Rock Star Ex (8 page)

Kate eyed her.
 
“Uh huh.
 
You want to tell me
what’s up between you and Devon?”

“I…what?
 
What
are you talking about?”
 
She did her best
to look innocent but she knew Kate wasn’t buying it.

“Oh please.
 
I’ve known you too long, and I see the way he
looks at you.”
 
She shut the laptop and
crossed her arms in front of her on the table.

“Really?
 
How
does he look at me?”
 
Eve blurted.
 
“I mean…uh.”
 

Kate lifted a brow, her eyes steady.

Eve gave in.
 
“All
right.
 
Fine.
 
We dated five years ago.”
 
She sighed and pressed her lips
together.
 
That was the most she’d said
about it to anyone since it had happened.

Her friend’s expression brightened.
 
“You did not!
 
No way!
 
You have to seriously
promise me that, in the future, when you guys get married I get the exclusive
rights to cover it all.”

“Whoa!
 
You
don’t understand.
 
That’s not going to
happen because there is no future.
 
It’s
ancient history.
 
In fact, it’s so
ancient it’s pre-historic.”

Kate eyed her for a moment, then shook her head and
wagged a finger at her. “I know you.
 
There’s still something there.”

“No, there’s nothing.”

Kate stared at her, thinking, and then suddenly
gasped.
 
“Oh my god!
 
You guys had sex, didn’t you? That’s why
you’re acting this way.”

“Kate!”

“I don’t mean now.
 
I mean back then.”

It was exactly what Eve had been dreading: The
rehashing, and the questions, and the part where they were supposed to wonder ‘what
if’.
 
She groaned.
 
“I really don’t want to talk about it, Kate.”

Her friend sucked in a breath.
 
“Ooh.
 
He was your first, wasn’t he?”

Eve glared at her.

“Okay, okay.
 
Never mind.”
 
Kate said
innocently, backing down.
 
She turned
back to her laptop and began pushing buttons.
 
“I’ll get this stuff out right now.”
 
But her eyebrows were raised and her eyes were wide, in a comical
expression, as she looked at Eve and then at her laptop.

“
What
?”

Kate raised her fingers off the desk in reply and
shrugged her shoulders.
 
“I think there’s
still a little something there.
 
That’s
all I’m going to say.”
 
Then she smiled
enigmatically and went back to work.

Kate was right.
 
Eve knew it.
 
She slumped in her
seat.

Chapter
Four

They
arrived a little after lunchtime: Las Vegas, like a fairyland oasis out in the
desert with huge, fantasy hotels.
 
They
passed one that looked like a Pyramid and another that seemed made of pure gold
as it shimmered in the desert heat.
 
Devon
had never been there before and couldn’t help staring out the window as the bus
wound its way through the streets, towards the MGM Grand.
 
There were people everywhere and tons of
taxis and a million blinking signs trying to lure you to this show or that show.
 
Some looked like mega TV screens, showing
clips of dancing showgirls.
 
Devon had no
idea how their driver kept from getting distracted.
 

It
was too bad they wouldn’t have more time to explore the town.
 
They were playing in the Garden Arena tonight
and tomorrow night, after which they were headed to Phoenix.
 
He wondered idly if Eve had ever been here.

Clayton
checked them into the hotel after the bus parked and led them to a private
elevator that carried them to their suite on the Penthouse level.
 
Kate and Eve would be staying there as well.
 
It wasn’t until the door opened that he
really felt the impact of where he’d finally gotten himself in his career.

The
suite was basically a house at the top of the hotel.
 
It was the most luxurious hotel room he’d ever
been in in his life.
 
The bottom level
had a kitchen, living room, dining room and bathroom.
 
And everything was expensively decked out,
with Berber carpeting, tile, marble and granite.
 
Modern furniture and decorations gave the
place a model-home look.
 
There were even
glass doors leading to a furnished patio, overlooking an incredible scenic view.

Stairs
led to a second level and the bedrooms, five in total.
 
Each band member had his own room and Kate
and Eve were sharing one.
 
Devon mused
he’d come a long way from the seedy motels he used to crash in.
 
The suite was even bigger than his childhood home.

The
others went up the stairs first and called dibs on the rooms.
 
He went into the one left over and lingered
there, staring out at the city below.
 
He’d done it.
 
He’d finally done
it.
 
After all the dreaming and wishing
and hoping.
 
After struggling through the
sweat and blood and disappointment, he was now a member of one of the top rock
bands in the world.
 
He was their lead
singer, and tonight was the first stop of their tour for a new album made up of
songs that he had written.
 
For some
reason it was just now sinking in.
 
A
welling from inside caused a smile to light his face.
 
He supposed this was how lottery winners
felt.
 
He would have yelled with the joy
of it, if there hadn’t been others around.

A rap
sounded on his door and he turned, snapping out of his reverie.
 

“Hey,
man.
 
Didn’t you hear us calling
you?”
 
Tommy walked in and stood just
inside the doorway.

“No.
You were?”

“Yeah,
we’re all going to take a walk around.
  
The girls want to get some pictures of us in the MGM and also get our
stories about Vegas.”

There
wouldn’t be anything for him to tell, but he nodded anyway, as it meant more
interaction with Eve.
 
“Okay.
 
Let’s go.”
 
He headed towards the door.

Tommy
stopped him from leaving with a hand on his shoulder.
 
“You all right, man?”

“Yeah.
 
Why?”

“Just
checking.
 
It’s obvious that there’s
something going on with you and Eve.”

Devon
snorted and shrugged but said nothing.
 
There never were any secrets on a tour bus.
 
He’d known they would pick up on it, but he
didn’t think it would be this soon.
 
It
always surprised him how much people liked to gossip.
 
The last thing he wanted was to expose Eve to
wagging tongues.

 
“Look, if it’s a problem, we can always find
someone else.
 
You just let me know.”

“It’s
fine, man.
 
There’s nothing to tell.
 
Besides, they’re good at what they do.
 
We need them.”

Tommy
looked him in the eye for a second, and nodded.
 
“Okay.
 
If you say so, then I’m
good with it.
 
Are you good?”

“I’m
good.”

Tommy
slapped him on the side of the shoulder and Devon followed him downstairs to
join the others.

The
afternoon passed more quickly than Devon would have liked.
 
Unfortunately, the circumstances had
prohibited any further attempts for him to connect with Eve.
 
They left the suite and were joined by
groupies.
 
Some had come along on the
crew bus and others were locals who had been lurking, hoping for a glimpse of
them before the show.
 
As they walked
around the hotel it hadn’t taken very long before they’d gathered an entourage
of people.
 
They even had to stop several
times to autograph things for the fans.

Kate
and Eve had been busy snapping pictures and videos of the whole thing.
 
Eve said they’d added a link on their Web site
for pictures of fans.
 
She’d claimed posting
fan pictures would drive more traffic to their page.
 
So he’d posed with fans of all kinds as she
snapped away.
 
One groupie had even
plopped herself into his lap and wrapped her arms around him possessively when
they stopped in one of the lounge bars to get a beer.
 
He’d had trouble smiling into the camera that
time.
 
But Eve hadn’t even flinched. She’d
just calmly switched her camera on and taken the shot.
 

Finally
the time had come for them to go to their dressing room at the arena.
 
Eve and Kate stayed behind in the room to
finish dressing.
 
The Garden Arena was
slightly smaller than the Staples Center, and they could hear the warm-up act
playing when they arrived.
 
It was then
that the nerves started.
 
The dressing
room suddenly seemed too small.
 

Devon
was about to get up and walk around but was distracted from his thoughts when
Eve stepped through the dressing room door, followed by Kate.
 
Eve wore a dark red dress with a plunging
neckline and heels that showed off her long legs to perfection.
 
One of the guys gave an appreciative
whoop.
 
Inside, Devon couldn’t help but
agree.
 
She smiled at them, adding to her
sexiness.

“All
right, guys.
 
We want to get some shots
of you with your super groupie,” Kate said.
 
She had a camera in her hands and was changing some settings on it.

“Eve
is our super groupie?”
 
Tommy asked.

Kate
nodded.
 
“Yeah, I posted a picture of her
from the night we all met and put that caption on just for fun.
 
Clayton thought it would be a good idea to
continue it.”

“That’s
awesome,” Drew said.
 
“Nothing better
than a hot chick to make us look good.”

The
guys all nodded in agreement, but Devon remained still.
 
He wasn’t sure he liked the idea.

“So
what do you want us to do?” Shane asked.

“Kate
promised the fans ‘lap ratings’ in her post, so we’re going to get shots with
me sitting on each of your laps,” Eve explained.

“Excellent,”
Shane said with a smile.
 
“I’ll go first.
 
Come on over, sweetheart.”
 
He patted his lap with his hands.

Devon
frowned.

Eve
laughed and walked over to him as Kate moved a lamp closer to the couch where Drew
was sitting.
 
Drew pulled Eve onto his
lap and she wrapped an arm around his neck good-naturedly.
 

Devon’s
hands fisted, but he refrained from saying anything.

They
struck several poses as Kate directed them.
 
She wanted to get a few good pictures to choose from.
 

“Hold
it,” Kate said, the flash on her camera going off.
 

Eve
was perched on Shane’s lap, her legs off to one side.
 
She was leaning towards her knees with her
back arched and a passionate look on her face, while Drew tapped her derriere
with his drumsticks and a devilish smile.

“That’s
perfect, Eve.
 
Come check this out.
 
I think this is the one we’re going to
post.”
 

They
all crowded around to see the image on the camera screen.

Drew
snorted.
 
“Shane, you just gave new
meaning to the phrase ‘tap that ass’.”
 
Everyone except Devon laughed.

“Oh,
my gosh … that’s the perfect tag line for this picture, Drew.
 
I’m going to put that on there,” Kate said.

“So
how will we know who gets the best rating?” Tommy asked.