AllFreeNovel
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“Ready?” I ask Willa, who is shaking her head at her phone.
“This is the fourth time this has happened. He never learns.”
I just laugh. Leave it to my brother to break the tension in a room he isn’t even in.
“I’ve never seen them drunk before.”
“It happens. Not as often as it used to, thankfully.”
Willa and I are sitting on a couch on the tour bus. Kai didn’t speak the entire time we were walking to the bus and already went to bed in one of the bunks. Cal and Mav took way too many shots and were now both sprawled on the floor, giggling.
We’re traveling to the next, and last, city overnight because the band has an interview with a local morning show first thing. I’m glad I don’t have to dointerviews. The idea of being asked questions live on television is terrifying. Wait…
“Willa? Am I expected to be on the morning show tomorrow?” I ask her.
She tilts her head and thinks about it. “It’s possible. I’m sure they’re going to ask about you after tonight’s show. But we also submit topics that are off limits ahead of time, which obviously hasn’t happened with you.” The more she thinks out loud, the more I panic. “Our manager hasn’t said anything as far as I know. She usually goes through Cal or Kai. But Lindsey has also been sucking at her job. I guess the answer is, I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you fire her if she sucks?”
“Lindsey Sparks is the daughter of Alder Sparks. AKA, the owner of Sparks Records. The company we’re signed with.”
“Ah. So if you fire her, daddy will not be pleased,” I say, not realizing they were in a tough situation.
“Pretty much. I don’t think it matters, since he’s not pleased, anyway.”
I think about that for a minute, grateful to no longer be stuck imagining myself saying idiotic things on tv. “Would you want to resign if they were happy with you? Cal made it seem like you guys weren’t happy with them, either.”
“No, I don’t think we would. They treat us like machines and not people. We’re barely able to be home, and when we are, we’re expected to pump out an album and get back on the road in a few months’ time. It’s exhausting and unsustainable,” Willa shrugs and curls her purple hair around her finger. “We were too young and excited when we signed. Weknow better now.”
“Do you think you’ll sign with someone else?” I ask what’s been on my mind recently. Kai thinks I’m going to leave the band after this tour, but will there be a band after?
“We’d like to, and I’m sure someone will want us. The problem is, because of how quickly we had to push albums out, they’re not great. So what the labels see is mediocre and it won’t get us a good deal. We don’t want to be trapped like we are now.”
I nod in understanding. No one understands feeling trapped more than I do.
My brother and Mav are both passed out on the floor, foot to chin. I take a quick picture and stand.
“I’m going to sleep. Please don’t wake me up and bring me with you in the morning.”
Willa laughs. “No promises, babe. You might be the thing that saves us.”
“No pressure,” I mumble.
The curtains on Kai’s bunk are closed. He’s slept with me two nights in a row to keep me from being stuck in my nightmares. But whatever happened on stage today shut him down and no matter how much I want to ask him to take the nightmares away again, I can’t.
fifteen
KAI
Screaming wakesme from a dead sleep.Fuck.I meant to stay awake and slip into her bunk after she fell asleep. I slip out of my bunk and see a sleepy Willa pop her head out of hers. She sees me and raises her chin before going back to sleep.
Slowly crawling in next to Belle, I pull her to my chest and whisper to her like I have the past couple of nights. She calms for a minute before she starts sobbing. Well, that’s new. I hold her closer, letting her tears soak through my shirt as she clings to me.
“He can’t get you here. You’re safe, Belle,” I whisper into her hair.
“I wasn’t dreaming about Brad.”
I stiffen, my hand freezing on her back where it was stroking. She’s never woken up before, not even when we tried really hard to wake her.
