Page 20 of Composed at Randy's
I’ve never understood this. Mel, Travis, and Shay are all banging their way across the world, but it'smysex life everyone is curious about.
I have one, obviously, but they’re single encounters and relatively few and far between. Harvey makes my partners sign NDAs for their sake as well as mine. My fans go bonkers anytime they think there's a chance I'm seeing someone.
I never am though. I'm just so busy, and I’m not interested in a conga line of meaningless hookups like the rest of the band is. It's just so difficult to date when everyone knows who you are, you know? Yes, it sounds cliche, but it's also true. I want love,and I'm not willing to settle for someone who only wants me because I'm famous.
Maybe that's why I'm so taken with Wren. I seriously doubt he has any idea who I am. The way he reacted to me when we met made me feel like he was meeting a random stranger. I imagine living on the streets like he does means he doesn't have a lot of time to catch up on pop culture.
We get through the rest of the interview relatively unscathed, but when we get back to the green room Harvey is giving me the stink-eye with his arms crossed and his foot tap, tap, tapping away.
“What?” I ask, avoiding eye contact.
“You know what,” Harvey says in a long-suffering voice. I notice he's using the very best one in his arsenal.
“I have no idea what you mean,”
“You can't keep him, Bael. As you said before, he's not a pet. We can take care of him until he's well, and we can even make sure he has a good start on life, but he can't follow us on the tour. If your fans even suspect that the two of you are dating, they’ll eat him alive. It would be cruel to make someone like him face that.”
I don't believe that bullshit for a second. Sure, my fans are overly invested in my personal life, but for the most part, they're all kind people. Call me naïve, but I believe that if I finally find someone I love, they’ll support me and not murder them.
I'm not saying I love Wren. We just fucking met for god's sake. All I know is that I can't stop thinking about him.
I shrug at Harvey in response, and he sighs at me. He uses the best one of those in his arsenal too, but I refuse to relent. This ismylife after all. Not his.
I don't know where this is going with Wren, but I'm going to ride it until the wheels fall off.
Chapter 7
Wren
When I wake up, the sun is blinding me through a crack between the curtains. It may be October, but, man, when the sun wants to shine in New England, it goes all out.
I fight my way free of Bael’s bed for the third time today, and I gotta tell you, if I'm going to be struggling in this bed, I don't want it to be due to stuffies and bedding. Once I'm free, I look around, but there's not a single Bael to be seen.
Huh. I wonder where he went?
Since he's not here, I poke around his bedroom because I didn't really get to see much of it earlier. I make my way over to one of the little couches and notice the pillows on it are all squished, and there's a blanket on the floor in front of it.
The idea of Bael scrunching his huge body down enough to sleep on such a tiny couch makes me laugh.
I wish I'd seen that.
Along one wall is a huge entertainment system with the largest number of video games I've ever seen in my life. On another is a spectacular collection of toys and figurines.
This guy knows how to live. It's never even occurred to me to do something like this. I make a mental note to discuss with Kai the logistics of having something like it in my condo as soon as possible.
I could play with his video games and toys right now, but I'd rather go find Bael. Maybe we could play with them together. I should probably leave after that, though, because I don't want to wear out my welcome. Also, any day now, one of my people will come looking for me, and they’ll freak out if they don't find me.
After poking around in Bael’s closet (He has an amazing assortment of clothes, and if they weren't too big for me, I would try everything on.), I finally leave his room.
Why did I poke around in his closet? Because I can’t find where the dirty clothes I wore last night went, so all I have to wear is a robe so big it drags on the floor behind me, and I had to wrap the belt around me three times in order to keep it from dragging on the floor too.
I take a deep breath and steel my spine before going out into the hallway. I tell myself that these people won't care what I'm wearing because none of them seem like the judgmental kind, and if they are, they should have left me some fucking clothes to wear.
Once I get to the common room, I don't see Bael or the guys I met last night. Instead, I see Laura and a woman I've never met before having coffee and laughing together. I pull the robe around me tightly and join them.
“Good morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?” Laura asks. I forgive her for infantilizing me because she doesn't know me, and I probably look like a child in this massive robe. Generally, I don’t mind my loved ones treating me like a little cutie pie because I am and should be treated as such. Strangers though? They gotta earn that right.
I nod mutely and realize doing that probably made me look even more like a child.
