Running with Scissors (3 page)

But it was a change. At this point, he’d take any opportunity

to get out of this bullshit rut he’d gotten himself into.

Even if it meant being in close confines with the

ex-boyfriend and band he’d screwed over.

11

fidgeted in a chair beside the rickety table in the

a.j.band’s motel room, tapping out a nervous rhythm

on the armrest. Everyone was wound up, waiting for Kristy to

come back in. Nobody in the group was thrilled about their

manager’s long shot of an idea, but without any better ideas,

they all waited impatiently for the verdict.

When the door opened, every member of Running with

Scissors sat bolt upright.

Kristy stepped in from the motel’s breezeway, cell phone

in hand, and shut the door behind her. The band members

exchanged glances. A.J.’s heart pounded—he was pretty sure

he didn’t hear anyone breathing, and he was holding his

breath too.

“Well?” Richie fidgeted against the headboard of one of

the beds. “What’d he say?”

She exhaled hard. “He’s not in a good spot to drop

everything and leave for a handful of shows.”

That prompted a few frustrated sighs and some whispered

swearing. Someone thumped a fist on something.

“
But
.” Kristy held up a hand. “And you all need to

hear me out on this one. He is willing to come back for a

semipermanent position.”

12

“Semipermanent?” Shiloh cocked her head. “Meaning?”

Kristy ticked the points off on her fingers. “The duration

of this tour. The upcoming album. And the headlining tour.

After that, we’ll have to play it by ear.”

Beside Richie, Connor muttered a few curses.

Shiloh shot him a glare and then turned to Kristy. “He’d

really come back for that long?”

Kristy nodded. “It’s the only way he can justify leaving his

job on short notice. And quite frankly, I can’t blame him.”

“Then maybe he doesn’t want the opportunity after al ,”

Connor said through his teeth. “He did quit, remember?”

Kristy narrowed her eyes. “He did, and he also knows the

music as well or better than anyone in this room.”

A.J.’s chest tightened. Jude’s command of music was

legendary, but A.J. wasn’t too sure he liked the idea of having him around, especially in the long term. It would be great for

the band as a whole, of course. But not necessarily for him.

Not that he—or the band—had any choice.

“So.” Kristy folded her arms loosely. “What’ll it be? Do I

book him a ticket? Or do we keep looking?”

“I say bring him back,” Shiloh said. “I know things are

tough between Jude and Connor, and yeah, it was a dick

move on Jude’s part to leave like that, but let’s face it—we’d be stupid to let him go again.”

“What she said,” Vanessa chimed in. “Jude can eat shit

and die for all I care, but we don’t have a choice. We don’t have to like it, and we don’t have to like him, but we need the jerk.”

The rest of the band gave nods and murmured affirmatives,

aside from Connor. He definitely wasn’t thrilled.

“I don’t believe this,” he grumbled. “He’s the reason we

almost didn’t get signed!”

13

“But you
did
get signed,” Kristy said in that tone that meant her patience was wearing thin. “And I assume you want

to stay that way, so it’s either bring in Jude, or pack your shit and go home while another opening act takes over, and kiss

your headlining tour good-bye.”

Every head turned toward Connor, the unspoken question

thrumming in the air:
Is that what you want?

His lips pulled tight as he glared up at Kristy. “There’s

no way Jude’s going to be ready to go onstage in Denver. No

fucking way.”

“Well, maybe you should’ve thought of that before you

and Wyatt—”

“I get it,” Connor snapped.

“Somehow I don’t think you do. Look, nothing can be

done about Wyatt, and Jude is the only one who can get in

here and save your collective asses. Connor, look at me.” When

he met her gaze, Kristy said, “Unless you want to go back to

playing for double-digit crowds who just want to drink with

a little background music, I would suggest you and Jude leave

your bullshit in the past.”

Connor scowled. “It
is
in the past. I’m over it.”

A.J. and Richie exchanged incredulous looks. If Connor

was over Jude, then that had happened in the past fifteen

seconds or so. Hell, one of the first things A.J. had learned

upon joining Running with Scissors was that if you wanted

to fuck with Connor, all you had to do was mention Jude.

And if you fucked with Connor, you’d be on your way out of

Running with Scissors on a moment’s notice. That had been a

bone of contention that helped drive Wyatt away.

Over Jude? My ass.

Kristy didn’t look convinced either. She folded her arms

and arched a thin eyebrow.

14

Connor sighed, deflating a little. “I’m serious.”

“So am I. Jude is bailing us out big time. We just need the

two of you to get along, and everyone—
everyone
—to let

the past go and be adults about this. All right?”

More nods. More murmurs.

Kristy lowered her arms and rolled the visible tension

out of her shoulders. “Bottom line is our problem is solved,

at least for the foreseeable future. I’ll have Jude meet us in

Omaha, and from there you guys are going to need to find any

time and space you can, and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. He

knows the music, but he’s going to be rusty, and none of you

have played with him since he left. If anyone wants to hash

out any bullshit, suck it up and wait until we aren’t in hot

water if someone walks out. Got it?”

Connor muttered something A.J. didn’t understand, and

no one asked him to repeat it.

“Everyone get some sleep.” Kristy started for the door.

“We’re on the road bright and early tomorrow.”

She left, and after the door had closed, Connor sagged

back against the chair opposite A.J.’s. “This is bullshit.”

“It’s the only option we have,” Richie said.

Connor rolled his eyes. “You don’t think I could go on

Craigslist right now and find a desperate bassist who—”

“Oh, save it.” Vanessa shook her head. “Running with

Scissors doesn’t need a random desperate bassist. We need

someone who knows our music and won’t make us all sound

bad. Like it or not, that’s Jude.”

“Connor, please.” Shiloh touched his shoulder. “We all

know this is going to be hard on you. None of us are thrilled

about the idea either, but we don’t have any other options.

Can you guys just, you know, get along until—?”

15

“We’ll be
fine
.” Connor shrugged away from her and

pushed himself to his feet. “I need some air.” He stormed

out of the room and slammed the door so hard it rattled the

whole building.

In silence, everyone stared at the door as if Connor

might suddenly come back in. Yeah, right. One of the
other

first things they’d all told A.J. was that when Connor said he

needed some air, let him go. He’d be back—eventually—but

for the love of God, do not go after him.

Shiloh turned away. Folding her arms, she leaned against

the wall beside the brown burlap drapes. “Why am I suddenly

hoping they’ll get back together?”

Every head snapped toward her.

Richie’s eyes got huge. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Shiloh scowled. “Well, if they were fucking again, then

they wouldn’t be trying to kill each other.”

A.J. sat up a little. “That might—”

“You’re probably right.” Vanessa pursed her lips. Then she

sighed and shrugged. “Part of me wants to choke them if they

even look at each other, but I can’t really argue with you, to

tell you the truth.”

Richie grunted in agreement. A.J. couldn’t argue either.

Connor was easiest to deal with when he and his guy du jour

were on speaking terms and sleeping together. But God help

them all if there was even the slightest lover’s quarrel. Bringing an ex—especially
that
ex—into the picture was going to make things interesting.

Vanessa cursed. “Well, Connor’s going to be easy to live

with for a while.”

A.J. sat up a little. “Maybe we’d—”

“Can you blame him?” Shiloh asked. A.J. gritted his teeth.

Why he tried to interject in these conversations, he didn’t

even know.

16

“Uh, yeah,” Richie said. “Actually, I can blame him.” He

sat back against the headboard, lacing his hands behind his

head. “He has nobody to blame but himself for this shit with

Jude, and he fucking knows it.”

“That wasn’t entirely Connor’s fault,” Vanessa said.

“Remember? Wyatt quit, and so did Jude.”

Richie huffed. “Connor brought that on himself—and

us—both times. If someone treated me the way he treated

Jude, I’d cheat too.”

“Wouldn’t you just have broken up with Connor before

things got so ugly?” Vanessa said. “I mean, why bother sticking around until it’s that bad? They were both idiots for dragging

it out, just like Wyatt was an idiot for thinking Connor was

over Jude.” Rol ing her eyes, she added, “And Connor
is
an idiot for being hung up on that jackass.”

Shiloh scowled. “Enough. Come on. Jude’s not a bad guy,

and neither is Connor. They just suck at relationships, and

Connor’s super protective of the band. Fact is, we wouldn’t

have gotten this far without either of them.”

“Yeah, they got us really far,” Vanessa said. “And that

almost didn’t matter since Jude decided to fuck
us
after he was done fucking Connor.”

“Okay, yes.” Shiloh shrugged. “And Wyatt quit, so—”

“So I’ll smack him if I ever see him again,” Vanessa said,

“but I have to work with Connor, and now Jude too. I’m

pissed at all of them, but those two are going to be here.”

“True,” Shiloh said. “But the fact is, Jude’s just here

temporarily. It was his choice to do what he did, and he knew

what was at stake. If he and Connor don’t get along this time,

we all know who’s getting the boot.”

A murmur of reluctant agreement rippled through the

group.

17

“Well.” Vanessa stretched her arms as she stood. “Kristy’s

right. We’re on the road early tomorrow. I’m going to call it

a night.”

Shiloh nodded. “Same here. Let’s go.”

The girls left. Connor hadn’t returned yet, so the tension

in the room had eased, at least for the moment. Richie went

out for a smoke, leaving A.J. alone with his thoughts.

A.J. sat back and stared up at the ceiling. His fingers

kept time with his heartbeat, tapping softly on his leg, and

his other knee bounced as his heel tapped out the piece he’d

been practicing earlier. Try as he might, he could not get

comfortable. Even though the bassist crisis was averted, and

things weren’t as up in the air as they’d been since Wyatt’s

departure, A.J. didn’t like this. He didn’t like it at al .

He’d been at the recent meetings where they’d all panicked

over what to do now that Wyatt was gone, but he was fairly

sure there’d been conversations behind closed doors too. This

group had been friends since they were kids, and Kristy had

been their manager since the band’s early days. A.J. had been

part of the group for a year and a half, coming in on the heels of Jude’s departure, but he still felt like an outsider.

What if the band settled their drama and decided to keep

Jude after al ? And what if they decided he was better behind

the drums than he was on the bass, and decided to—

Easy, A.J.

He slowly released a breath. Jude was coming back

temporarily. He wasn’t going to replace A.J.

He screwed them over. They’re not going to boot me out and

keep him.

I hope.

18

Three days later, Running with Scissors arrived in Omaha.

While Schadenfreude prepared to take the stage without their

opening act, Running with Scissors settled into a shithole

motel on the other side of town. Hopefully their crappy

tour bus would be repaired soon—in addition to a volatile

lead singer and a missing bassist, the band had been dealing

with a bus with no running water for the last week and a half.

Because they weren’t at each other’s throats enough already.

And yes, they were lucky to even
have
a shower and a toilet on their bus, but God help them when those things quit working.

Kristy came into the guys’ room, where everyone was

hanging out, and jingled a set of keys. “I’m going to get Jude

from the airport. Anyone coming with me?”

Connor smirked. “He can’t get a cab?”

“He could, but since he’s saving our asses, I thought

picking him up myself was the least I could do.”

Connor’s lip curled, but he didn’t argue.

A.J. shifted and then stood. “Do you mind if I come with

you, Kristy? Since I’ve never met him?”

“Not at al .” Kristy smiled. “Let’s rol .”

He thought he felt some invisible daggers coming his way,

but didn’t bother checking if Connor was glaring at him. Or if

any of the other band members were. He just followed Kristy