Tracing Holland (NSB Book 2) (30 page)

“Ask
him
!” I
growl, watching as Laurel unleashes her own verbal assault. He shrinks a bit
from her wrath, almost stunned, which catches me off guard more than a punch
would have done.

We can hear their conversation in the nearly empty parking
lot, and I’m about to join them to offer my own opinions when I feel a soft
hand slide into mine.

“I believe you, Luke. I do. Please don’t.”

Startled, I force myself to meet her gaze. The patience. The
forgiveness. The inexplicable trust. It’s all there, rooting me by her side
when every part of me wants to bash Wes’ skull into the pavement.

“Shit…” I mutter, closing my eyes. “I want to kill him,
Holland. I might seriously kill him this time.”

She tugs my hand and draws me back to her. “I know, but you
won’t. You know why? Because you’ve just proven you’re a better man than he
is.”

I suck in a ragged breath and turn back to the scene twenty
yards away. Laurel has resumed her furious stomp toward the building, leaving
Wes motionless, staring at us as we stare at him. The moment the bulls decide
how they’re going to slaughter each other.

It’s
pretty obvious Spence would rather be anywhere else on the
planet right now.

“Ok, wait, it’s not what you think!” Wes shouts, jumpstarting
the showdown and moving toward us.

I shake my head, taking a step to meet him but Holland pulls
me back. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?” I snarl from my place.

“Look, man, just…”

“Wes, what did you do?” Holland cries as he reaches us. “Why
did Laurel come after Luke?”

“I…Ok, I know…”

“He contacted Laurel and told her I wanted to meet her
tonight,” I spit, turning to Holland. “That’s what was on her phone. A message
from him telling her I wanted to hook up.”

“You what
?!
”

“Ok! I know this looks bad,
Hol
, I
just…”

“Looks bad? It doesn’t look bad, Wes, it looks insane! What
is wrong with you
?!
” Holland fires.

“You’re falling for him! Everyone can see that and it was
the only thing I could think of to remind you what he is! Nothing else was
working!”

“What he is? You don’t even know what he is! Nothing was
working because you’re the one who’s blind! Luke has done everything he can to
prove himself to you because he cares about me enough to do that for me. For
me!” Her eyes narrow and I’m just glad I’m not on the receiving end of that
fury. “And what did you prove in return? That
you’re
the one I should be running from!”

“Holland…”

“Stay away from me. From this point forward, we’re
coworkers. Nothing more.”

“What? Holland, come on, you don’t mean that!”

“Let’s go, Luke.”

“Holland!”

He grabs her arm as we pass, and I instinctively shove him
away.

“She told you she was done. That especially means don’t
touch her,” I warn.

“Stay out of it,” he returns, and I almost laugh.

“I’ve wanted nothing more since the beginning! You’re the
one who keeps making it into something!”

This time there’s no doubt he swings first. I duck, but not
fast enough to avoid his fist. I can’t believe
I’m getting
hit in the face by Wes Alton
for the second time in a week. Spence is
running toward us now, Holland’s shouting, but I barely notice any of it as I
block his next blow and shove him back.

“You’re messed up, dude,” I mutter, trying to ignore the
pulsating patch of skin swelling around my eye. Again.

I could demolish him. I know I could. Hell, his face is
still a patchwork of evidence of what I can do when tested. I’ve done it a
hundred times to thugs twice his size, but this isn’t about him. It’s about the
woman standing behind me, and right now I know that’s not what she wants. I
know that love means I have to let that be enough.

“Don’t,” I warn when he straightens and starts toward me
again. “I’m serious, Wes. Just leave. Now. I’m not letting you near her.”

“Holland, please! It’s only because I care about you! You
know that!”

“Coworkers, dude,” I quip, blocking his path again. “Got
it?” I search his face, making sure he understands how serious I am about
protecting the people I love. “One more word and you’re off the tour.”

“Fuck you,” he spits, but at least turns and starts
directing his fury in the opposite direction. We watch him go in silence, and it
becomes obvious Spence has no clue what to do next.

“We’ll get through this,” Holland offers gently,
acknowledging her drummer’s distress as well.

“I’ve never seen him like that,” Spence admits, staring back
at Wes’ shrinking silhouette. “You ok?” he asks, turning to me.

“I’m fine,” I assure him, not missing his concern.

He shakes his head. “I guess I should go check on him. You
gonna
have him kicked off the tour?”

I sigh and cast a quick glance at Holland. “Only if that’s
what she wants.”

“We’ll work it out, Spence, ok?” Holland assures him,
squeezing his arm.

He nods, but doesn’t seem convinced.

“Can you just do us a favor and let them know we changed our
minds about going out tonight? We’re going to hang here, I think,” Holland
continues.

“Sure, no problem. I’ll catch up with you later.”

We say our goodbyes and wait until he disappears out of
sight to turn to each other and begin the debriefing.

“Oh, hey, you dropped this in the skirmish.”

She holds out a slip of paper as her face ignites into one
of the most beautiful smiles I’ve ever seen. My heart soars and sinks at the
same time. I can’t believe I almost lost it. I need to find a more secure place
for her note if I’m going to fuse it into my existence.

“You kept it,” she whispers, pressing it into my hand. She
doesn’t let go.

“Of course I did.”

“Well, I’m flattered, but I probably should write you a new
one.”

“Why?”

“Because now I’m the liar. I do believe in you.”

∞∞∞

“So he didn’t jump you on stage, just the parking lot,”
Holland teases, handing me a wet cloth for my eye after we’re safely back on
the bus.

“Seriously.
Again
with the eye?
What the hell…”

“Same spot? Let me see that.”

I lower the cloth so she can examine my
face. “Well, the good news is the bruising from the first one is hiding the
second one.”

I grunt and pull away, returning the
cloth to try to soothe the pulsating heat.

“I messaged Darlene to see if she can
track down some ice for us. There should still be some in the green room.”

“I have a better idea. How about you
release me to go beat the shit out of Wes.”

She rolls her eyes. “You know that’s
not happening.” She takes my other hand and kisses it. “Not a chance we’re
risking these fingers.”

I smirk. “Whatever. Do you know how
hard it was not to hit him back?”

“Do you know how hard it was to watch
you get hit in the face and not let you?”

I give her a look. “I’m just saying,
you owe me now.”

Her eyes widen. “Oh really, is that
so?”

“Yep. You should make it up to me.”

“Uh, huh, and what do you have in
mind?”

I shrug. “I’m flexible as long as it
involves you not wearing clothing.”

She laughs and shoves me before leaning
back and taking my hand again. “Seriously, though. I’m sorry, Luke. You don’t
deserve this. If it happens again we should press charges.”

My gaze shoots to hers in surprise.
“Really? You’d support that?”

“Of course. He’s way over the line. I’m
not going to watch him hurt you again, but I don’t think he will. I’m pretty
sure he gets it now. Honestly, his face when Laurel was yelling at him? I bet
he sent that message before you talked to him on the phone. He probably forgot
about it and had an ‘oh, shit’ moment.”

“Yeah, I’m not giving any awards since
his change of heart still involved punching me in the face.”

She smiles and traces my fingers. “No,
I don’t blame you. Just pointing out that once the dust settles he’ll put all
the pieces together and realize what a jackass he’s been.”

“So you’re really not going to let me
kick him in the face or off the tour?”

She laughs. “Honestly, right now, I
want to let you do both, but I can’t do that to Spence and the others. Without
Wes, I don’t know how we could finish the tour.” She sighs. “I’ll talk to him
after he calms down, though. I really think he’ll stop this insanity, but if he
pulls anything else, don’t even hesitate next time.”

“You promise?”

She grins. “I’ll be standing by as your
second.”

∞∞∞

I’m jerked awake by my phone in the pitch black of my bunk.
Parker’s name flashes on my screen for no reason that can possibly be good.

“Parker, what’s up?” I mumble, rubbing
the sleep from my eyes.

“Luke? Hey, sorry, man. I didn’t know
who
else to call. I didn’t want to raise alarms or anything,
and I know you and Jesse are close.” The urgency in his voice sobers me, and I
prop myself up in my bunk. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, it’s just that we’re
supposed to roll out in an hour and Jesse’s still not back. We don’t know where
he is.”

“What?”

I pull back my phone to glance at the
time.

“He left with some girls and that was
the last we heard from him.”

“Where are you now?”

“In our bus.”

“Ok, hang on, I’ll be there in a
minute.”

I hang up and force my feet to the
floor. I hadn’t been asleep long, but long enough to ensure that my mind and body
are not remotely ready for this.

Part of me wonders if this is a prank
as I make my way down the stairs, past Holland’s bus, the crew’s, and all the
way to Limelight. But as soon as I see their ashen faces, I know this is no
joke.

“Have you contacted your tour manager
yet?” I ask, joining them in their lounge.

They shake their heads, clearly out of
their depth.

“We’re afraid we’ll get him in
trouble.”

“Ok, well, you need to do that first.
I’m sure he’s fine, but your manager needs to know there may be a change of
plans as soon as possible so he can adjust. You don’t have to raise alarms,
just say Jesse’s not back from his night out.”

They nod.

“So what exactly happened?”

“We were at this bar and met these
girls. They were flirting with him all night and he said he was just going to
go to another party for a while. He was supposed to meet us back at the bar a
couple hours later so we could ride back together,” Parker explains.

“Yeah, we waited for another hour after
that,” Derrick adds. “We’ve been calling him and texting and everything, but
nothing.”

“We’re sorry to bother you with this,
but if he’s ignoring us, we thought he might not ignore you.”

“What bar?”

“Chadwick’s. 6
^th
and Arch.”

“Shit, seriously? Arch Street?” I
mutter.

They shrug. “We hang there all the
time.”

I shake my head. “Fine, whatever. And
you didn’t know these girls?”

“No. You don’t think…” They look ready
to puke.

“No, Jesse is fine. I guarantee you,
but I’m sure he’s not going to take my call either.”

“How do you know?”

I give them a look. “I invented this,
trust me. Just tell your manager you’re not going to be leaving when you
thought. We have a long break before the ACC so it shouldn’t be a big deal unless
you guys had something scheduled in between.”

They shake their heads. “I don’t think
so, but I’m not sure.”

“Exactly. So call your manager and work
on that. I’ll take care of Jesse.”

∞∞∞

I’m not surprised when Jesse doesn’t immediately answer my
text, so I try a call next. I expect the same result, but
am
relieved instead by the click of a connection.

“Hello…”

My heart sinks.

“Shit, are you high, man?”

“Luke?”

“Where are you?”

“Um…”

“Jesse, I need you to focus for a
second. Where are you?”

“Flower cave.”

“Huh?”

“Flower cave.”

The line goes dead and I curse again.