21. Río
RíO
“Go in there and get ready for tonight’s gig,” Coop pushes me toward the door.
“What if she’s in there?”
“I doubt she will be. If she is, talk to her. Tell her what happened. When you sober up, we’ll ask Elias to get you a new number so your mother won’t call you again.”
“I didn’t think of that. Thanks, man!” I crush the guitarist to my chest in a hug. Manly, bro hug, of course.
Coop steps back. “Do you want me to go inside to check if the coast is clear?”
“Nah. I’m not a pussy.”
“Dude.” My best friend holds out his fist, which I bump on the third try. He shouldn’t move it so much!
After I let myself into the room, I call out, “Babysitter?”
Nothing. Silence. Coop was right—she’s not here.
Good.
She gave my number to Mother, who immediately hit me up for money. After not talking for a decade, the first thing she does is ask for dough. No thanks!
I walk into my bedroom, and none of Hayden’s things are here, not even her suitcase. Smart woman. She knew when it was time for her to leave.
To be safe, I check out the extra bedroom and bathrooms, and it’s the same. She’s well and truly gone.
Good.
Who needs her?
With her strawberry blond hair that smelled of oranges.
Not me.
Who cares that she claimed to see the real me. She met Pop and agreed he was an asshole. So what? Anyone on the planet would agree to this fact.
I certainly don’t need her understanding looks or sexy sighs in bed when I made her come over and over.
Standing at the fridge, I open the door where only sodas and lemonade are inside. Damn babysitter. Well, I have had more than my share today. Better sleep off some of this before our gig tonight.
I stumble into the bedroom, leaving my sandals and the rest of my clothes on the floor. Collapsing onto the bed, I stare at the ceiling. Damn good thing I didn’t break my rule and have sex with her face to face. Hayden was the only one—ever—who tempted me to try it. Now she’s gone.
I take a deep breath, inhale her citrus scent, and succumb to sleep.
A phone rings. My hand reaches for the receiver. “Hello?”
“Good evening, Mr. Sullivan. This is your wake-up call. Time to get ready for your big concert tonight.”
“Thanks.” I hang up on the cheerful woman on the other end of the hotel phone. So not in the mood.
I blink several times, remembering Coop telling me he would schedule the alarm for me when we were at the bar. Good thing he’s the responsible one. Yawning, I get out of bed and turn on the shower’s hot water. Inside, I notice Hayden’s shampoo.
While the water streams over my body, I unscrew the bottle. Put it under my nose. Inhale deeply. Hayden’s scent overtakes my nostrils and settles into my soul.
She can’t be gone.
I can’t have ruined the best thing to happen to me.
I was pissed Mother called me because Hayden gave her my telephone number, but that’s all she did.
Gave. Her. My. Number.
She didn’t tell her to hit me up for rent money. That’s all on Mother. It was wrong of me to blame Hayden.
Who saw me get shitfaced on the boat. Flirt with some chick. There was something else … oh yeah, fall into the river. Shit. Even pissed at me, she jumped in and helped me back onto the boat. Where I treated her worse than yesterday’s garbage.
My fingers clench around the shampoo bottle.
She didn’t deserve any of this. How I treated her. Me.
I shouldn’t have gotten drunk. Luke pounded this rule into my skull, then assigned Hayden to babysit me once our label threatened to replace me. Look what I did—trashed all their hard work—and myself.
Frankly, the label can take a hike, but Hayden … I don’t want her to leave me. She makes me want to try harder.
Even when I fail.
I bring her shampoo bottle to my nose and inhale. She can’t leave me now.
With renewed vigor, I shower and shave and dress and style my hair for the gig. I’m going to get my girl back tonight. Whatever it takes.
Searching in the various pockets of the cargo shorts I wore earlier, I grab my cell. It looks weird. I try to turn it on and… nothing. Crap! It must’ve gone into the river with me.
Shit, shit, shit.
Latching onto the hotel phone, I request Elias’s room. Our head of security picks up on the first ring.
“Hi, it’s Río. I need a new phone. And number. Turns out, my old one didn’t like swimming.”
“Not a problem. I’ll have it ready for you after tonight’s gig.”
“Thanks, man. Don’t know what I would do without you.” I’m about to hang up when I a thought occurs. “Hey, Elias. Can you get me two phones?”
“Sure thing. Same info on both?”
I shake my head—which, of course, he can’t see. “No. Just pre-program the second one with two numbers, Hayden’s and mine. But title my contact ‘Mr. River.’” A thought occurs. “Please put parental controls on that one.”
“You got it.”
In the lobby a full ten minutes early, I look around for Hayden, but she’s nowhere to be seen. I approach Luke. “I seem to have lost my babysitter.”
His reply is swift. “You sure did.”
Because he doesn’t appear ready to give out any additional information, I ask, “Any idea where I can find her?”
“She’s at the arena. Dealing with the fallout from your stupidity this afternoon.”
Shit. Luke appears pissed, so I don’t dare bother him anymore. With a quick nod, I leave him and approach Coop. “Hey. You were right. She wasn’t in my room.”
“Not surprised.”
Coop’s my best friend and we’ve been through it all.
He’s seen me drunk off my ass, deep in some chick, and fighting with Pop.
I was there when his world collapsed around him.
Yet, I don’t want to share my feelings about Hayden with him.
Maybe it’s how I feel about her, or how he feels about love, that gives me pause. Better keep this to myself.
“Are you ready for the concert tonight? The nap was just what I needed to clear my head. Thanks for suggesting it!”
“I had an inkling you’d find it helpful. I’m looking forward to rocking Lisbon again. We had a fabulous crowd last night.”
“We sure did,” Tris enters our conversation. “I love this city. Caught a light show last night that was off the chain.”
Walking up, 007 smacks Tris. “What was off the chain? Your mother’s meatballs?”
Tris gives the bassist a dirty look. “No, douchebag. A light show I caught last night.”
“What about a light show?” Bennett joins us. “Jenna’s mentioned she loves them.”
“It was really cool,” Tris replies. “Images of Portugal were projected onto the walls of a courtyard, which were timed to some traditional music. I highly recommend it.”
“I’d love to take Jenna to see it after our show tonight.”
“No excursions after the show, boys,” Luke interrupts. “We’re off to Ireland after tonight’s gig.”
“Crap. When will we be back here?” Bennett addresses our manager.
“Probably not for a while. Why?”
“Tris just told us about a light show. Which he saw all by himself and now none of us can go to see it.” He crosses his arms.
For his part, Tris raises his hands in the air. “How was I to know it would be so awesome. And that you all would want to see it?”
Usually, Luke would join in our banter, but he’s not having any of it tonight. “You’ll have to come back here on your own time, B. Right now, I need to talk with you guys before we get to the stadium.”
This sounds ominous. We move over into a darkened corner of the lobby, away from any prying eyes. Coop looks at me, I shrug.
“I’m not going to keep you in the dark,” Luke begins. “Seems like Río here got into some hot water. Literally.”
All the guys stare at me. I take a step back. “What am I accused of doing now? I swear, I didn’t do anything.”
“Except get drunk on a boat on the river around Lisbon and fall off it.”
“Oh, that.” Why make a mountain out of this little molehill?
“It wasn’t a big deal. There was a wave and I fell in the river.
Used the boat’s ladder to get out. End of.
” Except Hayden jumped in after me and helped my sorry ass out.
Another reason I love her—even when she doesn’t like me, she still helps me.
Why is the fact I love my babysitter calming?
“This so-called ‘small deal’ is all over social media. Videos are everywhere of you wasted and flailing around in the river.” He taps on his cell and shows us one of the, apparently, many videos.
After it plays, I grin at my fellow bandmates. “Harmless fun.” Inside, though, I try to come up with ways to make it up to Hayden. This is bad.
Coop puts his hand on my shoulder, and stares at the video. “Is that Hayden in the river with you?”
“Yeah. She jumped in to help me.” When the guys’ mouths hang open, I add, “She has open water training.” Because her down syndrome sister wanted to go out into the ocean. I shut up.
They punch me, and say various forms of “stupid.” Guess I deserved this.
“Wait,” Bennett says. Looking at Luke, he asks, “Did you say our boy Río was drunk?”
Our manager nods. “Sure did.”
“Hayden not only lost her dignity when she jumped into the water, she also lost the bet.” Bennett says. “Who here had today as the day for Río to fall off the wagon?”
“That would be me!” 007 beams. “I win!”
Wait. The guys put a bet on how long I could go without a drink? “This is fucked up, dudes. You actually bet on me?”
“We bet on everything,” Tris replies. “You know this. You’re the worst offender.”
What can I say? “But this is so—”
Bennett doesn’t let me finish. “I had a side bet with Hayden, which she lost, too. But don’t worry, Darren’s scholarship will be ten grand richer instead of her.”
His words sink in. Hayden’s pissed at me, which I can deal with.
The fact she lost out on ten grand hurts me even more.
I know she needs the money for Mila. Since she’s already refused to take money from me, this was her way of “earning” it.
I ruined this for her. For her little sister. I crumple inward.
This is bad, Río. Real bad.
To put up a brave face for the band, I note, “I’m sure Darren’s scholarship fund will appreciate your hard-earned money, Bennett.”
“The least I can do.”
I need to figure a way out of this mess. I address our manager. “Luke. How should we handle the videos? I can try to do a backstroke behind the drums?”
My half-hearted attempt at humor earns me laughs from my buddies. There is that.
“I’m thinking it should be when you do the call-and-repeat.
When Bennett introduces you for that part of the show, I think you two should make a joke about it.
I bet all this will blow over faster if you play it that way.
Bennett, Río, come with me in the car. The rest of you take the SUV waiting out front to the stadium. We’ll be right behind you.”
Coop approaches, shoving his ever-present sunglasses to the top of his head. “Don’t worry. You’ll get this sorted and everything will be back to normal.”
“Thanks.” I bump his shoulder. “How long did you bet I could stay sober?”
“I’m embarrassed to say, I started the bet. It was all in good fun.” He looks down. “Two weeks.”
“Wow. My best friend created the bet and then lost it. Nice.”
“Hey, I really thought you could stick it out longer. Has to count for something.”
I bang on my leg. “I guess I haven’t given you guys much by way of discipline. Why didn’t you come to me to say my drinking was getting out of hand instead of starting a bet?”
Coop shrugs. “I figured you’d stop when you wanted to. You weren’t like Darren—you weren’t out of control. I have noticed, though, that you’ve been more reliant on alcohol lately and was hoping you’d turn a corner with your new babysitter.”
“I’m going to slow down on the drinking from now on, I promise. I won’t give it up entirely, but I can stop at two.” I extend my hand. “Deal?”
“Sounds like the best deal I’ve heard in a long time.” We shake and I feel as if I managed to mend this fence.
On to dealing with the audience. When we’re in the car, Bennett suggests, “How about I make a joke about the video when I do the hand off?”
“This is solid. But I think we need more,” Luke replies.
“I was kidding about doing a backstroke behind my drum kit earlier. But, how about I mimic swimming when Bennett hands me the mic. He can ask me what I’m doing, and I can say something rude.”
“Better. But you also need to reference the boat and your splash off it,” our manager says.
I better come up with something that will appease everyone. What could that be? I hit imaginary cymbals.
I got it.