Page 77 of Animal Beats

Her laugh reappears. “Sorry to say, before you arrived on the scene, Río was heralded as nearly as big of a manwhore as Bennett. Although, no one can take that title away from the lead singer. And I mean, no one.”

“Does Jenna know?”

“Sure does. Because of her, he changed his ways. I didn’t know him before this tour, obviously, but let’s say he was to women what Río is to drinking. The man doesn’t even look at another woman now.”

“Good,” I reply. At least one band member is capable of having a real relationship.

“True. I find it difficult to imagine any others settling down. Although, I think you have a shot with Río. He seems pretty smitten to me.”

I close my eyes. She’s been my confidant on tour—and I feel a little guilty about not sharing this with her before—so I admit, “We were making a go of it before today. Something changed… and I’m still trying to figure out what.”

She turns to face me. “What an asshole! Here I was, liking you two together. What happened?”

Hell if I know. I shrug. “I have no idea. One minute he was, uhm, super sexy and the next, he was colder than Antarctica.”

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry.” She moves to the rack marked “Río.” “I’m tempted to put a hole in his pants.”

I smile. Followed by a little giggle. She joins me, and soon we’re both laughing hard. Coop, 007, and Tris enter The Closet.

The bassist speaks loudly. “Care to share with the rest of the class?”

Nese and I look at each other and laugh harder. “Nope. Girls’ secret.” I extend my pointer finger toward the stylist, who touches mine and we both make popping noises.

“Not fair,” Tris grumbles.

Coop interjects, “C’mon guys. Let’s get dressed while we have The Closet basically to ourselves. Doesn’t happen very often.”

We give the three band members space—Nese to finish up with the band’s outfits and I return to the other room to work on updating their socials. All the while trying to puzzle another way to earn more money. For Mila.

I’m pressing send when Río enters The Closet. He and Bennett laugh about something. Must be nice not to have a care in the world and be on stage with your best friends nightly.

When I’m finished, I stand and enter the backstage area which is filled with the opening band’s tunes. I stake out a nondescript corner so as not to be front and center when UC comes in. Which is about five minutes later.

Río starts to walk to me and my back arches like a cat ready to enter into battle. He must see something in my eyes, because he veers toward Coop. Guess he’s smarter than I gave him credit for.

From my corner, I stifle my impulse to stick my tongue out at the shirtless drummer. The one who ruined everything in my life. I turn my head away.

Luke approaches. “Hey. Still no word from the label, so I think we dodged that bullet.”

“I’m glad. Hopefully my press release did the trick.”

“Plus the donation to the boat, courtesy of Río.”

My body freezes. “I didn’t tell him to do that, although I had mentioned something like it to the captain.”

“Whatever. Our boy made a hefty donation, which should keep things more on the down low. We’re not out of the woods yet, though. The videos the passengers took are pretty damning.”

I crumple inward. “He was drunk. I don’t know what happened, but he drank at least a six-pack by himself.”

The manager puts his hands on my shoulders and looks me directly in the eyes. “I know I asked you to babysit him, but he’s wild. I honestly believe you did your best to keep him away from alcohol. We have to wait.”

“Thanks. I did what I could.”

“Including getting him back on the boat.” He smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

“Seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

“Wishing you hadn’t now?” Luke steps backward.