AllFreeNovel
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Swaying my hips, I shimmy around the drums, approaching Max from behind. I whisper in his ear, “Meet me in my dressing—”
“Look who I found begging to get in,” Graham announces loudly, walking onto the stage. I stand tall and glance at who he’s talking about, taking a couple steps away from Max.
“Sydney!” Addison runs across the stage and I run to meet her halfway. Our arms wrap around each other. “I mean Sky,” she quips as she pulls back, smiling.
“I didn’t know y’all were coming up here.” I glance around Addison and the group of our friends make their way over to us. Aiden, Jaxon, Ryan, Macie, Harper, and Katie join Max, slapping backs and hugging each other. The only one missing is Ryker. It’s football season, so I’m not surprised.
“I couldn’t wait to see you,” she says. She glances at Max. “Did you quit your day job?” He grins, wiping the sweat from his forehead off on a towel.
“Nope. Just crossing something off my bucket list.”
I was ready to cross something off my bucket list too. Screwing a rock star in a dressing room.
“You guys sounded awesome,” Katie says, looking back and forth between us.
Jay walks over, thankfully, and I introduce him to everyone. He pats Max on the back and says, “We know who to call if Tug is sick.”
“This is so cool.” Harper and Macie walk to the front of the stage and twirl around. “Is Preston around,” Harper asks excitedly, scanning the area.
“No. He hasn’t gotten here yet.” When she pouts, I add, “Don’t worry, I’ll introduce y’all later.” Her face brightens up. “I’ll meet you guys at the hotel in a bit. I have to finish up here.”
Max and I have some unfinished business.
“All right, girls, you heard her,” Aiden says, signaling them to walk. “You coming, brother?” he asks, patting Max on the shoulder. Max’s eyes find mine and I try my hardest not to show any emotion.
“I’m going to stick around and make sure everything is set for tonight.” Aiden taps his finger on his lips, studying Max. Then his eyes turn to me. Shit. He’ll see right through this.
“Max, everything is fine here. We just have to finish going over our set. I’ll see y’all tonight,” I squeak out, waving my hand around.
Ignoring the heated expression on Max’s face, I say goodbye and head backstage to my dressing room.
Alone.
Definitely not getting any satisfaction.
“If you just stopped being so stubborn. You and Max look good together.” Addison says, flipping through a magazine that has a picture of Max and me on the cover from the music awards night.
“Did you bring that with you?” I laugh, watching her shrug a shoulder. It’s last month’s magazine, so she didn’t pick it up at a store recently. We’re old news now. I feel bad that I haven’t told her about us, but Max and I swore to each other we would tell them together.
“Well, she’s right,” Katie adds, looking up from painting her toenails.
Addison, Katie, Harper, and Macie arrived a couple hours ago and we’re all relaxing in the hotel before the show starts. The last time we were all together was at Damon’s funeral. I push those thoughts out of my mind. The faded guilt will always be a memory away, but I can’t continue to live my life suppressing my feelings based on my past.
“He’s leaving next week, ladies.” It’s the truth. They just don’t know I’m going with him. We’ve decided when I’m not on the road, we’ll live at his place. It’ll be a great reprieve from the spotlight. As much as I love it, this tour has opened my eyes about being in the public. It’s invigorating and scary at the same time. To be famous, it seems you have to surrender all your privacy and I can’t live that way. This way, I get the best of both worlds.
“And?” Addison continues.
“And, I live in Los Angeles.” Still not a lie. Although, I slip into the bedroom to avoid further questioning, hoping they don’t follow.
Nobody follows, rather Addison yells from the living room. “Why hasn’t he left?”
I knew she would ask since I’m not in trouble anymore. I blow out a breath and peek my head back in the living room. “It’s Max. He needs to make sure everything is safe before leaving. He’s already vetted every security guard.” She nods slowly, weighing my answer in her head.
“I guess,” she says, unsatisfied with my answer. Shit, this is harder than I thought.
“Would you stop? I need to get my stuff together. No more talk about Max.” I’ve never been a good liar, especially around Addison.
Harper jumps off the couch. “Yes! We need to get ready because Preston Scout is about to meet his future wife and I need to look ah-mazing tonight.” My mouth drops open, mortified of what Harper plans on saying to Preston. I guess it won’t be any worse than he normally hears.
