Everything I Want (15 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

Waking up to a loud thump, I jerked my body up. What? Leaning over to stick my fingers in the blinds, I notice that we’re still driving. The sun is starting to rise, and the scenery is nothing but rolling grass hills and a few houses scattered out. If I had to guess, I would say Wisconsin or maybe Iowa. Depending on which route the driver decided to take to Minneapolis. I lay back down and shut my iPad off. I wonder what made that loud thump noise.

Rolling over to my stomach, I quickly fall back asleep.

Few hours passed, and I hear noises going on again and waking me up. I reach over and check my phone. It says nine thirty in the morning. I climb out of bed, making my way out of my room to investigate.

Cory is up and sitting on one of the sofas. Fidgeting. I slowly walk over to him, realizing that he looks like shit. I don’t think he slept at all last night. And that pisses me off.

“Cory?” I say groggily, rubbing my eyes.

He jerks his head up.

“Soph— Sophia!” He hurries and starts rubbing something off the table in his palms. Looking down, I notice it’s probably coke. Son of a bitch. I bend over and softly grab his wrist. He looks up at me, but this time, he kind of looks pissed.

“Cory, what the fuck are you doing?” I ask him, trying not to piss him off, but he certainly just pissed me off. Tugging his wrist free, he continues cleaning up.

“Sophia, just go back to bed.”

He gets up making his way toward his bunk, but I grab him by the elbow to stop him. He turns swiftly, almost making me lose my balance. I grab the edge of the sofa for support.

“What in the hell Cory!” I scream at him. “This isn’t like you. What are you doing to yourself!?”

His eyes look clouded and glazed over. He drops his head a little and walks back over to me. Just then, Roger yells from his bunk.

“Fucking eh! Trying to sleep here.”

Cory looks over that way before meeting my gaze again. I feel my eyes start to water. What is happening to my friend? But Cory says nothing. He just hugs me for a moment and walks back over to his bunk.

I don’t think talking to him now will help. I know some of the other guys do the shit too, but not like this. Cory’s been different like this since around St. Louis. I’m going to have to think of something to help my friend before he’s too far gone.

After taking a really quick cold shower, I dress myself in ripped jeans and burgundy long sleeved thermal. The hot water must be out again on the bus, but I can’t complain. At least I’m not washing myself in the sink of a rest area like I used to have to when we used to caravan to festivals to play.

I blow-dry my hair, leaving it feeling soft and wavy. The hair dryer feels so good right now since I caught a chill from the shower. I put on a little mascara and eye liner and go in search for my boots. I love how the nineties are coming back strong. These Timberlands I have are comfortable and waterproof, so they’re nice to wear on fall days like today. The bus parked around noon at the location in Minneapolis. I walk out of the bathroom and see Jared eating a bowl of cereal at the table. Just in his boxers. His frame is smaller than the rest of the guys around. He’s tall but lean, very lean. His hair is all matted and pushed into his face. I go over to sit across from him.

“Hey, Jared.”

“Hey,” he says back to me, before shoving more cereal in his face.

“You want to come out with me when you’re done? We don’t have to play until tomorrow, so I want to go exploring.”

“Sounds good. Just let me get ready first.”

Oh boy. Jared takes forever. He even irons his hair to make it spike up a certain way. He takes longer than I do to get ready.

“Well, make it quick, okay? I’m bored in here.”

“How about I meet you somewhere for lunch, Sophia?”

Assessing him over, I think that would probably be the better idea.

“Yeah, that’s cool. There’s this one place I heard of on that TV show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I always wanted to check out. Let’s meet up there.”

“Sounds good. Just text me where and when you’re ready.”

“Cool,” I say to him before grabbing my I.D. and money out of my bag. I push it into my front pocket and take out my phone.

As I’m leaving the bus, I turn back to Jared. “Don’t forget or I’ll kill you.” I wink at him and step out of the bus.

Walking through the parking lot, I notice a black SUV there. It must be for one of the guys from Undead Society. They have way more perks than us. I pull out my phone, getting ready to call a cab, when I hear that deep familiar rumble again.

“Where you off to?”

I turn on my heels quickly, finding Tristan standing there behind me. He’s wearing jeans, of course, and a black zip up hoodie. His hair is falling into his face a little, and he must’ve trimmed his facial hair a bit because it’s not as thick as it had been the past couple days. Staring down at my phone, I look back up to him.

“Uh… I was just going to check out Minneapolis.”

He stares at me then smiles.

“Can I join you?”

His request throws me off guard. He’s either being nice or fucking with me. Nothing really in between. I tilt my head to the side and check him out. He crosses his arms, tilts his head back, and waits for me to answer. Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt. And I would feel a little more comfortable with someone with me than without so…

“I guess you can.”

His deep voice starts chuckling, almost like he’s up to something.

“All right.” He rubs his hands through his hair and shrugs. “Did you want to walk or have Phil over there drive us?” He gestures behind him at the SUV.

It’s kind of cloudy and cold out, so having a ride would be nice. And besides, all I need is some crazed fan to spot him.

“We can go with Phil,” I say to him, not waiting for his response as I start heading toward the SUV.

I get to the SUV before Tristan does and climb in. Tristan walks around to the other side. When he enters the SUV, I instantly start getting the chills all over my body again. How awkward is this? We are actually hanging out. His body is huge next to mine. I stare down at his muscular thighs. The weathered old jeans he’s wearing makes me want to feel him. He blows out a breath and turns toward me.

“Where did you have in mind?”

I look up quickly from his leg that I was staring at and look toward the driver.

“I don’t really know. I just wanted to check out the city. I heard of this place I wanted to try here. I think it’s on 14th Avenue?”

He nods at me then tells Phil to go to this place. How does he know what it’s called? It’s probably because he’s been here many times before.

We drive to the restaurant in silence. I’m staring out the tinted window of the SUV, and Tristan says nothing either. He stretches out his long body, resting his left arm on top of the seats, behind me. Feeling the warmth of his body this close makes me squirm in my seat. Damn it, body! Get it under control!

We pull up outside the restaurant, and Phil gets out to open the door for me. I thank him as I start making my way around. Tristan is at the door, holding it open for me. Entering the establishment, I notice it’s dark with the one wall showing off its bricks. It’s smaller too, but I like the vibe I’m feeling in here. Customers seat themselves here, so Tristan touches the small of my back and leads us over to a table. The simple touch ignites my body. I feel myself starting to weaken under his touch. Just that gesture already sends electric waves to my core.
Get it together, Sophia!

He lets go of my back, and I suddenly feel cold. I hurry and sit down. Tristan takes a seat across from me. Normally, I would prefer a booth; but with Tristan being as big as he is, this is probably more comfortable for him.

The waitress brings us our menus. She looks like she’s in her mid-forties, with short, blonde hair and a thicker frame. The tag on her uniform says her name is Molly.

I grab my menu and start looking it over. Being around Tristan, I don’t really feel as hungry as I did this morning when I woke up. But I know I need to eat something. I peek over the menu to see him. He catches my eyes and does this closed-mouth smile. I glance back down at my menu then back at him.

“Aren’t you going to look at your menu?”

I glance over with my eyes at his menu, still folded up on the table. He shakes his head at me.

“I don’t need to. I already know what I want.”

Somehow, I feel like he is talking about more than food.

Looking back down at the menu, I say, “Oh.”

Molly comes back ready for our order. Tristan laces his fingers on the table and looks at me. Okay, Sophia, just pick something.

“I’ll have the Eggs Benedict with an orange juice please.”

Handing the waitress my menu, I grab my water to take a sip. Tristan looks up at Molly and proceeds with his order.

“Steak and eggs. I would like my steak rare and my eggs over easy. And I’ll just have a black coffee.”

Molly scribbles his order down and reaches for his menu. When Molly leaves, Tristan clears his throat and leans back in his chair. He just stares at me and then, once in a while, looks down at his hands that are resting on the table. I bite the bottom corner of my lip and look out the window.

“This is kind of weird, isn’t it?”

I really shouldn’t have said that, but it’s the truth; and I have to try to do something to break the ice. Tristan slowly looks back up to me with his eyes looking confused.

Shaking his head, he asks, “What’s weird?”

“Ah… You know? This.”

I gesture between our bodies with my hands, but Tristan still looks so deadpan. He leans on his arms, resting on the table so he’s even closer to me. I suddenly squirm in my chair. With the look that he’s giving me, he instantly makes me feel a hundred different emotions. With the prominent ones being nervousness, fear, arousal and excitement.

Molly arrives with our drinks and places them on the table. “Just a few more minutes on the food.” With that, she walked away, greeting new customers that arrived.

Tristan’s just sitting there in the exact same way he was before the waitress came over. But now, instead of looking confused, he has this cocky half smile on him now.

“Sophia, I’m not quite sure I know what you mean. Eating breakfast?”

He damn well knows. He starts laughing a little and goes to lean back again. His quiet laugh is a turn-on, too; low and deep like that makes my stomach flip. Shit!

Rolling my eyes, I grab my orange juice to take a drink. After I place my glass down, I square my shoulders and look him dead in the eyes. Wow.

“No, Tristan, not eating breakfast. Well, maybe a little… It’s just that, I don’t know. You don’t really like me, and now we’re here trying to have breakfast like—”

“Like what, Sophia?”

I lower my head. I can’t really seem to stare him in the eyes anymore.

“Like were friends or something? I don’t know. You hate me remember.”

I look back up to him when I said the last part.

Tristan is just blank for a moment, but then he shakes his head no.

“I don’t hate you.” He leans over again, whispering in my ear. “I thought I made it pretty obvious that I like you.”

My mouth drops for a second when images of him fucking me, taking me in the dressing room, in the elevator, and in his suite come to mind.

“Here you go, kids.”

Molly is back, placing our plates in front of us. How am I suppose to eat now? I stare down at my food. It looks delicious, but I just can’t seem to dig into it. I look back up to Tristan, and he’s cutting up his steak. Calm and cool.

Picking up my fork, I begin cutting into my eggs. I take a bite, and it tastes just as good as it looks. The hollandaise sauce is creamy and rich.

“Mmm… ”

I close my eyes and take the flavor in, not realizing that I just moaned out loud. When I opened my eyes, Tristan is staring at me with his fork midair. “It’s, ah, really good.” He just looks at me for a minute then goes back to eating his breakfast.

We eat most of our meal in silence. When I was almost done eating, I started up conversation again.

“So you’ve been here before, huh?”

Tristan stops eating and takes a drink of his coffee, nodding.

“Yeah, about five or six times.”

He goes back to finishing the last pieces of his steak. Seeing him cut up the meat like that with the tendons in his forearms flexing makes my mind start to wander again. Damn it! I have to yell at myself. Is everything about sex now? Well, when it’s as good as it is with Tristan, then yeah. I shake the thoughts from my head, sipping on my orange juice. Molly brings us the bill and smiles before walking away. I reach in to grab it, but Tristan’s hand grabs my wrist.

“What are you doing?”

“Uh, I think I’m taking the bill. What the fuck does it look like?”

He shakes his head at me and, with his other hand, pulls the bill from my hand.

“It’s on me.”

He lets go of my wrist and lifts up a bit to reach for his wallet in his back pocket.