Hillbilly Rockstar (Blacktop Cowboys 6)

When Devin opened his mouth—she held up her hand to keep him quiet.

“Now I have to deal with JT, who not only was extremely f**king lax on your previous tours when it came to general safety protocols for someone of your stature, but I had to listen to that smug motherfucker acting like I was just another one of your goddamn bubbleheaded groupies.”

“Are you done?” he said coolly.

“No. You should check to see if your guitars are still here. I know your stage clothes are on here too, so grab an outfit for tonight but everything else stays.”

Devin’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Because you—we—won’t be staying on here tonight. And after you get your stuff, I’ll have to pass you off to arena security so I can get this handled.”

Liberty’s heart raced as she dialed Garrett. She explained the situation to the best of her knowledge. He promised to find a Portland company that could perform a full bus security check as soon as possible. Garrett also said he’d deal with Big Sky about why she hadn’t been informed of the changes that had caused the security breaches.

When Devin stepped out of the master bedroom, his lips were in a flat line and his eyes were hard. “One of my guitars is missing. I hope like hell that Check came and got it off the bus. And for the record, I just wanted to say I didn’t know JT was comin’ back. So what happens now?”

“Garrett is tracking down a local security company that will go over every inch of this bus with a fine-tooth comb. I imagine the bus will be taken off site. It’ll cost a lot for the expedited service, and it’s a good thing you’re playing Portland for two nights.”

“What do you mean they’ll check the bus off site? Check for what?”

She met his gaze head-on. “Bombs. Bugs. Cameras. Poisonous critters. Poison in the food left on board. They’ll look for it all. Inside, outside. And no, I’m not being paranoid. The chatter online about all the ways the protestors wanted to ‘teach you a lesson’ included those types of sabotage. I’m just doing my job. There’s a huge security breach here, Devin. Fucking enormous. I’ll point out it was caused by the same guy who was involved in the last major security breach.”

“In which he almost got beat to f**king death,” Devin said sharply. “I’m not questioning you doin’ your job, but I also need to point out something my agent mentioned to me. We cannot fire JT for bein’ injured while workin’ for me. Legally, I have to hold his job for him until he’s medically cleared. So him showin’ up ain’t such a surprise, since he knew he could have his job back whenever he wanted.”

“Fuck.” She ran her thumb over the edge of her phone. “Big Sky will just have to pony up and pay two drivers, because I trust Reg.”

“Fine. Now can I get to rehearsal?”

“Let’s go.”

The rest of the band was happy to see Devin, as if they’d been apart ten months instead of ten days. They kicked off rehearsal, and Liberty spent half her time on the phone, the other half looking for the hired security to show up.

Devin wasn’t happy with the sound and rehearsal went long. When he approached her in the hallway, after conferring with his band, he had that angry glint in his eye.

“What’s wrong?”

“Check didn’t get my guitar from the bus, so someone stole it.”

“What was it worth?”

“Ten grand.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “And no, I don’t want to call the cops, since it could’ve disappeared anywhere between Houston and Portland.”

Unlikely. Her cell phone rang, and she turned away to answer it. “This is Liberty Masterson. Now? That was fast. Sure. I’ll be right there.” She hung up and motioned to the event security before she looked at Devin. “The team checking out the bus is here, and I have to sign off on a few things. These guys will get you to your ready room.”

“Whatever. See you after the concert at the meet and greet.”

“But . . . I thought . . .”

Annoyance pulsed from him. “What? It’s two and a half hours until showtime. And since I didn’t play a lick of music in the week we were together, I need to get in the right headspace. Especially after all of this shit.”

“That’s fine.” She stayed in place until she saw him enter the ready room. Then she slipped out the side door.

Crash caught up to her. “You wanna tell me what the hell is goin’ on?”

“Did you ask JT to rejoin the tour and let Reg go?”

“No. JT was here when I got here.”

“Where’s Reg?”

“No idea.”

“Find him. I wasn’t kidding about bringing Reg back. Tell him there was a misunderstanding with JT.”

Crash set his hands on her shoulders, stopping her. “I have to ask this, Liberty, and don’t take offense, but is all this necessary? Or do you have it in for JT since he insulted you?”

“His insults to me are nothing compared with his dereliction of duty.” As Liberty brusquely informed him of what she’d dealt with, Crash’s face turned redder and redder.

“That’s it. You’re done dealing with JT. I will go over safety protocols with him.”

“Thank you.”

“Devin’s always had a soft spot for the guy. Don’t know why.”

When they reached the buses, JT was squaring off with three guys who could break him like a twig. Crash stepped between them and dragged JT away. When they were out of sight, Liberty said, “You’re Marco? I’m Liberty. Let’s talk over here.” She led them around the side of the bus. “You have the paperwork?”