake her ass to awful club music.
I throw the shot back, watching through narrowed eyes as she rushes off to the middle of the floor, finding an open spot to dance.
There’s not one single person here dancing, but she doesn’t care.
She’s not shy or ashamed of anything. Something else I loved about her, but now it’s pissing me the hell off.
“Why are you staring at Ellie like that?” Liam asks, suspicion lacing his normally unsuspicious tone.
I take another drink of my beer before dragging my eyes off Ellie—who is currently sandwiched between those dickwads, moving her body like the goddam goddess she is. “Like what?”
His eyes bounce to her and then to me. I keep my face blank. “Like you’re jea—”
I point a finger at him. “Don’t even fucking say it,” I warn.
Was he about to suggest I’m jealous? Pffttt.
I don’t get jealous. Did I not share a little bit of her with him not that long ago?
Sure, that’s different. He’s my pal, and these guys are losers.
But I’m not jealous. It’s not in me. I’ve tried to feel it.
I’m not physically capable of it. I caught my ex in bed with another dude and simply walked out.
I wasn’t rageful, I didn’t want to break his face or scream at her. I left and didn’t look back.
Sure, it was painful and she ran after me, blowing up my phone, begging and apologizing and all those things, but I was already numb to it.
After that, I realized how much time I wasted with her—on her.
Why put all my energy into one chick when I could have multiple?
Fuck, the variety of girls lining up for a piece of me now is unreal. And my heart isn’t in any danger.
“I’m just saying, your face was doing something weird. Never seen it like that.” Liam interrupts my spiraling train of thought.
“I was thinking about how lame this shit is. We sold out a legit venue. Three thousand people paid to see us play, and we’re doing what? Sitting here drinking a beer? Half of our band is already back on the bus. Fucking pathetic,” I say, disgusted.
“I’m beat, man, what else can we do?”
“Jesus,” I sigh. “You’re tired?” He nods sheepishly. I down the rest of my beer, annoyed. “Go then, I’ll stay and wait for Ellie.”
“No, I’m ok. What do you want to do?” he asks, backpedaling. Dude cannot stand for anyone to be upset with him. Such a people pleaser. I’m thankful he doesn’t have a girlfriend. One day, someone is going to ruin his precious soul if he’s not careful.