AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Zac shrugged, doing his best to ignore the warmth of her fingers against his skin. “I’d be an asshole if I left you having to deal with it on your own.”
Lexie walked over, her camera hanging around her neck. “I’m happy to keep you company this morning, Cassie.”
“You don’t have to do that.” The relief on Cassie’s face belied her words. The woman was hopeless at hiding her feelings.
“It’ll give me a chance to take some photos of the load-in, anyway. The fans love seeing all the behind-the-scenes stuff.”
“Okay, then. Thank you.”
Cassie looked back at Zac, her lingering smile fading. The shrieks from the fans were getting louder as Connor, Tex, and Noah made their way toward the fence to sign autographs. “I’d better let you go,” she said.
For a second, she looked almost bereft, vast loneliness darkening her eyes. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like, stuck on this huge tour, suddenly cut loose, and left to drift without an anchor. He had a strange urge to reach out and touch her, reassure her she wasn’t alone. But he didn’t. Because the last thing she needed was false promises of comfort from someone like him. And he did have to go; he could hear some of the fans yelling his name. Duty called.
“When you’ve sorted somewhere to sleep, just grab one of us or one of the security guys if we’re not around.”
“Thank you, Zac.”
He gave her a nod, then headed for the surging mob of people, their hands thrust through the railings clutching merchandise to be signed. As he reached them, some of the fans transferred their attention from his bandmates to him.
“Zac! Zac! Can you sign my shirt?”
“Zac! Will you marry me?”
“Zac! I love you!”
“Who’s the girl, Zac?” That was from one of the paparazzi loitering about behind the crowd, obviously with nothing better to do in Denver on a Friday morning than ask stupid questions. Zac ignored him and smiled at a woman reaching through the fence, holding out a shirt with his face on it.
Tex looked over his shoulder and gave him a big, shit-eating grin. “Dragged yourself away, did you?”
“What are you talking about?” Zac signed his name on the shirt and handed it back to the fan. As he did, she reached through the bars of the fence and grabbed his bicep, her fingers gripping so hard, he wouldn’t be surprised if she left marks. He kept the smile on his face but reached up and took her hand, squeezing it, then letting go and stepping away.
“You know, Cassie, your pretty guitar tech. The one you just spent the last five minutes talking to instead of being over here signing autographs for your loyal fans.”
Zac rolled his eyes. “Really, man? She works for me. Even if she didn’t, she had her heart ripped out yesterday. Do you actually think I was trying to hook up with her?”
“Why not? A bit of revenge fucking never hurt anyone.”
He had a vision of Cassie, naked, skin slick with sweat as she arched up beneath him. His dick pulsed, but he shoved the image aside. “I think being with Eden has dulled your brain.”
“Nah, dude. I saw the way you looked at her.”
“You mean like an employee who needs help?”
Tex paused while a fan pressed their face up to the fence and stuck their camera through to take a photo with him. He turned his attention back to Zac. “I distinctly rememberyoutellingmethat the best way to get over someone was to get under someone else.”
Involuntarily, the corner of Zac’s mouth kicked up. “That’s because you were being an idiot.”
Tex laughed. “And your point is?”
Noah butted in. “I don’t see the problem here. You’re single, she’s single. You both get off, and she gets to give Bryan a big fuck you.”
The thought of taking Cassie to bed and helping her screw Bryan out of her system was a little too appealing. Too appealing to be anything but a terrible idea. He had to remind himself she wasn’t his type. Okay, so she was beautiful and hurting, and maybe in another situation, he might just be tempted to break his rule about sleeping with women like her—ones who were after the happily ever after. But they were stuck on tour together for another few months,withher ex-fiancé. And at this stage, the ex part wasn’t even definite. Cassie still wore her engagement ring, for fuck’s sake. The whole thing screamed complicated.
And he didn’t do complicated.
That was even truer now, with everything he had on his plate. So, proving to Cassie that she was better off without Bryan would have to be some other man’s job. After today, they’d go back to having a strictly working relationship. And only if she didn’t end up quitting the tour.
The thought made him frown. Cassie was good at what she did. She didn’t deserve to be driven away from her job because her asshole ex couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.
