“You couldn't have just texted me to say that's what was up?” Sean asked, wearing his hurt on his sleeve.
“Not just that.” Shaking her head violently, Lola lifted her phone and opened it. The black screen gazed back at us. “It died early on, I forgot to charge it last night. I couldn't have said anything if I had wanted to.”
Her phone died? The knowledge left me nervous. What if this had been an actual emergency? Reaching out, I took Lola by the wrist. “Come on, let's go.”
“Slow down,” Sean said through gritted teeth. “I need to talk to her first!”
“I thought you just wanted to make sure she was okay?” I asked. Keeping my hold on Lola, I peered at Sean over my shoulder. I didn't see Lola's irritation until she pulled free from me with a grunt.
Rubbing her wrist gingerly, she frowned my way. “Let me talk to him, we can all walk over to sound check together. It won't mess up the schedule.”
It'll take away from the time I want with just you, I thought darkly. I was being greedy, but I chose not to voice it. I'll have her to myself soon enough. “Fine.” Ruffling my hair, I glanced sideways at Sean. “Let's walk and talk, then.”
My manager, phone to her ear, waved someone down. “In the trunk,” she said to the young man, “There's a bunch of food. Hopefully nothing went bad, it's been a bit since the store. Load it onto the bus—and you.” Those chocolate eyes stabbed at me. “We need to hurry, so less 'walk' and more 'jog' to the building.”
Taking my eyes off of Lola and her brother, the two of them strolling with their heads together in front of me, I wrinkled my nose. “It's not my fault you're so late. Speaking of which, what the hell was that bullshit about not calling me to tell me what was wrong?”
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Speaking softly, Brenda leaned towards me as we walked. “Be angry at me if you want, but with all the alone time I got with Lola, she finally opened up to me. I learned... some hard stuff. I think it really helped her to get it off her chest.”
My mind was floored. Watching the siblings, I saw how hunched Sean's shoulders were. The guy looked pissed. Abruptly, Sean broke away. The guitarist stomped off to the side, no longer heading towards the back door of Belly Up.
“Uh oh,” Brenda mumbled next to me.
We came to a halt beside the girl, her sapphire eyes fixed on the fleeing back of her brother. The hurt in her face was tangible. “What happened? Why'd he leave like that?” I asked, curling an arm around her waist in an attempt to comfort—or claim—her.
“It's stupid,” she said quickly, features smoothing to hide any emotion. “He's just being a jerk. He wanted to know what went down, and I said I'd talk to him about it another time.”
Colt, who had followed us as we moved, bent down to grab Lola's shoulder gently. “Don't let it get to you. Siblings can be real assholes to each other, take it from me.” The wink he offered softened the teasing.
Lifting her head, Lola broke into a weak smile. “You said before that you had a brother. I remember that now. Does he get like this sometimes?”
The lanky guy waved a hand, displaying three fingers. “I have three brothers, and two sisters.” He chuckled at Lola's amazed gawking. “And do they get like what, immature stuck up babies? Yeah, every single one of them has at some point. It's normal.”
“Hey,” I said, breaking into the discussion. “Let's just get set for the show tonight, we can worry about family dynamics when things aren't so time sensitive.”
Covering her mouth, Brenda gasped dramatically. “Holy shit, has the real Drezden Halifax returned to us? I thought you'd been replaced by a selfish prick who didn't care about schedules anymore!”
My eyes became slits. “I always cared.”
Lifting her hands, she spun on a heel and opened the back door. “I could have sworn that the man I had to drag out of the hotel this morning didn't care about leaving on time. That's all I'm saying.”
Lola and I shared a look. Her face was pink, a rose in bloom; I was sure she was thinking about what we'd done. Any anger at Brenda for busting my balls dissipated at the tiny, private smile the girl sent