Chapter 36
36
Despite sleeping through the entire drive to New Jersey, I am in a foul mood. After I give my brothers the cliff notes version of my fight with Ellie, I swiftly ban all mention of her. Declan tells us she made it home safely. Now that I no longer have that worry in the back of my mind, I focus on the shows we have left.
After tonight’s show, we fly to LA and have a few days off before closing out the tour there. It’s bittersweet that the tour is over, but we are excited that we’ll get to see Lainey. The rest of the guys are, I am low-key dreading it.
Like yesterday, I funneled all my frustration over everything that went down with Ellie into my performance. Despite a ball cap being my signature, I opted to wear my Stetson the past two nights. Choosing a tour hat reminds me too much of Ellie and our pre-show hangouts.
Exiting the stage, sweat soaks through my shirt as I head into my dressing room. Opting to cool off instead of regroup, I go straight into the shower. The cold water feels amazing as it slides down my skin. Tipping my head back under the stream, I focus on the sensation.
From this position, the only thing I can hear is the water rushing past my ears, causing me to miss the sound of someone else entering the bathroom. It isn’t until a warm body slides against mine that I realize I am not alone.
For a fleeting moment, I think it might be Ellie. That she came back to me even though we don’t have anything straightened out. The breasts against my back are much larger than Ellie’s and the lips that land between my shoulders are lower than where hers would have set.
With only a few seconds to get the jump on whoever joined me, I turn away quickly, pushing off them and reaching for my towel. I manage to hop out of the shower, water still running while they try to stay upright from my escape.
The woman squeals as she gets a face full of cold water. “What the hell are you doing?” she sputters.
“What the hell am I doing? What the hell are you doing?! Who is in there?” I should go get security right away, but considering she is naked in the shower and much smaller than me, I don’t think she poses much of a physical threat.
Pulling back the curtain, I find a shivering Paris in the spot I vacated. Despite her body trembling from the cold, she poses her body seductively.
“Aww, you don’t seem too happy to see me,” she faux pouts.
“What the hell are you doing, Paris! You aren’t allowed to be back here and you sure as shit aren’t authorized to get in my shower.”
“Come on, Jack. I was only trying to help you unwind. You’ve been so grumpy the last few days, I thought you could use a pick me up.”
“You are insane, woman. This is far beyond acceptable journalist behavior. I’m getting security to remove you immediately. You are banned from all future Ryder events.”
“You can’t do that!” she whines. All her attempted seduction is gone as she stomps her foot. Whatever dramatic effect she hoped for was quelled by the splash.
“I just did. You have two minutes to get dressed, otherwise Martin will throw you out in what you have on.”
I exit the bathroom at the same time Eliza walks in. “Everything okay? I thought I heard yelling?”
“Everything is not okay. Your little reporter protégé bust in on me in the shower and tried to join.”
Eliza’s eyes widen in shock. “She did what?”
“How did she even get back here?” I question, knowing I don’t need to repeat myself.
A cool mask shutters over my publicist’s face when she says, “She said she wanted to do a post-show live. One of the interns was supposed to be escorting her. I’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“You know we don’t do anything after the show for thirty minutes to come down from the adrenaline high.”
“I know, but I thought just this once—”
“You thought wrong,” Declan interrupts. He, Grayson, Bryce, and Martin joining us.
“Martin, can you please escort the woman in my shower out of the venue and revoke her access? Permanently.”
“Let’s not be hasty,” Eliza remarks. “Backroad Radio is a huge outlet for us.”
“They have other journalists. And even if they didn’t, I don’t want her anywhere near me. She’s lucky I’m not pressing charges for assault.”
Appearing as if she’s going to make excuses for Paris, Grayson breaks in. “If this was a male reporter who got into the shower naked with a female client, would you be siding with the journalist?”
“No, no. You’re right,” she agrees. “I knew she was flirty, but that is the name of the game for these media personalities. She crossed the line today. I will make sure she never covers another event you’re at again if she even keeps her job.”
“Thank you,” I reply as Martin drags a shouting Paris out of the room. She says something about Eliza who accompanies the pair to ensure no other media see the spectacle.
“You okay, bro?” Grayson asks as a scowling Declan locks the door behind them.
“Yeah, I’m fine. She didn’t touch me, but it was a shock.”
“I bet,” Bryce whistles. “As much as I love DJing, I don’t know if I want to make it big if it means attracting crazies.”
“It’s a balancing act,” Grayson notes solemnly. To my knowledge, none of us have had to deal with anything that extreme, but we have our fair share of overzealous fans.
“Didn’t you say Ellie was trying to blame something on Paris the other night? Could she have heard her planning this?” my older brother asks.
“Maybe? I didn’t ask because I assumed she was trying to cover her ass and thought she was making it up to discredit Eliza.” Part of me wants to hold on to that small kernel of hope that Ellie didn’t play me the way I thought. The rest of me wants to keep our walls up high.
“What did Eliza overhear?” Bryce questions.
He wasn’t around when she told us about Ellie’s conversation with her dad. As much as I don’t want to rehash it, I relay it to him, his brow knitting in confusion.
“That’s what Eliza said she overheard?”
“Yeah,” I reply resignedly, but Declan must see something in Bryce’s expression because he probes him further. “Why?”
“I overheard that phone call, too, and Eliza left out some parts.”
“What do you mean you overheard it?”
“I was in my bunk playing around with some beats when my earbuds died. As the noise canceling cut off, I realized Ellie was on the phone and I didn’t want to crawl out and have her think I was eavesdropping the entire time.”
“So you stayed and eavesdropped the rest of the time?” Grayson surmises.
“What else was I supposed to do?”
“Did you see Eliza there?”
“No, but my curtains were closed.”
“What did you hear that was different?”
“Her dad was pressuring her to get him on the tour, but she said no. She only agreed to mention it to y’all after he badgered her about it and based on her tone, I don’t think she was going to.”
Declan and Grayson appear a mix of relieved and conflicted. If I had to guess, they are glad we cleared that up but now are upset she’s gone and we didn’t—I didn’t—give her the chance to apologize. We were so quick to assume the worst and not remember we’ve known this girl since before anyone knew, let alone cared, about our name.
“What about the job?” I ask. As much as it was the being used thing for me, I was also hurt that she was planning a future without me. Her expiration date comment has been haunting me since the moment it left her lips.
“She said she never planned to take it and wanted to stay in Nashville. That’s when he brought up you and the job.”
“He brought me up?”
“Yeah, he knows you two are dating, and he was not happy about it.”
What the hell? I’ve never been anything but nice and professional toward him.
“Don’t feel bad,” he says when he notices my annoyed expression. “He doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of musicians in general.”
“His whole job is supporting musicians,” Grayson gripes.
“That’s what Ellie said! Anyway, it seems as if Eliza didn’t give you the full convo. Maybe she didn’t hear it all? Unless she was hiding in one of your bunks, I was closer to the bathroom than she was.”
“Thanks, man.” I say, patting him on the back. “That is all good to know.”