The Man You Need (Love on Tour #4) (2 page)

“Yeah.” He moved closer to me. “And we’re gonna leave on tour next week. It’s gonna be wild.” He took a long sip of his beer, which gave me a good look at his Adam’s Apple and his biceps. He was hot, probably an alcoholic or a drug addict. He undoubtedly had a different woman in his bed every night, and was an up-and-coming rock star. He was my fantasy man. Well, almost, the old Hank Tolk was my fantasy man. But he was sober now and completely devoted to his pregnant wife. So Evan Light was going to have to do.

He pulled his beer away from his lips and looked me up and down, his gaze lingering on my breasts. “We were thinking about opening for Sean on his tour, but we’re going on our own tour, we’re headlining.”

What a huge lie. Sean was touring. He was leaving next week, too. But he’d never had a headliner other than Hank, and vice versa. If Hank had the biggest album at the moment, Sean opened for him, if Sean had the hottest hits, Hank opened. They’d been doing it that way for over a decade. No half-assed band was going to change that. For a moment, I wondered if he thought I was stupid.

“What are you up to? You live in Malibu, too?”

I was trying to decide what I wanted to tell this guy. Obviously we were lying to each other. So what would my lie be? The truth was pathetic. I’d broken my arm during a backstage accident in New York a few months ago. Unable to perform, I’d come out to Malibu a few weeks before Sam and Lisa’s wedding. Then I’d just stayed. I went between their house and Sean’s, helping with the newborn twins, hanging out with Baby and my nephew Henry.

I’d decided to see if I could get some auditions for commercials or TV shows or something while I was in California. But nothing had come up yet. I knew I was getting too old for the roles I wanted to play, and I lived in fear that I’d get cast as somebody’s mom.

When the cast came off my arm and the physical therapy was done, I’d just stayed here, spinning my wheels. With Sean leaving on tour soon, I planned to housesit for him, help Sam and Lisa with the twins, and try not to get too depressed over my life.

“I’m an actress. I’ve done well for myself in New York. When I came out for the wedding I was getting offers from Hollywood all over the place. So I decided to stay and explore a few.”

“Really? Wow. What are you going to do, TV, movies?”

I shrugged. “I’m still considering all the options. My agent’s in negotiations.”

‘My agent’ sounded so much better than ‘my little brother.’ Besides, he didn’t need to know that I couldn’t actually afford an experienced agent and needed Sam to take me on for free.

“That’s awesome.” He drained his beer, tossed the empty bottle on my brother’s manicured lawn, and stepped closer to me. “So, I guess you’re busy for the next couple of weeks?”

“Not really. I’ve got time. Why?” I smiled coyly at him.

“I don’t know.” He put one hand on my upper arm and grinned at me. “You might be fun to have along on tour.”

“I might be into that.” A whole bus full of rockers was exactly what I needed.

“Yeah?” He leaned toward me. I could feel his breath on my face. “I think we should talk about it.”

I looked toward the deck. Sean was still sitting in the corner at a little round table with Sam, and Hank’s wife, Bell. They each had a kid nestled in their arms, and they were deep in conversation. They’d been hiding out there for a while now. I hoped they would stay put.

“Come on,” I said, taking Evan’s hand and pulling him toward the house.

2

The bathroom had been a dumb idea. But I was staying at Sean’s, and Sam’s house was filled with guests. I couldn’t see pulling Evan into the room my parents were staying in, or the one Lisa’s mom was staying in, for a make-out session. So I’d pulled him into the hall bathroom instead.

It was pretty cramped in there, though. Evan had me pressed up against the sink. In the process of taking my dress off, he jostled the designer light fixture that hung above us. As I ripped his shirt off I managed to bang my elbow against the wall. Ignoring the ache, I pulled Evan’s face back to mine.

There was pounding on the door. Both Evan and I went still.

“Stacey, are you in there?” Sean’s voice was loud, deep, and pissed off.

“Shit,” I whispered.

I looked at Evan. His eyes were wide, his mouth parted. He looked scared. I didn’t blame him.

I hadn’t answered yet, and Sean was getting impatient. “I know you’re in there. Hank said he saw you go in.”

“At least five minutes ago,” Hank said through the door.

Evan looked like he was going to pee his pants. I pushed him a few inches away from me and grabbed my dress off the floor, hastily throwing it back on.

“Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute,” I called.

Evan seemed to be frozen, so I shoved his shirt into his chest and gave him a stern look. He got the hint and pulled it on.

“Who’s in there with you?” Sean asked.

“Sean, why don’t you just let me finish up in here? I’ll catch up with you outside.”

“We already know. It’s Evan fucking Light,” Hank said. “I saw his punk ass follow you in there.”

Fuck my life.

“I’m not sixteen,” I said, irritated. “I can take whoever I want into the bathroom with me.”

I was pissed now, so ignoring Evan’s absolutely terrified face, I wrenched the door open.

My brother was standing in the doorway, his giant tattooed arms folded over his massive chest. He looked down at me from over six inches above, a big, fat frown on his face. Hank was next to him, staring daggers at Evan.

“Fine. Here I am. Happy?”

“Not in the least,” Sean said.

“I. Am. An. Adult. Sean.”

He didn’t answer this. He just continued to stare at me.

“Evan Light,” Hank said menacingly.

“Hey, Hank.” Evan ran a hand through his hair. “Good to see you again, man.”

Hank harrumphed. Sean stared.

“Can you let us by now?” I asked. They were completely blocking our way out of the bathroom. Neither of them moved.

“So what’s this all about?” Sean asked.

“What does it look like? We were making out in the bathroom.”

“With this fucking guy?” He pointed at Evan, but kept his gaze on me.

“Yeah, he’s cute.”

“He’s a hot mess,” Hank said, still staring at Evan.

Evan said nothing.

“How many times you been in rehab, Evan?” Hank asked him.

I turned to Hank. “You’ve been in rehab more than once.”

“Yeah, and you deserved way better than someone like me back then. I know exactly what a fucking disaster this guy is.”

“My band is doing good,” Evan said. “We’re headed out on tour next week.”

I turned to look at him. What the fuck? This guy was either really dumb, or really fucked up.

I turned back to my brother. “Come on, Sean. Let him go.”

Sean and Hank both moved just enough for Evan to squeeze past them. When he got to the other side of their human wall, he looked back at me.

“So, uh, call me about the tour. We should totally do that.”

Yep, he was dumb all right.

I nodded. “See you later.”

“Tour?” Sean nearly shouted.

I watched as Evan left the house, then I squeezed between Sean and Hank and moved into the living room.

“What’s this shit about a tour?” Sean asked again.

“He invited me along.” I placed a hand on my hip and tried to look challenging. “I’m thinking about going.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

That was when Baby walked in, her son in her arms. Bell was at her heels, one of Sam and Lisa’s babies tucked up against her chest.

“What’s going on?” Baby asked. She placed little Henry on the floor and walked over to Sean.

I looked down at my nephew. He pulled himself up, a look of deep concentration on his face, walked on wobbly legs over to me, and threw his little arms around my shin. I picked him up. God, he was heavy. At fourteen months, the kid was the size of a two-year-old. He definitely took after his father.

“Stacey wants to go on tour with Evan Light,” Sean complained.

“The same fucker she was shtooping in the bathroom,” Hank interjected.

“Shtooping? Really, Hank?”

Baby turned to me. With her here, I figured I was in better shape. After all, she was calm, rational, and could usually keep my brother’s insane overprotectiveness from getting out of hand.

But she was frowning at me. “On tour with Evan Light?”

I shrugged. “Why not?”

“You want to take off across the country with a guy you just met?”

“You’re kidding, right? You did exactly that,” I pointed out.

I didn’t want to be mean. But if Baby wasn’t going to support me, I was going to have to get real on her. Baby had met Hank and my brother in a diner in the middle of nowhere. Back then her name had been Dani. She’d needed a ride to Phoenix and hopped on their tour bus. Minutes later she’d been saddled with the nickname Baby. She’d stayed on tour with them, and a few weeks later she’d fallen madly in love with Sean. The rest was history.

“That was totally different,” Hank said. “Baby got on a tour bus with
us
. We are not Evan Light.”

No they weren’t. By comparison, they were extremely boring.

I turned to Bell. She stood there beside Baby, cute as a button. She was, other than the children, the smallest thing in the room. She was barely five feet tall and tiny everywhere. Hank was three times her total mass. At three months pregnant she was already showing. If she was going to give birth to Hank’s kid, she was going to have to be one tough lady. That was why I looked to her for help, because Bell
was
one tough lady. She didn’t take shit from anyone, least of all Hank. But Bell was looking at me as if she was doing long division in her head.

“You are not going!” Sean said sternly.

I was mad. And even though I didn’t really care about going on the tour anymore, I wasn’t backing down.

“I am an adult and you can’t stop me!”

“I’ll lock you in a closet!”

“Maybe we should see how Frank feels about it,” Hank suggested.

But everyone in this room knew that was just an idle threat. My dad was a pushover. I could probably talk him into giving me his blessing in a just a few minutes. It was Sean who was the giant roadblock.

It had always been that way. Sean treated me like a glass vase that he was tasked with watching over. Actually, in his case it would be more appropriate to say that I was the Stanley Cup and he was the guy with the white gloves that traveled around the world guarding the famed hockey trophy.

Bell finally spoke. “Why don’t you come with us?”

“What?” I was stunned.

“Yeah, that’s a great idea,” Hank said. “You want to go on tour, come on ours.”

I wanted to go a real rock tour, not ride on a bus with two happily married couples and a toddler. I wanted to get a little wild and crazy, not spend my nights playing cards with my brother.

“I can’t, Lisa and Sam need me,” I argued, ignoring the fact that I obviously hadn’t cared about that five minutes ago when I had suggested going with Evan. “They have two six-week-old babies,” I said in a tone that made it clear they were absolutely horrible people for suggesting I rip my valuable help away from my overwhelmed brother and sister-in-law.

“They’re fine. Lisa’s not working right now. My mom is staying with them for a couple weeks, and they have that new part-time Manny Mike found,” Baby said. “They can live without you. And I’m sure Henry would love to have his Auntie around.”

As if to emphasize the point, Henry grabbed my face and planted a wet, sloppy kiss on my cheek. Which only made it worse – a rock tour with a baby. Who the hell took a baby on a rock tour? Oh, wait, my brother, because his tour was boring as hell.

“I’ll think about it,” I mumbled.

“We should get back to the party,” Bell said. She looked pointedly at Hank.

Hank grabbed his godson out of my arms, gave me a stern look, and followed Bell back out to the yard. I was left alone with Sean and Baby. Shit.

Sean stood with his arms crossed over his chest. This was never a good sign. Baby was next to him, staring at me. I felt like a little kid having to explain her bad grades to her parents.

“Look, I won’t go with Evan. I’ll stay here, take care of the house, help Lisa and Sam. Hell, maybe I’ll even get an audition.”

“I’d like it if you came with us,” Baby said. “Bell would, too. The three of us will have fun together.”

“It wasn’t exactly what I was going for, Baby, no offense.”

“It’s not as boring you think it is, Stacey. We’ll have a good time.”

I was sure it was exactly as boring as I thought it was, at least on their bus. However, there were two other busses that traveled with them, filled with the back-up musicians who played with Sean and Hank, roadies, and groupies. That could be fun, especially the musicians part. Hank had one of the hottest bass players I’d ever seen.

“Like I said, I’ll think about it.” I turned to leave.

“Stacey,” Sean said softly.

His quiet voice was actually the most demanding. All my life, that quiet, deep voice had been the one I knew I had to pay attention to, because whatever he said in that tone, he meant.

“What?” I asked, sounding like a petulant sixteen-year-old.

“I want you to come with us.”

Shit.

****

We were in the kitchen when I got my first glimpse of the man that would cause me so much trouble.

I was sitting with Henry, watching him shovel food into his face and make a colossal mess of his highchair. Baby was attempting to do the dishes, whereas Sean was attempting to distract her.

“Stop it!” She laughed, throwing a splash of water at him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and bent his head to her neck.

“Yeah, knock it off,” I said. “You’re totally grossing me and Henry out.”

My brother stood up straight and gave me a cocky grin. “Get over it.”

The doorbell rang.

“Oh shit, that’s Jack. I totally forgot he was coming,” Sean said.

“I didn’t,” Baby said, looking at her watch. “But he’s early.”

Sean left the room and headed to the front door. I watched Henry shove an entire French fry into his mouth. Then I watched closely as he mouthed it. I loved the kid enough that I did not want him choking to death to satisfy his voracious appetite.

“Come on in, Jack,” Sean said. “We’re just finishing dinner.”

I watched as he entered the kitchen. The house had been built for Sean, so the doorframes were taller than most. It was a good thing, too, because in any other house Jack would have had to duck. There were only a handful of times in my life that I’d seen, in person, someone taller than Sean.

Jack was at least 6’8, lean, and muscular, with gorgeous creamy brown skin. His brown eyes were lighter than mine, and belonged to a beautifully carved face. His hair was tightly curled, looked soft, and was cut close to his head. He had to be mixed race. It was the only explanation for his coloring. He was, without a doubt, the most beautiful man I’d seen in a very long time.

He was also completely not my type. He was actually wearing slacks and a button-up shirt. It was a total turn-off. Then there was the messenger bag slung around his shoulder, gross.

“Hi, Jack,” Baby said. She dried her hands off on a dishtowel and walked over to him. He leaned down – way down – and kissed her on the cheek.

“Jack, this is my sister, Stacey,” Sean said. “And you’ve met Henry.” Henry gurgled and reached for another fry. “Stacey, Jack’s the new tour manager.”

Sean and Hank went through tour managers like Kleenex. The last one was good. It was Sam. But he had been promoted to their general manager, and with two brand new babies, he sure as hell wasn’t going to join us this time.

It was weird that we were going on this tour at all, really. My brother and Hank both obviously wanted to settle down. Sean and Baby had Henry, and I knew they were thinking about having another kid soon. In six months, Bell would be pushing out Hank, Jr.

But apparently, Sean had a ‘sleeper hit.’ His first album, that up until recently no one but Baby and my dad even liked, had suddenly gone crazy all these years later. So it was decided that he and Hank would do one last tour before taking a big long break. This was their way of satisfying their fans so they could be left alone for about five years to hang out with their wives and kids.