Still Into You (5 page)

“You know Mia?” she asked curiously.

“Yeah. I introduced her to Ethan.”

She nodded like she finally understood something. “Ah, so you’re the best friend.”

Luke smiled. He liked hearing himself referred to as Mia Devereux’s best friend. There was a time when they had been more than friends. Over eight years ago. But now they were in a much better place. A place where he was loved unconditionally. A place he called family.

“I am. Luke Stapleton. And you are?”

“Allie Kellmeyer, Mia’s manager . . . well, not just Mia’s. I manage the entire band.”

“But Mia’s a little more high maintenance. I completely understand,” he chuckled.

She quirked her eyebrows in surprise and then laughed with him. Her laughter was warm and rich, just like her voice. “You can say that.”

“I’m surprised I’ve never met you before now,” Luke admitted. He wanted to know more of this lovely Allie. He hadn’t had this immediate reaction to anyone in a long time. Not since he met Mia, and even then, it was nothing compared to how his body reacted being near Allie.

Allie.
The woman who basically ran Mia’s professional life or tried to. Mia could be too independent for her own good.

Allie.
His counterpart. His other half. She ran the professional. Luke ran the personal. Or so he liked to believe.

Allie.
The most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. Sorry, Mia.

Unaware of his thoughts, Allie kept talking. “The band keeps me pretty busy. I normally make myself scarce when Mia and the guys have personal guests, so . . .”

“Good plan,” he agreed absently. He took a step closer to her and his senses were assaulted by her scent, so citrusy he wanted to drink her up.

He must have made a noise, because she was studying him, looking him up and down. Her eyes boldly staying on his waist and crinkling when she smiled. Her gaze returned to his eyes, her smile wavering a bit before blossoming yet again. He smiled slowly in return and it took a concentrated effort to move his sight from her full and very kissable mouth.

Allie cleared her throat and his eyes were drawn to her lips yet again. He needed a distraction.

“Shouldn’t you talk to Ethan?” he asked.

“Uh, I can talk to him later.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, she was now standing closer to him. Whoa! Was she interested? That would make his night. He needed to know and wished he could just ask her, but this was Mia’s manager, and she’d called Ethan “Boss,” whatever that was about.

“Why did you call Ethan ‘boss?’” he asked her, resting his hand on the wall next to her.

She glanced at his hand near her head, her tongue quickly darting out to moisten her lips and then she answered his question. “Between the tour and wedding plans, I started doing things for him as well. He and Mia have kept me very busy.”

“But now that those two are locked up together, you should be free, right?”

She nodded and held his eyes for a long moment before her gaze fell to his mouth.

“Do you want to get out of here?” she asked him, lightly touching his hand on the wall, that touch sending a shock straight to his cock.

“And go where?” he managed to ask.

“My room.”

Interested!

“To do what?” he inquired coolly or so he hoped.

“Talk,” she said with a wicked, little smile. He laughed and shook his head before grabbing her hand and leading them away so they could “talk.”

Mia

The band stood on the center of the stage, bowing to the crowd, when Mia felt her stomach start to flip-flop and got that awful feeling in the back of her mouth like she was going to get sick. Running offstage, she quickly scanned the area for some place to throw up, luckily spotting a large garbage can in the hall. She bolted to it and unceremoniously released the contents of her stomach. Marty hurried to her side as she tightly gripped the side of the can.

“Mia, what the fuck? You all right?” he asked, rubbing his hand on her back.

She put her hand to her forehead. She swallowed a couple times, worried that she might get sick again. “Fuck! That was the hardest show ever!”

“No,” he corrected her. “The best show ever! You were phenomenal!”

She smiled weakly at him. “Then tell me why I feel like shit?”

“I don’t know. Estranged fiancé in the audience maybe.”
Marty noticed that?
She wondered who else did. Marty wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Come on, brat. Let’s go.”

He walked her to her dressing room and left, telling her he’d meet her in the green room. She smiled and entered the room, peeling off her clothes as she made her way to the bathroom. Hopping in the shower, she let the hot water wash off the sweat from the show. As she stood beneath the spray, she let her mind go blank, let herself relax, just concentrating on the water beating upon her body.

When she was done, she grabbed a towel and dried herself off. It was so nice to not have the sweat and makeup on anymore. She searched her bag for her toothbrush and toothpaste and sighed thankfully when she found them and hurried to brush away the taste of throw up in her mouth.

Mia changed into a pair of black yoga pants, a white fitted shirt, and a Michigan State hoodie.
Go Green!
Comfort was definitely the theme tonight. She was so tired. The show took almost everything from her, physically and especially emotionally. She had never cried on stage. Tonight was a first. Stupid tears.

Singing those new songs, knowing Ethan was there hearing them, pushed her. It drove her. She put all her emotions over the past few months into this performance. And it was too much. She definitely could not do that night after night.

She went to the mirror to finish getting ready. As the hot air dried her hair, she wondered whether Luke and Ethan would meet her backstage. Though nervous at that possibility, she really wished Ethan would be there. She wanted to see him. Her eyes found him a lot during the concert. Every chance she got, her eyes would search him out. And every time his gaze was locked on her, listening. Occasionally she saw misery flash across his face. That hurt. She didn’t want to see his pain, his pity, his helplessness.

Without a doubt, Mia knew how much he wanted to help her, despite the fact that he had no idea what she was facing. A part of her wanted that help. She didn’t want to leave him, but there was this huge force pushing her to do this on her own. She didn’t understand it, but it felt like the right way to do this, to deal with the fallout of her damaged adolescence. Ethan, with all his wonderful ways, made things too safe. Normally that was a good thing, but what happened on this tour showed her that she wouldn’t always be able to rely on Ethan; he wouldn’t always be there when she needed him. When those demons unexpectedly came knocking while on tour, she had been severely unprepared.

That needed to be fixed. Problem was she had absolutely no idea how.

Sighing, Mia put away the dryer along with the rest of her stuff. She fussed with her hair a tad bit longer, leaving it loose and a little unruly. Grabbing her phone and stuffing it in the pocket of her hoodie, she made her way to the green room. As she approached the room, she heard all the happy voices. Lots of laughter tonight. She smiled and snuck over to the drinks.

She frowned as she perused the drink table. Why the hell wasn’t there any coffee? There was always coffee for her. It was her drink of choice, especially now that she wasn’t drinking. She’d have to make sure this little mistake didn’t happen tomorrow. Resigned, she looked around and saw that there was tea. Guess that would have to do. She grabbed a cup, added an Earl Grey tea bag, and carefully filled it with hot water. After it brewed, she’d add a little honey. She couldn’t wait to drink this. She hoped it would soothe her throat. After her little crying spell, she’d felt a twinge at the back of her throat, but it had gone away. That was until she oh-so-gracefully threw up in a garbage can. With only two more shows in Indianapolis and then the final shows in Detroit, she hoped she wouldn’t lose her voice.

Pulling her hoodie higher on her neck, she sought out her bandmates—her brothers from other mothers. They were being their normal, entertaining selves tonight. Everybody gathered around them. The girls fawning over them, even the occasional male. She was surprised no one had come up to her yet, but she wouldn’t complain one bit.

Mia scanned the room and sadly didn’t see Ethan or Luke. Letting out a big sigh, she removed the tea bag and tossed it in the trash. She added honey to her tea and considered going back to the dressing room to chill by herself. Instead, she made her way to the empty love seat and curled up with her drink. With the first sip of tea, she moaned loudly—the hot liquid felt so good on her raw throat.

Putting her head back against the sofa, she closed her eyes. Exhaustion didn’t even begin to cover what she felt at the moment. Last night she slept like shit. Thoughts of Ethan kept her awake. Her mind couldn’t let go of the sex they had or the words that were said.

He still wanted her. That surprised the hell out of her. He still loved her. Another surprise. And the biggest surprise of all, she didn’t take him back. She said goodbye. Even though she loved him and still wanted him. Why the hell did she insist she do this on her own? Why was she not letting him help?

She shook her head. All she had were questions. How the hell was she going to do this? What was she even doing? How does one go about fighting their past? She had no idea how to fight the monsters from her past, but she had a feeling it involved a lot of no-holds-barred kind of thinking, no hiding from it, and confronting it head on. Everything she had not done up to this point.

Bah,
she thought. Not something she wanted to think about tonight.

“Hi,” said the source of some of the chaos in her mind. Her eyes flew open and she was treated to Ethan, looking all sexy in his khaki trousers and his black, V-neck sweater that he wore over an untucked, white T-shirt. He looked yummy. Hell, when did he not?

“Hi,” she said quietly, blaming the catch in her voice on the scratchiness in her throat, not her reaction to how good he looked.

“May I?” he said, gesturing to the open seat next to her. She moved her feet and he sat beside her.

“Glad you could make it,” she said honestly. His presence made her instantly feel better. The uncertainty she felt earlier evaporated with him there.

“Are you?” he asked, his eyebrow raised.

“I am,” she responded with a small smile. “So, uh, where’s Luke? I thought I saw him with you . . .”

Ethan laughed. “Well, I got a text from him that he, uh, found someone to keep him company tonight.”

“That slut!” she said, laughing and wondering who he could be with.

When he rested his large hands on his knees, all she could think about was having those hands on her knees, caressing her.

You will put your hand on my knee,
she thought in her best attempt at using The Force. She smiled at her silliness, but her eyebrows quickly shot up when his hand found her knee and gave it a squeeze.

Fuck, that actually worked!

“Mia?”

She shook her head. “Yes?”

He opened his mouth to speak, stopped, then paused in thought. “So . . . those new songs.”

“Uh, yeah . . . those,” she said, relieved that he brought it up, curious to know what he thought. “Care to share your thoughts?”

“Messages to me?” he asked, his hand still on her leg, his thumb rhythmically stroking her inner knee.

“Yes,” she answered, surprised that she could still use the brain he was currently turning to mush with his soft caresses.

He nodded his head; messages received. Turning the hand on her knee palm-side up, he waited for her to take it. After she laced her fingers in his, he brought her hand to his lips, his warm mouth somehow sending that simple touch straight to her heart.

“You’re going to make me cry,” she said quietly, tears filling her eyes.

“I saw enough of your tears today.”

She was about to comment on that when Marty approached them. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said, kneeling down in front of Mia. “How you feeling?”

“Better.”

“Want me to ask the staff for something? Toast? Crackers?”

“No, thanks. I’m good.”

“You sure?”

She nodded, secretly loving how protective he was of her. She may be the lead singer of the band, but Marty was the heart and soul.

“Okay,” he smiled, getting up to leave.

“What’s up with you? Why is Marty asking how you are?” Ethan asked as his face creased in concern.

“Uh, well, I kind of threw up once I walked off stage.”

“You feeling okay?”

“Yeah. Now,” she said, looking down at their joined hands. “It was a little harder than I thought having you at the show. I wasn’t expecting you to come when I made the changes. I didn’t think I’d be singing my heart out like that.”

“To be honest, I am glad I got to be here to see it. I didn’t enjoy the tears, but that performance was simply beautiful. So heartfelt. I was so proud of you.”

“You were proud of me?” Mia asked, more surprised than she thought she’d be at hearing that. She was certain he would be upset, but proud . . . didn’t even cross her mind.