Billy Jeffers: Rockers of Steel (4 page)

Tallia pulls out my buds.

“Easy on the pullout,” I tell her as she holds up a cup of Starbucks. “Double chocolate chip Frappuccino?”

She nods before sitting next to me.

“Then you can be as rough as you want.”

I hear a loud sigh and look over my shoulder at Billy who walks by. I take the opportunity to give him the finger behind his back.

Tales catches it and giggles. “What is the deal between the two of you?”

“He’s gay,” I answer, closing my laptop, then shoving it in my bag.

“Is not,” Tales whispers.

“Tales, trust me, remember Joey Smith? Gay.”

“How do you know?” she asks.

“He emailed and asked for tickets. Apparently, he thinks my brother is hot. He’s been following him on social media, and says he has a crush on him.”

“Aw, that’s so cute.” Tales smiles.

“My first kiss wants your boyfriend, my brother. Real cute, Tales. You remember Bones?” I ask.

“How could I forget?” She shakes her head.

“He and Timmy are getting married,” I say, holding up my phone and showing her the update on IG.

“No way.”

I stop there. “I know gay guys.”

“And you seriously think Billy Jeffers is gay?”

I look at her sternly, and she holds my stare. I feel like we are playing the “who can hold their breath the longest” game like we did when we were little.

“Fine,” I cave, per the norm. “No, but I certainly am going to pretend he is.”

Especially since he has never taken the hint, or he is just such an uppity ass that a girl like me will never be good enough. Now I do it to piss him off. Works for me.

“Who is what?” Memphis asks, bending over and kissing the top of my head.

“Hey, don’t we have a meeting?” I ask, pushing my chair back so he stops looming over my shoulder. He doesn’t move. “You know, I preferred you when you didn’t want to be around me.”

“Times, they are a changing.” He sings the Bob Dylan song, steps back, spins my chair around, and pulls me up. “I’m the man in this family now.”

I look at Tales, hoping it didn’t hurt her feelings, and she just shakes her head and stands up.

“Come on.” Memphis says.

They stand, waiting for me.

“I’ll meet you in the conference room.”

After gathering up the travel packets, I grab the envelope Abe and Nikolette left for Xavier and Taelyn.

I walk to their office where Taelyn is leaning against the desk, and Xavier is sitting in front of her.

“This is from Abe,” I smile and hand them the envelope, “see you in the conference room.”

“Thank you Madison,” they both say as I walk out.

In the conference room I begin to hand out the travel packets, starting with Finn, keeping my back to Billy, knowing it will piss him off to be last. Of course, that’s my intention. Fair is fair, he pisses me off.

“The floor is yours.” Taelyn nods to me when she and Xavier make their way in.

“The summer tour is basically state fairs with open air venues. Finn and River have agreed to bring along their families for this one. Now that we have a registered nurse traveling with us, Sonya’s doctor has given her the thumbs up until she can’t travel anymore. When that happens, Billy will be filling in and playing bass.”

I know he doesn’t know about this. It brings me joy to piss him off.

“Hold up,” he says, and I can’t help smiling inside. “Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”

I intentionally drop the last travel packet—his—on the floor with my back facing him. Knowing he is always the gentleman, I wait until he bends down to pick it up. At the same time, I bend over to get it, making sure not to bend my knees. I know my ass is eyeball level with him, and when I stand and look over my shoulder at him, I know he saw what I intended for him to.

“I’m sorry. I thought …” I stop and leave my fake apology hanging in the air as I walk out the door and close it behind me.

“Forever Four, how can I help you?” I answer the reception phone when I walk past and see no one is there.

“Yes, may I speak to Billy Jeffers?” a female voice says from the other end.

“He’s in a meeting. May I take a message?”

“Um, it’s very important. Maybe you could give me his cell—”

“No. That’s not gonna happen,” I tell her, trying not to sound too bitchy.

“It’s an emergency,” she practically shouts at me.

“Your name?”

“I just need to speak to him.”

Damn groupies
.

When I look up, I see Jessica walking out of the bathroom. She can deal with this shit.

“Hold, please.” I hit the hold button then set the phone in the cradle, before walking away. “There’s a call on line three.”

I see Jessica pick up the phone while I get a cup of water from the water cooler. She looks around as everyone walks out of the conference room, and then she calls to Billy and holds out the phone.

“Whoever it is says it’s an emergency.” She shrugs.

He takes the phone. Then I see his eyes widen, and he looks around. His facial expression and body language are damn near suspicious. He never loses his cool demeanor- well, unless I make him.

I quickly make my way to my office, and being the sneaky bitch I am, I kick the door closed behind me, pick up the phone, hit line three, and mute the call nearly simultaneously.

“Why the hell are you calling me here?” he growls at whoever is on the other line.

“I need to see you.”

“That ship has sailed,” he whispers.

“Billy, I really need to see you. I’m sorry about everything that happened—I really am—but this has nothing to do—”

“I’m hanging up now. Don’t call me here again.”

“I don’t have your cell phone number anymore,” she says in a husky, I-fucked-you voice, and I hate her immediately.

“That’s for a good fucking reason,” he hisses.

“This isn’t about you, me, or them. It’s an old problem resurfacing.”

“Excuse me?” He sounds shocked.

“Meet me today. You really could have some trouble—”

“I’ll make a phone call and—”

“You have no reason to trust me, but I am telling you there is no other choice. Come to see me. I’ll give you the information you need to deal with this, and then, if you want me to walk away, I will, knowing I have tried my best to make amends.”

“Bullshit,” he whisper-hisses.

“387-9202 is my number. I’ll be at the pier in two hours. And, Billy, I’m seriously worried for you. This is bad. This is really bad.”

The line goes dead, and I scramble to hang up the receiver as I jump up and walk out of the office door to see what he is doing.

He walks into the bathroom, out of sight.

Two hours later, I am sitting in my car at the pier. No I shouldn’t have followed him but, sometimes, I can’t help myself. I’m curious, and he seemed upset. Not that I care if he seemed upset, because I don’t, I mean, I shouldn’t. Regardless, I made up a bullshit excuse to leave early, although they didn’t care since I always get my work done. And except for today when I wanted to piss off Billy, I don’t mess up.

He is standing on the end of the pier, and I notice a dark-haired, tall, leggy woman with big sunglasses walk toward him. His stature stiffens as she approaches. I’m pretty sure she is leaning in for a hug, and he gives her one. It’s a very awkward one at best, but still, it’s a hug.

She hands him a file and motions to the bench. He sits down first, and she sits beside him as he looks through whatever it is she handed him. They exchange words, both looking around suspiciously as if they are being watched.

I wonder if she is married, if she broke his heart, if she left her husband and is trying to get him back. I let my imagination wander, and then I cover my mouth as I gasp at my own thought.
Maybe they have a child
.

He puts the papers back into the envelope and shoves it under his leg. Then he sinks his hands into his hair and rests his elbows on his knees. She rubs his back, and I can see him visibly sigh.

I bet it’s a paternity test. The stupid bitch probably lied to him about being on birth control. He is smarter than that, though. He would never fall for such bullshit. But if he did—I squeeze my eyes closed tightly—he would do the right thing because he is Billy.

After several minutes, they both stand. The hug they now exchange is far less awkward, and I hate it. He walks her down the pier and toward the car she arrived in.

My stomach turns when he kisses her on the cheek and hugs her again. This time, it seems more like an ‘I’ll see you again’ than a goodbye.

I sit and watch him as he watches her leave. As soon as she is out of sight, he pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials someone. He paces and hangs up, and then he calls again.

I watch him storm toward his BMW SUV, and get in. Then he hits the steering wheel over and over again.

Whomever she is, whatever is going on, it has him fueled with more emotion than I have ever seen him show.

It sparks something in me, something I should avoid, but I know I won’t.

I stand at the bar at O’Donnell’s pub. Xavier likes us to do an impromptu gig here every once in a while, and I’ve never minded it...until now.

“Thirsty tonight?” Memphis snickers.

“A bit.” I try to act normal, but nearly a day and a half after the bomb was dropped on me, I have no answers. All I have is the black cloud hanging over my head and a knot in my stomach. What Angel not only told me, but showed me yesterday was not some work of fiction; it was reality. A reality that would rock my world harder than this band ever dreamed of rocking.

We have been through so much, so damn much, and now, I was the one who would probably finally push this band to the breaking point.

I see Tallia, Taelyn, Keanna, Sonya, and Madison Black all walk in together. They are all dressed to the nines except Madison, who is dressed like a sorority girl at a frat party looking to get laid, wearing a short, tight, tiny little dress that is sure to show off the undergarment of choice. The top of the strapless dress has such a low neckline that I know, any minute now, I am going to see at least areola, if not her entire nipple.

I have no idea why Memphis allows her to dress the way she does. If she were my sister, I would be throwing her ass in the trunk of a car or locking her up so no one could look at her.

I throw back another shot and push the glass toward the bartender.

“Dude, that’s six. You know that’s Jamison and not fucking water, right?” Memphis chuckles.

“I’m well aware,” I snarl at him.

He pats my back. “Okay, but man, we’re on in ten.”

I ignore him as the bartender approaches. “Two more shots and a draft.”

Standing on stage, I feel better than I did when I walked in. I close my eyes and wait for River to tap us in, and then I give myself over to my craft.

Three songs in, I am pretty fucking sure the room is starting to spin, but right now, I hope it spins so fast it throws all these fucking people off the carousel so they are no longer in my life.

All these motherfuckers smiling in my face right now are not going to be smiling soon. Not when they find out my fucking secret, not if I can’t find a way to make it all go away.

I open my eyes and see Madison Black sitting on a bar stool front and center. She gives me a look, raises her eyebrow, and leans back against the table. I see her toying with an idea, and all I know for certain is it’s probably a bad one.

Her knees spread a little, and I lick my lips then force myself to look up at her eyes. Then she parts her lips and starts tracing her lower lip with the tip if her tongue.

Fucking tease. Fuck her.

I reach between my legs and adjust myself. It’s not like I will be able to hide the fact that I am growing harder and harder at an incredibly rapid pace. I suppose I could try, not that it matters.

Finn grabs my shoulder, and I open my eyes.

“Come on, man. The set’s done.”

“So is he,” River chortles. “What the fuck got into you tonight?”

I look out at the crowd, see Madison smirk, and it pisses me off.

“We done here, then?” I ask as I sway a little, taking my first step to get off stage.