Page 35 of Chronicles of a Rockin' Mess

“How do you do it?” Ellie whispers.

I shrug. “I’ve made lots of contacts, I guess,” I say as I look back toward the band.

“No, I mean how do you work with him?” Ellie asks with a hint of disgust.

“Lincoln?” I ask her.

She nods. “I heard what he did, well, I overheard what he did. I always thought he was a bit of an ass, but I honestly thought he was good, deep down, ya know? And then he did that…I mean that’s low, even for him,” she says to me in a low voice.

Ellie and I are friendly and certainly work colleagues, but we seldom have the chance to talk anything but band business.

“And now, it’s like he watches you all the time. It’s borderline creepy if you ask me. I told Kade, they should get him help. You should have seen the way he acted when you were gone. He was drinking all the time, hanging out with bigger asshats than him, getting in fights at bars, and sleeping his way through Hollywood’s D-list. But I have to admit, since you’ve been back, he’s…well, he’s mellowed for sure,” she adds.

“Really?” I ask her.

She nods. “I don’t know what magic you have over him, but you definitely soothe the beast, if you know what I mean,” she says.

“I guess I just get him, on some weird cellular level.”

“Well, whatever it is you are doing, don’t stop. Things are much better since you’ve come back. You are staying, right?” she asks.

“I…don’t know yet.”

“I hope you do,” she says and squeezes my hand before Harry calls her over to him. She looks back at me with a grin and eye roll, and I give her a warm smile. I note to myself that I need to spend more non-band time with Ellie. She really is a cool woman, although I think she has Lincoln all wrong or at least I hope she does.

I head off in search of where to have the caterer set up food, and I get down to my work. I need to get things ready for our next stop.

There’s something about concert day that puts me in my zone. I spend the whole time running around and making sure the guys have everything they need. During the show, I get a few minutes to enjoy their performance, but mostly I’m still running around. Normally, we don’t fly off to another city the same night, but tonight is different. After meeting some fans backstage, we are whisked away to the airport where we catch a flight to Baltimore.

It’s the early morning hours when we arrive at our hotel. I practically pass out on the bed in my clothes, well, almost, I manage to take my jeans off before falling asleep.

Chapter 18

Lincoln

“Rise and shine,” I hear Lark sing from my doorway. I groan.

“Come on, sleepyhead. You have sound check in two hours,” she says as she whips open the curtains. I bury my head in my pillow, which is promptly yanked out from under my head.

“Hey!” I yell at her as I sit up and run my hands through my hair.

“Get up,” Lark says sternly. “Breakfast is down in the Continental Conference Room in an hour.”

I groan again. When we have time, we always have breakfast with some of the crew prior to everyone heading over to the concert venue. It’s a way for us to all bond on the road. But today, I’m tired as fuck, and I’d love to sleep in for a bit.

I feel a pillow hit my head and look over to see Lark standing by the closet.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asks, exasperatedly.

“I’m just tired,” I say as I climb out of bed.

Lark squeals and quickly covers her eyes. I look down and realize I have on zero clothes.

“Uh, sorry?” Normally, I’d just march right by her and head to the bathroom, but now that I’m admitting to myself that I’ve fallen in love with her, I don’t know what to say.

“J-just cover yourself,” she stutters.

“Sweetheart, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before,” I say to her.

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