Chapter 22
22
I wake up the next morning more rested than I’ve been in a while. Even a good ASMR video doesn’t help me sleep that deeply. Rolled on my back, the weight of a strong arm pins me to the bed. When I try to move it, Jack lets out a groan and pulls me closer to him.
I squeak in surprise, which only causes him to pull me closer until we’re spooning.
“Good morning,” he rasps behind me.
“Morning. Morning? Oh my God. It’s morning!”
“That is usually what comes after night.”
“Be serious,” I say, turning in his arms and hitting him on the chest.
“Ouch,” he whines. “Are you always this violent in the morning? You were docile as a kitten last night.”
“Jack! Your brothers are going to know you spent the night in here.” What will they think of us? Of me? I don’t want them to think I came on tour to hook up with one of them. That wasn’t my intention. What if they told Lainey? Shit. We need to talk to them; tell them what this is.
“And? They already know about us. You’re freaking out for no reason.”
“You’re freaking out for no reason!”
Jack finally cracks an eye open at my outburst, a smirk on his too handsome face. Annoyed, I pull a hair on his chest. He yelps, catching my hand and biting it gently in retaliation.
“Stop panicking. I talked to them this morning and gave them the cliff notes version of us.”
“And what is that?”
“That you’re mine. And have been since the moment you stepped on this bus.”
“Longer than that,” I scoff before slamming my free hand over my mouth.
“What was that?”
Instead of answering, I shake my head. I am not diving into that right now. We’ve been together for twelve hours. He doesn’t need to know I’ve been pining after him for years.
Unfortunately for me, Jack is not satisfied with my non-answer. Grabbing the hand over my mouth, he shifts with both hands in his and pins them above my head. “You’re not getting off that easy, baby. What did you mean, ‘longer than that?’”
“It’s embarrassing,” I cry.
“Even better. Tell me. I want to know everything, remember?”
“Fine. I may have had a crush on you for longer than just this tour.”
“How long?”
I fight against his hold but the shift lines up our centers and positions him perfectly against me. I moan at the contact. His smirk deepens.
“Tell me,” he singsongs, grinding into me again .
“Forever!” I blurt out.
“What?” he stills, eyes wide.
Fuck it. It’s out there now. Might as well rip off the Band-Aid. “I’ve had a crush on you for as long as I can remember.”
His cocky expression softens at my admission and he kissed me gently. His lips meld against mine sweetly until my mouth opens for him and his tongue slips inside. Before things get carried away, I break the kiss.
“Will your brothers tell Lainey?” I ask back to the matter at hand.
Jack huffs in frustration but answers anyway. “No, they’ll be discreet. We can tell her together.”
“What if we didn’t?” I propose. “Not yet anyway. She hasn’t been at her new job long. I don’t want to stress her out thinking I was waiting for the chance to get you alone and make my move.”
“Does she know you’ve had it bad for me your entire friendship?” he teases, but the phrasing makes me tense.
“It sounds bad when I put it that way,” he admits. “But you know what I mean. I won’t say I’m not concerned about her reaction, but she knows you and she knows me. She loves us. At the end of the day, she’ll be happy for us. I think.”
“I hope so.”
Jack reaches down with his free hand and pulls my lip from between my teeth.
“If you want to wait for a bit, we can. I know what we are. I don’t mind holding off.”
“Really?”
“Really. There is something way more pressing I need to deal with anyway,” he states, grinding his hips back into me.
“What’s that?” I pant.
“I’ve been missing out on enjoying this sweet pussy for years, apparently. I need to make up for lost time.” With that declaration, we stay in bed until the bus rolls into Louisville.
If I would have known dating would be this much fun, I might have considered the idea sooner. But maybe it’s just dating Jack that I enjoy. The man has the power to make the most mundane things fun.
I didn’t realize how lonely I was without Lainey until he filled my time. Every night we have done something together, whether it is a Marvel movie marathon with Bryce, battling it out in Mario Kart with Grayson and Declan, or sneaking into a minor league baseball game, he always has something up his sleeve. The last one was my favorite. Partially because it was the first ‘date’ we got to go on and also because the Mighty Muskrats had riveting between-inning entertainment.
The real treat of that night was when Jack rewrote the words to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” to be about all the dirty things he wanted to do to me when we got home. He really put those Grammy-award winning writing and tongue skills to use. Every time he quietly hums the tune I can’t help but get wet. I don’t know if he ruined baseball for me or made it ten times better.
Eliza was less than pleased by our attendance of the game, but Jack didn’t care so neither did I. The guys’ publicist is not my biggest fan. From what I can gather she was hoping to set Jack up in a PR relationship but he turned her down. Even though was well before we got together, it hasn’t stopped her from throwing shade my way.
“Ellie,” she cooly greets me when I run into grabbing lunch today. “Are you enjoying Richmond?”
Aside from attending the game deep in the suburbs last night, I haven’t seen much of the city. As much fun as Jack and I can have at night, she keeps them busy during the day with press junkets and meetings, leaving me to my own devices. With my bestie gone and the roadies afraid to talk to me after the Donny incident, I don’t have many people to explore with when Jack is busy.
“It has been nice. How about you?”
“It’s not the most glamorous stop on the tour, but it is fine. Tour can be grueling. I’m thinking of sending an assistant on Declan’s EP tour instead of going myself. I’m not meant for life on the road. I’m sure it’s no problem for you.”
I didn’t know Declan was going on a solo tour. I know the guy’s mentioned separate projects but I didn’t realize it might be their own music. Now that I think about it, they have all been tight lipped about their plans.
It may have been subtle, but I caught the dig at the end of her statement. I have no doubt she knows who my father is and his history as a tour manager. He hasn’t been a part of any huge scandals, but a lot can get swept under the rug when you have the right—or maybe wrong—team around you.
“It has been fun. It’s nice to see parts of the country I’ve never visited before,” I say instead of giving her the satisfaction of seeing that her comment got to me, mainly because it didn’t. My dad is much more concerned with how I reflect on him than vice versa. He has been blessedly quiet the last few days, but I’m sure that won’t last.
The two of us fix our plates in silence. It’s always funny to me how people can look at the same spread and make completely different meals. Today we are served a taco bar or sorts. I’ve made nachos with chicken and black beans while Eliza has created the saddest taco salad I’ve ever seen.
“I’d love to stay and chat, but I have to take a call with my team back in Nashville.”
“It never slows down, huh?”
“No,” she hums, scanning me appraisingly before making her final dig. “How I miss the days when I had no responsibilities. I envy your ability to not care about all the time ticking by.”
Her words hit center mass. Did she have a target right to my biggest insecurities? Reminding me that not only have I not made any progress getting my life together but also my time with Jack is dwindling. We haven’t discussed what happens when the tour is over. We’ve barely been dating for a week. It would be premature to get too future focused.
Knowing that doesn’t make me feel any better about the uncertainty, though. This relationship is another thing on the list of things I can’t control. Jack has made it clear this is more than a fuck buddy situation. In fact, when I asked that, he threatened to spank my ass if I degraded our relationship again. But the gap between fuck buddy and longterm relationship is wide.
Sitting down with my nachos, I try not to sink too deeply into sad thoughts. Future Ellie can handle those problems. That girl’s life sucks. Scrolling through my phone to distract myself, I don’t notice a plate land beside me until someone rumbles, “Hey.”
Gasping, I clutch my chest as my heart rate skyrockets.
“Sorry,” Trent says when I turn his direction.
“It’s okay. I haven’t worked out much since joining the tour. It’s probably good to get my pulse thumping.” Not that Jack is doing a bad job of helping me get my cardio in.
“How’s it going?” I ask awkwardly. I haven’t had contact with Trent since Declan kicked Donny to the curb. I don’t know if that was intentional on his part of if the Ryder’s warned him away. It’s bullshit that I fell a little bad I got his friend in trouble. It’s not my fault but the guilt is there nonetheless. You would think I’d hit my quota with hiding my relationship from Lainey, but evidently not.
“It’s good. They reshuffled our assignments. I help unload the band equipment now. ”
“Do you enjoy that?”
“It’s pretty cool. Watching Grayson put his drum kit together reminds me of when my brother and I played K’NEX as kids.”
“What are K’NEX?”
He shows me a picture to jog my memory. I remember my brother playing with those back in the day, too. It never appealed to me but it would keep him busy and quiet for hours. Having watched Grayson fiddle with his drums, I can agree with Trent’s assessment. He gets in the zone, making imperceptibly tiny tweaks.
“Um, so listen,” Trent stammers, looking everywhere but at me. I can sense his immense discomfort and am curious to see where this is going.
“I wanted to apologize for what Donny did. I knew he was a douche canoe but I had no idea he would try to force himself on anyone.”
“Don’t worry about it. It is neither of our faults that Donny is an ass.”
“I know. I just don’t want you to think I agree with anything he said or did. I heard some of his ranting when he was packing up his stuff and it was vile shit.”
Yikes. I don’t want to know what bullshit he was spewing. As much as I’ve tried to put him out of my mind, I am relieved to hear Trent wasn’t down with his way of thinking. I thought he was a nice guy and it is good to see that instinct was right.
We spend several minutes chatting while we finish our meals. I can tell he still has something on his chest so before I leave, I give him an expectant expression.
Trent runs his hand over his barely there scruff before swallowing hard. “Do you think Lainey will come back at any point before the tour is over?”
His question surprises me and I am barely able to hold back my laugh. The only thing forcing me to keep it together is the hopeful look in his eyes. Not wanting to extinguish it, I tell him there is always a chance.