“But are you okay?”
I hate the way she says okay.
My face is numb as I shake my head. “I’m a wishy-washy mess.” I close my eyes and take a calming breath. When I glance at her again, Heidi’s lips are curled down into a frown. She places her head on my shoulder, and we both stare up at the ceiling. “So, no. I guess I’m not okay.”
“You will be.”
I know that I will, eventually, and it’s for this reason that I bob my head slowly. “Thank you for coming with me.” I smile tentatively. “Even if the reason for my vacation showed up and things went to shit.”
She grabs her chest theatrically and blinks back mock tears. “Thank you for still loving me after my douchebag one-night-stand broke into our room and stole most of our crap.”
My shoulders relax, and a couple seconds later, I’m laughing and so is she. “At least I still have my iPod. I can play good music while I starve.” As if on cue my belly rolls. I didn’t eat breakfast this morning, and I hadn’t picked up anything at the convenience stores along the way either.
“Gross.” Heidi rolls onto her flat stomach and grabs a tall brochure off of the nightstand. “Room service it is.” She knows me like the back of her hand because she orders me a cheesesteak and fries, my favorite. When she’s done, she leaves my bed in favor of her own.
“Can I ask you a question?” I say, after she checks her voicemail to see if anyone from New Orleans has called about Shiner Bock.
They haven’t.
“You can ask me anything.”
I bite my lip, but when she nods her head to encourage me, I start, “You and Cal, have you ever—” My words are cut short when her face flushes bright red. My own conflict with Wyatt temporarily forgotten, I scramble into a sitting position. “You’ve got to be f**king kidding me?”
She lets her head loll off the bed. “Rock Fest, two years ago.”
“And?”
“Your Toxic Sequel’s show in Seattle last March.”
“And last night?”
Snorting, she gives me a look. “Um, no. I was staying with him because the guy I slept with the night before broke into our room. That would have been awkward.”
Good point. Still, with their outrageous bickering, I should have already known what was going on between them, and I mentally kick myself in the kneecap for failing to notice. “And you’re just now telling me?”
She shrugs. “You never asked.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
It’s 8:30 PM on the dot, and I’m dragging a striped, nautical print tee shirt over my head when my iPhone starts to ring from its spot on the dresser. “Shit,” I snap as I shimmy the close-fitting top down my torso and over my belly button. Stepping over a small pile of Heidi’s shoes, I snatch up the phone just before my ringtone, Chevelle’s I Get It, moves to my favorite part of the song, the line about living in an imaginary life.
I flip the phone right side up and mutter a soft curse when I see that it’s my brother calling. Sliding my finger across the screen to accept the call, I tuck the phone between my ear and shoulder. “About damn time.”
“I’ve been f**king busy, Ky, sorry I haven’t called you back.” His voice is so strained that I immediately feel for him. “Besides, you said you wanted to be left alone while you were gone.”
Before I left Nashville to go to New Orleans, I told him that I would quit if he so much as bothered me while I was away. I had made a few more threats, but of course he merely brushed them off. “Since when do you give a crap whether or not I want to be left alone?”
“Since I decided I want to be left alone.”
Well played, big brother.
“Right, Sienna.” I lean close to the mirror to determine whether or not I want to spring for make-up tonight. One look at the dark smudges under my eyes is all the convincing I need. “How’s that going?”
“She’s good.” Leave it to Lucas to tiptoe around my question. He knows that I have a soft spot for her. There are few people I want to see at the receiving end of his bullshit, but Sienna’s one of the people that I would actually step in front of to protect from my brother. I told Lucas as much when he first realized that he had a potential second chance with her. “She’s got everything taken care of here.”
I bet she does. “Don’t f**k things up with her,” I warn him again, and he sucks in a breath.
“Jesus, Kylie, stop that shit.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I know. Stay out of your personal life—I get it.” There’s a shuffling noise across the room, and I look up to see Heidi padding out of the bathroom in a giant robe. As she wraps a towel around her wet hair, her eyes find mine in the dresser mirror. She shifts one of her eyebrows curiously. I turn my head around and say, “It’s my brother.”
“Finally.” She grabs her underwear and a bundle of clothes from her bed before returning to the restroom.
Focusing my attention back on Lucas, I ask, “How was the thing with Mom and Dad today?” While I wait for him to respond, I put my phone on speaker and leave it on the dresser so I can finish getting ready. It’s 8:35 now, and Wyatt and Cal’s set with the band is supposed to start in twenty-five minutes. If I’m going to make it on time, I’ll have to rush.
“It was alright, I guess. I mean, it’s a f**king documentary about music, so I don’t really know why they wanted to talk to Mom and Dad, but I guess they were happy to see me.”