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“Okay, okay, guys. Don’t forget this is a family-friendly show,” Michael interrupted with a chuckle. “It’s good to see your friendship has survived all these years. How do you keep it going traveling on the road together for months at a time?”
The rest of the interview passed quickly. In the downtime between questions directed at him, his mind wandered to the songs he—Crossfire—had to write, to the logistics of getting it done with the tight schedule he had over the next few months, to Cassie again and what she was doing at this moment, if Bryan had cornered her yet. If he’d groveled.
Zac rolled his neck to ease the tension from it.
“Thanks for hanging out with us this morning, guys.”
Zac blinked at Amy’s words and stood, realizing the interview was over. He could only assume he hadn’t missed any questions aimed his way. He thanked the hosts and followed the others out of the studio.
“What was up your ass at the end?” Connor asked as he fell in beside him.
Zac shot him a look. “What do you mean?”
“You looked like you wanted to strangle someone.”
He’d been thinking about Cassie. About whether Bryan had found her. “Just thinking about a tough song the guys and I are working on,” he lied.
Connor frowned. “You know if you get stuck, we’re more than happy to help.”
“Thanks, but we’ve got it.”
Connor put a hand on his shoulder and stopped, forcing him to stop too. “You’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself and the rest of Crossfire. You don’t have to do everything on your own, you know.”
“I appreciate that, man. I really do. But I’ve got it.We’vegot it.”
Connor looked at him searchingly, then he nodded and dropped his hand, continuing out of the building. Zac rubbed the back of his neck before following him.
Twenty minutes later, the car pulled up next to where their bus was parked outside the arena. When he entered the living room, the first thing he did was scan it. He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for. Orwhohe was looking for. What he found was Lexie sitting at the table, fiddling with her camera.
Her gaze immediately went to Connor, a beautiful smile making her pretty face glow. Connor headed straight for her, cupping her cheek and dropping a soft kiss on her lips. A pang of some unfamiliar emotion tunneled through Zac’s chest at the sight of them.
He shook the feeling off and headed to the kitchenette to make himself a coffee. With his steaming mug, he settled at the table across from Lexie.
She smiled at him. “How was the interview?”
“Same old, same old.”
She nodded and went back to pressing buttons on her camera. The silence stretched on. Zac took a sip of his coffee and gazed out the window.
Without looking up, Lexie spoke. “Just in case you’re curious, it’s not looking good for Cassie. She’s not likely to find a bunk.”
He noticed the slightest upturn of her lips. “Doesn’t seem like something you should smile about.”
“Well…” This time she looked at him. “I was thinking, if you guys are okay with it, that she could stay with us.”
He put his cup down and studied her.
“I mean, we’ve got the spare bunk. It would be a shame for it to go to waste when there’s someone who needs it.”
“She works for me. It’d be weird for her.”
“She’d get used to it.”
He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. He didn’t know why he was hesitating. Lexie was right. It’d be a shame if Cassie had to leave when they had a perfectly good bunk available. Connor’s old one was just going to waste, with him and Lexie sharing the small bedroom at the back of the bus. And the thought of Cassie having to leave her job because of Bryan pissed him off.
“Yeah, okay, makes sense,” he said, trying to ignore his unease over the thought of being stuck in close proximity to Cassie for the next few months.
Lexie beamed. “Good, because I’ve already spoken to her about it. I’ll check with the others, then let her know that if Charlie can’t find something, she can move in with us.”
