Chapter 8

"Dude, change the fucking channel. I'm not watching this stupid game show again," Jared yelled at one of the other members of Black Friday.

Garrett lay in his bunk trying to drown the rest of the guys out. They were getting stir crazy, having been on the bus for almost a full day. Their next stop was Omaha. Cincinnati to Nebraska was a hell of a drive. He wanted to be anywhere but here right now. Jared was being annoying, and none of the other band members wanted to face the fact that he was out of control...again. As Garrett turned over and shut the curtain of his bunk as tightly as he could, his phone rang. The ringtone was a Harmony Stewart song, and he hurried to answer it.

"You finally called me," he said by way of greeting.

"Yeah," she laughed. "Sorry I kind of flaked on you yesterday after sending you that text message, but I had some stuff happen that required my attention."

"Everything okay?" he asked, concern apparent in his voice.

"Just stupid emotional stuff, ya know?"

He did. He dealt with his emotions every time Jared acted out like he was now. Garrett could still hear him yelling at the other members in the back of the bus. "I know what you mean," he said softly.

"Are you okay?" she asked him on impulse. He'd questioned her, so it stood to reason that she could ask him the same question.

Garrett sighed deeply. "Ready to get off this damn bus. We've been on it for almost twenty-four hours straight, and the guys are starting to get stir crazy. I've actually cocooned myself in my bunk."

"Wow, considering what you told me the other night about being scared of not seeing what's going on, that says something." She wondered if something else was going on. His voice wasn't as jovial as normal. It was quiet and subdued; tired definitely, but at the same time it seemed troubled.

"I know, right? I'd rather be here than back there with the rest of them."

Wanting to get him talking to her, she decided to delve into his life the way he delved into hers. "So tell me about your band members. I met Jared, but what about the other two?"

His band was one of his favorite things to talk about. These men were his best friends and the closest thing he had to family that was not blood-related to him. "We have our drummer, Nightmare."

"What's his real name?" she questioned almost immediately.

"Who's to say that's not his real name?"

"C'mon Garrett," she stretched his name out with her accent, causing him to grin.

"Did you do that to emphasize that my real name is not rock-n-roll enough?"

"Maybe."

He could hear the grin in her voice. "That hurts, Hannah."

"So tell me his real name."

"Chris." He laughed when she snorted.

"You guys have the most basic names imaginable. Is the other one Bradley?"

"Are you sure you didn't read our bio?" he questioned her, his voice completely serious.

"I'm a fan, I have read your bio, but you know as well as I do that they keep your real names locked down. Did I seriously just guess it right?"

"You did."

"See," she cleared her throat, and he could hear the smile in her voice. "Most basic names ever. What does he go by on stage?"

"Bradley is our bass guitarist and he uses Raven. See, we're normal except for our death metal stage names."

She nodded, even though he couldn't see her. "I'm beginning to truly believe that."

As he opened his mouth to talk, he heard a loud noise from the back and then lots of yelling. "Hold that thought, I got to take care of something." He dropped his phone to the mattress with Hannah's call still connected.

Garrett jumped out of his bunk and went to the back where the TV and game systems sat along with a large couch and a table. When he got there, he saw Jared on the ground beating on Brad. Chris pulled at them, trying to get the two off each other.

"What the fuck?" Garrett asked loudly.

He was the tallest of the group, and because of that he carried more muscle mass than the rest of them. He had also been known to beat the shit out of people that even looked at him the wrong way when he was younger. In every sense of the word, he was their leader. They broke apart, and no one said anything, they all just stared at Jared.

"Where the fuck is it?" he asked, his voice calm as he approached the man he called his best friend.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Jared was the king of liars when he was like this, and they all knew it. The only one that would call him on it was Garrett. "Don't make me go look for it and don't look at me like I'm fuckin' stupid. Where is it?"

"Why can't you all just leave me alone?" Jared screamed, lashing out again, this time going for Garrett.

Sidestepping his friend, Garrett shoved him up against the wall and pushed his hands behind his back, holding Jared down. "Because we love you. Now tell me where the hell it is, and better yet, where the hell did you get it?"

All the fight went out of Jared's body as he nodded towards his bunk. Garrett walked that way, but before he went to the bunk, he picked up the phone in his own bunk.

"Hannah, hey. I have to call you back, we have a situation." He hung up before she could say anything or ask him any questions.

Throwing the phone down on his bed with as much force as he could, he stalked across the aisle to Jared's bunk and opened the curtain. In the corner sat a mirror and a razorblade. White residue still coated the mirror.

"Is this worth it?" Garrett asked as he stalked back into the area where they all sat. "For a twenty second high, is it worth it?"

"No, it never is," Jared told him, his voice quivering.

"Then you better do something about it because, best friend or not, I'm getting sick of this shit."

How could he bring Hannah into this group of people? She was the queen of country radio, and people loved her. How could he expose her to this?

Walking back to his bunk, he dialed her number, hoping that it went to voicemail but at the same time that she would pick up.

"Is everything okay? I heard a lot of yelling."

He debated on what he should tell her. So far he'd been honest with everything about his life. He should be honest with this. "No, it's not okay. Look, I have to be honest with you. I can't expect you to go into this without telling you the truth about one of the guys."

"Go into what?" Her heart thundered in her chest.

"I like you," he told her. "I know it's crazy. We just met and we've only hung out twice, but there's something about you that I like. I would love to get to know you better, but it's your decision if that happens. My band could hurt your public persona, and in your brand of music, that's everything."

"How could they do that?" She didn't want to comment on him liking her until she figured out what he was trying to tell her.

He ran a hand through his hair, pissed that Jared was putting him in this situation. "Remember when I said that I'd experimented with drugs, but other members of the band kinda do their own thing?"

"Yeah."

"Jared, the guy who was so nice and polite to you the other night," he hated telling her this. "He just put one of the other guys down on the ground because he snorted a whole bunch of coke and didn't know what to do with himself. So if you can't handle that, tell me right now."

After a few moments of silence, his voice pleaded, "Hannah, say something."

"Can't you do something to help him?" she asked, her voice so small on the other end of the line. This scared her.

He sighed, blowing out a deep breath. "We've tried. My parents have tried. Jared is who he is. He's got the biggest heart of anyone I know, and he's everyone's best friend until he picks up that mirror and does a line off of it. It's his fatal flaw."

"But it's not yours," she told him softly.

"You're right. It's not. But Jared comes with me. He's my best friend. I would never turn my back on him. No matter what he does, I'm always going to be there for him. He's always been there for me. We've been in more scrapes together than I can even mention. We started this together. I'm not giving up on him because he has a habit that he can't kick."

As crazy as it sounded, she admired that about him. He obviously was persistent.

"Well, if you can handle me being so bad in the sack that my last boyfriend cheated on me with another woman, then I can deal with your friend," she said in a rush.

"I'm sorry, what?" He couldn't help but laugh. "You're bad in the sack so your last boyfriend left you?"

"He cheated on me. I'm assuming I'm no good when it comes to sex."

She was young, and he figured that no matter what her stage persona said, she was also very self-conscious in her own skin. Especially in the business they were in. Everyone told you that you had to have a six-pack, straight teeth (the whiter the better), your hair cut just so, and never mention anything about the little tricks that got you that way. Garrett was more than willing to take a chance on her.

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that when the time comes?"

Her stomach fluttered. This man was talking like he already knew they would have an intimate relationship. "Okay," her voice squeaked, and she had to clear her throat.

"If you're okay with me, then I'm okay with you," he told her, glancing over to the bunk that held Jared, probably sleeping off his high.

"Then I guess together we're okay."

Garrett knew to make this work they had to see each other. Their relationship couldn't sustain on technology alone. "Where are you?" he asked abruptly.

"I'm in my hotel room fixing to leave for the airport."

"No, I mean what city are you in?"

"I'm flying to Kansas City to do a concert there in two days. I have a day and a half to lounge around. Well, part of a day and a half anyway."

Someone meant for this to happen, Garrett decided. "Awesome, we're going to be in Omaha within the next few hours. We're not too far away from each other. Do you want me to come get you or do you want to come to me? If this is going to work, we have to spend time together."

He was right and she knew it. Biting her thumbnail, she thought for a moment. "You can come get me. When is your concert?"

"We're performing tomorrow night."

She quickly looked at the calendar on her phone. "Great, I'm not performing until the day after tomorrow, and I don't have any obligations for the press or radio. How about you come get me, I'll hang out with you and go to your concert tomorrow night, and then I'll either drive myself or take a short flight back to Kansas City for my concert the next day. Does that work?"

"So you'd stay with me, right?" He wanted to be clear.

"Unless you have a roommate. I know some bands double up."

"No, this band doesn't. Trust me on that. Chris snores like a lumberjack."

She laughed, that fluttery feeling coming back to her stomach. She was going to stay with Garrett Thompson. Overnight. And a day. Stuff like this never happened to her. "So when should you hit Omaha?"

"A few hours. Probably right about the time you hit Kansas City, so you'll have to wait on me to get to you, but it shouldn't be any later than this afternoon."

"Okay," she told him, zipping up her suitcase. "I'll be waiting."

"I can't wait to see you," he told her softly. After dealing with Jared he needed some good in his life.

"Same here, I'll see you soon."

They hung up and Hannah screamed. She was spending the night with Garrett Thompson. Spending the night did not equal getting naked and doing the wild thing, but still this was big. What in the world was she going to wear? Quickly she dialed Shell's number, and before her friend could say anything, she blurted out, "We've got to stop at Victoria's Secret. I'm spending the night with Garrett tonight."