bus while Bill was driving?”
“No way,” I said.
Reed turned his head and whistled. “Nash. Come here.”
Nash slid across from Reed and me.
He smiled at me. “What’s up?”
“The beautiful Bree here wants to know about the time you climbed on the roof of the tour bus,” Reed said.
“You did it?” I asked.
“Maybe,” Nash said. “That’s classified band information.”
“Oh. Well… I’m so sorry…”
“Do you want to know how we declassify information?” Reed whispered.
“Sure,” I said.
Nash started to laugh. He lifted his shirt.
I gasped and felt heat rush to my cheeks.
I looked at Abby and Liv again.
“Don’t pay attention to him,” Abby said.
“Is he trying to get you to flash him?” Liv asked.
I was frozen in place.
“Are you going to throw me under the bus?” Nash asked.
I nodded to Nash.
I nodded to Liv.
Reed smacked the table and laughed. “You went too far, Nash. How dare you? This beautiful woman is joining us and you turn into this disgusting… this filthy… rock star…”
“Wait, wait,” Nash said. “I am a filthy rock star. Remember?”
“Then you better warm up your right hand for later,” Liv said.
Reed laughed.
“Same goes for you,” Abby said.
“Me?” Reed asked. “What did I do?”
“You’ve been flirting with Bree all night.”
“It’s just rock star fun,” Reed said. “You know that by now.”
“Rock star fun?” Abby asked. “Well, if we’re on the tour bus, then I should just sleep with Liv, right?”
Both Reed and Nash yelled YES at the same time.
All of us women rolled our eyes.
Reed looked back at me. “This night took a turn, huh?”
“I just wanted to hear a story,” I said.
“I’m best known for writing stories,” Reed said. “With my tongue.”
That’s when I saw Sab stand up.
He was more than pissed now.
He walked toward the table and Reed looked up at him.
Reed smiled ear to ear and stood up too.
For a second I thought they were going to fight.
I had no idea how a fight would work on a tour bus that was moving at seventy miles an hour.
Reed made a fist and gently hit Sab’s chest a few times.
Then he went to Abby, who wasn’t happy to see him.
Nash slipped away too, leaving Sab towering over the table. And me.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
I tried smiling but that didn’t help.
And the way he kept staring at me…
I had to get off the bus - right now.
17
SAB
She pulled herself away from the table and stood up.
She stumbled to her left.
Wren had to catch her to keep her from crashing into the couch and the other side of the bus.
I just watched.
She found her balance, but there wasn’t much of it.
She looked back, then at me.
For the last I wasn’t sure how many fucking hours I witnessed Bree do something she hadn’t done in a long time.
Which was drink her feelings away.
When she went that fast, that hard, and then started flirting with other guys…
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I say as I reach for the bottle of vodka. “What are you doing?”
“It’s a party in the woods,” she says. “Asshole.”
She laughs in my face.
I reach for the bottle again and she punches me in the chest.
“Back off, Sebastian,” she says. “We’re just friends. Right? Do you want to fool around with me? Huh? Just say it. Am I good enough for you? I’m not good enough for Bobby.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. I told him to go away. That’s right. It was me. He didn’t cheat on me. That’s a lie…”
Her eyes are drunk. Her body is loose. She’s a mess.
I try touching her arm and she hits my chest again.
I have no choice but to let her go at that point.
But I keep a close eye on things.
These parties in the woods are getting really fucking old now.
It used to be really cool to do. Now there were problems. Everywhere.
Bree wanders up to Gavin and grabs the front of his shirt. She jumps to her toes and whispers something to him.
He laughs and touches her sides.
His hands move up… and up…
I grit my teeth.
Bree throws her head back and starts to dance.
Maybe it’s not my place to keep her from making mistakes, but I can’t stand back and let it happen… I can’t have her wake up tomorrow hungover and unsure of what she did with someone the night before. Also Gavin is not a good guy. He’s the type that will lie to a drunk girl about protection and then if that girl got pregnant, he’d do nothing to help.
I’ve had a few drinks myself and now I’m picturing Bree pregnant… by