The Problem With Heartache (12 page)

“I don’t need to …”

“Sure, come in.” I closed the door behind her and walked over to a lounge, sitting down and throwing my hands over my head. “I’m screwed,” I moaned, my eyes shut.

Silence.

I squinted one eye open, then the other, to find Kate looking at me, eyes wide, jaw practically on the floor. Or, I say looking at
me
. Really, she was looking at my bare, sweaty chest. I couldn’t help but grin.

“I meant from chasing Jay around, you perv.” I picked up a cushion and threw it at her, catching her smack on the arm. She pushed it aside and her face scrunched up till it got really cute and angry looking, and it was hard to stifle a laugh.

“I don’t see any—”

“RAWR!” Jay jumped out from behind the other couch and Kate jumped about a foot in the air, dropping her clipboard and grasping her chest.

“Shit!”

Jay’s eyes widened. “Kate said a bad word.”

“Now you’ve done it.” I laughed, watching as Kate alternated between looking horrified and searching for words to try and rectify the situation.

“Jay, I didn’t mean it.” Kate finally found her voice, squatting down to his eye level. “But sometimes, when a grown-up gets very, very scared, they’re allowed to have one bad word.”

“One.” Jay frowned.

“Just one.” Kate agreed.

“Then how come Lee says bad words when him and Mommy—”

“That’s enough, Jay.” I jumped off my seat and jogged the three steps over to them. For a small kid, he sure seemed smart. “Maybe you should go find your new shoes. We’re gonna head out soon.”

Jay shrugged and skipped down the hallway to the bedroom where I knew Lottie had laid out all his belongings. Jay liked to choose his own clothes. With a fashion-lover for a mother, it was bound to happen.

“You are right. We are going soon, and I wanted to check you’re um …” Kate’s gaze swept my body again. I puffed out my chest, just a little. “Ready.”

“Do you think I look ready?” I smirked.

“No. Not really.” She shook her head, as if snapping from a trance. “Not at all. You should wear some clothes.”

I gave a light laugh and picked up my shirt from where I’d thrown it on the couch, shrugging it over my shoulders and pulling it down my chest. “Better?”

“Much.” She pursed her lips. “Now, do you need me to run over your list of commitments for today?”

I agreed, and she started running through the list of media activities that Tony and the team at Spinner had planned out. While she talked, I stared at her. The way her mouth moved, forming the words. The way her voice was calm, in control, even though I knew I’d flustered the hell out of her only moments before. There was something about her I liked—something about her that just seemed so … real.

“Do you like working for me? For us, I mean?” I interrupted.

Kate snapped her jaw closed and looked at the clipboard in front of her. “Yes.”

“Just yes? That’s it?”

“Yes, I like working here. I like organising things, and making sure people are where they’re supposed to be when they say they will. I like music, and I like learning more about this whole process while being on the road with you.” Kate stammered, and I smiled. Learning. It had been a long time since I’d met a girl who liked to learn.
Not since …

“The only thing I don’t like are lead singers who think it’s funny to take their shirts off every time they’re near me.” Kate gave me a pointed look.

“Even if they’re really good-looking?” I tried.

“I wouldn’t know what that’s like,” she replied.
Score one to Kate.

She ran through the rest of the schedule and I made my mind focus on the words coming out of her mouth. There was something about her that was different to all the other women I had around me. They were ‘yes’ people. Kate was … it had taken her a few weeks of being on the road, but now a little hint of fire was shining through. A wicked sense of humour. A strong sense of fun.

Kate was going to be a problem.

A dangerous one.

O
NE OF
the good things about my new job was the down time. Sure, I had to work weird hours, and check on things at odd times of the day and night, but I did often have ample time free in the middle of the day. And that meant shopping. Or at the very least, coffee drinking.

I’d struggled to find good coffee in the States so far, and was currently returning empty-handed from my mission to find such a thing when I spied Lee, Lottie, and Jay standing just inside our hotel.

“Hey.” I waved as I walked past, but Lottie grabbed my arm.

“Kate, good. Lee needs a hand minding Jay this afternoon. Can you …” She nodded her head toward the two of them, and both Lee and Jay gave me their best cheesy grins.

“I guess, I—”

“Thank you so much! It’ll only be for an hour, maybe two. I just have to go check on the clothes for tomorrow’s photo shoot. The damn courier didn’t show up.” Lottie glanced at her phone and then looked back at the two of us expectantly. “Are you guys … good with this?”

“Fine.” I nodded.

“Seriously?” Lee raised his eyebrows. “We’ll be fine. And I don’t really need a babysitter.” He gave me a pointed look.

“Lee, I meant that I want him to be looked after without you getting mobbed or taking him to do something I disapprove of.” Lottie’s eyes darkened. “Besides, sometimes I just think a woman … you look like you’d be good with kids. He’s still only new to all this,” Lottie said, looking at me, a sardonic smile twisting her lips. “Okay, Jay. Love you.”

She held out her arms and her little man came flying into them for a big bear hug. Something in my heart twinged. I wanted unconditional love like that.

“Thanks, guys.” Lottie gave us both a wave, then waited till I was holding Jay’s hand and mouthed
no monster trucks
to me and left. Lee tugged the hat on Jay’s head down and we followed after her, leaving the safety of the hotel for the driveway.

We had barely been outside alone for three seconds when it happened.

“Lee? Lee Collins!”

“Lee! Lee, take a picture with me!”

“Lee!”

The screaming continued, and Lee smiled, waved, posed for a few pictures and then led me toward the waiting car with a gentle hand on my back, Jay’s fingers linked firmly in between mine.

When we were safely inside, I turned to him. “Wow,” I breathed. Fans lined the street, and some of them had even found a spot in traffic to cross and were encroaching upon the car. “Is it always this bad?”

Lee shrugged. “Sometimes worse.”

Huh. It seemed too crazy to be true.

“By the way, Kate, meet Sam, our driver. Sam, meet Kate, our new tour organiser.” Lee made the introductions and Sam, a middle-aged guy with twinkly eyes and a dubious moustache, smiled.

We drove through the city streets in silence. Even Jay was quiet, as he looked nervously from Lee to me until we pulled up at a water park, Raging Waters in San Dimas.

“What are we doing here?” I frowned. Surely the place would be closed. It was autumn; who wanted to waterslide then?

“Going for a swim,” Lee said.

“Cool!” Jay enthused. “I haven’t been swimming in soooo long, Lee. Not since I was three.”

“Wow.” Lee’s eyes widened. “That was a long time ago. Are you sure you’re ready?”

Jay acted as if he was considering it, then nodded, agreeing. “I’m ready.”

“Great. Let’s do it.”

The three of us walked to the entrance desk where a bored looking teenager had her day made by meeting Lee-
freaking
-Collins and agreeing to shut the water park for him, if we paid entrance fees for the capacity. Thankfully, we were the only ones stupid enough to be here in this cool weather, so we didn’t have to kick anyone out.

“Let’s do it,” Lee yelled and Jay roared after him as they dashed to the biggest slide, a three-storey number that looked seriously dangerous.

“I’ll mind your clothes,” I called out, but I needn’t have bothered. Apparently, the current strategy was
drop them where you feel.

Seconds later the boys flew down the slide, Lee in a pair of board shorts, which he must have been wearing earlier, Jay in his underwear. They looked cute together, as if they were having a heap of fun, and Lee never lost patience with the little guy, even when he wanted to do the same ride multiple times.

At some point, the ticketing assistant came over to watch, and I saw her get out her phone. I glanced over at the boys. Jay’s hat was still firmly on, and it was no longer just sunburn I was worried about protecting him from. It was a different danger entirely.

“Excuse me,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“Can I please ask you not to take photos?” I scrunched up my nose. “He’ll do a selfie with you when he’s off the slides; hell, I’m sure he’d even kiss your cheek in it. But this is private stuff.” I didn’t know how Lottie felt about having her son in the media, but since I’d never seen photos of Jay in the magazines, I doubted it was something she was keen on.

“Sure.” The girl nodded and put her phone in her pocket after deleting the pictures she’d taken. Really, what was stopping her from taking more when my back was turned? I guess all you could do was hope.

Lee came jogging up, his wet hair flicking everywhere, Jay talking a million miles per hour at his side.

“Coming in?” Lee asked me.

“It’s freezing!” I protested.

“Warmer in than out. I promise.” Lee spoke the words, but I didn’t really hear them. It was hard to concentrate with all the visual noise his chest was making. It was so shiny, and well-defined, and sexy, the edges of a tattoo wrapping around his lower ribcage.

“Kate?”

“Huh?” I jerked my gaze back to the present.
Oops!

“I said, you could wear your underwear. It covers just as much,” Lee suggested, and I had to agree with him here. It did cover just as much as a bikini would. It was the way it covered it that was a problem.

“Somehow, I don’t think lace mesh bikinis will ever be in-fashion swimming items,” I said sarcastically, and Lee laughed.

“You could try it and see?” he husked. That line, and the combination of sexy, half-naked lead singer made my cheeks heat, and I became a little too lost in the moment again.