He lets out a deep breath. “Not tonight. Kate’s going to stay on the bus until it’s time to head to the green room.”
“Noted. Moving on,” Alex declares, running through Jake’s minute-by-minute schedule for the rest of the evening.
I can see why Alex’s military background makes him an ideal tour manager. He’s no-nonsense, exceptional with scheduling, and great at diffusing delicate situations. Jake claims he’s a softie once you get to know him, but I haven’t seen that side of him yet. Let’s just say I’m glad it was Max who almost walked in on us this morning; if Alex had been on the other side of that door, I’d be short of two orgasms for the day.
I try not to squirm as Jake strokes my side, focusing on committing every face and name to memory. The people in this room are like family to Jake, which means they’ll be part of my life long-term. And this doesn’t take into consideration the more than fifty others Jake personally introduced me to last night, who have various roles on his crew. Almost every one of them has been a part of his team for years. It’s probably why they were shocked when he introduced me as his girlfriend. The pride and happiness on his face was heartwarming, while their reactions were entertaining. No one expected him to have a girlfriend, let alone a serious one.
Yet here I am.
By his side.
Where I plan to stay for good.
“How are you enjoying the tour so far?” Anna asks, beside me on the side of the stage. She’s changed out of her business attire into denim cutoff shorts and a plain gray T-shirt, and the oppressive humidity seems to have zero impact on her blonde, bouncy curls. Meanwhile, I gave up on my hair looking halfway decent, pulling it into a messy bun more than an hour ago. There isn’t a hair product on this earth that can control my frizz when it’s humid, rainy, or there’s even a hint of moisture in the atmosphere.
“It’s definitely been an adventure,” I shout, ensuring she can hear me over the music as Jake and his band finish up their set.
“So, I’ve heard,” Anna replies with a wink.
Fuck my life.
Max must have opened his big mouth. Pressing my lips together tightly, I glance at the concrete floor, hoping my face isn’t beet red.
“Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me. Max is usually a vault, but after the vague comment during the meeting earlier, I was relentless. Convinced him I needed to know for the sake of Chase’s reputation. It worked like a charm.” Anna grins as she scans the audience.
Hearing everyone refer to Jake as Chase Elliott is taking some getting used to. It’s been his stage name since Jason signed Jake as his first client shortly after he moved to Nashville. Jason wanted him to have a name that flowed off the tongue. It had the bonus of allowing Jake to maintain more privacy as his career grew. Only Jason, Anna, Max, and the people in our hometown of Southmount know his real identity; everyone else assumes his real name is Chase. I fret more often than I should about accidentally calling him Jake in front of others, so I decided tostart referring to him as babe instead. Fewer opportunities for me to slip up. But his real name will eventually come out. It’s inevitable once people find out we’re dating and learn we grew up together.
“Getting interrupted this morning by Max was not on my bingo card. I’m not sure what I expected to happen during the first weekend on tour, but it was definitely not that.” I focus on Jake as he moves effortlessly on the stage, belting out one note after another. He doesn’t seem fazed by playing to a sold-out audience, with thousands of phones pointed at him—all trying to capture a clip that will help them remember tonight or enable them to go viral. No one out there knows what it’s like for him after a show. How he walks off the stage a sweaty mess, partly exhausted yet full of adrenaline. Last night it led to some pretty amazing sex before he crashed. Apparently, that’s how he feels after every show. A shiver runs down my spine, thinking about how he likely worked off his pent-up energy before me. The countless eager and willing women who throw themselves at him every day.
Nope. Not going to spiral about the women that came before me. He chose me. That’s all that matters.
I shake my head, trying to force the rest of these ridiculous thoughts out of my mind. “Is his schedule packed every day on tour? I wasn’t sure whether today is the norm or not.”
A soft laugh escapes Anna. “You thoughtthiswas busy? It’s nothing compared to what it’ll look like in a couple of weeks. We intentionally try to keep things light the first couple of weeks to allow the team to acclimate, and then it really ramps up.” She quickly glances at her phone, typing furiously before sliding the phone into her back pocket. “And that’s without a new album to record and promote. Plus, it’s going to become insane once the news of you two hits socials.”
My head snaps in her direction. “What do you mean by insane?”
“Oh, darling,” she says in her Southern accent that seemed to become thicker with the last word. “Chase is one of the most eligible bachelors in country music, and now he’s off the market. Every one of those women screaming in the audience is going to lose their ever-loving minds. The mere thought of him being unavailable and in a serious relationship will be a hot topic for months. People will root for the demise of your relationship. Criticize everything you do, say, and wear. Have opinions about whether you’re good enough for him. You name it, they’ll critique it. And heaven forbid anything about his music changes, because you’ll get blamed for it. It’s going to be relentless, but I’ll get you both through it.”
My mouth drops open, unable to comprehend everything she just said.
Anna reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “Take a deep breath. Everything will be okay.”
Nothing about what she described sounds okay to me. It sounds like a complete shitshow. My absolute worst nightmare brought to life. Panic starts to grow within me as my heart pounds faster and harder. I knew life would become complicated once we went public, but what Anna described is almost unbearable.
Jake strolls off the stage, a wide grin splitting his face as he uses the hem of his shirt to wipe the dripping sweat from his brow. “Hey, sweetheart. How did you—” He frowns at my likely horrified expression. “What’s wrong?” He pulls me toward him, his arms wrapped tightly around me as I lay my head against his damp shirt. “Damn it, Anna. What did you say to scare the shit out of Kate?”
“Just the truth. She needs to be prepared for what’s about to happen when the world finds out about the two of you. I’m notgoing to sugarcoat things for either of you.” Anna flicks her long blonde hair over her shoulder, staring back at Jake. “Your fans will know this is serious the moment they find out about your history. The piranhas will come out in full force, hell-bent on destroying her and sabotaging your relationship.”
I swallow hard, curling myself tighter into Jake.
“Let’s finish this conversation backstage,” Jake says, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. He takes my hand and leads me through a maze of hallways as Anna follows us.
There are murmurs of “great show” throughout our brief walk. Jake takes a few seconds to acknowledge everyone before moving on, determined to get to a private area as quickly as possible to start yelling at Anna. In all our years as friends, I’ve rarely seen him raise his voice. He has no problem with confrontation—he’s proven that numerous times when he stood up for me against my mother—but he always does it calmly. This situation might be different.
He’s become even more protective of me since we got together and refuses to let anyone or anything jeopardize our relationship. It’s extremely endearing and completely unnecessary.
We’re on solid ground.
