Page 63 of #Moonstruck

He laughed. “I should have guessed. Smoking’s prohibited on the bus. I would guess I have you to thank for no coffee on the bus, either.”

There was normally coffee on the bus? There hadn’t been since the tour started. Maybe that was why Ryan was grouchy. He missed his caffeine fix.

But then I remembered that he said in one of his texts he’d given up caffeine. That didn’t mean that it wasn’t typically around for the other band members, though.

Was I the reason for that? Had Ryan done that for me?

“The only reason he’s interested in you is because you didn’t try to have sex with him the first night you met. No one makes him work for it.”

“I’m not making him work for it.”

Diego let out a little laugh, throwing his cigarette butt to the ground and squishing it with his foot. “Aren’t you?”

Was I? Was that what Ryan thought? That I was leading him on?

Diego walked away, leaving me to try and figure out what had just happened. Was he jealous or just not very nice?

The one person I could ask about it unfortunately was the one person avoiding me.

Ryan continued to ignore me clear up until we got to the show in Wyoming. The venue was about half the size of what we’d become accustomed to. As Parker greeted the crowd, before we even started our set, I heard a splat sound on the stage. Another one. What was that? Then something hit me in the head, hard. Pain radiated out from my forehead. I reached up and realized it was an egg yolk. Somebody was throwing eggs at me. Another one hit my chest.

One of the bodyguards leaped down into the crowd and chased down the egg tosser. A teen girl took advantage of this and jumped up onto the stage. She wore a shirt with Ryan’s face on it. “Do you think you’re good enough for him? Do you think we’re going to stand by and let you have him?”

She rushed me, yelling foul things. She grabbed my hair and pulled, so I did what any reasonable woman would do. I stomped on her foot, forcing her to let go of me.

Before I could do anything else, Fox was there, pulling the girl away. My brothers helped me get off the stage.

The girl was struggling and screaming, and Fox handed her off to two other guards. “Take her outside and call the police. She just assaulted Maisy.” Then he turned to me. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said, watching as egg whites dripped from my head to the ground.

Cole went to find me a towel, Parker said he’d find some aspirin, and Fitz just disappeared, leaving me alone with Ryan’s bodyguard.

It was the first time I’d been alone with Fox for a while. Even though my head throbbed and that panicky feeling made my throat feel tight, I considered asking him if he knew why Ryan was being so weird. I quickly realized that even if he did, he most likely wouldn’t tell me. “Why don’t we ever hang out, Fox?”

“We’re hanging out now,” he said.

“After I got attacked? That doesn’t count.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I take a lot of shifts. I’m the only one of the guards without a family. Plus, no one can take better care of Ryan than me.”

“Yeah, not so much Ryan’s girlfriend, though.”

At that, Fox laughed, although he was trying not to. That was what my brothers and I did when times were tough. We joked, and it made me feel better.

“What do you think about Angie?” I don’t know if it was the frustration I was feeling over Ryan’s behavior or my own inability to figure out what I wanted from him, but somebody should be happy.

“Angie?” Fox’s face softened. “She’s amazing. She’s dealt so well with Hector’s death. She’s such a good mom and so kind and giving, funny and ...”

He trailed off when he noticed my grin. “I think you should marry her.”

“I think she has to consent first.”

I noticed he didn’t disagree or tell me I was crazy. “You obviously have feelings for her. Maybe you should let her know.”

“Maybe you should, too.”

There was a commotion on the stage, and Fox went out to investigate, talking into his headset as he left.

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