AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I cut him off. "He sent me a text message to say Melanie was coming with us." Something about her helping on the tour and he'd explain everything later. Whatever, it was none of my business. I was just an employee of the label. If they wanted to hire someone they could.
"Great." Jude grinned. "We promise not to create any more messes."
"You do not," Strike said. "You two are going to create lots of mess, just like Harper and Cord do." He made a face at all four of them.
"If we make any mess, we'll clean it up," Jude said. He didn't deny Strike's suggestion.
Melanie grimaced like she preferred they didn't discuss intimate details of her and Jude's sex life.
"No one wants to hear it," Cord said.
"I certainly don't," I agreed. Their sex lives were their business unless they got photographed or caught on tape. Then it was my business.
"It's much more fun to do it than it is to hear about it, right Hales?" Strike winked at me.
"Strike," Axel said warningly.
"What?" Strike tried to look innocent but failed miserably. He shrugged. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."
I forced myself to glance at Axel for long enough to give him a withering look. I should have known he was just like every other guy. I really should. This wasn't my first rodeo, just my first time being humiliated in front of an entire band. And their girlfriends. What we did was nothing to be ashamed of, but him telling them all about it… I had no words for that.
"Hayley, can we talk?" Axel asked.
"We need to check in our suitcases," I said tersely.
I let the guys go on ahead before they were noticed and another crowd gathered.
Axel stayed back, his brow creased in a frown.
"Maybe we can sit together on the flight?" he asked lightly.
"There's nine of us and only two seats in each row," I said. "Sit with your friends." I gave him a look like I'd rather sit on a whole different plane than sit with him. When he looked like he might argue, I added, "The seats have already been allocated anyway. Roman did it this morning."
I didn't have to tell him not to put me near Axel, he automatically put the band together, along with their girlfriends. Even before I knew Axel bragged to the rest of them, I wasn't going to be sitting with them. Why should I? I wasn't one of them. I was just someone on the same flight.
Axel looked like I'd slapped him. "I didn't tell them," he insisted.
I snorted and stepped up to the check-in counter. That effectively cut off any further conversation for now. While he was still checking in and getting his boarding pass, I slipped through security and went to grab coffee and disappear into the crowds.
I found a seat in the quiet area away from the gate our flight would board from. I pulled out my laptop, set it on the table and opened it. I might as well get some work done while I was waiting.
I opened the file I needed and stared blankly at the screen, not seeing anything. I felt numb. I could have hit myself for being so naïve. How many times that I told myself he was a rock star and I was a regular girl? That he didn’t owe me anything. I was nothing more than a distraction while his friends were busy with their girlfriends and families. And stupid me, was dumb enough to think maybe he'd care about me. He must have had a good laugh over that.
I didn't look up when someone flopped into the chair opposite me. Didn't even look up when a firm hand closed my laptop.
"I didn't tell them," Axel said. "I swear."
I looked up at his too-handsome-for-my-own-good face. "Yeah? How did they all know then? How could they possibly know if you hadn't told them?" I didn't want to think about her much detail he might have gone into. Did he have a good laugh over my relative lack of experience? Compared to him, I'd hardly been with anyone.
He sighed. "Strike guessed. He knew I picked you up from the airport and he guessed the rest. Then he told everyone else."
I wanted to believe him, I really did. But when it came down to it, everyone knew and that was hard to swallow.
"It was no one else's business," I said.
"No, it isn't," he agreed. "What we shared was just between us. That's the problem with spending so much time with people. They start to know you too well. It's difficult to put anything past them. Especially Strike. He seems to have a radar for a crap load of things. I guess he's just good at reading people. Or I'm really bad at keeping my thoughts to myself." He looked like he was thinking of reaching for my hand, but decided against it.
"I'm not ashamed of anything we did," he added.
