For Now (Forever Book 1) (9 page)

Camden

              Oh God, what did I just do? My best friend just went on a date with this girl and I’m undressing her the next night in a field in the middle of nowhere. But damn it, Ryder can have any girl he wants and he just wants Elaina because she is close and he can‘t be seen with any other girl. He wouldn’t care if she walked away right now.

              If we can just keep it quiet for now, we can tell him after the tour that we want to be together. I really hope Elaina feels the same way, because I know that I don’t want to be apart from her anymore.

              “Elaina, I don’t think that we should tell Ryder about our feelings just yet. He is my best friend and you just went on a date with him. Can we keep it to ourselves for now?”

              She breathes a sigh of relief, “Yes, I think we should wait to tell him. While I don’t think that he truly cares about me, I don’t think he is a bad guy, so I don’t want to risk hurting him. I only went out with him because I was so lonely and needed to escape for a while. I don’t know if he’s the reason that you pulled away before, but Ryder never made me feel the way that you do. I would like to see where this leads once the tour is over.” She bites her bottom lip and blushes at her confession.

              “What happened after I left last night? Is he going to back off?”

              “Yeah, I think so. He will probably still make comments, but I think he knows that it‘s just friendship for me.”

              She wants to be with me. This knowledge will get me through the next month.

              Once on the bus, we take off again, heading for Des Moines. Luckily no damage was done when it hit the ditch. The guys are all eyeing Elaina wearily.

              “Uh, how are you doing, Ellie?” Ryder asks.

              “Fine, I just needed some air. I’m really tired now, I think I just need to get some sleep.”

              “You can have the bedroom for tonight, so you can get some sleep.” His gesture shocks me.

              “Thanks Ryder. That really means a lot.”

              “Good night guys,” she says as she heads back to get ready for bed.

              “Good night Ellie,” they all yell back.

              After Elaina is gone, Ryder turns to me, “Dude, what was that about?”

              “Elaina has a hard past. I just knew how to handle the panic attack,” I reply, nonchalantly.

              “Is there something going on between you two?” Ryder eyes me skeptically.

              “Elaina is a really good friend.” Okay that was only half truth. I’ve never lied to Ryder before and I don’t like that I’m going to start doing it now, but it’s best this way.

              The guys go back to playing video games and I walk to the back of the bus with the excuse of having some work to do. I walk by my bunk and close the curtain, but keep walking until I get to the back bedroom. I knock softly on the door.

              “Um, who is it?”

              “It’s just me.”

              “Come in.”

              I open the door and walk into the room. Elaina is leaning over the bed, changing the sheets. She is wearing a black tank top and short, hot pink shorts. It’s a few seconds before I gather my thoughts enough to speak.

              “Um, I thought that you might want some company until you fall asleep.”

              She turns towards me and smiles, showing off her dimples. “That would be nice.”

              We both settle in the bed. She’s curled into my side, her hand resting on my chest.

              “Does it bother you?” she whispers.

              “What?” I ask, look down at her.

              “The nightmares and always having to take care of me.”

              I look at her in surprise. “Of course not, everyone needs someone to help them sometimes and I will always be there to take care of you.”

              “I need you to know something before we go any further, I’ve only dated a few guys and never anything serious. I’m..I’m not as experienced as the girls that you are probably used to. I’ve never…”

              “Never what?”

              “I’ve never slept with anyone,” she whispers, hiding her face in her hands.

              I remove her hands from her eyes and pull her chin up to look at me. “Never apologize for anything, especially that. I don’t know how that’s possible since you’re the most beautiful, compassionate and fun women I’ve ever met, but I’m pleased to know that no man has ever had what I want.”

              “You really don’t care?”

              “No, when I have sex with you, I’ll be happy knowing that you are only mine.”

              “When I first moved to Chicago, I was so depressed that I didn’t really get to know anyone, so my high school experience consisted of homework, reading and cooking at the bar. By the time I got into college, there was more work to do at the bar, so that didn’t leave much time for guys. A dated a few times, but I was terrified to let anyone in and tell them about my past. What guy wants to take on so much baggage?”

              “It isn’t baggage, it’s something that happened to you in your past, that will probably always effect you to a point, but little by little, it will affect you less and less. I will be with you to help in any way that I can.” I kiss her temple and wrap my arm tighter around her.

              She hugs me tight and whispers, “Thanks for being there for me tonight, being back in Iowa is hard and I haven’t seen Karen, Jackson or Amy, so I was feeling homesick, but you make everything better.”

              After a few quiet minutes, I can hear her deep, even breaths.  She is asleep. I decide that I better sneak out, so the boys don’t catch me back here. Plus, I have some phone calls to make.

Elaina

              “Oh. My. God! What are you guys doing here?” Walking around the corner backstage, I find Amy, Karen and Jackson. I run up to them and give them each a hug.

              “Well, last night Cam called us and asked if we wanted to see the show tonight, so here we are,” Karen replies hugging me so tight that I don’t think she will ever let me go.

              “Jackson! What happened to the crutches?” I ask.

              “I don’t need them anymore. I wanted to surprise you”

              “Jackson, do you want to meet the band?” Cam asks.

              “Yes! I’ve been so excited all day.”

              I look back at Cam and he’s beaming at me. I mouth, “Thank you” to him. I can’t believe that he did this for me.

              They all follow us to the dressing room. When we get there, the guys are just watching some boxing match on TV. No girls or alcohol in sight. Cam must have warned them. I can’t believe that they all knew and no one told me.

              “Guys,” they all turn and look at us, “This is Karen, Elaina’s aunt, Jackson, Elaina’s cousin and Amy, Elaina’s best friend. Jackson is a huge fan.”

              “I am too!” Amy exclaims.

              “This is Eric, Caleb, Ryder and Alex,” I say, excited for my family to meet the band.

              After a few minutes, the guys and my family are all talking. Karen is talking to Ryder about all the photos that have been in the magazines. Caleb is teaching Jackson something on his drum kit. Amy is currently sitting between Alex and Eric, the guys are fighting for her attention, but her hand is resting on Eric’s leg.

              I turn to Cam. “Thank you so much for doing this for me. It’s perfect.”

              “Come with me?” I just nod. “Guys, Elaina forgot something on the bus, I’m going to walk her back there.”

              Once we get into the back bedroom, Cam has me pushed up against the wall, his mouth is on my neck, licking and kissing. “I couldn’t get the taste of you off my mind,” he whispers against my neck, as I whimper. “I think it’s harder knowing that I can’t show you any affection.”

              His mouth is now on mine and he helps me wrap my legs around him as his hands slowly slide up my body. I moan into his mouth.

              “Ellie?” Amy calls from the front of the bus, “Are you back there?”

              “Uh, yeah. Just a minute,” I yell back.

              Cam helps me straighten my shirt. We walk to the front of the bus, my cheeks still flushed, either from almost being caught or from Cam’s mouth on me.

              “Hey, what were you guys up to back there?” Amy questions.

              “She wanted to change into more comfortable shoes and they were on a shelf in the closet that she couldn’t reach,” Cam lies smoothly.

              “Hmm.” Amy says in answer, looking down at my shoes, then to me. Of course, she would notice that I still had on the same shoes. She eyes me skeptically and I shake my head and give her a pleading look. She doesn’t comment, but I know I’ll have to answer her questions later.

              “I was just giving Amy a tour of the bus since we have a little while before we have to go on.” Eric says, “You done in the bedroom, so I can finish giving her a tour?” He winks at her and she giggles.

              “Uh, yeah, all done. See you back inside?” I ask Amy.

              She nods her head, but she is already following Eric to the back of the bus.

              “You have fifteen minutes, Eric,” Cam reminds him.

              “That was close,” I whisper once we are out of the bus.

              “Yeah sorry about that, we need to be more careful.”

              “No problem, I wanted to thank you in private anyways.”

              I smile as he whispers in my ear, “Later tonight, I’ll let you thank me a little more privately. Since we have a few days until our next stop, we get to stay in a hotel tonight.” Heat courses through my veins at the thought of Cam sneaking into my hotel room later tonight.

*****************

              Everyone loved the show, even Aunt Karen really got into it; dancing around with Amy. Jackson looked like he was going to die of embarrassment at the thought of his mom dancing around in front of his idols. Eventually, he relaxed enough to enjoy the show.

              Now Karen, Jackson, Amy and I are sitting on plush, comfy chairs in a beautiful hotel in Des Moines. We are waiting for Cam to come back with our room keys.

              “Sorry, you girls are going to have to share a room. Jackson and I can share.” Cam shoots me a regretful look. To tell the truth, I’m really glad to get some more time with Amy and Karen, but I’m disappointed too. I was really wanting some alone time with Cam tonight. We spent so much time not talking the last few weeks, now that I have him back, I don’t want to spend more time away from him.

              I look away from Cam and see that Amy is eyeing me suspiciously. We make our ways to our rooms. I can tell that Karen is a little nervous letting Jackson stay with Cam, but she has seen how responsible Cam is tonight and we will be right next door.

              I give Cam one last longing look before we both enter our rooms and shut the door behind us.

              “Okay, spill,” Amy says, pointing a finger at me.

              “What?” I ask, feigning innocence.

              “You are on tour with one of the hottest rock stars in the world and you told me that he has been asking you out, but you are making out with his incredibly yummy assistant in the back of the tour bus.”

              “What?” Karen shouts.

              “Shhh, you know Cam is just on the other side of this wall,” I hiss.

              They both just give me a look that tells me, they don’t care and they will let him hear if I don’t start talking.

              “Okay, fine. A few weeks ago, Cam and I were getting really close; he is a great guy, but I think he realized how bad it would look if we were caught. So, he pulled away and we rarely talked. So I gave into Ryder and went out with him since I was so lonely and he was so persistent. The date didn’t go well, and I told him that I wasn’t interested.  Then, last night, not long after we crossed the border into Iowa, the bus tire blew and we ended up in the ditch.” They both look at me with sympathy, knowing just how hard that would have been for me. “Cam has seen my nightmares and knows almost everything about the accident. He saw me freaking out and got me out of there. He took me out into a field with a blanket and a bottle of whiskey. We talked, drank and watched the stars.” They both sigh. “It was perfect. I’m so lucky. I’m not really sure what is going to happen after the tour, but we really like each other and can’t ignore it anymore. No one knows, so, please don’t say anything. It would look bad, if we are caught, so we trying to keep our distance.”

              “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you have found someone that you are willing to open up to and who cares for you as much as we all do. Though, I would be careful in public, because I can sense the chemistry between you even when you two are on different sides of the room.”

              Amy is nodding her head. “Yeah, the way that you two look at each other is hot. He better treat you well though, or he is going to be getting a visit from me.”

              “We’ll be more discreet. He does treat me well, he knew that I was having a hard time in Iowa and invited you guys to come and visit, right?”

              We spend the rest of the night catching up and giggling like we are high school girls at a slumber party. I’m going to hate saying good bye to them tomorrow, but love that I got to see them.