Lil’s POV

The bus ride was fine really, we were in a warm and nice place, headed towards Phoenix now as far as I heard.
We would be the one to set up the merch booth and then help on stage as soon as the show begins.

I sat beside Jason on the couch, just a couple of minutes ago I had told them we would take the job. I was really happy that Jen had agreed, I mean… it was the best solution really.

I got what her concerns were, but we didn’t have many options at the moment anyway. We had to come up with a plan, and this wouldn’t go on forever, it was a limited time frame, and afterwards we would leave these guys behind and no harm done, at least that is what I hoped would happen.

I looked at Jason from the side, just when he looked up to me as well “Something wrong, Lil?” He asked and held his head to the side as if he wanted to study me.

I shook my head and gave him a smile “I’m fine, really. Happy to be able to stay with you guys.” I admitted and then noticed the slip but Jason was quicker “Wouldn’t you rather be spending your time on your vacation, then working with this crazy bunch?!” He questioned and I tried to play it off.

“Well, sure.. but you guys are fun too, and we could use the extra cash” I grinned and he looked at me a moment longer before going back to typing on his phone.

“I told the guys you will be staying with us. They say we need to celebrate this” Jason rolled his eyes and I had to chuckle “Hopefully that celebration will go better than the last time” I nudged his shoulder with mine and he stared at me, I swallowed and saw how his eyes moved from my eyes down to my mouth.

“So, Phoenix is the next stop. Can’t wait to see the stage and all the venue” I quickly said distracting him and he shook his head lightly, “Yeah… not much different though, the stage is a lot smaller than Las Vegas, but the set up will be similar” He explained to me some of the changes and I nodded, until my eyes felt to heavy and I closed them just a for a short second.

I felt like someone was trying to wake me, but I had barely closed my eyes. What did they want from me really?

“Lil? Hey… Lil? Come on, beauty, wake up…” I blinked my eyes open and stared into Matt’s eyes. Where had he come from?! Wasn’t he supposed to be on the other bus?

I closed my eyes again trying to turn around, I didn’t want to get up, it felt too good and secure here. “Jason, get the fuck up…” Matt’s voice took on a different tone and I blinked my eyes open again, when the warmth was lifted away “What?! She had been sleeping so peacefully” Jason voice sounded and I tried to sit up, seeing I had been lying on Jason’s side completely and he had his arm around me while Matt stood before us with aglare.

“Shit, where are we?! Have I slept that long?” I rubbed my eyes and felt even worse than before.“Yes, you did. While we already started the work…” Jen walked past us and rolled her eyes at me. I flipped her off and she grinned, sure she had to walk in right now.

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to” I felt my cheeks heat up and moved away from Jason who sighed.
“No problem, MB and Jen had already started to unpack, it was just 20 minutes since we arrived and I wanted to give you a little more time to relax”Jason clarified and Matt held his hand out to me “Come on, I’ll keep an eye on you so you don’t fall asleep again. I bet Jason bored you with his talking, so that’s a fine excuse for the falling asleep” Matt shot into Jason’s direction who answered with narrowed eyes but kept his mouth shut.

I took Matt’s hand and we walked with the other to the merch booth, it would be Jen and my first working place for the day. The guys set up the main tent and we carried the boxes with the different shirt designs to the table and spread them out.

I tried to grab the last box from the upper shelf, but couldn’t quite reach it, who the hell was building these stupid tall shelves anyway. Just when I had reached it with my fingertips, I suddenly felt hands on my hips and someone lifted me up.

I squeaked surprised and a deep chuckle sounded from the person holding me “Always at your service, Lil” Matt’s voice sounded and I had to calm my breathing, shit he scared me to death.

“You mean, that I should always call for you, when I have a height problem?” I asked a little teasing, while grabbing the box and setting it down before me. Oh so slowly he let me glide down his body and I felt his hard muscles behind me.

Damn, he was a tease, and I was wondering if my decision not to get involved with him was a mistake. He was walking sex and he was using his power on me, but I knew he would be doing that to anyone else as well, so I had to stay strong, not only was he my boss, but he was a rock star who was chasing skirts wherever he walked.

I took a step forward but Matt leaned over my shoulder “I was wondering after the show tonight, we should celebrate you girls being a permanent part of the team, we could meet in our bus and have a small drink? You said we can be friends, so why don’t we get to know each other a little better?” His voice sounded smooth and sexy and I couldn’t suppress the shiver this time.

“I-I..” I started but was interrupted from Brian walking in “Shads, we need you for sound check, you coming or what?!” He looked at him and me and lifted his eyebrow “I guess, I got more chances with Jen, huh? This seems like a sealed deal?” He smirked and I took another step away from Matt.

“No, it’s not like that, we-” I started but this time Jen came walking in “Lil, I need you help out here!” Jen looked between the three of us and then motioned with her head to me and outside and I followed.

“Sorry, work” I excused myself and breathed deeply in and out, soon Matt and Brian left for sound check and Jen and I were alone to work behind the booth.

“You feeling better?” I asked Jen in a quiet moment while we sat on the tables waiting for more customers.

“I’m okay. I guess… I don’t know, I freaked out, this whole situation was nagging on me, I guess” Jen shrugged her shoulders and I pulled her in a half hug, patting her back.

“I’m just really confused that these guys… they take us in without a second thought, they seem to care… that’s fucking… that’s so weird. I can’t believe that, no one gave a shit about me before… Why would they do that, Lil?” Jen asked and I saw hurt and concern in her eyes.

I looked at her with sympathy “I care about you, too. And we don’t really know each other long, but if we stay together and we trust each other, this will work out, believe me. Sometimes you have to trust people, Jenny” I winked at her and she stuck her tongue out to me at her nickname.

“What’s going on with you and the singer?” Jen suddenly changed the topic and I snapped my head around to her, “What? What do you mean?” I asked and felt my cheeks heat again, damn that seemed to be a habit from me lately.

“He is hanging all over you… and you all over him… you think that is a good idea?” Jen lifted her eyebrow at me and I sighed heavily “I know it’s not a good idea, and that’s what I told him yesterday… but he is fucking hot… what can I do?!” I groaned and Jen rolled her eyes “You are so bad… Get a grip” Jen said and tried to be serious but I saw the teasing lift of her lips.

“They want to celebrate in their bus later on, our permanent stay, you in?!” I asked and she rolled her eyes “No, please… I just wanna-” She started to complain but I grabbed her hand “Please, we need to socialize a little bit, or they will really think something is wrong with us, come on?!” I looked at her with hopeful eyes and waited for her answer.

Zack’s POV

My back was fucking killing me, the night on the small couch all crooked and without a real blanket didn’t do me any good, and what did I get for all that?

A fucking ‘Thank you’ note?! That was it?! She fucking went out without a word and since then I haven’t seen any sign of her.
Or okay fine, I did see her, but she was always either around Jimmy, the Berry brothers or Lil was hanging over her.

I thought she would at least do some explaining, or for gods sake give me the chance to say something, I wouldn’t really apologize but I could admit that my joke was a little too much, without knowing her history and if there might be more to it that I haven’t thought about.

I just wanted to loosen her up a little and not fucking make her miserable, or steal all of us one night of sleep in the end.
Shit, why was I even still thinking about it?

“We should celebrate” I heard Matt’s voice and rolled my eyes, of course he wanted to celebrate, he wanted to be close to Lil or get laid or whatever, I didn’t really care.

“Yeah, let’s invite them to our bus” Jimmy spoke up all excited “You mean as yesterday?” Brian was next and I knew that this was coming.

“As long as Zack is not responsible for the drinks” Johnny laughed and I flipped them all off, holding my hand out of the bunk with just my middle finger lifted.
“Why would we celebrate?” I asked finally because no one replied anymore “They agreed to help us out for the time frame of this tour. Jason just wrote us a message… so we should celebrate” Jimmy held his phone out to me to read and I nodded absently, at least that meant my little joke hadn’t left any permanent damage with her and our work relationship, maybe we would get a little better along now.

When we arrived Jimmy and Matt went over to the roadie bus right away, while I followed the others to get our batches for the All Access Area.

I decided to stay away from the girls for now, let them do their work, as they were supposed to do, not like some other band members who were hanging around them all the time, forgetting about sound check and all that.

When the time of our show was slowly coming closer, I walked out of the bus and went to the stage, I looked at my guitars all set up, drinks were placed beside them but no sign of the Berry’s or the girls or any other of my band members.

What the hell?! Were they now shutting me out or something?! That was until I saw Jen carrying more bottles, she walked backwards, to get through the opening between the instruments and I saw how 2 bottles almost fell from her grip, so I walked closer and took some from her.

“Thank you, I didn’t know anyone was here-” She said and then her eyes met mine and she stopped. Oh, come on. I am not the fucking devil…
“No problem. Where is everyone?” I asked trying a little softer approach, at least for now.

“Johnny and Matt are at the other side of the stage, Jimmy was still setting something up with Jason, MB and Lil were getting Brian’s guitars… as far as I know” She said but her eyes never met mine.

“Okay” I said and stretched the word “About yesterday…” I started and she rolled her eyes and waved her hand, but instead of taking her way out I took her hand and stopped her.

“Wait, I didn’t mean to make you run off into the night, I thought I would make a small joke and fuck… I don’t know, you could loosen up a little, something like that.” I shrugged and she looked from her hand that I was still holding in mine up to meet my eyes finally.

“Thanks for letting me sleep in your bed, Zack. Let’s forget about the whole thing, okay? No hard feelings” She said but I heard the hiss in her voice and that’s when she pulled her hand from mine.

“No problem, I was the reason… so I thought you needed a comfortable bed. A one-time thing” I joked but she rolled her eyes at me. “Yeah, believe me I didn’t plan to be in your bed ever again” With that she strode off and left me standing alone, while I looked into the direction she vanished.

“What are you waiting for Zack? Give me your phone, and grab your guitar… you are on now.” I heard Jason’s voice beside me and frowned, where the fuck did he come from so quickly?!

I shook my head, grabbed my guitar and went on stage, trying to shut out all the other thoughts that were running around in my head, especially how soft Dreadlock skin had felt or how I had liked hearing her say my name. Shit, what the hell was I thinking about?!

The show was good, not great but good. I was distracted and that made me fuck up a couple of times. Maybe it had also to do with Dreadlock running around behind my side of the stage to bring Jimmy a towel, some drinks or other supplies he apparently needed all of a sudden, I never saw him use on any show before.

When we walked off all sweaty and exhausted, we all scrambled to the restrooms to get showered and redressed to meet back in the bus some time later. As I heard from Matt and Brian talking, the girls hasn’t yet confirmed that they were coming to our little celebration party in our bus, but I guessed Jimmy would make them come in the end, he hada way with making you do whatever he wanted, that was a gift for him and a curse for everyone else.

“Zack, grab your shit and pack it into your bunk, we need the space at the table” Brian yelled throwing stuff at me and I caught it with one hand “Dude, don’t throw my shit” I pushed everything onto my bed and rolled my eyes at the way the other guys were trying to tidy up and get a restock on drinks into the small fridge.

I went back to the bathroom took a look in the mirror, straightened my hair and when I walked back out I saw everyone was waiting, drinks were set out and I groaned, shit this looked like an Avenged style bus party, I wasn’t too sure if the girls were really ready for this…

Notes

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