Page 31 of Endless Harmonies
“A girl was just trying to get fucked and have orgasms,” Layla sighs. “Now they would rather fuck each other than me. I don’t know why, but it hurt my pride in some sense. I really thought something was wrong with me.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I don’t know how to do this. Do I say anything?
“And now what do you think?” Derek asks, leaning against the wall.
I raise my brow as I look over at her, because Derek heard the past tense of her sentence where I just panicked. I don’t people well.
“Tyler is sexy, flirted the entire night with me, and made me feel seen. It helped me feel less like a pariah,” she says honestly.
Turner stares at her for a second before cursing under his breath. “I need to go get Sally. I’ll be back,” he says, turning and leaving the bus.
Oh shit. I don’t think things are going to go well when we get to Knoxville.
Layla’s eyes grow wide and I snort.
“It’s definitely not boring on tour,” I tease her, lips curving into a lopsided grin.
“Don’t throw wood to the fire,” Lennon giggles. “It’ll be fine. Don’t be surprised if they’re a little bruised at some point though.”
“I guess, avoid the face for the press?” Lay says with a wince.
“Bloodthirsty lass, I like it,” Roark snarks as Turner gets back onto the bus with the bat. We already set up two pack and plays for the twins in the bedroom, so we’re ready to roll.
“The new driver has been vetted and I have some serious questions as to whether or not he’s one of Greg’s employees,” Turner mutters as he gets comfortable on a couch.
I give him a deadpan look because he is. Greg found out who wouldn’t mind driving a bus around for a few days that’s on his payroll, and Fredrick accepted the assignment.
“Point taken,” he grumbles. “Alright, get comfy, we have a six hour drive coming up.”
Everyone gets comfortable, and Lennon curls up in an armchair, making sure the twins are safe and relaxed. Layla and her sister chat for hours about things, and work on the song they wrote together, while I work on some coding for Greg.
The hours fly by, and Roark watches a movie with Derek. When it ends, he makes feta and shrimp skillet with white rice, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. He makes the tiny kitchen his bitch, masterfully serving food to everyone.
“I can’t believe you made all of this,” I tell him in awe. “I’m shocked.”
“I’ve been making meals in small spaces for a lot of years.” He shrugs. “We upgraded the kitchen when the label asked us what we wanted for the bus. Everything has a place now, and I know where it all is. So it’s not difficult for me to do this.”
“It tastes incredible,” Lennon gushes as she takes another bite. The kids are napping in the bedroom, and I have the baby monitor streaming into the eating area.
“I really want to eat the cookie first,” Layla snickers as she sighs happily around another bite of food.
Jordan flew out early this morning to make sure the venue would be completely ready for us. I have a feeling he has his own words to say to Atlas and Mav as well. There’s a reason you don’t fuck around and find out with a very tight family.
“There’s no rules here,” I remind her. “I don’t think Ror cares what you eat first.”
Derek nods impishly as he takes a bite of his cookie happily. Roark grins at his groan as he chews, tucking into his own food. We have only a couple of hours left on the road, but I think I’m enjoying road tripping with my little family, drama and all.
Roark
Mav and Atlas have been blowing up my phone, so I threw it into a hidden storage area in the bus and ignored it. I checked to make sure neither was dead or maimed just to calm my own Catholic guilt, and they were fine. They can come out with it when we arrive, instead of text messaging.
Stepping off the bus as we arrive, I grin as I see Jordan and a well chastised Mav and Atlas.
“What are our plans?” I ask, choosing to ignore the personal for now. We have a job to do.
“Small photo session, then you’re hanging out for an hour before it’s your turn on stage.Wild Heartswill be opening for you, a new band the label is launching,” Jordan reports and I nod.
“Sounds good. When is the photo session?” I ask. Lennon just nursed the babies and there’s pumped milk in the fridge in case they fuss at Daddy Orion or Daddy Derek.