Page 27 of Loved Out Loud
Me: Obviously
Me: I’m just getting to know everyone on the tour, I’m sure that’s why he decided to come along. It’s not like he’s going out and partying every night.
Sierra: Right
Me: I need to call Mom, she left several messages last night, but I completely passed out as soon as I showered last night.
Sierra: I’ll check in tomorrow
I send her a heart emoji and pull up my mom’s contact to FaceTime her. Her beautiful face fills the screen after two rings. She pushes her glasses up onto her head and beams at me through the phone. Grams pushes her way into the frame just as Mom says hello.
“Saw those photos of you on the internet. Way to move on from Greg,” Grams says.
“We were never together, so I’m not moving on from him.” I walk over to the window and pull open the curtains. “Want to see Toronto?”
I have to change the subject from him. No one who cares about me wants to see me with Greg. That’s a bit of a red flag, I’ll admit, but no one knows him like I do. He’s prickly and sophisticated. Two things that my family isn’t.
After they finish looking at the skyline, I flip the camera back to me. “How are my plants doing?”
“They’re all alive,” Mom says.
“For the time being at least,” Grams adds. “When are you coming back? We miss you.”
“The break is in six weeks.”
“Are you getting along with everyone?”
“I am. The band is nice, a lot more chill than I expected.”
“Well that Stone boy being sober now probably has them all locked down.” Grams’s lips press into a line as her milky eyes gaze off.
My grandpa was wonderful but a functioning alcoholic. His addiction made their lives immensely more challenging than it should have been. Somehow between her and my mom, they hid it from me until we had to move in with them after my dad left. Then that addiction took him far too soon, when I was only fifteen.
“It’s early days, but I haven’t seen anything concerning or anything. And their PR manager, Jade, is amazing. She’s been giving me a lot of helpful tips for my social media accounts.”
“That’s great, honey. How was the second signing?”
I fill them in on everything about last night. Both of them seem a little worried about the paparazzi run-in, but knowing that security was there eased their minds. Luckily Grams has an appointment to get to, so she can’t dig into the story about Stone helping me into the car, not that there’s a story per se. I just know she wouldn’t stop until she got the answers she wanted, and I’m not sure I have them.
After hanging up with them, I think about something Mom mentioned, that I should go tell Stone thank you. I think in the chaos of the moment I forgot. I throw my hair up in a messy topknot and slip my feet into some sandals.
My room is just down the hall from his this time, and right as I get to the threshold of the double doors to his suite, one of them opens. A stunning woman in leggings and a sports bra steps out. Her long, platinum blonde hair is pulled into a slicked back ponytail. She smiles at me as Stone appears behind her. He’s shirtless and sweating.
“I—” my eyes dart nervously between them as I realize I’m interrupting a morning goodbye. “I’m so sorry.”
I turn on my heel, my face red hot from the embarrassment of intruding when I feel his warm hand wrap around my bicep.
“Stop. It’s not a problem. Anya was just leaving.”
“See you tomorrow, Stone.” She stops in front of me, her perfect breasts covered by pale, unblemished skin. She could be a swimsuit model with her flawless body. “You’re more than welcome to join us tomorrow.”
What. The. Fuck.
Neither of us speaks until she rounds the corner to wait for the elevators.
I spin around. “I’m not having a threesome with you two.”
His eyes blow wide. If I hadn’t just been propositioned by the gorgeous blonde who just left his hotel suite, it’d probably even be funny to see him so at a loss for words.
