Page 7 of Loved Out Loud
So I don’t hold it against him. Even when he lashes out and hurts me.
“What are your plans?” He stands in the door of the bathroom, clothes held in front of his dick as he watches me pull my leggings on. He knows I won’t take my shirt off to put my bra back on until he’s out of the room. No one sees my arms; I don’t even like seeing them.
“Lunch with Sierra. She wants to talk about the book tour.”
His lips flatten into a line. “Have fun. I’ll call you later.” He closes the door behind him, and I don’t pull my shirt over my head until I hear the shower door open and the water turn on.
Sierra looks up as I pull out the chair across from her and sit down. “You’re never going to believe the incredible opportunity coming for you.” She beams at me.
“What?” My eyes flare with a mixture of curiosity at her excitement and a healthy dose of anxiety. The fact that two flutes of champagne sit bubbling between us makes me think, whatever it is, it’s a big fucking deal.
“You’re going on tour with Blue Sunday.”
“I’m sorry.” I blink rapidly. Nothing she could have said would have confused me more. “What?”
“Stone jumping over the couch and coming to your defense went viral yesterday. It was all over social media. His manager and label reached out to the publisher yesterday and threw out the idea of combining tours.”
“That’s shocking.”
“I know. Let it marinate because I have a fuck ton of information for you and the tour starts in two weeks.”
“What?” I squeak. I knew a book tour was part of the deal when I signed with my publisher, but it wasn’t supposed to start for at least another month.
“Here’s the list of stops and the bookstores you’ll be signing at. Most are indies, but there are a few bigger stores that we couldn’t get away with skipping.”
She slides an iPad across the table to me. Boston, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland. The list goes on and on. Thirty stops in total.
“I know it’s a bit overwhelming.” Her hand covers my forearm and squeezes. “But something like this has never been done. You’ll be staying on the tour bus with the band.”
“Why?” That sounds like a nightmare, fuck knows what they do on their tour bus. “I can’t do this. Tell them no.”
“It’s already been announced. You don’t really have a choice here.”
“What. The. Fuck.”
“Check your socials. Everything is going nuts.”
My eye twitches as I open one app on my phone and see the hundreds of thousands of likes on the announcement post from my publisher and their record label. The band is tagged, along with my account.
I drop my phone and sit back in a daze while Sierra orders for us. She turns her attention back to me when the server leaves.
“I know it feels overwhelming. Focus on the fact that you’re going to get to meet so many readers. You’re laying the foundation for a long, successful career. Plus, all the time to focus on nothing but writing. And being surrounded by sexy musicians won’t hurt.”
“Do they know about this?”
“Yes. They were informed last night.”
“And they’re on board?”
“Apparently.” She shrugs. “They aren’t my concern. You are. Everyone will fill out NDAs for the duration of the tour. I’ll have our in-house counsel look it over, but you may want to also get outside counsel, just in case.”
“I can’t live on a bus with random strange men.”
“From what I understand their PR agent travels with them and is a woman. It won’t be a total sausage fest. I’ll also be joining you at most of your signings, I’ll just be flying from city to city and coming back here in between.”
I don’t know how to feel about this. Dark tendrils of dread coil through my veins, loosening the death grip I keep on my inner voice. The one that assures me I’m terrible. That I ruin everything and anything good in my life. That the time and energy people put into me is nothing but a waste.
Sierra’s hands wrap around mine, and she squeezes, yanking me back from the cliff's edge of my mind. “Stop worrying. I’m going to make sure you’re safe and well cared for. I promise.”
