Chapter 10

Annette huddled on the sofa in the lounge of XVI Hours’ bus, Orion by her side, thanking Quinton as he brought her a cup of coffee. She took a sip, burning her lips, trying to clear her head and take in what the men had just told her.

How did things go so wrong so fast?

Her gaze settled on North.

He frowned back at her, shifting the icepack he’d been holding against his cheek. “Don’t give me that look. This isn’t my fault.”

Quinton glared at him. “You had no business messing with the kid and you know it.”

“Wait, so Annette gets to fuck the guitarist, but I’m getting shit for dancing with the drummer?” North slammed the ice pack on the table in front of him. “Give me a fucking break. I’m not taking heat for this. They’re a bunch of overprotective, judgmental assholes and I’m glad we’re off the tour. Fuck ‘em.”

Damn it, I’m too tired for this. Annette took another sip of coffee, knowing she had to be the calm, reasonable one if they were going to get through this without their prospects and reputation trashed. Orion had already changed all North’s social media passwords, so at least they didn’t have to worry about him starting drama online.

For now.

She sighed and rested her mug on the arm of the sofa. “They think you gave him drugs?”

North scowled, lacing his fingers behind his neck and rolling his eyes like a moody teenager. “Yes.”

“Did you?”

He didn’t bother answering. Simply lifted his hand and gave her the middle finger.

Not helpful, but she didn’t press. North was many things, but he wasn’t a liar. If he’d given Tate drugs, he’d come clean about exactly which one and how much. Then he’d tell everyone the drummer was an adult and got to make his own damn choices. And he’d be right.

But that didn’t change their predicament. If only she’d heard the commotion outside and stepped in before North made things worse. Quinton had briefed her on what had happened, then given her Connor’s number, implying that only the lead singer of Winter’s Wrath was blaming their entire band for what he assumed North had done.

“People say shit when they’re upset. We’ve got two days before the next show.” Annette rubbed her temple with her index and forefinger. “Things will have calmed down by then. Let’s lay low, avoid aggravating the situation, and speak to their manager before we decide anything.”

“No. I’m leaving tomorrow.” North shoved to his feet, stomping over to the fridge to pull out a beer. “Not taking any more shit for something I didn’t do.”

Fucking child. Annette’s eyes narrowed. “Then go.”

North went still with the bottle halfway to his lips. “What?”

Annette shrugged. She wasn’t in the mood to put up with his diva-mode. Time to call him on his bluff. “Then. Go. No one’s stopping you. I’m not sure how the fans will take me singing all our songs on my own, but no better time than the present to find out.”

Eyes wide, North glanced around at their bandmates. His jaw ticked when Quinton stared at him, arms folded over his chest. Orion frowned, then shrugged.

“Seriously? You’re gonna perform without me?” North ran a hand over his face. “Thanks a lot. Nice to know how important I am to you all.”

Kace sighed heavily and stepped up to North’s side, rubbing his shoulder. “You know you’re important, but Annette’s right.”

“Et tu, Kace?” North actually looked hurt now. He took a few gulps of beer and shook his head. “I’m going to bed. Fucking do what you want.”

Taking the beer with him, he strode to the bunk area, dragging the heavy curtain closed behind him. Annette had the urge to laugh, because he was being more dramatic than usual, but she kinda felt bad for him. He’d gotten a lot of grief for something that wasn’t his fault. Sure, the way he’d handled the situation left much to be desired, but what reason did he have to continue the tour if his own band wouldn’t stand by him?

She sat forward, gesturing Quinton, Kace, and Orion closer, keeping her voice low. “We’re sticking with this. I don’t think they’ll really kick us off the tour.”

“Neither do I.” Quinton braced his hip on the counter. “Connor’s decent, but I don’t think he has much sway. Tate might have a bit more pull, but none of us is getting near him anytime soon.”

“Malakai seems pretty level. And it’s a badly kept secret that him and Brave have a thing.” Orion rubbed his hands on his thighs. “I could try talking to him.”

“That works.” God, she loved these guys. As dysfunctional a family as they might be, they were still family. And they’d toughed out worse. Which brought her to her next point. “North is still an easy target though. Brave has it out for him. Connor punched him.” She held up her hand before Quinton could jump in with the reason. It didn’t matter. “I won’t have him feeling alone.”

“He’s not alone.” Kace scraped his teeth over his bottom lip, smudging the bit of beige lipstick that remained. “He knows that.”

“Yeah…” Quinton made a face. “Maybe not. But I’ll do better. I just stood there after he got punched, but I hate it when he turns into an arrogant fucker. He deserved it, but I should have had his back.”

Orion stared at his hands, fisted on his knees. Then he relaxed them and rubbed his thighs. “This whole situation sucks. But Annette is right. I won’t put up with North being an asshole, but we put him in his place. No one else.”

Annette smiled at that, thinking of how her siblings had the same attitude. Her brother might pinch her to make her yelp, but if another guy did it, he’d lose his shit. And her big sister? The mean girls in school only messed with Annette once. Debra never did tell her what she’d said to the girls, but they were real sweet after. Didn’t stop her sister from pulling out embarrassing baby pictures every time Annette had a boy over, but that fierce protectiveness made it easier to forgive her.

“Glad that’s settled.” Annette gulped down the rest of her coffee. “Now, time for you all to get some sleep. I have to let our fans know we’re not dead. We haven’t updated social media in two days.”

“Yes, we have.” Quinton snickered, snatching her empty mug and bringing it to the sink to rinse out before she could protest. “I scheduled a few posts. We can take some pictures tomorrow—well, later today—to keep things fresh. You couldn’t have slept more than two hours. I know you. You’ll stay up all day thinking keeping busy will fix everything. It won’t. It will just make you tired.”

“But I can work on that new song and—”

“Nope.” Orion stood and took her hands, pulling her to her feet. “Sleep. Then we’ll work on that together.”

She frowned at him, but the frown was forced. God, she loved these guys. “You hate working on music.”

“I don’t.” Kace put his hand on the small of her back, helping Orion lead her to the bunks as Quinton held the curtain open. “And I’ve got time to kill.”

They weren’t going to let up. She didn’t mind. She was exhausted and things weren’t going to get easier any time soon. But she still pretended to protest a bit, because the guys were having fun and she even caught North smiling a little from where he was feigning sleep in his bunk.

A sudden shrill of guitar music sounding from the one phone they’d gotten for international calls killed the playful banter. North rolled out of bed and grabbed it from the shelf in the middle of the closet at the end of the bunks.

He cleared his throat, then answered. “Hello?”

No one spoke. She was pretty sure no one even breathed. Call only came on that phone if it was really good, or really bad news.

North’s brow furrowed, so she assumed it was the latter. “Have you spoken to—No, I understand. I’ll have to speak to the rest of the band. Can I call you back in a few minutes?” He nodded. “Of course. Thank you.”

Kace sat beside him, the smudged black liner around his green eyes making them even more intense. “What’s going on?”

Dropping the phone on his bed, North sighed, leaning back on his elbows, his eyes on Quinton. “That was Winter’s Wrath’s managed.”

“Jesse?” Quinton sat on Orion’s bunk, across from North, hands braced on his knees. “What did he want?”

“Not Jesse. Reese.” North wet his bottom lip with his tongue, looking uncertain. “She had a proposal for us. A really good one. I…I wanted to say no, but that’s because I’m stupid when I’m pissed.”

Annette folded her arms over her breasts, eyes narrowing. She wanted to tell North to spit it out, but he was almost acting like a real person. One wrong word and he’d revert to Drama Queen.

His brow rose as he glanced over at her. Then he sighed. “We could have Winter’s Wrath’s marketing department helping us, access to promotional opportunities, interviews, other stuff if we want to negotiate…” He pressed his lips shut. His jaw ticked. “We’re not off the tour. Actually, we could end up being a much bigger part of it.”

“How?” Annette was tired of waiting for him to get to the point. The tension in the room was thick enough an axe would have trouble splitting it in two. “What does she want?”

“Two things.” He looked at Quinton again. “She wants Quinton to fill in for Tate.”

Oh… Annette nodded slowly. “That makes sense. He’s posted videos covering Tate’s drum solos. If she’s seen them, she’ll know he can do it.”

That bit of info seemed to surprise North. He was great with fans in person, but he didn’t pay much attention to what happened online.

His lips curved slightly and he inclined his head to Quinton. “That’s cool. Did you get a lot of views?”

“Almost half a million. Got an advertising check that paid for my new snare.” Quinton dropped his gaze. “No big deal.”

“That snare cost you over a grand. Don’t sell yourself short.” Orion glared at North. “He’s also putting the money he’s still getting toward our hotels and gas.”

Sitting up, North shot both men a guilty look. “I’m totally out of the loop. And that’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

The men seemed satisfied. Annette forced herself not to smile at the progress. North still hadn’t told them everything.

“What else does she want from us?”

North made a face. “A collab. Can be one of our songs or theirs. A cover. She doesn’t care. She wants us to do something together before rumors start about a rift between us. She made it clear Winter’s Wrath can ride out any backlash from what went down last night.”

“But we can’t.” Annette wanted to call the woman back and tell her where to shove her offer. They’d made it this far without letting anyone dictate how they’d perform, or where, or with who. Who did the woman think she was?

Only… Reese had a point. Once the drama spread online, fans would start taking sides. And with Winter’s Wrath’s popularity, they would come out ahead. XVI Hours would lose the fans they shared. Who knew how many people had caught footage of Connor punching North? Of what North had said about Tate? If that got out, if it went viral, they were finished.

But if they were lucky, no one had caught it. Or hadn’t caught enough to start drama. Reese calling gave them some hope. It had been hours and she wasn’t using damage that had already happened as a bargaining chip. All she’d mentioned was rumors. Maybe the situation wasn’t completely hopeless.

“I’ll do it.” Quinton shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “If they want me, I’ll do it. I’m guessing she asked us first.”

“Yeah.” North lowered his gaze. “She won’t ask them while Tate’s still in the hospital. And she said if we weren’t on board there’d be no point. Brave wants us off the tour. If she goes to him with this idea, and we’re like ‘fuck that noise’, it’ll just make things worse. If we come across like we’re willing to help it looks better.”

“We are though, aren’t we?” Kace looked around at them all, like he wasn’t sure what the problem was. “Not just for the opportunity. I mean, that’s awesome, but this is a band that was willing to give us a chance on an awesome tour.”

“True.” Orion turned to Annette. “What do you think?”

Her bandmates all focused on her, and she realized she really did have the final say. She could explain why this was a bad idea and they’d listen. She might feel insignificant when they were at signings and new fans thought she was just the chick selling merch. When they did interviews and bloggers spoke over her like she couldn’t possibly have anything interesting to add.

But right here, with the men she’d built this band with, she mattered. Even North was looking at her like he needed her to take the lead.

So she took it.

“I want the offer in writing. We’ll review the terms together, and if the proposal is as good as it sounds…” It would be. Would probably better. She inhaled slowly. “We’re in.”