Learn to Fly (23 page)

“
You’re
the best.” He pulled her back and looked into her face. “I
was afraid you were going to kill her and I was going to have come
and visit you in jail.”

It was Lenny’s
turn to laugh, “Believe me, I thought about it, but I decided
this option would be way more satisfying. I'm not an idiot, I know
what she's trying to do. I just won't play her game.” He
grinned and squeezed her against his chest again.

Lenny pushed him
away playfully, “You stink!”

“
You
should talk!” Luke gave a hurt look but Lenny wasn’t
falling for it.

“
C’mon,”
she moved to the doorway and looked at him over her shoulder, “let’s
go hang out with other awesome people.”

Luke shook his head
to himself in wonder. How did a woman like this come to be in his
life? She was such a stark change from every other girl he'd ever
dated or been around.

When they entered
the bus, Ashton was sitting in her usual perch on the couch with a
smug smile on her face. The rest of the guys were clustered around
the kitchenette, avoiding her entirely. Luke nodded to Harrison to
pass him a couple of waters for him and Lenny.

“
Um,”
Harrison questioned openly, “shouldn’t there be some sort
of, I don’t know, discussion? About what happened tonight?”

“
What
do you mean?” Luke decided to play dumb, wanting to know what
Ashton had told the guys.

“
Well,
you took off after the set and Ashton told us just now that you guys
wrote that last song together...” Harrison trailed off,
confusion all over his face.

“
Are
you writing songs with Ashton?” Blake asked, more agitated and
confrontational than Harrison.

So that was how
Ashton was playing it. She wasn't just trying to get rid of Lenny,
she was trying to pull the guys away from him too. She really needed
to revamp her diabolical planning skills.

“
Actually,”
Lenny interrupted as she flopped herself onto the sofa right next to
Ashton. “
I
wrote
that. She stole it from me.”

Luke held back a
smile as he saw Ashton shift awkwardly. She obviously didn't expect
Lenny's blasé reaction.

“
But,
thank you, Ashton,” Lenny's tone danced on the edge of
sarcasm. “You made it sound beautiful.” She took a long
drink from her water bottle as Ashton scowled at her.

Just then, Ashton’s
cell phone rang.

“
You
might wanna get that,” Lenny gestured. Ashton frowned at her
and took her phone to the back of the bus. Lenny held up her hand,
signaling the others to wait for it.

“
WHAT?!”
Ashton shrieked.

“
There
it is,” Lenny said, satisfied. “I imagine that was her
lawyer telling her the happy news that I'm suing the crap out of
her.” She held her bottle of water up in toast, “Here’s
to a successful shower strike and copyright infringement!”

***

Shane:
Scott
texted me, he said that she's going to be in Denver tomorrow

Cody:
no
shit? Are you going to see her?

Shane:
I
don't think that would be a good idea

Cody:
I'll
do it

Shane:
let
me know how it goes

***

Lenny sank deep into
the bubbles in the over-sized tub. She relaxed into the hot smell of
jasmine and closed her eyes.

The suite Carl had
gotten for her was by far the greatest perk of her job that she had
experienced yet. It was three separate rooms, a living room with a
fireplace, an office area and spacious bedroom with a King-sized bed.
The bathroom had an elevated round tub and a separate shower area.

The first thing
Lenny did when she got her room key was take a shower. While the
shower strike had been highly successful in irritating Ashton and
bringing the band closer together, Lenny silently vowed to never do
that again.

When she felt
thoroughly cleansed of the 'on-the-road-ick,' she filled the tub with
bubbles and proceeded to soak her tired muscles.

She planned on
enjoying her last day of freedom as much as she could. She knew that
calling her lawyer was going to open up a whole new sack of cats but
teaching Ashton a lesson was totally worth it.

Lenny
heard a knock at her door and sighed.
That
was fast.
She grabbed a towel and dried herself off and then wrapped the hotel
provided robe around herself. She crossed her spacious living
quarters as another knock sounded.

She opened the door
to find Carl, pacing, per his usual.

“
Carl,
what a surprise,” Lenny said dryly.

Carl smiled
reluctantly and entered the suite as Lenny extended her arm signaling
him to do so. He looked around, admiring her accommodations.

“
How
do you like your room?” He asked too casually.

“
I
like it a lot. What’s up, Carl?” She didn't want the
small talk. She wanted to return to the bathtub and pretend she
wasn't getting ready to have a crappy night.

Before Carl could
answer, someone else knocked on the door. Lenny opened it and found
Harrison and Blake. They entered without being invited in.

“
Nice
digs,” Blake whistled. He dropped into an over-stuffed navy
blue chair and swung his legs up over the arm rest.

“
Hey,
Carl.” Harrison opened the in-room fridge and started rummaging
for snacks.

Before the door to
the hallway closed completely, Sway slipped inside. He kissed
Lenny’s cheek on the way by, “You smell nice, is that
jasmine?” He joined Harrison on the couch and turned on the
giant plasma screen.

“
What
are you guys doing here?” Lenny asked, trying to stay patient.

“
Waiting
for Mike and Luke.” Sway answered like Lenny should’ve
known.

“
What?
Why?” She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

“
'Cause
we’re going out tonight.” Harrison said matter of fact
and then looked at Blake, “Aren’t we?”

Blake rubbed the
scruff on his face and nodded, “Yeah, karaoke, right Carl?”

Lenny turned her
attention to Carl who smiled sheepishly.

“
You
told me I could have the night off, Carl,” her tone was more
cross than she intended and Carl winced.

Sway looked up and
his eyes narrowed, “What do you mean, ‘night off’?
We’re just hanging out. Geez, Lenny, is being our friend
really work to you?” His tone was lighthearted but Lenny could
tell he was fishing.

Lenny pursed her
lips and swallowed, sidestepping that relational landmine and
replied, “I just meant that I have a meeting with my lawyer
tonight. And I thought we could all use a rest.” Sway seemed
satisfied with her answer and went back to the TV.

Lenny motioned for
Carl to step aside so they could talk privately.

“
I’m
meeting my lawyer in a couple of hours, I can’t go to karaoke.”

Carl nodded his
understanding, “Okay. But I just wanted to let you know, Sway
was right, this isn’t part of the job. I thought you might
wanna blow off some steam with us tonight.”

“
You’re
going, too?” Lenny frowned.

Carl laughed
quietly, “Well, yeah. I get a day off too every once in a
while, you know.”

Lenny conceded to
that point but it still surprised her that Carl could so easily cross
those lines of real friendship and professionalism so quickly when
he’d been on target the whole tour.

“
Where
you meeting the lawyer?” Blake spoke up from his lounged
position in the chair.

“
Um,
there’s a fancy restaurant just up the street,” Lenny's
stomach started to dive to the floor.

“
Can
we all just eat together and then go out after you’re finished
talking to your rep?”

Lenny shifted
uncomfortably. She didn’t really want the guys around when her
attorney brought down the hammer. The stuff with Ashton was simple,
Lenny just had to sign some papers, but she knew there was going to
be a more serious conversation after that. Her mind raced as she
tried to think of an excuse to not have them there without having to
tell them the whole story anyway. And she really didn't want to
relive that nightmare.

She resigned herself
to Blake’s suggestion, “Yeah, that’ll work. But
it’s gonna take me a little while to get ready.”

“
That’s
fine, we’ll chill here.”
So
much for my relaxing bath
,
Lenny thought.

“
Carl,
how come Lenny has a bigger room than us?” Harrison asked.

“
'Cause
she’s better than us, dummy.” Blake answered, Harrison
nodded like he agreed.

Lenny shook her head
and closed herself in her room to finish getting ready. As she was
applying her mascara she heard Mike and Luke show up and Blake fill
them in on the plan.

Lenny shimmied into
the little black dress she had purchased at the boutique across the
street from the hotel. She hadn’t packed anything to wear to a
formal restaurant and needed something fast. The dress was modest in
the front, it was snug but the hem reached her knee and the neckline
draped gracefully across her collarbone. It was sleeveless with a
beaded embellishment at the shoulders.

She finished blow
drying her hair and slipped into a pair of black platform stilettos.
She applied a light coat of champagne colored lip gloss and took a
deep breath. She hadn’t been part of this world in a while and
she wasn’t sure how the guys would react, or if they would even
recognize her.

She glanced at the
clock on the nightstand, time to find out.

She opened the door
and stepped into the living area, moving quickly to the door and
pulling a knee-length black coat out of the closet. She turned
around to face the guys as she slipped her arms in the sleeves. The
reaction was what she had dreaded. They gaped at her with open
mouths and she felt heat move up her neck.

“
C’mon,
we have to go,” she motioned for them to get up, not caring if
she sounded impatient.

“
Damn!”
Blake finally said something, “You look…” he
trailed off.

“
Let’s
not make a thing out of this, okay?” Lenny was cross, she
clenched her jaw and led them out of the hotel room.

Sway whistled, “We
are severely under dressed.”

“
You
guys will be fine,” Lenny sighed in exasperation, refusing to
have eye contact with any of them on the elevator or their quick trip
through the lobby. She couldn't handle seeing herself through their
expressions. She had always hated this part of her life and she had
tried her best to keep them out of it. As unrealistic as that might
be.

“
It’s
just a block north of here,” Lenny was already walking down the
sidewalk, as Luke tried to hail a cab, “We can just walk.”

“
In
those shoes?” Mike exclaimed. But she was already striding
purposefully forward. The guys followed, she wasn't giving them the
choice.