Songbird (11 page)

“Nah. Probably just make me fat first.”
Nicholas squeezed his arms. “The chocolate bar, woman. Hand it
over.”

“It’s in my purse. You have to release my
arms first.”

He grumbled but released me. I pulled the bar
out from the top of the bag and handed it over.

Nicholas immediately unwrapped it and took
the biggest mouthful possible. What a glutton. Diabetes would be in
his future regardless of what he said.

“Come on.” I fought with the muscles in my
face not to smile at his obvious joy, “We have places to be.”

Since his mouth was now full of chocolate he
couldn’t respond but nodded. I placed a hand in his elbow and
guided him out of the studio.

There was a two hour window to get dressed
and get Nicholas dressed. I didn’t have the supplies that warranted
a movie star’s party with me as I hadn’t expected to be a public
face. I would be damned if I would present anything less than
perfect even though it was tempting to do nothing at all to spite
Nicholas. But really, the only person that would hurt was me.

“Henry, I need a drug store before returning
to the hotel.” I told the man when we had slide into the back of
today’s SUV rental.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Why?” Nicholas asked before taking another
huge bite from the chocolate bar.

“Female stuff.” I smirked when he
cringed.

“Forget I asked.”

“Just stay here okay. Henry, Walker doesn’t
get out of the SUV.”

“Child locks, ma’am. No one gets out unless I
open the doors.”

“You are a wonderful man.”

In the cosmetic aisle, I grabbed three shades
of lipstick, four eye palettes, and some French manicure press-ons.
I tapped a reminder into my phone to get a real manicure in San
Diego on our off day.

Because Nicholas expected it more than I
actually needed it I grabbed a box of tampons. Since they were
right next to the condoms, I considered and grabbed some of those
as well. With a man like Nicholas there was no such thing as too
many condoms. At the register I grabbed a couple of chocolate bars
as well and stuffed those into my purse before jogging back out to
the SUV.

“Did you get me anything?” Nicholas asked
when I slid back into the SUV.

With a shrug I handed him the condom box. If
only I had a camera for the clearly unhappy and uncomfortable face
he wore.

“I can buy my own. I’m not thirteen anymore.”
He handed the box back and I stuck it back in my bag of purchases.
I would put it in the cabinet in the bus bathroom. Keeping a box on
a bus filled with men had apparently been a good idea based on the
rate the first one disappeared. These would be a welcome
restock.

Since I didn’t have many opportunities to
poke at Nicholas I milked it a little. “Yes, because that’s what we
need in the newspaper. Nicholas Walker seen buying condoms at the
local drugstore. The world must know: who is the lucky local girl?”
I rolled my eyes. “Who do you think makes sure the condoms in the
bathroom never run low?”

He shifted in his seat again. “Have Henry buy
the condoms. You shouldn’t have to do it. Hell, tell Arc and Max to
get off their asses and buy their own condoms.”

“Mr. Walker—”

“New rule. You’re not allowed to call me Mr.
Walker,” he grumbled, looking out the window instead of at me. “I
hate it when you call me that. It feels impersonal.”

“Says the master of impersonal
relationships.”

“That’s different.” He didn’t turn from the
window. “I don’t
want
to be personal with them. I don’t know
them and I never will. I live in Nashville and have no interest in
changing that. One night means nothing. I
will
know you—it’s
inevitable in three months. That’s an entirely different level than
the faceless girls. You’re not faceless, Songbird. You’ll never be.
Don’t treat me like I am.”

There was the blurred line of professionalism
I had attempted to discuss only hours ago with the other guys. My
sanity needed that line to stay firm. A real friend wouldn’t allow
Nicholas to whore out every night we stayed in a city. I needed it
to not matter. I needed that a lot.

The hurt in his words sunk in, and the apathy
was so clear and brutal. Loneliness screamed out of him. I hadn’t
considered that as a possibility.

I wanted to scream at myself for my
ignorance. Hadn’t it been clear in the last week? Now that I
studied the memories there was no denying it. He spent hotel nights
in my room chatting with me about nothing. Time on the bus was
spent writing music in his little room alone. The one time I had
knocked, he’d been reading a book. He didn’t voluntarily join us in
games at the table and now I wondered why. If he was so damn lonely
why did he invite the loneliness? Why didn’t he participate?

That stopped now. Right now. I would make
sure of it.

I knew by definition I wasn’t in the position
to throw stones. I was an outgoing introvert at the best of times
with a huge case of low self-esteem I hid behind snappy words and
quick thinking. However, if I wasn’t making things up, he may have
social anxiety issues I’d never considered before.

I leaned over, placed my chin on his shoulder
and stared out his window with him. He stiffened, which was a
surprise, considering how much he liked to invade my personal
bubble so I ignored it.

“Anything interesting out there?” I asked. I
could do this. I would be a friend. I knew how to be a friend.

My libido would even calm the fuck down once
I’ve been properly friend zoned. This was actually a great idea. Of
course, that was as long as I kept my emotions outside the
equation.

“No. Every city starts to look the same after
a while.”

“It’s only been a week.”

He shrugged with my chin still on his
shoulder. “I’ve been here before.”

I calculated time in my head and figured
hell, why not? He’d already fucked my schedule. “Have you seen the
Hollywood stars?”

“Yes.”

Well, okay. I could still play this right.
“Were they cool? I’ve never been here. This is probably the only
view of Los Angeles I’ll ever get.”

When he turned to look at me I had to lean
back or risk his mouth touching some part of me that I don’t think
I could handle without a total meltdown. I shrugged at his
expression.

“But you were a Broadway tour manager,” he
protested.

“Musicals aren’t as high in demand as you
might think. I’ve been to Seattle of course. And there’s a theater
in Pasadena that does shows for tours since the theaters within the
city are generally reserved years in advanced by the TV studios for
some film or another.” I shrugged. “Your show tonight is being held
in a theater space in Anaheim, not actually LA.”

“If you’d come with me to the Garden party we
could stop on the way. It would only take a minute.”

I shrugged and smiled on the inside.
“Maybe.”

When the car stopped I turned to my door and
waited for Henry to pull it open. I stepped out, stretched in the
sun and turned to Nicholas. He glanced down at me when he stepped
out but held his silence.

Unbothered by his moods, I walked him to his
door and waited for him close himself in. I turned to Henry. “We’ll
need the car in about an hour and a half.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

No one can say I hadn’t at least
tried
to be beautiful. The white chiffon dress with its red floral print
rising from the bottom hem was beautifully cut and accented my
figure in a way only good clothes could. My pretty rhinestone
adorned heels seemed to be made for the dress. I had decided
against pulling up my hair and spiral curled the ends and pinned
the sides behind my ears.

The skirt was also full enough that my gun
hid cleanly under it. I would have found a way even if it hadn’t—I
hadn’t been without my guns in eight years. I wasn’t about to start
now.

Of course the guys had been right about the
lipstick and only I knew the scar was there. The natural eyes
shadow accented the blue in my right eye, which I thought was cool.
The only thing that took any amount of time was the debate between
my glasses or contacts. I didn’t wear the contacts often, I hadn’t
even opened the box yet for this tour, but considering the critique
of my glasses by Maggie Mae the contacts won the toss.

Since I was sure he hadn’t brought anything
in to wear to the Garden Party and he was safe with Henry, I ran
out to the bus before knocking on Nicholas’s door. The stone slacks
would match the brick colored button down well, and I decided
against hassling with a tie. He’d have it off inside of ten
minutes. Why bother?

When I returned upstairs I noticed Henry
outside of Nicholas’s room. Henry held up his hands in surrender
before I even said anything.

“It’s not my job to argue with him. I’m only
paid to protect him.”

When I stepped closer I could hear the
moaning girl and gritted my teeth. “How long?”

“About fifteen minutes.”

I didn’t rub my eyes. Couldn’t ruin my
makeup. Instead, I pressed a finger hard against my temple. “No one
leaves this hall without my permission. Especially the girl.” I
only prayed it wasn’t one of the Dolls.

He lifted his chin. “Understood.”

“And,” I pulled the key card to Nicholas’s
room out of my bag, “ignore anything you hear. This isn’t going to
be pleasant.”

His brows furrowed. “My job is to protect you
too.”

“He’s probably the one you need to worry
about.” The words slipped out in a low rumble before I sighed and
said louder. “Walker won’t hurt me. He might want to, but I don’t
think he will.” Using the door key I stepped into the room and let
the door close quietly behind me. Besides, I was more than capable
of protecting myself.

The busy couple hadn’t even noticed my
entrance and wasn’t it handy that Nicholas wore a belt today? I
pulled the belt off the pants and stepped up behind the rutting
couple to smack the belt—decently hard, but I wasn’t trying to hurt
him—against Nicholas’s naked ass.

He yelped, jerked back far enough to slide
completely out of his companion and twisting to look at me. When he
saw me he scrambled and knocked himself off the bed. He had the
decency to grab for the sheet at least to cover his erection.

The girl squealed and grabbed for the other
side of the sheet to try and cover up. I ignored her for the moment
and strolled over to Nicholas. I held out the clothes.

“You’ve already ruined my schedule. You’re
not about to fuck the one Ezra set up. Get up and get dressed. We
have a party to attend.”

Wisely—probably because I sounded clearly
pissed—he took the clothes without speaking and walked into the
bathroom closing the door noiselessly. I ignored the tension in my
chest. Disgust—maybe it was disappointment—could wait until
later.

I turned to the girl who had the decency to
already be pulling on clothes. A hotel uniform. Well that explained
a great deal and relieved some of the stress of having to explain
this to Denton.

“You have some papers to sign.”

She gapped at me.

“One’s a gag order. You’re not allowed to
discuss this. And the other is a sexual conduct agreement. You
can’t come back later and say he raped you. If you don’t sign the
papers I go to the hotel manager, make sure you get fired and we’ll
take necessary legal action. Anything you say beyond that point
will just ruin you. What’s your pick?”

She stood and tossed her hair back. “You
don’t have that kind of power.”

“Security is at the door. You can’t leave
this room without making a decision and trust me when I say, in
this matter I
am
the right hand of God. I
can
ruin
you before you get a chance to ruin Mr. Walker, and I
will
.”

Her mouth opened and closed before the tears
started to fall and she looked down at her feet. “I’ll sign your
papers.” All signs of defiance of her little rebellion were
gone.

“Wise choice.”

Once the phablet was signed, I guided her out
to Henry. He gave me a glance that spoke of admiration and held out
an elbow for the girl. “Let me show you back downstairs.”

“Don’t forget the car, Henry.”

“No. Ma’am.”