Cutting a tomato, I ate three slices before even putting one on my sandwich. I hadn’t had time for breakfast that morning and I was starving. Once my sandwich was done I grabbed a bag of baked chips and a one of the huge bottles of Voss that the fridge was stocked with before walking into the living room and turning on the flat screen.
I was glad to have a few hours to myself. Most of my bus mates were off exploring the city we were stopped in for the next two days. Harris had asked his dad to go with him and the Thorntons’ sightseeing. It had melted my heart when he’d asked if I would come along too, but my head had been about to split open in pain at the time and I’d had to decline. Both Cutter males had looked disappointed and I’d felt it too, but I hadn’t wanted to ruin the day for them with my misery.
I was just stuffing the last of my sandwich into my mouth when I heard the bus’s door open. Frowning, I turned my head to see Marissa. She gave me a small smile as she dropped down onto the couch beside me. “Feeling better?”
I shrugged. “Better than I was.” I took a long swallow of my water, studying my friend a little closer.
In the last three weeks, ever since the tour had started, Marissa had changed. She still had moments when she looked sad and lost, but those were few and far between. She was spending a lot more time with Wroth, sharing a roost with him. And yeah, giving Devlin and me a run for our money when it came to who could be the loudest during sex. I was glad that Marissa looked happier. That girl should never have to cry again.
“Has anyone else come back?” Marissa asked, taking a chip from my bag when I offered it.
“You’re the first. Did you and Liam have fun?” Liam had asked her to have lunch with him as soon as she had gotten up that morning. I thought it was sweet of him to make time for her during his crazy schedule. That man loved his sister more than anyone else in the world so it didn’t surprise me.
Instead of nibbling on her chip, Marissa bit into her bottom lip. I wanted to yell at her to stop it, just as Liam had taken to doing lately since she was doing it so often, but yelling at Marissa seemed like yelling at a sweet little puppy and I just couldn’t. “What’s wrong, Rissa?” When she bit her lip like that I knew that something was on her mind.
She sighed and turned to face me on the couch. “I wanted to talk to you about the bet we made.”
I blinked. I hadn’t really thought about the bet. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to follow through on it. From the look on Marissa’s face, she didn’t want to do it either. “What about it?”
“I quit,” she said and seemed relieved to have actually spoken the words. Her shoulders sagged a little. “I regret making the bet with you and if you want, I’ll still take over your job while you go on vacation.”
I shrugged, attempting to act like I didn’t care either way. I didn’t want to admit that I was relieved that she was quitting. If she quit then I didn’t have to go through with the bet either. I didn’t want to walk away from Devlin again at the end of the summer. I didn’t want to do a lot of things… “Okay, if that’s what you want to do.”
Marissa smiled. “So, are you still going to proceed with it?”
I shrugged, still trying to play it cool. I didn’t want to admit that I was in deeper than I’d ever been with Devlin before. He was different now and I thought it was because this time around he didn’t have that damn bet holding him back from what he was feeling for me. It was hard to accept when I’d hated him for what he’d done for so long, but I was starting to think that Devlin really had cared for me last spring. “Maybe,” I told her, returning her smile. “I haven’t decided yet.”
For the rest of the afternoon she and I vegged out on the couch watching whatever movie happened to be on the satellite. Thankfully they were rom-coms because I didn’t think my head could have handled noisy action-packed thrillers.
Around dinnertime the bus started filling up again. It was the night that all the girls went to one of the buses and had a girls’ night in while the guys went out to a club or just hung out playing a video game. I wasn’t in the mood to go hang out, but I went and changed out of my sweatshirt and yoga pants into a pair of running shorts and one of Devlin’s T-shirts. It wasn’t much better than what I’d had on before, but it was hot as hell outside and I didn’t want to get heatstroke from my comfy sweatshirt.
When I came back from the bathroom, the living room was full of rockers. Apparently they were staying in tonight as well, so I pulled out my cell and asked them what they wanted on their pizzas. Might as well get them sorted before I took off to Harper’s refurbished bus for the evening to watch who knew what. If she and Lana had her way it was going to be something terrifying and that made me want to leave my own bus even less.
“How many do you want?” I asked the room.
“Better order at least fourteen,” Zander said as he leaned against the counter in the kitchenette beside me. “Some wings, breadsticks, and something sweet for dessert.” He lifted a beer to his lips and took a drink before grinning at me. “That’s just for me. Get those fuckers what they want.”
I lifted my head from my Papa John’s app and grinned back at him. Since his apology I’d softened toward the dipshit. We weren’t as close as we had been before, but it was definitely better than it had been over the last year. “I hope your stomach explodes.”
“Why?” He cocked one brow, smirking down at me. “You’ll probably be the one that has to clean that up.”
I sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Don’t explode, dude.”
“I’ll try my best, babe.” He tipped his bottle of beer back and took a long swallow before tossing the now empty container in the trash. There were only a few beers left in the fridge, but I figured that someone would send a few of the roadies out for more. I dreaded the mess that I was most likely to come back to at the end of the night.
I started ordering the pizzas along with everything else. “If you want something particular on your pizza tell me now. I’m not doing this twice tonight.”
Six different voices started calling out toppings at rapid fire and I squeezed the bridge of my nose twice in pain before I’d even made it to the check-out page on my app. The door to the bus opened and three more rockers stepped into the living room followed by a mini rocker. My gaze skipped over Shane and Jesse, paused for a moment to take in the sight of how delicious Devlin looked in a sweat-stained T-shirt then quickly moved to Harris. “How about a cheese pizza for you and Lucy?”