Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Tatum
“…So now I have a week to confirm six months’ worth of venues and accommodation for the guys.
Her notes were awful! Ruby, this was a terrible idea.
I’m not just going to fuck up this job, I’ll ruin their tour, and then what?
They’ll leave me stranded at the side of the road somewhere, and I’ll have to move back in with Ma and help with Dad and end up waiting tables in a dive bar.
Although, with the way my luck has been, I’ll get fired from there too and have to sell feet pics to make money.
Ruby, my feet aren’t cute enough for foot fetish pics! ”
I scrolled back through the files Mr. Whelan had sent over from Marisa. They were a mess.
“Don’t be so dramatic, and please stop talking about your feet. It’ll be fine, I promise. Tell me again about the hardware.”
“I’m not talking to you about Tobias’s dick!” I almost shrieked as a knock echoed through my apartment.
“Shit,” I whispered, hunching over my laptop as though it needed protecting. After the evening I’d already had, it very well might have.
“What’s wrong?” The teasing tone left Ruby’s voice immediately. She may have been relentless when she found something to hassle me about, but fun and games ended the second shit got real.
“Someone’s at my door. Please tell me you took pity on my broke ass and ordered me pizza.”
Ruby cackled.
“No, but I did something better. Answer your damn door and enjoy.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
When the phone line remained silent, I checked the screen to find she’d ended the call. Sneaky bitch.
I eyed the door with even more apprehension than before and considered not answering.
The quiet chiming of a cell phone came from the other side of the door. It was followed by murmuring.
“I come in peace.” The voice was soft, despite being pitched loud enough for me to hear easily. It was familiar and warm as a hug. Could a voice hug you?
Pulling my not-fit-for-porn feet under me, I trudged across my living room and pulled open the door to a head full of blonde curls bent over a box big enough to feed a football team.
“I brought pizza,” Otis said unnecessarily, holding it out in offering.
Tobias may have been calling me Angel all day, but Otis with his golden hair, sweet disposition, and cheesy offering was the real gift from God.
Keep cool, Tatum.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, shifting to block the room from my new workmate.
“Well…I know you spent the afternoon with Calix and Toby, so I figured some damage control wouldn’t go amiss.” The boyish grin he flashed at me revealed ridiculously sweet dimples beneath his five o’clock shadow.
Damn, this guy could cause a girl to make bad decisions.
“Can I come in?” he asked, tipping his head toward the box that was probably burning his hand.
I winced. I wanted the pizza, and I really didn’t want to be rude, but letting him in was going to cause a lot of questions.
His expression softened. “Look, I know I’ve shown up out of the blue and you don’t know me from Adam, but in this industry, we need to build trust, especially with a tour coming up.
Ruby said Marisa left you with a mess, and I honestly just want to help.
If after the pizza, you want me to leave, I’ll leave. Simple as that.”
Cute and smart. Christ, I was in trouble. Wait…
“Ruby told you?” I asked.
He held his cell phone up in response. Right. The phone call. Traitor.
With a resigned sigh, I backed out of the doorway and waved him in.
“Thanks. And I swear, if you want me to leave, I’ll…” He trailed off as he stepped inside and noticed the empty room.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize. Did you just move in?”
“Nope,” I said, moving back to the blanket I’d been sitting on with my laptop as though it were completely normal to live in an apartment with no furniture.
“Oh. I mean…cool. It’s…minimalist,” Otis said, following my lead and sinking onto the floor, placing the pizza box between us.
I snorted.
“Actually, it’s bad breakup chic.”
Otis cocked his head, clearly curious, but too polite to ask. His warm caramel eyes held mine as I debated how much to tell him. I wanted to be the cool, tough manager I was pulling off around Calix with his obnoxious attitude, but Otis made me want to open up.
Danger, my mind screamed, but the floodgates were already open. I told him about the text, the argument, getting fired from my job, and the final stab wound, which had been my return home last night.
“So he took everything except the box of clothes you found on the sidewalk outside? What an asshole,” Otis growled, his pizza slice forgotten in his hand as he flushed with righteous indignation. “Did you call the cops?”
“And tell them what? My ex-boyfriend moved out and took all our furniture? I can’t prove it was mine, and I’d rather never speak to him again.
The bank said they’d follow up with the money transfers, but they’re far more likely to bury it than admit fault.
I just want a fresh start working with you guys…
if I can figure out what the hell Marisa has booked and when. ”
Otis grunted. “So, if I hadn’t shown up with pizza tonight, would you have eaten?”
“Eventually. I probably would have thrown myself on Ruby’s mercy for coffee in the morning. Now you know my sordid story; tell me about you. How quickly should I expect everyone to know about my dirty laundry?”
Otis shook his head and nudged the pizza box toward me, waiting for me to take a slice before he spoke.
“The thing you need to know about our band is that we all have ‘dirty laundry’. No one will hear about your business from me unless it directly affects the band. As far as we’re concerned, do you really want the rundown?”
I nodded, keen to gain any insight he was willing to give on the guys.
“Okay then. Harvey’s a sex addict. He will definitely try to fuck you the first chance he gets. Toby’s a drug addict, which I think you could have guessed, and Calix is a control freak who hates to be touched.”
I raised a brow, thinking about Calix’s reaction in the parking lot earlier in the day.
He certainly seemed to have his shit together, but running around after Toby would take a toll on anyone.
Then again, there was probably a damn good reason Toby chose to get into drugs in the first place.
No one picked up a substance and made a conscious decision to become addicted.
For most people, it was the only way to escape a fucked-up world.
I hadn’t spent any time with Harvey yet, but I certainly appreciated the heads up. That only left one more person.
“And you?”
Otis huffed a laugh as he toyed with the crust in his hand. “I thought that was obvious. I’m the one with the savior complex.”
I glanced at the greasy box sitting between us. It made sense. He knew how difficult Calix and Toby would have been today, and his first instinct was to check in on me. I suspected Ruby was involved in the plot, but he had still been the one to knock on my door.
“What else can you tell me?”
“The rest you’ll have to find out from the guys. It’s not my story to tell.”
I nodded. That was fair enough. The information he had given me would make my first week as their manager a lot easier.
“What about you? What’s your story?”
Otis hummed. Leaning back on his hands, he stretched his legs out, crossing them at the ankle.
He tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling, a secret smile lifting the corner of his mouth.
On the floor of an empty apartment, he managed to look like a god at rest, completely content with his surroundings.
“I was a bored private schoolboy who wanted an adventure. I had amazing parents, a great family, and opportunities galore. I was blessed to be in the position of wanting to find something to rebel against. Too spoiled to realize not everyone has the choice. Finding music, meeting the guys? They saved me from a life of self-sabotage. Now, instead of going out looking for a fight or destroying public property, I get to write edgy riffs and listen to true crime podcasts. The band is my family, and I think we need you as much as you need us. So this is me taking a chance on you.” Otis locked his eyes on me, the need to trust me, to be right about me belonging with them written all over his face.
“Why are you so willing to trust me? Don’t get me wrong, you can. But I saw Calix kick Marisa out, and I doubt he’s going to open up any time soon.”
“He let you near Toby. He already trusts you more than Marisa. Besides, we have it on good authority that giving you a chance is in our best interests.”
“Ruby?”
“Ruby,” he agreed.
I smiled, imagining my best friend taking up for me against Calix and the others. “She’s the best.”
“She loves you. And in my experience, when someone is loved like that, it’s worth giving them a shot.”
I ducked my head as Otis’s form blurred, my throat tightening at the warmth in his gaze.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Pushing the pizza box aside, Otis shuffled around next to me, sliding my laptop between us so the screen was visible. “Now. Let’s make sure everything is set for us to roll out next week.”